A year after its completion, the downtown San Jose Street Life Plan is in full swing, with murals to pocket parks to art crosswalks being completed and proposed. We caught SJ Downtown Association's Street Life Project Manager, Jason Su, on the phone ahead of his SPUR presentation today to hear more. He says the projects reflect the new development and investment coming, as well as the existing artist, urbanist, and "maker" energy growing. The city's at a point where it's got the community interested in good urban design, and they want to live and eat here. These street projects entice them to stay, explore and discover downtown San Jose, he says.
A mural corner coming to Second and San Carlos, rendered above, will have an elevated aspect to add more visual interest and pedestrian scale to the parking lot. Another in the works along Paseo de San Antonio are art crosswalks, which aims to be playful and whimsical and enhance the pedestrian experience, he says (an RFQ is out for the artist). When developers or the city want to spruce up their property, Jason says the street life plan gives them a menu of ideas they can easily access.
A new panda has recently been completed on First Street. Artist Phuong-Mai Bui-Quang (Mai) of PMBQ Studios reimagined the former beloved panda mural painted by Paul Gonzalez, which fell into disrepair over the years.
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