California's First Cooperative Brewery and Pub Coming to San Jose!

Wow, the craft beer scene in San Jose continues to explode. Peter Smith and Joe Silva are launching the first Brewery & Pub in California that is going to be setup as a Co-op. That means that there would be a large number of owners that would get to vote on the types of beer and food offered and have a vested interest in the co-op's success. Basically it is a way to make owning a small piece of an actual brewpub and restaurant possible for the average patron. I love the idea and can't wait to see where it goes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“If you eat and drink at a brew pub, shouldn’t you like to own it too?”

The San Jose Cooperative Brewery and Pub
Information Session and Beer Tasting

Event Details:
Saturday, Feb 2, 2013, 2-5 pm
The Drying Shed, 402 Toyon Ave, San Jose
https://www.facebook.com/events/120781888091976/

Contacts:
Peter Smith / psmithsf@gmail.com / 415-912-8056
Joe Silva / joe.silva@outlook.com / 512-300-3758
SJCoopBrewPub.com

The San Jose Cooperative Brewery & Pub “Coop Brewpub”, California’s first
cooperative brewery and pub, will hold its first information session and beer
tasting on February 2, 2013 at the Drying Shed from 2:00- 5:00 PM at 402 Toyon
Ave, San Jose, California to kick off its membership drive. In addition to learning
about how to become a member of the Brewpub Coop, attendees will enjoy a
beer tasting with craft beers from local breweries and live music.

The Coop Brewpub is currently made up of a small group of individuals who have
spent the last five months laying the ground work for the Coop Brewpub and
are kicking off the membership drive with a beer tasting. The Coop Brewpub is
looking for more members to help build the coop from the group up. Members will
help make major decisions in building the coop such as what beers to brew, what
foods to serve, where to locate it, and what the culture of the coop will be.

The Coop Brewpub will follow the values and principles of the International
Cooperative Alliance and will be owned and democratically controlled by its
members—the people who buy their goods or use their services—not by investors.
It will operate on the principle of “one member, one vote.” That is, unlike investor
owned businesses where voting rights are based on ownership share, each member
of a cooperative has the same voting power. In addition, it will return profits to their
members proportionate to their use of the cooperative.

The goal is to increase membership to 2 – 3,000 members in approximately 18
months, to open soon after, and have a lot of fun until then.

Admission to the event is a nominal $20 to cover event expenses and will feature
craft beers from local breweries and live music.

Additional Resources:
International Cooperative Alliance

San Jose Cooperative Brewery & Pub

January 14, 2013

http://ica.coop/en/what-co-op/co-operative-identity-values-principles

Sharks Victorious In Opener

Sharks fans have good reason to be excited: hockey is back and the Sharks won their first game on the road in Calgary, as they defeated the Flames 4-1.

Patrick Marleau scored the first goal of the Sharks' season with a beautiful move in front of Miikka Kiprusoff, dragging the puck to his backhand side, and stuffing the puck in the corner.  Throughout the course of the game, however, Marleau was not done.  He finished the night with two goals and "first star" honors.

Admittedly, the Sharks started the game with a lackluster first period performance.  The Flames demonstrated superior chemistry, scoring one goal, and peppering Sharks netminder Antti Niemi with 16 shots (compared to the Sharks' nine).  It was clear the Sharks were showing signs of "growing pains" (i.e. needing to get used to playing together), as it is commonly the case when a new season begins.  Niemi, however, displayed absolute brilliance in the net by not only stopping many shots, but many quality shots.  Star players on the Flames team, such as captain Jarome Iginla, had clear opportunities to score, but Niemi was right there to keep the shots from barreling past him.  The reason the Sharks had the opportunity to recover from the first period was due to Niemi's shot blocking mastery.

The Sharks' performance during the second period put all of the doubters to rest.  Three unanswered goals were scored during the second period by the Sharks, with an additional fourth during the third period.  During the second and third periods, the Sharks' chemistry was beginning to come together, and Niemi continued to demonstrate his unbelievable skills.  The combination became too much for the Flames.

