As I watch the discussion and debate about the new policy for increasing the allowable uses in North San Jose and the creation of the “new town” in Coyote Valley, it reminds me of the old carnival shell game – switch them around and find the real downtown. These developments may or may not be in the best interest of our citizens, but the final decisions on them will inform much of our future evolution and possibly elect the next mayor.
What is surprising many is the support of Downtown Association President, Henry Cord, for the addition of perhaps 100 seventeen story high-rise buildings, acres of high-density housing, and fifty thousand new residents. We all like thoughtful, careful analysis, but on top of the high-rise and housing in Coyote Valley, are downtown’s leaders forgetting the hundreds of thousands of citizens who have lavished approval on the city’s downtown plans for twenty-five years? They were always assured that the job would be finished.
Remember, it was some of the same Chamber leaders and downtown advocates who constantly blinked when the tough decisions came in the past. Putting the Convention Center at the airport along with “all” the new hotels, and placing the Arena in north San Jose, closer to Milipitas than most of our citizens, were only two of the horrible ideas that nearly became policy. Unfortunately, the tragedy of Santana Row did, and on the eve of retail coming to the downtown during the tech explosion. This was the successful culmination of short-sighted and cowardly actions – great development, wrong place.
The candidates for Mayor will pay attention to this debate; the development special interests will too. I think that they will be astonished to discover that many ordinary voters are going to have some issues and opinions too. It was only during the election of Janet Gray Hayes in the mid-seventies that the slogan, “Let’s make San Jose better before we make it bigger,” became the rallying cry of neighborhood activists that swept her into office. Eight years later, the same coalition helped elect me against a rampant growth advocate. Beware the risen people! They seem to be awakening from their slumber.
Santana Row is the result of great action. Why? Because it happened.
Downtown SJ is an example of inaction. Time is passing it by. More places are being boarded up that being built in downtown.
If I were a downtowner, I can give my support to the alternative North SJ downtown too. Do you know why? Because I know it ain’t gonna happen in my lifetime and my kids would have found businesses and jobs somewhere else- perhaps in another development by Santa Row.
Does the city ever learn or are people just too complacent to care? I guess that it is easier to make something nice where there was nothing at all instead of fixing what is broken. It is like it reminds them of what they haven’t been doing for years. Do we want to be a big sprawling suburb?
Find stories elsewhere. Herhold biased so-called writer, reporter. NO WONDER I DONT BUY THE MERC: GARBAGE
I want to watch it online. HOw bout you?
I agree with you fully! The plans for both north San Jose and Coyote Valley are a disgrace. Coyote will end up looking like Danville or some other sleepy boring town full of oversized and over price homes. At the same time ruining one of our last open spaces; not to mention making 101 even worse to drive.
In north San Jose, they will attract a quick laundry list of businesses looking for a downtown environment for a regional, national or even worldwide headquarters. My problem with this is downtown with simple development policy changes could accomplish the vision and goals of the proposed north San Jose development changes.
Downtown can be much more successful if we do the following:
1. Make simple changes to retail policies- make it easier to open a shop or business
2. Change the parking and enforcement policies (which make working and visiting downtown a nightmare)
3. Work to make development permit processes easier. We are possibly the worst city in america to create, build and open a business in; I say this from first hand experience.
Downtown Business owner
>> or are people just too complacent to care?
People care. Neighborhoods care.
We go to the meetings in droves, we each get up and speak out against projects.
But the city managers do not listen and do not care what it’s citizens think.
There is no democracy in SJ.
Until we move out the inept SJ city counsel.
As stated: San Jose will RISE from the ASHES.
First we have to get rid of that stupid Sily-con Valley as capitol. It’s over.
The whole idea of the city council making decisions is a joke. They negotiate with each other to get what they want and forget the overall good health of the city. For years the citizens said they wanted a renewed downtown and voted that way. The city tried to bring retail downtown and then Santana Row and a complete flip flop on downtown policy, hi rises, hotels and retail downtown. but then Susan Hammer and her council approve Santane Row. It’s a disgrace and a sellout by Hammer and her council.
I can’t wait to build the greatest city the country.
HJ is on the money.
Each councilmember runs their district like a fiefdom. What that councilmember deems appropriate for their district is rubberstamped by the rest of the council. Backscratching at it’s finest.
The most excellent ethics consultant that the city brought in said exactly that. There’s no teamwork, no oversight, no sharing of ideas and that this was in his view a *major* problem with city mgmt.
