San Jose Bike Party: 2nd Annual Dublin Ireland Mayor's Ride Tomorrow

The mayor of one of our key sister cities is making his annual stop in San Jose and will be participating in a special Irish-themed bike party tomorrow--Irish music and all. Everyone is welcome! They will meet at San Jose City Plaza at 9:30 AM (don't forget to change your clocks) and ride on a 7-mile route through Downtown that will show off new bikeways and bike share stations. Check out the route and the press release below and don't forget to grab a Guinness after the event.

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SAN JOSE BIKE PARTY PRESENTS
THE 2ND ANNUAL DUBLIN IRELAND MAYOR’S RIDE

SUNDAY, MARCH 9th, 9:30 AM 
Event Info: www.sjbikeparty.org

San Jose Bike Party Will Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a Little Early  This Year  

As part of the Sister City relationship between the cities of Dublin and San Jose, the Lord Mayor of Dublin will be making his annual stop in the Silicon Valley.  The Lord Mayor will ride with San Jose Bike Party and local residents for a Sunday morning of cycling, music, and fun. San Jose’s cycling and creative community will be featuring Guerillaz in Da Mixx synchronized music bikes with a playlist consisting of traditional Irish tunes and Bike Party favorites.

Lord Mayor Oisín Quinn is the 344th Lord Mayor of the city of Dublin and has been a city councilmember since 2004. Next year the city of Dublin will celebrate the 350th anniversary of the city’s first Lord Mayor. Visible on the Lord Mayor at all public events is the Great Chain of Office which was presented by King William III (William of Orange) in 1698. The Chain is worn at all official ceremonies and is composed of decorative links including the Tudor rose, a harp, a trefoil shaped knot and the letter S (thought to stand for Seneschal or Steward).

 We will meet at San Jose City Plaza at 9:30AM PDT (don’t forget to set your clock forward by one hour the night before) and ride on a route of about  7 miles. We will be visiting some of the city’s downtown  landmarks and recent bikeway improvements, including bike share stations, green bikeways, and newly placed bike corrals or on-street bike parking facilities.

A map of the complete route will be available at SanJoseBikeParty.com two days before the ride. Everyone is welcome to attend or participate.

WHAT: THE 2ND ANNUAL DUBLIN IRELAND MAYOR’S RIDE
WHERE: Departs from San Jose City Hall Plaza
WHEN: Sunday, March 9thMeet at 9:30 AM

More information on the organization, including details on future rides, is available atwww.sjbikeparty.org.

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About San Jose Bike  Party:

San Jose Bike Party is a late evening ride around the Bay Area’s largest city; with different routes and start points. We ride as one cycling group on the 3rd Friday of every month. Weather does not cancel the ride. San Jose’s biking community, much like the city itself, has grown rapidly, and San Jose Bike Party’s goal is to be a positive part of this growth. Each month, the event sets out to explore the city via bicycle, featuring an ever-changing route, new playlists for the ride, and regroups that encourage participants to socialize with others. San Jose Bike Party is a monthly happening which encourages participants to ride bikes, make friends, and celebrate their city.

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Saturday Stats: San Jose is the #9 Best City for Female Entrepreneurs

Nerdwallet has crunched some data on female entrepreneurship and San Jose came in 9th place. They looked at the number of businesses per 100 residents, percentage of women-owned businesses, unemployment rate, education, and median earning for female full-time workers. I'm a bit surprised that we did not rank higher on the list and that the median income for women is so much lower than the Silicon Valley median. It is always nice to get into these national rankings, but this is something San Jose could improve upon.

Source: Nerdwallet

South FIRST FRIDAY Art Walk Tonight!

It's that time again, and for March there are a couple new places on the roster. First to Market (awesome restaurant) will be activating a key corner at San Salvador Street and South First Street. The Silicon Valley Music Festival will also be hosting an event at the Sliding Door Co. at 355 South Market. A total of 19 venues are participating in the art walk. To get a preview of the art on display, head over to the South FIRST FRIDAYS website.

