San Jose teacher writes a novel to improve grade-school literacy

Chris Knoblaugh--a Castillero Middle School teacher--recently published a thriller/horror novel called Tribute to fight falling literary levels in California. The book is set in San Jose and was written at a 3rd grade level with a subject matter designed to hook 6th graders and up. This was done to captivate students that might not have the same literary skills as their grade-level peers, but the book can be enjoyed by anyone.

Check out the full press release below or head over to Amazon for a preview of Tribute Part 1: The Cleaners Series.

Can Demons and Doppelgangers Help Turn Around California’s Low Literacy Rating? One San Jose Middle School Teacher is Determined to Find Out

SAN JOSE, CA (June 18, 2018) - In December 2017, a group of lawyers sued the state of California for the literary crisis in schools, claiming the state was not satisfying its constitutional responsibility to educate all children. According to the California Department of Education, a whopping 51.4% of students tested did not meet or exceed state English standards. Come November, voters will be faced with electing a Superintendent of Public Schools to turn around California's low literacy rating. Many are asking: what are schools doing about the problem?

“That’s not the right question,” said Castillero Middle School teacher Chris Knoblaugh, author of Tribute: The Cleaners Series: Book 1. “The right question is, how are schools going to fund the one-on-one attention required to teach kids to read?”

Knoblaugh knows first-hand the challenges teachers are facing, having taught English in elementary and middle schools in San Jose for 16 years.

“If an educator is teaching a full class of 32 kids, the chances to work one-on-one with a student are slim to none,” she said. “When I was working on my Master of Arts in Teaching, I gave up my break periods to tutor a student to bring him from pre-kindergarten to a fourth-grade reading level. It took one year of intensive work, starting with letter sound association, then word recognition, building reading visualization connections, and understanding the meaning of words.”

Knoblaugh became a teacher through the back door. The first in the family, along with her sister, to graduate from college, she earned a B.A. in English Literature and B.S. in Biological Sciences, graduating cum laude. She began working for a chemical company conducting research, and eventually became a product manager for Sun Microsystems, where she was laid off.  With all the downsizing in the high-tech industry, she knew it was time to change gears.

Through a program offered by NOVA to recruit teachers for Science, Special Education, and Math, Knoblaugh applied to be a Science teacher at Hoover Middle School in downtown San Jose. The school convinced her to use her writing skills to teach English instead, and put her in charge of a class where 70% of the students spoke something other than English as a primary language.

Knoblaugh quickly discovered what she was up against. “With a lack of resources at home like reading books, it’s not uncommon for a student to enter the seventh grade with a second- or third-grade reading level,” she said. “You learn vocabulary by reading. So, to teach in such an environment, you have to read aloud, stopping to discuss each section with the students. They can’t parse the information themselves; they often lack the tools to do so.”

From Hoover, she moved to Almaden, where again many students also spoke English as a second language. The difference, however, was that these students’ parents tended to be high tech workers learning to speak English themselves. The combination of a rich text and vocabulary environment, and the fact that the parents bought books for their kids and took their kids to the library, enabled these fifth-graders to often read at a college level. “They might not grasp the innuendo, but they understand the words,” she said.

For the past two years, she’s taught English at Castillero, a performing arts middle school, where 30% of the students lack the financial resources to invest in home libraries. Frustrated by what she saw as an ongoing problem—a lack of resources, and the kind of one-on-one tutoring she champions—Knoblaugh knew something needed to be done.

Her solution was to provide gripping stories that are accessible to kids, so a teacher can work on sentence structure and vocabulary development without the students knowing it. ”There aren’t a lot of high-interest/low-readability books for tweens out there,” she said. Which is the reason she wrote her debut novel, Tribute.

“I needed something to grab the attention of 12- and 13-year-old kids who don’t have an expanded vocabulary,” she said. “The reading level is third grade, but the interest level is sixth and above. I’ve written enough short stories, and read them in class, to know what grabs the attention of a child. It needs to be something on the edge of believability.”

Tribute, based in San Jose, California, is the story of twelve-year-old Miguel, whose family loses a soul every time his gang member Papa makes promises to Santa Muerte. Miguel’s brother, Juan, is the next target. The resulting paranormal possession attracts demons, doppelgangers, and an ancient soul slayer from the depths of Hell—all of whom must be vanquished if Miguel is to save his family and himself. Her Amazon reviews show many adults are also enjoying Tribute.