Advantages Sharks fans are familiar with, such as dominance in the corners and in the offensive zone, were beginning to be demonstrated.  Joe Thornton was beginning to display his passing skills.  Dan Boyle was beginning to show his ability to stay out on the ice and still make great plays.

The all-familiar Sharks were back.

Let us hope the Sharks cam continue to win a significant amount of games.  With an abbreviated 48 game season, there is no time for the team to gradually develop into a "hot" team.  They must win now.  The Stanley Cup is up for grabs.

Some honorable mentions for today:
- Matt Irwin, Sharks defenseman, played his first NHL game today, and was paired up with the veteran Dan Boyle.  Despite claiming to have the "first game jitters," he played a fantastic game and provided opportunities for the team to get chances on net, and finished the game with a +1 rating.
- Adam Burish, Sharks forward, played his first game with the Sharks today.  As some fans remember, he was the agitator type player on the Chicago Blackhawks when they made their run for the Stanley Cup in 2010.  We would like to welcome him to the Sharks and would like to wish him a great and successful season with us.

Dig Into the Past at History San José’s Archaeology Days at Peralta Adobe at San Pedro Square Market

San José, CA – December 18, 2012

On Sunday, January 27 and again on February 24, from 11 AM to 3 PM ---
Archaeology Day at the Peralta Adobe at San Pedro Square Market will offer children an opportunity to be junior archaeologists.

Stanford Archaeology Center students will be at the Peralta Adobe historic site conducting a mock excavation, screening,  artifact identification and artifact reconstruction.

“It’s exciting for us to be able to share our research on San Jose’s past with today’s current residents,” said Barbara Voss, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Stanford University. “We’re looking forward to meeting the next generation of young archaeologists.”

This free family educational program will allow individuals to collect stickers for each activity to place in Archaeology Passports and become ‘certified’ as a Junior Archaeologist.

The oldest home in San Jose, the Peralta Adobe, serves as a perfect archaeological location. It is the centerpiece for San Pedro Square Market at 175 West Saint John Street in downtown San Jose.  It is just across the street from the Fallon House, a mid-19th century Victorian home.

The public archaeology activities are free. While at the Peralta Adobe, visitors can also take tours of the Peralta Adobe and the Fallon House, which are $8 for adults, $5 for seniors (62 and older) and students with a valid school identification card; and $5 for children who are accompanied by an adult. As usual, members of History San José receive free admission.

Adult tours, and tours for children ages seven and older, will be held through the Peralta Adobe and the Fallon House, at 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.  Tours especially designed for children ages 4 through 9, accompanied by an adult, will at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. These historic buildings are not wheel-chair accessible.

For more information or to make reservations for a tour, call 408 918-1047 or visit www.historysanjose.org

   # # #

The Fallon House was built in 1855 by one of San José’s earliest mayors. The Victorian mansion showcases 15 fully-furnished rooms typical of the Victorian period. Thomas Fallon was a frontiersman in the John C. Fremont expedition, and Carmel Fallon was the daughter of one of the most prominent Mexican landowners in California.

The Peralta Adobe is San José’s oldest address. Built in 1797, the Peralta Adobe is the last remaining structure from El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe. See the Adobe’s horno, an outside working oven or venture inside the home and see two rooms furnished as they might have been when they were occupied by the Gonzales and Peralta families. It is now surrounded by the new San Pedro Square Market.

   # # #

About History San José:
History San José is a non-profit organization that collects, preserves and celebrates the stories of diversity and innovation in San José and the Santa Clara Valley. HSJ manages one of the largest and most comprehensive regional history collections in the State of California, from 1784 Spanish governmental records to twenty-first century Silicon Valley technology.
History San José     1650 Senter Road     San José, CA  95112       408.287.2290

Website:  historysanjose.org
Blog: historysanjose.org/blog
Facebook: /historysanjose
Twitter: @historysanjose

Saturday Stats: San Jose Has Lowest Housing Vacancy Rates in the US

The San Jose area has 650,700 housing units, and only 28,100 of them are empty. That gives San Jose a vacancy rate of just 4.3%, the lowest in the country by a significant margin. The next lowest is Lancaster Pennsylvania at 5.6%. Surprisingly San Francisco is at 7.12% and New York is at 9.92%. I suppose that means it's time to start breaking ground on some more residential units--preferably in dense urban parts of San Jose.

