San Jose Set to Launch Its First Business Improvement District in More Than a Decade and a Half

MJP –

A new business zone along the Tully Road and Eastridge corridor is being touted by San Jose officials as a means to stimulate economic growth in East San Jose. This is only one small part of a bigger plan to support small companies in the entire city.

For the last two years, TREBA—the Tully Road-Eastridge Business Association—has been working on ideas for an improvement district. This area will allow businesses along the corridor to combine their resources in order to boost marketing, sanitation, and public safety.

“We’ve long needed to see meaningful improvements,” explained Christina Bui, chair of the board. For the past three decades, not much has changed. However, the BID presents a great chance to breathe new life into the region and transform it into something we can all be proud of. Picturesque streets adorned with vivid banners proclaiming this as a genuine attraction and an overall more lively corridor are ideal.

Chuck E. Cheese and the Eastridge Mall serve as the anchors of the business corridor, which extends from Highway 101 to Capitol Expressway and is home to roughly 500 companies employing 4,000 people in total.

Depending on their classification, firms are subject to a fixed assessment by the improvement districts. In this specific district, enterprises providing professional services would pay $300 per year, retail establishments $385 per year, and banking institutions $485 per annum.

Based on their projections, the district expects to collect $120,000 in the first year, with a collection rate of 65%. All monies must be directed towards services that the district desires or that benefit the district, with the exception of a minor city administration charge.

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A whopping 81% of the funding would go toward cleaning and public safety upgrades including new surveillance cameras, while the business association has suggested allocating 11% to bolster district branding and marketing.

The City Council is aiming to hold a public hearing and approve an ordinance to create a district by December 19.

If passed, it would break a 16-year drought and become the first improvement district to be established east of Highway 101.

“I have and always will be a strong advocate for our small business community because investing in them benefits not just our families and neighbors but our entire local and city economy,” stated Domingo Candelas, a councilmember representing part of the corridor in District 8.

This year’s report from the city’s Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs revealed an even grander plan to establish business districts and associations on Monterey Road, Story Road, Alum Rock, the Alameda, Calle Willow, the East Village, and Winchester Blvd. over the next decade. This demonstrates a far stronger dedication to businesses in the entire city.

Mayor Matt Mahan of San Jose was ecstatic to hear that the city is working to establish additional districts to give small firms a leg up, saying that the two types of companies might achieve more if they worked together.

All of our small companies and residents will benefit from that power of collective action, which we can help facilitate, Mahan added.