The San Jose City Council in Northern California approved a Columbus Park revitalization plan on April 15 that will transform the 9.4-acre park into a neighborhood sports park.
The park is currently closed, with dozens of RVs scattered across the grounds. In a speech announcing the plan at Columbus Park, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan called it one of the largest homeless encampments San Jose has seen since the “Jungle” along Coyote Creek, which closed in 2014.
“What you see behind me across the street here is a failure of government,” Mahan said on April 15. “This is supposed to be a public park, a shared space for families, kids, and seniors, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at it today.”
Columbus Park in San Jose, Calif., on April 17, 2025. Dylan Morgan/The Epoch Times
The proposed park layout features two soccer fields, a half basketball court, horseshoe pitches, pickleball courts, a futsal court, a play area, and a parking lot.
The project is estimated to cost $19.5 million, according to the city’s presentation at the council meeting.
Columbus Park Revitalization Plan Layout from a San Jose City Council Meeting Presentation on April 15, 2025.
In October 2019, the city council approved funding to reconstruct Columbus Park with soccer fields and other recreational activities, according to a March memorandum. The project has since faced delays “due to site complexity, staff capacity, and agency coordination,” said Jon Cicirelli, director of the Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services Department, in the document.
Construction for the project is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2026, and the park is set to be usable by the third quarter of 2027.
Columbus Park in San Jose, Calif., on April 17, 2025. Dylan Morgan/The Epoch Times
In his speech, Mahan said that in the past three years, the area generated over 400 priority-one emergency calls, which involve a threat to human life, including over 30 in the first quarter of this year.
He also said that the Guadalupe community garden, which resides next door to the park, suffers repeated break-ins and impacts from the dangerous encampment, which San Jose will take steps to decommission later in the year.
“This site isn’t safe for the people living here or the surrounding community,” Mahan said. “That’s why we’re here.”
Elizabeth Loretto, board president of the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, said the plan adds another vibrant destination next to the Guadalupe garden and is a powerful step forward for the park and neighborhood.
“Columbus Park was a place where neighbors gathered, kids played sports, and school sports teams practiced together,” she said in her speech at Columbus Park. “This project will help us bring back that spirit.”
At the city council meeting, Mahan said he is aware that some of the RVs will move to city streets, but said they will have to abide by the rules of living in a vehicle parked on a public street. He added that the plan is not perfect, but the city is doing its best to balance many different needs in the community.
In his speech, the mayor said the city is also investing in shelter options, and this year is opening over 1,000 safe shelters and interim housing.
“No one should have to live in a park, and no community should be asked to give up its public spaces indefinitely,” he said.
Columbus Park in San Jose, Calif., on April 17, 2025. Dylan Morgan/The Epoch Times
