More info to come soon from our Sharks fanatic, Jarrod!
Source: The Merc
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Boston Private Bank Opening in Downtown San Jose
Another bank is coming Downtown, although most of us won't casually be walking into this one. Boston Private Bank focuses mainly on wealth management, wealth advisory and trust services, commercial lending, and private banking. The new branch is scheduled to open this quarter at 60 S. Market Street, and it will be the first location in San Jose. They already have other Bay Area locations in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Burlingame, and San Francisco. Tenant improvements are happening as we speak and I'm sure we'll all look forward to having another business Downtown.
Source: SVBJ
Source: SVBJ
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Saturday Stats: SJC Has the Top On-Time Performance in California
Since we're just days away from getting an international direct flight to Tokyo, I figured that this would be a good week to do an airport related Saturday stat. Last year, San Jose International was ranked as having the best on-time performance in California. This shouldn't be a huge surprise given our good weather, a streamlined airport layout, and advanced systems for handling luggage. Heck, the last few flights I have taken out of SJC ended up arriving early.
On the other side of the Bay, SFO came in dead last in terms of on-time performance for California airports.
In terms of all medium to large airports in the US, San Jose ranked 4th in on-time performance, Oakland claimed the 17th spot, Sacramento took 20th, and SFO ranked 64th. 65 airports were evaluated.
Source: SiliconBeat
On the other side of the Bay, SFO came in dead last in terms of on-time performance for California airports.
In terms of all medium to large airports in the US, San Jose ranked 4th in on-time performance, Oakland claimed the 17th spot, Sacramento took 20th, and SFO ranked 64th. 65 airports were evaluated.
Source: SiliconBeat
Friday, January 4, 2013
Silicon Valley in the Media
For all of Silicon Valley's fame and prominence in the international business community, we have rarely been featured in the entertainment scene. So many TV shows and movies are set in New York, LA, SF, and Chicago... but Silicon Valley rarely if ever is featured even as a background location. The one exception would be the 1985 bond movie A View to a Kill, where the main plot was to prevent the annihilation of Silicon Valley. And look at what Silicon Valley was portrayed as in that movie below.
Well, things are about to change. Several new TV shows and movies are coming out where Silicon Valley is at the very least a supporting role. This actually started a couple months ago with the show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley. While I did enjoy seeing at least a dozen shots of San Jose throughout the show's 8 episode run, for the most part the show was considered a failure by the media. I'm not going to shed too many tears since I don't think it accurately portrayed Silicon Valley (and most of it was shot in SF). You can read the postmortem at SiliconBeat.
Now for what's coming up. HBO has just green-lighted a live action sitcom series called "Silicon Valley." This is a "single camera" dark comedy by Mike Judge, the creator of Office Space, King of the Hill, and Beavis and Butthead. Here is how the show is described: "Silicon Valley is set in the high tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success." Sounds very promising. For more info on this one check out Deadline Hollywood.
Next up is a feature film called the Internship. This movie has two big-name stars, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, as a couple of 40-something salesmen who get laid off and decide to restart their careers at Google. Part of the movie is even shot onsite at Google's HQ in Mountain View. More info on this one is available at Marketing Land.
Last one for now is a new show by Simon Cowell and Will.i.am called X Factor for Tech. They are hunting for the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerburg. The producers are claiming that this show will generate a lot of jobs and give youth a platform to express themselves using science and mathematics. While this show is not yet confirmed to take place in Silicon Valley, it will no doubt fuel more media interest to the region which is king of entrepreneurship and technology. More info over at Venturebeat.
I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. If any of these are successful, you can be sure that there will be more Silicon Valley-oriented shows to follow.
Well, things are about to change. Several new TV shows and movies are coming out where Silicon Valley is at the very least a supporting role. This actually started a couple months ago with the show Start-Ups: Silicon Valley. While I did enjoy seeing at least a dozen shots of San Jose throughout the show's 8 episode run, for the most part the show was considered a failure by the media. I'm not going to shed too many tears since I don't think it accurately portrayed Silicon Valley (and most of it was shot in SF). You can read the postmortem at SiliconBeat.
Now for what's coming up. HBO has just green-lighted a live action sitcom series called "Silicon Valley." This is a "single camera" dark comedy by Mike Judge, the creator of Office Space, King of the Hill, and Beavis and Butthead. Here is how the show is described: "Silicon Valley is set in the high tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, where the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success." Sounds very promising. For more info on this one check out Deadline Hollywood.
Next up is a feature film called the Internship. This movie has two big-name stars, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, as a couple of 40-something salesmen who get laid off and decide to restart their careers at Google. Part of the movie is even shot onsite at Google's HQ in Mountain View. More info on this one is available at Marketing Land.
Last one for now is a new show by Simon Cowell and Will.i.am called X Factor for Tech. They are hunting for the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerburg. The producers are claiming that this show will generate a lot of jobs and give youth a platform to express themselves using science and mathematics. While this show is not yet confirmed to take place in Silicon Valley, it will no doubt fuel more media interest to the region which is king of entrepreneurship and technology. More info over at Venturebeat.
I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. If any of these are successful, you can be sure that there will be more Silicon Valley-oriented shows to follow.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Umpqua Bank coming Downtown
Umpqua Bank should be opening their first San Jose store in pretty soon in the heart of Downtown San Jose. It has leased two floors totaling 6,874 sqft at 225 West Santa Clara, which is next to Amici's and Axis. Build out is happening right now and it should be ready sometime towards the end of the quarter.
The ground floor will have personal banking services, a computer cafe, free WiFi, and conference rooms that anyone in the community can reserve. I have never been to a bank with a cafe and community rooms before. The second floor will have commercial banking services.
Source: SVBJ
The ground floor will have personal banking services, a computer cafe, free WiFi, and conference rooms that anyone in the community can reserve. I have never been to a bank with a cafe and community rooms before. The second floor will have commercial banking services.
Source: SVBJ
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Valley Verde Launching in San Jose
Guest post by Raffaella Cerruti:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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!
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