Dear Neighbor,

If you’ve been downtown since the World Cup kicked off, you know exactly what I mean when I say San José is ready to welcome the world.

At San Pedro Square, tens of thousands of fans have packed into the heart of our city. During Mexico’s match against South Korea, the crowd was so big that fans lined the railings of a nearby parking garage just to get a view. Fans literally had a television delivered to the garage just to make sure that they didn’t miss a second of the action!

Just as importantly, our fan experience has been safe. Our police department reports that tens of thousands of visitors have come downtown for World Cup watch parties and gatherings with no major incidents of note. Across the South Bay, our public safety partners have seen the same thing: passionate fans, huge crowds and respectful celebrations. Let’s keep that going. 

Earlier this month, the City Council accepted a $3.5 million public safety grant from the Bay Area Host Committee and federal partners to help cover the cost of additional police and fire staffing for these events — including team hotel security, crowd safety and emergency medical response.

In addition to the years of preparation law enforcement agencies put into these events, we’ve been preparing to take our role as hosts to a whole new level. My goal, from the start, has been to ensure that every San José resident, whether they can afford a ticket to the big game or not, has a fun and memorable experience that they carry with them for the rest of their life. Hosting an event like the World Cup is a privilege and opportunity, and we weren’t going to miss our shot! 

Starting nearly two years ago, we began planning bigger and better fan experiences, like concerts and watch parties, marketing, wayfinding, and hospitality for the series of events coming our way – Super Bowl, March Madness and World Cup. I’m glad we started early because we didn’t learn until later than the National Women’s Soccer League Championship and the Valkyries’ playoff games also would make their way to San José.

We hired a Sports and Special Events Director, Tommy O’Hare, a full year before the Super Bowl and he helped stand up SJ26 — a citywide effort across our city departments, the San José Sports Authority, Team San José, the Earthquakes, the Bay Area Host Committee, local businesses and community partners to make sure San José is not just hosting visitors, but creating something special for residents. And we went to local employers, from Adobe and EBay to DevCon Construction and CasinoMatrix, to raise philanthropic dollars so residents wouldn’t be asked to sacrifice local service levels in exchange for these events. 

I’m happy to share that so far we’ve seen an incredible economic ripple effect. In fact, Super Bowl’s economic impact for San José and Santa Clara County came in roughly four times higher than it was just 10 years ago, when virtually all of the activity took place in SF. The Bay Area Host Committee estimates that the World Cup will generate $480-$630 million in total economic impact for the region, including $270-$360 million in Santa Clara County alone. These events mean customers for small businesses, overtime hours for workers, a lifeline to struggling hotels and venues, and unparalleled marketing for our city.

But these events do so much more than create economic opportunity. What I witnessed at San Pedro Square and again last Thursday at the Mexican Heritage Plaza is something every city needs: civic pride and connection. Families brought their kids. Fans wore the colors of their home countries. Restaurant workers hustled to serve customers while keeping an eye on the match. Strangers became friends for 90 minutes. Neighbors cheered, and in some cases, cried together. And our city felt alive.

That is the energy we have been working to bring to downtown and our small business districts — not just for one tournament, but as part of a much bigger vision for our city.

We still have 27 more days of World Cup soccer ahead of us, and there is plenty of time to be part of it. San Pedro Square Market is hosting the largest viewing parties in the Bay Area, and watch parties are happening across San José — from Mexican Heritage Plaza and Japantown to Alum Rock, Little Saigon, Eastridge, Santana Row and The Plant.

Whether you have a ticket to a match or not, the World Cup is happening right here in San José and I don’t want any of us to miss it.

Sincerely,

Mayor Matt

This week we shared an exciting milestone in our quest to prepare San Jose’s workforce for the future. 

More than 1,000 city employees — about 15% of our workforce — have now completed our custom-designed AI upskilling curriculum, which teaches staff how to use artificial intelligence safely, responsibly and effectively in their day-to-day work. Our next goal is to reach 30% of our workforce by June 2027.

This matters because San José serves nearly one million residents with a lean team of roughly 7,000 employees. If we want faster permits, better customer service, smarter use of data and more responsive government, we need to give our workers the tools and training to deliver.

