Everything about San Jose California totally explained
|leader_title4 =
Assembly
|leader_name4 =
|leader_title5 =
U.S. House of Representatives
|leader_name5 =
|established_title =
Pueblo founded
|established_title2 =
Incorporated
|established_date =
November 29,
1777
|established_date2 =
March 27,
1850
|established_title3 =
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|area_footnotes =
|area_magnitude = 1 E8
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|area_water_sq_mi = 3.3
|area_metro_sq_mi = 2694.7
|area_metro_km2 = 6979.4
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|area_urban_km2 = 673.68
|area_urban_sq_mi = 260.11
|population_as_of = 2006
|population_note =
|population_footnotes =
|population_total = 929936 (
10th)
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|population_urban = 1611000
|population_density_km2 = 2014.4
|population_density_sq_mi = 5216.3
|population_blank1_title =
Demonym
|population_blank1 = San Josean
|timezone =
PST
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|latd = 37 |latm = 18 |lats = 15 |latNS = N
|longd = 121 |longm = 52 |longs = 22 |longEW = W
|elevation_footnotes =
|elevation_m = 26
|elevation_ft = 85
|website =
www.sanjoseca.gov
|postal_code_type =
ZIP code
|postal_code = 95101-95103, 95106, 95108-95139, 95141, 95142, 95148, 95150-95161, 95164, 95170-95173, 95190-95194, 95196
|area_code =
408
|blank_name =
FIPS code
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GNIS feature ID
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}}
San Jose (meaning
St. Joseph in
Spanish) or
San José is the
third-largest city in
California, and the
tenth-largest in the
United States. It is the
county seat of
Santa Clara County. San Jose is located in the Santa Clara Valley, which has been dubbed the "
Silicon Valley," at the southern end of the
San Francisco Bay Area. Once a small
farming city, San Jose became a magnet for suburban newcomers in new housing developments between the 1960s and the 1990s, and is now the largest city in
Northern California. The official
United States Census Bureau population estimate for
July 1,
2006 is 929,936. The city served as a farming community to support Spanish military installations at
San Francisco and
Monterey. When California gained statehood in 1850, San Jose served as its first capital. After more than 150 years as an agricultural center, increased demand for housing from soldiers and other veterans returning from
World War II, as well as aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s, led San Jose to become what would later be known as the Capital of Silicon Valley. Growth in the 1970s attracted more businesses to the city. In the late 1980s, after four decades of heavy development and population growth, San Jose surpassed San Francisco in population to become the third most populous city in California. By the 1990s, San Jose's location within the booming local technology industry earned the city the nickname
Capital of Silicon Valley.
Name
On
April 3,
1979, the
San José City Council adopted
San José as the spelling of the city name on the city seal, official stationery, office titles and department names. Also, by city council convention, the spelling of
San José is used when the name is stated in both uppercase and lowercase letters, but not when the name is stated only in uppercase letters. The name is still more commonly spelled without the
diacritical mark as
San Jose. The official name of the city remains
The City of San Jose with no diacritical mark, according to the
City Charter.
History
Prior to western settlement, the area was inhabited by several groups of
Ohlone Native Americans Though visited briefly by the English two centuries prior, the first lasting European presence began with a series of Franciscan
missions established from 1769 by Father
Junípero Serra. On orders from
Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish
Viceroy of New Spain, San Jose was founded by
Lieutenant José Joaquín Moraga as
Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (in honor of
Saint Joseph) on
November 29,
1777, to establish a farming community. The town was the first civil settlement in
Alta California.
In 1797, the pueblo was moved from its original location, near the present-day intersection of
Guadalupe Parkway and Taylor Street, to a location in what is now
Downtown San Jose. San Jose came under Mexican rule in 1825 after Mexico broke with the Spanish crown. It then became part of the United States, after it capitulated without bloodshed in 1846 and California was annexed. and the San Jose High School's three-story stone was also destroyed. During
World War II many Japanese were sent to
internment camps and, following the
Los Angeles zoot suit riots, anti-Mexican violence took place in the summer of 1943.
As
World War II started, the city's economy shifted from agriculture (the
Del Monte cannery was the largest employer) to industrial manufacturing with the contracting of the
Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) by the
United States War Department to build 1000
Landing Vehicle Tracked. After
World War II, FMC (later
United Defense, and currently
BAE Systems) continued as a
defense contractor, with the San Jose facilities designing and manufacturing military platforms such as the
M113 Armored Personnel Carrier, the
Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and various subsystems of the
M1 Abrams.
