Reading about the Hayes Mansion brought to light the issue of city subsidies and the way San Jose has handled this important matter. The city now spends $4.2 million per year to keep the Hayes Mansion in business. No, that is not a misprint—$4.2 million a year. I understand that the Hayes is a historical building and in this “new” city with new buildings popping up each day (with no historical significance whatsoever) we need to protect and keep those buildings both beautiful and a part of our city’s culture. But that is not what is happening in this case; in running this hotel and conference center, we are paying for what seems to be a bottomless money pit.
The question of city-granted subsidies needs to be brought to the forefront of public debate. The city has subsidized chain restaurants like McCormick and Schmick and P.F. Changs, who have ended up being in direct competition with existing downtown restaurants. Believe you me, I stuff my face with lettuce wraps and mai tais from P.F. Changs more than anyone else on these boards, but the overall concept needs some fixing. If large chain restaurants are going to get subsidies to be in San Jose, then the city needs to help the existing restaurants that are here so the new chains don’t end up driving them out of business. Surviving in downtown is hard enough.
Subsidies would be better spent on businesses that will help the established restaurants downtown (because let’s face it, that is the only retail we currently have there). What about a Borders or Barnes and Noble bookstore within walking distance of First St. and Santa Clara St.? What about subsidizing a Gap or Banana Republic store where people would come down and shop and then have lunch? I know the idea of retail is fraught with its own perils downtown, but what is the city’s overall plan for retail subsidies?
Something tells me if Chavez were elected, she would vote to subsidize anyone when it is politically advantageous to her, while if Reed becomes mayor, he would want to do away with any subsidies, period. I am not sure what would be best for the average San Josean, but I would like to see each mayoral hopeful spell out their plan for subsidies because I believe we need them to be used smartly to help build up our downtown.
I’m amazed that so many posters here fail to recognize the basic problem of Governments, city, county, state and worst of all federal. If you want something screwed up, then let the governmwent do it. And then we can spend more money and create more government activity to work on the problems created. Once they get involved it keeps generating more and more spending and commissions.
Downtown needs help and I think everyone agrees on that, especially when we have to look at that ugly white elephant, City Hall.
Why not turn the developers loose on the area and let them come up with some plans that would make the area comfortable, friendly and more park like. We don’t have the advantage that many cities have with natures scenery around the city but we sure could get rid of some of the manmade boxes piled up to the curbs.
The founding “fathers” were some pretty smart dudes – they set up a system where government basically stays out of private business. Take for instance the issue of imminent domain – the constitution says the government can take private land for public use – schools, roads etc. Recently the Supreme Court said imminent domain can be expanded for private use. We’re all aware of the turmoil this decision has created. Government subsidies are the same slippery slope.
I worked for two high-tech firms that received some of their “seed” money from Government grants. The companies went on to develop products that facilitate genomics. I think most would agree knowing more about human diseases and making better, safer drugs is a good thing. Kudos for government subsides…
$4.2M for a historic mansion morphed into a hotel and restaurant – Hmmm? Subsidizing restaurants or any retail downtown is a very slippery slope – sort of as you’ve said.
I know for instance the companies I worked for had specific performance goals or the money would go away. There’s some sort of oversight… Does SJ have any oversight for its subsidies, other than the check arrived at the campaign headquarters for a given political advocate?
Your broad brushing of either Cindy or Chuck is probably a bit extreme. After eight years of anything goes with Gonzo I’m more inclined to risk the tight fisted Chuck for a while. I think the tax payers and employers in SJ could use a break.
(Have you read in the Murky News how we’re actually going to pay for the new City Hall? I can’t wait to see Webster’s incorporate ‘fees’ into the definition of ‘taxes’…)
Yeah, a tight fist is looking better all the time…
Though they could not be used as a conference centers, I much prefer the De Anza (though it has a rotten record on labor rights) Hotel and the Sainte Claire Hotel, as symbols of San Jose’s historic past.
The Sainte Claire Club and the maginficent church right next to it, along with the old Armory, would be better places to restore, maintain, and utilize.