Source: SVBJ

Die Hard Sharks Contest Winner

Thank you all for the amazing participation in our contest! We had a total of almost 800 entries, far more than what I was expecting. Please support Die Hard, the San Jose-based sponsor of the contest. They have a great assortment of Sharks and 49ers gear, not to mention your other Bay Area favorites.

Congratulations to Eric Anthony! You have a Sharks hoodie and tee coming your way.

As for everyone else, stay tuned. More contests are coming up, including one next week!

Fair Isaac Corp (FICO) is Moving HQ to San Jose

It sounds like yet another major company has decided to make San Jose its home. Fair Isaac, the company behind your FICO score, is moving their HQ from Minneapolis to offices in San Jose near SJC where they already have 90 employees. They have just signed a lease for an additional floor and do plan to increase their headcount with a focus on technology and big data--which is one of the main reasons for the relocation. The talent pool for engineers in Silicon Valley in unsurpassed, making San Jose a logical choice for their headquarters.

Source: SVBJ

Last Chance: Die Hard Sharks Hoodie Contest!

This is you last chance to enter the contest for a Sharks hoodie and tee sponsored by our friends at Die Hard Co. Just follow the directions in the widget below. Winner announced on Friday!

Wednesday Wishlist: Light-rail Expansion

I think it's time to start pushing expanding our rail infrastructure, especially with several factors that are going to increase ridership substantially over the next four years such as:

• Increased density and new housing and jobs being built near transit lines
• BART extension to San Jose
• The new 49ers Stadium
• Increased traffic on our freeways as the economy grows

However, I'm not sure if the proposed Los Gatos extension is the way to go. It would cost $175 million to add two stations extending from Campbell to the Netflix Offices in Los Gatos. The estimated increase in ridership is about 200 people. Even though this number seems too low to be true, the actual number probably won't be dramatically higher. I think we should focus on improving service where there is already some density such as Downtown, First Street, Japantown, Midtown, etc. The ultimate light-rail line would be along Stevens Creek connecting Downtown to Santana Row, Valley Fair, DeAnza College, Valco Mall, and the new Apple HQ. Unfortunately, that will probably cost the same amount as building the BART subway or even more, so I don't have high hopes for that.

What likely makes the most sense is to start working on the extension to Eastridge mall, where there is a huge bus hub along with future planned BRT. That is expected to cost $310 million and get around 1,000 new riders a day. Still quite expensive but the larger the network becomes, the more riders it will attract system-wide. 

Where would you like to see the next Light-rail extension?

Source: The Merc

George Gund III, 1936 - 2013

The San Jose Sharks just announced the passing of the team's original owner and Bay Area hockey ambassador, George Gund III.  He succumbed to cancer at the age of 75.

The Sharks have also posted a memorialized image of the famed owner on their website, sharks.nhl.com.

The Sharks are arguably one of the most successful sports franchises, due to the contrast between the team's immense popularity today, and the time when the Sharks were granted their expansion team in the early 1990s, when ice hockey was virtually unheard of in the Bay Area.  Although the California Golden Seals existed as a Bay Area professional hockey team in the 1960s and 1970s, the team never maintained the massive popularity the Sharks do today.  Mr. Gund was an investor in the Seals at the time, and knew that if given another chance, professional hockey could have an opportunity to thrive in the Bay Area.

Sharks fans have Mr. Gund to thank for taking a chance on what would become one of the most popular and successful hockey franchises in the NHL, especially since the prospects of a successful professional hockey team in San Jose were bleak at the time.

Rest in peace, Mr .Gund, and thank you for bringing the Sharks to us!

It is noted from a few sources that the Sharks will be wearing jersey patches and helmet sticker decals emblazoned with "GG III" for the current season, in memory of their late, great owner.

TWO BUCK Tuesday Jan. 15th!

