Normal posting schedule resumes tomorrow

I'm sorry for drought of posts lately! I was in Asia for a couple weeks for work and am still trying to catch up. However, I did get to take a detour and see two very interesting places--Macau and Hong Kong.

Macau is the most densely populated county (technically a S.A.R. of China) on the planet with 73,350 people per square mile. That is basically triple the density of New York and quadruple that of San Francisco. What is interesting is that most of Macau is not super tall--there are only 20 skyscrapers in the whole country (buildings 492 ft or taller). Most of the buildings were 3-8 stories with retail on the ground floor.

Hong Kong on the other hand has the largest number of skyscrapers anywhere with 353 buildings over 492 feet tall. It also has thousands of "San Francisco" height high-rises, some of them 5-6 times wider than what you would see in the US. It was one of the cleanest, safest, and best-organized cities I have ever been too. It has one of if not the best subway system in the world and most trips cost $2. Also--sit down for this--it has one of the lowest rates of homelessness of any large city. The homeless rate is 0.02% in Hong Kong versus 0.5% in San Jose. Like San Jose, real estate prices are sky high and the weather is warm most of the year, yet somehow we have four times as many homeless as a city of 8 million with insane density and many public spaces.

So, I got to see two stereotypes dispelled first hand. 1.) You don't need a lot of super tall buildings to create density and a critical mass of people 2.) Density does not necessarily equal chaos, traffic, crime, and homelessness.

I'm happy to see there are many San Jose projects about to break ground or are recently proposed and I'll post about them over the next couple of weeks. If we do things right, it IS possible to increase density and quality of life at the same time!

Senado Square in Macau

View from the 110th floor of the ICC, tallest building in Hong Kong

Last minute Valentine's Day ideas

The San Jose Downtown Association has a few ideas for Valentine's Day procrastinators. There is still time to get a commemorative photo taken in front of XO at City Hall or make the Anti-Valentine's Day Happy Hour. To see the ideas, head over here.

Souresseau News: When Artists Flew Like Birds

This week's history video is about historic drawings from bird's eye views. Artists had to get pretty creative before planes and drones were around, and many of these drawings are incredibly detailed. Ironically the newer maps featured in the video had a lot less detail and were not to scale.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

When Artists Flew Like Birds from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

February 2019 Downtown Dimension Highlights

The FEBRUARY 2018 Downtown Dimension is now available at:

https://sjdowntown.com/wp_2016/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/DTDFEB2019.pdf
In this edition:

• SJPD Capt. David Santos, the "Downtown Captain," answers questions about what makes his job special as he helps keep downtown safe.
• Update on BART -- back on track now and nearly fully funded.
• A look at WeWork's growth downtown and two of the organizations using it's desks.
• Four new restaurant openings.
• PBID takes care of trees from the roots up.
• Coming soon:  CINEQUEST & Winter Jazz Fest.
• Michelle Azevedo joins SJDA's staff as director of policy and operations.

For your information:

• Live and Local SJ supports live music in the center city.
• Traffic alerts keep up with lane and road closures and openings.
• Maps of downtown commercial property availability and development proposals.
• Boom City: SJDA's summary of new downtown building proposals and west side acquisitions.

Downtown Dimension is a leading source for information about downtown San Jose news, events and businesses.  Subscribe with a simple email to sjda@sjdowntown.com, subject line:  Subscribe.

For information about weekly downtown events, also subscribe to Downtowner Online.

Souresseau News: Horse Power!

This week's history video is about early transportation in San Jose--namely horses. It's difficult to imagine a time when blacksmiths used to be the most important people in town and a limo was a wagon pulled by 6 horses. Kick back and journey 110-120 years back in time with this short documentary.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

Electric Motorcycle Company moving to San Jose

San Jose is getting another cutting edge transportation company. Lightning is a manufacturer of high-end electric superbikes that can top 200 MPH and travel 100 miles per charge. They claim these are the fastest production motorcycles in the world.

Lightning has relocated from San Carlos to 6299 San Ignacio Way in South San Jose. The space is five times larger, which will allow them to expand their in-house design studio and R&D--likely bringing even more jobs to San Jose.

Thanks to Nio, Lightning, and several complimentary companies building EV components like Velodyne, San Jose is establishing itself as the Detroit of next generation vehicles. Even Tesla was originally planning to build their factory in North San Jose.

Source: SVBJ

Souresseau News: When Letterheads Told a Story

This week's history video is about historic San Jose letterheads. Many of these were printed over a century ago and the quality of the artwork that went into them is quite impressive.

To watch the two minute video, click here.

SJC had its best year ever in 2018

Even with Lufthansa leaving SJC, the airport still posted a 10.7% year-over-year passenger growth in November. Overall passenger counts for 2018 were up a staggering 15%, making it by far the fastest growing airport in the region. San Jose now has 16.6% of the Bay Area air travel market while Oakland is at 15.9% (keep in mind Oakland was ahead of SJC until 2018).

In December, SJC broke their all-time passenger travel record. The previous record was 14,300,000 passengers and was set way back in the year 2000.

There are no signs of San Jose International slowing down. Several new flights are coming this year as well as six temporary gates that will serve as an introduction to a much larger expansion. I'm hoping we will get several new international routes this year.

Source: SVBJ, SVBJ (2)