More than 500 businesses in East San Jose are working together to make their community more inviting to customers in what will be known as the Tully Road Eastridge Business Improvement District.
San Jose city leaders on Tuesday could approve the new improvement effort, but even before it’s officially created, the businesses that signed on with an initial investment already have made a difference in their community.
The effort encompasses more than 500 businesses along Tully Road between East Capitol Expressway and Highway 101, on Quimby Road and Eastridge Mall.
Many of the businesses have been working together to make the area better and secured a $50,000 city grant toward maintaining landscaping, cleaning up trash and removing graffiti to make the are feel safer and more inviting.
With the creation of an improvement district, the city would get the additional authority to create a fund each business would pay into to be able to pay for services from safety to beautification to marketing -- whatever their community’s specific needs are:
"We broke it down to something like $25 a month for most businesses," said Christina Bui of Love Me Knots Bridal. "It wouldn’t be breaking the bank, but it would also be improving the area."
The city has several other improvement districts and the mayor points to the success of the one downtown. He said investments there made the area cleaner and safer and increased foot traffic on nights and weekends to 120% of pre-pandemic levels.
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"It’s a very flexible vehicle for property owners, small business owners to basically get self-organized and pool their resources and make strategic investments," Mayor Matt Mahan said.
The council is expected to move forward with the Tully Road Eastridge Business Improvement District and will set a public meeting for Oct. 1 and a public hearing for Nov. 5 to discuss the fee collection for businesses.
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