Levi's Stadium Aerial View

Here is a view of the 49ers Stadium circa early December courtesy of someone's personal drone. Since this was taken the seats have all been put in, the lighting is just about done, and the massive scoreboard is functional.

Source: Usedmedia from the Santa Clara County Development Forum

2014 is Going to be an Epic Year for San Jose!

Happy New Year everyone! 2013 was a great year for San Jose and I think 2014 is going to be even better. Just a little warning, this is going to be a very long post.  First off, what do we have to look forward to in 2014:

• The 49ers Stadium - Not only will San Joseans have easy access to a world-class facility, but it will bring some big dollars into our economy. San Jose stands to gain as much as Santa Clara with this new project, and it may also lead to an inflection point with VTA Light Rail. You also have to love that the first major event there will be a San Jose Earthquakes game.
• 10 New Cranes in the Air Downtown - The development boom in Downtown San Jose has just begun. While we already have cranes up for One South and Centerra, expect to see a sky filled with them by the end of 2014.
• Major Events at the San Jose Convention Center - The remodeled convention center looks fantastic. The 2014 Silicon Valley International Auto Show will be the first event to take full advantage of the new space, and I'll look forward to many more events that use the new space.
• More Great Restaurants - In 2013 we saw a huge list of significant openings Downtown: SP2, Cafe Stritch, Orchestria Palm Court, The Farmer's Union, Blackbird Tavern, Nemea, Ike's Vyne, Konjoe, Bray, Bel Bacio, and Whispers. Expect the trend to continue in 2014. I'm especially looking forward to ISO: Beers, Da Kine Grill, CREAM, and of course the SoFA Market.
• More international flights at SJC - We got Tokyo in 2013 and I have a feeling we will land at least one other major international route in 2014.
• Construction on Transit Projects - Both BART and BRT construction will be in full swing this year. Even though those systems will not be operational in 2014, it will be 
• Seeing North First, Midtown, and Japantown Develop - These are the three areas of San Jose that are seeing major urbanization outside of Downtown. In 2014 North First will get millions of additional SQFT in office space, thousands of new homes, and improvements to Light Rail. Midtown will start seeing some new residential projects and retail as will Japantown.
• The Completion of Santana Row - The last major development projects to complete the original vision for Santana Row should be in place or nearing completion by the end of this year. 

Last year I also took the liberty of making a few 2013 predictions. Let's see how I did:

1.) More than two high-rise buildings will break ground in Downtown San Jose. We know about the Carlyle and One South Market, but I think we will see at least one more. Close, but no cigar. Those two projects did break ground but we will not get the 3rd "high-rise" project until 2014. Many people thought these two would not happen, so I still consider this an overall success.

2.) A major transportation project will be greenlit: be it a BRT line, a Lightrail Expansion, or funding for the subway portion of the BART expansion to San Jose. The number of transit riders and bicyclists will rise. Yes. BRT moving forward.

3.) San Jose will have a stronger brand and identity by the end of the year. Many new cultural and art projects will happen Downtown, helping San Jose feel and look like the Capital of Silicon Valley. I think as a brand there was movement in the right direction, especially with Downtown. Most of the art projects were pushed back, but we will see them in 2014 (underpass illumination, high-rise lighting, etc.)

4.) The Sharks will be back with a vengeance for the 2013-2014 Season. Yes. They are doing quite well ;)

5.) Downtown San Jose Office Vacancies will fall below 10%. Not even close, we are still around 20% but did score some big wins over the year.

6.) The number of restaurants in Downtown San Jose will break 250 for the first time in history. Oh, so so close... @248.

7.) We still have no decision on the A's stadium. However, you can expect a decision in 2014 before Bud Selig retires. This one will depend on how you look at it. Was there an official permanent decision on the A's or just that specific proposal? Still a bit grey here.

8.) San Jose will continue to dominate national rankings in salaries and quality of life. Yes, I think we nailed this one.

9.) We will maintain our status as the safest US city with over 500,000 residents. Yes, believe it or not. In terms of murders and violent crimes we were still far and away the safest city above 500,000 residents in the US.

10.) The Golden Triangle and North First Street developments will accelerate, and we will attract at least one massive tech company to relocate to San Jose to compliment what is the largest cluster of tech companies in the world by a huge margin. Yes, millions of SQFT in planned new developments... several major tech companies moved their HQs to San Jose and we will see a Fortune 100 company move into a million SQFT of North San Jose space in 2014.

