San Jose, California Has Some Major Soul Searching To Do 

Here's my entire California Road Trip playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLq-_cmf3H6yoGM0mmbTCTmMa9zMFvvDeG

I live in San Jose. Yeah, the homeless problem is ridiculously huge but the CRIME is out of control. Not enough cops and the ones we have are looking to get out. Our former mayors (Sam Liccardo and Chuck Reed) ran them all off and cut funding to the department. My neighbor across the street had his front door kicked in during the middle of the day by burglars that ransacked his house and stole stuff. He came home to that, called the cops and told them that he had crystal clear surveillance video of the robbers. The SJPD dispatcher interrupted him mid-sentence told him, "We don't have the resources to investigate any of that. Here's a case number...call your insurance company." He too, had enough of the bullshit and promptly moved out.

Newsome has issued multiple orders to law enforcement that they are not to touch these encampments. It’s disgusting and disgraceful.

I was born in raised in Los Gatos, which is about 20 minutes from San Jose. My whole family left and moved to Georgia during the pandemic. We just couldn’t do it anymore. Between the housing market, high taxes, homelessness, rising crime, lack of culture/fun things to do for young people, and evil politics that run the state, it was time to go. The draconian lockdowns were what really pushed us over the edge. It’s heartbreaking what’s happened to our home and we definitely all feel a sense of displacement, but it was the right thing to do. We are thriving in Georgia and I encourage everyone who can leave California to do so. It’s not going to change, so in my opinion it’s better to leave and go somewhere that more closely aligned with your values.

Hey Nick, I’m from San Jose and living in Morgan Hill 10 miles south of SJ, we have a family owned restaurant and it’s so unaffordable that finding hospitality staff is super difficult since they can’t afford to live in the area it’s truly saddening.

Born and raised in San Jose since the early 90's, it's more or less always been like this but has definitely gotten worse in recent years. It's easier for the homeless since the weather stays temperate compared to other cities. When I was a child there was a homeless man named Norman that went door to door each week looking for work. My mother would pay him to mow the lawns and sweep the sidewalk. I sometimes wonder what happened to him, he was a good man.

I have lived in San Jose since 1970. A lot has changed. Some better. Some worse. Still, I plan to stay here until I die.

I was recently in Tokyo, I didn't see anything as much as a stray cat, let alone a homeless person. And their property is expensive and their stock market hasn't gone up for 30 years, but they have a deep sense of societal responsibility which is basically making sure you have a shelter to go to if you are too poor to have a place to stay

I spent 40 years in the central valley. I lived in San Jose for a time in the early 90s. I can remember how high the prices were on housing compared to Sacramento. Could not believe how people could afford it. We had a company apt, so it was ok... But I loved the area. It was beautiful and we never felt in danger. Knowing what's happening all over, I made the right decision getting my kids out 13 years ago.

When I was a kid, the song, "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?", by Dionne Warwick was popular. The gist of the song was, if you couldn't "make it" in Hollywood, San Jose was a good alternative.

By far the most significant work you've done bro! Keep it up we need you.

God bless your videos for being truthful even when it hurts. I grew up in San Jose and when I go back to visit it really hurts to see how it's changed.

The level of mismanagement is insane. This place is probably twice as rich per capita as the wealthiest areas here in Finland, yet our worst "ghettos" look nicer than half of San Jose. Remote working will turn half of California into an urban wasteland, unless they get their act together.

I lived in California in 1970 the one thing I think that has changed is the job market. When I was there migrant workers and that doesn't mean people from Mexico that means anybody who traveled up and down the coast and work the farms would move with the crops. The thing is they had jobs. Seasonal workers that you could trust would come back each season. Now California is very technologically advanced. Farmers are replacing human workers with machines conveyor belts. It looks to me like all of a sudden something stopped working which made it impossible for people to travel with jobs. What happens when you don't have a job to go to you have to stay where you are. Unless you've got money behind you. It looks to me like a lot of people don't qualify for the jobs that are in San Jose but they don't have the money to go any place else and there's no place else looking for a person with their work experience. They're redundant. No one needs them anymore so they're stuck. I was shocked to see the condition of Salinas.