I don’t think the Hayes property is in the right place to be viable. I don’t think the Edenvale district has enough business travelers headed there to warrant its own hotel and conference center. Maybe it’s time for some new concepts on how to make the best and hopefully most profitable use of that complex. I’m glad it was saved but there must be some other use that could have been considered that would have been less costly to the city and would have opened it up more to the locals. Right now it’s people from out of town who stay there and eat there and use that facility and locals for the most part don’t even know it’s there and don’t have full access to it. No matter what it’s used for, it would likely require the city to help with the cost of running it, but maybe the city’s portion would be smaller if it had decided on a different use for it. If it’s sold, I assume there are restrictions on what can be done with it and it wouldn’t be in any danger of being demolished or gutted. If that’s the case, then maybe dumping it is the right thing to do for the city.
Thanks, Single, for shining light on the ugly truth that this city government’s subsidies of select businesses is questionable. I’d go further, however: what the city in fact is doing is creating a False Market by virtue of its subsidies, which works to the detriment of all businesses. When competitive forces and market demand are upended by these ham-handed moves, good businesses are incented AWAY from s.j., and businesses adept at getting a hand out (professional sports, grand prix, anyone?) thrive. This creates huge market inefficiencies and a breeding ground for corruption. Reed is right on this one.
I was born and raised in an era when downtown was the place to go for everything. Shopping, theater, and entertainment. Movie theaters everywhere (no TV then). Parking on the street was free and all the numbered streets downtown were two-way. Then all of a sudden! TV came into being, Valley Fair was built way out on Stevens Creek Road near the old Tracy Gardens roadhouse. And the Emporium was built on the corner of Santa Clara/Los Gatos Road and Stevens Creeek. Downtown San Jose put in parking meters! Why go downtown and watch Francis Tanner, the most famous policeman in San Jose, direct traffic at 1st and Santa Clara when you could park for FREE and shop in the fine stores on Stevens Creek and you could watch TV at home. Then came Eastridge and Town and Country Village. Parking was FREE. Then the makeover of T & C Village to Santana Row with many fine shops and restaurants and built to look like downtown and the parking is FREE. The Pavilion was opened as a 2nd floor shopping mall downtown with some good shops but it closed up for lack of business. The parking is NOT FREE. Why would anyone want to drive into downtown San Jose during the day to shop. During the day the parking is NOT FREE. The parking meters even run on Saturdays. Sorry, any responsible big store won’t come downtown. They will come to just outside downtwon on Coleman. The parking is FREE. They will come to South First and Curtner when it is built because the parking is FREE. San Jose City Fathers sorry Cindy (and Mothers) just don’t get it. Nothing great will happen until the parking is FREE!
Now which is more logical, get rid of the $4million Hayes Mansion or the $4million Grand Prix race. You can’t go downtown and even eat at a restaurant or shop during race week.
So ya wanna save downtown! Well, the first thing that has to be done is to REMOVE the light rail tracks prevent car traffic from getting to the stores; remove the trees that block the views and prevent strolling down the side walks by effectively narrowing them: restore parking on the retail streets: make all parking FREE (if you want subsidies, subsidise parking).
Do not allow blank walls on the sidewalks: retail needs window space to attract customers…
Oh well, no one is going to go against the politically correct view that you have to have light rail… I remember when street cars ran down Santa Clara St and there was also room for autos.
FDM
The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada
> has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols
> to stop the illegal immigration. The actions of President Bush are
> prompting the exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they’ll soon
> be required to
> hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O’Reilly.
>
> Canadian border farmers say it’s not uncommon to see dozens of
> sociology professors, animal-rights activists and Unitarians crossing
> their fields at night.“I went out to milk the cows the other day, and
> there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,” said Manitoba
> farmer Red Greenfield,
> whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted
> and hungry.
> “He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken.
> When I said I didn’t have any, he left. Didn’t even get a chance to
> show him my screenplay, eh?”
>
> In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher
> fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers
> that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. “Not real effective,” he
> said. “The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so
> much they wouldn’t give milk.”
>
> Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals
> near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive
> them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves.
>
> “A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions,” an
> Ontario border patrolman said. “I found one carload without a drop of
> drinking water. “They did have a nice little Napa Valley cabernet,
> though.”
