Three months after trading his role as San Jose Planning Commission chairman for a seat on the City Council, Anthony Tordillos has nominated his replacement.
The District 3 representative has tapped Aimée Escobar, a veteran urban planner with an extensive background in housing policy, to fill the seat he vacated in August. Councilmembers will hold a confirmation vote on Tuesday.
If her nomination is approved, Escobar, 52, will join the 11-member advisory body that helps steer the city’s land-use decisions. As the planning commission appointee for District 3, which covers San Jose’s downtown neighborhoods, she would be expected to represent downtown residents as the city continues to devise ways to revitalize the area following COVID.
Escobar said she is eager to start the new job, where she will have an opportunity to put to use the experience she has accumulated over her 25 years in the land use and planning sectors.
“(The role offers) a lot of exciting challenges and things that I’ve been following for quite some time, or have touched in a different way that I know are coming to the forefront of planning within the city of San Jose,” she told San José Spotlight.
Escobar, a San Jose native and longtime District 3 resident, has served on the Santa Clara County Planning Commission for the past 10 years. She plans to vacate that seat if her nomination is approved, she said.
Escobar works as an analyst for the city manager’s office in Santa Clara. She holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from San Jose State University.
She has held numerous other roles in the urban planning sector over the years, including a decade as a housing policy analyst for the Santa Clara County Housing Authority. The agency administers housing voucher programs for low-income residents. Escobar has also spent years working as a land use consultant representing businesses in San Jose.
“I’m proud to put forward Aimée Escobar to fill the District 3 seat on the San Jose Planning Commission,” Tordillos told San José Spotlight. “She will bring significant planning expertise to this role.”
The commission advises council on decisions related to the city’s built environment, offering recommendations for individual building projects as well as for the city’s long-term strategy for development and economic growth. Tordillos had served as the body’s chair until winning the District 3 City Council seat in a June special election.
Escobar said her highest priority will be to help address San Jose’s housing shortage. In particular, she has voiced support for the further expansion of publicly-backed affordable housing developments.
Other top priorities include reforming San Jose’s historic preservation rules and revitalizing downtown, she said.
“COVID did a lot of damage, and we need to think differently as to how we rebuild and what we allow for,” Escobar said.
To drive out more foot traffic, she said she’d like to see downtown properties opened up to a more diverse mix of residential and commercial uses.
This isn’t the first time that Escobar has been up for a planning commission seat.
In 2019, she was one of two Latino nominees to make it to the final round of the selection process. When the city passed them over to instead appoint former Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio to the role, the decision sparked public outcry as well as criticism that the commission’s membership lacked ethnic and geographic diversity.
The backlash helped fuel a 2020 ballot reform measure that has since reorganized the commission into an 11-member body, with one commissioner for each district and one citywide member.
Tordillos said he expects Escobar to bring an important perspective to the commission’s deliberations.
“During my time on San Jose’s Planning Commission, I saw firsthand just how valuable having diverse voices and perspectives on the dais can be in making the best land use decisions for our community,” he said. “Adding a proven Latina voice to the conversation is a small step towards creating a body that better reflects the diversity of our city.”
Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.