San Jose underfunds/understaffs their police force. It operates like a small town with big city needs/problems. Still no investigation response for why the stripper got a 'free ride' from the San Jose fire department to her place at work at the Pink Poodle strip club in October. No matter how angry the mayor was at the bad press the story appears to have been suppressed. The lady got her ride, the hoses still operate (no damage), any fires that night were hosed down and extinguished, and everyone appears to have had a happy ending.

Still have a lot of high paying jobs in the area and a lot of people got wealthy at the cost of others who didn't make the same investments in life. Before the tech companies were there, it was pretty much an agricultural city with some military bases near by. Once there was also a great middle class that worked the hands on tech jobs(assembly and manufacturing) that were plentyful for most and affordable housing. After a while, those jobs went away(due to the corporate globalization of products) and the higher paying jobs (more skilled labor) became more available. The amount of people moving to silicon valley with high wages and no new housing being built led for real estate to skyrocket. Lower earners were getting pushed out and bad political leadership led to the slow degradation of the 10th largest city in the US.

San Jose is not boring...you just have to look for the things you want to do. The big value of San Jose is that it is centrally located in between San Francisco and Santa Cruz/Monterey. You have lots of options to visit places around and outside the city plus the proximity to both SF and SC. The only negative about SJ is that it is too busy, people are always on a rush, not very many eateries compared to SF, and a clear division between the "haves and have nots"...the middle class is slowly disappearing.

I was raised in SJ in the early 80's and 90's. I remember the city began hanging up signs that said, "San Jose is growing up." That was the message. No other info was offered. These signs were all over the city. Back then the homeless were situated in the downtown area and there were no camps. I grew up in the Rose garden area across the street from Mayor Hammer. That area is still gorgeous and you can actually take a tour of my childhood home as it is listed on the Rose garden website as a historical home. That shit is really weird! My parents bought the home for less than 100,000 and now it is worth 3 million.

I lived 10min from Apple HQ, got chased and yelled at by homeless multiple times, had car windows smashed and garage broken into and my bike stolen. Police were too busy enforcing commuter lanes used by rich E-car owners I guess...

I'm a life-long Santa Clara resident and I have seen San Jose and other cities in the Bay Area going through absolute appalling rate of decline (homelessness, crime, drugs, mental health, etc.). As you mentioned, Bay Area is one of the wealthiest cities in America and to see the demise of such cities is so heartbreaking and unconscionable! California (Newsome) and the local cities MUST act fast and get this situation under control before it's too late but I'm afraid the dam has already been broken and won't be able to hold back the water.

Made it out of there after a few years. Don’t care to ever go back. I moved there thinking I was going to make the next step in my career and that I was “making it”. What a dumbass I was. Over those years the problems exponentially got worse, to where it was hard to recognize after only a few years. When I see other liberal cities looking the way San Jose did when I moved there in 2016 and see them going in the same direction politically, I foresee those cities looking the same way in a very short time. I moved to a more secluded area a half hour from Uptown Charlotte, and I see some of the same symptoms showing up there. The residents in those nice houses downtown are constantly subject to assault, burglary, and random backyard visitors. My old neighbors had a homeless guy holding a straight razor pounding on their door. My wife twice saw turds in transit falling from a dude’s butt right outside of the park. The Ryland neighborhood and the Coleman shopping center are open season for crime victims. Police helicopters with bright spotlights and loud bullhorns overheard regularly. Lots of homeless people randomly yelling at people who walk by, and that’s if they decide not to assault them. The improv is great and hockey games are always fun, especially when the Kings reverse swept the Sharks in 2014. I’ll never tell anyone they should vote for a republican cause that party has their own problems, but I don’t see why the hell anyone who has been through what the residents of downtown San Jose have gone through would continue to vote democrat. If they look seeing people poop in the street, then they are getting what they are paying for.