Citizen input into the process? We’re morons – and should be ever grateful that we have such top-flight thinkers in city hall looking out for us.
Vote against *all* incumbants, not this one, not that one, all of them. (And be sure to vote against them again when they run for county positions).
San Jose’s sprawl is a major obstacle to a vibrant downtown. There is no need to go downtown when most of our neighborhoods provide all the services we need much closer and more conveniently than does downtown. Now, we want to build a new city in Coyote to put people even further from downtown and transit systems (the phantom BART project is not even planned to be anywhere near Coyote.)
One can only hope that the people will rise up and say enough to this nonsense—if not, more and more of us natives will look forward to the day we can leave this area for one where the quality of life is truly valued.
As for Santana Row, the city could have done the same thing downtown but they have chosen not to. Obviously Santana has provided something to the community that it wanted—unlike downtown. Get over Santana and work to build a real downtown with unique shops and restaurants, not just mega-chain retail/food. Give people a reason to go downtown on a regular basis, not just for a special event once-in-awhile.
The city does not listen to its residents, one of the problems that district elections has caused. Too often, councilmembers are interested only in what might be good for their district, regardless of whether or not it is good for the city-at-large.
Unltimately, the electorate is to be blamed for allowing many of these people to have been elected and re-elected.
Obviously, the city sprawling, suburbanization plan is a snafu! It’s ugly LA without beach and glamour. Who wants to live San Jose, the america’s ugliest city with no downtown? The downtown, the city has, is real incompletion, the wannabe with absolutely nothing to show for! The San Jose’s downtown is the smallest, most moribound in the country. Downtown Detroit, Houston, Oakland, L.A., Miami, Phoenix and Kansas City are way better off than the most embarrased city near S.F.,(San Jose). This is not including cities that have nice downtown such as San Francisco, Seattle, portland and Boston. Forgettaboutit! Of course even small cities have great downtown such as Lexington, Lincoln, boulder and Los Gatos. San Jose is the most pathetic and unluckiest city in the world! It all due to politics and the bozo San Joseans who elected them.
I think the reason why city fathers are focusing the growth in North San Jose and Coyote Valley is because the city feels the downtown is finished or nearly finished, so therefore, they can move on, and downtown can compete with those areas. I think will be detrimental to downtown if they have plan. The city needs to concentrate on downtown only from here on out. They need to pump the downtown area with alot of highrise housing that includes range from low-income to high-end. They also need to subside mom and pop businesses in downtown. The city needs to make downtown the best in North America, so it can rival to ones of Santiago, Chile, Dublin, Ireland and many European and South American cities. Therefore, San Jose will be getting alot respects. If not, San Jose will forever live in inferiority complex. We deserve alot more!
What’s essential here is that our citizens be aware that ignorance forges blight just like it did to Downtown in the 60’s & 70’s. San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA) members volunteered to review the NSJ policy proposal and post a position paper on our website (linked to this blog). If we let the tilt-ups in NSJ become dinosaurs that rent for pennies, the uses that follow will not bring economic development but rather economic blight. The community should not support the NSJ policy change without addressing implementation of the Downtown Strategy Plan, and the City leaders have agreed with SJDA that they go forth together in the policy making process.
I think the people who read this site don’t realize that they are in the minority when it comes to downtown. There is a very vocal minority that wants downtown to be so much more that it is. But, most people in San Jose do not go downtown except for the few festivals or concerts at HP (Sharks also) that we have. They don’t really need to go downtown and they get what they want in entertainment elsewhere. San Jose is a suburban town and always will be. Too bad for those of us who want downtown to be more but don’t ever count on it.
Right on San Hosea/Josea. There is democracy and hopefully next election people will exercise their votes and send those packing and not let them rest into cushy county seats! The problem is – will people do it? No one would run against Gonzales last election even though no one liked him – what does that say about the complacency of our citizens?
That’s the point. Downtown is what it is. The concern is the tremendous amount of dollars being spent to try and maki it something it is not and probably will never be.
Our “leaders” have no problem spending our money—the do have a problem getting a return on our investment.
You have to ask yourself a simple question –
Why is the City Council interesting in developing North San Jose, Downtown and Coyote Valley ?
It’s the tax money shell game !!! California State and many local governments continue to overspend their tax revenues and use bond and redevelopment money to make up the difference even as property and sales tax revenues grow while our economy remains slow. California declares a “ budget emergency “ almost every year and takes local government tax and bond money plus requires local governments to pay for unfunded state required programs.
