Future Vision for North San Jose

Below is an excerpt from the San Jose Department of Planning regarding the future vision for North San Jose. I really hope this comes to fruition soon as San Jose commercial development needs to catch up to residential (we have more employable residents than jobs at the moment within the city limits). For the full page, click here.

Above and Below: Images of North San Jose today and in its potential future

Images courtesy of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) & Silicon Valley Action Network

Key Vision North San Jose Goals

Vision North San Jose is a long-range planning effort, addressing future potential growth and development needs. The key goals for the effort are to:

• Proactively plan for growth to allow more industrial development in a way that benefits current San Jose residents.
• Allow up to an additional 27 million square feet of research and development and office space in North San Jose.
• Bring up to 83,000 new jobs to San Jose, providing additional job opportunities for San Jose residents.
• Concentrate up to 16 million square feet of the new research and development and office space in a 600 acre Urban Corporate Center core area along the North First Street light rail corridor, between Brokaw Road and Montague Expressway.
• Develop an average 1.2 FAR in the core area with typical buildings of 6-10 stories.
• Focus on high-tech and corporate headquarters development.
• Create a rich pedestrian environment within the core area to encourage use of the transit system.
• Generate approximately $520 million in funding for the construction of local and regional transportation improvements.
• Provide new high-density residential development (up to 32,000 units) in close proximity to employment centers.

Saturday Stats - Quick Bytes

2 quick stats from the San Jose wiki page for you today:

1.) San Jose residents produce more U.S. patents than any other city.
2.) Thirty-five percent of all venture capital funds in the U.S. are invested in San Jose and Silicon Valley companies.

New Art Reception @ The Usuals Tonight

The Usuals present

New artwork by Michael Buscemi

With a short performance by Mara Hruby

Opening Reception
Friday, May 27th
7:00p - 10:00p
On view thru June 20th

Join us for snacks, music, art, and a live performance in the Backroom.

In the Backroom, introduce yourself to up-and-coming Bay Area artist, Mara Hruby! Join us for her sneak peek performance. Mara has a live performance later in the evening at Party Favors at Xanh Lounge in downtown Mountain View.

Fanime Weekend

This weekend is FanimeCon in Downtown San Jose, the largest anime convention in Northern California and one of the top 10 in the US. If you're wondering what thousands of people are doing running around in funky costumes, well you'll just have to click this link. Also, show your FanimeCon badge at any of the restaurants below and you'll get a 10% discount:

Shop	Address	Item
The Cheese Steak Shop	76 E. Santa Clara	Authentic Philly Cheese Steaks
Peggy Sue’s	185 Park Ave	Burgers and Milkshakes
Tengu Sushi	111 Paseo De San Antonio	Sushi Boat
Philz Coffee	118 Paseo De San Antonio	Coffee House
Good Karma Café	37 S. 1st St.	Vegetarian Fast Food
Smile Sushi	86 S. 1st St.	Sushi Boat
Pho 69 Noodle	321 S. 1st St.	Fusion Noodle House
House of Siam	151 S. 2nd St.	Thai Cuisine
Icebee Frozen Yogurt	151 S. 2nd St.	Do-It-Yourself Yogurt
Pita Pit	151 S. 2nd St.	Wraps and Sandwiches
Psycho Donuts	288 S. 2nd St.	Specialty and Custom Donuts
Bo Town	409 S. 2nd St.	Regional South East Asian Cuisine
Hydration Coffee & Tea	310 S. 3rd St.	Pearl Tea and Snacks
Pagoda Restaurant	170 S. Market St.	Upscale Chinese

Zanotto's Downgrading to Deli

So the bad news is that the 15,000 sqft Zanotto's grocery store downtown is shutting down. I'm sure few people are surprised as The Market is just down the street. The good news is that they are planning to open a 2,000 sqft deli at 80 S. First Street, which is the old La Nostra Pizza space. I'm sad to see the grocer go but am glad that they will still keep a presence downtown. For more info, click here.

Think Bigger San Jose!

I have some great news! Yesterday a new blog was launched to help promote our city called Think Bigger San Jose. The focus is on new ideas that will help improve San Jose with a historical context. An added bonus, the proprietor is a long time reader of this blog (Mark). Best of luck and thank you for joining the San Jose blogging community!

