Part of our vision for the 28th Street BART station is a central plaza, similar to those in Portugal, with a band stand. It would be a place where the local Portuguese bands could play and entertain. (details below) The above picture is from the city of Sabadell in Spain.
On the 130th anniversary of the founding of Banco Sabadell, they wanted to pay homage to their home city.. They sponsored a campaign called “Som Sabadell” (We are Sabadell) . The following video is of the flashmob that they arranged as a final culmination for the event. Over 100 people from the Vallès Symphony Orchestra, the Lieder, Amics de l’Òpera and Coral Belles Arts choirs participated in Beethoven’s Symphony number 9 (Ode to Joy).
In the 2002 Five Wounds Village Plan, we called for a;
New Town Square at San Jose Steel. The San Jose Steel site can be transformed to a new Town Square, surrounded by streets with parallel parking and framed by civic and commercial uses. The mass of future uses should step down towards Five Wounds Church. (page IV-36)
Today, the Five Wounds Urban Village Plan of 2013 states;
Land Use Policy 2: Create a “Town Square” or public plaza within a central location in the Five Wounds Urban Village area. Preferably on the San Jose Steel site around the planned Alum Rock BART Station. Pedestrian promenades that radiate out from this square are also encouraged. Land Use Policy 3: Focus mixed‐use development around the town square. Land Use Policy 4: A significant public plaza should be included at the location of the planned Alum Rock BART station.
This video epitomizes my vision of what our plaza should look like when completed. The key factors being “full of people, full of life.”