That is why we built this program in-house with support from San José State University — so employees can learn practical skills like responsible AI use, prompt engineering and how to build tools tailored to their specific jobs.

The best way to protect workers from technological change is to invest in their skills and knowledge. And the best way to make government work better is to empower the public servants who know the work best.

For too many families, homeownership in California feels completely out of reach.

That is especially true for first-time buyers who are not looking for a luxury home — just a modest condo or townhome they can afford. Condos, in particular, used to be the first step on the path to home ownership and financial stability for many people. 

But over time California has built fewer and fewer condos as a percentage of new multi-family housing. In fact, today virtually all new multi-family housing is for rent, with only 3% being for sale. This tends to keep people in an endless cycle of just making the rent, rather than building equity.  

So what happened?

One major reason is that California’s aggressive construction defect liability rules make condos riskier and more expensive to build. Endless lawsuits and settlement fees, even for relatively minor issues that could be fixed without the added cost of legal fees, make condo-building much less attractive. 

A few years ago, I tried to address this issue by partnering with then Senator Steve Glazer, SPUR, and others to promote reform. Our bill didn’t make it out of committee, but we helped start the conversation and fortunately Assemblymember Buffy Wicks has brought forward AB 1903 that would create a simpler process to identify and repair defects before disputes turn into costly litigation.

That means more accountability, fewer unnecessary delays and a greater chance that some of those new apartment buildings you see go up across the state will offer people the opportunity to own their home and begin building wealth.

AB 1903 recently passed the Assembly with unanimous support and is now moving through the State Senate. If you agree that California needs more pathways to homeownership, please contact your State Senator and ask them to support AB 1903.

Not sure where to start? You can find your state representatives here: https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

Rose, White & Blue Parade

July 4th, 2026

1100 Shasta Ave, San José, CA 96126

Mark your calendars — the Rose, White and Blue parade will return for its 19th year this Independence Day! Committed to uplifting the cultural communities of San José, this parade rethinks how the Fourth of July is celebrated. Don’t miss out, find more information here. 

Official World Cup Fan Zone at San Pedro Square 

Thursday, June 11th- July 19th from 11 am- 9 pm 

San Pedro Square, 87 N San Pedro St, San José, CA 95110

Through July 19th, join SJ26, BAHC, and the Quakes, for watch parties for all 104 matches —featuring giant screens, an interactive fan zone, music, tons of great restaurants and bars, and more! Some matches fill the entire space, so please reserve your free tickets here.

Kick Off In the Districts: FIFA Watch Parties Throughout San José

Through July 19th

Various Locations

• Tuesday, June 23, 7 PM: Colombia vs. Congo in the Winchester Neighborhood
• Wednesday, June 24, 5 PM: Mexico vs. Czechia in Alum Rock
• Thursday, June 25, 4 PM: Japan vs. Sweden & USA vs. Turkey in Japantown
• Friday, July 3, starting at 11 AM: All games at The Plant Shopping Center
• Saturday, July 11, starting at 2 PM: Quarter Final Matches at Alum Rock Village
• Saturday July 18 and Sunday, July 29: Playoffs + Final Matches at Grand Century Mall

Get all the details here!

The Row Cup at Santana Row 

Thursday, June 11th - July 19th

Santana Row, 377 Santana Row, San José, CA 95128

Celebrate and watch the FIFA World Cup at Santana Row! Join for watch parties at 15+ restaurants, enjoy game day happy hour, live music, and shop at an exclusive FIFA pop-up! Learn more here.

Las Cazuelas' Second Location

One of Silicon Valley’s favorite Mexican restaurants for more than 40 years is now in South San José. Congratulations, Las Cazuelas — save Silvia and me a table!

Welcoming T&T

Last Thursday, San José welcomed the first T&T Supermarket in California! Thank you to Tiffany and Tina (yes, the founder named the chain after his daughters) for bringing exemplary Asian ingredients and cuisine to the Bay Area.

Seven Trees Community Art Project

Residents of Seven Trees were tired of their neighborhood sound wall being tagged every few weeks. So our team helped organize the Seven Trees Neighborhood Association, District 7 Councilmember Doan's office and neighbors to turn this challenged public infrastructure into public art.