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Join us at KALEID Gallery for this upcoming TWO BUCK Tuesday, January 15th, 7pm-10pm!
Come enjoy an inspired evening of performances, live painting, $2 art, drop-in sketching table & quirky people get together! It’s open to all ages and free!

While you’re here, you can enjoy our annual HARK! exhibit of over 50 regional artists with small, affordable works.

Here’s some of the great things to see and do this time:


Bring your sketchbook and pencils and come drop in at the sketching table and enjoy a Life drawing session with Lara Sophia’s costumed models. (To volunteer to pose yourself: contact Lara4art at yahoo dot com)


Drew will read your fortune!

LIVE ART BY:

Lydia Rae Black


James Pollard


Joe Perea


Al Preciado & friends


David Mejia


Nik Caesar


John Hageman


Enjoy live music by RebelsKamp!

TWO BUCK Tuesday is January 15th, 7pm-10pm!
Free & open to all ages.


88 South Fourth Street (@ San Fernando)
San Jose, CA 95112
info@KALEIDGallery.com
408-947-1785
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, noon -7pm
Free admission

Ken Brenner at Pho69

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Phantom Galleries is pleased to present "Color" by painter Ken Brenner at Pho69 Restaurant.
Artist's Reception: Friday, February 1, 7-11pm
Free and open to the public, part of the South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk

Ken started painting in his early 20’s experimenting with acrylics and watercolors. At that time, he was teaching young children in Berkeley. With marriage and a growing family, his occupation changed directions. He entered the banking industry and has successfully developed his career over the past 35 years. He is currently President of Avidbank in Palo Alto. Only recently was he encouraged to take up art again. Ken has found the medium of oil painting an inspiring way to stimulate the mind and bring the beauty of the world around us to life. Painting has allowed him to develop a passion for creative expression.

In our world, color embodies a wide spectrum of feelings and emotions. It is used to convey power, joy, intellect, royalty, and purity among others. Each color represents its own purpose and meaning. In nature, color has evolved to communicate different messages. Poison-arrow frogs have bright, flamboyant colors to stand out as a warning signal to predators. The male peacock has extravagant colors in its eye-spotted tail, which are used for courtship. Other animals like the chameleon use color for camouflage, which enables them to remain hidden from potential threats. For Ken, color is an intense underlying theme throughout his work that allows him to truly express himself. The colors in his work give dimension, depth, and most importantly life to the canvas. It is Ken’s unparalleled eye for color that brings a unique quality and distinctive feel to each piece.

"Color" by Ken Brenner at Pho69
321 S 1st St
San Jose, CA 95113
Ken Brenner website
Pho69 website

How Silicon Valley Can Get its Groove Back

There was a great article that I have been meaning to post about entitled "How Silicon Valley can get its groove back, part 2." It's written by Greg Baumann, the new Editor in Chief at the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

It starts off by implying that we are basically losing our edge against San Francisco and there has been a flight of young talent because Silicon Valley just isn't cool. I will say that I agree this is the perception, but when you look at actual numbers there really isn't much of a flight at all. If anything Silicon Valley is growing faster than San Francisco in terms of office development, employment, salaries, and number of tech startups. However, there is definitely a stigma that is floating around.

Greg's solution... Downtown San Jose. Young workers want to live in urban environments where they don't need a car, there are quality restaurants and cafes in walking distance, there is easy access to transit, and cultural facilities are nearby. Of all locations in Silicon Valley, San Jose has all of the raw materials needed to cater towards this demographic. Now it's all about execution of improving these ingredients and mixing them together into a cohesive experience that will attract young talent.

I'm going to toss in a few other benefits Downtown San Jose has that you won't find in SF: 1.) Great weather 2.) 5min access to an international airport 3.) Easy access to freeways and parking for those that do want to drive.

Check out the article over here and let us know what your thoughts are!

Source: SVBJ

Photos of Inaugural ANA Flight From San Jose to Tokyo

Our good friend from WMS Media -- which also happens to live in AXIS -- managed to get some great shots of the first Boeing 787 in the Bay Area. We wish this route much success, and it's off to a great start with the initial flight selling every seat. Also, as as sidenote look for the new 49ers stadium under construction in the last photo... had no idea it would be that visible from the airport.