I was born and raised in Silicon Valley; Santa Clara & San Jose. I am older and as a kid growing up there it was wide open orchards, farms, and laid back living with beautiful weather to go along with wonderful life style. The schools were incredible. During the summers almost all the kids worked in the apricot, prune, pear orchards and vegetable farms. During the evenings we would play baseball and football under the lights. Crime was virtually non existent and we stayed in the parks playing late into the night. No one locked their doors. We children freely went from house to house entering as we pleased to visit our friends. It was a time and lifestyle that only those who knew it could appreciate those wonderful days in the 1950s. You can say what you want about how much wealth has come to Silicon Valley. And yes, there are incredibly overpriced homes and condos everywhere. After retiring we sold and got the hell out. San Jose California had the LARGEST homeless encampment in the Unites States. There were actually three generations of thousands of people living in pure squalor in the Coyote Creek! It was beyond ugly! Some of these people were actually gainfully employed but just couldn't afford the cost of living. One morning I was in commute traffic going to work which was about five mile drive. I was dead stopped and looked around and saw hundreds of cars as far as the eye can see. It was madness on a daily basis and we lived in an upscale area just a little outside of downtown. It was at that point (2013) that we decided to get the hell out. My wife was more than ready. We sold our overpriced home in a week for 100k more than we were asking. Indian immigrants on HB1 visas paid cash. We have friends still in the area. The politics are 100% leftist and can be ugly. They have been the victims of crime on two or three occasions. The quality of daily life has deteriorated greatly the last 25 years. It's been eight years and I can't overstate how happy we are to be out of that once beautiful place that has been turned into a high tech shit hole with millions of people swarming like flies.....

Born and raised in San Jose. I finally moved out (8 years ago) after living there for 37 years. Everything is ridiculously over priced. I can only imagine how much worse it is now. It was trippy seeing The Ritz and Caravan. I used to hang out at both of those places.

Love your work, Nick! We live in Sunnyvale and you painted a fair and accurate video! Thank you for showing people what I’m suffering in. Crime, intentional policies that have destroyed Santa Clara county (San Jose area), and that none of this by accident. None. But people don’t care enough to do anything.

Moved out of San Jose, CA last year. Cost of living, high crime, San Jose and Santa Clara county governments are inept, area has gone downhill in the last 10 years.

Nick, I grew up in Quito and Los Gatos, California in the 1950s, this is disgusting. I left California in September, 1996, because I had studied Demographics since 1987, and by 1992 it was obvious it was going to go straight into a raunchy gas station toilet. No one would listen, but Demographics allow you to see decades into the future.

Such a great and informative channel…always!!!

It won't get any better unless the cost of housing in California goes down! The cost of housing has more than tripled in the last 6 years! I am an educated single parent with a full time job and I have lived in northern California my entire life and as a single parent I have never worried about being able to keep a roof over my family's head, until the past 6 years. California is definitely not the state it used to be.

I figured I would check the city out on a business trip a few years ago. I sat down at a cafe downtown. Some dude walked right up, dropped his pants, took a dump on the sidewalk next to my table and continued on his merry way.

i lived there in San Jose for 50years, it deserves the reputation

I was born and raised in San Jose, and I moved out for greener pastures five years ago. San Jose was a great place to live forty years ago. Once the corporate businesses moved in and the mom-and-pop shops were removed everything turned to crap. Best restaurants a long time ago, now corporate restaurants rule the roost. Liberal politics has ruined a once great place.

I’ve watched RU-vid for many years and I think this maybe the best content I’ve come across.

Diane Warwick- Do you know the way to San Jose? Time for a rework-Do you know the way out of San Jose 😂😂😂

Born and raised here. I really miss the familiarity and my home town. I moved to TN and actually have a home here. It hurts me to see San Jose this way. Thank you for shedding light on San Jose. I hope one day it’ll become the small town I once knew and I could move back again. As of lately though. Everyone I know is saying that San Jose has changed a lot lately and it’s not what it used to be 😞 a lot of those I knew growing up (San Jose natives) are moving out.

Great video 👍thank you for sharing ❤❤

Nice to see the positive review of my hometown of San Jose.. Jason’s comments really nailed it…. If you apply yourself and put in the work San Jose is a great place and success can be within reach…

Born, raised and STILL living in SJ/Bay Area. This place is a dumpster fire. Literally. Expensive as hell. LA style traffic conditions. Bums everywhere. Neighbors hate each other because of gross inequity of property taxes (thank you Prop 13). Only tech wealthy people can afford to live here, and they’re barely making it. Public schools suck. Crime rates soaring. DO NOT MOVE HERE!!!

