SAN JOSE — San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the first millennial elected to lead the Bay Area’s largest city, sees many economic challenges — and opportunities — ahead for the municipality dubbed the capital of Silicon Valley.
Some potential challenges emerged soon after Mahan took office as mayor in late December. Google revealed it was reassessing its timeline and scope for its proposed Downtown West transit village on the western edges of downtown San Jose near the Diridon train station and SAP Center.
Yet opportunities also quickly materialized. Adobe has begun officially occupying its new downtown office tower, an expansion that will dramatically increase the tech titan’s footprint and workforce in the city’s urban core and help revitalize an area hit hard by the pandemic.
Soon after taking office, the mayor began meeting with an array of stakeholders with a vested interest in the present and future of San Jose. Mahan formed five committees to offer advice about downtown vibrancy, development permitting, crime, homelessness and blight.
This news organization recently sat down with Mahan to discuss San Jose’s economy and business climate, and how those can be improved.
Q: How important is Google’s proposed transit-oriented neighborhood?
A: Downtown West is a critical piece of San Jose’s future growth and the longtime desire we have to make downtown a job center. We obviously have some large employers downtown such as Adobe, Zoom and San Jose State. We have Cisco and Samsung in North San Jose. But for Google to have that kind of footprint — 20,000 jobs — in our urban core, to expand our downtown near to our big transit hub, is a really significant investment.
Q: What is your reaction to Google saying it is reassessing the timeline for Downtown West?
A: I want to put that in perspective. I had always presumed since I first heard about the project that it was a 15- to 20-year buildout.
Q: How would you describe San Jose’s economy?
A: We have a highly diversified economy. Most of our tech jobs are not downtown. We want to bring more of them here because of the transit infrastructure and the cultural amenities. The Google campus is a huge opportunity for our city, but one of many pieces of the puzzle.
Q: What role does transit play?
A: We have the state’s recent announcement that it has completed the funding for Caltrain electrification and added another $375 million to the BART funding. We are on the verge of leveraging state and local funding to unlock the $4.6 billion in federal funds to bring BART to Diridon.
Q: How is the city coping with the tech layoffs?
A: The macroeconomic picture is very different now than during the dot-com boom. At that time, you had companies with massively inflated valuations that were generating little to no revenue. What you are seeing right now is very healthy companies that might have grown a little too quickly and over-hired in the last couple of years. There’s a lot out there to be concerned about now but I don’t think the local picture in Silicon Valley is nearly as dire as it was in 2000.
Q: What are some strategies to revive downtown San Jose?
A: We need to have a safer and cleaner downtown. We need ambassadors. We need more foot patrols from SJPD. There needs to be a physical presence on the ground that is greeting folks and also doing outreach to people who are perhaps having behavioral crises. You need to be able to walk around downtown and feel safe.
Q: What are other downtown strategies?
A: We need to activate empty storefronts and make it far easier to do pop-ups. One real bright spot has been al fresco dining.
Q: What role does housing play?
A: We need to have greater residential density. We cannot have a downtown whose vibrancy is solely reliant on daytime workers. We have too few residents in the urban core.
Q: How do you get more tech jobs into downtown and into all parts of San Jose?
A: I’m the first millennial mayor in San Jose. I used to work in the tech sector. I have some experience with this. Young talent wants to work in vibrant, mixed-use urban environments. They want to step out of the office and get a cup of coffee, walk down the street where there are interesting things going on, meet with some friends for dinner or drinks after. A downtown is a place that offers that. It has restaurants and bars and cultural amenities. It’s an interesting place to be.
Q: What is the city’s part in this?
A: We can play a role in bringing together the different stakeholders who play a role in vibrancy. People need a predictable environment. Any time a resident or a visitor is in our downtown, there should be at least one really interesting thing to go do that day. 365 days a year of programming.
Q: What are ways to accomplish this?
A: I really want to free up a downtown manager to bring in all of the key stakeholders and really have a comprehensive downtown strategy and not have that person distracted by having five other things on their plate.
Q: How do you see the downtown and the city rebounding from COVID?
A: Many indicators are positive. We are seeing foot traffic trending in the right direction. Despite all of those store closures, double the vacancy rate for commercial space, a lot of people working from home, downtown San Jose foot traffic is back to 70% of the pre-pandemic level and climbing.
Q: How important is Adobe’s new office tower to San Jose?
A: Adobe’s commitment is incredibly encouraging. Adobe has been a great partner for the city over the years. They are an anchor employer; they are an engine of innovation and economic activity.
Q: What advantages do you see for San Jose citywide?
A: It’s our talented workforce. San Jose is a tech center, but we have a very diversified economy. In North San Jose, we have 100,000 jobs — what you might consider a high-tech breadbasket. We have San Jose State, which produces over 2,000 engineering degrees a year. You have the Monterey Corridor. Edenvale is a quiet powerhouse with 20,000 jobs.
MATT MAHAN
Job: San Jose mayor
Age: 40
Birthplace: San Francisco
Grew up in: Watsonville
Residence: San Jose
Education: Harvard University, B.A. in Social Studies
Family: Married to Silvia Scandar Mahan, and father to Nina and Luke.
FIVE THINGS ABOUT MATT MAHAN
1. Mahan spent a year in Bolivia building irrigation systems with family farmers to increase their economic opportunities after school. Matt returned to San Jose to teach middle school English and history in Alum Rock through the Teach for America program for two years.
2. Mahan met Silvia at a marshmallow roast during their first week in college.
3. He escaped wild bulls by throwing mudpies to scare them out of his campsite after hanging on the edge of a ravine for three hours.
4. Mahan commuted four hours a day to get to Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose when he attended the private school.
5. At Harvard University, Mahan lived down the hall from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
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