IBM established its West Coast headquarters in San Jose in 1943 and opened a downtown research and development facility in 1952. Both would prove to be harbingers for the economy of San Jose, as
Reynold Johnson and his team would later invent
RAMAC, as well as the
disc drive, and the technological side of San Jose's economy grew.
During the 1950s and 1960s, city manager
Dutch Hamann led the city in a major growth campaign. The city annexed adjacent areas, such as
Alviso and
Cambrian Park, providing large areas for suburbs. An anti-growth reaction to the effects of rapid development emerged in the 1970s championed by mayors
Norman Mineta and
Janet Gray Hayes. Despite establishing an
urban growth boundary, development fees, and incorporations of
Campbell and
Cupertino, development wasn't slowed, but rather directed into already incorporated areas. Efforts to increase density continued into 1990s when an update of the 1974 urban plan kept the urban growth boundaries intact and voters rejected a ballot measure to ease development restrictions in the foothills. Sixty percent of the housing built in San Jose since 1980 and over three-quarters of the housing built since 2000 have been multifamily structures, reflecting a political propensity toward
Smart Growth planning principles.
Law and government
Local
San Jose is a
charter city under California law, giving it the power to enact local ordinances that may conflict with state law, within the limits provided by the charter. The city has a
council-manager government with a
city manager nominated by the
mayor and elected by the
city council.
The
San José City Council is made up of ten council members elected by districts, and a mayor elected in an at-large election. During city council meetings, the mayor presides, and all eleven members can vote on any issue. The mayor has no
veto powers. Council members and the mayor are elected to four-year terms; the even-numbered district council members beginning in 1994; the mayor and the odd-numbered district council members beginning in 1996. Council members and the mayor are limited to two successive terms in office, although a council member that has reached the term limit can be elected mayor, and vice versa. The council elects a vice-mayor from the members of the council at the second meeting of the year following a council election. This council member has the right to act as mayor during the temporary absence of the mayor, but doesn't have the right of succession to the mayor's office upon a vacancy.
The City Manager is the chief administrative officer of the city, and must present an annual
budget for approval by the city council. When the office is vacant, the Mayor proposes a candidate for City Manager, subject to council approval. The council appoints the Manager for an indefinite term, and may at any time remove the manager, or the electorate may remove the manager through a
recall election. Other city officers appointed by the council are the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Clerk, and Independent Police Auditor. The goal of a LAFCO is to try to avoid uncontrolled
urban sprawl. The Santa Clara County LAFCO has set boundaries of San Jose's "Sphere of Influence" (indicated by the blue line in the map near the top of the page) as a superset of the actual city limits (the yellow area in the map), plus parts of the surrounding unincorporated county land, where San Jose can, for example, prevent development of fringe areas to concentrate city growth closer to the city's core. The LAFCO also defines a subset of the Sphere as an 'Urban Service Area' (indicated by the red line in the map), effectively limiting development to areas where urban infrastructure (sewers, electrical service, etc.) already exists.
San Jose is the
county seat of
Santa Clara County. Accordingly, many county government facilities are located in the city, including the office of the County Executive, the Board of Supervisors, the District Attorney's Office, eight courthouses of the Superior Court, the Sheriff's Office, and the County Clerk.
State and Federal
In the
state legislature San Jose is located in the 10th, 11th, 13th, and 15th
Senate Districts, represented by
Democrats Ellen Corbett,
Joe Simitian, and
Elaine Alquist, and
Republican Abel Maldonado respectively, and in the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 27th, and 28th
Assembly Districts, represented by Democrats
Alberto Torrico,
Ira Ruskin,
Sally Lieber,
Joe Coto,
Jim Beall,
John Laird, and
Anna M. Caballero respectively. Federally, San Jose is located in California's
14th,
15th, and
16th congressional districts, which have
Cook PVIs of D +18, D +14, and D +16 respectively and are represented by Democrats
Anna Eshoo,
Mike Honda, and
Zoe Lofgren respectively.
Several state and federal agencies maintain offices in San Jose. The city is the location of the Sixth District of the
California Courts of Appeal. It is also home to one of the courthouses of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Crime
San Jose considers itself one of the safest large cities in the United States. During the 1990s and 2000s, the crime rate fell, but it didn't fall as fast as crime rates in most American cities during the same time period. The designation is based on crime statistics reported to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in six categories:
murder,
rape,
robbery,
aggravated assault,
burglary, and
auto theft. Current mayor
Chuck Reed is a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by
New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg and
Boston mayor
Thomas Menino.
