Save the Sakauye Farmstead
Tell Mayor Matt Mahan, San Jose City Council, Planning Director Chris Burton, and Parks Director Jon Cicirelli: Don't let this historic Japanese-American farmstead be destroyed!
Use our automated email tool to the right, or copy/paste and personalize the following letter to email your elected officials and City staff re: the "0 Seely Avenue Mixed Use Project" before City Council meets on August 13th, 2024. For more information on the Sakauye Farmstead and the project threatening to demolish it, visit our Endangered Eight page.
Subject: Agenda 10.3: 0 Seely Avenue Mixed Use Project
Dear Mayor, Council, and City Directors,
I am writing to express my strong support for the preservation of the historic Sakauye Farmstead as part of the "0 Seely Avenue Mixed Use Project" being proposed by Hanover Development. While I understand the need for new development in the city, this project can and must be redesigned to avoid the unnecessary demolition of the architecturally and culturally significant Sakauye Farmhouse, which occupies only 2,200 square feet of this large 22-acre project.
The Sakauye Farmstead is one of the last working orchards in San Jose and was the lifelong home of important agriculturalist, civic leader, and preservationist Eiichi Sakauye (1912-2005). The Sakauye House tells the important story of San Jose’s Japanese-American farming legacy in the Valley of Heart's Delight, the unjust internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the community's hard-fought efforts to reintegrate in the years and decades following the war.
This is an undertold story and San Jose has almost completely divested itself from the remaining historic resources we have to share this story. This is a story that should not be told in books alone, or honored only with plaques, when the opportunity to save these actual places themselves is still available to us and to future generations. Please do not approve the demolition of this priceless historic resource! Instead, I urge you to make the preservation of the Sakauye Farmstead a condition of any development approvals.
Thank you.
***
Sign and email to:
Email San Jose City Council:
Sign our petition!
To the Mayor, City Council, and City Directors,
I strongly support the preservation of the historic Sakauye Farmstead as part of the "0 Seely Avenue Mixed Use Project." Feasible alternatives to demolition exist for this architecturally and culturally significant Japanese-American landmark, and must be required by the City of San Jose as part of any approvals for the site's redevelopment.