San Jose is getting ready to move ahead with a huge housing development that will add more than 1,500 homes and commercial space, but preservationists and Japanese American community groups are clashing with the city, worried the project could erase the property's historical significance.
A house on the 23-acre site belonged to a Japanese American pioneer and community icon, Eiichi, also known as Ed Sakauye, who was not only a prominent farmer but maintained the farm even through internment during World War II. That's one reason why the Preservation Action Council wants the house saved one way or another.
Right now, the plan is to tear everything down and name a park at the site after Sakauye.
"We have to do better," Preservation Action Council of San Jose Executive Director Ben Leech said. "This is a really special place. It's one of the last orchards in San Jose. It's connected to just such an important family legacy. Whether it's saving the house on site, whether it's saving some of the trees on site, whether it's moving the house to History Park or some combination, at the end of the day, we want this to still be a special place."
Sakauye was a founder of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj), and the well-known agricultural exhibit there is made up almost entirely from his farm.
"Japanese Americans contributed so much to the agricultural landscape of the Santa Clara Valley, what was then the Valley of the Heart's Delight," JAMsj Director Vanessa Hatakeyama said. "We want to make sure that that history is not forgotten. We, just like many groups, came over as immigrants to work the land. The landscape of this valley was shaped by that. Eiichi's family is one of those examples."
Former congressman and family friend Mike Honda agrees.
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"He wanted to make sure that his legacy, his history and his experience, and the experience of the Japanese American community in Santa Clara County, would be preserved and would be remembered and taught," Honda said.
The city and developer are planning public meetings to discuss the public park design. When it’s scheduled, the Preservation Action Council will put details on its website, preservation.org.
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