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Old 03-03-2016, 01:51 PM
 
4,315 posts, read 6,277,731 times
Reputation: 6116

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Quote:
Originally Posted by neutrino78x View Post
San Jose isn't boring to me at all. It has places to hike, it has theme parks, laser tag, paintball...
Yes, there are things to do in SJ, just like there are everywhere. But, the OP is accurate in stating that it isn't very vibrant for a city of over $1M. If it were, you wouldn't have thousands of tech workers every day taking the Google/Apple/Facebook, etc. buses down from SF. SF is just where you want to be if you're young and single. SJ has some decent areas to raise a family, but I'll still take the more upscale suburbs of the west valley for that, if I could afford it.
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Old 03-03-2016, 02:06 PM
 
Location: Liminal Space
1,023 posts, read 1,551,197 times
Reputation: 1324
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadwarrior101 View Post
Originally Posted by EdLeGrand
There really is no reason that Downtown San Jose shouldn't look like Downtown Portland, San Diego, Chicago, etc.

Actually, there is. SJ has a height limit of 30 stories for skyscrapers, due to the poor planning of it being in the flight path for the SJ airport. There could be a lot density, but downtown will always look stunted.
Chicago aside, I don't think buildings higher than 30 stories contribute much to the vibrancy of places like Downtown Portland and San Diego. There are only a handful of buildings (mainly sterile office buildings) higher than 30 floors in those cities, and the most vibrant districts are mid-rise.

You can pack in quite a bit of density with buildings below 30 stories. Buildings higher than 30 stories usually include large plazas, setbacks, etc. so they tend not to be as dense as you would think (when comparing the amount of office space or residences to the total site area).
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Old 03-03-2016, 04:51 PM
 
Location: Coos Bay, Oregon
7,138 posts, read 11,023,413 times
Reputation: 7808
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdLeGrand View Post
There really is no reason that Downtown San Jose shouldn't look like Downtown Portland, San Diego, Chicago, etc.
Yes, there is. You couldn’t fill one 120 story building in San Jose. Let alone as many as Chicago has.
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Old 03-03-2016, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Coos Bay, Oregon
7,138 posts, read 11,023,413 times
Reputation: 7808
Quote:
Originally Posted by roadwarrior101 View Post
Actually, there is. SJ has a height limit of 30 stories for skyscrapers, due to the poor planning of it being in the flight path for the SJ airport. There could be a lot density, but downtown will always look stunted.
If the height limit is the only thing holding San Jose back, then why aren’t there any 30 story buildings in San Jose? If there were a big pent up demand for tall buildings in San Jose you would think there would be quite a few buildings pushing that 30 floor mark. But there is not.

The South Bay was developed along freeways with office parks. It is a fundamentally different city, then those with big downtowns. If you tried to put crazy high density buildings in Downtown San Jose, it would be a disaster. Traffic is already a nightmare in San Jose. With a high density Downtown, it would be total gridlock from morning to night.
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Old 03-03-2016, 09:45 PM
 
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by KaaBoom View Post
If the height limit is the only thing holding San Jose back, then why aren’t there any 30 story buildings in San Jose? If there were a big pent up demand for tall buildings in San Jose you would think there would be quite a few buildings pushing that 30 floor mark. But there is not.
We need more, though. Mainly for residents. Perhaps also for tech startups etc.

Quote:
Traffic is already a nightmare in San Jose. With a high density Downtown, it would be total gridlock from morning to night.
Downtown is already very dense. If all those people are commuting, they should get out of their cars and use transit. That's how I get around...mainly because I can't afford a car...but transit works great.
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Old 03-03-2016, 10:00 PM
 
1,696 posts, read 2,859,540 times
Reputation: 1110
Quote:
Originally Posted by KaaBoom View Post
If the height limit is the only thing holding San Jose back, then why aren’t there any 30 story buildings in San Jose? If there were a big pent up demand for tall buildings in San Jose you would think there would be quite a few buildings pushing that 30 floor mark. But there is not.

The South Bay was developed along freeways with office parks. It is a fundamentally different city, then those with big downtowns. If you tried to put crazy high density buildings in Downtown San Jose, it would be a disaster. Traffic is already a nightmare in San Jose. With a high density Downtown, it would be total gridlock from morning to night.
A high-density Downtown is EXACTLY what is needed. I work in Downtown, and there are barely any gridlock here. Downtown can stand to add another extra 40,000 workers and 20,000 residents easily. A high-density downtown contributes to vibrancy and increased revenues for the City, this is a good thing and we should all want it. All vibrant downtowns are inherently traffic-heavy, because people WANT to be there.
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Old 03-03-2016, 10:51 PM
 
Location: Daly City (San Francisco Metro)
113 posts, read 133,509 times
Reputation: 220
Everyone's busy working. People in the service industry can't really make it in SV. If I were in the service industry I'd probably move to Vegas or Miami or somewhere fun/cheap.
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Old 03-03-2016, 10:55 PM
 
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
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Many new high rises are under construction, everything in red is under construction.

http://sjdowntown.com/wpsite/wp-cont...V_12.15.15.pdf
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Old 03-03-2016, 10:56 PM
 
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,067,341 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by AtlasTraveler View Post
Everyone's busy working. People in the service industry can't really make it in SV. If I were in the service industry I'd probably move to Vegas or Miami or somewhere fun/cheap.
People in the service industry can't make it in any big city. It is a transitional job at best.

You need 100K+ to buy a condo, which is middle class in silicon valley (sfh is not middle class here). So that means engineering, doctor, lawyer, etc. I suppose two high ranking service industry people together could buy a condo.

I work in a service industry job...unarmed private security...I won't be there forever though.
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Old 03-04-2016, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Coos Bay, Oregon
7,138 posts, read 11,023,413 times
Reputation: 7808
Quote:
Originally Posted by neutrino78x View Post
We need more, though. Mainly for residents. Perhaps also for tech startups etc.



Downtown is already very dense. If all those people are commuting, they should get out of their cars and use transit. That's how I get around...mainly because I can't afford a car...but transit works great.
But that is the problem. Public transportation is joke in San Jose. It takes forever to get anywhere, even on the screwed up light rail system. Even the BART extension will not fix it.

Again San Jose is a fundamentally different type of city from high density cities. It’s 100% car centric based on people driving to remote office parks.
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