San Jose Unemployment Drops Below 9%

More good news for the South Bay job market. Unemployment has fallen from 9.2% to 8.9% in December. In the previous year, unemployment was 10.6%. Having a 1.7% drop over 12 months is dramatic. This is a stellar sign for the local economy.

For more info, click here.

Alaska is Adding Flights to Reno

Starting June 4th, you'll be able to hop on a new Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air flight to the biggest little city in the world. The best part: $69 inaugural fares and double miles for flights between June 4th and July 31st. The worst part: this actually replaces a Southwest route that is being discontinued April 10th. You win some, you lose some. In this case I think we more or less broke even.

More details right over here.

Flextronics is Moving to San Jose!

Flextronics, a $4 billion public company that provides electronics design and manufacturing services, has just leased 130,000 sqft at the America Center in San Jose. It's corporate headquarters will be relocated from Milpitas into San Jose, right next to Polycom (moving May 2012). Between these 2 leases, the America Center is now 81% leased.

For more info, click here.

Wednesday Wishlist: Michelin Star Restaurants (2012 Edition)

It's time for my annual rant on San Jose not having any Michelin star restaurants. The Michelin Guide is likely the most prestigious handbook for top restaurants in the world. In the US, they only publish the guide for 3 regions: New York, The Bay Area, and Chicago. The good news is that for 2012 we now have 47 restaurants in the Bay Area with at least one Michelin star. The bad news is none of them are in San Jose (even Oakland has one).

I do think it's only a matter of time before we get a Michel-rated restaurant. In fact, I'm really surprised Le Papillon and La Foret did not make the cut yet. I've been to a quarter of Michelin restaurants in the bay, and both of these are better than many of them. Heck, I'll even call out one restaurant--Village Pub--for really not deserving to be on the list below at all.

As for the South Bay as a whole, we have the same 6 restaurants as last year (highlighted below). Thankfully we didn't lose any, and Baume in Palo Alto was upgraded from a single star to a coveted two star designation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that next year we'll at minimum increase the South Bay's representation in the guide with a few more restaurants, and hopefully one of those will be in San Jose. I'll also add that it would be pretty slick to see a Mexican, Vietnamese, or Indian restaurant achieve this status in the South Bay. This would really stand out as something unique not only in the Bay Area, but also internationally (very few non-French ethnic restaurants get stars, Dio Deka is our South Bay exception).




Three Stars
Restaurant at Meadowood, St. Helena
French Laundry, Yountville

Two Stars
Baume, South Bay*
Benu, San Francisco
Coi, San Francisco
Cyrus, Healdsburg
Manresa, South Bay*
Saison, San Francisco*

One Star
Acquerello, San Francisco
Alexander’s Steakhouse, South Bay*
Ame, San Francisco*
Applewood, Guerneville
Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
Auberge du Soleil, St. Helena
Aziza, San Francisco
Bouchon, Yountville
Boulevard, San Francisco
Campton Place, San Francisco
Chez TJ, South Bay*
Commis, East Bay
Dio Deka, South Bay*
Etoile, Yountville*
Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant, Forestville
Fleur de Lys, San Francisco
Frances, San Francisco
Gary Danko, San Francisco*
La Costanera, Peninsula
La Folie, San Francisco
La Toque, Napa
Luce, San Francisco*
Madera, Peninsula*
Madrona Manor, Healdsburg
Masa’s, San Francisco
Michael Mina, San Francisco
One Market, San Francisco
Plumed Horse, South Bay*
Quince, San Francisco
Redd, Yountville
Sante, Sonoma
Solbar, Calistoga
Sons & Daughters, San Francisco
Spruce, San Francisco
Terra, St. Helena
Terrapin Creek, Bodega Bay
Ubuntu, Napa
Village Pub, Peninsula*
Wakuriya, Peninsula

* Restaurants Josh has been to

Three Major Updates (for the Sharks-related posts)

Hello, Sharks fans – what a long time it has been! Although my absence has been extensive and my return way overdue, I feel that this update should be quite significant (which I think it is!).

As some of you have already noticed, I have been providing updates to the Sharks games on Twitter since the Sharks took on the Washington Capitals on January 7th. This is one significant update of three that I plan to make as I make the transition to giving you, the fans, more action-packed posts.

