North San Jose residents spar with city over neglected community

One North San Jose neighborhood has endured more than 50 years of neglect — and residents are fed up with false promises from city officials. They want to step in and improve their historic community.

Alviso residents woke up early Sunday morning to decorate the weathered community center with Christmas lights and holiday-themed ornaments only to find caution tape and orange barriers around empty plots of dirt in front of the community center. Residents said the landscaping had been torn out by San Jose parks officials in the city’s latest move to stop residents from planting trees and flowers on the land. But it didn’t deter them from hosting a holiday gathering in the evening with dozens of locals coming out to celebrate.

Ruben Orozco, a resident of Alviso since it was its own city independent of San Jose in 1959, said he helped plant small trees for the holiday gathering to replace recently-removed plants. Orozco said he’s tired of the narrative that Alviso is a “poor” community, a characterization that leads to a negative view of the neighborhood.

“The population has changed, but the attitude from the rest of San Jose hasn’t,” Orozco told San José Spotlight. “Everybody admired the work that had been put into just beautifying the landscaping because everybody walks to the post office, they walk to the clinic. It was a nice little path and now it’s gone.”

San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services spokesperson Amanda Rodriguez said people aren’t allowed to work on city property without permission because it can cause accidents or injuries.

“There has been unapproved work at Alviso Park that has damaged utility lines and unauthorized work that conflicts with the park’s long-term plans,” she told San José Spotlight. “We encourage residents to continue to engage directly with (parks) staff as we have done in recent meetings with residents in Alviso.”

Mark Espinoza, a longtime resident who has sued the city numerous times, said his latest effort to plant flowers in front of the shuttered Alviso Community Center ahead of the 18th annual Santos Family Car Show in August also faced interference by city workers. He denied being responsible for damaging any utility lines.

“There’s a bench there, a few tables and a barbecue, it’s all been abandoned, like, there’s been weeds growing everywhere,” he told San José Spotlight. “We got together and first cut all the weeds, emptied the trash, and then we went, ‘You know what? We’re here, let’s plant some roses and flowers then cut the grass.’”

Despite the fledgling gardens being enjoyed by residents who came out for this summer’s car show, including two San Jose police officers who posed in front of the flowers, Espinoza said all of the plants were again ripped out.

Concerns over conditions in Alviso came to the forefront in recent years when Espinoza set out to beautify the neighborhood by removing dirt and trash from city-owned land without the proper permits to create community green spaces.

The cold war between Espinoza and city parks department officials deescalated after the city removed nearby surveillance cameras meant to discourage residents from working on Alviso Park. But not everyone is aligned with Alviso residents going out and tearing up unused property just because they don’t like how it looks.

Richard Santos, a Valley Water board member and longtime community member whose family runs the Santos Family Car Show, said while he he sees Espinoza’s efforts to be self-serving and property damage, the sentiment that Alviso needs improvements is real.

“We should have our own district since we have over 100,000 people from Brokaw Road to Alviso — that demands a full time council person,” he told San José Spotlight. “It’s called lack of equality. If you go downtown or to Willow Glen, do you see any abandoned vehicles that have been there for years? No.”

If given the proper funding and attention, he said Alviso can become a hub for residents and visitors like so many other San Jose community centers.

“San Jose has neglected us for 57 years, so there’s nothing new there,” Santos said. “Even with our new councilmember we had a committee, a consultant and the city paid for it. We all said ‘after 57 years here’s what we want’ and he hasn’t done a damn thing.”

Councilmember David Cohen, who represents the area, said he’s proud of the work they have done to bring overdue upgrades to public amenities in Alviso. He points out the revamping of the playing surfaces and bleachers at Alviso Park, the adding of an exercise loop in the north park, building a new community garden and upgrading playgrounds.

“When members of the community take actions such as painting buildings or planting trees on city property without coordination, it often creates challenges that require the city to make corrections, which results in resources being taken away from the larger projects that we are committed to delivering and will benefit families who live in Alviso,” Cohen told San José Spotlight.

Residents submitted a master plan to city parks officials in 2018 with goals and suggestions for how to improve the area. Alviso Park is the only neighborhood park serving the community’s population of about 2,100 residents, according to the master plan.

“We tried to do some beautification and submitted a plan for the future of Alviso park to city officials, and they accepted it, but so far they haven’t acted on it even though it’s been approved for years now,” Orozco told San José Spotlight. “The city said it was going to cost a couple million dollars and left it at that.”

But Cohen said improvements can be seen across Alviso, including a repainted and upgraded library infrastructure and a repaving of all the Alviso streets.

“Looking ahead, we have presented designs to build out playing fields in the park and will be doing further modernization of playgrounds,” he told San José Spotlight.  I am committed to finding resources to complete these projects.”
Orozco said the possibility of his plants being removed is not discouraging him from trying to add color to his neighborhood, but he hopes workers let the flowers stay through Christmas.

“A little beautification never hurts anyone,” he said.

Contact Vicente Vera at [email protected] or follow @VicenteJVera on X, formerly known as Twitter.