San Jose: The Lost Opportunity Is Staggering

Forbes ASAP editor Michael S. Malone delivers a damning analysis of how San Jose, CA, has squandered a golden opportunity for redevelopment.

1 minute read

September 19, 2003, 7:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Is this really what we had in mind? Are we really better off than if you had just let downtown San Jose grow organically? ... The simple, and devastating, truth is that despite 20 years and $500 million spent trying to create a city center, San Jose, [California] has continued to grow exactly along the paths it was heading down all along. For example, despite every effort by City Hall to stop it, San Jose has developed multiple power centers: between Highway 237 and Brokaw, at Santana Row, in Willow Glen and in the hills around Silver Creek."

Thanks to Laura Kranz

Friday, September 19, 2003 in Metroactive

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