Sister cities
The Office of Economic Development coordinates the San Jose Sister City Program which is part of
Sister Cities International.
As of 2006, there are seven
sister cities:
Geography
San Jose is located at (37.304051, −121.872734).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 178.2 square miles (461.5
km²), of which 3.3 square miles (8.6 km²; 1.86%) is water.
San Jose lies near the
San Andreas Fault; a major source of
earthquake activity in California. The most serious earthquake, in 1906, damaged many buildings in San Jose as described earlier. Earlier significant quakes rocked the city in 1839, 1851, 1858, 1864, 1865, 1868, and 1891. The
Daly City Earthquake of 1957 caused some damage. The
Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 also did some damage to parts of the city. The other faults near San Jose are the Monte Vista Fault,
South Hayward Fault, Northern Calaveras Fault, and Central Calaveras Fault.
The
Guadalupe River runs from the
Santa Cruz Mountains (which separate the South Bay from the Pacific Coast) flowing north through San Jose, ending in the San Francisco Bay at
Alviso. Along the southern part of the river is the neighborhood of
Almaden Valley, originally named for the
mercury mines which produced mercury needed for
gold extraction from
quartz during the
California Gold Rush as well as
mercury fulminate blasting caps and detonators for the U.S. military from 1870 to 1945.
The lowest point in San Jose is 13 feet (4 m) below
sea level at the San Francisco Bay in Alviso; the highest is 4,372 feet (1,333 m) at Copernicus Peak,
Mount Hamilton, which is technically outside the city limit. Due to the proximity to
Lick Observatory atop Mount Hamilton, San Jose has taken several steps to reduce
light pollution, including replacing all street lamps and outdoor lighting in private developments with
low pressure sodium lamps. To recognize the city's efforts, the
asteroid 6216 San Jose was named after the city.
Climate
San Jose, like most of the Bay Area, has a
Mediterranean climate. Unlike
San Francisco, which is exposed to the ocean or Bay on three sides and whose temperature therefore varies relatively little year-round and overnight, San Jose lies further inland, protected on three sides by mountains. This shelters the city from rain and makes it more of a
semiarid, near-desert area, with a mean annual rainfall of only 14.4 inches (366 mm), compared to some other parts of the Bay Area, which can get up to four times that amount. It also avoids San Francisco's omnipresent fog most of the year.
However, temperatures are generally moderate. January's average high is 59 °F (15 °C) and average low is 42 °F (6 °C), with overnight freezes several nights each year; July's average high is 84 °F (29 °C) and average low is 58 °F (14 °C), with heat exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) several days each year. The highest temperature ever recorded in San Jose was 109 °F (42.8 °C) on June 14, 2000; the lowest was 17 °F (-8.3 °C) on January 9, 1920 and January 10, 1920. Temperatures between night and day can vary by 30 or 40 °F (17 to 22 °C). Temperatures exceed 90°F (32°C) on an average of 18.3 days annually, and drop to 32°F (0°C) or lower on an average of 5.6 days annually.
With the light rainfall, San Jose experiences over 300 days a year of full or significant sunshine. Rain occurs primarily in the months from October through April or May, with hardly any rainfall from June through September. During the winter, hillsides and fields turn green with grasses and vegetation, although
deciduous trees are bare; with the coming of the annual summer dry period, the vegetation dies and dries, giving the hills a golden cover, which some find beautiful but which also provides fuel for frequent
grass fires.
Measurable precipitation falls in downtown San Jose on an average of 58 days a year. Annual precipitation has ranged from 6.12 inches in 1953 to 32.57 inches in 1983. The most precipitation in one month was 10.23 inches in February 1998. The maximum 24-hour rainfall was 3.60 inches on January 30, 1968. Although the summer is normally quite dry in San Jose, a very heavy thunderstorm on August 21, 1968, brought 1.92 inch of rain, causing some localized flooding.
The
snow level drops as low as 2,000 ft (610 m) above sea level, or lower, occasionally each winter, coating nearby
Mount Hamilton, and less frequently the
Santa Cruz Mountains, with snow that normally lasts a few days. This sometimes snarls traffic traveling on
State Route 17 towards
Santa Cruz. Snow occasionally falls in San Jose, but until recently, the most recent snow to remain on the ground was on February 5, 1976, when many residents around the city saw as much as 3 inches (7.6 cm) on car and roof tops. The official observation station measured only 0.5 inch of snow. However, in March of 2006, a smaller amount, up to one inch (2.5 cm) of snow fell in downtown San Jose as well as other areas around the city at elevations of only 90 feet (27 m) to 200 feet (61 m) above sea level.
