Downtown San Jose

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Summer in the city

Extraordinary events take center stage

downtown July 19:“Double Indemnity” (1944) PG July 26:“The Blues Brothers” (1980) R Aug. 2:“Poseidon Adventure” (1972) PG Aug. 9:“Galaxy Quest” (1999) PG Aug. 16:“Ghostbusters” (1984) PG Aug. 23:“North By Northwest” (1959) PG Aug. 30:“Office Space” (1999) R Sept. 6:“Breakfast Club” (1985) R

The San Jose Downtown Association begins yet another exciting summer season of events in June. Here’s a preview:

Metro’s Music in the Other Park Reggae legends Pato Banton and The Wailing Souls serve as bookend acts to rising-star rockers Matchbook Romance, Matt Nathanson and Mat Kearney as the ninth season of Music in the Other Park opens a busy summer.

Cinequest expects more than 1,000 people per screening. Come downtown and eat before the show. Parking is free after 6 p.m. in the MarketSan Pedro Garage.

Banton’s headlining performance June 8 will be followed by alternative rockers Matchbook Romance on June 15, an exciting dual-headlined show by Nathanson and Kearney on June 22 and The Wailing Souls on June 29.

Farmers’ Market to-do list

The four free concerts begin at 5:30 p.m. and are at St. James Park, North First and St. James streets. The Downtown Association produces the shows and Metro Newspapers serves as title sponsor. The venue changes to Plaza de Cesar Chavez for 10 more consecutive free Thursday concerts July 6Sept. 7. The Downtown Association also supports free outdoor movies on Wednesday evenings June 7-Sept. 6 in San Pedro Square and Music After Dark free outdoor concerts in SoFA on Thursday nights starting July 27. “Our free concerts and movies perfectly complement other larger events scheduled for downtown this summer, including the Grand Prix in July and ZeroOne arts and technology festival in August,” said SJDA Deputy Director Blage Zelalich. “These great events aren’t offered anywhere else.” The concert series in St. James Park is sponsored by Metro Newspapers, Dos Equis, Stella Artois, Miller Lite, Smoke Tiki Lounge and Barbeque, J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines,Togo’s, Silicon Valley San Jose Business Journal, Jeppesen Dataplan, Red Bull, Hotel Montgomery,Above Net Communications, Westfield Development,Taylor Woodrow Homes, Capers Loft Bar and Bistro, Habana Cuba Restaurant, Ryzen Solutions, Sonoma Chicken Coop, ManPower San Jose, C2B Marketing, University Chicken, Henry’s Hi-Life,Teske’s Germania Restaurant, San Jose Grand Prix, Catered Too, El Observador, CBS, UPN, Telefutura, Univision, KZSC, Live 105, KFOG and Alice @ 97.3.

Watch for Cinema San Pedro Always kitsch, forever precocious, Cinema San Pedro begins another season of free outdoor screenings June 7 in San Pedro Square. The celebration of film classics opens with “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.” The fun doesn’t stop for 14 consecutive Wednesday nights at dusk. Bring your lawn chair, dress your favorite part, and get ready for the irreverent as Cinequest, Inc., and the Downtown Association, in cooperation with the fine establishments of San Pedro Square, present: June 7:“Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985) PG June 14:“Harold and Maude” (1971) PG June 21:“Saturday Night Fever” (1977) R June 28:“Jaws” (1975) PG July 5:“Best in Show” (2000) PG-13 July 12:“A Hard Day's Night” (1964) G

Here are the top 10 things to do at the Farmers’ Market at San Pedro Square, each Friday, 10 a.m.2 p.m.: 10. Treat yourself to lunch at a sidewalk cafe 9. Groove to live music 8. Shop for unique gifts from local artists 7. Take a casual stroll and sample, sample, sample 6. Watch demos from merchants and chefs 5. Bask in the fragrance of just-cut flowers 4. Taste gourmet delicacies 3. Choose from 35 growers and vendors 2. Enjoy right-off-the-vine fruits and vegetables 1. People watch - the best in all of San Jose The market is produced by the Downtown Association in cooperation with the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association. Sponsors include Metro Newspaper, KICU TV 36/Cable 6, El Observador, Hotel de Anza and VTA. Log onto sjdowntown.com for special market events.

