Even more clarification of falsehoods expressed in historical preservation debate

In our ongoing series outlining misstatements in the discussion over the Schiele Ave. historic designation, we clarify what historic preservation aims to do, and disprove inaccurate comments from councilmember Arenas that suggested the Schiele Ave. neighborhood has a long history of segregation.

"{Historical preservation} is a way of honoring our history, it's a way of saying where we were and where we are now." --Sylvia Arenas, March 24, 2021.

This is an inaccurate understanding of what historical preservation aims to do. Historical preservation has none of the broad, value-driven impulses Arenas ascribes to it. Municipal Code 13.48.020 defines an historic district as, “… a geographically definable areas or urban or rural character, possessing a significant concentration of continuity of site, building, structures or objects unified by past events or aesthetically by plan or physical development." So historical preservation is about built environment and not property policies. And it's certainly not a statement of sweeping historical ethics.

"To call it historical is to offend those of us who are of color who could not live there til as of late." 

Race-base covenants were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court many, many years ago, in 1948. The court's decision effectively ended a type of formal race-based segregation. To put it another way, in the 100+ years of these homes' lifespans, the first twenty-five years (roughly) were covered by race-based covenants, and the remaining and most recent 70+ years (of late) have been free of explicit racial restrictions. This could very well be a determining factor in the highly integrated nature of the neighborhood currently. The current racial mix of the Garden Alameda neighborhood in San Jose is almost identical to the City as a whole, except Garden Alameda has a higher percentage of Black and Mixed Race residents.

More on Shelley vs. Kramer, the Supreme Court decision that struck down racial covenants in 1948, here.

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Photo by waltarrrr.