The Cinequest film festival is in the midst of its fifteenth year, with over 200 films being shown to 60,000 people, all in downtown San Jose. This, I would contend, is what makes a city great.
A wonderful story by any measurement, the Cinequest Film Festival is a typical Silicon Valley start-up, that has matured into one of the top ten festivals in the world. It has survived political pettiness, the dot-com bust, and an early lack of venues to become one of downtown’s premier events. They should serve as a model.
By concentrating efforts on programming, San Jose could continue its “growth” immediately, without being shackled with a long-term planning process, as is typical with any large-scale development. Let’s not stop the development, but in the interim we can use our existing facilities that can serve a number of unique events – the CHAMP CAR races coming in July for example, are using the streets to transform the downtown into race track!
Great city’s become great, not from approving magazine articles or fleeting awards, or big buildings or public art, but from people. Show me a city that is bustling with people and activity and you will see a great city.
You want to make people happy in their hometown? You want to keep visitors coming back?
Give them programming. Give them things to do on the weekends. Events. Festivals. Block parties. Concerts. Find a few people that have popular hobbies or successful neighborhood events and nurture them with volunteers, larger venues, or God forbid, even money!
We should have a “Cinequest” every week in our city, then we could stop talking about our greatness and just enjoy it.
Jens Hussey is public relations manager for Cinequest.
Kill the stadium plan. Stop Nutty Gonzales from doing more damage.
I don’t get the connection between Cinequest or any of the other types of events that Mr. Huffey mentions, and a baseball stadium.
Re: Mr Huffey’s statement “Show me a city that is bustling with people and activity and you will see (sic) a great city” I’d like to point out that most of SJ is already bustling with activity, but the majority of people posting on this site are looking for a downtown that does likewise.
What’s wrong with a baseball stadium if it’s done properly? I’m not a hockey fan but I voted for the arena for the sharks. The cinequest is a great event that the city should continue to support but also look to other types of entertainment to bring into the area. Like to saying goes, different strokes for different folks.
Google sounds just a goofy as Silicon Valley
Mark T, you seem that you’re in downtown San Jose 1990. The downtown is much more bustling than any other part of the city including Santana Row these days. Are you sure you’ve been to downtown S.J. during Wed.-Sat. evenings and weekdays during lunch, Mark T? It seems very vibrant and bustling most of the time.
More bustling than what? Dowtown Fremont or Hayward? Please.
Gary,
I felt the same way as you about downtown until I went to the the lame San Jose Non-International Auto Show back in January. My friend and I went early so we could get dinner and then check out the cars. I could not believe how dead it was at 7PM on a midweek night downtown. We walked around quite a bit before settling on a place to eat so I’m not talking about just one street or anything. Empty trolleys to match the emptiness of 1st & 2nd Streets. I know the downtown comes alive later in the evening, but the whole point of my remark was that it’s way more bustling at Blossom Hill & Almaden or Story & King or Stevens Creek & Winchester than it is downtown—at 7PM on a week night as well as plenty of other time slots—and that needs to change.
A real downtown has life all the time, not just several evenings a week or at lunch time. We need a blend of clubs, restaurants, cafes, galleries, etc. that will draw a wide spectrum of people downtown all the time. We need young and old, all ethnicties, etc. We seem to foucus on just a few demographic groups (i.e. Sharks fans or young people or baseball hopefuls) instead of trying to offer something for just about everyone.
What kind of downtown withers when an attraction is gone (Sharks)? The author correctly points out the value of Cinequest and its importance to the City and we need more things like this. Think there is any hope that our City leaders will understand this concept? I won’t hold my breath.
Big problem with downtown is you are forced to pay for parking during the day like there is something special down there. I used to go downtown to for lunch a few days a week.
Not anymore! I can easily drive a few more miles to Santana Row or Los Gatos; which have free parking and no meter maids.
I do still go downtown occasionally at night when it is free. Seems that what everyone else does as well.
I never know what’s going on locally so I thought this link might be useful to others similarly afflicted.
http://www.sanjose.org/events/
I’d like to respond to the baseball posting. I wasn’t saying anything against a stadium but was pointing out that Cinequest is a great example of an event that pumps over 3 million into the downtown economy. San Jose needs more events like this. I’m a big baseball fan and think the mayor is on track trying to get a stadium built and a team moved here. That would be great, especially since I’m a transplant from LA and hate the Giants – would be great to have a team down here to focus on and route for.
The Parking Gestapo need to stop! It is appalling how many tickets they are waiting to write people downtown! Make it friendly and give people the option!
Planning issue.
Constantly on this site people complain about not having enough events to go to in San Jose. Well Cinequest is bringing in tons of movies so I suggest people stop complaining and go watch a movie! Last year alone more than 50,000 people from all over the world came to San Jose, (that’s almost double the amount that went to Sundance). This year, even more have arrived to spend their money in local venues. I agree that parking is outrageous but the good news is that there are plenty of screenings that occur after 6pm when public parking is free.
With Cinequest, fans are guaranteed great service at low prices, and by that I don’t mean a free shuttle to Wal-Mart. Cinequest caters to the peoples needs by offering lower ticket prices. Students this year can get in for only $5. That’s cheaper than most on-campus meals. Cinequest also offers a great website (http://www.cinequest.org) that allows you to order tickets and see each day’s events. Also offered online was a Viewers Voice contest which allowed viewers to vote for their favorite movie to show during the festival. One of the winners, Guy in Row Five, is showing tonight (March 8th) at 9:15 at the SJSU Theatre. This film deserves attention, so take advantage of San Jose’s free parking and go see a great movie!
Can someone explain to me how the film festival pumps $3 million into the local economy? The Cinequest organizers ask for lots of donated goods, but don’t seem to do a lot of commerce downtown.
I have been downtown the last couple nights and there is no evidence that there’s a film festival in progress. Unless you happen to be either IN a theatre, or at the Cinequest party, that is.
Well, if you look at other big cities, they are pretty much dead at during weeknights including Seattle, Portland and Boston, atleast in the downtown area, and they all have their own ills. Grass is always greener on the other side. By the way, do remember how dead San Jose used to be? It has come along way since then.
Why is everyone always complaining about parking, paying for parking, and parking tickets? Pay the $6, park legally, and support downtown businesses!
Why can’t the city loosen enforcement, develope a business friendly validation program and or make parking free in city owned lots at all time. Or at least the first two hours free; then charge.
Parking and the nit picking enforcement are the main reasons many people don’t go downtown.
So why can’t the city support businesses for a change? Instead of telling customers to buy into a this mess of a downtown; especially when there are so many other options in the southbay.