SPUR board member Irene Chavez is the senior vice president and area manager for San Jose Kaiser Health Plan. She leads the hospital's operations, health plan operations and community benefits, covering over 260,000 members from San Jose, Gilroy and Santa Cruz County. As a hospital administrator, she provides the resources and strategy for excellent clinical care to every patient at each touch point. She lives in Morgan Hill.
When did you first become interested in cities?
I grew up in El Paso, Texas. In high school, I remember studying the exodus from cities to suburbs across the nation — the sprawl, the demand upon water. El Paso is in the Chihuahuan Desert, using water from the underwater bolsons, which are not an infinite resource. This was replaced by suburban living and lawns: consuming water we didn’t have and, with increased driving distances, consuming lots of gasoline and polluting the air. Suburbanization also contributed to a loss of a sense of community and took resources from cities that reduced investment in infrastructure and services, so some became areas of blight and crime.
How did you first learn about SPUR?
SPUR board member Connie Martinez (the catalyst for establishing the SPUR San Jose office) and Leah Toeniskoetter (the first San Jose director of SPUR) introduced me to SPUR and its mission, which interested me.
What's your favorite city and why?
Guanajuato, Mexico, because they honor their city: Multigenerational living accommodation is honored. Residents clean, eat and share their lives as a community.
Favorite view?
Monterey Bay.
Favorite book, work of art or film about cities?
The documentary film Finding Vivian Maier.