Planning Commissioner: Councilmember's accusation of neighborhood racism "inaccurate"

In surprising comments at the March 24 San Jose City Rules meeting, SJ councilmember Sylvia Arenas equated neighborhood efforts to preserve 100-year-old homes on Schiele Avenue in San Jose with racism. Planning Commissioner Pierluigi Oliverio disagrees. {Editors' note: more than 70 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that race-based property covenants (which had been applied to the Schiele Avenue properties 1920s through 1940s) were unconstitutional and unenforcable.}

Opportunity Now: What do you make of Councilmember Arenas' charge linking efforts to protect older homes with racism?

PLO: It's simply inaccurate. I say this based on current guidelines governing the process to ascertain historic recognition and the number of years the current homeowners have been seeking this recognition--all the while being excellent stewards of these older houses.

Historic neighborhoods have always been great sources of pride for cities. Apparently, however, based on the current hysteria, it appears historic neighborhoods may now be canceled simply because their old growth wood timbers have withstood a hundred years of history. This is the same neighborhood, mind you, that set up a memorial on Schiele Ave for Trayvon Martin after he was killed.

In the 1948 Shelley v. Kramer decision, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down unjust and offensive racially restrictive covenants. Current Schiele Avenue residents do not support and have nothing to do with property restrictions before their time, and it is false and unfair to suggest they do.

San Jose is an incredibly diverse city and historic district recognition should continue to be based on a defined geographic area that possesses a significant concentration of structures with historical merit.

Watch the whole Ruless Committee Meeting here (Arenas' comments begins around 34 minutes).

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