San Jose and local governments respond by establishing redevelopment areas ( 1/3 of San Jose is in redevelopment areas ) to retain property taxes called “ tax increment “ property taxes which allows them to issue redevelopment bonds that cost twice as much to pay back with interest. They also issue revenue and non general fund bonds that do not requiring voter approval to pay for capital projects ( City Hall / Airport Expansion ), economic development projects ( buy property and sell to developers below tax dollars invested ) and pay for current city / state operating expenses . Spend now and Pay for it later.
San Jose is chasing billions in federal and state tax money to finance BART per Business Journal article: BART price: Plan 60,000 homes – “The city of San Jose would have to plan for 60,000 new housing units before the state will consider releasing the $760 million it has promised for the extension of BART “ per Sunne Wright McPeak, Secretary of the Business, Housing and Transportation Agency. “
San Jose has for decades not invested in city infrastructure ( streets, sewers etc ) and deferred maintenance except to issue more capital project bonds ( park, community centers etc ) which require twice future tax funds to pay off. American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2005 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure http://www.asce.org/reportcard/2005/index.cfm nationally D rating and San Jose is a D and headed for F
Many of the neighborhood association leaders clearly recognize that local and state overspending, massive bond issues, deferred infrastructure maintenance / investment and public financing problems contribute to the local problems.
We are concerned that any local developments be well designed projects and not make the neglected infrastructure situation worst. There is a difficult balance in supporting and encouraging local small and large businesses investment, doing well planned economic development where there is a real payback of public tax dollars which many time has not happened and were more elected official political contributor paybacks and the need to provide more affordable housing and job opportunities for our children and grandchildren.
This very complex situation did not occur overnight and will take a lot of effort and joint work by the residents, business, labor and elected officials to solve. Many elected officials follow the Politician’s Prayer – ( “ I hope I am out of here, before the bills from all the overspending and bonds we have issued comes due, so someone else will get blamed “ )
The future of San Jose should not be based on a “ tax money shell game “ between the state, local governments and residents. Sound management absolutely depends on effective sound financial management, reducing our local and state governments to equal actual tax revenues, not issue more bonds for current operating expenses, supporting a good business economic climate for both small and large business, encourage well designed housing development that pays a fair contribution to public infrastructure, everyone being reasonable and working together to develop reasonable workable solutions and reducing the “ blame game “ that someone else is responsible and realize we all are responsible to solve the problems.
Downtown is better now that it was years ago but it should be after the billion or more invested but our efforts to redevelop downtown killed off many local small businesses.
We continue to chase large out of town businesses with public tax incentives without auditing projects to see if they actually got the promised pay back for San Jose’s public tax investment. Some probably do, but many do not and without audits we do not know.
Let’s have less “ I think this will work “ and more documented proof before investing our public tax money. We need to look at what works and involve the entire community, not just the special interests, in developing the solutions and how we spend our tax dollars.
Inside San Jose mission is “designed to encourage political debate, discussion and change in our city “ but many of the posts are just emotional rants against other people and play the “ blame game “.
Where are the solutions and ideas to solve the challenges that San Jose faced now and in the future and that “ Silcon Valley “ is famous for?
As a downtown resident, it mystifies me that there are so many San Joseans – mostly living in the hills – who never come downtown. Downtown has so much going on, so much to recommend it, and it breaks my heart that so many people stay away because it is perceived as somehow “threatening”. Downtown is not a threatening place. It’s less threatening than any other city I have been to.
Like Henry, I would love for downtown to be much more than it is, and that will involve bringing many more people to live there. I just don’t want downtown to lose the sense of place that makes it attractive in the first place. The scale of new housing that would be required to make BART work is so extreme that it reminds me of the plan of Le Corbusier in the 1940s. He suggested to the City Council of Paris that they should rip out the center of Paris and build 17 identical high-rises. There you go! That would bring more people downtown! Maybe we should do that!
But that is not how our City should be.
So the question is, not whether more people downtown is a good thing, but how it should be done. None of us will benefit from, and no-one will go to, a downtown that contains a hundred replicas of the Earthlink building.
People say that downtown is a parking nightmare. It’s fine after 6pm and at weekends, and compared to Santana Row / Valley Fair at any time, it’s peachy. The amusing thing about Santana Row is that it shows that people want to shop in and near buildings that look historic; it’s just that in making that decision the City Council voted for fake historic on Santana Row rather than the real historic of the downtown.
