Thursday, February 2, 2012

Amazing Valentine's Day Cirque du Soleil Promo

This is likely the best deal you are ever going to find on tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Totem in San Jose. For the next two days you can get two tickets for the price of one right over here. You can also get a $35 discount on VIP Rogue tickets, which are pricey but worth it (full dinner, free wine, parking, gifts, desserts during the intermission, and the best seats in the house). It's the perfect event for Valentine's day! More info below.



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This Valentine’s Day say “I love you” with a gift from Cirque du Soleil.

With exciting offers on show tickets and a wide selection of gift items in our boutique, Cirque du Soleil is where you’ll find spectacular ways to show how much you care.

Buy the one you love a show ticket for TOTEM in San Jose and get your ticket for free*! TOTEM opens on March 2 at the Taylor Street Bridge in San Jose.

DISCOVER THE OFFERS by heading to 
http://tinyurl.com/SJBlogTOTEMVday. Please note this offer is only valid for 72 hours and tickets must be purchased by 11:59pm EST on Saturday, February 4.
*Some restrictions apply. Must become a Cirque Club member, with free subscription, to take advantage of offer. Service and delivery fees apply to all tickets during the purchase process.


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

B2 Coffee

I just wanted to highlight a great little coffee stand tucked in an empty corner of the San Pedro Square Market. While it may not look like much from the photo, their mocha was the best I've ever had. They also have killer scones and muffins. If you're looking for something more substantial in terms of food, the other Market vendors are in the adjacent room. I highly recommend checking this place out. I'll even go so far to say it give Philz some solid competition (I love Philz too).

The plan is to build out a permanent space for B2 using a large chunk of the vast room it is in now, right at the corner of St. John and San Pedro. I can't wait to see what the final shop will be like.

The B2 coffee stand is currently open from 7:30am-7:00pm Monday through Saturday and 9:00am to 4:00pm on Sunday.


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

RE: San Jose Weighing Business Tax Increase

An article appeared in last week's San Jose Business Journal about San Jose considering a tax increase for businesses. Surprisingly, the city collects only $10-11 million of business tax revenue a year, much less than other cities in the bay area (Oakland collects $51.5M, SF collects $391.1M). The proposal currently being discussed is a way to double the amount of revenue that San Jose collects from the 54,800 businesses, the largest number of any city in the Bay Area.

I actually have to strongly disagree with this idea. Right now there are many regions of San Jose with office vacancies hovering around 25%, dramatically higher than many other Santa Clara County cities like Palo Alto and Mountain View. Raising business taxes in any way, will simply provide another reason for businesses to not come to San Jose. This isn't a possibility, this is an economic fact. You cannot raise taxes without a negative consequence.

The are two possible exceptions to what I said above:
1.) If San Jose is considered a luxury "product or service" where increasing the price makes it more attractive instead of less (think Bentley, Gucci, etc.). I don't think this is the case.
2.) If the money raised from businesses can be used to provide an improvement to those businesses greater than the additional cost they are paying (think Downtown's PBID)... this is unlikely since the money will likely go straight to the deficit.

Okay, now that I bashed this idea let me offer 2 suggestions:
1.) Use supply and demand to determine when to raise taxes. For example... when office vacancies hit 5%, then slowly increase the tax while lessening the negative impact. Don't do it when we desperately need these spaces to be filled.
2.) Sell additional services to businesses that companies would gladly pay a premium on. A great example is permitting, which has been a San Jose weakness for some time. Let a large company pay substantial extra fees to expedite the permitting process and move a project along faster (have nightshift and weekend employees if needed). The additional money those companies will get by opening the door faster will easily justify whatever extra amount they have to pay. We also want a brand image where San Jose is the best possible city for leading companies; enabling them to execute and build faster is perfectly inline with this image.

