SAN JOSE — East San Jose organizers devastated by a fire that destroyed a beloved former community center are relaunching a campaign to replace and rebuild the site.
After the Alum Rock Union School Board last month approved demolition of the blighted and burned former Mexican American Community Services Agency building, organizers with SOMOS Mayfair sprang back into action.
Excavators and construction contractors started work earlier this month, knocking down the Meso-American-styled walls that housed former neighborhood soccer matches and bilingual classes for Latino and immigrant residents and students.
The demolition has rekindled a mission to rebuild the facility and preserve its culture and history. On Saturday, about 50 residents and organizers convened a cleanup and dumpster day for the streets surrounding the former MACSA building, gathering litter and trash and piling it up for disposal.
“Obviously, it’s still sad. But we had to move onto the next stage,” SOMOS Mayfair Co-Executive Director Victor Vasquez told this news organization. “We’ve been able to grieve, think and imagine the future.”
The project is the group’s first organized rebuilding action since a three-alarm fire that erupted in August destroyed the MACSA building. Community members at the time cried and mourned as their hopes of rehabilitating and reopening the historic structure were reduced to ashes.
The group will now continue to lobby the school district for an agreement that will allow them to personally help decide what will replace the MACSA site.
Organizers envision a one-stop center for children and families to have access to a gym, library, community garden, various legal and housing services and more. The center could benefit the students and teachers at Renaissance Academy at Mathson, an adjacent school which reopened this year with 500 students. A teacher housing site is also planned near the former MACSA building.
Longtime residents can recall MACSA’s prime as a hub for youth services and gang violence prevention, before financial corruption scandals — including the IRS revoking the facility’s nonprofit status in 2012 over misuse of teacher pension funds — ultimately led to its abrupt closure over 10 years ago.
All that was left standing from the facility among the rubble on Saturday was a graffitied corner of the original facade and the stone MACSA sign in the driveway. Vasquez said he hopes the district will agree to somehow preserve the sign.
Saturday was a chance for organizers to gather and start beautifying the neighborhood, which is largely home to working class and immigrant residents. Vasquez said he doesn’t want the rubble of MACSA to transfer into the nearby streets, and vowed to help change the appearance of the area.
“When you have a space that looks like this, it’s easy to lose track of keeping your community clean,” Vasquez said. “Once you build something beautiful and positive, then you start to change the environment.”
Cara, a 17-year-old neighborhood resident, said she showed up Saturday because MACSA represented the history and culture of the neighborhood. As a graduating senior of a high school in the district, she said “I’m here because I want a better future for the youth that are growing up here.”
MACSA was “very cultural, and I think that’s something that people take for granted. But it was very beautiful,” she said. “It’s important to keep the neighborhood clean. It’s important to invest in your community.”
Citlali Martinez, an organizer for SOMOS Mayfair, said she had witnessed the demolition crews break the walls down of her cherished MACSA building. Though it was an emotional thing to see, she said it provided a metaphoric image for their organization’s mission.
“Every time (the demolition crews) hit the wall, it was as if the building was not letting go without a battle,” she said. “We have to keep taking punches but standing up tall.”