@First Updates

The @First development at 237 and First St. has confirmed another tenant, a 5,000 sqft Chase bank. It is also rumored that Fresh & Easy will be their grocery anchor and they are on the lookout for a dry cleaner, hair salon, and dentist. The other leases they have confirmed are:

• Five Guys Burger and Fries
• Chick-fil-A
• Chipotle
• Sweet Tomatoes
• Panda Express
• Premier Pizza
• Panera

The development already includes a massive Target and a 160 room Hotel Sierra.

Evergreen Village Square - EPIC Festival

Bored next weekend?  Well if you haven’t heard yet, Evergreen Village Square is hosting the EPIC Festival on Saturday, May 21 @ 11a – 3p

EPIC - "Earth-People-International Culture Festival", a community event
celebrating the costumes and cultural performances of our diverse community.

There will be Tai Chi Performers, Sikh Temple Martial Arts, Dance Theatre International and more.  The event will be emceed by Lori & RJ Cotton Candy Express Music.

I’ll probably be dropping by and getting some pictures.  I should be easy to spot, unlike Waldo.  You can checkout their FB page for some info.

As the Sharks advance to the Western Conference Finals...

It is now set. The Sharks have advanced to the Western Conference Finals, where they will play the Vancouver Canucks. In a rare sense of events, the Sharks will actually be playing a higher seeded team (as the Canucks' first place seed in the regular season and Presidents' Trophy victory is higher than the Sharks' second place finish). As such, the Canucks will gain home ice advantage, and the first two games of the series will be played in Vancouver.

What does this mean for the Sharks? As far as the playoffs have gone so far, we much evaluate the performance of both teams:

In round one,
The Sharks faced the Kings and beat them in six games. One of the victories included an epic comeback from a deficit of four goals to win in overtime. Although the Kings were without their star player Anze Kopitar (due to a fractured ankle), their goaltender Jonathan Quick was a very potent force, keeping the Kings within striking distance despite the significantly greater number of shots released by the Sharks.

The Canucks faced the Blackhawks and beat them in seven games. To start the series, the Canucks clinched the first three games, but allowed the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to come back and force a Game 7. When the final game went to overtime, the Canucks barely managed to win with a goal by forward Alexandre Burrows. To note, the Blackhawks did not have nearly the firepower they had last year, missing such impact players as Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien, Antti Niemi, and Ben Eager.

In round two,
The Sharks faced the Red Wings and beat them in seven games. During the series, Red Wings clearly showed themselves to be a reckoning force with their amazing talent, although the Sharks' youth perhaps allowed them to push through and win. While the Sharks won the first two games of the series, the Red Wings orchestrated a comeback to force a Game 7. With the San Jose crowd loud and supportive of their home team during the seventh game of the series, the Sharks narrowly won to advance.

The Canucks faced the Predators and beat them in six games. Although the PRedators have had a very impressive run during the regular reason and during the playoffs with the likes of Shea Weber, Mike Fisher, and their goaltender Pekka Rinne, the heavily offensive Canucks managed to win. Despite being the favorites to win, the Canucks did show a bit of weakness, as their defenses were not what they used to be.

So now, we have the Sharks and the Canucks: the Sharks being a relatively well balanced team with phenomenal puck control, and the Canucks being a much more offensive based team.

How will the two match up?
It is heavily argued that despite posting a 1-2-1 record agains the Canucks in the regular season, the Sharks have become a much better team, and with a victory over the Red Wings, that enough is proof the Canucks may need to fear the Sharks come Sunday. Additionally, the path the Sharks took to the Conference finals may have been more difficult. The Kings out-performed the Blackhawks in regular season play, and the Red Wings...well, are the same dominant Red Wings that have won the Stanley Cup four times since 1997. I also know plenty of Vancouver natives who are very nervous about their home team playing the Sharks.

If the Sharks manage to beat the Canucks, they will face the winner from the East, and will have home ice advantage.

As fans, let's push our Sharks to victory! This is our year!

GO SHARKS!

***

An additional note: Since blogger.com was out for the entirety of last Thursday (when the Sharks faced the Red Wings in Game 7), I never got to post the following, so I will do so now, for those who are interested.

One game, two outcomes.

The Sharks can either go in there, do their best, emulate the skills from practice, and put up a tough front in a losing effort, or they can unleash their fury by entering the game with a dominant force, owning the game, and putting away the pesky Red Wings once and for all!

