San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Councilmember Michael Mulcahy and a number of other metropolis transportation staff gathered lately to chop the ribbon on Katherine Courtroom, a 500-foot stretch of street within the metropolis’s Rose Backyard neighborhood subsequent to Interstate 880. Admittedly, a ribbon-cutting for a small residential avenue is a little bit bizarre, and Katherine Courtroom isn’t new — it’s been on the maps for greater than a century.
But it surely’s been given new life because of an revolutionary, first-of-its sort challenge.
You see, Katherine Courtroom is a part of the 0.2% of San Jose’s 2,500 miles of streets not paved with asphalt. It was paved fully with concrete, and the final time that occurred might have been in late 1929 or 1930, in line with a Mercury Herald article I discovered.
Metropolis staff, in vests, be part of Rose Backyard Neighborhood Affiliation President Bob Sippel, Mayor Matt Mahan and San Jose Metropolis Councilmember Michael Mulcahy as they minimize the ribbon to reopen Katherine Courtroom, which the town repaved with permeable concrete pavers, on Nov. 7, 2025. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
Asphalt streets must be resurfaced each 10 to twenty years, a transportation official instructed me, however concrete can final a long time longer. Within the case of Katherine Courtroom, although, it was closely cracked — consider your storage flooring — and had been patched a couple of occasions. Bob Sippel, president of the Rose Backyard Neighborhood Affiliation, mentioned when staff would come out to restore the road, they’d inform him it was solely a short lived repair.
Sadly, the road had a extra everlasting downside: The sidewalks had been virtually stage with the road and there weren’t any gutters or storm drains. In consequence, heavy rains would trigger some main flooding because the avenue was so flat the water couldn’t run wherever. When that occurred, Sippel, who has lived within the neighborhood because the Nineteen Seventies, would assist push the water down the road with a brush.
“So we did what San Jose does best,” Mahan mentioned. “We innovated.”
The permeable concrete pavers used for Katherine Courtroom, in San Jose’s Rose Backyard neighborhood, will enable the road higher drainage. (Sal Pizarro/Bay Space Information Group)
A workforce from the town’s division of transportation, led by challenge supervisor Isaiah Watts, changed the damaged concrete with interlocking permeable concrete pavers that may enable storm water to seep underground beneath them. Councilmember Mulcahy, whose district contains Katherine Courtroom, mentioned metropolis staff went door-to-door to speak to neighbors to ensure their issues had been addressed and that the road saved a few of its quirkiness, like gently sloping curbs.
Mulcahy expressed his gratitude to the neighbors for collaborating on the revolutionary resolution, the primary time the town has used pavers for a avenue like this. “This project is a small street with a big impact, a model for how San Jose can preserve the character of our historic neighborhoods while investing in more sustainable, resilient futures,” Mulcahy mentioned.
The challenge had a $800,000 price ticket, considerably greater than the $2,104.30 contract awarded to pave it in 1929. In fact, that’s not a foul deal if it lasts one other century.
CLASSIC COUPLE: Who says younger love doesn’t final? Dom and Suzanne Cortese — who had been married when he was 23 and he or she was 20 — celebrated their seventieth wedding ceremony anniversary on Wednesday. The couple’s son, state Sen. Dave Cortese, says his dad and mom had a quiet night at residence with their 5 grownup kids dropping in.
Dom Cortese, who served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors after which 16 years within the State Meeting, was a primary lieutenant within the U.S. Military stationed at Fort Ord when he married Suzanne Donovan. His navy duties allowed the couple time for only a one-day honeymoon in Carmel. Once they obtained again, a scarcity of groceries meant their first dinner was pancakes, accompanied by a scramble to seek out garments hangers for his or her new “home” on the barracks.
RALLYING FOR JACK’S: My colleague George Avalos had an replace this week on the persevering with woes of Jordan and Rina Trigg, who’ve closed two of their 4 Japantown companies and misplaced their properties to foreclosures. Trigg says they’re nonetheless making an attempt to carry onto what’s left, and to that finish, Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong and San Jose Metropolis Councilmember Anthony Tordillos are internet hosting a fundraiser on Nov. 19 at Jack’s Bar to assist the household.
The occasion runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Jack’s in Japantown, 167 E. Taylor St. You may as well donate to a GoFundMe marketing campaign straight.
GOOD COMPANY: The Palo Alto Museum has added a well-known identify, Joe Simitian, to its roster of Honorary Chairs because it will get nearer to its opening subsequent spring.
Simitian — who served on the Palo Alto Metropolis Council, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, state Meeting and state Senate — will likely be an envoy for the museum, alongside along with his fellow Honorary Chairs — civil rights scholar Clay Carson, Los Altos surgeon Dean Clark, schooling chief Gloria Hom, Pulitzer Prize historian David Kennedy and philanthropy-tech pioneer Susan Packard Orr — who will likely be working with CEO Marguerite Gong Hancock.
“It has been tremendously satisfying to help bring the museum this far, but what excites me most is what comes next, transforming the wonderfully restored historic building into a living, breathing community space,” Simitian mentioned. “The Palo Alto Museum will not only preserve our history, it will spark new conversations and connections to help us build a better future together. It’s exactly the kind of vibrant civic and cultural anchor Palo Alto deserves.”