Like most of the Bay Area, San Jose is made up of dozens of
microclimates. Downtown San Jose experiences the lightest rainfall in the city, while South San Jose, only 10 miles (16 km) distant, experiences more rainfall and slightly more extreme temperatures.
Economy
The large concentration of high-technology engineering, computer, and microprocessor companies around San Jose has led the area to be known as
Silicon Valley. As the largest city in the valley, San Jose has billed itself "the capital of Silicon Valley." Area schools such as
University of California, Berkeley,
San José State University,
Santa Clara University, and
Stanford University pump thousands of engineering and computer science graduates into the local economy every year.
High economic growth during the
tech bubble caused employment, housing prices, and traffic congestion to peak in the late 1990s. As the economy slowed in the early 2000s, employment and traffic congestion diminished somewhat. In the mid-2000s, traffic along major highways again began to worsen as the economy improved. San Jose had 405,000 jobs within its city limits in 2006, and an unemployment rate of 4.6%. In 2000, San Jose residents had the highest median household income
of any city with a population over 300,000, and currently has the highest median income of any city with over 225,000 people.
San Jose lists 25 companies with 1,000 employees or more, including the headquarters of
Adobe Systems,
BEA Systems,
Cisco, and
eBay, as well as major facilities for
Flextronics,
Hewlett-Packard,
IBM,
Hitachi and
Lockheed Martin. Sizable government employers include the city government,
Santa Clara County, and
San José State University.
The
cost of living in San Jose and the surrounding areas is among the highest in California and the nation.
(External Link) Housing costs are the primary reason for the high cost of living, although the costs in all areas tracked by
ACCRA are above the national average. Despite the high cost of living in San Jose, households in city limits have the highest
disposable income of any city in the U.S. with over 500,000 residents.
San Jose residents produce more U.S.
patents than any other city. Thirty-five percent of all
venture capital funds in the U.S. are invested in San Jose and Silicon Valley companies.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 894,943 people, 276,598 households, and 203,576 families residing in the city. The
population density was 5,117.9 people per square mile (1,976.1/km²). There were 281,841 housing units at an average density of 1,611.8 per square mile (622.3/km²). The Census Bureau's 2006
American Community Survey estimated the racial or ethnic makeup of the city as 46.96%
White (31.34% White Non-Hispanic), 30.49%
Asian, 0.45%
Pacific Islander, 2.92%
African American, 0.54%
Native American, 15.11% from
other races, and 3.52% from two or more races. 32.16% of the population were
Hispanic of any race. 38.63% of the population was foreign born.
There were 276,598 households out of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were
married couples living together, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.4% were non-families. 18.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.20 and the average family size was 3.62.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.4% under the age of 18, 9.9% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 103.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.5 males.
According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was the highest in the US for any city with more than a quarter million residents with $73,804 annually. The median income for a family was $83,089.
(External Link) Males had a median income of $49,347 versus $36,936 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $26,697. About 6.0% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 10.3% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.
According to California Department of Finance estimates, San Jose's population on January 1, 2007 was 973,672, third in the state behind
Los Angeles and
San Diego. The estimate indicated a growth of 1.6 percent from the previous year. According to
United States Census Bureau estimates, as of July 1, 2005, San Jose had a population of 912,332, making it the tenth most populous city in the United States.
San Jose has a very diverse religious life with thousands of
churches,
mosques,
temples, and religious centers. San Jose and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area is home to many
Christian congregations (including large,
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox churches,
Mormons and
Jehovah's Witnesses) alongside centers of
Jewish,
Hindu,
Muslim,
Buddhist,
Hare Krishna, and
Sikh faiths among numerous other religious communities.
When it comes to dealing with such a diverse demographic, San Jose has a relatively easy situation with race relations. A high percentage of foreign-born live in the city, including many high-tech workers from
East and
South Asia. The people from these countries have settled in the city and across the Santa Clara Valley during the last three decades. Many
Central American,
Southeast Asian and
Eastern European immigrants have lived in San Jose since the late 1970s and early 1980s. A large, multi-generational Hispanic
barrio is in the Alum Rock district. Many Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans thrive downtown on the streets of Guadalupe and Almaden.