Big events coming soon San Jose Grand Prix - July 28-30 World-class racing and off-track festival returns to San Jose for its second year. 40,000-50,000 fans per day. sanjosegrandprix.com

VOL.17 NO. 6

ISEA and ZeroOne San Jose - Aug. 7-13 Art on the edge - the only festival of its kind displaying global contemporary artists who utilize technology for their creations. Up to 15,000 visitors. 01sj.org

A S S O C I AT I O N

JUNE 2006 SAN JOSE DOWNTOWN

San Jose Jazz Festival - Aug. 18-20 Patrons pay $5, but stellar acts include the Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Sonny Landreth and more, on nine stages. Up to 50,000 per day. sanjosejazz.org

Parking plan kicked back to drawing board The city’s new parking plan flopped when it was unveiled to the public at a community meeting May 16. More than 70 people said the city’s proposal to raise parking rates and eliminate free night and weekend parking in downtown lots and garages was the wrong idea. A parking consultant hired by the Redevelopment Agency and city’s Department of Transportation advised numerous modifications to the Parking Management Plan for downtown. Among the recommendations: offering one-hour free parking 24/7 in five city garages; eliminating the retail validation program; eliminating nights and weekend free parking and charging a flat fee of $3 in city garages and $5 in city lots; increasing hourly fees in city facilities after giving the first hour free; and lengthening on-street metered parking from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The consultant figured that additional revenues from these changes could be used for facility maintenance and to create a reserve fund, possibly to acquire future parking prospects.

Residents and business owners agreed that downtown does not yet offer customers enough value to be the only destination in the South Bay that charges for parking. Several residents offered the sobering comment that the proposed parking hikes would compound an already difficult job they have to recruit friends and family to downtown. Many business owners said the city’s plan to charge an additional $5 to park nights and weekends amounts to a “cover charge” on downtown dining and entertainment. “If we change our current system, no matter how dysfunctional it is, the changes clearly must be better,” said SJDA Board Member Richard Villareal of McCormick & Schmick’s restaurant. “The city’s plan makes a difficult situation more difficult and will upset current patrons.” Rather than just raise rates, the Downtown Association recommends the city first look at providing for future parking supply by selling the Third Street Garage and using those funds to acquire the Greyhound bus parcel,

a site identified five years ago for public parking. SJDA also recommends a program that offers reduced monthly parking in city garages for downtown office buildings, knowing that filled offices would result in additional daytime parking revenues (as well as more downtown employees and customers). SJDA agrees with several points in the plan, including the continued emphasis on adding new spaces through “parking plus” in private development and redesigning a portion of the Convention Center Garage so that it is more accessible to patrons of the South First Area (SoFA). More of SJDA’s parking perspective can be found in President Henry Cord's opinion piece, which appeared in the Business Journal and is posted at sjdowntown.com. The Parking Board, whose members heard the public comments, will mull the recommendations over and begin the process of amending the plan at its meeting June 7 at 8 a.m. at the Redevelopment Agency offices on the 14th floor of City Hall.

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at both summer music series in St. James Park and Plaza de Cesar Chavez. For more information on turn-key hospitality functions for up to 100 employees or clients, contact Eric Trautmann at [email protected].

Commercial, 100 Park Center Plaza, Suite 111. The commercial real estate brokerage firm represents sellers and buyers on the sale, purchase and leasing of strip malls, shopping centers, office buildings, industrial buildings, apartment complexes, hotels and land. Call 885-8888, or check skybridgecommercial.com.

Business news

Gordon Biersch’s popularity soars

Call for volunteers: To represent the Downtown Association at its information table, set up at events this summer, contact Amy Anderson at aandersonglanz@ sjdowntown.com. Volunteers get food and drink, as well as a fun experience networking with downtown employees, residents and visitors.

Greg Casella has opened Café Too! in the San Jose Museum of Art, where he sells “edible art.” Go to catered2.com.

Gordon Biersch, 33 E. San Fernando St., proves its continued popularity with South Bay diners and beer fans. The San Jose Mercury News' most recent “Best in Silicon Valley” edition recognizes Gordon Biersch three years in a row as the best outdoor dining experience and four years running as the best microbrewery.

New additions to www.sjdowntown.com: Please turn your Internet surfing attention to sjdowntown.com for some important information. Currently linked off the home page are a series of opinion pieces by SJDA representatives about parking, transportation, nightlife, highrise housing and citywide land-use priorities that first appeared in the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. You can also find a paper explaining SJDA's position on downtown's night culture.

