MEASURE J WINS!!!

Looks like Silicon Valley is getting the 49ers!!!

Election Day!

Today is the big day. At 8pm the election results will start to roll in and you can see the results live at: http://www.sccgov.org/elections/results/jun082010/. While there are many key items in the ballot, the number one question on my mind is: will Santa Clara get the 49ers? No doubt it would provide a substantial economic boost to the area, and San Jose would be a key benefactor. To be continued...

How to Take a Boat from San Jose to the SF Bay (?)

As surprising as this may come to a lot of people, San Jose actually hits water. At one point Alviso in Northern San Jose was a bustling seaport, and over time the area became completely unusable for any type of recreational boating. After many years of hard work, the Alviso Slough is dredged to the point where you can actually take a kayak or small boat (as large as 30ft in high tide), launch it from Alviso's "marina," and take it all the way into the SF Bay. Hopefully, this will open up the doors to all sorts of potential improvements to the Alviso area and provide San Joseans some recreational boating options once more. For more info on the grand opening of the Alviso boat ramp, just take a look at this Merc article.

One Less Hurdle for the San Jose A's!

The owners of the Sharks have made it pretty well known that they are not satisfied with the environmental impact report (EIR) for the proposed San Jose A's stadium downtown. Their major concern is lack of parking for days in which there would be BOTH hockey and baseball games. Well I found some good news in the San Jose Business Journal today. The owners of the Sharks have come to an agreement with the city where they will be able to build a new parking structure for Sharks fans, even if it comes down to requiring eminent domain to collect the necessary parcels. There are still many challenges in getting the A's to San Jose, but this will be one less roadblock in the way!

June 2010 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• SJC Terminal B Opens this Month
• The first flights by Delta, Southwest, and Alaska will depart out of the new terminal June 29-30th.
• There will be 40 shops and restaurants in the new airport.
• Free WiFi throughout, every fourth seat in waiting areas will have a power outlet.
• Close by long-term parking.
• The $1.3b project was completed months ahead of schedule and $140m under budget.
• Next phase of the improvement projects will be new surface lots and tearing down Terminal C to make way for future expansion.
• Tons of SJDA Events in June:
• Dine Downtown
• Music in the Park
• Starlight Cinemas
• SJDA is still pushing for an underground alignment of high-speed rail downtown. There is now a possibility of doing a shallow tunnel which would cost less than the originally planned deep tunnel. The only downside is that BART would then have to be a deep tunnel downtown, adding additional costs to that project.
• Late Night Improvements
• Police is working to simplify and reduce costs associated with nightclub permitting.
• Relationships between police and night businesses has improved thanks to a new downtown coordinator position, a "community-policing" model downtown, and businesses taking more responsibility with their promotions.
• New weekly raffles to help keep music and movies free, SJDA has begun selling raffle tickets at SJDA tables.
• Groundwerx Updates
• The Rep Plaza has been adorned with roses, petunias, lobelia, and other colorful flowwers.
• 6 new benches will be installed in Rep plaza and 7 existing ones will be refurbished.
• 9 hanging flower baskets will be added to light poles along with decorative lighting.
• The Rep Theater low wall on 3rd St. and the paseo will receive wall-mounted planter boxes
• Agenda Restaurant & Lounge now has a new chef and a "Southern comfort" spin.
• The Pasta Market and Panda Express have opened in the San Jose Market Center off Coleman.
• The new Hilton restaurant is now called Affinity.
• Red Berry Coffee Bar on 231 E. Santa Clara St. will be serving Barefoot coffee, Ecco Caffe, and Ritual Coffee Roasters.
• Teagre Tea Bar at 22 N. Almaden Ave #100 will be selling organic, fair trade loose teas in San Pedro Square.  They'll have over 100 teas from around the world along with condiments like honey, jam, and chocolate.  Sounds like they have daily tastings too.
• The Downtown San Jose Ross store will have its grand opening on July 16th.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

Today's SubZERO Schedule (Part of First Friday in SoFA)!

Schedule

ON THE STAGE (South First Street btwn San Carlos & San Salvador Streets)

• 6:30-7:00pm TSIGOTI
• 7:10-7:25pm BRAVE NEW WORLD (fashion show)
• 7:45-8:25pm FEROCIOUS FEW
• 8:50-9:30pm CORPUS CALLOSUM
• 9:50-10:40pm BEN HENDERSON
• 11-Midnight BANGERZ + SAN JOSE TAIKO

ON THE STREET
Moped Beauty Pageant with Mopedhead

SJ Bike Party's Friday Night Lights SPIRAL RIDE

• Start: 7pm
• Wheels on Street: 7:20-7:30pm

Museum Proper

• 7:00-7:30pm Museum Proper performance
• 8:00-8:30pm Museum Proper performance [leads into a 8.30-9.10 corpus callosum stage set]
• 10:00-10:30pm Museum Proper performance
• 11:00-11:30pm Museum Proper performance

Dr. Sketchy Anti-Art School

• Session 1: 7pm
• Session 2: 7:30pm
• Session 3: Brave New World models 8pm
• Session 4: Museum Proper Puppeteer - 8:30pm
• Session 5 & 6: Persephone Belly Dance- 9pm/9:30pm
• Session 7: 10pm

UBER First Friday Tomorrow ! ! !

What happens when South First Fridays meets the 3rd annual SubZERO? A true San Jose enthusiast's playground! I liken it to walking into the flagship Chuck E. Cheese off Tully when you're 8 years old. If you have never been to a SubZERO-supercharged First Friday, tomorrow is your lucky day. From 6pm to midnight+ you'll have the everything that makes First Fridays awesome PLUS live performances by 6 artists, a SJ Bike Party, Dr. Sketchy Anti-Art School, Museum Proper (a 12-foot-tall monster puppet), SJ FAM, SJ Yarn Bombers, The Summer Film Initiative, The Usuals, Veggielution, Barefoot Coffee, Treatbot, etc., etc., etc. There are literally a hundred reasons to swing by SoFA tomorrow. A shocking majority of the uniquely-San Jose cultural events, artists, and vendors we've been promoting for the past year will all culminate on South First Street... Tomorrow... 6pm! More SubZERO details below:

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3rd Annual SubZERO Festival June 4, 2010

South FIRST FRIDAYS presents the 3rd Annual SubZERO Festival

Kick off summer with SubZERO, a diy, artistically bent, hi/lo-techno mashup where street meets geek. Come downtown on June 4th to San Jose’s SoFA District from 6pm ‘til midnight for an inspired evening of arts & culture. In addition to the South FIRST FRIDAYS monthly art walk you’ll find an outdor stage of entertainment plus artists, performers & musicians celebrating the indie creative spirit!

FRIDAY JUNE 4, 2010 from 6pm-midnight
SoFA district in downtown San Jose
(on South First Street between San Carlos & Reed Streets)

Be sure to follow @subzerofestival on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook to keep up with the latest news as the festival approaches.

Here are some images from the 2nd Annual SubZERO Festival in 2009.

The mosaic above includes photos from: Brian Eder, Fenchurch, Cherri Lakey, and Paul Robinson. See more in the SubZERO Festival Flickr Pool. Come out this year and add a few of your own!

City Bites Walking Map

Today you have a rare lunchtime opportunity to walk around and sample delicacies from 30 different restaurants Downtown! Thankfully the SJDA put together a handy walking map to show you the most efficient way to hit up all of them =)  Click the image below to enlarge: