The Spark that Fed the Flame- Will VivaCalle spread out of San Jose?

Jun 24

If you are asking yourself what is VivaCalleSJ (pronounced Vee-Va Ka-Ye SJ)? Wow, are you missing out! Viva CalleSJ is a free program that temporarily closes miles of San José streets to bring communities together to walk, bike, skate, play, and explore the city like never before. In 2016, San José launched Silicon Valley's first significant open streets program, Viva Calle. Since that time, it has grown to attract 100k folks that come out rain or shine to take to the streets.

During our February Biketivist forum themed “VivaCalle Behind the Scenes”, the creator of VivaCalle - Ed Solis, Recreation Superintendent - City of San José fielded questions and presented to the Local Teams. Ed kicked off his “Why Every City Should Have an Open Streets Program” presentation by saying “ If you look at any city in the world the largest public space is our streets and unfortunately they are only used for one thing…. and that is for moving people in cars from place to place.” Ed then walked the Local Teams through the many community benefits of an open streets programs and the behind-the-scenes players that make it all happen.

During the Q&A portion of the Biketivist Forum the Local Team members asked one of two questions that most who attend VivaCalleSJ ask themselves: Why can’t we have this every weekend or How do we get something like this in my city?

This sparked the idea to advance this question and encourage more and more cities to host such events, SVBC in partnership with the City of San José Parks and Rec dept hosted a two-day Viva Calle “Behind the scenes” experience. The event participants included key decision-makers from various cities across San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The event was hosted in parallel with the June 12th Viva Calle, so the participants could experience Viva Calle live after learning about it from the experts!

Teaming up with Ed and the City of San José Parks and Rec dept for an opportunity to bring an amazing community event like VivaCalle to Santa Clara County and San Mateo County was a no-brainer. SVBC cares about open streets and has worked to amplify the importance of centering our built environment around people, not cars. So many good things come from building people-centered communities that make walking and biking the obvious and preferred choice.

Day one - the night before Viva Calle, was a presentation by the creator of Viva Calle - Ed Solis. Ed was inspired to host an open street event in San José after being fortunate enough to attend a presentation in Guadalajara, where they host open streets events every Sunday by closing 40 miles of streets and learning from renowned urbanist Gil Penalosa and supporter of Ciclovia. Ciclovia is an event where every Sunday, the Colombian capital of Bogotá shuts down 75 miles of streets and highways, handing them over to cyclists, runners, and walkers- wow!

This would probably be the best time to mention that Ed Solis, the creator of Viva CalleSJ is NOT an avid cyclist. Actually, if you ever get a chance to pedal up to Ed at VivaCalle, he may even jokingly tell you that he is just there for the food and the people. Which is just perfect because when it comes down to it, VivaCalle is for the people, ALL the people. People on bicycles, roller skates, scooters, wheelchairs, and skateboards, it's for folks that just came to stroll, eat, dance, and people watch. VivaCalle is an open streets event about creating COMMUNITY and providing a space to allow those that come to enjoy the space that they call home in a completely new and personal way.

If the positive community aspects alone weren’t enough Ed made sure to seal the deal by not only answering the million-dollar question of How do we get something like this in my city? But also sharing all of his secrets about how others cities can host and become the destination place known for having the greatest open street event. The presentation provided the attendees with an opportunity to learn:

How Viva Calle San José started
Different components
Stakeholders
Budget
Marketing tips and secrets
How to procure funding
The Importance of collecting supporting data and how to obtain it
The positive financial impact on the business districts

Day two -Ed led a bike ride as a way to have all the participants experience Viva Calle live! During the ride, there were pit stops to meet with the different stakeholders/partners who make it all happen such as the volunteers that adopt the streets to ensure that the route is free from cars, the Department of Transportation which provides route guidance and assistance with egress and ingress, and VTA who supports by redirecting services around the perimeter of VivaCalle.

Thanks to Lyft/Bay Area Wheels, the participants were able to use and experience bike share to join us for the "Behind the Scenes" Parks to Rose’s ride.

The two-day experience concluded at the hub of San Jose on Barack Obama Way in front of the SAP Center with many attendees excited to begin planning VivaCalle events in their cities. One of the major takeaways from the VivaCalleSJ Behind the Scenes Experience was that you don't have to be a big city like San José to pull off an event like this for the residents of your city.

Among the attendees were: Santa Clara County Board Supervisor- Cindy Chavez, Mayor of South San Francisco- Mark Nagales, City of Mountain View Councilmember- Lucas Ramirez, City of Morgan Hill Councilwoman- Yvonne Beltran Martinez, City of Sunnyvale Principal Transportation Engineer- Lillian Tsang, City of San Mateo Councilwoman- Amourence Lee, Member of the Japantown Business Association- Richard Kogura, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce- Jesse Cupp, Google, LLC District Transportation Lead- Joshuah Mello, Silicon Valley Community Foundation Project Manager- Will Aubin and City of San Jose Councilmember Candidates Omar Torres and Peter Ortiz.

We anticipate great things coming from the cities of these elected officials, city staff, decision-makers, and influencers from Santa Clara County and San Mateo County. The goal of this event was to spark the flame that would lead to the creation of more temporary open spaces that foster community-building and inspire people to think about their streets as public spaces in Santa Clara and San Mateo County. VivaCalle!