Saturday Status: #9 for Best Job Accessibility by Walking

This one is a bit surprising for me. When you think about highly walkable cities, usually you don't think of San Jose. However, based on a recent study of the 50 largest metro areas in the US, San Jose came in 9th for job accessibility via walking. Most of the population of San Jose is within a 30 minute walk to over 50,000 jobs. In Downtown San Jose, Japantown, and along North First Street, that number rises to about 100,000 jobs.

TOP 10 METRO AREAS: JOB ACCESSIBILITY BY WALKING

1. New York
2. San Francisco
3. Los Angeles
4. Chicago
5. Washington
6. Seattle
7. Boston
8. Philadelphia
9. San Jose
10. Denver

Source: Transportationist, hat tip to Jordan Toy

St. John Vianney Fiesta

The St. John Vianney Fiesta is a long-standing tradition for the East Foothills community. There will be carnival rides, games, live entertainment and a large assortment of delicious ethnic and American foods. The event starts tonight and runs throughout the weekend at 4600 Hyland Avenue. For more information head over to the event's Facebook page over here.

The San Jose Sharks Extend Their Lease Through 2025

The City of San Jose and the San Jose Sharks have come to an agreement that will guarantee the Sharks continue to play at the SAP Center until at least 2025. The agreement also allows for annual extensions that can continue all the way up until the year 2040. I don't think anyone expected them to go elsewhere, but now this cements the team in San Jose for at least another decade. By then, perhaps it will be time to build a newer arena in Downtown San Jose.

Source: Bleacher Report

May is National Foster Care Month

There are over 6,000 children in foster care in the Bay Area and 60,000 in California. I think foster parenting is one of the most important way you can contribute to making the world a better place and have a tremendous impact on a child's life. This topic is very close to me since my mother participated in foster care for two decades and made the lives of dozens of children better.

Seneca Family of Agencies was founded 30 years ago in the Bay Area and is headquartered in Downtown San Jose. The agency helps at-risk children and families in the region with a multitude of challenges. Below is a profile of one of their San Jose foster parents, Ryan Adams. For more information on how you can get involved, please visit the Seneca Center website.

Ryan Adams (San Jose) has a passion for youth and a deep commitment to serving others. Prior to becoming a foster parent, Ryan worked with youth in Paraguay for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer and resided for another two years in a Zen Monastery in Monterey. He was also a Seneca employee before becoming a foster parent, and his time at Seneca has been evenly divided among residential, community, and school based programs. He is especially committed to ensuring that all youth receive the highest degree of care, regardless of their level of need. His curiosity and dedication to creating long-lasting, healthy, and impactful relationships with relationships with youth led Ryan to take the lead on permanency related issues, advocating for contact with biological/natural supports. In March 2015, Ryan, with the help of Seneca's Intensive Treatment Foster Care team, successfully transitioned his first foster youth through Seneca's PLUS program - a six month intensive treatment foster program geared toward youth with the highest level of need - from his care back to his home with his biological family. Ryan continues his role as a PLUS Parent and has recently welcomed a second foster child into his home.

Bike Clinic Indiegogo Campaign!

The San Jose Bike Clinic wants to open a permanent bike-repair shop in Downtown San Jose! Nothing like this currently exists in San Jose--although this organization has occasionally done pop-up events in the San Pedro Square Market and Camera 12.

The San Jose Bike Clinic is a non-profit and is entirely volunteer run. They are looking to raise $4,000 and are almost fully funded. To contribute to this great cause (and get some nice perks in the process), head over to their Indiegogo Campaign Page.

The Vision

Imagine a space sustained by volunteer energy, filled with all the bike repair tools and parts you'd need and staffed by knowledgeable volunteer bike mechanics. Imagine the satisfaction of anyone who wants to learn having the knowledge to fix their bike themselves.

We are San José Bike Clinic, and that’s our vision. We believe knowledge is power, and our mission is to get more people on bikes by providing the community with that knowledge and a safe and friendly place to learn. We don’t just give you the tools, we teach you how to use them!

From lubing your chain to fixing a flat to building your own bike from scratch, the volunteers at San José Bike Clinic will steer you through the process and let you do the fixing. If you’ve ever been to a bike co-op or bike kitchen, you get the idea.

Our Roots
San José Bike Clinic started in 2012 when a group of bicycling enthusiasts in downtown San José had a question: What is San José’s biking community missing? 

We already have some of the best weather in the country, flat terrain, an active health and fitness-loving community, an eco-conscious mindset, huge San José Bike Party rides and fun test rides, more miles of bike lanes every year, and some of the best cycling events around. The answer came in the form of San José Bike Clinic, a volunteer-driven, community-minded dream that has become a reality and needs your help to thrive.