SpectraTek Media, LLC, 97 E. St. James St., #101, provides support for legal services including videotaped depositions, video editing, scanning Rokko’s Yasu Yamamoto with SJDA’s Helen Hayashi. documents, video and document projection, Other “best of” winners for 2006 include: Sonoma courtroom presentation software and Powerpoint presentations, said owners Chicken Coop for best family restaurant; Starbucks for best coffee house and wi-fi Michael McMahon and Carey Mook. Call 247-7440; check spot; Habana Cuba for most romantic dining; Pizza My Heart for best pizza; Poor spectratekmedia.com. House Bistro for best place to hear live music; Camera 12 Cinemas for best movie theater; and University Chicken for best campus hangout. Ryzen Solutions, 111 N. Market St., Suite 820, focuses on recruiting engineers in product development - mechanical, software and hardware. President Gary Restaurant orders taken online: Some downtown restaurants have taken Mantalas can be reached at 993-1282 or visit ryzen.com. advantage of sjsufood.com, an online service created by a graduate student at San Jose State University. Users can order food over the Internet; some restaurants will Brian Walker has opened Black Hairitage Salon at 527 S. Market St. Stylists deliver and others require pickup. Regardless, the site helps when hungry users are work on all types of hair, including children's, and color specialists will do corrective crunched for time, said creator Lambert Lum, who's studying for his MBA at the coloring, weaving and hair extensions. Call 271-9902. university. Participants include The Pita Pit, Tengu Sushi, Tandoori Oven, Tony Soprano's Pizzeria, Sa-By Thai Cuisine, Peggy Sue's, Lan's Noodles, and El Sabraso Stage Struck Entertainment, 28 N. First St., #540, provides children's entertainment, magicians, clowns and face painters. Owner Robert Edwards does impersonMexican Grill. Visitors to the site numbered 600 in March and 800 in April, Lum ations of Elvis, Clint Eastwood and Madonna. “Anything is possible, just ask,” said. Those restaurants that offer delivery services seem to get the lion's share of he said. Phone 509-1635. the orders, Lum said. To get involved, contact Lum at [email protected] or 821-5586.

New businesses: Rokko Japanese Cuisine has transformed the restaurant space at 55 S. Market St. (at Post Street) into a serene atmosphere serving non-traditional Japanese dishes as well as the favorites - teriyaki, udon and tempura. Rokko offers tako (octopus) and daikon salad, and for sushi lovers, the Rokko crunch roll made of salmon, salmon skin, tempura flakes. This is the second Rokko location for owners Yasu Yamamoto and Shinji Kichise. Call 947-7778. Founders Michael Nguyen and Colleen Pham have opened Skybridge

Downtown news SJDA recommendations supported by Grand Jury: Several proposals in the Downtown Association's new position paper detailing the future of night culture in the downtown Entertainment Zone (EZ) received validation from the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury. Though the Grand Jury in its investigation of San Jose police did not confirm any systemic “racial profiling,” the accompanying Grand Jury report made proposals for a more approachable and less intimidating police force. In line with SJDA thinking, the Grand Jury report suggests that police reassess its current shift schedules and overtime; establish a more synergistic relationship with EZ merchants; consider staggering club closing times; and promote more strict adherence to curfew ordinances. As part of its investigation, the Grand Jury called SJDA Executive Director Scott Knies to testify. The Grand Jury report also recommends: That officers provide an identifying business card to those people they confront, when feasible. Establishing a Civilian Review Board to crosscheck complaints; !""Expanding the San Jose Office of the Independent Police Auditor’s (IPA) ability to investigate complaints. !""

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In addition, winners of the 2006 Downtown Doors competition are posted, as well as a two-month calendar of upcoming “Big Events” in the core area. The “Events” page lists details and links to all the major summer activities in store for businesses, residents, employees and visitors. One more upgrade: new businesses now have contact information and easy access to joining the association off three of the “About Us” pages. All of this is on sjdowntown.com.

Other business news: Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. continues to expand its downtown operation. The Boeing division that provides flight and meteorological information to private, corporate and commercial clients has leased a second floor in the building at 225 W. Santa Clara St. .

Next BID meeting will be Aug. 11: The next meeting of the Downtown Association open to all businesses will take place 8 a.m. Aug. 11 at Britannia Arms in San Pedro Square. For information and to reserve a spot, please call Kathy Tran at 279-1775.

Great Clips for Hair, 121 E. San Carlos St. is under the new ownership of Haren Patel. This drop-in hair salon is open daily. Call 975-0861.

At the Convention Center

JT Body Shop, now owned by Jose and Roselia Ontiveros, at 660 Coleman Avenue, #12, does auto body repair, paint and frame work. Call 289-9979.

