Saturday Stats: San Jose is the Happiest City to Work in for 2014!

San Jose just earned another badge for work-related accomplishments. CareerBliss has proclaimed that San Jose is rated the happiest city to work in. This rating came from hundreds of thousands of employee reviews where professionals rated how they felt about where they worked and how it impacted their overall happiness. Key factors such as relationships with bosses, co-workers, job resources, compensation, growth opportunities, company culture, company reputation, and their daily tasks were all factored into the reviews.

San Francisco came in third while New York did not rank in the Top 10. Why do I always bring up these two cities? There are really the two in the US we are competing with the most when in comes to job opportunities. Have a look at the full Top 10 below.

Source: CareerBliss, Hat Tip to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Downtown San Jose Fireworks Today!!!

Happy 4th of July everyone! This is just a reminder that the Rotary Club of San Jose is celebrating its 100th year Downtown by bringing a fireworks show back to Downtown! Thanks to city budget cuts there has not been a fireworks show for years, but that is changing today.

The fireworks will be launched from the Discovery Meadow Park near the Children's Discovery Museum. You should be able to see them from just multiple places Downtown, but the closer you can get to the Guadalupe River, the better. For more info, click here.

2nd Annual Bacon Festival - July 4th and 5th!

This weekend the San Jose Bacon Festival of America returns for its sophomore event. This time around, the festival will take place in the heart of Downtown San Jose at Plaza de Cesar Chavez. You can expect food trucks, entertainment, and of course... lots and lots of bacon.

Admission is $10-15 depending on whether you want to gorge yourself of bacon for one day or two days. For more info, just head over to the Bacon Festival website over here.

Wednesday Wishlist: SkyTran Hover-Monorail PRT

High-speed Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is getting closer to reality. SkyTran is company operating out of the NASA campus in Mountain View that is building the future of transportation. Each autonomous pod accommodates up to two people and hangs on an inverted monorail using magnetic levitation (maglev). The first test loop will be built at the Aerospace Industry Campus in Lod, Israel and will initially operate oaf 45 MPH. Future systems could hit well over 100 MPH.

The first commercial system will be built in Tel Aviv for only $80 million. Imagine what a system like this could do for San Jose.

Source: Engadget

skyTran Animated Infographic from The Collaborative on Vimeo.

AC Hotel Coming to Downtown San Jose

Yesterday, I posted about the hotel explosion happening in North San Jose. Fortunately Downtown is getting some love as well. Remember the mediocre-looking Hampton Inn project on Santa Clara Street and Highway 87? There is a photo below to refresh your memory. This was a 6-story, 162-room wood construction, limited service hotel.

Instead of Hampton Inn, a much nicer AC Hotel is being built in its place. This will be a 7-story, 210-room hotel, built from concrete and steel and featuring an AC Lounge. AC Hotels is a hip, modern brand somewhat similar to Aloft or W Hotels. I think you'll agree with me after see the photos below that this is a significant improvement over what was planned before.

Yet Another Hotel Coming to North San Jose

North San Jose has been adding new hotels left and right. A combo 175-room Residence Inn and 146-room SpringHill Suites (both owned by Marriott) is just about ready near the airport. A new Aloft near Alviso has broken ground. Hyatt is moving forward with 330 rooms across two of their brands (Hampton Inn and Home2 Suites) that would both be on the same parcel. Lastly, part of Bay 101's redevelopment will likely include two hotels, and Phase 2 of M8trix includes a hotel tower.

If that wasn't enough for you, there is one more project to add to the mix. A 1.9-acre site at 1610 N. 4th Street is being considered for a 120-room hotel with 6,500 SQFT of banquet space. Currently this space is a private parking lot for airport travelers.

The developer is known for building hotels that are part of the InterContinental chain, such as Candlewood Suites and Holiday Inn. $25 million is being budgeted for this particular project. For more info check out the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

ShakesBEERience San Jose Presents Taming of the Shrew at Cafe Stritch

Cafe Stritch hosts the latest installment of Buck Hill Production's ShakesBEERience tomorrow night, Mon., June 30 starting at 7 p.m.

Billed as a "pub, a pint and a play," Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew will be presented in a playful and accessible way, and folks are invited to check out one scene or stay for the entire reading over food and drinks.

As space is limited, be sure to get there early to get your seats. As many are already aware, Cafe Stritch has a good beer lineup, and recent beers on tap have included Drake’s Hefeweizen, Lagunitas IPA, Lost Coast Downtown Brown, Firestone Walker Double Jack (Double IPA), Stone Arrogant Bastard (a hoppy American Strong Ale) and Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, among others. There are also plenty cocktail and some wine options.

Tomorrow's presentation is the third play this 2014 year. The fourth and final play this season will be in October; expect an announcement for the 2015 season around that time.

I've written a lot more about this ShakesBEERience event for SanJose.com.

Photo from Buck Hill Productions Facebook page.

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the #3 Most "Upward Mobile" City

Where are the best places to realize the American dream? Check out the list below. San Jose comes in as the 3rd most upwardly mobile region in the US. Absolute Upward Mobility tells us how children are able to stack up compared to their parents. Relative Mobility measures an employee's odds of moving up or down the income ladder. Note that while San Jose had the 3rd best Absolute Upward Mobility score, we were #1 in Relative Mobility.

San Francisco came in 5th place and New York rounded out the top 10.

Source: The Atlantic, Hat tip to Dan De La O.