San Jose City Council honors “Mr. Roadshow” Gary Richards at meeting

At its first meeting of the new year, the San Jose City Council honored my late colleague Gary Richards, better known to his readers as “Mr. Roadshow,” paying tribute to a longtime columnist who helped drivers, transit riders, cyclists and pedestrians navigate the roads we all travel on.

The council adjourned its meeting Tuesday in honor of Richards, who died Dec. 17 at age 72 following a long battle with a degenerative muscle and nerve disease.

“Gary Richards wasn’t just a writer. He was a voice for the unsung heroes in the transportation world,” Councilmember Domingo Candelas said. “As we bid farewell to Mr. Roadshow, let us remember the positive changes he brought to our lives.”

Jan Richards, Gary’s wife, was in the council chambers with their daughter, Anne, for the special moment.

“We so appreciate this honor for Gary and if he were here he would appreciate it too,” Jan Richards said. “He knew that he could do good things through this work, for readers he wrote for and organizations who could do a better job when they knew the real concerns of the millions of people using this area’s busy roads and transportation systems.”

It was a touching gesture by the council. But one reader, Bobbi Lotman, made a suggestion to me recently that it might be more appropriate to remember Mr. Roadshow by putting his name on one of the city’s streets. Could anything be more fitting for Mr. Roadshow?

Of course, renaming a street isn’t simple. It means getting affected property owners on board, convincing the city council to approve the change and finding someone to pay for the new street signs. But it can be done. The Children’s Discovery Museum is on Woz Way, named after Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, who provided a lot of early support for the Purple Museum. In 2020, the San Jose Earthquakes renamed a street adjacent to Pay Pal Park as Wondo Way to honor retired star Chris Wondoloski. And a massive effort culminated in 2021 with the renaming of portions of Autumn Street and Bird Avenue to Barack Obama Boulevard.

Here’s my suggestion: Gary spent most of his career working at the old Mercury News plant at 750 Ridder Park Drive, which was sold to Supermicro when the Merc moved back downtown a decade ago. How about renaming the portion of the street from Schallenberger Road until it dead ends as Gary Richards Drive? The rest of the street can continue to honor the Ridder family’s contributions to the area — Ridder Park Drive extends north past Brokaw Road — but that section can be Gary’s stretch.

Any other ideas?

AN OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE: I’ve never given much thought to joining a cult. Seems like that would involve a lot of meetings and, you know, people. But I have to concede that I’d consider a cult that was all about watching movies and live theater — and 3Below Theaters in downtown San Jose has started a new membership program to help it survive  — and it includes a lot of free perks, without all the actual cult downsides.

It’s called 3 Believers, and members get discounts on shows, exclusive events and freebies when they come to a movie, play or other special event. Memberships are $150 a year, but there are discounts if you have multiple members in the same household and if you’re 25 or younger, a 12-month membership is just $25.

Since 3Below opened in 2018, replacing the former Camera 3 Theatres, owners Shannon and Scott Guggenheim have worked hard to enliven their corner of downtown at Second and San Carlos Streets with a mix of live stage performances, first-run movies, repertory films and special events like singalong screenings. They’ll be the first to tell you it hasn’t been easy, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But rather than launch a big fundraising campaign to stay afloat this year, the Guggenheims said they preferred a way to provide some solid financial footing while also providing a benefit for audiences. Now, that doesn’t sound like a bad cult to join — and there’s popcorn.

PALO ALTO SEEKING ARTISTS: The Palo Alto Public Art Program is looking for its next King Artist in Residence, inviting Bay Area artists, art collectives and others to apply before the Feb. 2 deadline.

The artist or team that’s picked will engage with the community on their topic of choice — focused on equity, inclusion and belonging in Palo Alto — and then create an artwork that may be displayed on the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King Plaza for at least six months. You can get more information at bit.ly/2024kingartistresidency.