“Miguel is based on a combination of student characteristics I've seen in my classroom over the years,” Knoblaugh says. “He’s a realistic tween character operating in a harsh urban environment, struggling with the astounding level of poverty facing blue-collar families in San Jose. The addition of cryptids and demons to the story adds to the psychological stress of loss and poverty.”

Knoblaugh usually spends summers tutoring students for her Dancing with Words Tutoring business, but this summer she plans to write the second book in her anthology series. “It’s not a Harry Potter series,” she said. “More like Goosebumps, an anthology series where each book stands on its own with common themes and motifs.”

Released in April on Friday the 13th—for luck, she said—Tribute is available in paperback and Kindle editions on Amazon. Readers can find the author online at these locations:

https://twitter.com/ChrisKnoblaugh
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17944982.Chris_Knoblaugh
https://dancingwithwordstutoring.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/CKnoblaugh

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RailBlazer is the new coaster at Great America for 2018

Today Great America's new Railblazer roller coaster is officially open to the public. The unique ride will be the first of its kind on the West Coast. There is a single track and riders sit single-file straddling the rail. This enables tighter turns than most coaster. The ride is 106 feet tall and reaches 52 MPH.

I was able to experience it firsthand a couple hours ago. To make sure I fully understood the experience, I went on the ride three times--once in the very front row which was well worth the extra wait time! Even though the ATV-themed ride is only about 30 seconds long, it is one of the most intense roller-coasters I have ever been on. The initial drop is completely vertical and is quickly followed by three very tight inversions. The whole ride is silky smooth unlike some of the older coasters that toss you around (e.g. Demon and Patriot, formerly Vortex). Flight Deck is still my favorite ride at Great America, but Railblazer is a close second.

In addition to the new coaster, California's Great Amercia has also expanded food options. The park now has a full-service Starbucks, an expanded menu and outdoor dining at Maggie's Smokehouse & Fried Chicken, and a new family-friendly restaurant called Sierra Creek Lodge. Even the restrooms have been fully renovated and are the nicest I have seen in a theme park. I'm thrilled to see that Cedar Fair is living up to their promise to invest and improve the park. If you haven't been to Great America in a while, now is a great time to see what's new.

For more info on RailBlazer and Great America, click here.

Park View Towers design refresh

One of the oldest San Jose high-rise projects in the develop queue is getting a slight makeover and redesign. Park View Towers consists of three buildings that wrap around a historic church adjacent to St. James Park. Originally the church was going to be moved, which could have severely damaged the once dilapidated building. The latest plans keep the old church building where it is and feature more traditional looking buildings that better blend in with the area. The original design featured mostly glass like Axis. The lowrise building with townhomes has also gained a floor with the design revision.

The area around St. James Park could certainly use more residents to help revitalize the area. Hopefully the changes will help the project move along faster.

Source: SVBJ

Content 10.3 (Perform) Pick-up Party

San Jose's top cultural publication is hosting a release party on June 21st to celebrate issue 10.3 (Perform). As usual, subscribers get a free drink ticket if they pick up their issue at the party. In addition to networking with some of the folks featured in the magazine, there will be several musical performances and local artwork on display. Please see below for more information.

Content Magazine Pick-Up Party 10.3

Thursday, June 21st
6pm–7:30pm SVLaureate Awards Presentation
7:30pm–10pm Content Magazine Pick-Up Party
Mexican Heritage Plaza
1700 Alum Rock Ave, San Jose
 

We are excited for this issue's Pick-Up Party to be part of SVCreates' SVArts event held annually to present the SVLaureate awards that honor exceptional achievements in the arts and contributions to the cultural life of Silicon Valley.

A formal SVLaureate awards program, emceed by KQED's Michael Isip, will be followed by the Content Magazine Pick-Up Party, which celebrates the release of Issue 10.3 "Perform" and honors the SVLaureate recipients along with other featured creatives.

Issue 10.3 featured artists displaying their work at this event will include Pancho Jimenez, Joel Slayton, and Jeremiah Kille, and there will be musical performances by Ziggy, San Jose Jazz High School All Stars, and Ashlee Vivo. The entire evening is an opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate the cultural vibrancy of Silicon Valley.

Free entry for all Content subscribers, 10.3 features, and 10.3 contributors, and former SVLaureate recipients includes 1 guest, plus 1 complimentary drink ticket. Use the code Content2018 to reserve your tickets.

