Downtown San Jose is planning to close another road permanently

The closure of San Pedro Square to cars has been a tremendous success. Not only did it allow for the creation of the largest mural in Northern California, but it was a major boost to the vibrancy of the district. Now the San Jose City Council has their eyes set on another street for permanent closure.

On November 5th, the Council has extended the closure of Post Street which houses several restaurants, bars, and nightclubs as well as San Jose Qmunity district. If everything goes to plan, on February 25th they will make this closure permanent.

Turning this area into a pedestrian mall would allow for improved outdoor seating and entertainment. It was already a very impractical street to park on. By permanently removing cars it would help create a stronger community and enable the businesses on Post to thrive. I'd highly recommend checking the area out next time you're in Downtown San Jose. The Club on Post and 55 South are excellent places to start.

Source: San Jose Spotlight

Santana Row has a Tesla CyberCab

San Jose has the first Tesla Store in the world. It has been significantly expanded since it's inception and is still tremendously popular after more than 12 years. As a flagship store, it also has been one of the first if not the first store to show off upcoming products. These included the Model X prototype, the Model 3, and Cybertruck in the past. 

Right now the Tesla Store at Santana Row has a working prototype of the Cybercab, Tesla's first vehicle that is exclusively designed for autonomous driving. It has no steering wheel or pedals. The craziest part is that consumers will be able to purchase it (estimated to be around $30k) and rent it out like an uber when not in use.

San Jose has a very high density of EVs, especially Teslas. When these start hitting roads in 2026 I think we'll see quite a lot of them. Tesla plans to build about 2 million Cybercabs per year, which is equal to all of the cars Tesla makes today combined. It's very cool that we are one of the first cities in the world where you can get up close and personal to one of these futuristic models (the production version will be nearly identical).

Source: X

Happy Veterans Day San Jose!

San Jose has hosted a Veterans Day Parade since 1919, and this year is no different. This event is the largest Veterans Day Parade in Northern California and honors all who have served or are currently serving our country.

The pre-parade ceremony begins today at 11am in Plaza de Cesar Chavez and is followed by the parade itself at 12pm.

Below is a handy map of the parade route which starts near Highway 87 on Santa Clara Street and then ends in front of the San Jose Marriott past Plaza de Cesar Chavez. You can also find more information about the parade over here.

CEO Noodles: Chief Eating Officer

Another new eatery is open in Downtown San Jose. CEO Noodles has a mix of authentic noodle dishes from Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, and Vietnam. They also have some very unique items like papaya snow-fungus dessert soup. 

The restaurant features fantasy-inspired decor and a mobile app for seamless ordering. It's yet another highly anticipated San Jose restaurant that is racking up excellent initial reviews.

CEO Noodles is open from 10am-9:30pm every day and is located at 130 E. Santa Clara Street (between 3rd and 4th Street).

Source: The Downtowner

World's largest Christmas light maze

The holidays are getting nearer and Enchant is coming back to San Jose's PayPal Park later this month. The world's largest Christmas light maze will be available from Friday, Nov 22nd to Sunday, Dec 29th. You can find more info and tickets over here.

Source: SJtoday

Santana Row Fall Wine Stroll

Santana Row is hosting a Fall Sip & Stroll on Thursday, November 14th from 5pm-7pm.

Stroll The Row while enjoying wine and lite bites inside 12+ Santana Row shops & restaurants. Tickets are $50 and include a signature Santana Row wine glass, wine tastings from Livermore Valley wineries, lite bites, exclusive shopping incentives, live music and more.

Participating shops and eateries include Tesla, New Balance, Yeti, Vuori, Dumpling Time, Suspiro, Paige, Marine Layer and more.  

For more information, you can contact the Santana Row Concierge at 408-551-4611.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Election Results - Part 2

I'm not sure how it could possibly be taking this long to tally California votes, but there are some obvious winners.

Here are the ones that passed that will most clearly impact San Jose:

• Measure 2 - provides additional funding to help renovate schools
• Proposition 4 - authorizes more funding for water districts, wildfire prevention, and land protection
• Proposition 35 - continues funding for Medi-Cal health care programs via a tax extension on managed health care plans
• Proposition 36 - increases penalties for theft and drug crimes

I'm not mentioning Amendment 3, as it is just updating the language in the Californian constitution in a common-sense way, yet it does not actually alter any rights.

The biggest one on the list for me is Prop 36. Crime has become a major issue in Silicon Valley, and this will reduce the threshold for thefts being treated as felonies and allow multiple robberies to be grouped together to constitute a felony. Hopefully this will become a stronger deterrent to the retail theft that is greatly impacting San Jose businesses, especially small businesses. We can't get to a place like San Francisco where shampoo and toothpaste is being locked behind glass cases because of rampant shoplifting. I'm very happy this one will pass.

Election Results - Part 1

I tend to stay away from political posts, but in this case there is a general melancholy vibe in San Jose. As an serial optimist, I'll go through the 2024 election results and highlight what I think the positives might be around what has passed. Let's start with the elephant in the room (no pun intended), the presidential election.

Obviously, Trump was not Silicon Valley's first choice. The question is, are there any aspects of a Trump presidency that will benefit San Joseans and San Jose businesses. Here is my best shot:

• Taxes
• Yes, Trump did indeed lower taxes in his first term. The benefits did not just impact the rich but impacted all individuals making $9,525 or more as well as married couples filing jointly making $19,050 or more per year. I would expect that he would keep these tax cuts and as a sign of good faith try to reduce them even more as soon as possible. This should be beneficial to San Joseans that are already used to paying the highest taxes in the country. Now, this will only be possible if the deficit is significantly reduced and that leads to the next item.
• Deficit
• Trump seems to be partnering with Elon Musk, who has promised to help significantly cut the deficit by identifying government waste. Elon has claimed that up to $2 trillion could be cut from spending by consolidating departments. Even if the amount is half that, not only would it enable further tax cuts but it would reduce the risk of America going bankrupt... which would surely devalue the US Dollar and severely impact Silicon Valley businesses.
• Safety and Immigration
• I am speculating that there will be a quick response to reduce illegal immigration across the border which may help reduce crime. My hope is that Trump will also focus on greatly increasing legal immigration. This should be both for quickly converting undocumented people that are contributing to our economy today as well as bringing in exceptional individuals from other countries. I know people that have tried for over a decade to even get a US work visa... it is extremely difficult. Ensuring we have enough talent in Silicon Valley is critical to our success, so I hope that a focus on greatly improving legal immigration will be a priority. 

Am I missing anything?  Tomorrow I'll go through the California measures.