San Jose was ranked as the most productive area in the US

This one is way to good to go in the Saturday Stat bin. According to The Brookings Institution, the San Jose Metro is the most productive in the whole country. Our economic output per employee is an epic $173,971 per year. This compares to $156,812 in Houston and $152,562 in the San Francisco metro. It is also one of the many reasons why many jobs in the Valley command such high salaries.

What is just as impressive is the rate of growth that labor productivity improved in San Jose versus every other metro in the country. Between 1978 and 2015, our average rate of growth is 2.72%. If you ask any economist, that is an insane rate of productivity growth--especially considering all of our bubbles and recessions. Constant innovation is now well ingrained in our culture and our bet on technology has certainly paid off.

Source: SJ Economy News

Le Marche - Santana Row Farmers' Market

An upscale farmers' market with over 50 vendors will take place every Wednesday until September starting today at Santana Row. "Le Marche" features organic produce, gourmet foods, cooking demonstrations, rotisserie chicken, and lots of other delicious items. There are also plenty of prepared food options available, making it convenient to enjoy a quick snack on one of the many patios on the row. Left Bank Brasserie is even doing a farm-to-table prix fixe menu utilizing fresh ingreedients from Le Marche.

Today during grand opening of the farmers' market, LB Steak will be demoing their Corn Succotash and Maple Braised Pork Belly at 5:30pm. Le Marche is located towards the end of Santana Row between Olin Avenue and Olsen Drive.

New AC Hotel on Stevens Creek

The AC Hotel is expanding their San José footprint! On May 18th, AC Hotel representatives submitted a Site Development Permit for a 6-story, 132-room hotel at 5969 Stevens Creek Boulevard. The site currently has a Shell gas station and an auto repair shop, and is located on the San José side of the border between Cupertino and San José. The hotel proposal is most likely moving forward in order to capitalize on business from the new Apple campus, located less than a mile north of the site.

Thankfully the architecture is an improvement over the atrociously-designed downtown AC Hotel; however, I would still like to see better quality design as the proposed hotel maintains a similar boring box shape and has zero window ornamentation. Even so, if approved by the Planning Director, a new boutique hotel would be a welcome addition to San José as we have many less hotel rooms per capita than our surrounding municipalities.

-Kimberly Vacca 

Apple has moved its big conference to San Jose

The largest company in the world announced that they are moving their World Wide Developer Conference Conference (WWDC) from San Francisco to San Jose earlier this year. This will make our city ground zero for new software and app announcements related to iOS, MacOS, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. This is not the first time that Apple has made major product announcements in San Jose in recent years, but it is the first time since 2002 that they have hosted their largest event in Silicon Valley proper.

The direct impact goes far beyond the conference itself. There are many related events such as AltConf (the Alternative Apple Developer Conference) which has also moved from San Francisco to the San Jose Marriott and the Layers Design Conference, which has moved to the Montgomery Theater. Both events run nearly the full duration of the Apple conference.

Apple has also worked with the City of San Jose to plan for entertainment and special events outside of the Convention Center for attendees to enjoy. 5,000 developers will be attending WWDC, but double that number could be in the area for festivities and supporting events built around the conference.

The Apple WWDC kicks off today and runs until June 9th. If you are an Apple fanboy or fangirl, this is a good week to swing by Downtown.

Sources: SVBJ, 9to5Mac

Playful People Productions Presents: Disney 101 Dalmatians KIDS

San Jose, CA: Dalmatian parents Pongo and Perdita live a happy, quiet life in London with their eight puppies and two human pets – Roger and Anita.  But when their villainous neighbor Cruella De Vil decides to kidnap the puppies with the help of her two henchmen, the race is on for the dogs of London to find and save the puppies before they become another fur coat in Cruella’s collection! Keep your pups on their leashes! Disney 101 Dalmatians KIDS is certain to charm and delight all audiences. A fun and spirited adaptation of the classic Disney animated film, performed by a fabulous cast of eager 4-12 year olds who are sure to put a smile on your face!

