Transforming Suburbia into Eco-Utopia

Sociecity has a fantastic three part blog post by San Jose native Patrick Lydon about how we can take a city that was built around the car, and turn it into something sustainable as the population grows. The posts are based around an interview with Hans Larsen, San Jose's Director of Transportation. I can't think of a better way to start off 2013 than by looking towards where we are headed in the future.

Just a few quick tidbits. The plan is to build 70 (!) walk-able, mixed-use urban villages by 2040. These would have jobs, housing, retail, and recreation all within a compact community. I'm picturing more affordable (and much smaller) versions of Santana Row with access to mass transit and more community infrastructure (places of worship, etc.). Where would these be located you may ask?  We have an abundant supply of giant strip malls which would be ideal candidates to grow vertically into mini-downtown communities.

Land use will definitely have to change in many areas. For example, most of the housing is in South San Jose and the job centers are mostly in North San Jose. More housing needs to be added in the North and additional jobs need to be created in the South. Plans for this are already underway--the strategy for North San Jose involves bringing 32,000 new homes as well as converting 1-3 story office configurations to 10-20 story buildings.

Another interesting fact is that 80% of San Jose residents primary mode of transportation is driving alone in their cars. The plan is to change this to under 40% by 2040. The urbanization in the paragraphs above will help, as will a very aggressive bicycle program involving adding more dedicated bike lanes (great job Downtown San Jose) and bike share programs.

Anyway, this article is a very interesting read and definitely worth your time. Make sure to go through all three parts and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Click here to read Transforming Suburbia into Eco-Utopia!

Valley Verde Launching in San Jose

Guest post by Raffaella Cerruti:

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If you’ve been looking for a non-profit organization working to create access of healthy
and fresh food in San Jose, let Valley Verde be your inspiring story.

About three years ago Raul Lozano, the former executive director of the Latino theater
company in San Jose, Teatro Vision, decided to make a shift in his career by taking part
of the urban agriculture revolution movement. Soon, he realized that in main challenge
in the urban food movement was to reach out to low income communities. Low income
people in the US have less access to an affordable, healthy diet than and their health
is at greater risk from diet related illness as a result. There is a general thinking that
organic gardening is only a hobby for families with the financial means, enticing only
to those who have the time and money for it. Some think that lower-income families
simply can’t be expected to be interested in growing their own food because they lack
the resources or they are time poor because they often work two or more jobs and lack
the energy to maintain a garden. The nonprofit that Raul started in 2011, Valley Verde,
is all about making sure that people have access to good fresh food by providing the
resources and support needed to plant and maintain a home organic garden.

Valley Verde provides low income families with the knowledge and tools needed to
grow and maintain their own organic vegetable gardens. The families receive one or two
raised bed gardens, according to space and family size, an irrigation system, classes
on gardening and nutrition, seeds and seedlings, and a gardening mentor who will
give gardening support for one year. The goal of the one year program is to empower
the families with the vegetable gardening knowledge to continue their own gardens.
Families who wish to share their knowledge can participate in a future Valley Verde
project to help other families learn the same valuable skills.

Valley Verde started last fall with a group of 25 families in Gilroy and now they are
looking for new families in the community of Seven Trees, for the next Spring's planting
season. In order to support and expand the free services offered to the low-income
community, they also started selling garden installations and maintenance services as
well as "do-it-yourself" kits to residents of Santa Clara County who would like to start a
home organic garden.

To illustrate the impact of access to fresh organic vegetables, Raul likes to quote one of
the participants in Gilroy. A mother of two, her children would never eat beets, because
she could only afford to by the canned variety and they did not like the taste. Now that
they grow their own, her children love beets, and the rest of the vegetables that they
grow. We all know that fresh organic vegetable taste better and are better for you and
we believe everyone should have access to those benefits. Raul Lozano has a plan to

start a real revolution for the Silicon Valley. With the help of corporate sponsors and
donations, within 10 years, we want to provide free gardens to as many as 5,000 low
income families.