San Jose has the distinction of being the U.S. city with the largest
Vietnamese American population. Municipal signs and brochures are sometimes displayed in Vietnamese language in addition to English and Spanish. In an effort to cater to this demographic, the San Jose Mercury News published a Vietnamese-language newspaper from 1999–2005 called Viet Mercury.
Arts and architecture
Because the downtown area is in the flight path to nearby
Mineta San Jose International Airport, there's a permanent height limit for all buildings.The height limit is dictated by Federal Aviation Administration guidelines known as advisory circulars. The height limit is driven by the distance from the runway and a slope defined by the FAA in the previously mentioned guidelines. Core downtown buildings are limited to approximately 300 feet but can get taller the further from the airport. . There has been broad criticism over the past few decades of the city's architecture. Citizens have complained that San Jose is lacking in aesthetically pleasing architectural styles. Blame for this lack of architectural "beauty" can be assigned to the re-development of the downtown area from the 1950s onward, in which whole blocks of historic commercial and residential structures were demolished. Exceptions to this include the
Downtown Historic District, the
De Anza Hotel, and the
Hotel Sainte Claire, all of which are listed in the
National Register of Historic Places for their architectural significance.
Municipal building projects have experimented more with architectural styles than have most private enterprises. The Children's Discovery Museum, Tech Museum of Innovation, and the San Jose Repertory Theater building have experimented with bold colors and unusual exteriors. The new City Hall, designed by Richard Meier & Partners opened in 2005 and is a notable addition to the growing collection of municipal building projects.
Public art is an evolving attraction in the city. The City was one of the first to adopt a public art ordinance at 2% of capital improvement building project budgets, and the results of this commitment are beginning to have an impact on the visual landscape of the City. There is a considerable amount of pieces throughout the downtown area, and a growing collection in the City's neighborhood newer civic locations including libraries, parks, and fire stations. Of particular note, the Mineta Airport expansion will incorporate a program of Art & Technology into its development.
Within the early efforts at public art, there are notable controversies. Two examples, include the statue of
Quetzalcoatl (the plumed serpent) in downtown which was controversial in its planning because some religious groups felt that it was pagan, and controversial in its implementation because many felt that the final statue by
Robert Graham didn't closely resemble a winged serpent, and was more noted for its expense than its aesthetics. This has resulted in a common inside joke among locals, who insist it closely resembles a pile of
feces.
The statue of Thomas Fallon also met strong resistance from those who felt that people like him were largely responsible for the decimation of early native populations and
Chicano/
Latino activists protested he captured San Jose by violent force in the
Mexican-American war (1846) as well "repressed" historic documents of Fallon ordered the expulsion of most of the city's
Californio (early Spanish or Mexican) residents. In October 1991 after protests in part of
Columbus Day and
Dia de la Raza celebrations, the Fallon statue plan was scrapped and the statue was stored in a warehouse in
Oakland for more than a decade. The statue was returned to public display in 2002, albeit in a less conspicuous location: Pellier Park, a small triangular patched formed by the merge of West Julian and West St. James streets.
In 2001, the city sponsored SharkByte, an exhibit of decorated
sharks, based on the mascot of the hockey team, the San Jose Sharks, and modeled after
Chicago's display of decorated cows. Large models of sharks were decorated in a variety of clever, colorful, or creative ways by local artists and were then displayed for months at dozens of locations around the city. Many displays were removed early because of vandalism. After the exhibition, the sharks were auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. The sharks can still be found in their new owners' homes and businesses.
In 2006,
Adobe Systems in commissioned a kinetic art installation titled
San Jose Semaphore by Ben Rubin, which resides at the top of its headquarters building. Semaphore is comprised of four lighted discs which "rotate" to transmit a message. The content of the San Jose Semaphore’s message remained a mystery until it was deciphered in August 2007. The visual art installation is supplemented with an audio track, transmitted from the building on a low-power AM station. The audio track provides clues to decode the message being transmitted.
The city is home to many performance arts, including
Opera San Jose, Symphony Silicon Valley,
Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley,
Children's Musical Theater of San Jose (recognized as the largest and most talented youth theatre company in the nation), the
San Jose Repertory Theatre, and
American Musical Theatre of San Jose. San Jose also is home to the San Jose Museum of Art, one of the nation's premiere Modern Art museums. In addition, the annual
Cinequest Film Festival in downtown has grown to over 60,000 attendees per year, becoming an important
festival for
independent films.
