SJDA's Weekly Message to Businesses

A Weekly Message to our Downtown San Jose businesses

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To our members:

Today's message is filled with opportunities to grow your business and get involved in an upcoming St. Patrick's Day promotion we will embark on soon. Also repeated from last week is the Sharks' request for businesses to collaborate on celebrating the career of Patrick Marleau, as they retire his jersey on February 25.

Save the Date
The SJDA is holding a Town Hall Meeting on March 9th. Details will be sent to you next week, so keep an eye out for the email from CEO Alex Stettinski. If there are downtown topics or issues you would like us to address in that forum, please drop us a note, as we are in the process of preparing the agenda.

In Today's Message

Sharks plan downtown party for Feb. 25
Back-to-work numbers take slight dip
Meetings and workshops
More promotional opportunities
City, County announcements
Parking tip
Downtown is hiring
Downtown in the News
Links

Sharks letter to DTSJ businesses

Edited Letter from the Sharks:

Dear Downtown San Jose Neighbors,

On Feb. 25, SAP Center at San Jose will welcome more than 17,000 fans to celebrate Patrick Marleau and the retirement of his No. 12 to the SAP Center rafters - the first pre-game jersey retirement ceremony in franchise history.

The game will be a sell-out and the arrival of fans to our downtown will likely be at levels not seen since the Stanley Cup Final in June 2016. The celebration will include pre-game activities, starting at 3 p.m. on Barrack Obama Boulevard. We will encourage early arrival to Downtown San Jose to ensure guests are ready in their seat inside SAP Center to enjoy the pregame number retirement ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 5:35pm.

To help elevate the overall event experience for our guests and your customers, we encourage our downtown partners to prepare for early arriving Sharks fans by having all available vehicle parking locations open and staffed for event attendees. We also encourage our local restaurants, bars and pubs to attract guests to their establishments prior to the game by promoting food and drink specials in recognition of Patrick Marleau, who is also referred to as “Mr. San Jose Shark.”

His 1,779 NHL games played makes him the National Hockey League’s all-time leader in regular season games played
Has 1,197 points throughout his NHL career (1,111 with the San Jose Sharks)
He scored 566 NHL goals – 522 with the Sharks
He is only the fourth player in NHL history to record at least 900 consecutive games played
Won goal medals with Team Canada during the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics
His favorite drink is an “Old Fashioned”

The Patrick Marleau No. 12 Retirement ceremony will be a celebration of his accomplishments and his legacy in San Jose. It will also be a tremendous opportunity for our Downtown partners to elevate the overall event experience for their customers. We encourage you to be ready to receive early arriving Sharks fans. If you have any questions about this event, please contact Jim Sparaco, Director, Publications at jsparaco@sjsharks.com.

Reserved parking now available on ParkSJ.org

ParkSJ will have its standard SAP pre-pay of $10 starting at noon Feb. 25 and running throughout the day until game time. Be sure to share with your customers that they can now RESERVE a space in the Market and San Pedro Garage on game and event days. Check out the new capabilities of ParkSJ.org.

Back-to-the-office barometer

Meetings and Workshops

PG&E Market Access Program Incentive - Community Information Session
Feb. 10, 10-11:30 am
San Jose City Hall, Committee Room 119 & 120
Register | View Market Access Information Page

The PG&E Market Access Program (MAP) is an incentive from PG&E aimed at helping offset the cost of energy-efficiency upgrades for commercial buildings.

We all know that installing HVAC upgrades, heat pumps, new lighting, insulation, and equipment/appliances can save money over time, but these are also expensive up-front investments. To help, PG&E has a $60 million pool of funds to incentivize high-impact commercial energy efficiency retrofits. The goal for PG&E is to help reduce peak demand and enhance grid reliability. Unlike other incentive programs, MAP offers aggressive incentives based on the Total System Benefit of the project and the useful life of the measure. The program applies to a broad profile of existing commercial building upgrades. (Certain multifamily/mixed-use buildings may also qualify.) If you’ve been considering an energy-efficiency upgrade, this might help it pencil.

The City of San Jose is partnering with ProspectSV to help get the word out, answer questions, and boost our City and region’s sustainability. At the workshop, you will learn about program details, eligibility, how to apply, and next steps.

The American Small Business Growth Program

Silver Lining, in partnership with Wells Fargo, invites small business owners to apply to the American Small Business Growth Program at a “Pay What You Can” rate. In the program, you’ll build an Action Plan to expand your clientele and grow your business. With a full year of support, this program will help you actually implement that plan and hit your goals. More info

Two Business Mentorship Programs at Oakland-based ICA
Sign up by Feb. 10

The Lab at ICA is an 8-week program for early-stage Bay Area companies focused on strategic growth. The program will cover topics such as financial management essentials, growth visioning, path to profitability, financial projection, prepare for capital.
The Accelerator at ICA is a 4-month program for established Bay Area businesses to get capital-ready. The curriculum will cover topics such as growth planning, HR strategy, financial management, investment readiness, etc.

More info

Promotional opportunities

Next Up: St. Patrick's Day
San Jose Downtown Association will once again hold a week-long St. Patrick's Day promotion for ground-floor businesses to participate in. Watch for an email from marketing director, Julie Carlson, about how you can get involved. Additionally, let us know if you're already planning something special to commemorate the day and we will include on the St. Patrick's Day page launching on sjdowntown.com; and emails to our Downtowner Online subscriber list. Send us the info.

SJSU Offers page on sjdowntown.com:
SJSU students and faculty are checking out the SJSU Offers page on sjdowntown.com for discounts, The page receives more than 100 unique visits each week. If you have a new offer or want to update your present offer, go to this form.

City and County announcements

Request for Proposals (RFP) for community-based organizations and non-profits
The City's economic development office is building a list of prequalified, on-call organizations that can help it plan for and implement community engagement and outreach processes. The organizations selected through this RFP will receive a Master Agreement that staff in any department can utilize for projects all over the city. Two outreach events are scheduled for Feb. 15 and Feb. 23. The deadline for submissions is March 10, 11:59 pm. More information

Santa Clara County RFPs
Stay up to date with County of Santa Clara Procurement and Contracting news, upcoming events, and business opportunities.

Storm Damage Help for Residents and Small Businesses
If the recent storms caused structural damage to your home or business property, please call 408-535-3555 or check out the City's resource page

Parking tip and traffic

Parking tip for businesses: Incentivize customers to come downtown by reminding them of the 90-minutes-free parking program at five Park SJ garages: Market & San Pedro; Second and San Carlos; Third Street; Fourth Street; and Third and Santa Clara.

Traffic

March 11, 4am-3pm -- Crews will close various city streets in downtown for the San Jose Shamrock Run 5k. Streets that will close include St John St. between Almaden Ave. and N. Market St, San Pedro St. between St John St. and Santa Clara St, and Santa Clara St. between Market St. and Almaden Ave. The PDF attached shows the route map at the end of the document.

Downtown is hiring

Businesses can go to the Downtown Is Hiring page on sjdowntown.com to list your openings for 2023. The form for businesses to list a position and available positions downtown for those looking for jobs are both on the page, which averages about 300 visits per month!