To our members:

This was a busy week with a lot of news for DTSJ businesses. We start with info about relief for businesses impacted by the recent storms.  We'd love to hear about that, too; email sjda@sjdowntown.com and we'll check in to see if you still need assistance. 

For a feel-good story, San Jose learned it is the 8th "happiest" city in the U.S.  It appears our return-to-office numbers continue to climb from the depths of the rain-plagued holidays when more than 80 percent of us stayed home.

We also share a number of small business programs that City of San Jose endorsed. Check them out.

And again, the news media has its sights on downtown San Jose.  Big weekend coming up with eSports gamers in tournament action and the best figure-skaters in the U/S/ packing large crowds into SAP Center all weekend.

Enjoy.

• Disaster relief programs for storm-impacted businesses
• SJ improving in back-to-work barometers
• Meetings and workshops
• ABC announcements
• Contact Groundwerx
• Parking tip
• Downtown is hiring
• Downtown in the News
• Links

SBA Disaster Loans
Due to the Biden Administration’s Major Disaster Declaration in the wake of our severe winter storms, the Small Business Administration has made available Economic Injury Disaster Loans for businesses in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.
 
Economic Injury Disaster Loans are working capital loans to help small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture, and most private, non-profit organizations of all sizes meet their ordinary and necessary financial obligations that cannot be met as a direct result of the disaster. These loans are intended to assist through the disaster recovery period, which began Dec. 27.
 
Businesses can apply online at https://disasterloanassistance.sba.gov/. If applicants have any questions, they can call (800) 659-2955 or email: disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

State of California: Businesses impacted by storms eligible for emergency tax relief
Business owners and taxpayers impacted by California’s winter storms are now eligible for emergency tax relief from late payment interest and penalties. Business owners across the state can now access much-needed assistance to help accelerate their recovery efforts, including relief from interest and penalties.

Impacts of the storms have been felt throughout the state, and small business owners who have been affected by flooding, power outages, and other storm-related hardships may request up to an additional three months to file their tax returns. Taxpayers who face return deadlines between January 4, 2023 and January 31, 2023 who are granted relief will not have to pay interest and penalties if they are unable to file their returns and pay taxes and fees by the original due date.

Impacted taxpayers can request relief: on the CDTFA website; By mail at California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, PO Box 942879, MIC 35, Sacramento, CA 94279; In person at a field offices; or By phone at 1-800-400-7115 (CRS:711), Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Pacific Time), except state holidays.
Customers can also contact CDTFA to update account information, change an address or contact information, request replacement copies of CDTFA tax records, or ask questions about their account.
In addition to our State of Emergency Tax Relief webpage, information regarding relief requests is available in various languages online, via videos in English and Spanish, and on CDTFA’s Online Services webpage.

SJDA will help promote your upcoming Velentine's and St. Patricks days events
San Jose Downtown Association will help promote your upcoming Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day events and specials.  A St. Patrick's Day page will be built on sjdowntown.com; both celebration promotions and events will reach our Downtowner Online subscriber list; and we'll publicize the events on our social media. 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.

We're No. 8 (out of 164) happiest city in America
Three South Bay cities make top 10 in financial management company smartasset's list of places where Americans are happiest. Personal finances are one of the leading indicators of the study, along with quality of life and well-being. The study and results can be useful to businesses because they say something about our customer base.

San Jose captured the No. 8 spot in the survey, more so for well-being and quality-of-life reasons. At the top was Sunnyvale and Fremont landed at No. 4.

Here's what smartasset had to say about San Jose's rating:

"Roughly 43% of San Jose, California residents earn $100,000 or more (10th-highest) and less than 7.4% live in poverty (eighth-lowest). Additionally, Santa Clara County - where San Jose is located - takes the No. 2 spot for both the percentage of residents reporting poor mental health days (10%) and life expectancy (84.7 years)."

These sorts of studies are great publicity grabs for the sponsoring company, but they are also fun reads that can pump up a winning locale. Click here for some pick-me-up weekend reading.



San Jose Continues improving in back-to-work barometer
San Jose's and San Francisco's march back to the office was better than the other eight metro areas measured in the Kastle Back-to-work barometer.  While other cities improved between 0.0% and 3.7%, San Jose increased 7.2%.and San Francisco improved 7.5% However, the two Bay Area cities had the most to gain, sitting at the bottom of the scale for overall back-to-work percentages.  In the previous week, S.J. increased 12.3% and SF 15%.

Overall, San Jose metro is at 38% return to work and SF is at 43% back.  San Jose is still behind the other nine, and San Francisco is now slightly ahead of 9th place Philadelphia now.

Related:  Wall Street Journal:  D.C. office market feels effects of federal government employees' remote work. 

How to do business with California High-Speed Rail Authority
Wednesday, Jan. 31 | 10 a.m.-noon
Online | Register
More about High-Speed Rail's Small Business Program

Learn how to navigate the Authority’s website and search for high-speed rail contracting and procurement opportunities. The workshop will cover:

• An overview of the high-speed rail project
• Small Business certification programs
• Navigating the Authority website
• Finding contract opportunities
• Connect HSR Vendor Registry
• Connecting with Primes
• Business Advisory Council

SVCreates online workshops for artists and non-profit arts leaders