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Downtown Night Culture
DTSTF Perception
SoFA Plan Priorities
Entertainment Zone
SoFA District Closing Procedure
Downtown San Jose Night Culture
Towards improving the urban experience
San Jose Downtown Association
April, 2006
Problem and Goal statement:
While San Jose has grown into the tenth largest city in the United States and our downtown has a natural advantage to become a vibrant destination for both residents and visitors, downtown’s late-night consumer experience has deteriorated in recent years. Our goal must be to reverse this trend by creating the best urban environment possible; one that will attract customers who enjoy and are willing to spend for a quality product; and who come downtown at any hour to have a fun, safe and friendly time.
There is no single cause to pinpoint why the late night scene in downtown has slipped, but there are several key problem areas that most stakeholders agree on:
• Teen-agers cause disproportionate trouble downtown that requires significant police attention.
• There are not enough activity and entertainment options for young adults ages 18-20.
• Some special events and nightclub promotions exacerbate security problems and contribute to attracting undesirable crowds to the core.
• Certain police tactics such as shouting at patrons through loudspeakers, shining lights at pedestrians and parking cruisers in the middle of streets are a turn off to many customers. Some who like to cause trouble may actually be attracted to the excitement of assertive police actions.
• Police say their resources are stretched thin throughout the city and currently choose to budget overtime patrols in the downtown entertainment zone for weekend nights.
• Two recent incidents, a shooting at the former Ambassador club and the stabbing of two San Jose Stealth players, have heightened concern about the ongoing direction of downtown’s night culture.
• An increase in the number of nightclubs downtown – combined with the dotcom bust recession, the perceived unfriendly atmosphere and more competition in the region – has resulted in some clubs lowering standards for dress codes, canceling live music, reducing cover charges and subcontracting nights to the highest bidder to keep their businesses open.
Solutions statement:
The combined effect of the aforementioned prevents downtown from achieving economic and social success. Like the complex problems outlined above, there is no panacea but rather a combination of actions that will be required to turn downtown night culture towards a more positive direction. To achieve the goal of a safe, friendly and successful downtown, several changes from current conditions – in strategy, tactics and business mix – have to be made. Recommendations that follow are organized in three groups: collaborating; policing and regulating; and changing the mix of the business community. All recommendations should be implemented within the next 10 months, however, the highest priority items for immediate action are designated with double asterisks**.
I. Towards collaboration to best practices
Police, club owners and other stakeholders – including event producers, associations and residents – must collaborate in an ongoing structure to ensure continuous improvement of downtown night culture. We should identify honest and realistic objectives of key stakeholder groups, sort out conflicts, reach compromise on the set of objectives agreed upon by all, and then: “walk the talk.”
a) Form a group representing key stakeholders to benchmark practices in other similar cities and identify best practices. This group should research and/or visit downtown entertainment zones in comparable cities such as Atlanta, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle and Denver; meeting with police and city officials as well as the business community, and report back (in writing) with their findings. **
b) Co-host a local conference with the Responsible Hospitality Institute (RHI) over the summer to increase collaboration between club operators and police and further promote best industry practices. In November 2005, a 10-person delegation of club owners, Downtown Association, Redevelopment Agency and Police Department staff attended the RHI Conference in Hollywood. The group looked at Hollywood’s diverse and concentrated entertainment zone and came back with several “next steps” (presented to the city’s Urgency Ordinance Task Force in Dec. 2005) that included developing an ongoing forum for communication and working with RHI (or an equivalent third party with similar expertise) on San Jose entertainment/police issues. Residents and other community stakeholders must also be included in local conferences/workshops.
c) Follow up on the recommendations and implementation of priority identified by the Urgency Ordinance Task Force (Attachment A) through the direction of the City Manager, which may include forming an ongoing working group to maintain progress (could be combined with group from I a.) **
d) Retain long-range focus on becoming a 24-hour city, but accept that we must first direct our efforts on becoming a vital 20-hour city. Create a strategic and comprehensive marketing, public relations and community outreach program shared by key stakeholders that consistently stays on message as downtown becomes more dense, urban and urbane.
e) Set baseline goals and measure progress to improve public perception of downtown. Measure results through annual city survey, focus groups, business sales and top-line growth, and by monitoring police calls for service and incidents of violent crime.
f) Adopt a “no tolerance” policy among show producers at publicly owned venues, rejecting shows that have recurring security problems. Ask show producers to voluntarily refuse to book shows that have a documented history of causing problems inside and/or outside their venues.
g) Be sure to maintain cleanliness, streetscape design elements and convenient, sufficient and well-maintained public amenities such as parking, bathrooms, trashcans, clear signage, ample lighting and traffic management with an emphasis on safety and pedestrian friendliness. Attachment B, from a “Downtown Safety Task Force” convened in 2002 by District 3 Council Member Cindy Chavez with participation from the former City Manager and Police Chief, outlines “Perception” issues and makes similar recommendations to those proposed herein
II. Towards a friendlier and safer downtown: regulating and policing
a) Have officers patrol out of their vehicles and on foot whenever possible. Through collaboration with local groups and stakeholders, and through benchmarking other cities and identifying best practices, implement community policing goals: **
a. Alter police tactics to create a more welcoming downtown that complements the city’s overall safety goals.