Oplink Setting Up Shop in North San Jose

Late last year Oplink Communications purchased 86,000 sqft of R&D space in North San Jose. The Fremont-based company designs and manufactures optical networking components and products which they sell to other technology companies. Their new building is at 1710 Fortune Drive. The main drivers for the purchase were the site's location, signage opportunities, and build quality. They are expected to be increasing headcount as they occupy the space.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose has the Highest % of College Grads in the State

Here is a nice stat for you. The San Jose metro has the highest percentage of residents who hold at least a bachelor's degree in California. 86.9% of the population here has a high school degree or higher, and 45.1% of the population holds a Bachelor's or higher. We are still a bit behind nationally... the leader in the US is Boulder, Colorado where 59.1% of residents hold a Bachelor's. At least we are headed in the right direction and are leading the state.

Source: SVBJ

CONTEST: Die Hard Sharks Hoodie!

Our friends over at Die Hard Co. are so excited about the end of the NHL lockout, they are giving away a Sharks hoodie and a tee!

The contest is simple. All you need to do is follow the directions in the little widget below to enter. You can also get bonus entries from liking Die Hard Co. and The San Jose Blog on Facebook, following our Twitter feeds, etc. It's a neat little app and we will very likely be using it for future contests as well.

Good luck everyone! The contest runs until next Thursday morning. Winner announced on Friday the 18th.

Prada's Miu Miu Premiering at Valley Fair

More and more companies are choosing San Jose over San Francisco to introduce new luxury retail concepts into the Bay Area. The latest in a growing list is Prada's Miu Miu, a high-end brand for women's clothing with locations only in premier fashion destinations around the world. The store is opening up at Valley Fair in Spring 2013, around the same time as David Yurman. Other stores that have chosen San Jose over SF to launch include Hastens, St. Croix, and the Tesla Store.

As a side note, Valley Fair is also beefing up their luxury wing with new stores for Tiffany & Co, Cartier, and Louis Vuitton. Now if only they would get started on their 500,000 sqft expansion.

Source: SVBJ

Wednesday Wishlist: Michelin Star Restaurants (2013 Edition)

I do this rant every year and will continue to do so until San Jose nabs a Michelin star restaurant. For the non-foodies out there, a Michelin star represents one of the highest achievements and forms of recognition that a restaurant can get. There are three different rankings:

One Star - A very good restaurant in its category with cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey.
Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality. Worth a detour.
Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine with distinctive dishes and superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.

I have gone ahead and made a Google doc listing all of the 2013 Bay Area Michelin star recipients as well as the recipients for each year since Bay Area restaurants started being evaluated in 2007. This data was surprisingly not that easy to aggregate since it was hard to find the lists of early recipients. If you open the doc, you will also notice a Stats tab on the bottom that shows how things have evolved over the years.

In 2007 the Bay Area received a total of 34 stars across 28 restaurants. Only 2 restaurants were in the South Bay (7% of the total). For 2013, the Bay Area received 52 stars across 42 restaurants and 5 were in the South Bay (12%). So there is definitely some improvement for the region as a whole, but unfortunately there is yet to be a single San Jose recipient. I have been to quite a few on the list below (13 of them in fact), and there are at least two San Jose restaurants that should definitely be there. Le Papillion and La Foret, which are sister restaurants and offer phenomenal food and service equal to many of the places on the list. I also have high hopes that new aspiring chefs will decide to open up restaurants Downtown that may one day qualify for a star.

You can check out the full Google doc here. The South Bay restaurants are highlighted in yellow and the Peninsula restaurants in northern Silicon Valley are highlighted in blue.

P.S. Hat tip to All Spice in San Mateo for being the first Indian restaurant to make the cut in the US as far as I know.

New Craft Beer Tasting Lounge Opening Downtown!

I have a feeling that the craft beer scene is about to explode Downtown. The Original Gravity House and Good Karma are going to have some company very soon.

