Dear Neighbor,

If you came downtown last weekend, you were in good company. And if you didn’t, here’s what you missed!

Nearly half a million neighbors and visitors came to the party in Downtown San José last week. We filled our bars and restaurants — in fact, some San Pedro Square business owners reported a 300-400% increase in sales. We packed Discovery Meadow by the thousands for drone shows and filled City Hall plaza to the brim for Kehlani and Dom Dolla.

The goal was to give us all moments to celebrate, even without a ticket to the big game. So many of you told me how excited you were — that we’ve never had this kind of energy in San José before. Hearing that from you and seeing so many smiles over the week made me proud to be your Mayor and proud to be a San Josean. 

And this is just the beginning. March Madness is coming to SAP Center, the 20th Crossfit Games will be here in July, and the biggest event of all, FIFA World Cup, will be in town this summer. We’re learning from what did and didn’t work during Super Bowl Week, and we’ll be ready to give you plenty more to be proud of. 

Because 2026 is all about building civic pride. We’ve worked hard together to create a city that is safe, clean and full of opportunity — a city that’s leading the way for the rest of California. And our hard work is paying off. 

We talked about the progress we’ve made last weekend amidst all the action at our annual State of the City.

At least 500 of those half a million visitors came together during Super Bowl weekend to give back and get engaged. Together, we painted a mural (and luckily, most of the paint made it on the wall!), we planted trees, and we made San José just a little bit cleaner and more beautiful. 

Afterwards, we all came together, celebrated our community heroes, and I told you about someone very special to me. I actually spoke about this man at my inauguration, for those of you who have stayed engaged since way back then. 

My dad was a letter carrier, a lover of science and theology, and a person who believed, despite how hard he had to work, that he was the luckiest man in the world. And although he probably wouldn’t have cared about or even known who the national headliners we had in front of City Hall were — what he would have cared about is the fact we’ve delivered. 

He would care that we’ve increased trust in City Hall by nearly 40% over the last three years by getting back to basics. He would care that we’ve built more shelter than any city on the West Coast and thereby reduced unsheltered homelessness by nearly 1/3rd. He would care that we became the safest big city in America last year by building trust and implementing technology. 

Because as a mailman, my dad had a duty to deliver. He believed, as I do, that our government does, too. 

And that work is never done — I’m proud of our progress in San José but impatient for how much work remains. Let’s keep delivering.

Sincerely,

Mayor Matt

Despite the excitement, fun and energy that most experienced last weekend, we had some that chose to use our Downtown as a backdrop to violence. Late at night after the party was over — and likely after a few too many drinks — we had two instances of people getting into fights. One of those instances ended only after two lives were taken. 

We can’t prevent all crime in San José. There will always be those who come to our city looking for a fight. And we will always find them and hold them accountable. San José is not a city that will be used for anyone’s agenda. 

Our residents deserve to come together, celebrate and see their city activated and alive. Our police department is prepared for anything and everything. They arrived at both crime scenes last weekend within a minute of receiving the call. I believe they saved additional lives and I know they prevented further violence. I will update you as their investigation continues.

When I ran for office, I promised that we would fight to change the status quo approach to homelessness — one that left too many of our unhoused neighbors outdoors. Running on a vision is the easy part, but implementing and executing it — that's where government needed to be held accountable. 

Far too often we see our civic life and participation centered on elections, but time and time again, you, San José residents, have shown you care by advocating for better solutions and holding us accountable. When I took office we had 400 shelter beds, today we have 2,200.

We have opened over a dozen solutions like this one at the VTA’s Cerone yard — getting better with each one. We are using innovative building techniques like stacked modular builds and movable prefabricated units which have shortened construction timelines from a couple years to 11 months, so we can move homeless individuals into safe, stable, and supportive housing faster and more cost effectively. 

When we hold our government accountable, we create change. Thanks to our partnership with VTA, 200 people will immediately come off the streets and into dignified living with a door that locks. And many more will be served by this new site over the years as previously homeless people graduate to more permanent housing solutions. While the expansion phase of our approach may be over, our fight to end unsheltered homelessness continues. 

The next battle is system optimization. Over the next year, we will work to bring overall costs down by an aggressive target of 20% per person served system-wide. We will work with our County to increase throughput, so we have more people graduating out, and more people moving in. We’re already improving our outreach model by bringing it in-house to better track outreach data and connect people to the services they need. And we’re competitively re-bidding service provider contracts to take advantage of economies of scale.

In the year ahead, we’ll need your help to advocate to other levels of government for what we need: An expansion of mental health beds. A restoration of HHAP dollars. A pathway to treatment for the many people struggling with addiction. A fair share approach that requires every city and every county to do their part. I’m excited to continue fighting together for pragmatic solutions to our biggest problems. 

Opera San Jose: Cavalleria Rusticana

Sun, Feb 15, 2026 to Sun, Mar 1, 2026 

345 South First St, San Jose, CA 95113 

Opera’s iconic double bill — Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci — presents timeless tales of love, jealousy, honor, infidelity and murder.

This combination is filled with some of the most recognizable music of all time, including Cavalleria’s intermezzo and the haunting “Vesti la Giubba” from Pagliacci. Read more here.

Disney on Ice Presents Let's Dance

Thu Feb 19 - Feb 22, 2026

SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, CA

Mickey and his pals are rocking the DJ table and you’re on the guest list! Feel the electric atmosphere as they remix favorite Disney tunes into colorful worlds. Grab your tickets here.

San Jose Lunar New Year Festival  

Friday, February 20th to 22nd until 10:00 PM

Eastridge Center, 2200 Eastridge Loop, San Jose, CA 95122

Bring your family and friends and your Tet spirit for 3 days of celebration to welcome in a prosperous Year of The Fire Horse. Free entrance and parking. Includes live entertainment, vendors, fashion shows, K-POP dance groups, carnival rides and games, exclusive food booths, and so much more! Find more information here. 

Black Excellence Celebration: San Jose Sharks vs Calgary Flames

Thu Feb 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM

SAP Center at San Jose, San Jose, CA

Celebrate the powerful legacy and vibrant future of Black Culture through music, art and community. Get your tickets here.

Takeover Downtown West with Team Mahan

Saturday, March 7th at 9:00 AM

60 Delmas Ave, San Jose, CA 95156

Join Team Mahan to help beautify our city on Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 9:00 AM. Help us create a cleaner, safer San José, RSVP here.

Super Bowl Recap

Whether you were here for the big games, or to soak in our big city, we’re glad to have you. We’ve got more coming up — stay tuned here.

State of the City

Thank you, San José — for showing up, showing out, and showing us what it means to hold government accountable for better results. It’s because of all of you that San José is leading the way for the state of California. If you missed our State of the City address, check it out here!

The Future Arrives in San José First

I’m told I’m the first Mayor in the world to be made into a hologram — and unfortunately, it didn’t make my team members' lives any easier (or give them a raise!) but it will help you find your way around our city. So whether someone was touching down at SJC or watching the big game at San Pedro Square, LiveX AI, Joby Aviation, Waymo, and so many other local tech companies helped make this the most innovative Super Bowl yet.