Civic planner aims to bring community into future.
Civic planner focuses on transit to bring the community into the future
Teresa Alvarado is passionate about improving the economic and community landscape in Santa Clara County.
She has held a variety of civic, political, corporate and local agency positions, from conducting environmental outreach for NASA, the space agency, to serving as utility PG&E’s public face during the notorious California energy crisis.
One of her goals is to contribute to the future look and feel of her hometown, San Jose. That makes her latest post, as director of the San Jose office of SPUR, a nonprofit civic planning organization, particularly timely.
Recently, San Jose city officials announced that Google is considering moving up to 20,000 jobs into downtown San Jose near the Diridon Station transit hub. The effort has captured Alvarado’s interest. That’s because a transitoriented Google village could bring sweeping changes and benefits for San Jose.
This news organization recently spoke to Alvarado about San Jose’s economy, transit villages, and the city’s and Google’s potential roles.
Q
What is the importance of a Google village?
A
The number of jobs is the most important. This is a game-changer for San Jose. For a very long time, San Jose has hosted the housing for Silicon Valley. While SPUR is a strong supporter of an affordable housing supply, having a larger proportion of jobs in San Jose is a really strong positive for our community.
Q
Could Google help shield San Jose from serious economic slowdowns?
A
This economic upturn has lasted for a solid eight years. That’s a good thing. But we don’t know when the next downturn will occur, how severe it will be. But knowing that Google is looking to downtown San Jose for its expansion plans will really ensure that San Jose will be in a good, stable place.
Q
Could Google in downtown San Jose have the impact of Apple in Cupertino, Hewlett Packard in Palo Alto, Facebook in Menlo Park, or Google and LinkedIn in Mountain View?
A
The idea of having a huge corporate anchor in the knowledge sector here in downtown San Jose is incredible. Yes, we have Adobe, Cisco, Samsung, Oracle, Amazon, a lot of great companies in San Jose. Those are all very important. But Google as a company extends into so many business areas, so many areas affecting consumers, that the pipeline for jobs into San Jose is huge. The potential is vast when you are talking about Google.
Q
Do the benefits extend well beyond downtown San Jose?
A
These are potentially great things for San Jose and the entire Santa Clara Valley.
Q
What are your thoughts about Google looking at the areas around Diridon Station and SAP Center?
A
The location is critical. That location was absolutely intentional. It was a brilliant move on Google’s part. Having transit-accessible locations is really important for the workforce of today and tomorrow. That transit location was a key factor in Google choosing to come to downtown San Jose.
Q
Are transit-oriented developments the most likely way that these kinds of major projects will be conceived and undertaken?
A
There is no choice but to do these projects at a transit village. We really have to maximize development to ensure that we have successful transit in that location. We will need lot of riders on BART, Caltrain, Amtrak, the ACE train. BART’s top three stations are in the heart of San Francisco on Market Street. We need high-density development, high numbers of jobs in that location at Diridon Station.
Q
What are the benefits that transit villages create for
downtown, especially if the anchor is a big company like Google?
A
This is the competitive advantage that transit villages have these days. The Diridon Station transit village will be in a dynamic, dense, urban environment. It will be people friendly. People will be able to talk, be outside, go to a bar and a restaurant, and catch some music as well. It’s going to be more than an 18-hour downtown in San Jose, a weekend downtown.
Q
Would a Google village improve the perception that people have about San Jose and its downtown?
A
Some people may be reluctant to come to downtown San Jose. They may have a certain perception about it. When you have more people walking on the streets, more people working downtown, more nightlife, more people living there, more people hanging out late at night downtown, all of that supports the concept of an active community.
Q
Are transit-oriented developments a necessary approach to corporate campuses, considering the heavy traffic, long commutes and high home prices in the Bay Area?
A
Yes. What is really important about this new pattern of corporate development is the environmental benefits of having a more dense corporate campus that is transit-adjacent or transit-proximate and doesn’t force us to drive. Old campuses were a very lowdensity environment that used a lot of land. All the utilities and infrastructure had to come from far away. The Google village, a transit village, is something that concentrates all those resources. It makes it a much more efficient development pattern and allows for many more employees as well. This is great from an environmental standpoint: It is great for land utilization, water and energy resources.
Q
Do transit villages fit the inclinations and preferences of today’s technology workers?
A
Back in the old days, a tech worker would transfer to the middle of nowhere if they had to, if that meant they could work for a company they wanted to join. Today’s workforce doesn’t do that. Millennials today pick locations first and then the jobs they want.
Q
Are there things that San Jose must do to prepare for a future Google village?
A
San Jose needs to build streets that are safe and inviting for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users. This campus needs to be highly integrated with our downtown. It has to be highly porous, not just a big concrete block. This way, people can be invited into the development. We need to retrofit our streets.
Q
Would a Diridon transit village be something that draws more attention to downtown San Jose?
A
This is going to set the standard for future downtown infill, for how to create economic development in San Jose, for corporate buildings that are infill projects. It’s going to attract a lot of interest from others.
Q
Would Google create even more economic activity beyond the 15,000 to 20,000 jobs they would bring to downtown San Jose?
A
When you have such a big entity like Google, that has so many vendors and partners, it really will build an ecosystem. San Jose will get the benefits not only from Google, but the whole ecosystem of companies that support Google. Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167.