A plan to transform downtown San Jose's street life with mural, huge sculpture, exercise hubs

Just for the sake of argument, imagine a very different street-level downtown than the one we have in San Jose today, one designed for lingering rather than quick passage.

As you stroll underneath Highway 280 on First Street, you look up and see an underpass decorated like Lego bricks. On Almaden Boulevard, you see people stopping at exercise hubs, roller-skating, or biking on green lanes.

At the corner of San Carlos and Market streets, you spot a two-story mural designed to resemble a forest. You stop to plug your laptop into a mobile solar energy post. Then you cross the street on a blue crosswalk etched with markings that resemble teeth.

A new plan for downtown by CMG Landscape Architecture suggests brightly colored sidewalks and murals. ( CMG Landscape Architecture )

When you finally turn left on Santa Clara Street toward the SAP Center, you see a huge sculpture in the middle of the street, maybe even a shark crushing a hockey stick.

If there's one word to describe all this, it might be playfulness. The notion is to infuse life into downtown's streets by giving people things to do and see and enjoy.

A 191-page booklet prepared by San Francisco landscape architectural firm of CMG, the guys who were also picked to help Facebook, turns San Jose's conventions on their head.

The original planners of downtown's rebirth 30 years ago wanted a well-mannered center city. These guys embrace thoughtful clutter (see the plan at http://sjdowntown.com/groundwerx)

Filling space

At a recent meeting of the San Jose Downtown Association, which commissioned the study, landscape architect Willett Moss, a likeable man in his early 40s, explained that the idea, in its most basic sense, was to fill up San Jose's empty spaces.

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A plan to transform downtown San Jose's street life with mural, huge sculpture, exercise hubs