Light The Rocket Going to SXSW

Local San Jose rock band Light the Rocket will be playing at Music Gorilla Live 2014, which is happening during the massive SXSW festival in Austin. When I say this is a local band, I mean it.  Most of the members were born and raised in San Jose, their music is recorded in San Jose, their first music video was shot at Music Go Round in San Jose, and they are not afraid to sport some teal to represent their city.

If you happen to go to SXSW this year, go check them out at Burnside's Tavern at 413 E. 6th Street on Wednesday, March 12th at 1am (okay technically Thursday, March 13th). They will also be giving out some free swag. For more info, check out the Light the Rocket Facebook Page or the Music Gorilla Live 2014 Facebook Page.

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"We can't wait for our annual Live Showcase Series during the biggest MUSIC FESTIVAL/CONFERENCE in the world. This is held in Austin, TX from March 11-16, 2014. Music Gorilla will be showcasing 50 artists and bands at this free showcase series that is open to the industry and the public.

The Artists performing will receive massive exposure. The venue is right in the middle of everything on 6th Street in Austin, TX. Artists will not receive compensation or travel expenses to play at the showcase.

Past showcases have been attended by Major and Indie Label A&R reps, Managers, Agents, Entertainment Attorneys and other industry pros as well as celebrities including, Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows and Rachel Ray."

San Jose Spiders - New Ultimate Frisbee Pro Team!

The newest pro sport to find its way to San Jose isn't Baseball or Basketball... it's Ultimate Frisbee. The league is owned by Cisco executive Rob Lloyd (potentially the next Cisco CEO) and the team is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Apparently Silicon Valley is ground zero for Ultimate Frisbee, which has become the preferred sport for techies (perhaps one day we'll see pro Quidditch as well). Even the name San Jose Spiders is a tech reference--search engines send spiders to crawl the Internet for data.

The Spiders will have their inaugural season in April. Home games will be played at Foothill College for now, and hopefully they will move to the city they're named after at some point in the future.

For more information and tickets, head over to the San Jose Spiders website over here.

Source: SVBJ

Think Bigger San Jose Moved + Mixed-Use Hotel Condo Proposal

One of my favorite blogs is getting a face-lift and a new URL. Think Bigger San Jose is moving from http://thinkbiggersanjose.blog.com to http://thinkbiggersanjose.com.

The first post on the new site is a suggestion for Sobrato to build a mixed-use hotel condo on the giant parking lot he owns at the corner of Market and San Carlos. This is a high-potential Downtown development space across the street from the Convention Center, Plaza de Cesar Chavez, and the burgeoning SoFA district.

A hotel condo allows people to purchase rooms and suites, and rent them out as hotel rooms when not in use. It's an ownership models that simply does not exist in Silicon Valley, but is popular in tourist destinations such as Las Vegas. These are often used as vacation homes or secondary homes, which would make a lot of sense for business travelers that live in tech centers around the globe but have to spend quite a bit of time in Silicon Valley each year. Typically these are built by luxury hotel operators--and having another Fairmont-caliber hotel would go a long way Downtown.

Anyway, its a great blog post and you should check it out right over here.

SPUR Presents: The Future of Downtown San Jose

After a year's worth of meetings with developers, business owners, and city government, SPUR (an urban planning nonprofit) has prepared a report detailing how Downtown can leverage its potential and bring more jobs and residents to the area.

The meeting to review the report will take place today at the SPUR San Jose office located at 76 S. 1st Street from 12:30pm-1:30pm. The cost for attendance is $10 (free for SPUR members). More info here.

The Cinequest Film Festival Starts Today!

One of the largest and most prominent film festivals in the world is kicking off in San Jose today, and it will bring over 100,000 people Downtown over the next two weeks. The 24th Cinequest Film Festival will run from March 4th through March 16th and feature 84 World and US premiers, daily soirees and parties, and the Maverick Awards. Films will be screened at Camera 12, the California Theater, and The Rep.

For info and to buy tickets or passes, visit the Cinequest portal over here.