Lick Observatory May Shut Down

One of the few iconic landmarks visible from just about anywhere in San Jose may shut down. The University of California is threatening to cut funding for Lick Observatory, which was constructed in 1888 as the world's first mountaintop observatory. At one point it had the largest telescope ever built and has helped scientists discover planets, asteroids, and several moons of Jupiter. If you have ever wondered why our streetlights are yellow... well one of the main reasons was to reduce light pollution for Lick.

The observatory costs $1.8 million each year to keep running, which sounds almost like a rounding error for such a historic structure. 100 faculty, students, and post-docs currently use the facility to gather scientific data test new technologies. The currently plan is for the UC system to reduce funding for the Observatory in 2016 and do a complete shutdown in 2018.

Expect to hear more about this as the details unfold. I'll post information on any campaigns I find to save Lick Observatory.

Source: The Merc, Thanks William Burch for the tip

GreenCitizen Opens New Location on 5155 Stevens Creek

GreenCitizen has opened a new eco-station at the border of San Jose and Santa Clara on Stevens Creek. They offer free recycling for your e-junk (old cables, computers, TVs, palm pilots, batteries, etc.) as well as services for destroying hard drive information and other sensitive data. Throwing away these electronics in the trash can contaminate landfills and cause serious environmental problems. E-recycling is a much better solution, and they may even give you cash for items that still have some value like old iPhones. More info below.

GreenCitizen Extends Year-Round Electronics Recycling Drop-Off to Santa Clara and San Jose

GreenCitizen is opening its new Eco-Station in Santa Clara on Monday, December 2, 2013. Located inside the SuperGreen Solutions Store at 5155 Stevens Creeks Blvd, Suite 100, Santa Clara, GreenCitizen's new Eco-Station will be open from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., Mondays through Saturdays, all year round.

GreenCitizen is opening its new Eco-Station in Santa Clara on Monday, December 2, 2013. Located inside the SuperGreen Solutions Store at 5155 Stevens Creeks Blvd, Suite 100, Santa Clara, GreenCitizen's new Eco-Station will be open from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M., Mondays through Saturdays, all year round.

Santa Clara and San Jose residents and businesses can now drop-off, for responsible recycling, any working or non-working electronic items, including computers, monitors, TVs, printers, appliances, or portable devices that use electricity. Please refer tohttp://www.greencitizen.com for a full list of acceptable items.

The new GreenCitizen Santa Clara Eco-Station is only 10 minutes away from downtown San Jose and San Jose State University, and just a couple of blocks from the Stevens Creek Boulevard intersections with the Lawrence Express way and I-280. Simply use 87 N and/or 280 N and take the Lawrence Expressway exit. Located next to Bed Bath & Beyond, across from McDonald's, Starbucks Coffee, Safeway, and Sports Authority, the Eco-Station is also less than a mile from Santana Row, and the popular Westfield Shopping Mall at Winchester Boulevard and Stevens Creek.

Since opening its first center on Earth Day 2005, GreenCitizen has successfully helped over 15,000 businesses and 150,000 residents responsibly recycle their electronics. In this time, GreenCitizen has diverted over 10 million pounds of electronics from landfills and from global dumping on developing countries. The amount of e-waste that GreenCitizen has diverted is equivalent to reducing 12 metric tons of CO2, planting over 300,000 trees, or taking 2,500 cars off the road for a year.

"The amount of obsolete electronics piling up in our offices and homes is staggering. When these electronics are not recycled properly, this e-waste often ends up in landfills here or in developing countries, where it can cause serious social and environmental harm.” says James Kao, GreenCitizen's Founder and CEO. "In order for responsible e-waste recycling to take off, it must be more convenient for consumers and businesses and there must be full accountability to ensure that everything gets recycled safely. We are very excited to partner with SuperGreen Solutions to bring convenient and accountable electronic recycling services to Santa Clara, San Jose, and surrounding cities of Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Saratoga, and Campbell."

Belinda Vega, president of SuperGreenSolutions states that: "SuperGreen Solutions of Stevens Creek is excited about working with GreenCitizen to truly provide a complete environmental solution. We feel the missions of our companies are similar and complimentary. Together we are helping our customers make the world a better place and making every day Earth Day."

SuperGreen Solutions is a one-stop retail store for energy efficient and green products, providing a holistic approach to energy efficiency by offering a variety of products, reducing clients' energy usage and thereby maximizing their cost reduction. They provide solar panels, wind turbines, LED lighting, electric car chargers, efficient water heaters and insulation. They can arrange for installation, assist with rebates and tax incentives, and provide financing. They also provide other green products such as air purifiers, atmospheric water generators and non-toxic pest control products. SuperGreen Solutions of Stevens Creek is a minority woman-owned business.

