Kathy Finley
Finley Landscape Design
(925) 785-5501
kathy@finleylandscape.com
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday Flowers - Part 3
This is the third part (of four) of a weekly Spring feature showing off Kathy's floral work at Santana Row. If you know anyone that needs a floral architect, her contact information is below. Time to kick back and enjoy the flowers.
Kathy Finley
Finley Landscape Design
(925) 785-5501
kathy@finleylandscape.com
Kathy Finley
Finley Landscape Design
(925) 785-5501
kathy@finleylandscape.com
Thursday, April 15, 2010
South Bay Blog Roundup
Matt Bruensteiner from San Jose Metblogs posted a list of over two dozen south bay blogs, a slight increase over last year. I share his pain about San Jose Revealed, a great blog that went dark sometime in 2009. Head on over to check out his list!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Two Key Downtown Blocks Sold to Sobrato
Last week the San Jose Business Journal released the news that the San Jose Redevelopment Agency is finalizing the deal to sell 2 key downtown blocks to Sobrato for $20M (known as Block 2 on San Fernando and Block 8 on Market St.). Block 2 was originally allocated for a mixed use museum/high-rise hotel/housing project between Living Tomorrow and Mesa Development. That deal unfortunately fell through a while ago. Block 8 was supposed to become 2 high-rise condo towers developed by Urban West... this deal went south a bit more recently.
Personally, I think Sobrato gaining ownership of these 2 blocks is the best thing to ever happen to them. Sobrato has a vested interest in Silicon Valley--especially downtown--and has the resources to actually build something even while the market is recovering. Block 2 and 8 are gaping holes downtown, creating incongruent retail in the downtown core. Those areas badly need to be developed in order in increase activity along the "anchor" corridors downtown east of Santa Clara St.
So far, there is no indication of what Sobrato plans to build in either Block 2 or Block 8, but there's a rumor that something better that what Urban West was planning is in the hopper for Block 8. As for Block 2, I'm really hoping for mixed-use development with retail along the ground floor. If anyone gets any news on either of these blocks, please send it in!
Personally, I think Sobrato gaining ownership of these 2 blocks is the best thing to ever happen to them. Sobrato has a vested interest in Silicon Valley--especially downtown--and has the resources to actually build something even while the market is recovering. Block 2 and 8 are gaping holes downtown, creating incongruent retail in the downtown core. Those areas badly need to be developed in order in increase activity along the "anchor" corridors downtown east of Santa Clara St.
So far, there is no indication of what Sobrato plans to build in either Block 2 or Block 8, but there's a rumor that something better that what Urban West was planning is in the hopper for Block 8. As for Block 2, I'm really hoping for mixed-use development with retail along the ground floor. If anyone gets any news on either of these blocks, please send it in!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
New San Jose Retail Opening! - The Usuals
Wow, this is rare. This Friday marks the grand opening of a new retail store... and it's an independent apparel and accessories store. Haven't seen one of those in a while =). The opening kicks off at 1020 The Alameda, Friday 4/16, 6pm-9pm, and features Josh Marcotte's work from Lost San Jose and music by San Jose's DJ Cutso and Aaron Squareweezy Aquino of The Bangerz. You may also be able to use the image below to get a 15% discount. For more info, check out their website here!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Saturday Stats - San Jose Restaurant Spending
Bundle is a killer site that aggregates all sorts of financial data across US cities and has a ton of interesting data related to San Jose. Last week we talked about San Jose having the 3rd highest consumer spending in the US. Today let's dig a little deeper and see what we're spending money on.
Since I'm a big fan of eating, I thought restaurants would be the perfect topic to drill down on first. We spend on average $521 per month on dining out, an average of $32 per dine (not per person, but per receipt I'm assuming). Where is this money going? Move your eyes down to the bullets below:
A friend and I were having a discussion last week about eating out. If he goes into a restaurant and orders something he doesn't like, he simply doesn't eat it. He then quickly pays the bill (if they charge him) and goes to another restaurant to order something else. I asked him why he does this instead of just compromising and trying to find something he likes at the restaurant, and he said something really insightful to me. We only get at most 3 meals per day over maybe 60 good years of dining (baring when you are too young or too old to really enjoy and appreciate the food). Over a lifetime, that is 65,000 meals. Strike out most breakfasts which most people don't really have a full meal for, and countless quick lunches, and you are really looking at the opportunity to have 35,000-40,000 good meals in a lifetime. My friend doesn't want to waste a single one of those meals on something he doesn't fully enjoy.
So my question to every San Josean is, why waste any of your 40,000 meals on chain restaurants you can eat at anywhere? Why not try something new and memorable, all the while encouraging restaurants that are more innovative with food than your cookie-cutter chain. It doesn't have to be expensive. Just go to Yelp, put in two dollar signs in the filter, and look for the highest rated places in Silicon Valley. Every week, I try to go to at least one restaurant where I have never been before, and I've had countless experiences that I'll never forget. It's the weekend, why not go for a little San Jose culinary adventure tonight? =)
Since I'm a big fan of eating, I thought restaurants would be the perfect topic to drill down on first. We spend on average $521 per month on dining out, an average of $32 per dine (not per person, but per receipt I'm assuming). Where is this money going? Move your eyes down to the bullets below:
- Starbucks
- McDonald's
- Cheesecake Factory
- Chili's
- Round Table Pizza
- Outback Steakhouse
- Il Fornaio
- Subway
- P.F. Change's
- BJ's
A friend and I were having a discussion last week about eating out. If he goes into a restaurant and orders something he doesn't like, he simply doesn't eat it. He then quickly pays the bill (if they charge him) and goes to another restaurant to order something else. I asked him why he does this instead of just compromising and trying to find something he likes at the restaurant, and he said something really insightful to me. We only get at most 3 meals per day over maybe 60 good years of dining (baring when you are too young or too old to really enjoy and appreciate the food). Over a lifetime, that is 65,000 meals. Strike out most breakfasts which most people don't really have a full meal for, and countless quick lunches, and you are really looking at the opportunity to have 35,000-40,000 good meals in a lifetime. My friend doesn't want to waste a single one of those meals on something he doesn't fully enjoy.
So my question to every San Josean is, why waste any of your 40,000 meals on chain restaurants you can eat at anywhere? Why not try something new and memorable, all the while encouraging restaurants that are more innovative with food than your cookie-cutter chain. It doesn't have to be expensive. Just go to Yelp, put in two dollar signs in the filter, and look for the highest rated places in Silicon Valley. Every week, I try to go to at least one restaurant where I have never been before, and I've had countless experiences that I'll never forget. It's the weekend, why not go for a little San Jose culinary adventure tonight? =)
San Jose Wolves
It looks like we have a new professional indoor football team called the San Jose Wolves! They're owned be Ryan Petersen, the CEO of San Jose-based OCZ Technologies. Their first game kicks off today at the Cow Palace (?). I'm still trying to find out why they are having their home games there instead of someplace more local. Maybe the HP Pavilion was too expensive?
You can get more information, including the full schedule, at the San Jose Wolves website right over here.
You can get more information, including the full schedule, at the San Jose Wolves website right over here.
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