When Janet Gray Hayes was elected mayor of San Jose in 1974 — becoming the first woman to serve as mayor of a major U.S. city — it launched a feminist wave in the halls of government around Santa Clara County.
On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council should vote to name the City Hall rotunda after Hayes, who died in 2014 at age 87 and left a legacy of inclusion and transparent government — all in line with her slogan, “Let’s make San Jose better before we make it bigger.”
A number of colleagues, former staffers and other community leaders have been working on an appropriate tribute for Hayes, who surprisingly doesn’t have a significant landmark bearing her name in the city. Unlike many politicians, though, Hayes never sought out the spotlight.
“She never sought praise or recognition for the things that she did,” said Barbara Krause, who served as Hayes chief of staff when she was mayor. “When she finished something major, she just quickly got onto the next thing. I think she would be honored by this, but it wasn’t something that she would have sought.”
Krause was part of the group spearheading the effort, including former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery; former San Jose City Councilmember David Pandori; Sarah Janigian, past president of the National Women’s Political Caucus for Santa Clara County; and San Jose State Political Science Professor Emeritus Terry Christensen.
They produced a video with CreaTV San Jose that serves as a history lesson about the era Hayes ushered in during the 1970s and early ’80s featuring U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, former Supervisor Blanca Alvarado, former Councilmember Margie Matthews and Hayes’ daughters, Lindy and Megan. They make a strong case that this is an honor long overdue.
The proposal, authored by San Jose City Councilmember Dev Davis, would add “Janet Gray Hayes Rotunda” inside and outside the building, as well as to wayfinding signs around the plaza. There also would be a memorial plaque inside the rotunda.
During Hayes’ tenure, San Jose revised its charter and switched to district elections in 1978. A rotating photo exhibit celebrating different council districts and the 50th anniversary of that change would be part of this effort, too.
There had been talks about honoring Hayes at the Circle of Palms, next to the San Jose Museum of Art, or renaming Columbus Park after her — a well-meaning but misplaced idea given that she and her husband, Kenneth Hayes, were very critical of airport noise when they lived in the area and the park is in Mineta San Jose’s flight path.
With Hayes’ reputation for pushing for honest government and her desire to welcome more of the community to the political table, the glass-domed rotunda — a place where the city comes to celebrate, mourn and protest — is one of the few places in San Jose that could live up to her name.
SPARTAN CELEBRATION: That was quite a celebration Thursday to open the new Spartan Village on the Paseo, which will bring nearly 700 students to downtown San Jose living in the former south tower of the Signia by Hilton San Jose hotel.
San Jose Downtown Association CEO Alex Stettinski said it’s going to be “awesome” to have students frequenting the Paseo de San Antonio between Market and Fourth streets on a daily basis. “It’s creating foot traffic, and that’s what we want,” he said. “They may be students, but they’re consumers, too.”
Jim Angelopoulos, who just opened Campus Burgers on the Paseo at Third Street, said he thinks it’ll be a big plus for downtown merchants like him. “How could it not be, having 700 students coming down here every day?” he said.
San Jose Stage Artistic Director Randall King, a San Jose State alum, said having students back should help make up for the work-from-home crowd not being around as much. “Downtown needs a pulse and they’ll bring a heartbeat to downtown,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll come see some theater, too.”
HELPING HAND: While everyone was celebrating the opening of Spartan Village on the Paseo, San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson made sure to give special thanks to state Sen. Dave Cortese for a very special assist in getting the project open in time for the school year. During a meeting with Cortese, Teniente-Matson shared her concern that the state fire marshal might not grant approvals for the conversion project, including building permits, in time.
Cortese authored a bill that specifically took the project out of the state fire marshal’s hands and put it under the purview of the California State University fire safety office, which could act with more expedience. “We did something kind of old school,” he said of the legislative maneuver.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK: After missing out on getting a BART holiday sweater last year, I made sure to pre-order the Caltrain holiday sweater this week. It does make me wonder when VTA will get on board the merch train (The Silicon Valley transit agency did give away a few holiday sweaters last year but didn’t offer them for sale).
Of course, the big items on Caltrain’s store are the diesel locomotives it’ll be putting up for auction after the electrified fleet takes over this fall. Transit advocate Monica Mallon had a great idea that someone should purchase one and turn it into a railroad museum. Sounds perfect for Diridon Station. There’s already a multibillion-dollar proposal to turn it into the Grand Central Station of the West — surely, there’s some philanthropist out there willing to kick in for a museum.
Meanwhile, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was charged up to ride the first fully-electrified trains leaving out of San Francisco last weekend. He praised the new rides, wryly noting during last weekend’s San Jose Jazz Summer Fest, “Trains will be fully operational between San Francisco and San Jose in just a few weeks and help all those poor San Franciscans suffering with the brutally cold summer up there to get down here faster, cleaner and quieter.”
FESTIVE TRIBUTE: The late Chris Esparza loved a good party and he loved the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose. So how appropriate that for his celebration of life at “La Plaza” on Monday, Aug. 20, at 5 p.m., there’ll be a New Orleans-style Second Line procession around the building.
Brendan Rawson, San Jose Jazz’s executive director and a longtime friend of Esparza’s, says marching musicians are invited to bring an instrument to help send him off properly, and others can bring a parasol or handkerchief to wave if they like.