San Jose Chamber Of Commerce
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The San Jose Chamber of Commerce (abbreviated SJCC), formerly known as the Silicon Valley Organization, is a
chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
representing business interests in
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
. It is the largest chamber of commerce in the
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
region. Founded in 1886, the chamber has played a role in the development of the local economy and politics.


History


19th century

The San Jose Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1886 as the
Santa Clara Valley The Santa Clara Valley is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends 90 miles (145 km) south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered on the west by the Santa Cruz Mountains and on the east ...
Board of Trade. In 1900, it briefly became the Santa Clara Valley Improvement Association before changing its name to the San Jose Chamber of Commerce the following year.


20th century

In 1910, the chamber formed the Commission Government League to promote reforms to the San Jose city charter. Along with other upper- and middle-class progressive groups, the league forced a ballot initiative on replacing the city's
political machine In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hig ...
, which was dependent on working class voters, with a city commission government, modeled on that of
Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...
, that they saw as less corrupt and more efficient. In 1914, the reform groups gained a majority of seats on the city council and appointed a commission to study charter reforms. It was dominated by the chamber and Merchant's Association and headed by Professor Thomas H. Reed of the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, who eschewed the city commission plan in favor of a
council–manager government The council–manager government is a form of local government used for municipalities, counties, or other equivalent regions. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States along with the mayor–council gover ...
modeled on that of
Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...
. In 1929, the chamber raised $480,000 in donations by
Santa Clara County Santa Clara County, officially the County of Santa Clara, is the sixth-most populous county in the U.S. state of California, with a population of 1,936,259, as of the 2020 census. Santa Clara County and neighboring San Benito County together f ...
residents to acquire a parcel of the Yñigo Ranch on the
San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
and sold it for a nominal price to the U.S. Navy to serve as an airbase for the USS ''Macon'' airship and later
Moffett Federal Airfield Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November 10, ...
. In 1939,
Ernie Renzel Ernest E. Renzel (August 7, 1907 – September 15, 2007) was an American politician who served as the mayor of San Jose, California, from 1945 until 1946. He was known as the "Father of the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport" ...
, a wholesale grocer and future mayor of San Jose, led the chamber's Citizens Central Airport Committee and personally negotiated the purchase of of the Stockton Ranch from the Crocker family to be the site of San Jose's municipal airport. Renzel led an effort to pass a bond measure to pay for the land in 1940, overcoming reluctance by fiscally conservative city councilmembers and City Manager C. B. Goodwin. In 1944, and again from 1950 to 1965, the chamber partnered with the city and county and spent more than $ on aggressive national advertising campaigns, including advertisements in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', to attract major manufacturers to the Santa Clara Valley. In the 1960s, the chamber supported City Manager A. P. "Dutch" Hamann's city expansion plans and the bond measures to fund them. The chamber was known as the Association of Metropolitan San Jose from 1968 until reverting to its previous name in 1971. In the late 1960s, the original ''
Migrant Mother ''Migrant Mother'' is a photograph taken in 1936 in Nipomo, California by American photographer Dorothea Lange during her spell at the Resettlement Administration (later the Farm Security Administration). Since then, the photograph has become an ...
'' photograph by
Dorothea Lange Dorothea Lange (born Dorothea Margaretta Nutzhorn; May 26, 1895 – October 11, 1965) was an American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Lange' ...
was found in a dumpster at the chamber's headquarters, along with 31 other unretouched, vintage photos by the photographer. By the 1980s, the area's chambers of commerce had diminished in political influence, and the
Santa Clara County Manufacturers Group The Silicon Valley Leadership Group (abbreviated SVLG) is a non-profit advocacy group in Silicon Valley, California, in the United States. Its members are businesses that operate in the valley and its purpose is to influence public policy rel ...
became the dominant political special interest group in the area. In 1988, the chamber changed its name to the San Jose Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. In 1997, it took the name San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.


21st century

In 2017, the chamber rebranded as the Silicon Valley Organization (SVO) to appeal to businesses and government officials associated with
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
. Despite its new name, the organization largely continued to focus on businesses in San Jose. In 2019, the Santa Clara Chamber of Commerce, located in neighboring Santa Clara, responded by rebranding itself as the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce. On August 26, 2021, the SVO reverted to its longstanding name, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, to emphasize its support for small- and medium-sized businesses and distance itself from controversial political advertising by its former political action committee.


Politics

As a business advocacy organization, the chamber consistently supports a pro-business political agenda. It supports
immigration reform Immigration reform is change to the current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, ''reform'' means "to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses". In the political sense, "immigration ...
and opposes
smart growth Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood sch ...
zoning changes that are favored by housing advocates.


Political action committee

The Silicon Valley Organization formerly operated a political action committee. The SVO PAC spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to support business-friendly candidates in each
San Jose City Council The San Jose City Council, officially San José City Council, is the legislature of the government of the City of San Jose, California. As the Mayor of San Jose, Sam Liccardo casts the 11th vote on matters before the council and acts as chair ...
election, often in opposition to candidates supported by the
South Bay Labor Council The South Bay Labor Council, AFL–CIO (SBLC), is the labor council of Santa Clara and San Benito counties in California's Bay Area. The SBLC is affiliated with the AFL–CIO, one of the national labor confederations of the United States. The ...
. The SVO PAC was repeatedly criticized for racial stereotyping in its advertising, including darkened photographs of Latino councilmembers Sergio Jimenez in 2016 and Sylvia Arenas in 2021, as well as for misleadingly doctoring a photograph of another candidate in 2018. In October 2020, the SVO PAC published a controversial webpage against Jake Tonkel's campaign to unseat Councilmember Dev Davis. It featured a photo of Black rioters in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and alleged that Tonkel supported defunding the
San Jose Police Department The San Jose Police Department (SJPD) is the police agency for San Jose, California. The San Jose Police Department is led by Chief of Police Anthony Mata. The department makes its calls for service available to the public; it is the first Am ...
. A number of prominent for-profit and non-profit member organizations, including 36% of the SVO's board of directors, left the SVO, criticizing it for a pattern of racist advertising. Under pressure from member organizations, President and CEO Matt Mahood issued an apology and resigned, and the SVO PAC was dissolved in November 2020.


Chief executive officers

The San Jose Chamber of Commerce has had 11 chief executive officers in its history: * D.B. Moody, 1886–1919 * Roscoe Wyatt, 1919–1944 * Russ Pettit, 1944–1964 * Fred Burtner, 1964–1969 * Sandy Webber, 1969–1974 * Ron James, 1974–1990 * Steve Tedesco, 1990–2000 * Jim Cunneen, 2000–2005 * Pat Dando, 2005–2011 * Matt Mahood, 2011–2020 *
Derrick Seaver Derrick Seaver is an American politician who served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 78th District from 2001 to 2006. Early life and education Derrick Charles Seaver was born on February 6, 1982 in Oxford, Ohio ...
, 2020–present


References


Further reading

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External links

* {{Authority control Chambers of commerce in California Organizations based in San Jose, California Organizations established in 1886 1886 establishments in California Politics of San Jose, California