This is Outrageous, I used to live in San Jose in the early 90's and so many things have changed since then

Thanks for the no holds barred video, and show of appreciation for our sleepy little downtown!

I am really not in a hurry to go back to California. I can´t even afford to rent a cardboard box under a bridge.

From a San Jose resident you 100% correct, to the wealth to homelessness

Maybe it's too much to expect, but I think the people shown here who have made the kind of disastrous life choices that led them into this dismal state of affairs ought to do some "major soul searching" too. Of course, that is never required of them. NO, instead, it's the average citizen working their butt off, paying taxes, and staying sober who's supposed to search their soul over all this.

As a San Jose resident living in Homeless central (East San Jose) I endorse this video!

My brother moved to San Jose in the back around 1970 after college. He struggled with his first house. It cost him $55k back then. He sold it a few years ago after he had a custom house built in Milpitas. The house is literally down the street just over a mile from the new Apple campus. He was able to sell the house for about $1.5 million. One unfortunate consequence of the pandemic was the closing of Saddle Rack night club. That place could pack people in every night. It was actually a place for many musicians to stop by if they were in the Bay Area doing a show.

I'm from Milpitas, got priced out so I moved my family to San Diego in 2014. Best decision I ever made my kids are thriving here . More jobs than people to fill.

I'm from near San Jose, and I make vlogs about San Jose on my channel. San Jose lost its luster long ago. Homelessness, crime, prostitution, homicides, and expensive housing costs are issues that plague this city. I don't recommend tourists spend time here... Here are parts of San Jose I do recommend: 🌟 Downtown San Jose (which is NOT always safe, but there are a few bars and lounges. Are they spectacular? No. Best bar is Haberdasher). 🌟 Communication Hill (a neighborhood located atop a mountain. Very popular spot to exercise, drive around, and get a view of San Jose on a clear day). 🌟 Willow Glen (boring residential area, but the homes are nice and it's a safe part of SJ. They have a small downtown strip) 🌟 West San Jose (another safe part of San Jose, bordering Cupertino. Santana Row is a great outdoor mall to walk around). 🌟 South San Jose (quiet, safe, and next to wineries that tourists don't know about🍷).

I know this video is about California but the fact that Illinois lost more people than California is actually insane! That puts into perspective how terrible it must be to live in Illinois! I think we need an Illinois Road Trip series to investigate this.

Thank you for exposing these crimes against humanity. It's disgusting. But you're doing something about it.

It really brings down the mood of the place. Can't a way be found to keep them out of parks, at least? How are decent people supposed to sit and enjoy the park, see the monuments, etc. when there's excretia, trolleys full of crap, and addicts sleeping all over it, in daytime? It's really unfair and demoralising for the ordinary population.

Nice reporting and sociology study, Nick! Good review of San Jose, CA, and nice interview of local resident. This type of video helps get some key topics out there for a wider discussion and to help inspire new ideas. From my perspective, it seems there are now at least four main issues that are sort of combined within many communities of the USA, which include the local environment, available quality housing, care for the homeless, and a new concept called "combined accountability and opportunity factors". The details to explain all of these and how they go together can take a while, but indirectly your videos and comments in your videos help give examples of what those main issues are about, but require reading between the lines. Also, the four main issues usually will likely need to be considered together for long lasting solutions within many communities, but there may be a need to break large problems into smaller subsets for urgent single issues. For the details of these ideas, there were comments in other videos made on an idea of something tentatively called "Team Shelter" that is conceptually similar to TeamSeas. Tall goals for sure. Alas, continuing to think of ways to make a proactive, incentivized, vision proposal(s), and "working" plan(s) for making practical solutions to at least the Four Big Issues / Challenges / Opportunities, (i.e. local environment, quality housing, homeless, combo accountability and opportunity factors) to which each main issue can have some sub-issues. Anyway, just an idea. Thanks again for great videos.