Thank you event partners: School of Arts & Culture, Wylder Space, Clandestine Brewing, Mutari Chocolateand San Jose Jazz.

New 20-story office tower proposed Downtown

Development proposals are continuing to roll in! The latest one comes from developer JP DiNapolis Cos. who spent $11.5 million for two vacant office buildings at 200 Park Avenue last week. Their plan is to build a 20-story office tower with a grand total of 740,000 SQFT of office space. The project would also include 1,200 parking spaces that would be shared with the Hyatt Place next door.

The general area could be completely transformed within a few years. This tower would rise on the same block where Insight Realty is planning Museum Place, an epic mixed-use development with residential, hotel, office space, retail, and an expansion of the Tech Museum. Across the street a 24-story residential tower is also proposed at City View Plaza and a block away Adobe is planning a fourth office tower that would double its employee count.

If everything goes according to plan, the new office tower will be under construction by the end of 2019.

Source: SVBJ

More info on the new San Jose Light Tower

The campaign to build a new iconic Light Tower in San Jose is still going strong. This would be a re-imagining of the innovative 237 foot-tall Light Tower that was built Downtown in 1881 and some believe inspired the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The team behind the tower is now raising $1.25 million to fund site selection and host a design competition later this year.

The location was original targeted for Plaza de Cesar Chavez, but there are now several other possible locations including:

• St. James Park
• Guadalupe River Park - Discovery Meadow
• Guadalupe River Park - Arena Green
• Diridon Station

Plaza de Cesar Chavez actually offers the least amount of space for the tower, which could include all sorts of tourist amenities ranging from cafes and gift shops to an observation deck. If everything goes according to plan, it could open as soon as 2022.

The best part is that the tower will not burden San Jose tax payers--it would be the single largest gift the city of San Jose has ever received.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown San Jose BART Station renders

Now that the construction methodology has been finalized for the BART subway in San Jose (single bore), let's have a quick look at the stunning station that is being planned for Downtown San Jose. To call the current design "open" would be a serious understatement. From the lowest point you can look up to the ceiling 145 feet or so above. The layout is modern and welcoming with high tech flourishes throughout. Check out the renders below of what will become one of the most iconic stations in the BART network.

Source: Robertee from the San Jose Development Forum

SubZERO 2018

The 11th annual SubZERO festival kicks off tonight! Several blocks in San Jose's SoFA District will be shut down for live music, art, food trucks, and culture. The event is runs from 6pm to midnight both today and tomorrow and you can see the full list of participants over here.

San Jose Crane Watch is up to 97 major projects

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has a great development map which you can access here. There are now over 97 major development projects, most of which are centered around Downtown San Jose. These include office, residential, hotel, health car, education, retail, and mixed-use projects that were either proposed or are actively under construction. The project has to be at least 100,000 SQFT in size to make it to the map (that means the pipelines has well over 10 million SQFT of projects).

Some of the latest additions include a 19-story, 220 room hotel tower on Santa Clara Street and a 500,000 SQFT mixed use project in North San Jose. Learn more and check out the map using the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown San Jose Scavenger hunt template

The San Jose Economy Blog has a guest post by a Cohesity employee that created a team-building scavenger hunt. I love this idea. It's a great way to get local employees more familiar with Downtown--and there are many hidden treasures to discover in the area. Below was their list that you can use as a starting point for your own scavenger hunt. Check out the full post with more details over here.

Items to find:

• Life-sized board game
• Bear that belongs in the snow
• Wolf on top of a street
• Sensing WATER installation
• Giant tank full of sharks
• Little piece of Italy
• Barbershop inside of a square
• Find a Burning Man female sculpture that inspires peace
• Sculpture worth 200,000 coins
• Permanent iron hat
• Giant dome that is in the center of a hall
• Statue with two track runners
• Silver girl walking a silver dog
• Red tree with no leaves
• Amusement park that opened in 1961
• Plant across the street from a cemetery – find the center circle

Good Deeds to Perform:

• Take a picture with a stranger and tell them to have a great day!
• Give a flower to a stranger.
• Throw a piece of trash from the street into a trashcan or dumpster.
• Help someone in need, a random act of kindness.

Google's Diridon plan is starting to come together

If Google ends up building their 8 million SQFT campus in Downtown San Jose, it will be one of the most transformative events even in San Jose history. They have already spent over $250 million assembling various parcels of land in anticipation for the urban campus. Eventually 15,000-20,000 Google employees could be working in San Jose.