Sukhjeev Singh is the owner of Bobby's Liquors on El Camino, which features an insane collection of craft brews. He's about to take things to the next level by opening up a tasting lounge called ISO: Beers (In Search Of Beers). With 1,756 sqft, he'll have enough room for 50-60 tap handles, storage for 2,000 bottled beers, comfortable sofas, and of course some tables. This is someone that really knows his beers, so I can't wait to see how this turns out.

ISO: Beers is going to be located at 81 East Santa Clara Street, near 4th Street Pizza and City Hall.

Source: Anonymous Poster, Examiner

San Jose Looking for $1B in NEW Investment

Major Chuck Reed has set a goal to nab $1B worth of new projects over the next 6 months. This will help accelerate job growth as well as generate new revenues for the city. To help achieve this he is putting together a committee to evaluate and monitor economic competitiveness and is expediting planning and building permitting for high-rise residential, office, R&D, campus projects, and retail projects that are larger than 200,000 sqft.

Some good news is that there is already a billion dollars worth of development in the queue:

• 3 million sqft of office/R&D
• 800 high-rise residential units
• 600,000 sqft of retail

Everything already in the pipeline will generate 10,000 jobs and $9M in annual revenue for San Jose.

In addition, to fill up vacant space in Downtown San Jose the city is planning to waive permitting fees and business licensing fees for properties where landlords are willing to discount rates to new lessees for a one year period. These incentives would apply to tech startups, retail stores, or restaurants.

Source: SVBJ

Wake up, fans! The lockout is over, and the Sharks are back!

“Wake up!  Wake up!”  I texted to some of my fellow Sharks fans.  “The lockout is ended!  That Sharks will have a season this year!”

The collective bargaining agreement negotiations finally came to a conclusion around 3AM Pacific Time, and the news spread like wildfire over Twitter and other social media sites.  Many remained hopeful a deal would be made due to the severity of the situation.  If no deal could have been made, the season was likely going to be cancelled.  It was the last opportunity.

To assist with the negotiations process as the time wound down, a federal mediator by the name of Scot Beckenbaugh was brought in.  Many believe his assistance saved the season, due to the high contention between the two sides of the negotiating table: Gary Bettman, Commissioner of the NHL, and Donald Fehr, the executive director of the players’ union, the National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA).  The negotiations continually fell through primarily due to the players’ insistence they did not want their pay and benefits cut and the league’s insistence they implement lower salary percentage rates due to most owners losing money.

Even though hockey fans in general may be delighted to see there will be a season, many fans feel like they’ve been cheated.  There were a good number of players voicing their displeasure with the potential of having their salaries cut (and even threatening to stay with their professional level teams abroad), the players union ready and willing to cancel the season, and the league not providing realistic agreements to the table and not honoring existing contracts.  As we all love our home teams and support them through all kinds of media, and by purchasing tickets and merchandise, how should the fans feel when the players and owners are carelessly toss aside the fans because some think they’re not making enough?

With that said, however, there were a healthy amount of players communicating to fans using social media apologizing for how the situation has turned out and how they’re going to “play their hearts out” for the fans if the season is allowed to continue.  (We can only hope they deliver now.)

The new collective bargaining agreement has a ten year life (although there’s a potential “opt out” in eight years), with an eventual salary cap set between $44 million and $64.3 million.  The salaries in individual contracts cannot vary more than 35% year to year, and the final year cannot be more than 50% of the highest year.  (This acts to prevent some of the high front loaded contracts seen in the previous years, such as the contracts the Minnesota Wild signed with Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.)

Another important statistic, the revenue sharing percentage between the owners and the players, is now a 50-50 split, instead of the previous 57-43 split, in favor of the players.

As for the Sharks’ season, if play begins on January 15^th, which it very well should, the season will be 50 games long (instead of the full 82), although it is possible for play to continue a bit later, which would then result in a 48-game season.

Either way, we will have hockey this year, which means there will be plenty of opportunities to cheer on our Sharks.  Most importantly, however, is the continuation of the season puts the Stanley Cup back into play.

LET’S GO SHARKS!

Breaking: NHL Lockout is Over, Sharks Season is Coming After All!

More info to come soon from our Sharks fanatic, Jarrod!