>
> When liberals are caught, they’re sent back across the border, often
> wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors
> have been circulating about the Bush administration establishing
> re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to drink domestic
> beer and watch NASCAR races.
>
> In recent days, liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of
> crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on
> bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a
> half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian
> immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed
> senior-citizen passengers on Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney hits to
> prove they were alive in the ‘50s.
> “If they can’t identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk
> Show, we get suspicious about their age,” an official said.
>
> Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal Immigrants are
> creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan
> Sarandon movies. “I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian
> economy just can’t support them,” an Ottawa resident said. “How many
> art-history majors does one country need?”
>
> In an effort to ease tensions between the United States and Canada,
> Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Canadian ambassador and
> pledged that the administration would take steps to reassure liberals,
> a source close to Cheney said. We’re going to have some Peter, Paul &
> Mary concerts. And
> we might put some endangered species on postage stamps. The President
> is determined to reach out,” he said.
Did I read this correctly?
…while if Reed becomes mayor, he would want to do away with any subsidies, period.
I believe we need them to be used smartly to help build up our downtown.
Sounds like you would vote for the person that supports subsidies.
#1 Greg,
Don’t you know that your life is incomplete because San Jose has a marginal downtown?
Don’t you know that San Jose has teams of visionary bureaucrats working 8-4:30, 5 days a week, 200 days a year – teams dedicated to spending heaps of your hard earned tax dollars to bring you a downtown that will fill that great void in your life, enable you to be all you can be, and live life to the fullest?
I recommend you have a refreshing ice cold glass of downtown kool-aid. And what better inspirational venue to enjoy said refreshing beverage than next to the City Hall fountains that face away from the public.
How come a chain outfit like McCormick & Schmick gets a city subsidy while Lou’s Donuts is going out of business?
Valley Fair sewed up retail for central San Jose a long time ago. While there was some room for marginal and unique retail, the way to sell it was through combining a lifestyle district with entertainment and restaurants with such retail. We did it, and it’s called Santana Row. Is just happens to be several miles west of downtown.
When Santana Row was approved, it put a stake in the heart of downtown for the foreseeable future.
I worked at the Hayes Mansion from ‘96-99 and it is a wonderful facility that meets a market need. It is not a hotel, but a conference center. Hotels are a completely different business, they rent guest rooms. Conference centers have a much higher ratio of meeting rooms to guest rooms, hence work for retreats, meetings, conferences, et cetera. The Hayes is competitive with the Claremont (Berkeley) and Chaminade (Santa Cruz), and does well in that market.
With that said, the city should stick with their core business, i.e. public safety, infrastructure, land use, whatever. They are not in the hospitallity business and are not landlords.
The city’s role was to save/restore the historic structure. Now their work is done, sell the property and focus on the city’s primary needs.
The market will determine the value and if it is a loss, maybe the transient occupancy tax will reconcile that loss over time.
#14, that being said, downtown had a chance to recover its retail potential by putting moderately priced stores such as Marshall, Cost Plus, and Target. Instead, the complex on Coleman and Taylor Streets was built- effectively ensuring that downtown core remains a decomposing carcass with a stake in its heart.
Dexter, not to worry about eminent domain… it’s just a matter of months until the dominoes fall here in California, as they have in many other states. The public is fed up with the bureaucratic B.S. actions of taking property from a private individual only to give it to another private individual. You’ll see State legislation, probably an initiative, on this issue very soon. Our beloved SJ RDA will lose most of their teeth on this one… good riddance.
Rosegarden Dad, you’ve got it right, subsidies result in false economies. Generally, subsidizing businesses is bad business. If the enterprise can’t stand on its own two feet via good products and good services, it’s doomed to fail.
Novice, tooooooooo funny!!! All one hears from the Mayor and Council Members, especially Cindy, is how damned important it is to develop Downtown… housing, retail, entertainment, etc. SJ abandoned the “Downtown Is Important” mindset back in the late 50’s. SJ Commerce is now conducted city-wide in malls and local business areas and that works just fine.