The
HP Pavilion at San José is one of the most active venues for events in the world. According to
Billboard Magazine and Pollstar, the arena sold the most tickets to non-sporting events of any venue in the United States, and third in the world after the
Manchester Evening News Arena in
Manchester,
England, and the
Bell Centre in
Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, for the period from
January 1 September 30,
2004. Including sporting events, the HP Pavilion averages 184 events a year, or roughly one event for every two days, which is significantly higher than the average for NHL arenas.
Sports
The only "
Big Four" team to play in San Jose is the
San Jose Sharks of the
NHL. The Sharks began play as an expansion team in 1991. As of the
2007-08 NHL Season, the Sharks have become extremely popular in San Jose and are one of the top draws in the NHL selling out nearly all of their home games. The team is still yet to win the
Stanley Cup, but if they do it would be the first major professional sports team from San Jose to win a championship. The closest the team ever came to a Stanley Cup championship was in 2004 when they lost in the Western Conference Final to the
Calgary Flames. The Sharks play home games at the HP Pavilion in San Jose and is a member of the NHL's Pacific Division in the Western Conference. They have intense rivialries with the
Colorado Avalanche and
Detroit Red Wings as well as geographic rivalries with the
Los Angeles Kings and the 2007 Stanley Cup Champion
Anaheim Ducks.
San Jose has had previous attempts to draw teams from
Major League Baseball, the
NFL and the
NBA by offering stadium deals or attracting relocating sports teams. In 1991 the
San Francisco Giants baseball team nearly closed the deal to play in San Jose. In November 2007, MLB's
Oakland Athletics (A's) submitted plans to the neighboring city of
Fremont in
Alameda County for a 32,000 seat stadium with a planned opening for the 2011 season. Since the mid-1990s, numerous attempts to move the team to San Jose or
Santa Clara never materialized due to territorial restrictions that places San Jose into neighboring
National League's
San Francisco Giants territory. Nevertheless, the proposed
Cisco Field (naming rights were purchased in 2006 by San Jose-based networking company
Cisco Systems) will be five to eight miles (8 to 13 kilometers) north of San Jose's city limits via Interstate 880. This is possible because the A's own territorial rights for Alameda County, which borders much of San Jose to the north. Since the team will be located closer to San Jose than its current home in
Oakland if the plan goes through, speculation on a name change to more closely identify with San Jose and its more affluent population and businesses is rife according to the
San Jose Mercury-News.
The players of the
San Jose Earthquakes moved to
Houston, Texas after the 2005 season to become the
Houston Dynamo. San Jose has been home to the Earthquakes in the
North American Soccer League (1974–1984),
Western Soccer Alliance (1985–1988), and
Major League Soccer (1996–2005). In July 2007 it was announced that San Jose Earthquakes will be rejoining the MLS for the 2008 season in the
Western Conference. The team will officially be a continuation of the one that went on hiatus in 2005 and will thus keep its 1996-2005 records and accomplishments, including its
MLS Cup wins in
2001 and
2003 and its
MLS Supporters' Shield win in 2005.
In 1997, due to the renovation of the Oakland Arena, the
Golden State Warriors basketball team played their entire season home games at the San Jose Arena. Neighboring
Santa Clara recently announced (2006) a new stadium deal will break ground and be completed by 2009, as the new home of the
San Francisco 49ers football team. San Jose may also soon house the practice facilities for the Oakland Raiders.
Previously, San Jose was home to the San Jose Bees (1962-1976; 1983-1987) of the minor league baseball California League, the San Jose Missions (1977-1981) of the minor league baseball Pacific Coast League (from 1977-1978) and the California League (from 1979-1981), the San Jose Rhinos of
Roller Hockey International (1994–1997;1999),
the
San Jose Grizzlies (1993–1995) of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the
San Jose Golddiggers (1987–1989) of
Major League Volleyball (women's), the
San Jose Jammers (1989–1991) of the
Continental Basketball Association, the San Jose Lasers of the
American Basketball League, the
Golden State Warriors of the
National Basketball Association (while Oakland Arena was being renovated, 1996–1997), the
San Jose CyberRays of the
Women's United Soccer Association (2001–2002), and the San Jose Ballers of the
International Basketball League, now the
Tri City Ballers.