Source: The Merc

Boston Private Bank Opening in Downtown San Jose

Another bank is coming Downtown, although most of us won't casually be walking into this one. Boston Private Bank focuses mainly on wealth management, wealth advisory and trust services, commercial lending, and private banking. The new branch is scheduled to open this quarter at 60 S. Market Street, and it will be the first location in San Jose. They already have other Bay Area locations in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Burlingame, and San Francisco. Tenant improvements are happening as we speak and I'm sure we'll all look forward to having another business Downtown.

Source: SVBJ

Saturday Stats: SJC Has the Top On-Time Performance in California

Since we're just days away from getting an international direct flight to Tokyo, I figured that this would be a good week to do an airport related Saturday stat. Last year, San Jose International was ranked as having the best on-time performance in California. This shouldn't be a huge surprise given our good weather, a streamlined airport layout, and advanced systems for handling luggage. Heck, the last few flights I have taken out of SJC ended up arriving early.

On the other side of the Bay, SFO came in dead last in terms of on-time performance for California airports.

In terms of all medium to large airports in the US, San Jose ranked 4th in on-time performance, Oakland claimed the 17th spot, Sacramento took 20th, and SFO ranked 64th. 65 airports were evaluated.

Source: SiliconBeat

Silicon Valley in the Media

For all of Silicon Valley's fame and prominence in the international business community, we have rarely been featured in the entertainment scene. So many TV shows and movies are set in New York, LA, SF, and Chicago... but Silicon Valley rarely if ever is featured even as a background location. The one exception would be the 1985 bond movie A View to a Kill, where the main plot was to prevent the annihilation of Silicon Valley. And look at what Silicon Valley was portrayed as in that movie below.



Well, things are about to change. Several new TV shows and movies are coming out where Silicon Valley is at the very least a supporting role. This actually started a couple months ago with the show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley. While I did enjoy seeing at least a dozen shots of San Jose throughout the show's 8 episode run, for the most part the show was considered a failure by the media. I'm not going to shed too many tears since I don't think it accurately portrayed Silicon Valley (and most of it was shot in SF). You can read the postmortem at SiliconBeat.

Now for what's coming up. HBO has just green-lighted a live action sitcom series called "Silicon Valley." This is a "single camera" dark comedy by Mike Judge, the creator of Office Space, King of the Hill, and Beavis and Butthead. Here is how the show is described: "Silicon Valley is set in the high tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success." Sounds very promising. For more info on this one check out Deadline Hollywood.

Next up is a feature film called the Internship. This movie has two big-name stars, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, as a couple of 40-something salesmen who get laid off and decide to restart their careers at Google. Part of the movie is even shot onsite at Google's HQ in Mountain View. More info on this one is available at Marketing Land.



Last one for now is a new show by Simon Cowell and Will.i.am called X Factor for Tech. They are hunting for the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerburg. The producers are claiming that this show will generate a lot of jobs and give youth a platform to express themselves using science and mathematics. While this show is not yet confirmed to take place in Silicon Valley, it will no doubt fuel more media interest to the region which is king of entrepreneurship and technology. More info over at Venturebeat.



I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. If any of these are successful, you can be sure that there will be more Silicon Valley-oriented shows to follow.

Umpqua Bank coming Downtown

Umpqua Bank should be opening their first San Jose store in pretty soon in the heart of Downtown San Jose. It has leased two floors totaling 6,874 sqft at 225 West Santa Clara, which is next to Amici's and Axis. Build out is happening right now and it should be ready sometime towards the end of the quarter.

The ground floor will have personal banking services, a computer cafe, free WiFi, and conference rooms that anyone in the community can reserve. I have never been to a bank with a cafe and community rooms before. The second floor will have commercial banking services.

Source: SVBJ

Transforming Suburbia into Eco-Utopia

Sociecity has a fantastic three part blog post by San Jose native Patrick Lydon about how we can take a city that was built around the car, and turn it into something sustainable as the population grows. The posts are based around an interview with Hans Larsen, San Jose's Director of Transportation. I can't think of a better way to start off 2013 than by looking towards where we are headed in the future.

