WINNER OF 2023 ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS PACEMAKER AWARD, NEWSPAPER/NEWSMAGAZINE NAMED BEST CAMPUS NEWSPAPER IN CALIFORNIA FOR 2022 BY THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION AND CALIFORNIA NEWS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Volume 162 No. 29 WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
SERVING SAN JOSÉ STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
SPOT NEWS
PHOTO COURTESY OF UPD
ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
MIKE CORPOS | SPARTAN DAILY
A unidentified person of interest is being sought by UPD for suspicion of involvement in two fires that started on the eighth floor of the MLK Library, Monday.
No injuries were reported after two cars crashed at around 6 p.m. at the intersection of E. San Salvador Street and Third Street.
California residents got the opportunity to see a rare celestial event after a total solar eclipse passed through Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
Ethnic groups discuss advocacy By Melissa Alejandres STAFF WRITER
The Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment (CAPISE) at San José State hosted a speaker discussion event in honor of Arab American Heritage Month in April and Asian Pacific American Month in May on Monday at 2 p.m. in the Student Union. Asian Pacific American Heritage Month begins in May and celebrates the achievements and accomplishments of API around the United States, according to Asian Pacific American Month’s website. Arab American Heritage Month was officially declared in April 2021 and celebrates the diversity and achievements of Arab Americans, according to the Arab America Foundation Website. Asian American studies sophomore Yong Ooi, a community organizer at CAPISE, asked speakers opening questions about how students can get involved in
advocacy in more ways than protesting. CAPISE began with decades of work where faculty and students were requesting a center for API students, Ooi said. “We provide a space for Asian or Pacific Islander students to hang out, get resources from and career advising and even study abroad advising,” she said. Discussions like these help students engage with advocacy, Ooi said. One of the speakers, Maryam Ayadi, president of the SJSU Muslim Student Association said her first experience with advocacy started by advocating for a prayer space for Muslim students at SJSU. “The Muslim community was overlooked, where there is a large population of Muslims on campus,” Ayadi said. The Muslim Student Association was finally able to get a prayer space and room in the MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center, Ayadi said. Current Program
Caz Salamanca, director of the Asian American/Pacific Islander Resource Center at UC Santa Cruz said to start by learning other people's language of advocacy. “Change can take a long time sometimes, but don't give up on your goal,” Salamanca said. Diana Pondivilla Victa, department manager of the César E. Chávez Community Action Center and president of (CaCCCHE) which is the California Council of Cultural Centers in Higher Education, said understanding your system is the number one step Victa KAYA HENKES-POWER | SPARTAN DAILY said. Students from the Center for Asian Pacific Islander Student Empowerment discuss Knowing what it is you Arab American Heritage Month and Asian Pacific American Month in the Student Union. want to change is the number one question you should be Coordinator for CAPISE API and Arab Americans,” might feel like we are the asking yourself, Victa said. Mary Tran said CAPISE Tran said. only ones, but we are here to “You don’t need 50 people offers different services CAPISE also hosts a lot let students know we support for change to happen as long including drop-in hours, a of events that center around them,” Tran said. as people can support you,” resource library and our first- what API means to students Ooi wrapped up the Victa said. year Asian Pacific Islander and provides the opportunity discussion by asking the empowerment internship for students to engage with panelists what last pieces program. other people with similar of advice could be given “Specifically today’s panel thoughts, she said. Follow the Spartan Daily to students who want to highlighted what advocacy on Instagram “Many times when we advocate but may not know @SpartanDaily and activism look like for go through experiences we where to start.
City proposes building project By Kaya Henkes-Power STAFF WRITER
The City of San José proposed a project that will allow for a 60-foot tall multi-use building to be constructed on the northeast corner of Hemlock Avenue in a meeting on Monday evening. Planning Project Manager Angela Wong led the webinar and presented the construction project. Wong said to construct this six-story building, three existing buildings and 15 trees will be demolished. She said the building will be 166,570 square feet wide and include 75 multifamily dwelling units and 100 residential parking spaces. Attendees at the meeting proposed a special-use permit amendment and vesting tentative map. A special-use permit is a type of zoning permit that permits a specific piece of land or property to be used in a way that veers from the usual accepted use of the area, according to a webpage from LegalMatch. A vesting tentative map shows a
proposed subdivision and allows the right to continue development for a specific period, according to city codes from the City of Dana Point. “The tentative map is to merge three blocks into one lot for up to eight commercial condominium units,” Wong said. She said the permit will also allow for commercial condominiums to be on the site as well. Commercial condominiums refer to a project that is intended to or include commercial occupancy, according to a webpage by the Code Publishing Company. “The site is designated as an (urban village) and it’s also within the Santana Row Valley Fair Urban Village Plan,” Wong said. Urban villages are areas that have both residential and job-based developments, have access to transit and are walkable, according to a webpage by the City of San José. This is in alignment with the city’s Envision San José 2040 General Plan, which aims to have 60 urban villages, according to the same webpage. Urban village plans include
specific requirements for sites depending on where in the city the construction will take place, according to the city’s Planning, Building & Code Enforcement webpage. “These urban village plans allow up to 60 feet in height for the current project height,” Wong said. Sam Monfared, architect of the project and owner of the Carpira Design Group, will be spearheading the project. “We dedicated a portion of the property to provide the 12-feet sidewalk for pedestrians which is the urban village requirement,” Monfared said. He said the company intends to bring a similar feeling as Santana Row with the project. An open forum was provided where community members had two minutes to voice concerns or questions. Adam Asghari, the owner of the project, said the project would be an asset to the neighborhood in response to community member's concerns in the forum.
SCREENSHOT BY KAYA HENKES-POWER
Digital rendering shows the proposed 60-foot tall multi-use building the City of San José proposed on Monday evening.
“Compared to the other alternatives such as affordable housing, I think having high-end condominiums, which would be owned by people, would be a good asset,” Ashgari said. A community member voiced her concerns about living across fro the construction site with her two children.
“I love where I live, even with the issues we’ve dealt with (but) I would not want to live across from this building,” she said “This does not seem like a safe place to have my kids here.” Follow Kaya on Instagram @kayuh.h