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Council Watch Glenites offer ideas to the team designing a new city hall
Officials and planners come to Willow Glen for 'vision' meeting
By Jessica Lyons
There are no designs, no sketches and no models for the new City Hall, but already several Willow Glen residents have a clear picture of what they want to see in the city's new Civic Center.
Some envision adobe walls and colorful murals, reflecting San Jose's rich cultural heritage. Others see futuristic, high-tech buildings befitting the heart of Silicon Valley.
But everyone present at a Willow Glen community meeting last Monday, March 8, agreed that adequate parking is a necessity. And, of course, staying within budget is always a priority.
"I'm just interested in how they're going to spend our money," Dick Schwartz said. "But if we can give input from the very beginning, everything should turn out well."
At the first in a series of community meetings to be held around the city, around 50 local residents shared design ideas and concerns with architects and officials who had come to Willow Glen High School. City staff members, along with the design team from Richard Meier & Partners and The Steinberg Group, listened to the community's ideas.
"The purpose of this evening is to receive your input and to find out what you would like in your new City Hall," Councilman Frank Fiscalini said. "This is our building. This is a manifestation of what we want for San Jose and our pride in the city." Fiscalini, who represents Willow Glen, is also chairman of the Civic Center Complex Relocation Task Force. The next series of community design concepts meetings is scheduled for May or June.
The new City Hall is expected to be the centerpiece of a seven-block district of new and existing buildings, all tied together by streets, walkways, courtyards, fountains and plazas. The location has already been chosen and was approved by the City Council on Sept. 22, 1998. The 4.6 acre Civic Center project will stretch down Santa Clara Street for two blocks between 4th and 6th streets.
Initial plans for the project call for an ensemble of buildings--including an office tower, separate City Council Chambers, parking garage and a large central plaza--that would be shaped and arranged in response to environmental conditions such as public access, traffic patterns and sunlight.
Buildings in the surrounding blocks would include a new symphony hall, two additional parking garages, the Joint Library (shared by the City and San Jose State University), a rebuilt church (First United Methodist), and a rebuilt school (Horace Mann).
Willow Glen residents shared ideas with Meier--whose work includes the Getty Center in Los Angeles--and the rest of the design team about what should go into the new City Hall. Parking was the word of the hour. Other suggestions included housing a coffee shop or restaurants inside the center, public art, natural landscaping, a more "user-friendly" council chambers with a lobby area and a design to reflect San Jose's heritage.
"We live in San Jose, a culturally rich area," Willow Glen resident Peggy Rossignol said. "I would request that the design incorporate [San Jose's] Spanish heritage. There's nothing to reflect how we got here."
Overspending tax dollars was a chief concern as well.
"This is my money," Bonnie Home, a San Jose resident said. "If this things looks like the Taj Mahal, I'm going to be very mad. It should be beautiful but efficient."
The project will cost approximately $214 million. A study by the city estimates that over the 50-year projected life of the new building, the city would save $245 million in present-day dollars from avoided lease costs. Currently, more than 50 percent of City Hall is located in leased office space outside the City Complex.
The City Council will consider this proposed project sometime in mid-1999. If approved, construction is expected to start in 2001 and take two years.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