The time to comment on downtown retail was Monday night. Westfield submitted an application to expand Valley Fair retail by 610,000 square feet. With 9,500 new FREE parking spaces, the 280-880 interchange is about to get a whole lot worse. Perhaps they need to think about extending light rail up San Carlos so downtown residents have a place to shop. And now that there will be no retail in downtown, can we move the Burbank strip clubs back downtown along side the other unscrupulous operations?
Hayes Mansion? Convert it to a condo project with the main house used as community space for the owners of the condo units. It would be a smashing success, given the prices of houses in the Valley. The City could do a profit sharing deal with a creative developer.
On the subsidy issue. The chain restaurants get the subsidy because they are willing to take a chance on the downtown which is not the best location at this time. They have deep pockets and can wait it out a long time before they begin to get a return on investment. As for Lou’s Donuts. Its in a bad spot they havent invested a dime in the place and their product is not all that good.
I gotta agree with Greg #1—a mantra I have been repeating for almost 20 years when I finally woke up to what the citizens of San Jose want and what they don’t want. Theydon’t want or even care about big city downtowns with their downtown problems. The could not care less about downtown.
Starting with Tom McE-sorry Tom—the City Council and RDA embarked on a bass- ackwards program to jump start the downtown. It will never work without a critical mass of RESIDENTS, not tourists or conventioneers. They subsidized a “Retail Pavilion” with a tenant mix that had about as much to do with the residents of downtown San Jose as a Shiite at a Sunni convention. Predictably—but not to either the city council or the RDA—it failed. DUH!
Twenty years later we’re getting there with high density housing in the downtown to put people in place to patronize such businesses. But of course, those business have long since failed miserably, so what do you do?
Getting back on point—The Hayes Mansion is a beautiful resource. Unfortunately, although it’s not at the end of the world, one can see the end of the world from there. I’ve lived here a few decades, and I still have a difficult time getting to it. It is in complete contrast to the avowed purpose of many Mayors and Councils to get people to downtown San Jose—wherever that is. If I come from out of town to a meting there, I have a big ride in an unfamiliar town to reach downtown. If I stay there, I am bored silly, since there ain’t a damn thing to do out there but watch the TV—if they have cable or better still, DirecTV.
$4.2 million A YEAR?! I wouldn’t give it that amount for its lifetime.
Get a clue folks—Reed is right—sell the white elephant ( a beautiful white elephant, for sure—unlike the Tres Ugly Markovitz building the Preservationistas decry the destruction of) for whatever some sucker will pay for it.
Or, let the Preservationistas raise money to buy it and raise money to cover the operating losses. I have ZERO interest in diverting $4.2 million A YEAR—and rising—from police, fire, roads, libraries to a place that can never make money.
It’s a simple principal of retail real estate, the chain restaurants get subsidies because they bring people into the downtown area. Just as anchor tentants get cheaper rent in shopping centers. Everynight people are going downtown just to eat at PF Changs and McCormick.
I agree that approving Santana Row was a huge blow to downtown’s retail potential. When was that project approved? Who was mayor and who was on the council?
Wow, Dan #8 and I agree on something. Feel the earth move?
#12, Novice—thanks for coining the ultimate sarcastic oxymoron—“visionary bureaucrats”!!!
#13 Malcontent: Yeah, if I were Steve Borkenhagen or Marcelino Castillo I don’t know how I could have contained my anger at living through the Sh*t days of downtown, only to have a third rate chain restaurant like McCormick & Shmicks, with the cheesiest wine list around to boot, get a subsidy, while I got nothing. Geez. And do people still wonder why San Jose is considered Bush League? It’s simple—mediocrity sells. More people will patronize a mediocre restaurant with a cheap price than will go to a good restaurant that’s priced higher. PF Changs is a notable exception—really ordinary-to-bad “asian” food…at a high price.
But the connection between McCormicks and PFs is easy to figure out—low-self-esteem San Jose “visionary bureaucrats” seem to really believe that San Ohaze will get some cache by attracting famous chains of mostly mediocre restaurants by giving them subsidies; instead of subsidizing the hard working locals who have endured the downtimes—guys like Steve and Marcelino, to name but two of many.
Richard A #15—well said!
