California library named after former Fil-Am mayor of Milpitas

Former Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves. CONTRIBUTED

MILPITAS, Calif. – The Milpitas City Council has voted to change the name of the Milpitas Library to Milpitas Jose Esteves Library in honor of the City’s former Filipino American mayor.

Esteves served six terms as mayor from 2002 to 2016 and one term as councilmember from 1998 to 2002.

“Many years ago during the conception of a library for Milpitas, I remember Mayor Esteves to be the driving force behind its fruition,” Vice Mayor Evelyn Chua told the Milpitas Beat.

Esteves campaigned for Measures H and I in 2000, which provided for a hotel tax, part of which was used to fund the new library project.

Milpitas Jose Esteves Library / CONTRIBUTED

The former mayor also served as the Library Project Subcommittee’s overall project lead from 2008 until the library opened in 2009.

“Mayor Esteves’ effort, time, hard work, influence, commitment, and dedication deserve the recognition,” Chua said.

In a statement sent to Philippine News Today, titled “Esteves Milpitas Library – My Reflection,” Esteves said he was “most grateful and honored, less for myself, but more for what my name stands for or for what I represent or believe in.”

“And that is our children’s growth in knowledge, excellent education and bright, promising future through our library for which I am always a very strong advocate and supporter,” he said.

“And aside from our children, I am always thinking of a healthy, learning place for our residents, individually, and as a family, which our library provides.”

Esteves said every day that they worked on the library project was “an inspiration for me because I was always thinking that this project could be our best gift and contribution to the well-being and quality of life of our children and residents in Milpitas.”

“Just the completion alone of this Library is a dream-come-true for me. I am also most appreciative to our residents for also believing in focusing our care and attention to our children and families through our new library,” he said. “Definitely, our new library is a great addition to our City and I am so proud of our state-of- the-art library.”

The Milpitas Jose Esteves Library is operated by the Santa Clara County Library District, which serves nine cities across the county.