Okay one last section here.

Now for some items related to The San Jose Blog. As some of you may have noticed, there was a slight
redesign to the layout of the site. The main panel is now much wider, allowing us to post substantially larger photos and videos. There is also a new ad-block on the right, which I tried to make as subtle as possible. I hope it is not too annoying, but if it is feel free to email me about it (josh@thesanjoseblog.com). Also, for 2014, you will likely see several more days with two posts instead of one. There is so much going on that it is difficult not to get behind with only one post per day.

That's a wrap, hope you all have an amazing first day of 2014!

From Lastlightbender's Instagram Page

New Year's Eve Options in Downtown San Jose

The Downtowner Online has a great list of New Year's Eve events in the heart of our city. There are even some free options like an 80s NYE event at the San Pedro Square Market. Also, VTA light rail and buses are free from 8PM to 5AM. Just scroll down to see all of your options, and please be sure to check out the full edition of Downtowner Online right over here.



Noon Year’s Eve – The night may belong to the adults, but the day belongs to the kids! Celebrate the arrival of 2014 with the whole family. Radio Disney will be on site with fun games, cool music, and awesome prizes. Participate in the “countdown to noon across time zones.”  10am-4pm, Children’s Discovery Museum, 180 Woz Way; 298-5437; www.cdm.org

The Back Bar – Live music with punk band Beerijuana, 10pm, 418 S. Market St.

Blackbird Tavern – The Bang and The Jazz residency All-Stars, 9pm, $25 or $45 with dinner.  200 S. First St. (408) 278-1050, $36-$62; Saturday 2:30pm and 7:30pm, Sunday 2:30pm, http://www.theblackbirdtavern.com/

The Blank Club – Black and Red Ball with resident DJ Basura, 8pm, $10-$20 http://www.theblankclub.com/

Britannia Arms – DJ Ready Rock, buffet, party favors, photo booth, 8pm http://www.britanniaarmsdowntown.com/

Café Stritch – Terrie Odabi and Steve Turre, 8:30pm, http://www.cafestritch.com

Fahrenheit Restaurant and Lounge – R&B, Top 40, Hip Hop, Club Hits from Charly Fusion, DJ Melvis, DJ Raymundo, 8pm-2am, $75-$130, includes buffet and/or open bar.  99 E. San Fernando St., www.SANJOSENYE.com and www.fahrenheit.com

Four Points by Sheraton – dinner, fashion show and dance party presented by Society of Single Professionals and Singles Super Club, 7pm, $20-$65 http://www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpoints/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3510

Hedley Club at Hotel De Anza – Roaring ’20s NYE – Games, music, dancing and cocktail specials.  8:30pm http://www.hoteldeanza.com/

The Improv – Steve Byrne 7pm dinner show, $65   62 S. Second St. 408-280-7475 or http://sanjose.improv.com/showListCalendar.cfm

Pagoda Lounge at the Fairmont – DJ FM Murquia and DJ Fabian, 9pm, $40-$60. http://www.fairmont.com/san-jose/

Poor House Bistro – Drinks and full menu, plus live music by Jay and the Po’ Boys and Lara Price with Velvet Plum, 7pm, $60 http://www.poorhousebistro.com/events.html

San Jose Bar and Grill – With video mixing with DJ Dave, 8pm  http://sanjosebarandgrill.com/

San Jose Stage Co. – Will Durst’s Big Fat Year-End Kiss Off Comedy Show XX – With Will Durst, Johnny Steele, Debi Durst, Michael Bossier, Arthur Gaus and Mari Magaloni. 7pm and 10pm. $40-$50, 490 S. First St.  https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=b82281afac37f09151cbe705df3d7e7f

San Pedro Square Market – ’80s style party, plus midnight champagne toast, balloon drop, photo booth and more. http://www.sanpedrosquaremarket.com/

Studio 8 – DJs and burlesque show, 9pm http://studio8sj.com/

Ride VTA light-rail and buses to and from your NYE celebration – Free service from 8pm Dec. 31 to 5am Jan. 1.  www.vta.org

The VTA Light Rail Efficiency Project

Some big changes are coming to our Light Rail system over the next few years that will substantially improve travel times and better support connections to BART and the new stadium. From the maps below, the obvious changes are:

• A new Red Line (with express trains during peak hours) from Mountain View to Alum Rock. This will make it possible to easily get from the Milpitas BART station to the 49ers Stadium, and will help out those commuting between East San Jose and Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, or Mountain View.
• The Green Line will extend to Almaden, so riders coming from there will no longer have to transfer to another train.
• The Blue Line will offer all-day Express service, instead of only peak hours.
• A new Purple Line will be added between Winchester and Downtown (this is the only major reduction of service, since those commuting from Campbell will have to transfer trains if they are going beyond Downtown).

