"Great cities have thriving downtowns, where the entire community can partake in joyful and affordable cultural experiences. That is why it is so exciting that San Jose, the national Levitt Foundation and Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose have a formal partnership to bring a state-of-the-art performance venue to St. James Park. After 13 years of dreaming, designing and extensive community input, this vision now has momentum to become reality."
"One reason this project has taken so long to complete is due to a 2020 lawsuit filed against the city by the Saint Claire Historic Preservation Foundation - part of a private men's club that borders St. James Park. The city prevailed in that suit, with one exception: The state appellate court advised San Jose to modify language in its historic preservation ordinance to affirm its existing authority to weigh project benefits against potential detriments when considering projects being built in historic districts."
"Unfortunately, the Saint Claire is once again trying to delay this project by manufacturing a 'Save St. James Historic District' campaign, falsely claiming that if the city follows a Court of Appeal's direction, the city council has blanket authority to bulldoze historic buildings. This is simply not true, and it's another attempt by Sainte Claire to try to delay the pavilion in order to keep the park passive."
San Jose, the national Levitt Foundation, and Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose have formed a formal partnership to build a state-of-the-art performance pavilion in St. James Park. The project aims to provide joyful, affordable cultural experiences, spark civic pride, improve public safety, and strengthen economic vitality and the local arts ecosystem. The pavilion proposal followed 13 years of planning and extensive community input. A 2020 lawsuit by the Saint Claire Historic Preservation Foundation slowed progress, but the city prevailed with a court recommendation to clarify ordinance language allowing benefits-versus-detriments weighing. The City Council will vote on the modification Dec. 2. Levitt pavilions typically offer 40–50 free professionally produced concerts of diverse genres.
Read at San Jose Spotlight
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]