A quote by eco-chef, food justice activist, Bryant Terry, who recently said: “Unless small
start-ups, food incubators and local food movements are equipping the communities
they provide outreach to become their own leaders, directors and ultimately self-
sustaining, you're just playing games". We feel like that is our call to action!

raull@valleyverde.org
www.valleyverde.org
Follow us on facebook

Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year everyone! Check out the holiday lights at the Associated Students (A.S.) house near 4th and San Carlos. I should have posted this for Christmas, but New Years will have to do. Hope you all have a prosperous 2013!

New Year Predictions for 2013

2012 has been a good year for San Jose. The San Pedro Square Market has exploded, showing everyone that it is possible to have a successful new project in Downtown San Jose. The 49ers stadium and Earthquakes stadiums broke ground, both of which will contribute heavily to expanding our entertainment options and attract more tourism dollars into Silicon Valley. A flagship retailer, Muji, announced plans to come Downtown. The overall economy improved, unemployment fell, and millions of square feet of new office space are in the pipeline.

So what will 2013 bring? I think it's only going to get better, regardless of what happens with the fiscal cliff. Specifically, here are my predictions for the new year:

1.) More than two high-rise buildings will break ground in Downtown San Jose. We know about the Carlyle and One South Market, but I think we will see at least one more.

2.) A major transportation project will be greenlit: be it a BRT line, a Lightrail Expansion, or funding for the subway portion of the BART expansion to San Jose. The number of transit riders and bicyclists will rise.

3.) San Jose will have a stronger brand and identity by the end of the year. Many new cultural and art projects will happen Downtown, helping San Jose feel and look like the Capital of Silicon Valley.

4.) The Sharks will be back with a vengeance for the 2013-2014 Season.

5.) Downtown San Jose Office Vacancies will fall below 10%.

6.) The number of restaurants in Downtown San Jose will break 250 for the first time in history.

7.) We still have no decision on the A's stadium. However, you can expect a decision in 2014 before Bud Selig retires.

8.) San Jose will continue to dominate national rankings in salaries and quality of life.

9.) We will maintain our status as the safest US city with over 500,000 residents.

10.) The Golden Triangle and North First Street developments will accelerate, and we will attract at least one massive tech company to relocate to San Jose to compliment what is the largest cluster of tech companies in the world by a huge margin.

San Jose Marketing Consultant Launches Online Reality Show

15 "solopreneurs" are about to compete for $10,000 in an online reality show lead by Tea Silvestre, a San Jose Marketing Consultant. They will have to compete in weekly marketing challenges and are being mentored by a dozen industry experts. To learn more, have a look at the press release below or click here. The show premiers at the end of January.

BIGSTOCK signs on as Presenting Sponsor for Local Business Woman's Online Reality Show

If you've seen "The Amazing Race" or "Hell's Kitchen" then you're aware of how popular these reality TV competitions have become.

Welcome to "Prosperity’s Kitchen" -- a 12-week online marketing course structured like a reality TV show. Fifteen contestants will compete to win a $10,000 prize package. And BIGSTOCK, one of the world's leading royalty-free image companies, is the presenting sponsor.

PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN premieres this January and will feature 15 solopreneurs learning and competing for a $10,000 prize package. The contestants will be taught by 

Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef, a San Jose-based Marketing Consultant who will also be joined by 12 guest mentors including several authors and other influencers.

It is the first reality web sponsorship for BIGSTOCK, one of the leading royalty-free stock image companies serving the small biz community online.

“To have BIGSTOCK choose Prosperity’s Kitchen as their first reality web series sponsorship is an incredible tribute to our program,” said executive producer Tea Silvestre. “Their support will help us maintain the high quality mix of instruction and entertainment for the small biz audience that drew them to PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN in the first place."

“The PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN audience of solopreneurs and freelancers makes up a significant portion of the BIGSTOCK community – from the person who submits images to the designer or blogger who uses them,” says BIGSTOCK General Manager Ben Pfeifer. “Sponsoring this innovative program allows us to support both sides of this model, and encourage independent creativity through licensed visual media.”