In addition to professional teams, San Jose hosts several sporting events. The
SAP Open (formerly the Sybase Open) is an annual men's
tennis tournament held at the HP Pavilion. San Jose was the host of
ArenaBowl XVI on
August 18,
2002 in which the
San Jose SaberCats defeated the
Arizona Rattlers, 52-14. The
San Jose Grand Prix, first held in July 2005, brings
Champ Car racing on a temporary
road course on Downtown streets. Downtown San Jose hosted the finish for daily
stages of the
Amgen Tour of California in February of 2006 and 2007, and hosted the
individual time trial in 2006. The city is also one of five host cities for the
Dew Action Sports Tour season; the San Jose event is held in September.
In college sports, the
San José State Spartans are the local college team, however, many residents support the
Cal Golden Bears or the
Stanford Cardinal; local sports news coverage tends to focus more on these two schools. The
Pac-10 Women's
Basketball Championship is held at the
HP Pavilion at San José as well as either the men's or women's West Regional tournament during the
NCAA's
March Madness.
In 2004, the San Jose Sports Authority hosted the
U.S. Olympic team trials for
judo,
taekwondo,
trampolining and
rhythmic gymnastics at the
San Jose State Event Center. In August 2004, the Authority hosted the USA All-Star
7-Aside Rugby Championships at Watson Bowl, east of Downtown. San Jose is also home to the
St Joseph's Hurling Club.
Transportation
The San Jose area has a freeway system, including three
Interstate highways—
I-280,
I-880, and
I-680—in addition to several state and one US Highway,
US 101,
SR 85,
SR 87,
SR 17, and
SR 237. It is, however, the largest city in the country not served by a primary, "two-digit" interstate. Additionally, San Jose contains many
expressways of the
Santa Clara County Expressway System, including the
Almaden Expressway,
Capitol Expressway,
San Tomas Expressway, and
Lawrence Expressway.
Rail service to and within San Jose is provided by
Amtrak (the Sacramento-San Jose
Capitol Corridor and the Seattle-Los Angeles
Coast Starlight),
Caltrain (commuter rail service between
San Francisco and
Gilroy),
ACE (commuter rail service to
Pleasanton and
Stockton), and a local light-rail system connecting downtown to
Mountain View,
Milpitas,
Campbell, and
Almaden Valley, operated by the
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Historic
streetcars from the San Jose History Museum operate on the light rail lines in downtown during holidays. Long-term plans call for
BART to be expanded into the San Jose area via the East Bay.
Diridon Station (formerly Cahill Depot, 65 Cahill Street) is the meeting point of all regional commuter rail service in the area. It was built in 1935 by the
Southern Pacific Railroad, and was refurbished in 1994.
VTA also operates many
bus routes in San Jose and the surrounding communities, as well as offering
paratransit services to local residents. Additionally, the
Highway 17 Express bus line connects central San Jose with
Santa Cruz.
San Jose is served by
Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport, two miles (3 km) northwest of downtown, and by
Reid-Hillview Airport of Santa Clara County. San Jose residents also use
San Francisco International Airport, a major international hub located 35 miles (56 km) to the northwest, and
Oakland International Airport, another medium-sized airport located 35 miles (56 km) to the north.
Utilities
Potable
water is provided primarily by the private-sector San Jose Water Company, with some by the Great Oaks Water Company, and ten percent by the public-sector San Jose Municipal Water System. Great Oaks provides exclusively well water, while the other two provide water from multiple sources, including well water, and surface water from the Los Gatos Creek watershed, Santa Clara Valley Water District, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission's
Hetch Hetchy reservoir.
Garbage, wastewater treatment, and
recycling services are overseen by the city of San Jose's Environmental Services Department. San Jose recycles 64% of its waste, an exceptionally high percentage that's attributed to the recycling program's accepting an unusually long list of recyclable items without requiring that materials be sorted. Among the items accepted are all types of plastic, aerosol cans and paint cans, foam packing materials,
aluminum furniture, small metal appliances, pots and pans, and clean fabrics.
Wastewater treatment happens at the San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant, which treats and cleans the wastewater of the more than 1,500,000 people that live and work in the 300 square mile (780 km²) area encompassing San Jose,
Santa Clara, Milpitas, Campbell, Cupertino,
Los Gatos,
Saratoga, and
Monte Sereno.
About ten percent of the treated wastewater is sold for irrigation ("water recycling") in San Jose, Santa Clara, and Milpitas, through local water providers San Jose Municipal Water System, City of Milpitas Municipal Services, City of Santa Clara Water & Sewer Utility, Santa Clara Valley Water District, San Jose Water Company, and Great Oaks Water Company.