Greg #17—correctamundo. Taxes are the same no matter in what portion of the city limits they are collected. But there are still a few folks for whom downtown carries a special favor—those who own a large city block full of mostly economically marginal venues.
#18 Sucking—Aren’t downtowns seedy by definition?
As for the subsidies of chains vs. mom-and-pops: looks nice for attracting businesses downtown. In the long run, you don’t want to make downtown another soulless, corporate-themed shopping mall like Valley Fair/Oakridge/Eastridge/Great Mall. It needs places like Lou’s Donuts, Joe’s Pizza, and Lu’s Cleaners to give character and to separate downtown from being Yet Another Shopping Mall.
To #18: you can’t have 9,800 FREE parking spaces and expect people to use light rail from San Carlos to/from the current Downtown. Have you considered that the FREE parking in downtown and at many malls is one of the main reasons why our light rail system is so underutilized? A good example of this is Oakridge Mall with its little-used light rail station. Your philosophy is commonly found at the city/county/VTA level – public transit planning while providing infrastructure like FREE parking at destinations that actually discourages public transit use. Think about it…
Eugene,
You missed my point. 9,500 new FREE parking spaces at Valley Fair is going to add to the congested 280-880 and Steven Creeks interchanges. Who do you think is going to pay for those interchange improvements? Kill the parking or deny the permit.
Light rail doesn’t go where people want to go today, i.e. the mega malls, Santana Row, the Airport, so let’s fix it.
With Valley Fair expanding, Santana Row next and all housing going to downtown, it seems to me that our city planners are asleep at the wheel or someone(s) is getting influenced by all those campaign contributions.
Here’s a possible answer, let’s pick a new Planning Director:
http://survey.sanjoseca.gov/permits/2006pbcedir.htm
Lets first correct your blatent mistake it seems most times you (Single Gal) need a refresher course on reading comprehension
“San Jose officials Tuesday are expected to increase the subsidy for the city’s historic and financially struggling Hayes Mansion hotel conference center by $450,000 to $2.4 million—and that’s only for the current budget year that ends this month.
The subsidy is expected to nearly double in the next budget year to $4.2 million.”
So it does not currently provide a $4.2 million dollar subsidy, that is what it is expected to be next year. In addition Dolce has increased the profits for the Hayes, the city of San Jose left them with the debt.
Who would we sell it too, we would lose money trying to ditch it, in the current financial situation, before you blog you should get your facts straight, much like all your other topics your misinformed and do an injustice to us single women who care about politcs.
Having to provide subsidies to Downtown establishments further proves that the Downtown area is unimportant to most of the SJ citizenry. Yet, for some reason, our politicians continue to believe that a bustling Downtown is a necessity… God knows why.
Single Gal,
Go to http://www.sanjoseca.gov and get to the city clerk’s home page. Click on meeting broadcasts and under “Council and Redevelopment Meetings” go to the 5/30/06 “Downtown Retail Study Session” I couldn’t watch the whole thing but I think they have a good strategy for bringing retail downtown. It’s just going to take time. I don’t care who they subsidize, as long as it’s fair and we get stuff down here. The money redevelopment takes in is exactly for that purpose, that is to “redevelop”. And downtown needs it. Between Chuck and Cindy? I’m afraid you are right but I hope that after everything Cindy has encountered lately she would be willing to listen to the professionals the city has hired and to downtown residents. I also think that all the housing coming downtown will drive development.
Whoa! Frances Jeanne! Easy with the bitterness! I do you INJUSTICE? If anything you are making us Single Gals all look overdramatic!
And No, Single Gal is not leaving the ABC camp! The alternative to Reed’s frugalness is way worse!
To answer Downtown Life Sucker’s other question: I would have only allowed the garage IF and only IF:
a) the developer improve the 1970’s-era transit center for Valley Fair behind the big garage there now and Nordstrom;
b) added signage within the mall directing shoppers to the transit center. (The signs love to tell people where parking is, not where they can catch the buses serving Valley Fair now like the 23 along San Carlos/Stevens Creek)
c) the developer paid in full for improvements to the 280-880 interchange and surrounding thoroughfares
d) the developer implement “Valet” fee parking similar to what’s at Oakridge for the priviledge of parking near the mall entrance, with the exception of needed parking for vehicles for the disabled
If the developer can’t/won’t do all of the above, I would have denied the permit for the garage on its face.