As part of the partnership, BIGSTOCK will provide stock images to Prosperity’s Kitchen for their use in developing the series as well as prize packages of image assets for the program’s winners.

BIGSTOCK’s first “on-air” web sponsorship messages will begin on January 21st, with the broadcast of the first episode of “Prosperity’s Kitchen.” The company will also be part of an episode mid-season that talks about content creation and how to best-use stock images in marketing materials.

Funding for the Prosperity’s Kitchen series also is provided by Play-at-Home viewers, with additional support from BLUE HOST web hosting and ANYMEETING web meeting services.

Prosperity’s Kitchen is a Word Chef Enterprises production.

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ABOUT PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN

Prosperity’s Kitchen is a 12-week reality web edutainment series that aims to teach solopreneurs and micro business owners how to market themselves effectively online. Structured like a reality TV competition, 15 contestants will tackle weekly marketing missions in order to showcase what they’ve learned. The contestants are divided into teams of three and will be advised and mentored by Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef, as well as 12 other high profile marketing experts. The contestant who outperforms their cohorts will take home the $10,000 prize package (a mix of cash and prizes). Learn more at prosperityskitchen.com

ABOUT WORD CHEF ENTERPRISES

WCE is wholly owned and operated by Tea Silvestre of San Jose, CA. Tea is widely regarded as one of the top marketers in the world of small business. She’s the author of “Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd: How Thinking Like a Chef Can Help You Build a Solid Business,” as well as the founding producer of the ground-breaking web series, “Prosperity’s Kitchen.”

Tea’s writing is often seen on some of the biggest blogs on the Internet, including Copyblogger, Problogger and MarketingProfs. She’s also a frequent speaker at entrepreneurial events across the globe. Learn more at thewordchef.com

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Best City for Men

San Jose has been ranked the 2nd best city for men by Men's Health Magazine. Over 38 different criteria were used such as air quality, unemployment, cost of living, death rates, commute hours, property crime, and even the ratio of single men to women (which we did not do well in). After all was said and done, we got the silver medal with SF a step below at 3rd place. One other notable comment, out of all 100 cities evaluated San Jose had the lowest percentage of smokers.

Top 10 List

1 Boise, ID 
2 San Jose, CA 
3 San Francisco, CA 
4 Plano, TX 
5 Seattle, WA 
6 Burlington, VT 
7 Austin, TX 
8 Salt Lake City, UT 
9 Madison, WI 
10 Portland, OR

Read more at Men's Health: http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/best-cities-men/page/3#ixzz2Fp7z0mtI

Samsung Expanding New San Jose HQ to 1,100,000 SQFT?

Unless there is a typo in Samsung's press release below, it sounds like they have expanded their plans for a flagship campus in North San Jose! Instead of clocking in at 650,000 sqft, they are now aiming for over a million square feet. I'm not sure if all of that will arrive in the first phase or if they are planning to do another building in the future, but reading this sure was a nice surprise today.

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SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media, digital convergence technologies and advanced semiconductor solutions, continues to expand its operations in Silicon Valley by investing more resources in its existing R&D centers and establishing new innovation centers.

Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. (SSI) announced plans to build a 1.1 million square foot sales and R&D headquarters on the current site of its semiconductor and display panel businesses, north of downtown San Jose. The building, designed by global architecture firm NBBJ, will be comprised of a 10-story tower, an amenity pavilion and parking garage. The design seeks to encourage interaction among staff, foster connections with the community and provide a space to attract employment in the highly competitive tech market, which is growing at a faster pace than overall employment.

Source: Engadget

Trumark is Building 94 Townhomes in East San Jose

Trumark and Resmark are building out 4.4 acres of land at 1328 North Capital Avenue. The project is called Centered on Capital and will feature 94 townhomes. The overall density is 21 homes per acre, which is pretty high. The project sits right between the North Capital and Berryessa Lightrail stations, both of which are less than a 5min walk away. The Berryessa Corners Shopping Center is also within walking distance.

Source: SJBJ