There are real problems in terms of how much the City Council and City staff listen to neighborhood concerns. But I see neighborhood groups getting more informed and more effective all the time, and becoming a powerful voice in decisions affecting their community. We need to make sure, with BART and with the other challenges the downtown faces, that we don’t let our desire for more downtown residents and a more successful downtown prevent us from engaging critically with proposals that affect our community.
When I ran for San Jose City Council over 25 years ago, Coyote Valley was considered off-limits. A greenbelt to be preserved forever. Only after certain “triggers” were met could we even think of building on that virgin territory. Have those triggers been met? I haven’t heard much about them lately.
The original Highway 101 by-pass of “blood-alley” was controversial be cause it would “spur” growth and intensify the pressure to build on Coyote Valley.
Then we had Cisco—the gateway to Coyote Valley. Oh, that’s right, they didn’t build. Now we have commercial and industrial zoning that sits vacant waiting for another dot.com boom, at the sametime John Sobrato still hasn’t been able to lease that Corporate HQ in downtown.
The ever increasing need for affordable housing, not business, seems to be driving the newest effort to develop Coyote.
I have always thought it better to build up before you build out.
And if we build out, should we not redirect BART to the Coyote Valley, where the jobs and the housing of the future will be?
If indeed all the jobs and housing are going south, pun intended, why not reroute BART. Maybe even take it to Morgan Hill, then they might stop opposing it coming further south than Milpitas—tongue firmly in cheek.
It seems to me that if it is enevitable that Coyote is going to be built out—it ought to be Masterplanned with due consideration given to transportation infrastructure, urban infrastructure, environmental considerations and its impact on the rest of the City and its neighbors.
Somewhere I hear Dutch Hamann whistling.
We should rename the Quezalcoatl the:
Dutch Hamann Monument
It could represent what that sprawl loving jackass turned our city into!
Between Hamann & Hammer, more damage was done to the downtown than any other mayor or manager before or since. I’m not voting for anybody whose last name begins with “Ham”
I want to open at least one, if not three, downtown businesses. I have tried to do this in the last three years. I refuse to invest in this political (inept) enviornment. Included is the Redevlopment Agency. Those in office and those under that Stupid Shick, who ruined the Pavillon, are Enemies of Business. We will run them and most of the current concil members out of town where they belong.
BE PATIENT.
>> Costly Public transportation on the scale, magnitude and convenience envisoned can only be successfull if there is a critical mass of users within easy reach of the systems, concentrated in neighborhoods close to stations and transportation hubs.
Exactly why lightrail is a bust and always will be a bust. There is and never will be density – we’re a little LA.
BTW, my motto for lightrail? “Taking no one to nowhere, slowly”
*Great* idea on the link up between downtown and Santana row. I bet it would cost less than 1.5 billion dollars too.
We should start throwing rocks at the “Let them eat Cake” Rotunda if any project gets launched in Coyote valley.
Downtown Albertson’s will shape up or ship out. Who would like a full-size Safeway?
The fountain alley area is overrun with junkies. Just take a look. St James park is an open delelict zone. A police officer I know tried to enforce the laws at St James park and was banned from going there because he stopped a (well connected) homeless advocate from operating a feeding station without any permits.
A young gal I know was taking the bus home from a job downtown and for no reason had her face smashed by crazed derelict. On our way to Zanottos in its previous incarnation, we ignored a bum who was hitting us up for money and he spit on my son. We stopped going to Zanottos.
If any of these were regular occurances at Santana Row, it would not be a popular destination either. So why does San Jose think this is going to ever work without cleaning up these problems?
lazy.
Read my lips – Housing Housing Housing!!
San Jose was developed in the 60’s and 70’s as a suburban neighborhood, ignoring downtown. Costly Public transportation on the scale, magnitude and convenience envisoned can only be successfull if there is a critical mass of users within easy reach of the systems, concentrated in neighborhoods close to stations and transportation hubs.
Who said that a vibrant and livable neighborhood had to be horizontal? Many successful urban communities in some of the great cities of the world in which neighborhoods thrive are dense and vertical.