Light rail work speeds up: At the urging of the Downtown Association, construction crews under contract with Valley Transportation Authority have put the platform-raising and light-rail-station-improvement project on a fast track. If all goes well, the Paseo de San Antonio stations originally scheduled to be finished in late October - are now targeted for completion before the start of busy Grand Prix race weekend July 28-30. SJDA brought VTA, San Jose State University and many business owners adjacent to the stations on First and Second streets together for a series of meetings to discuss expectations and ramifications. A key priority was speeding up the work: raising platforms, adding shelters, hand rails and leaning rails and cleaning up the overall appearance of the stations. “This is great news; just excellent,” said Jon Hellesoe of Rosies and Posies. Work also continues on the stations at St. James Park. Once those stations are complete, VTA will turn its attention to the Convention Center and Santa Clara Street stations. Contact Gretchen Knight, SJDA's community relations coordinator, at 279-1775, for more information.

SJDA hopes to extend housing incentive: With one month left in a waiver that has encouraged a couple high-rise housing projects downtown, the Downtown The Downtown Association describes in its position Association recommends that it be extended until the paper a robust night culture with a multitude of entertain- core area approaches its housing goals. The City ment and dining options attracting a mix of people of Council policy waiver of affordable housing units for all ages. The vision includes a balance between latedowntown high-rise projects that are permitted before night activity and quality-of-life issues, creating both an June 30 is scheduled to expire that same day. energetic night culture and a welcoming urban residential The Downtown Association supported the policy change experience. in April 2004 with Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez. The To transform into more of a 24-hour city, though, police, policy exempted high-rise housing projects in certain businesses and other key stakeholders must work todowntown redevelopment areas from providing 20 gether, SJDA's position paper says. For starters, SJDA percent affordable units. asks for police to patrol on foot when practical, enforce The policy is seen as an important incentive by SJDA curfew and cruising laws; and utilize security cameras in members advocating for denser housing in the core, that high-impact areas. Included in SJDA's next steps is an in turn creates more vibrancy and retail. adjustment of closing hours to 3 a.m., first during a pilot The Downtown Association recommends the affordability program in the SoFA district. waiver incentive expire after 2,500 new downtown highThe SJDA position holds businesses accountable, rise units achieve their certificate of occupancy. too, asking for the licensing of club promoters; strictly enforcing regulations on clubs that violate their entertain- “The housing market downtown is far from assured, and the road forward for high-rise housing is sure to have its ment permit conditions; and creating a “no tolerance” bumps,” SJDA President Henry Cord said. policy for events in publicly owned venues that have a history of security problems. An opinion column by SJDA Vice President Eric Sahn The Grand Jury report is at sccsuperiorcourt.org/jury/GJ. requesting the extension appeared in the Business Journal and is posted on sjdowntown.com. The SJDA position paper is at sjdowntown.com.

June 8-9 - PCI-SIG Developers Conference (2,000) pcisig.com June 17-18 - Book Group Expo (2,000) bookgroupexpo.com June 25-28 - Society for Conservation Biology (2,000) conbio.org/2006/ July 9-17 - National Youth Leadership Forum on Technology (2,100) nylf.org/tech/dates July 20-23 - KCCNA biannual convention (3,500) kccna.net

SJDA news Just STOP it: A reminder goes out to all downtown businesses to consider the STOP program to keep trespassers and unwanted visitors from roaming your buildings and property. STOP is an acronym for Stop Trespassing on Private/Public property. Joining the STOP program for six months at a time authorizes police to take enforcement action on private property. Police may subsequently educate, issue citations or even arrest trespassers. Program participants are encouraged to: !""Let everyone in the building know about the program, enhancing citizen involvement; !""Keep exteriors and hallways well lit; !""Lock windows and doors, especially those out of view, such as storage and laundry areas; !""Call 311 for non-emergencies and 911 for emergencies, identifying yourself as a STOP member.

(estimated attendance) Downtown Dimension is published monthly by the San Jose Downtown Association, a nonprofit membership organization established in 1986 to serve the Downtown business community. Call (408) 279-1775 for information.

Enrollment involves filling out a simple form and faxing it to police every six months. For information or to join, contact Gretchen Knight, SJDA community relations coordinator, at 279-1775.

Editor-in-Chief: Scott Knies Executive Editor: Rick Jensen www.sjdowntown.com

Hospitality tent available: SJDA, in conjunction with Catered Too!, offers first-class VIP hospitality tents

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