Let me share with you my latest Downtown SJ experience. My family and a bunch of friends decided a few weeks back to eat at E&O Trading Company…such a beautiful restaurant, with its loft-like interior and Southeast Asian decor. While eating our meal, 5 THUGS started banging on the windows for about 3 seconds, then proceeded to run down 1st street. The banging startled the hell out of all of us! Also during the meal we experienced a few homeless people staring at us eat. My first thoughts…none of this would have ever happened at Santana Row. This is not to say I will never eat Dowtown again, but some serious “cleansing” needs to occur in our city’s core before any type of high-end, “REAL” retail is to take root
Mr. Howe, please don’t get me wrong. I live downtown and see real blight ever time I drive to and from my home. So I’m not totally against imminent domain where the property goes to a private developer. Just like, as I said in my original posting, I’m not totally against government subsidies.
How do you like the home sitting in the middle of the parking lot across the street from the arena? Do you like seeing some dilapidated “hold-out” home in the middle of a nice condo or apartment complex?
There is such a thing as blight and we can’t put a school or road in place of every one. Cities evolve. Cities need developers to fund that evolution and they need help with hold-outs. (Yeah, I know they’re greedy bastards…)
As I said earlier, we the citizens need good oversight of subsidies and imminent domain. Unfortunately the voters in SJ have problems electing people who will insure that oversight.
The main problem with planning and development in San Jose is not the Planning Director but the Mayor and Council. This Mayor has micromanaged departments, especially Planning, at an unprecedented level. The political pressure on staff to do the Mayor’s bidding, regardless of it was the right thing to do or not, has been enormous. The Council, acting as the mini-mayor of each of their district’s has pressured staff as well. No planning director who wanted to keep the job could go up against this mayor—not when you had a gutless city manger (the previous one, not the current one) who would not back-up his staff. With Les White as the new city manager and a wounded lame-duck mayor things can only improve. Once the city is rid of the Gonzales and Chavez regime I would expect a new era of planning to return to San Jose. The council mutes will still be a drag on progress but there is hope that their incompetence can be overcome. We can only hope.
Santana Row’s retail developer wanted an upscale mix use regional destination shopping area near high volume freeways and customer traffic to Valley Fair and we are fortunate that it’s sales taxes and jobs are in San Jose not Santa Clara
No retailer or retail developer would have EVER put Santana Row retail downtown due to 30 years of downtown retail and planning failures
Downtown’s main problem is that majority of their potential customers are San Jose residents who are unwilling to visit or shop downtown
They view downtown as having few desirable retail stores, difficult to find parking and have concerns about public safety. They have many choices on where to shop so spend their money in neighborhood shopping centers or other cities
#3 “Turn developers loose so they can make the downtown comfodable, friendly and park like”. Sure, that is what developers think of first when they pencil out a project. I guess next you will suggest we should have ex-cons work as prison guards. Afterall don’t they know best what cons need?
It is great that the city had the vision to save the Hayes. However they should have sold it when the restoration was done. The Hayes is an important reminder that for over a hundred years there has been a lot more to San Jose than just the downtown. We need to do a better job of identifying historic resources outside our historic downtown. The Hayes’ lack of use only drives home our need to bring more businesses to South San Jose before we build more homes. The city should sell the Hayes and pay off the debt. If there is any money left they should put it in a fund restricted for historic preservation projects that get a positive return on investment.
About Casa Castillo – should paying one’s rent be a prerequisite for retaining downtown space?
I have to agree with what most of you said on this response list:
a.) Yes! Finally someone agrees with me! Let’s bury those wretched light rail tracks underground and make a subway. Doing so will mean that light rail can move faster through downtown and the subway style means that it would make our light rail a more attractive ride through our city’s core.
b.) let’s look at some of the stupid mistakes our city made when planning the central district that is downtown.
b1.) our airport is too freaking close to downtown! Build it in Alviso or in the southern plains of our city!
b2.) The grand prix completely murders downtown..not saves it. And by the way…whoever designed the Diridon Light Rail Station should have been smarter to put it right UNDER THE STATION itself!
well single gal…subsidies, free parking, and downtown S.J all come together for a tea party and the result is an absolute mess that looks like a three year old could have hosted a better party.
