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With a lack of tech workers and foot traffic, downtown San Jose became a ghost town during the pandemic, but five miles away high-end Santana Row flourished. These two destinations linked by San Carlos and Stevens Creek boulevards and Interstate 280 are worlds apart socioeconomically and the COVID-19 pandemic made that schism wider. Downtown was hit...
Reviving downtown San Jose remains an elusive goal
Downtown San Jose looks like a ghost town. Boosters claim an economic revival is within reach for the heart of Silicon Valley. But those who live and work in the city’s core are skeptical. John Seol, owner of a small cellphone repair shop just blocks from City Hall, told San José Spotlight he hears about...
The Capital of Silicon Valley struggles with email system
Despite complaints and frustration from the mayor about San Jose’s email platform, the city can’t afford to switch its operating system. “That kind of migration and transition would be a huge project for (roughly) 7,000 city employees,” Chief Information Officer Rob Lloyd told San José Spotlight. San José Spotlight last week revealed that Mayor Sam Liccardo...
San Jose small businesses get break on paying taxes
After being hammered by the pandemic, small businesses will have one less expense to incur — at least for now. The San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a nine-month extension of a program that waives the city’s business license tax for businesses hurt by COVID-19. The extension will run from Oct. 1, 2021...
San Jose tourist attractions struggle through COVID pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic hit San Jose tourist attractions hard, but some have found creative ways to bring back visitors. The Children’s Discovery Museum, Tech Interactive and Winchester Mystery House all closed during last year’s shelter in place, and have yet to fully recover. But through rainy day funds, donors and online programming, they stayed afloat despite...
South San Jose liquor store shut down after 36 years
Faisal Gowani still can’t believe his family business has shut down. Owned by Gowani’s parents, Southgate Liquors was a fixture in South San Jose that provided one of the largest selections of craft beer and liquor in the area for the last 36 years. The shop went out of business on Labor Day after being...
San Jose Chamber of Commerce is diversifying—slowly
The newly-minted San Jose Chamber of Commerce has big plans for diversifying its mostly white executive board and attracting more minority-owned businesses as members. But some stakeholders are skeptical whether the chamber can match rhetoric with action following last year’s scandal over a racist advertisement that nearly tanked the organization. Derrick Seaver, who took over...
San Jose businesses struggle as state safety net unravels
California’s safety net is unraveling and San Jose residents and small business owners are at risk. That’s because San Joseans are part of the 2.2 million people in California who have or will completely lose unemployment benefits this week. The federal government ended four pandemic-related benefit programs to help Americans get through unemployment last week. That...
Tech industry’s work from home policies hurting downtown San Jose
Downtown eateries and bars took a hit during COVID-19, but now some downtown businesses are grappling with a major loss in foot traffic after many tech companies continued allowing employees to work from home. San Jose’s urban core is home to thousands of professionals at major tech corporations, including Adobe, Cisco and Zoom. But these...
Study: Privatizing San Jose airport could solve debt problem
San Jose could cash in upward of $2.47 billion by leasing its airport to a private investor or company, a new study suggests. The study, conducted by Los Angeles-based think tank Reason Foundation and published last week, projects that 31 cities with medium to large airports could generate as much as $131 billion through leasing. Cities could...