I thought the story a week or so ago about improvements in our local transportation system was very informative. Basically, it goes like this: the California Transportation Commission slanted the available funding to rural and non-economically important areas of the state. The Mercury News headline screamed: “South Bay Road Plans Dim.” They have refused, in some goofy pique or lack of sanity, to fund the economic engine of the free world: San Jose, Silicon Valley, us! What are they thinking?
Now, two things might happen soon. The appointment of master diplomat, Carl Guardino, Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Leadership group, might make funding in the future more hopeful. And the traffic may get so horrendous on the 280-880 “interchange” (and it’s a stretch to call it that) that the people will march on Sacramento with torches like the final scene in “Frankenstein.” I’d like to see that one.
I understand this is a digression, but that 280-880 interchange is the front door of Santana Row. The same Santana Row that our crack planning department, public works geniuses and the mayor—no, not Ron of bad memory but another one—said was totally and properly served by a few modest improvements to neighborhood streets.
How misguided was that? As if it wasn’t bad enough that they didn’t have confidence in the firm belief that such a development would come downtown if it only stood firm with a bit of patience. It wasn’t enough that generations of business and neighborhood leaders had begged the city to hold steady. And, any other developer would have been forced to make tens of millions of traffic improvements. It was a sad spectacle made more pathetic by the threatening of a planning commissioner by the Federal Realty representative and the enlisting of a squad of goons by uber-mouthpiece, Stan Berliner, to intimidate the citizens who were gathering signatures to put the land use measure on the ballot.
It was a sorry chapter in our history. So one million square feet of retail and several hundred homes were added to a neighborhood and the vice mayor of the city said that it would not make a “scintilla” of a negative effect to the area. Of such scintillas great disasters are made. But as a recent secretary of state once said, “Stuff happens.”
Prayers are all we have left now.
Next Week: Part Two—A Preordained Fiasco and the End of the Storied Santana Row Boycott
Tom, I agree that the Santana Row area lacks sufficient transportation infrastructure.
I do detect, however, a bit of the Frank Taylor (former RDA Chief) mindset… “everything must and shall be in Downtown.” Frank used to scream when even a ten cent lemonade stand wasn’t built in Downtown.
We need to get beyond that attitude and recognize that San Jose is better served by having businesses in all quarters, not just Downtown.
Can’t wait to hear part 2 – End of the Storied Boycott??? Gee, I’m still doing my best, but do hear that there are certain young ones patronizing the Irish Pub in SR, shouldn’t she be downtown at San Pedro Square’s?
Greg – As over the yrs. people rant about the “subsidies” for Downtown, they forget the dirty little secret that ALL of SJ has been supporting the sprawl of our city for 40 yrs. Coyote Valley was the latest scam in the sorry saga. Frank Taylor had a wart or two, but he was the most honest and dedicated and ethical person that our city was privileged to employ. We should have such people more often. TMcE
Carl Gaurdino???
This guy makes me want to take a shower after talking to him just to get clean again!
They can have him good luck & good bye.
Only is some alternate reality or downtown supporters dreams would Santana Row have been built in downtown
Until all downtown leaders work together which they have not for years and create a supportive business friendly downtown where people feel safe at all hours, have stores and attractions not available elsewhere with free parking will downtown be successful
If Santana Row had not been built where it is, it would have been built in Santa Clara or Cupertino or not at all and San Jose would not have gotten badly needed millions in taxes
During my campaign for the city council, I had the great fortune to walk on nearly every street and in every neighborhood throughout the district. While I found numerous streets and sidewalks in disrepair, I will never forget South Daniel Way – one San Jose residental street that seemed almost unliveable.
South Daniel Way runs parallel to 880 and is located just east of Santana Row. Longtime residents of this working-class neighborhood can share tales of speeding cars rolling directly onto their street from the 880/280 interchange. The noise level from cars, trucks and emergency vehicles make it almost impossible to carry on a conversation outside – let alone making a safe environment for neighborhood kids.