Downtown Life Sucker:
It seems we missed each other’s points here. Sadly the taxpayers would likely have to foot the bill on any improvements at the 280-880 interchange. VTA just (foolishly) approved a 30-year spending plan which emphazises BART to SJ – a plan assuming voters approve the state superbond this November and another local sales tax in 2008…
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/14832748.htm
You also mentioned one of the big myths about light rail here in that it “doesn’t go where people
want to go today.” The light rail serves the Great Mall in Milpitas, Oakridge in South San Jose, and
Great America Park in Santa Clara. However, many people here do not want to spend up to 45 minutes riding on light rail to get to these places when they can drive in 1/2 to 2/3 the time.
The VTA advocacy/watchdog group I run has its own guide to taking public transit to destinations in the South Bay:
http://www.vtaridersunion.org/guides/transit2mall.html
I agree with you that a new planning director in San Jose is needed. It seems much here is built based on political contributions from developers and/or labor instead of how it will impact surrounding areas and current services. Particularly with Coyote Valley and Evergreen which are no where near the proposed BART and current light rail lines. Currently the only direct way to Coyote Valley from downtown is on the 68 bus line to Gilroy but it can take up to 45 minutes to get there from downtown. Not easy when much of the development here – then and now – is built around the personal automobile and not for things like walking and public transit.
#20 Jerry – What about those businesses that stuck it out in downtown for decades? Restaurants like Eulipia and Inca Gardens endured the dark old days of hookers, VTA light rail construction, and the worst types of urban decay. Once downtown was relatively cleaned up they saw their tax dollars used to subsidize out-of-town competitors.
As for Lou’s, I suppose the quality of the product is in the stomach of the beholder but despite a poor location and parking restrictions (another problem created by the city) after 50+ years the place is still not lacking in customers. If you don’t believe me stop by next Saturday morning…but come early, they tend to sell out fast on Saturdays!
I’m not a downtown resident but I’ve made specific trips downtown to visit Lou’s, dine at Eulipia or visit the Camera Cinemas . I can’t say that I have the same enthusiasm for the RDA clone businesses.
While the RDA was subsidizing out-of-town chains they often failed to see the value of the hometown establishments that make San Jose unique, and it’s downtown a potential destination.
Dexter, screw eminent domain! If there is true blight, let the Gov’t. agency exercise eminent domain by building a park. Forget about buying the property and giving it to a private entity… that just doesn’t fly.
#38
If you want tunneling under downtown San Jose for light rail be advised that you’ll be tunneling underneath unstable ground water tables, subject to shifting and flooding in a big earthquake. This was brought up in the BART to SJ environmental reports but continue to be (largely) ignored by VTA in terms of costs. You’d have to ensure that what you tunnel is properly reinforced for earthquakes – at a cost of at least $1 BILLION. How would you raise the money necessary to make it happen without driving away other downtown businesses?
Where specifically would you have placed the Diridon light rail station? Personally, I am iffy on the design and location of the station but if I had any say I would have placed it right near the entrance to the pedestrian tunnel for the trains, underneath the station building itself. Remember that you are dealing with a historic landmark of San Jose, built in 1932…
The Whole damn thing is a mess…. Why is the City of San Jose getting involved with running private businesses? If I remeber right a municipal government is not there to make a profit… Or to help out private business with TAX dollars. What the hell is happening? I think that a federal grand jury needs to look into the cities deals and dealings with all of these private groups, and they need to take a good look the city i.e. All of the city upper management for using city means for personal gain. I think they call it “fraud” and unethical. My tax dollars should not be going to keep a private business a float …. Oh yeah what’s with that stupid “CIRCUS TENT” behind the Convention Center? Is that Ronny’s way of getting around the voters decision of not expanding the Convention Center? I heard that thing cost me $7 Million and it’s empty…. WTF is going on???