Drew Jacksich Wrote:
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> It does not serve the airport because the original
> planning fell victim to the long held fantasy of a
> revival of downtown as some sort of
> entertainment/high end retail/up scale dining
> area. As I said before, the fact that then mayor
> Tom McHenry's family has significant property
> holdings down there was a major factor. Other than
> office space, downtown San Jose died in the 1950's
> and NOTHING is going to bring it back.
>> Drew Jacksich
>
> Life long San Jose resident and distressed about
> it.
>
Actually, Drew, it was the Alex Hart's and other major merchants in downtown San Jose in the '50's that shot themselves in both feet when they refused to let Macy's come to town so the city of Santa Clara said "HEY!! Macy's!! we love you" and thus was Valley Fair born and downtown San Jose turned to desert. Those who ultimately didn't move to Valley Fair (and IIRC both Lindsay's your former employer and McWhorters decamped to Valley Fair) moved across the street to Town and Country village, now the scene of Santana Row. And when they finally started to build the light rail through what was left of down town, the final coup de gras was delivered.
Sad.
C.

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