I also offer the opinion that the development of North San Jose as an “UP TOWN” sense of the core community can and will support the development of downtown by expanding the downtown to encompass the very hi-tech industries that up until now have shunned downtown. By moving the mountain to muhammad we will accelerate the intergration of the hi-tech industry into the core of the community. At the same North San Jose will contribute to the critical mass of housing and jobs neccessary to support the transporation, retail and entertainment infastructure.
In addition, now we have Santa Row, why not embrace it and Valley Fairfield after all, they are an “ATTRACTION” as well as the local mecca of retail in the Valley. Also a great source of sales tax revenue for San Jose from the surrounding communities. Why not link downtown to the “WEST END” of downtown via a direct bus link from downtown to Santa Row and Valley Fair along San Carlos. Why wait for a light rail link! What a great added ATTRACTION for conventioneers and hotel guests to conveniently access during visits to San Jose. At the same time how great to have Valley Fair shoppers conveniently visit downtown attractions on the same bus loop.
Finally, I believe Coyote Valley development as a high density community at this time will detract from the goal of providing the sources essential to BART and existing VTA transportation systems in the central core of our community, “Downtown”.
RE: the POS in the Plaza, it’s never going to be removed unless we can get the anti-Fallon jokers to WANT it over at the Mexican Heritage complex. As far as I’m concerned, you can throw all the money in the world at downtown, make it a destination, but visitors from other places are still going to remember one thing the most—that POS in the Plaza and they’ll be laughing about SJ until that thing is removed from such a prominent location. In the scheme of things, it won’t cost much monetarily, but it will cost a fortune politically because the uppity types without lives will cry foul and file lawsuits and who knows what else, to keep this POS right where it is, just like a junker car in the front yard. Not a single council member has the guts to raise this issue even though it’s an eyesore that the overwhelming majority of people who are downtown on a regular basis would like to see gone. This is the legacy we are stuck with in this town—bad decisions that don’t get reversed—ever. Why didn’t the Council immediately reject that POS when it was unveiled and insist that the “artist” go back to the drawing board, or better yet, not pay him and get someone else? No wonder this town gets no respect—it doesn’t deserve any with that thing so proudly displayed for all the visitors and conventioneers to see and have a good laugh over with friends when they get back home.
Tom McE, I’m sorry to say your light tower needs to take a back seat because this POS is the symbol of this town now.
Hey San Joseans, it’s time to stop whining and start enjoying downtown and Santana Row. I took my friends, visiting here from Montreal, Canada, which has a great downtown, to downtown SJ and Santana Row.
He was struck how great San Jose is. It measures up to their vibrant city. Each city has it own woes. It’s time to be prideful of our assets and stop being a cry baby! We can still improve our downtown by adding icing on the cake: more housing, highrise housing.
I got this last week…
The City of San José currently has vacancies on many of the commissions and committees. If you are a San José resident, please consider applying. Application forms and further information may be obtained from the Office of the City Clerk, 801 N. First Street, Room 116 or by calling (408) 277-4424. Following are a list of vacancies, all have an application deadline of March 11, 2005:
Airport Commission – (2) vacancies
Arts Commission – (5) vacancies
Disability Advisory Committee – (3) vacancies
Early Care and Education Commission – (4) vacancies
Historic Landmarks Commission – (3) vacancies
Library Commission – (3) vacancies
Parks and Recreation Commission – (3) vacancies
Senior Citizens Commission – (4) vacancies
Traffic Appeals Commission – (3) vacancies
Put this POS where it belongs: Alum Rock and King.
Don’t worry about Downtown losing out to Coyote Valley. The Metcalf Energy Center will forever be a monument to bad, thoughtless planning. I cannot imagine anybody choosing to live in a high rise apartment in the immediate vicinty of the power plant.
More San Jose incompetence: remember the air monitoring stations touted by our mayor four years ago as “neighborhood protection measures?” The city has still not yet installed these stations. There is only a temporary station in Los Paseos park that does not work.
I hear no single family homes are planned on their own lots in North San Jose Plan or in Coyote Valley. The 80% of familys demanding a sand box and a swing set will live in Stockton or Salinas. This will cause pollution, waste of oil and damage the enviornment.
The funny thing is, when San Joseans talk about Coyote Valley, you never hear them mention the effect the planned development will have on Morgan Hill and other neighbors to the south. But man oh man is it a HUGE issue in the South County, and they are not happy. Odd how you seldom, if ever, read about this in the pages of the Mercury News.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/050315/nf200503156227_db093_1.html
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=574&e=4&u=/nm/20050314/wl_nm/crime_cities_dc