DASH is on the chopping block

Part of the VTA's plans for their new transit network include cutting DASH, a convenient free shuttle that circles Downtown San Jose. Scott Knies from the San Jose Downtown Association wrote a thoughtful article on how this would impact the area, which you can find below. The proposal is strongly opposed by SJSU, SPUR, and the SJDA.

VTA wants to halt DASH

Blog post by Scott Knies, Executive Director, San Jose Downtown Association 

February 14, 2017 

The free Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH) that averages more than 1,000 riders daily Monday–Friday between Diridon Station and San Jose State University (SJSU) is on the chopping block. 

Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) proposes curbing DASH and substituting a new bus route between Diridon Station and the Berryessa BART station. The new route would traverse downtown on Santa Clara Street and riders would pay regular VTA fares. 

San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA), SJSU and SPUR oppose the end of DASH and are registering concerns about the proposal to the VTA board. 

“Eliminating the DASH shuttle is another counter productive move which will affect SJSU students, senior citizens and our low-income residents who rely on this service to get around downtown,” said Ann Webb, a member of the San Jose Downtown Resident’s Association. 

DASH averaged 1,032 daily riders in 2016. Ridership peaked in September at 1,224 and dipped to 859 in June, corresponding to the SJSU semester calendar. DASH primarily operates on San Fernando Street, a route that will become increasingly important once BART subway construction starts under Santa Clara Street. 

“BART is a five-year construction project with major impacts near Diridon and First Street where stations will be built,” said Chloe Verrey, SJDA Operations Manager. “Now is definitely not the time to end DASH service.” 

SJDA helped initiate DASH in July 1996 when Adobe Systems, Inc. first moved downtown. Adobe was leasing space in Riverpark before its first office tower was completed and the free shuttle connected employees taking Caltrain to the downtown core. 

Adobe, SJDA, City of San Jose Dept. of Transportation, SJSU, VTA and regional air quality grants all contributed to fund DASH, which VTA contracted out to private shuttle vendors until taking it in-house in 2007. 

From July 2005 to January 2008 VTA changed the DASH route to Santa Clara Street, but ridership lagged as the shuttle took longer to negotiate traffic congestion. Since returning to San Fernando Street, ridership has rebounded, peaking at 1,046 average-daily riders in 2015. 

“It’s surprising VTA wants to eliminate DASH and put another bus route on Santa Clara Street again, especially with the BART construction looming,” Verrey said. 

Cutting DASH is just one of the many route and schedule changes proposed by VTA in their NextNetwork plan that aims to improve the agency’s overall fare box receipts and operations. See the plan at nextnetwork.vta.org.

Playful People Productions Presents: Willy Wonka Jr

This delicious musical is guaranteed to delight everyone's sweet tooth! Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka JR follows enigmatic candy manufacturer, Willy Wonka, as he stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five scrumptious candy bars.  The lucky winners will get a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie, who takes the tour with his equally amiable Grandpa Joe. This scrumdidilyumptious musical is guaranteed to  take the audiences on a fantasy ride into the land of pure imagination!

Our shows often sell out prior to the show weekend. Be sure to buy your tickets early, you won’t want to miss out on this fantastic production.

All Shows at the Historic Hoover Theater, 1635 Park Ave  San Jose, CA 95126

Show Times:
Friday, February 24th at 7pm
Saturday, February 25th at 11am, 3pm and 7pm
Sunday, February 26th at 11am, and 3pm

Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net
$12 attendees 12 and up, $8 children 11 and under,  and $6 Children’s floor seating

Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)
$15 attendees 12 and up, $10 children 11 and under, and $6 Children’s floor seating

For questions: barb@galiotto.com

Founded in 2010, Playful People Production’s mission is to provide a quality, caring environment where children, teens and their families can have positive theater experiences. We strive to involve all family members in the many aspects of on stage and backstage theater in a safe and fun environment and offer participation in theatrical productions, classes, summer stock and camps for ages 3-103

Content Pick-Up Party tomorrow (Issue 9.1 - Find)

Content subscribers can enjoy a memorable night of food, drinks, music, and art at the AFKgg Gamer Lounge tomorrow to celebrate the release of Issue 9.1. This issue features: Russell Powell, Kyle Harter, AFKgg Gamer Lounge, Roads and Kingdoms, The Running Shop and Hops, Cat & Cloud Coffee, Good Karma Bikes, Bay Maples: Wild California Gardens, Park Station Hashery, Bylines, pangaean studios, Open Source, Airfield Supply Company, Anjee of MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana and Eric Bausewell of SurfaceInk.

