SAN JOSE — What is left of the former Mexican American Community Services Agency facility in East San Jose will soon be demolished. While it had gone through its share of troubles over the past decade-plus, a devastating three-alarm fire last month reduced it to rubble.
Now, neighborhood organizers are demanding a say in the future of the beloved center, which was long a vibrant community hub for the city’s diverse Alum Rock and Mayfair neighborhoods.
“This building means community, it means identity, it means culture, it means changing lives,” said Victor Vasquez, co-executive director of SOMOS Mayfair, who watched and wept as the building burned. “It is weaved into the identity of Mayfair and San Jose. It is a cultural asset and part of our cultural (history). It is meant to be passed down.”
For months before the Aug. 29 fire, community organizers with SOMOS Mayfair, the Mexican Heritage Plaza and the Si Se Puede Collective had been lobbying the Alum Rock School District to partner with them to reopen and rehabilitate the abandoned youth center…