San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed
I had an opportunity last week to have a conversation with the mayor of San Jose, Chuck Reed, who seems to have an enlightened and progressive perspective on the future of this major city, both generally and as it relates to travel.
Our meeting took place at the landmark Fairmont Hotel, which kicked off the downtown renaissance when it opened 20 years ago. I sampled a delicious tasting menu from their Grill restaurant, featuring rabbit and lamb, a lively pairing with some California wines. The walkable downtown, with its Tech Museum, theatres, and restaurants, continues to attract more visitors.
Reed sees San Jose and the Silicon Valley as the center of the creative current world technology scene, reaching for comparisons to Florence in the Renaissance or England in the Industrial Revolution.
He sees the world, after moving from the industrial age to the information age/knowledge age, now poised to jump to a new era. He calls this the "clean technology" age.
Reed believes that San Jose will be the world center for sun-generated power technology development and manufacturing. Already a San Jose company has the most efficient solar cells in the world. Nanosolar devices are at the other end of the spectrum.
Why is the area so innovative?
"A lot of the drive comes from the diversity of our people," says Reed. "There is no ethnic majority in San Jose. It's not where you were born, but what can you do. Can you do the job? Here, no on cares who your parents were."
The Vietnamese, Indian, Chinese, and Italian elements are strong. New Years celebrations last from November to March. Talented people from all over like to live here.
Reed now sees billions in venture capital going into solar development in San Jose. There will be new ranges of manufacturing jobs.
"Solar cells will help us deal with climate change," says Reed. "And solar will help us cut dependence on foreign oil."
Reed is from Kansas. He went through the Air Force Academy, then on to law school. A lot of his legal work was in the technology sector before he got into politics.
"The openness of the society here allowed me, an outsider, to run for mayor successfully," said Reed.
When asked about what local travel he enjoys on the weekends, Reed pointed to the bike paths. He likes to bike on the Coyote Creek Trail or the Alum Rock Trail on the weekend. There are now about 40 miles of bike trails in San Jose.
Reed has his hands full managing the city. San Jose is the 10th largest US city. He laments that the US is turning out too few technology-educated people. As in all cities, there is a constant battle against crime and homicides. Budgets are slim, demands for services are unlimited. Police are stretched thin.
"Despite our cost challenges," says Reed, "San Jose is one of the safest cities in the country."
High housingt costs are a major concern throughout Northern California. In San Jose the median house costs about $700,000 per year. San Jose is building about 1,000 subsidized housing units per year. The city will probably continue to grow at about one percent a year. The downtown will be "densified" with infill housing near the transportation core, turning open surface parking lots into housing. The airport, which is seven minutes from downtown, has a "curfew" so that planes don't impinge with noise on the nearby residents at night.