All Shows at the Historic Hoover Theatre, 1635 Park Ave  San Jose, CA 95126

Show Times:

Friday, June 16th - 7pm

Saturday, June 17th - 11am, 3pm and 7pm

Sunday, June 18th - 11am and 3pm

Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net

$12 attendees 12 and up, and $8 children 11 and under 

Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)

$15 attendees 12 and up, and $10 children 11 and under

Founded in 2010, Playful People Production’s mission is to provide a quality, caring environment where children, teens and their families can have positive theater experiences. We strive to involve all family members in the many aspects of on stage and backstage theater in a safe and fun environment and offer participation in theatrical productions, classes, summer stock and camps for ages 3-103

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Happiest Place to Live

We have a great stat to begin the weekend. San Jose was ranked as the 2nd "happiest" place to live by WalletHub. Researchers studying the science of happiness found that a positive mental state, health, social connections, job satisfaction, and financial well-being are the foundations of happiness. Based on these metrics Fremont ended up being the happiest city in the US. San Jose was a very close second. Other Bay Area cities in the list include San Francisco at #4, Oakland at #5, and Santa Rosa in 9th place.

Source: WalletHub, thanks to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Aviato - New Downtown High-Rise!

NEW DOWNTOWN HIGH-RISE ALERT! On May 17th, a Special Use Permit was filed with the Planning Division to allow the construction of an 18-story multi-family residential tower in downtown San José with 304 residential units and 10,146 square feet of retail on a 0.77 gross acre site (199 Bassett Street). The project includes four levels of underground parking (1 space per unit), 84 bike spaces, a fitness room, and an outdoor terrace with a pool and hot tub. Unit sizes include studios, one bedrooms, and two bedrooms.

The site is sandwiched between Highway 87 and Coleman Avenue, and is located in the northernmost part of downtown. The proposed tower will be somewhat isolated until the vacant land between San Pedro Market and the site is developed; although, this land should not be vacant for long. In the interim, the applicant will need to work on addressing connectivity issues with the rest of downtown so that the residents are not intimidated by or uninterested in walking and biking in the area.

If approved, the proposed tower will be a great addition to the downtown area, as more downtown residents will increase the viability for downtown amenities, retail, and restaurants. Many potential commercial tenants state that the current downtown residential density is too low for them to justify moving into a vacant commercial space, so every new project helps alleviate this concern.

While the top of the tower could have a little more “pizzazz” to diversify the downtown skyline, I’m happy to see that the tower will not be contributing to the “Tan Jose” theme that so many other downtown buildings have embodied. The white stone and glass frame with a pop of orange color is noticeably different from the other residential towers nearby. The applicant also did a great job placing the parking ramp on the east side of the building, leaving the front of the building open solely for pedestrians and active uses.

Because this application is a Special Use Permit, it will go to the Director of Planning, Building, and Code Enforcement for approval and will not need to go to the Planning Commission, unless appealed, or City Council. To stay up-to-date on the development review process, look up File No. SP17-023 on www.sjpermits.org or contact the Project Manager at Shaunn.mendrin@sanjoseca.gov to be added to the community contact list.

-Kimberly Vacca

Looking northwest

Looking northeast

Looking southwest

Two special SubZERO events for tonight

As a reminder, tonight is the start of an epic two-day arts festival in SoFA called SubZERO. There are two special events I wanted to quickly highlight:

Works San Jose is having an opening reception for System Overlord between 7pm and 10pm. This project brings together designers are artist who are pushing the limits of print and new media. They always have a compelling showcase and I'm sure their latest collection will not disappoint.

You also have to swing by the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles and check out "Before You Were Born" by Laurie Shapiro. This is an immersive, walk-in exhibit that has an accompanying live performance. The exhibits at this museum continue to become more and more ambitious, and this one sets a new bar! Below are a couple photographs by Octavio Martinez to help you get a feel for the scope of this piece.

Admission is free at all venues, including the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles which normally do charge a fee outside of FIRST FRIDAY events.