More info on the new San Jose Light Tower

The campaign to build a new iconic Light Tower in San Jose is still going strong. This would be a re-imagining of the innovative 237 foot-tall Light Tower that was built Downtown in 1881 and some believe inspired the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The team behind the tower is now raising $1.25 million to fund site selection and host a design competition later this year.

The location was original targeted for Plaza de Cesar Chavez, but there are now several other possible locations including:

• St. James Park
• Guadalupe River Park - Discovery Meadow
• Guadalupe River Park - Arena Green
• Diridon Station

Plaza de Cesar Chavez actually offers the least amount of space for the tower, which could include all sorts of tourist amenities ranging from cafes and gift shops to an observation deck. If everything goes according to plan, it could open as soon as 2022.

The best part is that the tower will not burden San Jose tax payers--it would be the single largest gift the city of San Jose has ever received.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown San Jose BART Station renders

Now that the construction methodology has been finalized for the BART subway in San Jose (single bore), let's have a quick look at the stunning station that is being planned for Downtown San Jose. To call the current design "open" would be a serious understatement. From the lowest point you can look up to the ceiling 145 feet or so above. The layout is modern and welcoming with high tech flourishes throughout. Check out the renders below of what will become one of the most iconic stations in the BART network.

Source: Robertee from the San Jose Development Forum

SubZERO 2018

The 11th annual SubZERO festival kicks off tonight! Several blocks in San Jose's SoFA District will be shut down for live music, art, food trucks, and culture. The event is runs from 6pm to midnight both today and tomorrow and you can see the full list of participants over here.

San Jose Crane Watch is up to 97 major projects

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has a great development map which you can access here. There are now over 97 major development projects, most of which are centered around Downtown San Jose. These include office, residential, hotel, health car, education, retail, and mixed-use projects that were either proposed or are actively under construction. The project has to be at least 100,000 SQFT in size to make it to the map (that means the pipelines has well over 10 million SQFT of projects).

Some of the latest additions include a 19-story, 220 room hotel tower on Santa Clara Street and a 500,000 SQFT mixed use project in North San Jose. Learn more and check out the map using the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown San Jose Scavenger hunt template

The San Jose Economy Blog has a guest post by a Cohesity employee that created a team-building scavenger hunt. I love this idea. It's a great way to get local employees more familiar with Downtown--and there are many hidden treasures to discover in the area. Below was their list that you can use as a starting point for your own scavenger hunt. Check out the full post with more details over here.

Items to find:

• Life-sized board game
• Bear that belongs in the snow
• Wolf on top of a street
• Sensing WATER installation
• Giant tank full of sharks
• Little piece of Italy
• Barbershop inside of a square
• Find a Burning Man female sculpture that inspires peace
• Sculpture worth 200,000 coins
• Permanent iron hat
• Giant dome that is in the center of a hall
• Statue with two track runners
• Silver girl walking a silver dog
• Red tree with no leaves
• Amusement park that opened in 1961
• Plant across the street from a cemetery – find the center circle

Good Deeds to Perform:

• Take a picture with a stranger and tell them to have a great day!
• Give a flower to a stranger.
• Throw a piece of trash from the street into a trashcan or dumpster.
• Help someone in need, a random act of kindness.

Google's Diridon plan is starting to come together

If Google ends up building their 8 million SQFT campus in Downtown San Jose, it will be one of the most transformative events even in San Jose history. They have already spent over $250 million assembling various parcels of land in anticipation for the urban campus. Eventually 15,000-20,000 Google employees could be working in San Jose.

Google has started laying out a vision for the 240-acre land surrounding Diridon where they would local the majority of their offices. The improvements would be accessible to the public and benefit the whole community. Google wants to develop four corridors that each have their own theme: Los Gatos Linear Park, Paseo San Fernando, Cultural & Innovation Walk, and the Social & Commercial Loop.

The Los Gatos Linear Park would connect the Guadalupe River to the Los Gatos Creek via a green "eco-walk" and Santa Clara Steet outside SAP would be turned into a commercial district with retail and restaurants. Paseo San Fernando would feature retail, art, and event space.

This sounds very interesting and exciting. The more developed the plan becomes, the more likely this project will come to fruition.

Source: SVBJ

Get More Done... Working with Virtual Assistants by SwagSam

SwagSam, Founder, of the podcast network WhatUp Silicon Valley just published his first book!

In the hustle that is Silicon Valley, we are all looking for an edge. We look at the latest trends and will try anything (within reason of course) to give ourselves a competitive edge. Always looking to increase productivity, increase bottom line … and in Silicon Valley to increase company culture!

If you can relate to this feeling that there just aren’t enough hours in a day then and want to reduce stress in your life; then SwagSam’s book “Success With Swag(ger)” is for you. In this book, SwagSam outlines just how he and his team at WhatUp Silicon Valley have used virtual assistants (VA’s)  to grow each of their respective businesses. It’s an actionable step-by-step guide to identifying what tasks that are wasting your time and guides you to hiring your first VA!

You can grab check out the book on Amazon by searching “SwagSam” or just clicking the link here.

WhatUp Silicon Valley is the podcast network on what’s trending in the South Bay for and by young professionals that live the Silicon Valley hustle.

SJCA Style & Culture with Nicholas Jimenez

Nicholas Jimenez is and artist that works for MACLA as a Program Assistant for their Digital Media and Culture (DMC) Studio. He's also studying Industrial Design at SJSU. He has a weekly vlog called SJCA Style & Culture that highlights a lot of great things happening in the area.

When asked why he started the show, Nicholas responded with:

"I want to invite people to see a first-hand account of what it's like to experience some of the festivals, meet some of the great people, and see the many styles and cultures in our area.  Also, as you may know, working within the visual and performance art scene we meet a lot of interesting people, organizations, and gain exclusive access to some awesome stuff and I want to share it all! People can expect to see interviews with local artists, designers, entrepreneurs, and fashionistas that are working on interesting projects that affect us all. As well as, local music videos, event highlights of local acts and performers at events near the South Bay, and San Francisco Bay. And also some vlogs about the day to day activities of the team behind it all."

To access the weekly show and learn more, click here!