GreenCitizen is a socially and environmentally responsible company dedicated to helping consumers and businesses reduce their environmental footprint through proper disposal of their electronics. GreenCitizen achieves this through closed loop reuse, convenient drop-off, and business pickups. All recycled items are accounted for fully all the way through dismantling and de-manufacturing within the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to the new Santa Clara Eco-Station, GreenCitizen has four Eco-Centers in Berkeley, San Francisco, Burlingame, and Mountain View.

Saturday Stats: 2013 META-Edition!

Every time I post a Saturday Stat, I also toss it in a Google Doc so we can look back on the year and see all of our top rankings listed in a single place. Since it is the last Saturday of 2013, the time to reflect is now.

The list is even longer than 2012. San Jose's achievements this year include #1 lowest housing vacancy, #1 in patent creation, #1 top job market, #1 happiest city for young professionals, #1 technical jobs per capita, #1 best city for STEM jobs, #1 best city to work in, #1 safest city above 500,000 residents, #1 richest city in America, and #1 happiest, healthiest city in the US. Pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?

Below you can find the full list of 2013 Saturday Stats, and if you want to check out 2012 the Google Doc is over here.

More San Jose Luxury Apartments Break Ground

Below is a rendering of "Ascent," Shea Properties' latest apartment project. We are talking 650 units in South San Jose (former Hitachi campus) with an estimated completion of Spring 2015. The total project cost is going to be $200 million, making it quite an expensive development when looking at the unit count ($307k per unit). There will be one, two, and three-bedroom units and luxurious amenities such as saltwater pools, a yoga courtyard, and a community pizza oven.

Looks like nice project, I just wish there was an office component to it as well. We really need more jobs in South San Jose and more housing in North San Jose.

Source: SVBJ

FREE New Year's Party at the San Pedro Square Market

Well, this is a nice surprise. Next week the San Pedro Square Market is hosting an 80's-themed New Years Party including a midnight champagne toast, 80s music, 80s movies, a balloon drop, a photo booth, and I'm sure a few surprises. The best part? It's free. 2013 was a great year for Downtown and 2014 is going to be even better, so I could not think of a more appropriate place to celebrate than the SPSM.

The event runs from 9pm to 1am across the entire Market and no reservations are required.



SPSM Special Events: December 31, 2013 starting at 9:00pm.

New Year's Eve Party - 80's Style.  We're closing up 2013 with a New Year's Eve party and you're invited. Our NY resolution is to start 2014 with a bang, so we're throwing a FREE shindig complete with a midnight champagne toast, balloon drop, photo booth and more.  Come one, come all.

We are keeping this a completely public event. So no pre-sale of tickets or registering for a spot. We are just going to let people come in and enjoy themselves. We are keeping it pretty fun and casual, so please feel free to dress up!

San Jose had the First Locomotive in California

Check out this little tidbit from I HEART SAN JOSE:

According to the record in the USC Digital Library archive, this image is of either the first locomotive built in California or shipped TO California. The caption also says it served on the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad. The image is dated 1867 and the second car says "Sacramento Valley Railroad" on it. The locomotive has "L. L. Robinson" written on it.

Link: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll65/id/11605

Hanhny - New San Jose-Based Fashion Label

Hanh Nguyen is a fashion designer that recently relocated back to San Jose. Over the past seven years she has lived in New York and Europe and designed for the labels Isaac Mizrahi, The Reformation, and Jessica Joyce. Now that Hanh is back in town, she's starting her own label called Hanhny.

You can check out the her full collection online over here, or you can head over to either the SJMade pop up shop at Valley Fair or the DSF Shop in SF (I'm sure you can guess my personal preference). If you visit the website, use the coupon code Hanhny25 to receive 25% your entire purchase. The promo expires on December 31st, and again here is the link.

San Jose Civic Rebranded as the City National Civic

The historic San Jose Civic Auditorium has sold naming rights to City National Bank. For the next five years the venue will be known as the City National Civic. The word Auditorium was purposefully omitted in order to the better position the Civic as a concert destination. San Jose will receive a total of $870,000 from the deal.

City National Bank isn't just changing the sign. Have a second look at yesterday's post and see if you can spot the GIANT signage on the roof of the building. With so many planes flying over San Jose each day, City National's marketing team made a wise decision.

Source: SVBJ