Source: SJBJ

Monday, January 30, 2012

December 2011 Downtown Dimension Highlights


Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:
  • Sadly, Music in the Park has run it's course and will be replaced by multiple smaller events Downtown as well as improved existing events (ex: Blues Festival in St. James Park, SoFA Street Markets during First Fridays, and Left Coast Live).
  • The San Jose Marriott receives the 2011 Jim Fox Golden Nail Award for contributions to the character of Downtown.
  • The Downtown PBID responsible for Groundwerx is up for renewal this year. Also some improvements are planned:
    • New focus on helping fill up Downtown office and retail vacancies, such as helping new tenants expedite permitting with the city planning office.
    • Improve Downtown Safety
  • Oracle has moved 62 people into the Sobrato building with plans to move 180 more people soon.
  • USF is now open for business at 125 S. Market.
  • The Capital Club has just finished a $2.8M remodel and now includes an outdoor sky lounge with fire pits, private work spaces, an expanded bar, and a media room (100+ inch flat screen) with Bay Area sports memorabilia.
  • Downtown's Memorial for Veterans should be re-installed very soon (the 76 white flags by Adobe).
To read the full newsletter, click here!






Saturday, January 28, 2012

Saturday Stats: San Jose Metro Rent Increase Highest in the Nation

In 2011, San Jose apartment rents climbed a whopping 11.7%, making it the largest increase in any metro market in the country. San Francisco was in second place at 10.4%. Currently, rents in the San Jose metro average $1,783, which is actually now higher than San Francisco at $1,708.

Source: SJBJ



Friday, January 27, 2012

Miguel Machuca at the Usuals Jan. 27



The Usuals present artwork by Miguel Machuca

Opening reception: Friday, January 27th from 7pm-10pm

With music provided by RS2.
Drinks by Uzuhachi Honey.
On view thru Feb. 23, 2012
The Usuals
1020 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126

"Hack the Future" Event at the Tech!


BAY AREA KIDS LEARN HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD AT “HACK THE FUTURE”
Over 100 students will participate in a full day “hackathon” to learn about innovation from rock-star tech leaders like Pong creator Allan Alcorn and engineers from Facebook.

SAN JOSE, SILICON VALLEY, CA - On Saturday, January 28, 2012, the third Hack the Future will take place at The Tech Museum in San Jose, California. Hack the Future is a one-day hackathon, designed to inspire and encourage middle and high school geeks to take learning into their own hands and show them what it's like to be a hacker.

Joe Mathes, startup engineer and Hack the Future co-creator, explains, "Hack the Future is the first chance many kids will have to enter the exciting, advancing field of technology. Programming is literacy. To be great, you have to start when you're young, and you have to learn it from someone who knows the language. As professionals on the cutting edge, we wanted to teach what we know straight from the front lines."

Over 30 mentors will teach the day-long event, which consists of a series of stations where young hackers can experiment with everything from creating computer games to soldering. Lee Felsenstein, the designer of the first mass-produced portable computer, will be helping to inspire the next generation of future tech leaders. Local engineer Allan Alcorn, best known as the designer of the wildly popular 1970s video arcade game Pong, will also be on hand to share his remarkable story and to help guide students’ tech creations.

“The highlight of the day is seeing the kids accomplish something they are proud of,” says mentor Sarah Elliott. “You should see their faces when they create code that ends up moving a half million dollar robot. It’s incredibly rewarding.” 

Mentors from companies including Facebook, Twilio and other Bay Area-based startups will mentor the students. Microsoft is one of the event’s primary sponsors, as well as The Tech Museum.

Jeff Lindsay, Founding Director at Hacker Dojo, says “With a laptop, you can change the world, start the next Facebook. Nowhere is this passion more evident than at Hack the Future.”

For Willie Yee, 12, the event is like Christmas in January; it's the reason he signed up so quickly. "I like programming," says the San Jose 7th grader. "But I really want to learn more complex commands for some programming languages." 

Reporters interested in interviewing Hack the Future mentors or students should contact Daniel Jabbour at 516-642-1119 or daniel@hackthefuture.org.

For more information on Hack the Future visit http://www.hackthefuture.org/