Google has started laying out a vision for the 240-acre land surrounding Diridon where they would local the majority of their offices. The improvements would be accessible to the public and benefit the whole community. Google wants to develop four corridors that each have their own theme: Los Gatos Linear Park, Paseo San Fernando, Cultural & Innovation Walk, and the Social & Commercial Loop.

The Los Gatos Linear Park would connect the Guadalupe River to the Los Gatos Creek via a green "eco-walk" and Santa Clara Steet outside SAP would be turned into a commercial district with retail and restaurants. Paseo San Fernando would feature retail, art, and event space.

This sounds very interesting and exciting. The more developed the plan becomes, the more likely this project will come to fruition.

Source: SVBJ

Get More Done... Working with Virtual Assistants by SwagSam

SwagSam, Founder, of the podcast network WhatUp Silicon Valley just published his first book!

In the hustle that is Silicon Valley, we are all looking for an edge. We look at the latest trends and will try anything (within reason of course) to give ourselves a competitive edge. Always looking to increase productivity, increase bottom line … and in Silicon Valley to increase company culture!

If you can relate to this feeling that there just aren’t enough hours in a day then and want to reduce stress in your life; then SwagSam’s book “Success With Swag(ger)” is for you. In this book, SwagSam outlines just how he and his team at WhatUp Silicon Valley have used virtual assistants (VA’s)  to grow each of their respective businesses. It’s an actionable step-by-step guide to identifying what tasks that are wasting your time and guides you to hiring your first VA!

You can grab check out the book on Amazon by searching “SwagSam” or just clicking the link here.

WhatUp Silicon Valley is the podcast network on what’s trending in the South Bay for and by young professionals that live the Silicon Valley hustle.

SJCA Style & Culture with Nicholas Jimenez

Nicholas Jimenez is and artist that works for MACLA as a Program Assistant for their Digital Media and Culture (DMC) Studio. He's also studying Industrial Design at SJSU. He has a weekly vlog called SJCA Style & Culture that highlights a lot of great things happening in the area.

When asked why he started the show, Nicholas responded with:

"I want to invite people to see a first-hand account of what it's like to experience some of the festivals, meet some of the great people, and see the many styles and cultures in our area.  Also, as you may know, working within the visual and performance art scene we meet a lot of interesting people, organizations, and gain exclusive access to some awesome stuff and I want to share it all! People can expect to see interviews with local artists, designers, entrepreneurs, and fashionistas that are working on interesting projects that affect us all. As well as, local music videos, event highlights of local acts and performers at events near the South Bay, and San Francisco Bay. And also some vlogs about the day to day activities of the team behind it all."

To access the weekly show and learn more, click here!

Cinnaholic rolls out San Jose location

A rapidly growing vegan cinnamon roll bakery has officially opened Downtown at 115 East San Carlos. This is Cinnaholic's fifth location in California. Each gourmet cinnamon roll can be topped with one of 30+ frosting flavors and a selection of over 20 toppings. For more info on Cinnaholic, check out the press release below.

New location will soon grace taste buds across San Jose

SAN JOSE, Calif. – There is good news for San Jose residents with a sweet tooth.

Cinnaholic, the gourmet cinnamon roll bakery acclaimed for serving innovative, gourmet cinnamon roll creations, has announced that its San Jose location will open on April 27 at 115 East San Carlos Street. The San Jose bakery is the fifth in California.

The grand opening signifies meaningful and continued growth for the gourmet cinnamon roll chain. The new San Jose location joins the current locations in California, Texas, Georgia, Nevada and Florida. Cinnaholic gained national attention after the company was featured on ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank.” The brand was recently featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as one of the Top Eight Franchises that have appeared on “Shark Tank.” Cinnaholic began franchising in 2014 and currently has over 40 units in development, including Cleveland, Los Angeles, Jacksonville, Florida, and Edmonton, Alberta.

“There is a tremendous amount of excitement to serve the award-winning cinnamon rolls to the people of San Jose,” said Xicayan Posadas, who has been in the food industry since he was young, helping his mother run her catering truck at a young age and then working as a bakery manager. Xicayan owns and operates the new bakery with his wife, Lizzeth. “Our delicious, vegan cinnamon rolls will fulfill a need for a healthier, sweet treat that locals have been asking for.”