As Sharks fans, we all know what our team is capable of. We have seen it all so far in the post season: our perfect overtime win record, our ability to overcome large deficits, Benn Ferriero’s overtime goal in Game 1 versus the Red Wings on his birthday, Ryane Clowe and Devin Setoguchi’s clutch goals, Douglas Murray’s thundering hits, Joe Thornton’s great playmaking and vision in the zone, Scott Nichol’s hard hitting work ethic, Dan Boyle’s amazing puck control, Jason Demers’ toughness, Joe Pavelski’s drive, Ian White’s puck skills, Logan Couture’s battles and scoring, and Antti Niemi’s amazing saves. We have seen this!

This is a team that is ready to win. The last three games do not matter; they’re worthless. What matters is tonight. Already, I can hear the San Jose crowd cheering, echoing support across the HP Pavilion, heard by everyone throughout downtown San Jose. Tonight, we strike. Tonight, we win!

The support is here, the momentum is here, and it is time to, once and for all, utilize everything that has been held back: the hunger, the drive, and the dominance.

I am tired of hearing from both Sharks “fans” and Red Wings fans alike how the Sharks have lost their touch. They’re all pathetic. It is time to cast aside the rage and fury held back. They must be unleashed tonight, in quite possibly the most important post-season game in San Jose!

We have done this before against the Red Wings, and we will do it again.

This is our game! This is our night! Time to win!

GO SHARKS!

The Usuals Sale Today + Art in the Backroom

SATURDAY ONLY!! Help us move Spring inventory! We're making some space for our new summer goods! Take 40% off of our remaining Spring apparel, accessories and shoes! ALSO... In the Backroom, from 12p-5p, get GREAT DEALS on original artwork by Sean Boyles and Roan Victor. Proceeds from Backroom art sales go toward kickstarting the opening of The Arsenal.The Arsenal is an innovative, up-and-coming art store in San Jose...and they're looking for a home on The Alameda! Want more info? Stop-by on Saturday and talk to the brains behind The Arsenal! See you on Saturday!

Roosevelt Park Street Cleanup Tomorrow

This post almost didn't happen due to the Blogger outage yesterday!  Tomorrow the Roosevelt Park Neighborhood Association is putting together a street cleanup and they are looking for some volunteers. All of the info is below:

WHAT: Street Cleanup
WHEN: Saturday, 5/14 from 9:30 - 11:30 am
WHERE: South east corner of 22nd Street and E. Santa Clara
WHY: For neighbors to work together to make our neighborhood a clean place to live
Web site: http://www.rooseveltparkneighborhood.com/

Today is Bike-to-Work Day!

If you see a lot of bikes on the road today, this is the reason why. Think of it as a city-wide bike party!

Also, last week there was a Clean Commute Challenge that pitted 3 transit options against one another in a friendly contest in preparation for today. Here is the press release:

                                                                                                        

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SILICON VALLEY CLEAN COMMUTE CHALLENGE

GIVES BIKES THE EDGE ON MORNING COMMUTE

In a pre-emptive ‘race’ ahead of Bike to Work Day May 12, San Jose Councilmen and local business execs show commuting by bike is sometimes faster than…everything else

San Jose, CA (May 3, 2011) – Today’s Clean Commute Challenge, a friendly competition between three modes of commuting from downtown San Jose’s The 88 condo-highrise, surprised a lot of people but not the bike-equipped commuters as the two-wheeled team beat both a light rail team and a car team for a classic two-mile commute.  Participants included City Councilmen Sam Liccardo and Ash Kalra;  Carl Guardino, Pres. and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group; and volunteer San Jose residents who regularly commute in the area.

Starting at The 88 at roughly 7:45am, the three teams took best-recommended routes from Google Maps, 511.org or their own experience to draw attention to the ease and even the advantages of transit commuting.  At the finish – the County Administration Building at 70 W. Hedding, where Liccardo and Kalra often go to meetings – the lead bike team took only 6 minutes, the lead car team took 12 minutes and the light-rail team took 17 minutes – with a caveat that the light-rail rider would have clocked  4 minutes less if he’d been able to take the planned train at 7:38 if the Challenge had started on time.

“That’s commuting,” said Brandy Bridges of Wilson Meany Sullivan, developer of The 88, “and actually illustrates why more and more Silicon Valley residents are finding bikes and trains are more reliable than the surprise of a Monday morning back-up or stalled cars on the roadways.”

"As leaders, we have to pedal what we preach," said Guardino. "For me, today's 'Clean Commute Challenge' is part of my everyday transportation experience, as my daily 32-mile roundtrip between Los Gatos and San Jose is on two wheels rather than four.  It's healthy, fun and almost as time-efficient as the automobile during commute times." 

