Before we go too far in looking at the many problems that San Jose is suffering from, let’s look back a mere twenty years or so. There was a downtown in the making, but it was only on paper and in studies and reports, and, of course, in the hopes and dreams of many in the neighborhoods.
There was no battle between the suburbs and downtown – quite the contrary, people in Evergreen and Willow Glen and Berryessa wanted our city to have museums, sports venues, parks, and historical assets. They had faith that sooner or later we might get them, and voted for downtown development time and time again – up to and including the watershed win for the Arena in 1988.
Some may whine or try and rewrite history, but the facts are simple. There was no there, here. We were embarrassed to host the few notables and events we had at that time in the Holiday Inn. This is not an insult to that establishment, but a criticism of the leaders of San Jose, political and business, who allowed us to become a laughing stock.
Those afraid to walk in the vicinity of the City Hall should take a reality check. The only threat would be to run into a denizen of that new building and be bored for a few minutes. In the daytime and mostly at night, our center city is safe for man, woman or child – even Council members. And now those policy makers will get to “see” and enjoy the downtown that so many have worked to create – good, bad, and unfinished.
That phase is over, a relic of history, except in the minds of a few cynics who represent only those who complain but never create.
Certainly, there is much to be concerned about in the latest, unfortunate events in mayoral leadership, but from mid-century to Mineta, and Hayes to Hammer, San Jose has evolved into a place that one can work and more significantly, live in happily. That is a value that we should be proud of, and the price was a very worthwhile one.
The city, the downtown, could be so much different if it weren’t for a few petty people who thought they new best. They were wrong. Downtown should have always been the center of retail, al la, Santa Barbara with it’s downtown Valley Fair of Santana Row right in the center of the town. No going out to the subs. If only! Where are these people today. long gone or living in Rosegarden hanging out at the fake city. I want the real thing and we have it right here in downtown San Jose. There only needs someone with the brains and courage to finish it.
If anyone has ever been to Old Town Pasadena you would know the potential our downtown has to be a vibrant center of shopping, entertainment, & dining. Mostly in restored old buildings like we have in SJ, Pasadena is a fun place & my dream for downtown SJ.
It’s probably a good thing that our “politicians” will have to see downtown everyday. Since they were so sure that a new city hall would bring the masses to the area. Unfortunately, I’ve have not seen an example of a city hall bringing business. If you look closely at S.F. with it’s beautiful city hall it doesn’t attract people except for the homeless and the businesses serve only those working in the immediate area. Shame shame shame!
We need to get more shopping centers and more parking space for down town San Jose. See, more is better. Better for business because business is good for the city.
We all benefit from progress.
Bring something that we all need or want and we will be there. Spending our dollars.
Ito Guerrero
future city supervisor
You’re right McEnery, we have a good downtown thanks to you, and it’s getting better with more retail and highrise housing. Keep up the good work, current mayor.
The survival of a society depends on the constant recycle and renovation of it own system.
When dictatorship is in control, people suffer the consequences.
When capitalism is in control, only a few collects the richest of the land.
When static economies are in control, poverty plagues the nations.
Free enterprise and free job market is the ideal case.
When everybody is an entrepreneur and in circulation the land progresses, sharing the richness and the abundance with everyone. We all, you and anybody, ensures existence.
When a tree stops growing then it dies.
ITO G
Your future Governor
Hey Pasadena, you are so right. My sister lives in the vicinity and I can tell you that downtown Pasadena was transformed almost overnight into a destination by getting new retail and restaurants into old buildings. This was done at very little cost to the city since the buildings were already there and no huge projects were required. They do have an actual mall downtown too, but it’s not obvious from the street. Colorado Blvd is now filled with throngs of shoppers and diners even on Saturdays—so different from San Jose’s downtown/ghost town on a Saturday afternoon. The problem here is that the geniuses on Councils past allowed for so many of our old buildings and storefronts to be leveled that there is very little left to downtown that has any character at all. So we’re destined to end up with something contrived downtown just like Santana Row when we had the makings of a thriving downtown a la Pasadena there for the taking. We are all paying the price for the stupidity of Councils past and present in their handling of downtown issues. We have a trolley nobody wants to ride because it crawls at 10mph through downtown. This because the city wouldn’t sit still for an optional bypass route around downtown, which is sorely needed if the VTA ever wants to get serious commuting action on that system. Just another stupid decision that we are all having to live with now. I do hope that all of the residential projects that have been completed, begun, or planned under Gonzo’s watch will help provide the customer base for some serious retail development downtown now. But we’re not there yet. Anybody want to bet that Black Sea Gallery is gone in a year’s time?
No only of words man can live alone but also from the bread
that comes from the hard work of the land.
My friend
I had witnessed geniuses dying of starvation and idiots living in richness.
So, is not what we say but what we do what makes the difference.
We need leader with vision and desire to do the work to make it happen not just for the few but also for all of us.