Content Magazine subscribers receive one complimentary beverage and appetizer. AFKgg Gamer Lounge has surprisingly good food for a gaming venue and were even listed as one of the top 25 cocktail bars in Silicon Valley.

The event goes down tomorrow (Feb 16th) from 7pm to 9pm at 163 W. Santa Clara Street in Downtown San Jose.

If you are not already a subscriber, you can find out more information over here.

San Jose Valentine's Day events

If you are still searching for ideas on what to do today (a bit last minute don't you think), there are still plenty of events available via Eventbrite including a few for singles. Head over here for the full list.

San Pedro Squared

At long last it looks like the San Pedro Square parking structure is getting retail along San Pedro Street. New boutique shops will take a small number of parking spaces on the first floor while "curb cafes" will extend the experience along the street itself. This should help make the area even more lively and pedestrian friendly.

In 2015, the SJDA was awarded a Knight Cities Challenge grant towards making this project a reality. Construction is scheduled to begin this July and will hopefully be done by September. For more info, check out the Downtown San Jose Construction Brief.

7th Annual "Feathers of Fury" pillow fight this weekend

In honor of Valentine's Day, the 7th Annual San Jose Pillow Fight is this Sunday at noon. This year, it will be located at the old Camera 12 Plaza at 201 South 2nd Street. The event is free and has always been a lot of fun in previous years. For more details and photos of past events, head over to one of the links below!

Web: https://pillowfight.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pillowfightsj/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pillowfightsj
Craigslist:  https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/eve/5995110121.html
Bike Ride: https://www.facebook.com/events/172505129908607/

February 2017 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The four new San Jose City Councilmembers answered questions about their goals and Downtown San Jose. Common themes were safety and jobs. When asked what they would change about Downtown San Jose, the items that came up were more retail, wider sidewalks, and more vibrancy.
• Black Arrow, a company on San Pedro Street in the former Tied House building, is moving to 75 E. Santa Clara St. later this month. The space will return to hosting a restaurant/bar and it will be called "District" [Josh: sweet!].
• Tac-oh! is now open for lunch and dinner at 399 S. First.
• The former South First Billiards at 420 S. First is being transformed into Forager Tasting Room and Eatery. It will have shareable kitchen spaces for chefs to test out food concepts along with craft brews and local arts and entertainment events.
• Local Color, an artist space at the former Ross space, will be open for an extra three months.
• Zoom Video (headquartered at 55 Almaden) announced a new $100 million round. This means even more tech jobs Downtown.

To read the newsletter, click here!

San Jose-themed Valentine's Day gift

This year, why not get a Valentine's Day gift that will directly benefit the local economy? The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy has created an "Adopt a Rose" package that includes a box of Schurra's Chocolates (made in San Jose, and they are awesome), a Cafe Too! gourmet cookie, one free red rose each month for a year from Citti's Florist, and a personal message on a plaque by the rose bush of your choice in the San Jose Heritage Rose Garden. Oh, and it is tax deductible as well (you don't have to tell your significant other that part).

For more details, head over here!

Latest SJSC renderings

News has been slow on Downtown San Jose towers actually breaking ground, but I did come across a new render for the SJSC mixed-use project across the street from city hall. The towers will have residential units, offices, and retail all in the same project. Completion is targeted for 2019.

Source: robertee and hillrise from the San Jose Development Forum

San Jose Airport Expansion

As a follow up to last week's post about SJC growing faster than any other major airport in the US, we now have more info on the physical expansion of the airport. The SVBJ article mentioned that the airport was adding two new gates, but provide no other information. Thanks to Brandon Stevens who posted in the comments, we now have a better idea of exactly what is going down.

Originally, I assumed that the airport was simply going to better incorporate the two awkward gates between Terminals A and B (also know as the international gates, located directly under SJC's only lounge and above border control and customs). Now we know for certain that the new gates are a true expansion of the airport on the South end.

Gates 29 and 30 will be very conveniently located to the left after going through the Terminal B security checkpoint. It will be a much shorter walk than most of the other Terminal B gates. In addition, there is plenty of room to continue expanding in that direction. The original plans for the SJC expansion called for 6 additional gates when demand permitted. Gate 31 is already referenced in some of the drawings. It looks like we may be getting many more new flights in the near future!