January 20, 2025
City of San Jose City Council
Attn: Planning, Building & Code Enforcement
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San Jose, CA 95113
RE: Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement (PBCE) Code Enforcement Operations Study Session
Dear Mayor Mahan and Honorable Councilmembers,
Downtown is not the only San Jose district facing pervasive blight. "What's up with the busted buildings in Japantown," is a phrase I've been asked far too many times.
In just over two blocks of our Business Improvement District, we have ten boarded-up or vacant commercial and residential buildings. All but two are listed on the City of San Jose's Historic Resources Inventory and blighted in part due to restrictive historic mandates. There are over 125 Japantown parcels in the Historic Resources Inventory, and virtually none of our property owners are aware of it.
Complex dialogue between San Jose's Historic Landmarks Commission, Code Enforcement, Planning, and Building Departments, as well as unclear distinctions between local and state building regulations for historic properties compounds the issue.
The term "blighted" has historically been used to designate properties and land for government-backed seizure under eminent domain and has racist implications. I am using this language in its contemporary form to call out the results of prohibitive measures that prevented our community from maintaining its properties.
• Three buildings on Taylor Street have been boarded up for over 2 years and underwent a $25K review by a City-approved Historic Resources Consultant and multiple checks by the aforementioned City departments. In that time, thieves have stripped one building entirely of its electrical wires, including the service panel, and squatters have attempted to set fire to it three times. • One residential home on N. 5th Street has been vacant and condemned for over 20 years. I have personally boarded it up twice on behalf of its senior owners. • Two other residential homes on N. 4th Street stand in the way of a new Dharma Center and preschool for the Buddhist Church. My great-uncle owned one home and has the family's blessing to be demolished. It's been boarded up for over 20 years.
• A two-story brick building on N. 6th Street requires more than $1M in seismic retrofitting. It has changed ownership three times in fifteen years, has been vacant for over twenty, and recently had a piece of the structure fall from the second story onto the public sidewalk. The interior second floor has collapsed, and the building has also caught fire. Investors sell the building when they realize it is financially unsustainable to retrofit.
• The Kawakami House, moved to make room for the Japanese American Museum of San Jose in 2006, remains boarded up, frequently invaded by squatters, and without the substantial monetary investment – estimated to be $2.5M – for renovation.
• The Mineta House, the former childhood home of Japantown's own Norman Mineta, has exceeded its renovation budget as its new owners, one of Japantown's leading churches, discovered that their plans needed to meet historic requirements.
565 N. 6th Street, Suite G. San Jose, CA 95112. phone (408) 298-4303. [email protected]
JAPANTOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
These parcels are not owned by irresponsible offshore entities but almost entirely by local families and nonprofits. The requirements meant to protect our history are causing the opposite – bankrupting our families, damaging our nonprofits, and exposing our community to theft, squatters, fire, physical harm, and vulnerability to corporate gentrification or eminent domain.
As someone who is 5th generation Japantown and whose grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, and uncles were incarcerated during WWII, I understand the importance of our own history. Our family also moved and restored our historic 19th Century Italianate Victorian home and rebuilt our Grandfather's Japantown gas station as a coffee shop. We fully understand the financial and logistical challenges of landmark renovation.
We want to preserve our legacy, history, and places, but it's time for the City to allow us the permission, flexibility, and authority to determine our future. We need help to achieve a reasonable balance between preservation and growth that strengthens our historically marginalized, ethnic community.
We appreciate any and all consideration the City Council, Code Enforcement, Historic Landmarks Commission, and Historic Preservation Officer may provide us.
Best,
Tamiko Rast
President, Japantown Business Association
565 N. 6th Street, Suite G. San Jose, CA 95112. phone (408) 298-4303. [email protected]