BUILDING GREAT COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT SILICON VALLEY
By 2035 there will be more than 9.3 million people living in the Bay Area - two million more than the number who call the Bay Area home today. There is no question whether the local population will continue to grow. But can we plan for growth in a way that improves the quality of life of residents and still preserves our open spaces?
As part of Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s regional planning grantmaking strategy, we partner with grassroots community groups, regional nonprofit organizations, and other community foundations in the Great Communities Collaborative, or GCC. Through our support of this collaborative and the community foundation’s regional planning strategy, we seek to realize a bold vision of a Silicon Valley with vibrant, walkable communities near rapid transit with access to services, jobs and homes for all its residents.
At the local level, our GCC partners work to create these spaces. In the area surrounding San José’s Diridon Station, with the community foundation’s support, Greenbelt Alliance and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition are working together with a wide coalition of diverse stakeholders -- including local residents, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Healthy Silicon Valley -- to build support for the city’s plan to create a walkable community surrounding the Diridon Station, a major multi-modal transportation hub in the South Bay.
Organizing public tours provides an opportunity to create an open dialogue between all stakeholders – including residents, developers and city planners. During one such tour along San José’s North First Street Corridor that drew more than 70 people, San José City Councilmember Sam Liccardo noted: “There are no cities in this region with the capacity for growth like San José. We need to think carefully now about how we plan for it, knowing that the suburban sprawl model is an environmental and fiscal dead end."
The city of East Palo Alto is planning for as many as 1,400 new homes and 1,800 new jobs to the area surrounding the future Dumbarton Rail Station. Our local partner Urban Habitat along with Youth United for Community Action, worked with a broad coalition of local groups and held a series of six workshops to educate community members on the key issues, technical concepts, dynamics and best practices related to planning. By conducting these workshops before the city’s planning process officially began, our local partners have prepared residents and community leaders to bring their local expertise into the planning process.
This summer, the community foundation announced the grantees of its Regional Planning strategy. We hope that through our strong support of the GCC and grantees of this strategy, the quality of life of all the people who live, work and play in our two-county region improves and that our beautiful region continues to thrive in balance with the environmental landscape.
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Photos courtesy of volunteer Nina Robinson.
From top to bottom: San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed addresses the group; Marla Wilson of Greenbelt Alliance leads residents and leaders on a tour of the North Park Apartment Village on North First Street in San José; San José Councilmember Sam Liccardo laughs with another tour participant; Tour participants visit nonprofit developer First Community Housing’s award-winning Gish Apartments in San José.