So, if there’s any planned march on Sacramento to get funding for a redesign of the 880/280 interchange, count me in. I’ve got my torch ready.
…have stores and attractions not available elsewhere with free parking …
Out of curiosity, are there downtowns in any city of equivalent size to San Jose that offers free parking?
I do not mean a few spaces here and there, but total free parking everywhere downtown, which is what “free parking” advocates for downtown mean. Of course, this also means that there are sufficient free spaces to accommodate all downtown workers and visitors at any time of the day in any downtown location.
Downtown San Jose is at the intersection of Stevens Creek and Winchester. Private business built in 18 months what the RDA and $3Billion could not do in three decades.
When a billion $ software company gets an $18MM subsidy as an enticement to move you know the well of free commerce has been poisoned.
we’ve been hearing for 30 years about “future plans for downtown” which is now just an entertainment zone of restaurants, museums, lots of clubs and a large undersused bird aviary at 5th and Santa Clara.
Guess what, everybody.
According to an “expert” free parking kills a downtown.
HUH??????
Yeah, it was in the Mercury News today. We cannot have a successful downtown if we have free parking.
I knew it was the cookies and the mushrooms that diid it.
I believe it was Mayor Susan Hammer you are talking about and the only reason I know that is becausae Stan Berlinger was her boy. He make a forture from the city being paid to bring the Giants, a total failure, think he got about half Million for that one. He was also instrumental in many other fiascos provided by Hammer and him in concert.
Tom,
There seems to be a lot of “coulda, shoulda, woulda” when it comes to Valley Fair and Santana Row. Those two retail centers are not going away.
There could be a healthy coexistence between Downtown and Santana Row/Valley Fair if West San Carlos is developed into a viable economic and transportation strip linking the two.
Downtown would get business, entertainment and lots of new housing, Santana/Valley Fair gets retail. Along the way seedy West San Carlos gets a much-needed face lift that could include relief for some of the transportation pressures that you correctly point out.
Of course it would require the upgrade of the 880/280 interchange. Let’s hope Carl Guardino can do some good with that.
Parking is a sorry excuse for anything. I have friends that work at the Pruneyard. Their joke before they remodeled is that “nobody goes there because there’s no parking”. After remodeling, and building a huge parking garage, they hear from customers how hard it is to come to the Pruneyard “because there’s no parking” (despite a half-empty parking garage within shouting distance). What they really mean is “there isn’t a space where I can roll up to the front door anytime day or night”.
And yet, people drive in parking garages at Valley Fair and Santana Row for half an hour scouring for a parking space in the farthest reaches.
The moral of this story – no one avoids downtown because “there’s no place to park for free”. Downtown is avoided because we still haven’t given the citizens of San Jose a valid enough reason to go there.
#10, James, if you’re going to trash someone’s point of view, you really should give full disclosure:
I, James Rowen (aspiring gadfly), think that Asha Weinstein’s (asst. professor in Urban and Regional Planning) statement:
“You’ll destroy a downtown if you put in lots of free parking,’’ the assistant professor says. Every giant, new parking garage prevents something more exciting from going there—apartments, independent restaurants and shops or a plaza for outdoor concerts. Never mind the corporate chain stores.”
is horse manure, and I should know, because I am an expert in parking issues… or wait, is it that I’m an expert in horse manure?
The biggest day after day crowd in our multi-billion dollar “downtown” is the long line starting before dawn at the Mexican Consulate near Third and St. John. They’re gone by 10:00 a.m. most days.
BEA brings in 1000 workers next year. Maybe fifty will live in walking distance. The rest will desert downtown early (right after happy hour)as all the other workers in all the other office buildings do.
With rare exception, unless you’re under 35 and hoping to get a buzz on and score, ain’t no reason to stay downtown after dark.
