San Jose is great because you don’t have to drive far to see or do interesting things. I don’t feel badly saying this on a site devoted to San Jose because of two reasons: first, our convention and visitors bureau touts it (link); and second, it’s true.
This weekend, my wife and I discovered the Byington Winery in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a short drive up a winding Bear Creek Road. We never knew about the place until a neighbor invited us after she won a bid for a wine tasting tour at a Hacienda Elementary School fundraiser.
Byington is one of two wineries in the vicinity. Therefore, you can overindulge at two places before you remember that you have to drive down a winding Bear Creek Road. Nonetheless, it’s a nice place: a small winery with a friendly staff and beautiful views.
Within an hour drive of San Jose you can reach one of the world’s greatest cities, an ocean, mountains, wineries, and farms. I don’t know any other place where this is possible. If you do, let us know. We’ll make sure the information gets to the right convention and visitors bureau.
From the Archives:
The Mayor and Council have now moved into the new City Hall. The Mercury News ran front page stories yesterday. For more information, check out my previous blog entries on the design for the building:
An Exception to the Rule (link)
An Exception to the Rule, Part 2 (link)
Has anyone bothered to ask why ConVis Bureau is pushing visitors to drive to SF and Monterey?
Are you there yet?
The reason nations do not flourish is because their constant chaos.
What are the symptoms?
Nobody agree on anything and everybody disagree on everybody.
Everybody wants to be the star and the me, myself and I go first.
Nations that flourish most of the time have one goal one dream …
ONE COMMON DESTANATION
San Jose suffers from multiple sclerosis.
Evaristo Guerrero II
Your First Hispanic Future Governor
“Within an hour drive of San Jose you can reach one of the world’s greatest cities…”
Oh come on Jude, Salinas isn’t THAT great!
Wouldn’t it be better if San Jose was promoting downtown rather than San Fran or Monterey?!
Seems pretty dumb to me!!!
Hello mr. Mayor. Call the Visitors Bureau people.
Change the website at least!!!
Okay – I’m going really off topic – you might even want to shout ‘FORE!!!’
Regarding the city hall design…
Keep the new CH rotunda basically as is – or tweak it a bit so that it more resembles a golf ball.
Then construct the adjacent main building to resemble a golf club, a driver or 3-wood perhaps.
The shaft going up into the sky would function as radio or television tower and observation deck.
Claes Oldenburg did lots of this kind of stuff.
Now that would have been be tres cool, irreverent, lots of fun, and put this place on the map.
It’s small town(San Jose) for the pickin’.
It is O.K to promote other places as an addition(Option) to main attraction.
You have to do it!
It is like the main dish and the complementary gourmets.
All together make up your meal.
The problem is your main plate; it might not have the right look to honor your menu. If that is the case nobody will order it.
Simple planning.
Common sense
What do you want?
Spend money or make money?
If you want to spend money then put a giant “golf” look a like building in front of the city hall.
If you want to make money then look for all the things that you need to start up a business.
Space, location, accommodations, flexibility, expansion if need in the future, target markets, investors, relevance to current culture, who, where, when, how, why.
We all are very creative but only a few of you are practical.
Evaristo Guerrero II
Let me be your voice.
Jeeeez, folks! JB tells us all about a great place to go sample some local vino and respondents to the website go bonkers. What do you want the ConVis blog to tout, that San Jose’s only a stones throw away from Fresno?
Young man!
Are you defending, protecting or endorsing Jude Barry interest?
Are you a defender of the weak or your are representing JB?
Why are you so upset about it?
We are just presenting our opinions, present yours!
Evaristo Guerrero II
A real visionary
I think Jude is right on. The proximity to all types of world-class experiences is what makes San Jose such a great place to live. And I see no problem with the Visitors Bureau selling itself as a great home base from which to explore everything the Bay Area has to offer.
BTW, my SJ master plan is coming along nicely.
To date, I’ve suggested the following:
– Strip mall museum
– Winchester Mystery House of Donuts
– Quetzie-land theme park
– Gi-normous Golf club/Golf ball city for hall
To all you wanna-be visionaries… who’s your daddy?
To paraphrase Bobby Kennedy, maybe it is time to ask what kind of City we are, and what kind of City we want to be?
Are we the Center of Silicon Valley, Metropolis extraordinaire, with our own unique population, sense of culture and power center?
Are we the Mayberry of California, where a skinny Dave Cortese can walk down the street, recognize all his neighbors, do his banking and still get home in time to feed the chickens and bale the hay?
Are we the suburb of San Francisco, where on weekends and holidays we can trek into the big City and look at all the tall buildings and bridges during the day, find a decent restaraunt and Broadway Show at night?
Or are we simply collection of neighborhoods, shopping malls and parking lots separated by freeways with artificial city boundries that expand only as our ability to provide city services increases?
Few recognize where San Jose ends and Santa Clara, Cupertino, Campbell, Milpitas, Saratoga, or Los Gatos begin.
The lack of boundries, the lack of unique and individual neighborhoods, the lack of a tranportation system that connects disparate ends of the city and the lack of a cohesive, vibrant, downtown that incorporates a financial center, an entertainment district, first-class restaraunts, cultural exhibits, mixed-use land policies and a diverse population have left the San Jose stagnant.
The success of Santana Row, post fire, is a result of planning not simply buildings and housing—but of a vision for an entire community.
Every neighborhood, including downtown, could benefit from such a vision.
Only then will we not be embarrassed to ask the first question and not so reticent to dream of the second.
Providing a mass transit system, such as BART,
A ballpark would not be a bad anchor, either.
The ConVis website says we are 45 minutes from SF—when?—2:00 a.m. Sunday @ warp speed? When is the last time anyone got from the northern border of S Jay to the southern border of S EFF in 45 minutes? Danny, change the opening.
Richie called it right when he wrote: “Or are we simply collection of neighborhoods, shopping malls and parking lots separated by freeways with artificial city boundries that expand only as our ability to provide city services increases? “
S JAY IS suburbia. Thus the panic about coming downtown, especially after the Murky News did the chicken little thing about how hard it was gonna be to park downtown for “The Races” last weekend. I’ve spoken to several restaurant owners who did not get the largesse The Grill got…mainly because the suburban people who live here were scared to death to come downtown and hunt for….parking….which, in the end, was readily available.
JohnMichael O’Connor