A cinnamon roll experience unlike any other, customers can choose from a variety of Cinnaholic’s signature frosting flavors and toppings to create their very own, mouthwatering cinnamon roll experience. Customers can expect nothing less than the highest quality ingredients, as the vegan bakery franchise was founded upon a commitment that all ingredients must be animal-free and free of dairy, lactose, eggs and cholesterol.

“Xicayan and Lizzeth are the perfect team to grow the Cinnaholic brand in San Jose,” said Shannon Radke, co-founder of Cinnaholic. “Their experience in the food industry is outstanding, and they truly understand the Cinnaholic concept and business model.”

For more information on Cinnaholic, visit www.cinnaholic.com.

About Cinnaholic

Founded in 2009 in Berkeley, California, Cinnaholic is the only gourmet bakery that allows customers to completely customize cinnamon rolls with more than 30 frosting flavors and over 20 topping choices. Each Cinnaholic cinnamon roll is 100% vegan and free of dairy, lactose, eggs or cholesterol, allowing guests to enjoy their mouth-watering creations without worrying about certain dietary or allergy restrictions.

To learn more about Cinnaholic franchise opportunities, call (404) 844-8661. For more information about Cinnaholic bakeries, visit www.cinnaholic.com.

Wednesday Wishlist: Loops

It has been ages since doing a Wednesday Wishlist, and I can't think of a more timely one than this one. Transportation is constantly one of the top complaints of living in the San Jose area. We are plagued by levels of traffic that give even LA a run for it's money. We're spending billions on road improvements and public transit, but it does not seem like the net results will ever keep up with the increased demands of a growing population. We live in the innovation capital of the world, there has to be a better way.

Elon Musk has recently given a presentation on the first "Loop" tunnel, which is currently being built in the LA area (full video below) by The Boring Company. A loop is a lower-cost variant of the Hyperloop proposal a few years back. Stations 1-2 parking spaces wide would allow up to 16 people to enter a pod, which would then descend into a tunnel. The pod would then autonomously travel point-to-point to another station at up to 150 MPH. Rides are targeted to cost $1 per person, less than existing public transit stations.

Critical to making this concept successful is reducing the cost of tunneling by a factor of 10 from $1 billion per mile to $100 million per mile. This is possible by using autonomous boring machines with electric motors and batteries (surprisingly the same motors as the Tesla Model 3) that are faster and more efficient than existing machines. Most of the engineers working on the machines are from SpaceX--if anyone can figure it out, it'll be them. After all, they did figure out how to land rockets back on earth on a moving barge.

Given that we are at the precipice of next-generation transportation technology, San Jose should be doing everything possible to make sure we're one of the first cities to get access to Loops. Instead of investing in transit systems of the past, we should look to the future. Can you imagine connecting SJC, Diridon Station, and Downtown to every other part of San Jose within a 10min trip? Now's the time to start thinking bigger--or lower--for San Jose.

SJC is the fastest growing airport in the Bay Area

There is good reason why San Jose continues to get additional flight routes month after month. The airport has grown passenger traffic an astounding 18.5% year-over-year. It will only be a matter of time before SJC passes Oakland as the 2nd largest airport by passenger volume. In February, San Jose's year-over-year passenger growth was an even more impressive 20.8% while it was 11.5% at SFO and 5.3% at Oakland. That puts SJC and OAK neck-and-neck for 2nd place.

In March, international travel was up by 23% year-over-year. This is the most lucrative market for the airport and city, as international trips tend to bring the largest economic impact and taxes to the city. It also helps support San Jose companies while giving residents more travel options.

With a major $1 billion expansion in the works, the future looks bright!

Source: SVBJ

MOMENT at San Pedro Squared opens today!

One of the most exciting retail improvements to Downtown San Jose in years is launching today. San Pedro Squared is a Knight Foundation-funded project that adds four micro-retail spaces on the ground floor of the San Pedro Square garage. San Pedro is arguably the most lively street Downtown right now, but has always been held back by only having restaurants, bars, and the occasional shop on one side of the street due to the massive parking structure. 12 parking spaces have been converted into four 400 SQFT businesses for local entrepreneurs.

It gets better. The four businesses are all women-owned ventures with strong ties to San Jose offering unique and innovative products. You can see the descriptions of each below along with links to their websites.

San Pedro Squared is having their grand opening today at 11am. Please patronize our new local businesses--this is the type of grassroots project that adds character to Downtown!

Innovative retail destination reinvented in Market-San Pedro Garage, continuing people-first development efforts in downtown San Jose

SAN JOSE (April 30, 2018) – With the conversion of parking into micro-retail shops at the Market-San Pedro Garage completed, four locally owned retailers will be part of the new destination’s grand opening May 18.

