"A few weeks ago, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced a landmark investment of over $6 million to support La Placita, a massively overdue community development project in East San Jose. The School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza has been planning for years to transform the 28,000-square-foot strip mall across Alum Rock into a thriving community hub, including a black box theater and a cafe, plus more health care services and nutrition programs."
"Many heroic individuals have talked about this for a long time, especially the late Chris Esparza, who told us over the years about his dreams for that building, how he envisioned a whole new cultural neighborhood, anchored by the Mexican Heritage Plaza itself. Esparza was a dude who actually worked to make things happen, for decades, rather than someone who shoots his mouth off in a newspaper, so I believed him. He would be so stoked if he were still around to see this."
"The Knight Foundation grant is even more amazing for those of us who remember what that building used to look like 16 years ago. Man, it was depressing. In 2009, the Urban Blight Exploration Junkie, one of the alter-egos that occasionally narrated this column, called the building "a gorgeously decrepit, faded pink, infirmary-looking blighted strip mall-a splendid half-boarded-up paean to negligent landlords worldwide." It really was that bad."
The Knight Foundation awarded over $6 million to support La Placita, a community development project in East San Jose. The School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza plans to convert a 28,000-square-foot strip mall across Alum Rock into a community hub with a black box theater, a cafe, expanded health care services, and nutrition programs. The grant is expected to accelerate planning and construction. Longtime advocates, including the late Chris Esparza, envisioned a cultural neighborhood anchored by the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The strip mall was previously blighted, with boarded-up businesses and deteriorating storefronts in need of renewal.
Read at Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley's Leading Weekly
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