If you’ve been to downtown San Jose, you’ve probably seen Groundwerx workers, either right in front of you or out of the corner of your eye. They’re the people in orange and green outfits who are responsible — on the dime of downtown property owners — for keeping the streets clean, watering the flowers, cleaning off the graffiti from buildings and scraping gum off more surfaces than I can count.
If you hold the belief that downtown San Jose is a garbage dump and Groundwerx is a failure, you should jump in a time machine to 2005 or so when you immediately would be aware of just how much work they have done. Could downtown be cleaner? Absolutely. But Groundwerx has stemmed the tide of trash since its creation in 2008.
Some of that recent success can be attributed to two people — Program Director Semu One Bear and Operations Supervisor Chris Kendrix. But nothing lasts forever, and One Bear has been promoted by Block By Block, the national company that operates Groundwerx, to be a project manager for the western region. And while the downtown’s dynamic duo is being broken up, Kendrix will be stepping into One Bear’s boots.
“My favorite part is the people I met and the people who supported me during this time. That’s what I’m going to miss most,” said One Bear, who was running a supplements business in San Diego when he came back to San Jose to help take care of his ailing parents. He started as an ambassador — one of the Groundwerx employees who helps people find their way to the convention center or Plaza de Cesar Chavez — and moved his way up the ladder to program manager.
His best advice for Kendrix as he steps into the top spot? “Have patience,” One Bear said. “Things are going to get tough. Take some deep breaths and think of all the things that came before.”
Kendrix arrived nearly six years ago, bringing his experience as an operations supervisor with a rigging company to San Jose. Eventually, the two became a one-two punch of problem solvers, who could figure out how to set up for an outdoor event, and reset downtown afterward.
Kendrix will be only the third program director in Groundwerx’s 12-year history, following One Bear and his predecessor, Rich Mongarro, who also was promoted off the street and into an office job (He’s now a regional vice president). Chloe Shipp of the San Jose Downtown Association, who is the Property-Based Improvement District’s operations manager, says that 55 percent of Groundwerx current staff of 29 has been there more than five years. Nearly a third have been around for a decade or more.
“It’s also the family that’s created in these four walls. That level of camaraderie is huge,” Shipp said. “People care about each other and about downtown.”
And keeping downtown a safe and inviting environment is part of what is driving Kendrix in his new job, especially after months of seeing businesses closed down because of the pandemic and people marching through downtown to support Black Lives Matter.
“It went from this lively downtown to a ghost town,” Kendrix said, adding that the Groundwerx staff received thanks and compliments from downtown residents and workers for even just being there. “There were a lot of worries, but they kept us working and we helped keep downtown alive. You can feel the liveliness of downtown coming back again.”
FAREWELL TO ‘BIG JOE’: If we were living in normal times, there would be a huge tribute dinner at Original Joe’s in honor of Joe Quartuccio, who worked the kitchen at the venerable downtown San Jose restaurant like a stage performer for 30 years. Sadly, Quartuccio died Aug. 12 at age 69.
A big-hearted guy and Bay Area sports fan, Quartuccio worked his way around the restaurant scene, with stops at the Fog Horn and Cafe Meridian before landing behind the counter at Original Joe’s. He retired a couple years back after three decades, but like many of Original Joe’s colorful employees, he left an impression.
This is the second loss for the family in the past year. Quartuccio’s uncle, country western bandleader “Shorty Joe” Quartuccio died in December at age 95. Joe Quartuccio is having a private service Thursday at St. Christopher Church in Willow Glen, followed by a burial at Calvary Cemetery.
RUN-ON SENTENCES: You can scratch the rest of your training schedule if you were getting ready for the 15th annual Rock N Roll Half-Marathon, which had been scheduled to happen in San Jose on Oct. 4 but has been called off with plans to return in 2021. That’s really disappointing because I think this would have been the year I ran the 13.1-mile course — and nobody can prove otherwise.