The shops collectively will be known as MOMENT at San Pedro Squared.

MOMENT exercises a new approach to retail that allows temporary shops to coalesce with traditional brick-and-mortar experiences.

“We want MOMENT to serve as a platform for small businesses to make the leap from part-time to full-time,” said Kevin Biggers, chief strategist for San Jose Made, which is curating the vendors and managing the spaces for San Jose Downtown Association.

The conversion of parking spaces into retail shops was called San Pedro Squared because it adds activation and street life to the garage side of San Pedro Street on one of downtown’s most popular blocks.

The SJDA proposal to turn 12 parking spots on the San Pedro Square side of the garage into four 400-square-foot business spaces was a winner of the 2015 Knight Cities Challenge, an initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that seeks to make the cities where Knight invests more vibrant places to live and work.

“The parking garage has been transformed into a vibrant venue that promises to bring new life to the community and serve as a destination for residents of all kinds to meet and connect,” said Danny Harris, Knight Foundation program director for San Jose. “The new MOMENT retail stores are a great example of people-first development, aiming to address resident needs and advance the economic vitality of the neighborhood.”

The Knight Foundation, along with the Downtown San Jose Property-Based Improvement District (PBID) and City of San Jose – owners of the garage – funded the project, including a new parklet that extends along the sidewalk into a seating and social area in front of the shops.  The parklet replaced five street parking spaces.

“With MOMENT, the entire block of San Pedro between St. John and Santa Clara streets becomes more active at the perfect time when new residential developments around the square near completion,” said Chuck Hammers, PBID president.

The initial roster of MOMENT tenants includes four women-owned businesses:

• Bobo Design Studio:  Angie Chua has created a lifestyle wanderlust brand featuring brilliant designs crafted on everything from pins and patches to bags and graphic apparel, handcrafted and made in California.  bobodesignstudio.com
• Fractal Flora:  Through Fractal Flora, Yuri Lee and Sarah Lim have a mission to reconnect people to nature, be it through their wonderful curation and care for the plants and flowers they sell or their popular DIY terrarium workshops. fractalflora.com
• Blooms Privé:  Sarah Coronado and Marie Coronado of Blooms Privé have created the next evolution of women’s underwear (patent-approved), prioritizing an empowering and inventive design for women anywhere. bloomsprive.com
• Sea Senorita Studios:  For Sea Senorita Studios, Sofia Arredondo uses her incredible artwork to power a diverse range of products, featuring everything from paper goods to T-shirts to accessories.  seasenoritastudios.tumblr.com/

“For small business owners like myself, MOMENT provides an opportunity for us to get back into our community, engage with our customers and build a presence that is increasingly more difficult to do online,” said Angie Chua of Bobo Design Studio, a San Jose native who quit her job in a tech-based startup to pursue her dreams as a creative business owner.

San Pedro Squared was designed by Gensler and Eaton Hall Architecture, and built by TICO Construction.  The project’s evolution has been documented atsanpedrosquaredsj.com.

“This project achieves a number of collective community objectives – incubating local talent, transforming the public realm and creating a cluster of destination retail in our city center,” said Blage Zelalich, downtown manager in the city’s Office of Economic Development.  “We’re confident that MOMENT is going to be great for San Pedro Square and downtown San Jose.”

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About PBID

Established in August 2007 and managed by the San Jose Downtown Association, the Property-Based Improvement District (PBID) provides cleaning and tree-trimming services, beautification and street life projects, downtown ambassadors and secondary police enforcement units, and business development assistance. http://sjdowntown.com

About MOMENT

MOMENT is a set of four dynamic micro-retail spaces designed and programmed to advance, grow and celebrate creative retail. Powered by San Jose Made, MOMENT embodies the urgency, immediacy and verve of today’s new retail and creative culture, featuring makers, creatives, artists and emerging brands for varying short-to-mid-length durations. The first four shopkeepers will occupy the spaces through August 2018.  Visit  moment-sj.com

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy. For more, visit http://knightfoundation.org.

About the San José Department of Transportation

The San José Department of Transportation (DOT) plans, develops, operates, and maintains transportation facilities, services, and related systems that contribute to the livability and economic health of the city. Our goal is to provide a transportation system that is safe, efficient, and convenient for all modes of transportation, and which supports San José’s livability and economic vitality.