The changes you can't see from the map are:

• VTA is adding a third track on Tasman between Reamwood and Old Ironsides for peak-demand trains to the Stadium. This track will be able to store three, 3-car trains (usually Light Rail only uses one or two car trains) to deploy when there are major events happening in the area. This project should be complete by November 2014.
• Double tracking in Mountain View, which will allow timed transfers with Caltrain and the Red Line express service. This will be ready by 2016.
• System-wide speed and reliability improvements. VTA plans to deploy better signaling systems to reduce wait-time at traffic lights, and improve speeds from 35 MPH to 45 MPH on North First.

After all is said and done, travel time will be cut by up to 30% and we will have some new options for getting around. Check out the video below or the VTA website for more info.

December 2013 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• Development construction in Downtown San Jose is booming. The only major new construction in the last five years was the Convention Center Expansion, but you can now see two massive cranes for the One South Market and Centerra high-rise apartment projects. In addition to that you will soon see cranes for:
• Saint James Towers (2 towers, 20-22 stories, 612 units)
• North San Pedro (6 stories, 408 units)
• The Pierce (7 stories, 235 units)
• Parkview Towers (18 stories, 197 units)
• Marshall Squares (7 stories, 195 units)
• Post and San Pedro Tower (19 stories, 156 units)
• Civic Center (7 stories, 127 units)
• Santa Clara County Family Justic Center (8 stories, 233,900 SQFT)
• Hampton Inn & Suites (8 stories, 197 rooms)
• San Jose's Office of Economic Development is revising its San Jose Storefronts Initiative, which helps small businesses lease vacant space by offsetting permit costs and fees. New restaurants will be able to apply and grantees can receive up to $16,000. The program will continue until the $250,000 of funding is used.
• On any given night, as many as 25 Downtown venues can feature live music. Check out the SJDA Live and Local page for listings.
• Thanks to some private contributions from Downtown businesses, the Downtown PBID was able to purchase a small electric vehicle (let's be honest, it's a golf cart) to help with security patrols.
• A permanent US patent and Trademark Office that will service the entire west coast will occupy part of City Hall at 200 E. Santa Clara.
• David Nevin, owner of the Rock Shop, is bringing live music back to The Back Bar at 418 S. Market.
• Bel Bacio Imported Italian Coffee is now open at 350 W. Julian St. No. 4.
• gZines! is now selling fine art and jewelry at the Fairmont Hotel.
• Blackbird Tavern is now using the vacant 2,400 SQFT next door for private parties and events.
• Thirst Tea is now selling boba teas and snow ice at 150 S. First St., Suite 118.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

Lick Observatory May Shut Down

One of the few iconic landmarks visible from just about anywhere in San Jose may shut down. The University of California is threatening to cut funding for Lick Observatory, which was constructed in 1888 as the world's first mountaintop observatory. At one point it had the largest telescope ever built and has helped scientists discover planets, asteroids, and several moons of Jupiter. If you have ever wondered why our streetlights are yellow... well one of the main reasons was to reduce light pollution for Lick.

The observatory costs $1.8 million each year to keep running, which sounds almost like a rounding error for such a historic structure. 100 faculty, students, and post-docs currently use the facility to gather scientific data test new technologies. The currently plan is for the UC system to reduce funding for the Observatory in 2016 and do a complete shutdown in 2018.

Expect to hear more about this as the details unfold. I'll post information on any campaigns I find to save Lick Observatory.

Source: The Merc, Thanks William Burch for the tip

GreenCitizen Opens New Location on 5155 Stevens Creek

GreenCitizen has opened a new eco-station at the border of San Jose and Santa Clara on Stevens Creek. They offer free recycling for your e-junk (old cables, computers, TVs, palm pilots, batteries, etc.) as well as services for destroying hard drive information and other sensitive data. Throwing away these electronics in the trash can contaminate landfills and cause serious environmental problems. E-recycling is a much better solution, and they may even give you cash for items that still have some value like old iPhones. More info below.

