 Bartholomew's plans for the park were scrapped, as were subsequent civic center plans in the 1940s and 1950s.During the postwar construction boom, City Manager Dutch Hamann and the business community, led by the San Jose "Mercury" and "News", attempted four times to convince voters to approve a new city hall that would improve San Jose's image as a major city, finally succeeding in 1952.The new city hall would sit on of donated land about north of the downtown area.