Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Safest U.S. Driving City

Here is a Saturday stat I was not expecting. Despite being the 7th most congested city in the US, San Jose is the 2nd safest city in the country when it comes to driving. Only New York had a lower vehicle fatality rate among the ten largest cities in the country. I also was not aware that San Jose has actually held this 2nd place distinction since 2003. I would expect when self-driving cars hit the market, the fatality rates will go even lower.

Fatality Rate Per 100,000 People

1. New York City  - 3.21
2. San Jose - 4.27
3. San Diego - 5.23
4. Chicago - 5.34
5. Los Angeles - 6.27
6. Philadelphia - 6.91
7. Houston - 9.01
8. San Antonio - 9.54
9. Phoenix - 10.14
10. Dallas - 10.96

Source: NBC Bay Area, hat tip to Jordan Toy

Naglee Park Open Studios on June 1st

Here is an event that is completely new to me. This Sunday is the 6th Annual Naglee Park Open Studios, which lets you walk right into artists homes around a historic neighborhood. 30 artists are participating at 20 different locations with works including ceramics, photography, sculptures, watercolors, and more.

The event programs with locations of participating artists will be available on May 11th at Happy Dog, House of Bagels, and the famous Naglee Park Garage (505 E. San Carlos St.). The Event is free and runs from 11am to 5pm.

You can find more information at the Naglee Park Community Association or their Facebook Page.

Source: Phantom Galleries

New DMV Coming to East San Jose

Tired of long lines at South Bay DMVs? Hopefully this will help. A new 30,000 SQFT DMV is coming to East San Jose. This will be located at 2222 Senter Road, right across the street from Costco.

Barry Swenson is building out the project and expects it to be completed in late 2014.

Source: SVBJ

Tee Nee Thai Restaurant Re-openeing in June

A beloved Thai restaurant on The Alameda that way destroyed by a fire over a year ago is about to reopen. Immediately after the fire, the Shasta Hanchett Park Neighborhood came together and held a fundraiser at its sister restaurant, House of Siam Downtown, and helped raise money for the re-build.

The new restaurant will have the same address at 1423 The Alameda, but will be substantially redesigned. The original restaurant had a seating capacity of around 40. The new restaurant will be able to seat up to 86 across a main dining room, a brand new sidewalk cafe, and a Thai-themed outdoor patio. The kitchen is being extended out by nine feet, it is getting two new ADA compliant restrooms, and the front windows will be enlarged to allow for more window seating.

I don't have an opening date yet, but it should be sometime in June with the back-patio being completed in July.

Source: The Merc, hat tip to Alex Shoor for sending this in!

Video Tour of the One South Market Construction Site!

Check out the great video that David Manzo put together for his San Jose 2030 project. He is video-documenting key changes in San Jose's landscape between now and the year 2030. You can really see how fast One South is coming along. The views are going to be amazing from this centrally located high-rise tower!

Towards the end of the video you can also see how Centerra is progressing--and I have to say it looks much larger than I would have expected from the sky.

Post by San Jose 2030.

May 2014 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• A 195-unit, seven floor apartment project called Marshal Squares is being planned for First and St. John, right behind the Trinity Cathedral in St. James Park. The coolest feature of this project has to be a two-story cafe overlooking St. James Park.
• Barry Swenson is gearing up to start construction of Parkview Towers in 2015, also in the St. James Park area and featuring two high-rise buildings.
• The 4.1-acre, $6 million Rotary PlayGarden for children of all abilities is now under development off Coleman Avenue, behind the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens visitor center.
• A new marketing program to kindly ask bicyclists to use bikeways and streets downtown is going into effect, preserving Downtown sidewalks for pedestrians to safely walk.
• CipherCloud has moved its corporate headquarters from 10 Almaden to a larger 20,000 SQFT space at Riverpark Tower 1.
• Law firm Miller, Morton, Caillat & Nevis moved to a 15,000 SQFT office at 50 West San Fernando.
• Three new businesses are now open at 52 S. First St., Third Floor:
• A yoga studio called "Be The Change"
• Soul Imagez tattoo parlor
• Make Me Holey piercing shop
• Take One Pizza is open at 177 W. Santa Clara St., serving individual build-your-own pizzas in about three minutes.
• The San Jose Earthquakes and Downtown Association plan to have a series of World Cup viewing parties, two of which will be followed up by Starlight Cinemas outdoor movies [Josh: I have separate posts for this closer to the events].
• The 22nd year of the Downtown San Jose Farmers' Market started on May 2nd and goes all the way until November 21st. This takes place each Friday from 10am to 2pm along San Pedro Square.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

One South Photoshop

Our friend Jeff Arko sent in some Photoshops last weekend to give us an idea of how large One South will be when it is topped out. Yes, there is a setback on one side, but this still give a great approximation of the size of the building in context with other Downtown buildings. This is going to have a huge impact on the skyline as well as the obvious impact to Santa Clara Street and Downtown in general.

TODAY - a shot of One South Market with the 17th floor pour in progress

TOPPED OUT - a fake render all the way up to the top (minus the set back)

CURTAIN WALL - a fake render extending the curtain wall up to the top

Breathe Deep Bay Area 5k Walk/Fun Run on June 1st

Breathe Deep Bay Area is a grassroots event planned and managed by a small group of volunteers from the Bay Area whose lives have been impacted by lung cancer. This 5K walk and run is an opportunity for our community to rally together against lung cancer. They started in 2011 and their next run is one week from today--Sunday, June 1st--at the Discovery Meadow Park behind the Children's Discovery Museum. It's a great cause and they have already raised over half of their $30k goal!

Who: Anyone in the Bay Area!
What: Breathe Deep Bay Area, 5K walk and fun run
Where: Discovery Meadow Park in Guadalupe River Park & Gardens, San Jose (180 Woz Way)
When: Sunday, June 1st, 9:00am for the run, 10:00am for the walk
Why: To raise money for lung cancer research and to raise awareness for this disease!

For more information: www.lungevity.org/bayarea