Here are the three major updates I plan to implement in the coming days:

1) Video updates by ME.
• That’s right – I just purchased an HD camera that will soon be the tool I use to provide the fans with my personal updates and takes on the Sharks.
• If possible, will include video highlight reels to complement the video presentation.
• Updates will likely be performed on a weekly basis, although my work schedule may change the course of events (I audit for a Big 4, so this can be very true factor).

2) Live updates to every Sharks game on Twitter (@TheSanJoseBlog).
• All goals, power plays (and penalty kills), significant events, and “end of period updates” will be contributed.
• Important updates from the official Sharks twitter will be re-tweeted.
• Team updates everyone should know about will be posted or re-tweeted.
• I will also be available to reply to Sharks-related tweets sent to @TheSanJoseBlog.

3) A New Sharks statistics spreadsheet (in progress)
• All of you interested in stats of all kinds (goals, assists, penalties, hits, blocked shots, takeaways, face-offs, shots, and more) and can open Excel documents (.xlsx) on your computer – this is for you.
• This is also for those who are sick and tired of trying to interpret the multiple PDF document pages of stats for each game, typically presented in an incomprehensible format.
• Includes significant career stats for active Sharks players and all stat types for each player for the current season.
• Once completed, the document will be free to download.

Hopefully I can deliver on all three major updates in the days to come to provide you, the fans, with a clear picture of the performance of our Sharks. As far as the video updates are concerned, I will be interested in creating an intro to the videos, but that may come with time.

Hope all is well and GO SHARKS!

TWO BUCK Tuesday Today!

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Join us at KALEID Gallery for our first Two Buck Tuesday of the New Year on January 17th!
Come enjoy an inspired evening of art demos, performances, live painting, scrumptious tastings, $2 art & quirky people get together!
Tuesday, January 17th, 7-10pm
It's free and open to all ages! 

Here are just some of the interesting artists and crafters you will meet!


Crafty New Year! Pals Courtney and Jo Anne will help you transform your old calendar into a brand new piece of art while still keeping track of the date! Bring an old wall calendar. Free!


Laura Callin Bennett and Lara Sophia will host a Re-Gifting Table! If you received a gift at Christmas that wasn’t quite your style, you can trade it for something else. Bring a small item you don’t want anymore to trade with another item on the table. Suggested items include, but are not limited to: small art supplies, books, CDs, candles, seed packets, non-perishable food items. Things should be in complete and good condition.


Michael Denning will provide a book binding demonstration, where everyone is welcome to create their own mini sketchbook for 2 bucks. Denning will also debut his latest book series “Art Saves Vol. 1-3”. 
Michael’s books are hand stitched and the covers were created on an antique hand operated letterpress.


John Eric Paulson Master Photographer will be demonstrating some of his techniques for finishing photographs, as he works on some photos from the Grand Canyon and Lake Tahoe.

LIVE ART:

Nik Caesar


John Hageman


Andy Wallace


Rene Lorraine Schilling


Monika Rose


Kori Thompson


Jean Davis


Force 129


Al Preciado


Cosmic Luna


Timothy Tsun


Basic Lee


David Mejia


Jehoiakim Santos

LIVE MUSIC by Tripepitoch



Tuesday, January 17th, 7-10pm
It's free and open to all ages!
RSVP on our Facebook page here.

KALEID Gallery
88 South 4th Street
Downtown San Jose
www.KALEIDgallery.com
(408) 947 1785

Would YOU like to show off your talents at Two Buck Tuesdays? Let us know by emailing us infoKALEIDGallery.com

Oracle Claiming More Space Downtown

Not long ago, Oracle announced that they would be utilizing 66,000 sqft of the building it inherited from the BEA acquisition--the Sobrato Tower. Now, they are laying claim to another 51,000 sqft (2 floors) of space just in case they need it. This is great news. The sooner we can fill up this building, the better for Downtown.

For more info, click here.

New Santana Row Residential Development

Levare may have just been completed, but Santana Row is already gearing up for their next project. The plan is to build over 200 luxury rental homes by fall 2013. The construction area will be the lot behind Diesel and Pasta Pomodoro, also known as Parcel 8B. If you look at the image below, you can see after this there are still 3 other parcels to develop. I'm hoping that one of those will be used for at least a mid-rise and they'll add some more retail to the Row (as indicated on parcels 11 and 9/10).

Thanks to the guys from the San Jose development forum for this info. Also, here is a PDF of the information sent out to residents and employees.