Another great video! You had me subscribed when you talked about my state, ILLINOID

Some of our homeless have incredible vehicles

My dad worked there briefly in 1980 and 1981 when I was 12 or so. The highlight for me was going to Spartan Stadium during the summers to watch George Best do his thing. Even in the twilight of his career, it was fun to see him on the field. The goal against the Strikers was one of the best ever even if it was against an NASL level defense.

We love Almaden area. The shrinking traffic is a huge plus. Great video!

Thank you for uploading this video. It captures so much of what San Jose is. I lived in down town. The only thing I'd like to add is my thoughts on downtown. Yes, downtown is clean which is surprising. Still a bunch of homeless people. And it's decent for night life activities. But that is it. What a lot of people don't realize is how dead downtown is during the day. You can be in the heart of the city at 9:00AM and there is hardly anyone outside walking. And most buildings vacant. Even two skyscrapers there are entirely empty! It's hollowing out. I am happy to have left.

I was born and raised here and still live here. When I was young we called the homeless, hobos and homeless, and they were usually harmless. Now they're what we see in this video! It's scary to walk near their "encampments" unlike it was back in the 80s and 90s

My parents bought a brand new house in San Jose in the Blossom Hill Santa Teresa area and the early seventies for 25k today it's worth over a million dollars and it's just basic house and yes the east side of San Jose has always been the worst in the seventies on 80s it was predominantly Mexican I assume it still is I'm sure glad I left there 30 years ago moved to Florida

Thank you for great video

I live up 17 and SJ is somewhere I go often, it's very sad that a state as wealthy as ours can't take care of its people.

"Botanero" is not botanist, it means "snack bar", in mexico, botaneros are bars where you can get some light food or snacks with your beers, like, peanuts, quesadillas, light stuff like that.

We stay for the Mediterranean climate weather. Never gets too cold (seen snow flurries twice in 40 years) or too hot. We have maybe 1-2 weeks a year where it would be nice to have AC. 300+ days of sunshine a year.

Great job Nick! By the dialogue, It looks like Jason Wayne's been watching a lot of your videos..... LoL San Jose, has a great sanitation program to help the homeless throw away a bunch of their garbage, also the inner city homeless are in bed and wrapped up before dark, That's why you don't see them. Thanks so much for going to the trouble to make this series it's been great!

Nick, This was a good video. In your videos you touch on the topic of homelessness a lot, which is good. Today, I saw a video about how Finland has solved its homelessness issues, I believe it was from the"Invisible People" YT Channel. The Finns were saying they took they ideas that they learned from America and then applied it and localized the solutions. They were saying, just providing low income housing is not enough, a whole eco system needs to be created around the root causes of homelessness in the industrialized world... I wish you would do a video about San Francisco; I just saw a video about all the businesses closing and leaving SF , block after block... very sad.😮

Why can't they make a camp ground somewhere and have bathroom and shower facilities and some decent tents

Legendary California columnist Dan Walters has opined this is one of the by-products of California's obsession with environmental controls making it near impossible to build new housing.

We are from here and thanks for sharing this 🙏🙏🙏

Born and raised in sj. The only thing I’m scared of is getting hit by a Tesla.

I remember going to the San Jose flea market when I was younger. They had the best corn dogs!

Hello Nick, good to see you, even though I'm in Australia, I always love your videos, thanks for showing me around America 🇺🇸😊

I grew up in San Jose and went to college there. I make a respectable living. But as a single earner, I have no chance of buying a home there. I have been priced out of California. last year, i left.

GREAT information of the ‘new’ San Jose

I was born in the middle of an Apricot orchard in San Jose ten years before Silicon Valley,

yes, I'm sure the homeless were sitting in their homes in Topeka, KS and then decided to move to San Jose to be part of the tech scene, but found that they couldn't afford a home. that's probably it.

Ha! Loved this video. I left San Jose in 2013. Loved it there, but homeless is definitely a lot worse now and I wouldn’t be able to afford it anymore. Kind of a bummer.

Great vid here as always, Nick! :) Sad though to see where San Jose is at though. Stay safe and strong out there though, Nick! :)

This is heart breaking. Take care Nick!

I grew up in San Jose, but left 5 years ago to buy a new house 45 minutes away for $500K. I do miss it though.

My extended family live here. Thanks for the update!