Just a few quick tidbits. The plan is to build 70 (!) walk-able, mixed-use urban villages by 2040. These would have jobs, housing, retail, and recreation all within a compact community. I'm picturing more affordable (and much smaller) versions of Santana Row with access to mass transit and more community infrastructure (places of worship, etc.). Where would these be located you may ask?  We have an abundant supply of giant strip malls which would be ideal candidates to grow vertically into mini-downtown communities.

Land use will definitely have to change in many areas. For example, most of the housing is in South San Jose and the job centers are mostly in North San Jose. More housing needs to be added in the North and additional jobs need to be created in the South. Plans for this are already underway--the strategy for North San Jose involves bringing 32,000 new homes as well as converting 1-3 story office configurations to 10-20 story buildings.

Another interesting fact is that 80% of San Jose residents primary mode of transportation is driving alone in their cars. The plan is to change this to under 40% by 2040. The urbanization in the paragraphs above will help, as will a very aggressive bicycle program involving adding more dedicated bike lanes (great job Downtown San Jose) and bike share programs.

Anyway, this article is a very interesting read and definitely worth your time. Make sure to go through all three parts and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Click here to read Transforming Suburbia into Eco-Utopia!

Valley Verde Launching in San Jose

Guest post by Raffaella Cerruti:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



If you’ve been looking for a non-profit organization working to create access of healthy
and fresh food in San Jose, let Valley Verde be your inspiring story.

About three years ago Raul Lozano, the former executive director of the Latino theater
company in San Jose, Teatro Vision, decided to make a shift in his career by taking part
of the urban agriculture revolution movement. Soon, he realized that in main challenge
in the urban food movement was to reach out to low income communities. Low income
people in the US have less access to an affordable, healthy diet than and their health
is at greater risk from diet related illness as a result. There is a general thinking that
organic gardening is only a hobby for families with the financial means, enticing only
to those who have the time and money for it. Some think that lower-income families
simply can’t be expected to be interested in growing their own food because they lack
the resources or they are time poor because they often work two or more jobs and lack
the energy to maintain a garden. The nonprofit that Raul started in 2011, Valley Verde,
is all about making sure that people have access to good fresh food by providing the
resources and support needed to plant and maintain a home organic garden.

Valley Verde provides low income families with the knowledge and tools needed to
grow and maintain their own organic vegetable gardens. The families receive one or two
raised bed gardens, according to space and family size, an irrigation system, classes
on gardening and nutrition, seeds and seedlings, and a gardening mentor who will
give gardening support for one year. The goal of the one year program is to empower
the families with the vegetable gardening knowledge to continue their own gardens.
Families who wish to share their knowledge can participate in a future Valley Verde
project to help other families learn the same valuable skills.

Valley Verde started last fall with a group of 25 families in Gilroy and now they are
looking for new families in the community of Seven Trees, for the next Spring's planting
season. In order to support and expand the free services offered to the low-income
community, they also started selling garden installations and maintenance services as
well as "do-it-yourself" kits to residents of Santa Clara County who would like to start a
home organic garden.

To illustrate the impact of access to fresh organic vegetables, Raul likes to quote one of
the participants in Gilroy. A mother of two, her children would never eat beets, because
she could only afford to by the canned variety and they did not like the taste. Now that
they grow their own, her children love beets, and the rest of the vegetables that they
grow. We all know that fresh organic vegetable taste better and are better for you and
we believe everyone should have access to those benefits. Raul Lozano has a plan to

start a real revolution for the Silicon Valley. With the help of corporate sponsors and
donations, within 10 years, we want to provide free gardens to as many as 5,000 low
income families.

A quote by eco-chef, food justice activist, Bryant Terry, who recently said: “Unless small
start-ups, food incubators and local food movements are equipping the communities
they provide outreach to become their own leaders, directors and ultimately self-
sustaining, you're just playing games". We feel like that is our call to action!

raull@valleyverde.org
www.valleyverde.org
Follow us on facebook

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year everyone! Check out the holiday lights at the Associated Students (A.S.) house near 4th and San Carlos. I should have posted this for Christmas, but New Years will have to do. Hope you all have a prosperous 2013!