GreenCitizen Extends Year-Round Electronics Recycling Drop-Off to Santa Clara and San Jose

GreenCitizen is opening its new Eco-Station in Santa Clara on Monday, December 2, 2013. Located inside the SuperGreen Solutions Store at 5155 Stevens Creeks Blvd, Suite 100, Santa Clara, GreenCitizen's new Eco-Station will be open from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., Mondays through Saturdays, all year round.

GreenCitizen is opening its new Eco-Station in Santa Clara on Monday, December 2, 2013. Located inside the SuperGreen Solutions Store at 5155 Stevens Creeks Blvd, Suite 100, Santa Clara, GreenCitizen's new Eco-Station will be open from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., Mondays through Saturdays, all year round.

Santa Clara and San Jose residents and businesses can now drop-off, for responsible recycling, any working or non-working electronic items, including computers, monitors, TVs, printers, appliances, or portable devices that use electricity. Please refer tohttp://www.greencitizen.com for a full list of acceptable items.

The new GreenCitizen Santa Clara Eco-Station is only 10 minutes away from downtown San Jose and San Jose State University, and just a couple of blocks from the Stevens Creek Boulevard intersections with the Lawrence Express way and I-280. Simply use 87 N and/or 280 N and take the Lawrence Expressway exit. Located next to Bed Bath & Beyond, across from McDonald's, Starbucks Coffee, Safeway, and Sports Authority, the Eco-Station is also less than a mile from Santana Row, and the popular Westfield Shopping Mall at Winchester Boulevard and Stevens Creek.

Since opening its first center on Earth Day 2005, GreenCitizen has successfully helped over 15,000 businesses and 150,000 residents responsibly recycle their electronics. In this time, GreenCitizen has diverted over 10 million pounds of electronics from landfills and from global dumping on developing countries. The amount of e-waste that GreenCitizen has diverted is equivalent to reducing 12 metric tons of CO2, planting over 300,000 trees, or taking 2,500 cars off the road for a year.

"The amount of obsolete electronics piling up in our offices and homes is staggering. When these electronics are not recycled properly, this e-waste often ends up in landfills here or in developing countries, where it can cause serious social and environmental harm.” says James Kao, GreenCitizen's Founder and CEO. "In order for responsible e-waste recycling to take off, it must be more convenient for consumers and businesses and there must be full accountability to ensure that everything gets recycled safely. We are very excited to partner with SuperGreen Solutions to bring convenient and accountable electronic recycling services to Santa Clara, San Jose, and surrounding cities of Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, and Campbell."

Belinda Vega, president of SuperGreenSolutions states that: "SuperGreen Solutions of Stevens Creek is excited about working with GreenCitizen to truly provide a complete environmental solution. We feel the missions of our companies are similar and complimentary. Together we are helping our customers make the world a better place and making every day Earth Day."

SuperGreen Solutions is a one-stop retail store for energy efficient and green products, providing a holistic approach to energy efficiency by offering a variety of products, reducing clients' energy usage and thereby maximizing their cost reduction. They provide solar panels, wind turbines, LED lighting, electric car chargers, efficient water heaters and insulation. They can arrange for installation, assist with rebates and tax incentives, and provide financing. They also provide other green products such as air purifiers, atmospheric water generators and non-toxic pest control products. SuperGreen Solutions of Stevens Creek is a minority woman-owned business.

GreenCitizen is a socially and environmentally responsible company dedicated to helping consumers and businesses reduce their environmental footprint through proper disposal of their electronics. GreenCitizen achieves this through closed loop reuse, convenient drop-off, and business pickups. All recycled items are accounted for fully all the way through dismantling and de-manufacturing within the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to the new Santa Clara Eco-Station, GreenCitizen has four Eco-Centers in Berkeley, San Francisco, Burlingame, and Mountain View.

Saturday Stats: 2013 META-Edition!

Every time I post a Saturday Stat, I also toss it in a Google Doc so we can look back on the year and see all of our top rankings listed in a single place. Since it is the last Saturday of 2013, the time to reflect is now.

The list is even longer than 2012. San Jose's achievements this year include #1 lowest housing vacancy, #1 in patent creation, #1 top job market, #1 happiest city for young professionals, #1 technical jobs per capita, #1 best city for STEM jobs, #1 best city to work in, #1 safest city above 500,000 residents, #1 richest city in America, and #1 happiest, healthiest city in the US. Pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?

Below you can find the full list of 2013 Saturday Stats, and if you want to check out 2012 the Google Doc is over here.