b. Adjust police resources to ensure maximum use of officers citywide, and within budget.
b) Adjust operating hours to allow bar and nightclub patrons to exit establishments until 3 a.m. to create a more customer-friendly environment and mitigate the strain on police and private security when thousands of nightclub patrons spill onto city streets and sidewalks all at once. Attachment C outlines a pilot program in the SoFA District for extended hours with the goal of reducing problems, incidents and impact on security. SoFA was selected for this pilot program because changes in entertainment closing time was a top near-term priority in the South First Area Strategic Development Plan created in 2002 by a community group of business owners, residents, San Jose State University and city representatives (Attachment D) and accepted by the City Council in 2003. **
c) Establish a downtown detention center (anything from a paddy wagon to a vacant storefront) to mitigate the number of under-aged teen-agers wandering the streets past curfew. **
d) The city’s “no cruising” policy must be strictly enforced along Santa Clara Street.
e) Ratify the club regulations and conditions as proposed by the Urgency Ordinance Task Force in April 2006. The ordinance still provides tougher penalties for club owners who violate the conditions of their entertainment permit, but the process to respond to those violations is better explained and expedited. Continue to strengthen and clarify conditions and regulations on downtown nightclub policies and operations. Simplify processes and educate business operators on city requirements in a consistent manner.
f) Repeat individual offenders must be cited, arrested and/or court orders initiated to keep certain street corners, transit stops and parks from becoming overrun with the criminal element.
g) Evaluate licensing club promoters (who subcontract regularly with owners) under an entertainment permit-type process before they are allowed to conduct promotions/events in the core.
h) Allow clubs to hire off-duty police officers through the San Jose Police Department’s Secondary Employment program. This used to be the practice but was abandoned in the mid-1990s. Since then, the police department has greatly strengthened its administrative oversight for secondary employment of its officers. Club owners would pay for contracted services (like event producers, utility companies and schools currently do) directly to the secondary employment office, which coordinates, schedules and distributes payment to the officers. **
i) Create a structure for coordinating private security and/or off-duty SJPD officers with current on-duty police resources to ensure maximum effectiveness of officers and budgets. Create an on demand communications system between police, businesses and stakeholders to share information (street closures, incidents, surprise crowds, celebrity appearances, etc.) during emergencies or special operations.
III. Towards a more successful and vibrant nighttime business community:
Downtown late at night must “change the mix” by encouraging and promoting different entertainment venues, activities and dining options. Changes are needed not just in actual business uses, but also in attitudes.
A strategic public and community relations approach among key stakeholders (businesses, residents, police, public sector leaders, media) should be developed and shared. Each spoke in the wheel must accept and understand their role in making the “changes.”
a) Simplify and improve the permitting process, remove barriers to opening a business, and enable appropriate establishments to open after midnight. (Note: It currently costs more than $2,000 in city permit fees for an existing downtown restaurant – that does not serve alcohol – to get a special permit to stay open three extra hours from midnight to 3 a.m.) **
b) To attract diverse businesses, city-supported incentives are needed with innovative approaches to building and zoning codes to activate targeted areas, for instance where old buildings are located. We also need to avoid passing inflexible regulations and policies for downtown because the nature of commercial city center districts is they evolve and shift. Repeal the seven days a week ban for on-street overnight parking in the downtown entertainment zone. **
c) Utilize best practices findings to assist businesses in accommodating multiple markets: young adults, young professionals, San Jose State students, visitors/convention-goers, older adults, and families. Offer a broader selection of cuisines and price points that appeal to diverse customers.
d) Provide other entertainment choices besides eating and drinking establishments (such as comedy clubs, coffeehouses, bowling alleys, hookah lounges, movie theaters, billiard halls, bookstores, gyms and arts venues) to add substantially to the late night “mix.” **
e) Encourage more activities such as those listed directly above, as well as 18-plus dance clubs and 16-plus live music venues, such as the Catalyst in Santa Cruz. **
f) Utilize security cameras and other high-tech enforcement practices in high-impact locations wherever economically and practically feasible. **
g) Prepare for the approaching wave of high-rise housing downtown. A balance between late night activity and quality of life issues is achieved with careful urban planning that concentrates uses in appropriate districts and considers limits on the number and/or size of clubs for such districts. Review zoning regulations that encourage both a vibrant and energetic night culture and a welcoming urban residential experience.
Conclusion:
The sense of urgency around these issues is as obvious as the emergency ordinance the City Council passed in November to give the Police Chief extra power to shut down problem clubs. The systemic conditions that created the necessity for an urgency ordinance have not been comprehensively addressed – despite good efforts over the years by task forces, associations and many others who only want to see downtown San Jose grow and improve. To make progress on these issues will take committed leadership, willingness for real change and true public/private collaboration, buy-in from the entire community and, ultimately, a shared consensus to implement these recommendations.
As downtown is poised to expand significantly, we need to concentrate on the elements that will incorporate this growth proactively and positively. A vibrant center city entertainment scene with successful eateries, clubs and hotels also means significant tax revenue and jobs. The time to change downtown night culture is now – before we achieve greater residential densities and the marketplace deepens its entertainment, events and cultural offerings. Downtown San Jose leaders must act decisively to attract and retain diverse and desirable consumers that seek to play and socialize in an authentic urban environment.