Here is a direct link to Think Bigger San Jose, and I've also added a handy link to the right in the San Jose Blogs section.

San Jose Greek Festival June 3-5th!

The San Jose Greek Festival is just over a week away! I must admit that I have never attended this one, but the letter from Georgia below sold me on this event. I'm definitely putting this on my calendar and am hoping to get some good pics to share.

Oh, and you can print out the image below for free admission!



Hello Josh!

I hope this email finds you well! I wanted to submit news for the San Jose Greek Festival coming up the first weekend of June, on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of the month. Hopefully if you've been you know what it's like. There's always fresh food at the stands outside, especially the sweets/desserts, but the real and more authentic Greek specialties are found in the community center near the dancing area. People who are first time visitors never seem to remember to go in there since at first glance it seems like it's just an indoor dining area, but is has such great food in there too (a good spot to avoid the sun, or as of late, the rain!). Gyros are considered Greek fast food which were popularized in the late-middle part of the 20th century when there was a tourism boom. The souvlaki, sausages, salads, tzaziki sauce, and roast lamb (both at the main food line/stand and the Evvia booth) are more like every day eatings when you go out, but the dining hall is like Greek comfort food, what your mom makes/the stuff you grew up on.

One of my favorite things to do at the festival is to get some fries, and loukaniko (Greek sausage) or the souvlaki that has been bbq'd, drizzled in olive oil, oregano and lemon juice and sip on a glass of Retsina, a specialty wine from Greece. It's an acquired taste since it's made in pine barrels (the wine absorbs some of the flavors to give it a unmistakably unique taste), but best and usually only enjoyed ice cold under the hot sun.

The inner courtyard has umbrealla tables and a coffee shop set up as well where people can get a frappe, a modern coffee drink that everyone drinks in Greece. And I mean EVERYONE. It's truly something I miss from Greece: sitting outside a cafe with my parea (my group of friends) while sipping my frappe as long as I want and people watching.

A lot of people say it's hard to enjoy the festival if you are young, that it's for an older set of people or people who are more laid back, but the food is fantastic, the people are so welcoming, and with the right friends and attitude it's a great way to start off the summer in San Jose.

I've uploaded a flyer here which can be printed and used for free admission: http://i54.tinypic.com/140lj6.jpg It's usually $3 for students, $5 for adults. There's plenty of free parking and free shuttle service that drops off right at the entrance.

I'd advise that pets aren't allowed, however!

Best regards,
Georgia

Sharks Lose Game 5 and Series in Second OT

All Sharks fans alike watched in disbelief. While many in San Jose had likely been gearing up for Game 6, either looking on Craigslist to find the first available tickets for sale or looking contently at their already obtained stubs, the Vancouver Canucks tied the game with only ten seconds left in the third period to send the game into overtime. (This, of course, being made possible by a controversial icing call that tipped off of a Canucks player and should have been waved off.)

The Sharks, then with a perfect 5-0 overtime record in the 2010-2011 playoff season, looked to have the edge, even as the overtime period began as the Sharks dominated with puck control and putting massive pressure on the Canucks’ defensive line, especially their goaltender Roberto Luongo.

Unfortunately, even with the Sharks’ offensive effort, a weird bounce during the second overtime gave the Canucks’ defenseman Kevin Bieksa a grand opportunity to take a slapshot from the point, which he did – the shot careening past a stunned Antti Niemi for the game and series win, pushing his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they are to face either the Boston Bruins or the Tampa Bay Lightning from the Eastern Conference.

Even though the result was unsatisfactory, the Sharks arguably played a very strong series against a very hot team. In an unusual series of events, the Sharks entered the series as the underdogs, having been seeded lower than the Canucks in the regular season. While I can point out the Sharks’ difficulties of getting players well positioned to get quality shots on net and positioning the defense to watch for open members of the opposing team in the defensive zone, the Sharks undoubtedly worked extremely hard in their forechecking, puck possession, and takeaways (most of the time while applying a physical style of play).

I want to congratulate the Sharks for a wonderful season, and hopefully they may regroup, train hard, and give us fans a heck of a 2011-2012 season, and hopefully a successful post season push.

As for now, we fans must continue our hardened and enthusiastic support for our great local team: the San Jose Sharks!

Onward to next season. Get some rest, boys. You will need it!

GO SHARKS!