When people say they live in the Cambrian Park neighborhood of San Jose, they often detail where they live by referring to the Cambrian Park Plaza. Originally built in 1953, the Cambrian Park Plaza has lost a number of businesses and is in need of revitalization. In 2015, the plaza was purchased by Weingarten Realty for nearly $50 million. Since then, the developer put forth different iterations of a proposal for the plaza and submitted development plans to the city. Before walking into this office, I knew major changes would need to be made to their latest proposal. After numerous conversations and after gathering large amounts of feedback from a number of stakeholders, I wrote a letter to the developer asking for meaningful modifications to their plan. In November high-ranking City of San Jose officials and I met with Weingarten. I came back from the meeting more optimistic than I had been in recent months that the developer had listened to my suggestions. Once Weingarten has further analyzed the potential for the next iteration of their project, I hope to return to the community with a robust community outreach campaign seeking further feedback and comment.