#10
The “expert” is forgetting that parking garages are needed regardless of whether they are free or not. She is confusing traffic from residencies adjacent to the downtown business versus traffic from outside the local area. For a downtown to thrive it needs both forms of traffic.
Granted, it is ideal for downtown residents to walk, or take a cab, to downtown businesses, but the outside traffic make up the preponderance of traffic for a vibrant downtown. Hence, the parking garages are still needed.
As a side-note, it was sort of ironic that the article was about a bar feeding the meters for its customers who, apparently, are to busy drinking to remember this detail.
bluefox,
henry’s high life is a restaurant serving a number of bbq items.
Maybe they will add donutes for you sissy’s in blue that are ruining downtown!
We can have a vibrant downtown shopping area by expanding downtown to Valley Fair / Santana Row as Mal Content said connect West San Carlos to the downtown entertainment district with buses or Light Rail
Carl Guardino, the master diplomat???
For what?
Guardino is one of the most self promoting people in town.
Master Diplomat?? Well send him to Iran, Tom.
Tom, thanks for the reply. I concur that, long ago, sprawl consumed San Jose. I can’t agree, however, that all of San Jose supported it.
Rather, it began in the late 50’s and was fueled by Dutch and his gang of developer friends, buying up property ahead of rezoning action. Money was to be made and they certainly did that. The average citizen had little to with sprawl but for buying the end-product, homes and small businesses.
Given the resulting conditions, we all need to support commerce throughout our fair city in contrast to championing only our downtown.
smelly dave already said that you are not allowed to be critical of the expert.
smelly dave said it numerous times, the garages are the issue, nothing else.
you are in danger of being insulted by smelly dave.
#18 makes an excellent point. The distance between downtown and sta row is nothing—in s.f. or nyc it would all be part of downtown. Why don’t we stop complaining about the freemarket success of sta row and focus on jitneys between the two hubs and redevving west san carlos? alot cheaper than pointless subsidies to get business downtown.
Someone mentioned Downtown coexisting with Santana Row. Great idea, but lets tell the concierges at The Fairmont. I recall observing them directing conventioneers to Santana Row for dinner. I added, “Don’t forget San Pedro Square.” Made me wonder if Santana Row had a deal with the hotel or with individual concierges.
The article on parking mentioned every “new parking garage prevents something more exciting from going there.”
What all the court houses and the state office buildings downtown? Walking by those hideous structures makes time feel like it is standing still.
The worst has to be the cement bunker of an office where the state equalization board is located on second street. Not a sign of excitement anywhere.
At least a parking garage has some movement with cars entering and leaving.
#22
While imitation is considered a form of flattery, I am not flattered by frauds and fools trying to ascribe their comments to my name.
Dear James:
I know I and the rest of the council kind of dissed you with the whole James is too much of a – oh heck, what’s the word? Oh yeah – LOON to be appointed to the Planning Commission. But I’m beginning to have second thoughts about that after reading your insightful, relevant and mature posts to this board. You’ve shown you have what it takes to add significant value to the level of discourse on planning issues. I’d like to invite you back to meet with the council at our April 1 meeting at 7pm where we will have a special session to apologize to you (I know Kevin feels really bad about calling you “reality challenged”) and reconsider your application to be on the planning commission.
Best, Patty M.
As a teller in a very well known bank in downtown San Jose, Number 10 is one of our customers, and I saw her type her comment on the blog, you moron.
Ps, you really should stop projecting, Dave the Dummy.
Ps, Rowen, though he is a blithering idiot, has written several posts in the pasts agreeing with Professor Weinstein and Dayana Salazar (another professor at SJSU whom I and my customer do not agree with it) as well.
You really are another blithering fool.
Isn’t Dave the name of the guy on the State of California ad that has the boat which dumps its waste in the water??
So since Dave, the chicken will not reveal his name, we just have to think it is smelly Dave.
Likely Armando Gomez’s cousin.
No wonder San Jose Code Enforcement is backlogged, their supervisor is spending time writing posts!!