ITO
Your future congressman
San Jose should be celebrating today. Its downtown night life will now add 45 hockey games that it sorely lacked last year. With the NHL coming back, people will be coming back to downtown. Hopefully this is just the first step in getting people to come to downtown. It must not stop there though. Bring a baseball team in, bring BART downtown and build downtown into a thriving living beast. We can make San Jose a beautiful city if we work together on it.
We need to step out of the shadow of San Francisco and make a name for ourselves!! Bring in restaurants, retail, and more places to live, make this the place to be!
Brian, I think the NHL just reduced the number of regular season games to seventy something. But I’ll take your 45 because that means the Sharks will be going deep into the playoffs….again.
The vision
The City needs to team up with local SJ Down town business to bring more revenue to the city and to the SJ local businesses.
How?
The city should invest in parking lots right in the heart of SJDT. This will keep the parking cost down for the pubic and profitable to the businesses. At the same time, more sales equal to more taxes for the city. That will cover the cost of the maintenance for the parking buildings and not from the outrageous fees costumer have to face. Volume is more profitable than occasional sales. Just think of Wal-Mart stores where everything is cheap and also holds a continuous customer flow.
I understand the seasonal theme parks philosophy “it is now or never” but what about for year round businesses? They need to attract their customers with affordable prices.
Just imagine a 10 dollars meal with a 15 dollar parking fee. Mm!
If I can spend three affordable meals I will do it but if I can afford only one, then I will spend only on one. I think that parking shouldn’t be the issue it should be the reward.
Where is the good will in here?
A very well planed down town can accommodate triple the number of present pedestrians. Make it easy for me and I will visit down town more often.
Listen to this “ Sir your parking space on Building K floor 2 Column B space 13 is being reserve for you”. or just say “K-2-B13” and your cost is .50C per hour for customers and .25C per hour for employees.
The Dracula mentality
To bad that the mentality of some business is to suck the blood of the few customer they have. People are not stupid they are just nice.
How many times can you cheat on the same person before that person fight back or walks way? Then what are you going to do when you run out of victims?
The low of giving “You have to give before your can take”.
You have to plant the seed before you can reap the fruits.
ITO G
Your future president
Tom-excellent commentary. As a little boy I walked 7 blocks each day after school through downtown from Third and Reed to First and Santa Clara to catch the bus home to the eastside (the old city transit line). It was certainly safe then. There were so many pedestrians downtown back then that a skinny kid like me had to zig and zag around people on the sidewalk just to get through—on a weekday afternoon! Many of those people were rural and suburban residents who were there to shop, pay bills, and do their banking Monday through Friday.
I returned to downtown in 1979 for my first post-college job in the finance business in an office located, guess where…First and Santa Clara. It was, by that time, a ghost town… as you well know. It took less than ten years for that to happen.
The only thing left were the remnants of culture.
Though much has been accomplished between 1979-2000, there have been huge missed opportunities. That original population is now being served by suburban banks and shopping malls. It needs to be replaced with new residents downtown. The only way to do that is high density housing in the downtown core—and lots of it. That will create enough baseline daily traffic to support the little businesses that can’t make it right now. And we can re-focus RDA money to business assistance for landlords willing to keep our homegrown, unique businesses in place. It takes creativity to use RDA money that way, but it can be done. Add a world class international museum system, and a couple of major entertainment venues and things will be off and running again. But it does take someone to lead on the policy side who has lived that history, been in business, and has actually worked the investment side of housing and retail. It also requires inspiring the most successful business people in this valley and getting them to start putting their money to work in San Jose again, instead of elsewhere.
Lastly, we need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. The recent council decision (on a split vote) to OK another 100,000 (plus) residents immediately north of downtown in cheaper four story residential buildings is the right way to create exactly the wrong flow of investment energy. Elements of the “plan” will be needed but have not been well thought out and are not sequenced properly. More specifically, the North San Jose plan was not supported by its own EIR, does not address school impact, and allows 8,000 new residential units to the north without the prior creation of any jobs and without any triggers to force downtown hi-rise to be built first.
Amazingly, while many are still lamenting the last downtown exodus, few if any showed up in June at the council chambers to question this latest rushed move to build another competing downtown.
My own (more extensive) comments on “managed growth” are available at http://www.davecortese.com, as is the text of my February 8th speech outlining some initial principles and vision for the future of this great city. These writings will be added to regularly over the next several months.
I’d love to hear from your readers on these and other issues. The ultimate vision for San Jose will come from the people—and carried forward by the next mayor.
As you state well, this is a wonderful place to live, but we can do better.
Yes, we can do bettwe, Mr. Cortese.
I just read that despite a huge budget crunch—$50 million trimmed—the mayor and the council voted to subsidize the Arena Carousel to the tune of $104,000.00, while at the same time cutting back cleaning of the transit mall and cutting back on the maintenance of the already grossly undermaintained parks.
Great, so when visitors come from out of town or even from our glorious ‘burbs, they see our seedy parks and filthy transit mall, but they can ride on a subsidized carousel. Why would they ever return…for a carousel ride?
What are you people SMOKING?!
John Michael O’Connor