My family moved to Cupertino in 1968, from Santa Rosa.I was in Middle School at the time. It was nice back then. Nothing like what your video shows today. I'm sad to see what the area has turned into.

Oh Dear God! Now I know why one of my clients who has had a winter home there for 35 years wants to now sell it. I thought she was being dramatic. She said there is no happy medium there. It's either very high end or extremely shockingly impoverished. She has a gorgeous condo there and she told me it's down right dangerous for her to ride her bicycle now. She love riding her bicycle. So I understand now. I am mind blown Nick! What in the sam hell is going on in California!?

Gotta always remember . . . we are all a few paychecks, from being homeless ! 🤞🇺🇲👻

We moved to SJ in 1973 and have lived in East SJ since 1997. In the 70's we had apricot fields all through South SJ (Almaden Valley) Thank you for putting yourself in harms way to relay the unknown poverty in the US to most of us!! I'm going to make a difference tomorrow and bring a garbage bag and pickup\dispose of all the Trash along my walk....1 person at a time!!!!! Instead of walking by the trash and thinking how bad it looks, I'll remedy the issue and pick up the trash!!!

I was MIA for about 6 months or so from a lot of Social media I usually use/watch. I come back to your channel and your subscribers have increased by like 250k. Kudos to you. Keep doing your thing Nick Johnson.

It's soo crazy to think how San Jose looks now. I'm from Silicon Valley and I remember when it was the cheapest place in the Santa Clara County to live.

I am so glad that I got out of the Bay Area more than 20 years ago, when I recognized that the quality of life was going to go downhill. Moved up to Sacramento, which has turned into a mini version of the Bay Area. Now , I have left the state completely. I love my new Home State. No traffic, low crime, low property taxes. We have maybe 2-3 homeless people, who live in town.

When we first moved to SJ, there were lots of orchards.

🎵🎶Do you know the way to San Jose?”.. I love that happy tune. 😂❤❤❤ Another great video!

This is the equality, equity, and redistribution of wealth Democrats promise. Isn't it wonderful?

The average middle class home is $1.3 million. That’s INSANE‼

I remember as a kid when we visited California, when I saw the signs for San Jose all I could think of was the song by Dionne Warwick, and how so many people had moved there because of that song! What a sad state of affairs we see now!

San Jose has always had so many good paying jobs. I used to really hustle working my butt off. I loved working there. Now I've learned to work no matter where I live.

what a fantastic community with such wonderful neighbors

I grew up on the east side. Early 60's till 1972 . It was a great time . Lived on a old family orchard. Apricots , cherries and walnuts . Acres and acres. 680 runs through the property now. I think it's part of zoria circle now or court. Last time I went down there was 2009 , I guess to reminisce. Berryessa School and Pala Middle School are no more. They closed down old San Jose speedway . I hope Alum Rock Park is still there. 🧐

I've been critical of your work until I realized I'm not doing any of the work that You're doing. So I'll continue giving You my support. Thank You for shining a light on all this. ✌🏾 🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌇🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆🌆

I appreciate Nick making these videos casting light on the sad conditions of many of California's cities. Other urbanist channels seem to be under the impression that this is being overblown by the media and by influencers and that it's not "that bad." Nick has shown in video after video of different major cities in California that this is not an isolated occurrence. This seems to be a statewide problem in california's largest cities. I'm beginning to see that part of the problem seems to be denial on the part of California government and also on the part of possibly well meaning US citizens who are choosing not to see what's really going on in these cities with the homeless problem and with the housing crisis. Keep up the good work!

I was in the US back in 1990 and went to San Jose, sure didnt look like that. What a shame to see it this way now

Downtown is relatively pleasant during daylight hours. Night time is damn scary.

thanks for the drone credit! I actually live not too far from the homeless camp at 3:42 ! Those people have been there for years!

I grew up in West SJ, one of the distinctly different SJ neighborhoods. Big changes, but still nice. Although, some of the community feeling is reduced for me. Biggest visible changes are the condo jungles sprouting up, mostly in the Almaden area along highway 85. The increased population density is concerning. I miss the beautiful orhards and open spaces.

Damn, my uncle lived in San Jose, until he died recently ...