“A Prayer: Less Traffic, Less Santana Row Delusions”
should be
“A Prayer: Less Traffic, Fewer Santana Row Delusions”
Rich – On the positive side, Geo.Marcus and Summerhill are among the finest builders in the state. 600 sounds high though. I will put my ‘crack’ staff to research this. I know it is an issue of great concern to the neighborhood, but compared to 2.5 million sq. ft. of retail at Santan/Westfield, the traffic considerations are probably not too great. TMcE
Tom – It’s that kind of thinking that has created the messes we are in throughout the city. Traffic is too often reviewed by project rather than the overall cumulative affect—i.e. the traffic generated by 600 homes is not that great compared to the traffic generated by Santana/Westfield. But, when the two are put together, traffic from 600 homes mixed in with the Santana/Westfield traffic, now you’re talking about a real mess. We have to start looking at overall traffic congestion and the cumulative affect if we are ever going to get a grip on out traffic congestion and even then I am not hopeful.
Planner – Gee, now you’re going to get me defensive. It is not “my” thinking that created either the sprawl of the sixties/seventies or the Santana Row mess. In my 8 yrs., we did not stretch the city limits/urban line for “1” home; we changes housing in Evergreen to Indus.; we build the tax base in No.SJ and began it in downtown. Changes in all those policies have put SJ in a financial mess. And, “Yes”, I always insisited on looking at the cumulative effect of any development – I would do so at this project too. There, now I feel a little better. TMcE
Tom – No need to get defensive. Sounds like we’re on the same page. I wasn’t accusing you of inflicting all of the evils on us that we are suffering from. I know what you did. I was just referring to the one comment you made in this post about traffic. See you while waiting at the stoplight.
Tom, how about the BAREC project (high density)by George Marcus Summerhill homes.
Won`t this have a bigger impact to a already traffic conjested area? I herd 600 units, no park? Is this true. I`d like to hear your thoughts.
Tom both our families have been in San Jose a long time and we have watched San Jose develop into a bueatiful city. We were always happy to be a San Jose model, not a San Francisco or NY model. We prided oueselves for being different. Now comes all this extra heavy traffic caused by all this high density development plus all the new projects coming on line in 2008 and 2009.
I like all the things that have happened downtown. We now have a downtown to be proud of.
My concern is the impact all of this development is having on bueatiful small communities like Willow Glen, our streets are becoming grid locked because of the location of WG. It seems a lot of traffic is flowing through WG to get downtown and points north.
Expansion of the Guadalupe (87) is not going to solve the problem as we only have one exit lane when driving north onto I 280, and one lane ramp from I280 onto (87) moving south.
Some of the problems with grid lock in WG are caused by all the new HD development in Almaden Valley as residents from AV use Almaden Expy to Lincoln Ave to get downtown or take a left on Pine(Hamilton) to get to I880.
The same thing happens on Meridian ave during commute hours.
What happened to the plan of finishing “the Almaden Expressway” as to take pressure off Lincoln and Meridian. We have Almaden Boulevard moving from downtown south to Grant street and ending the project. Then the expressway starts up again as a wide Boulevard again after Vine crosses Minesotta @ the El Rancho Liquor store. Wasn`t Vine suposed to become the extension of Almaden Boulevard from the Sobrato Tower south to Almaden Valley.
Consider all the construction happening at the Alma & lick streets in Willow Glen. This will impact Willow Glen too.
Don`t you think completing Almaden Boulevard would take some pressure off. Most of those homes on Vine look like there ready to fall over. When a Window brakes the landlords just throw up a piece of plyboard instead of replacing the glass. Vine is looking like a blighted area.
Your thoughts.
Clearing I previous statement,” Barec is in both district 1 and district 6 and City of Santa Clara.
George Marcus is a Good Builder/Summer Hill Homes.
Traffic impact of this development is a major concern of the residents of both cities.