The mission of San José Bike Clinic is to build a robust and diverse cycling community through a shared and accessible place for bicycle repair and education. The vision is independence, self sufficiency and education to all in the cycling community.

After testing our idea since 2012 with monthly pop up clinics at San Pedro Square Market and three months temporarily popped up in Camera 12, we are asking for donors and volunteers to help us bring this cause to a permanent location.

How You Can Help

The money raised through our crowdfunding campaign will go toward rent, utilities, security deposit, and upkeep of the permanent space to help make San José Bike Clinic accessible to everyone.

After 6 months we intend to be fully self sufficient and maintain our monthly needs through the sale of used bicycles, bicycle parts, and various levels of membership fees.

Once we're open, we'll ensure the shop's sustainability by charging daily, monthly and annual membership fees that grant access to the shop and all its benefits. We won't turn anyone away for lack of funds. For those who can't afford the fees, we'll offer opportunities to volunteer hours in exchange for membership.

Since we’re a program of the nonprofit Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, all donations to this crowdfunding campaign and once we’re open are tax deductible except for any perks you receive.

What You Get in Return

We're offering perks for various levels of support we're asking for, everything from stickers to T-shirts, shop aprons, and water bottles. We're also offering one-month and one-year memberships at certain levels so you can visit the shop you helped make a reality, along with memberships to the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition that include benefits like discounts at local bike shops.

If you’re passionate about cycling and want a place where the cycling community can learn, repair bicycles, and connect with each other, then help us make San José Bike Clinic into a downtown institution by donating today and inviting other bike-minded friends, family, and colleagues to join you.

Share this campaign on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and email lists with people you think would share our vision. If you prefer to donate time we are always looking for new volunteers to help make San José Bike Clinic a community destination for all kinds of riders. Email sjbc@bikesiliconvalley.org if you'd like to join our team.

May 2015 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• Mayor Sam Liccardo laid out his vision to keep the momentum going Downtown, which includes:
• "Build the heck out of it" - the current housing boom needs to be encouraged. We also need to see major transportation investment in order to support it, especially with BART. He also mentioned we need more high-end hotel rooms to attract more major events to the Convention Center.
• "Take up the slack" - the existing commercial vacancy rate needs to come down and rents need to go up in order to see major new office construction Downtown. There are now 110 tech companies Downtown, and they want Class A space. Liccardo is encouraging converting Class B to Class A space in order to cater towards these tech tenants.
• "Bring it outdoors" - with 300+ days of great weather, we need to leverage outdoor space. This means improving the Guadalupe River Walk, St. James Park, and implementing Street Life Plan projects.
• The first Music in the Park concert this year will be June 18th and feature Grammy-nominated Reggae band Sister Carol.
• SoFA Market Update
• Two new SoFA Market venues opened: On The Flipside burger bar [Josh: had the Black & Blue burger there last week and it was great!], and The Fountainhead, a craft cocktail bar with architecturally themed drinks.
• Coming soon:
• Konjoe-Tei: Ramen from the owners of Konjoe
• Hawaiian Poke Bowl: specializing in Poke rice bowls and Acai bowls
• Milk and Wood: unique house-made gelato pops
• Vitamina Juices & Blends - fresh juices, smoothies, and healthy snacks
• The Ritz is bringing live music to the long-vacant building at 400 S. First St. Corey O'Brien is the proprietor (who also ran the Blank Club).
• Red Rose Restaurant is now serving healthy Mediterranean fare at 30 E. Santa Clara St.
• The AFK Gamer Lounge is now open in the former Los Gatos Brewing space.
• SJSU construction projects totaling $320 million are currently in progress with more to come.
• The city is moving full speed to make San Jose the country's best city to bike. Currently there are 236 miles of bikeways, up from 197 in 2009. 69 more miles are planned by the end of 2016 and a total of 164 more miles of bikeways by 2020.
• The city installed 47 signs that encourage pedestrians to walk to a variety of Downtown destinations.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

Burnt Almond Cake, a San Jose Specialty

Burnt Almond Cake was actually invented in San Jose in 1936. I'm sure most of us have had some slices at a birthday party or other event. Check out this KQED article to learn about Peter's Bakery in East San Jose, perhaps the most famous local spot that sells this delicacy.

Sources: KQED, I Heart SJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose Population Growth

New population estimates from the California Department of Finance were released at the beginning of the month. The department pegs the population of San Jose at 1,016,479. This puts us at a growth rate of 1.4% percent year-over-year, which is the second largest growth rate for all large California cities. San Francisco came in at 1.3%.

One surprise to me was the growth rate for Milpitas. 3.9% is a pretty impressive number for a city its size.

Source: usedmedia from the SSC Forums