San Jose advances plans for downtown music pavilion

San Jose’s historic St. James Park is one step closer to joining a national nonprofit’s network of outdoor music venues fashioned from neglected public spaces. The City Council unanimously authorized negotiations Tuesday for a three-party operating agreement for the future downtown concert venue between the city, the national Levitt Foundation and Friends of Levitt Pavilion San Jose, a local nonprofit supporting the St. James Park project. In addition to the music pavilion, the reimagined park will include a picnic grove, garden and monument walks, fountain, dog park and playground. Proponents see the agreement as a turning point in the park’s decadeslong underuse — and…