“Over 40% of commuters have a five-miles-or-fewer commute, and that’s perfect for bicycles,” said Corinne Winter, direct of the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition.  “With today’s friendly challenge, and the annual Bike-to-Work Day coming up May 12, we want to point out to all commuters that it’s really not that difficult, and it’s often even faster, and better for your health.”

The Bike Coalition cites national research that adults who bike to work have better weight, blood pressure, and insulin levels, and that women who bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer.

“Although we live in the technology capital of the world,” says Liccardo, “the tech-savvy denizens of Silicon Valley have long recognized that the best solution to our common challenges with health, transportation costs, and the environment lies in relatively low-tech: the bicycle. I’m proud to be pushing pedals with them.”

“Whether riding a bike or riding the rails, South Bay residents should seriously consider other options besides their car,” says Downtown Association Executive Director Scott Knies. “With Silicon Valley employers back in a hiring mode, they and their employees need to use these better ways to work, and closer places to live such as downtown San Jose.”

The Commuter Challenge also highlights the progress made by San Jose, a League of American Bicyclists’ “Bike Friendly City,” as it takes advantage of its ideal climate and flat topography to promote cycling as a way to reduce traffic and pollution.

“San Jose is moving in the right direction, between its ambitious bicycle plan approval last year and the opening of close-in housing like The 88, commuters really do have many more opportunities to choose their bikes to get to work and school year-round,” said Winter.

##

About cycling…more at www.bikesiliconvalley.org:

·       Almost 40 percent of Bay Area commuters live within just five miles of their workplace, a bike-able distance for even inexperienced cyclists.

·       If every person living this close to their workplace ditched their cars on Bike to Work Day alone, more than 60,000 vehicles would be off the road, reducing tailpipe emissions by more than 150,000 pounds.

·       Adults who bike to work have better weight, blood pressure, and insulin levels.

·       Women who bike 30 minutes a day have a lower risk of breast cancer.

·       Adolescents who bicycle are 48% less likely to be overweight as adults.

About Bike to Work Day….more info at www.bikesiliconvalley.org/btwd :

·       Thursday, May 12 is Bike to Work Day 2011 (BTWD) in the San Francisco Bay Area.

·       Each year, tens of thousands of commuters participate in BTWD.

·       In Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition has organized almost 70 Energizer Stations where cyclists can stop and refresh on their way to work.

·       The large turnout each year makes such a visible presence of bicyclists that motorists actually take notice, slow down, and make room.

·       Each year, this one great bike commuting experience converts people to occasional, then frequent bike commuters

PHOTO: San Jose Councilman Sam Liccardo, flanked by rail-commuter Tom Rivell and car-commuter Sarah Ligda, won a close ‘race’ in a Clean Commute Challenge today (May 3) from The 88 condo-highrise downtown to the County Administration building, drawing attention to May 12 Bike-to-Work Day.

Dishcrawl - Discovering San Pedro Square

I'm plugging this event early since there are only a handful of tickets left and the event is still 2 weeks away! This latest Dishcrawl will feature Peggy Sue's, Mobowl, and 2 more restaurants that will be kept secret until a couple days before the event on May 29th. This will be the first Sunday Dishcrawl and the second to feature San Pedro Square. To get your hands on some of the few remaining tickets, just click here! More info below.

This is your chance to dive a little deeper into all this little piece of Downtown San Jose that you may think you know. We are doing a twist on our usual Dishcrawl with our new Sunday crawl at 4:00 PM.  We're going the family friendly route and visiting classics like Peggy Sue's, and hunting down Mobowl, a delicious Chinese food truck!  More secrets to be revealed soon. :)

We will take you through four culinary destinations and maybe a surprise detour or two all in one night! 

To reserve your seats, please register quickly. Tickets tend to sell out.

For those of you lucky to get in, see you soon!

**TO NOTE***

The meeting location will be revealed 2 days before the event via email.

We're sorry, but cancellations are only taken if done 48H in advance. Thanks for understanding!

Email hi@dishcrawl.com with questions.

About Dishcrawl

Have you heard of Dishcrawl? It's a new way to discover your food neighborhood! Get to know friends over an exciting adventure through restaurants you love or never even knew existed. It's delicious and fun! 

Wednesday Wishlist: Better Use of Giant Gray Walls

Downtown is filled with several gigantic walls that could be utilized for public art, promoting downtown businesses, or even just painted a different color to look less dull. A great example is the 6 story concrete wall on the side of the San Pedro Square garage pictured below. SoFA has done a pretty good job of taking these walls and turning them into something interesting (see second photo). What would you do with this giant gray canvas?