Summer in St. James Park

Every week there is an assortment of events happening in St. James Park. You have family-friendly concerts every Thursday at 6:30pm, music and spoken work performances every Tuesday at 6:30pm, and Yoga and Games at noon every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You can access the most recent calendar of events at the San Jose Parks Foundation website. I'm happy to see so much effort going into activating this historic park.

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the Fourth Best Market for Real Estate Development

San Jose median rental price appreciation over the last year shot up 10.71%. Combined with a variety of other performance indicators such as job growth, days on market, and vacancy rates, this makes San Jose the fourth best market in the United States for real estate investment. First on the list is San Francisco, followed by Seattle and Denver. Portland rounds out the top five.

Source: All Property Management

Music in the Park: Salsa on July 17 and Los Lonely Boys August 28

SAN JOSE - Bring your dancing shoes to Music in the Park on July 17 when P’al Bailador and Julio Bravo y su Orquesta Salsabor, two of the area's top salsa bands, take the Plaza de Cesar Chavez stage. P’al Bailador, “The Dancer’s Salsa Band,” was a standout at the 2013 San Jose Jazz Summerfest. The 11-man Julio Bravo y su Orquestra Salsabor has earned the moniker, “The Bay Area’s Top Salsa Band,” by touring the Bay Area year-round, offering a range of energetic and dance-able salsa. This show also includes a guest appearance by Bloco del Sol, featuring 25-30 Brazilian drums and percussion players. Aug. 28: Los Lonely Boys, a trio of Grammy Award-winning brothers from Texas, will rock Plaza Park in this year’s Music in the park finale. They’ll play hits including “Heaven,” and songs off their 2014 release, “Revelation,” which offers elements of blues, conjunto, reggae, country, soul and acoustic musical genres. loslonelyboys.com Local favorite J.C. Smith Band, which has been voted “best blues band” in South Bay numerous times, opens the show. jcsmithband.com Concerts start at 5:15 p.m. at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.  

Advance $10 tickets are on sale at musicintheparksj.com. 

Tickets are $15 the day of the show.  

Children 12-under are free when accompanied by an adult. The concerts are produced by San Jose Downtown Association. Series sponsors include: Metro, City of San Jose, NBC, Telemundo, La Raza 93.3,KQED, El Observador, Yelp, KFOG 97.7 SJ/104.5 SF, KSJS 90.5, Content Magazine, Strike Brewing Company, Lagunitas Beer Company, J. Lohr Wines, Republic Services and Silicon Valley Bike Coalition.

Also at the event:

Kids fun in the southwest area of the park: 

• Enjoy urban art activities, live DJ and dance workshops at The FutureArtsNow! Activity Zone.  futureartsnow.org
• Interactive CHALK ZONE by Luna Chalk Arts Festival. lunaparkchalkart.org/about-us/

Food and drink:

• New this year –  Cocktail Lounge in the Park:  Tasty mixed drinks and lounge seating in a transformed space, courtesy Method42 Productions. method42.net
• Also new – Craft Beer offerings from local breweries, including Lagunitas Brewing Co. and Strike Brewing.
• Food on site from Angelou's Mexican Grill; Falafel Fresh; Pizza My Heart; Siam Loco Wraps; Asmara's Hotdogs and Kettle Korn; Snowzilla Shaved Ice and Fruit, and more. 
• J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines

Transportation:

• San Jose Bike Coalition, in cooperation with the City of San Jose, will provide free valet bike parking from 4:30 p.m.-9:45 p.m.
• To find the nearest parking options to Plaza de Cesar Chavez, go to sjdowntownparking.com

SJMADE Summer Series

SJMADE is a group of hyperlocal artisans, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs that get together throughout the year at a variety of events. They frequently have pop-ups in Downtown San Jose and Valley Fair. This summer, they will be at the brand new Whole Foods on the Alameda every single Saturday!

Most of the pop-up markets will run from 10am to 2pm, but there are some days that will have longer hours or a even a night market. For more details and to see the other events SJMADE will be participating in, head over here.

Wednesday Wishlist: Museum of the Future

I recently stumbled across this video showing a new Dubai museum dedicated to future technology. The entire building itself is going to be printed using a giant 20-foot tall 3D printer. Even the furniture inside will be 3D printed. If the Tech Museum ever expands in the future, there may be some interesting concepts from this project that can be incorporated (like the laser projection at the very end of the video).

Inaugural Viva CalleSJ San Jose!

The City of San Jose and the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition have come together to bring us an unprecedented event this October. Six miles of streets will temporarily be closed to offer the public a contiguous urban space to bike, skate, run, or walk. The event stretches from St. James Park all the way to Emma Prusch Farm Park in East San Jose. This is not a race and there is no beginning or end--you can start and end anywhere.

This is a "first-of-its-kind" event and it sounds awesome. There will be three activity hubs: Emma Prush Farm Park, Parque de los Pobladores (SoFA), and St. James Park. These locations will have entertainment, activities, hydration stations, and vendor booths.

The event will run from 10am to 3pm and more information is available at the Viva CalleSJ website over here!

July 2015 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• Downtown Doors has been expanded to 100 doors and utility boxes--22 new student art works were added last night from 15 San Jose High Schools.
• Downtown San Jose's first customized crosswalks were installed on June 23rd and connect Paseo de San Antonio with First and Second streets. The Chinese knot pattern honors the
  
  former Chinatown on Market Street that was burnt down and the circuitry elements symbolize San Jose's role as the heart and capital of Silicon Valley. The crosswalk material should last 5-8 years. This was part of the PBID's Street Life Project with the goal of enhancing the pedestrian experience in Downtown San Jose.
• The Sainte Claire Hotel will be come the Westin San Jose starting on July 9th and is already taking reservations. The hotel and historic landmark  has extensively been renovated over the last two years.
• The Children's Discovery museum is celebrating its 25th anniversary with three expansion projects: 1.) FoodShed, a new cafe 2.) The Builder Building, a 3,200 SQFT workshop for kids opening in August 3.) Bills Backyard, a 27,500 SQFT expansion of its outdoor space with multiple interactive exhibits.
• Gotta Eatta Pita is now open at 86 N. Market St. and offers organic, custom-made Mediterranean pitas and salad bowls.
• The Joint Eatery is open at 93 E. Santa Clara where Grub Shack used to be located. 
• Cushman & Wakefield are moving 50 real estate brokers and staff from Santa Clara to 14,000 SQFT at 10 Almaden in Downtown San Jose.
• To enhance safety for bicyclists, the city is planning to reduce the speed limit to 20 miles per hour on First and Second Streets, St. John Street, and San Salvador Street.
• There are tons of events going on in Downtown San Jose this summer, head to the SJDA website for a full list.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

San Jose Homelessness Drops to Lowest Level in a Decade

Finally some good news regarding homelessness. The headline says it all, the San Jose homeless population has declined to its lowest level in ten years. There was a 14% drop in homelessness across all of Santa Clara County over the past two years, and the city of San Jose fared even better with a 15% drop. In 2013 there were 4,770 homeless living in San Jose and now that number has dropped to 4,063. Those living in homeless encampments such as the infamous "Jungle" have dropped from 1,230 to 778, a 38% improvement. There was also a 12% decrease in those that are chronically homeless (versus temporary homeless).

The overall numbers are still not fantastic, but at least we are moving in the right direction.

Source: The Merc