Natural gas and electricity are provided by
PG&E. Telephone service is provided primarily by
AT&T.
Cable television is provided by
Comcast.
Education
Colleges and universities
San Jose is home to several
colleges and
universities. The largest and most well known is
San José State University, which was founded by the California Legislature in 1862 as the California State Normal School and is the original campus of the
California State University system. Located in downtown San Jose since 1870, the university's 30,000 students in bachelor's and master's degree programs are primarily commuters from many areas in the South Bay.
National Hispanic University, with an enrollment of 600, offers associate and bachelor's degrees and teaching credentials to its students, focusing on Hispanic students.
Lincoln Law School of San Jose offers law degrees, catering to working professionals. The San Jose campus of
Golden Gate University offers business bachelor and
MBA degrees. San Jose's
community colleges,
San Jose City College and
Evergreen Valley College, offer associate degrees, general education units to transfer to CSU and UC schools, and adult and continuing education programs. The West campus of
Palmer College of Chiropractic is also located in San Jose.
The
University of California, Santa Cruz operates
Lick Observatory atop
Mount Hamilton. In addition, San Jose residents attend several other area universities, including
Santa Clara University,
De Anza College in
Cupertino,
Stanford University in
Palo Alto,
Carnegie Mellon West in
Mountain View and the
University of California, Berkeley. Additionally, San Jose and South Bay residents also comprise large sections of the student population at both the
University of California, Santa Cruz and the
University of California, Davis.
Primary and secondary education
Most San Jose students go to schools in the
San Jose Unified School District. Prior to 1954, California law required cities and
school districts to have the same boundaries. When San Jose began expanding, rural school districts became one of the major opponents, as their territory and tax base was taken by the city. The city's legislators pushed a bill through the
California Legislature, removing that requirement, and ending much of the opposition. The result is a patchwork of local school districts in the areas annexed after 1954. There are two
Baptist high schools,
Liberty Baptist School and
White Road Baptist Academy.
(External Link) Valley Christian High School is a
Protestant high school in the North Valley neighborhood. There is also the nonsectarian K-12
Harker School.
San Jose library system
The San Jose City
Library system is unique in that the
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library combines the collections of the city's system with the San Jose State University main library. The building of the library in 2003 was the largest single library construction project west of the Mississippi. It has more than 1.5 million items. The building has eight floors that result in more than 475,000 square feet of space with a capacity for 2 million volumes.
The city has 18 neighborhood branches including the
Biblioteca Latinoamericana which specializes in
Spanish language works. The
East San Jose Carnegie Branch Library, a
Carnegie library opened in 1908, is the last Carnegie library in Santa Clara County still operating as a public library and is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places. The San Jose system (along with the University system) were jointly named as "Library of the Year" by the Library Journal in 2004.
Attractions
Parks, gardens, and other outdoor recreational sites
Almaden Quicksilver County Park, 4,147 acres (17 km²) of former mercury mines in South San Jose (operated and maintained by the County of Santa Clara, Parks and Recreation Department).
Alum Rock Park, 718 acres (2.9 km²) in East San Jose, the oldest municipal park in California
Emma Prusch Farm Park, 43.5 acres (176,000 m²) in East San Jose. Donated by Emma Prusch to demonstrate the valley's agricultural past, it includes a 4-H barn (the largest in San Jose), community gardens, a rare-fruit orchard, demonstration gardens, picnic areas, and expanses of lawn. (External Link)
California's Great America
Circle of Palms Plaza, a ring of palm trees surrounding a California state seal and historical landmark at the site of the first state capitol
Kelley Park, including diverse facilities such as Happy Hollow Park & Zoo (a child-centric amusement park), the Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park), History Park at Kelley Park, and the Portuguese Historical Museum within the history park
Kirk Park, home to the San Jose Young People's Theater
Overfelt Gardens, including the Chinese Cultural Garden
Plaza de César Chávez, a small park in Downtown, hosts outdoor concerts and the Christmas in the Park display
Raging Waters, water park with water slides and other water attractions. This sits within Lake Cunningham Park
Rosicrucian Park, nearly an entire city block in the Rose Garden neighborhood; the Park offers a setting of Egyptian and Moorish architecture set among lawns, rose gardens, statuary, and fountains, and includes the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, Planetarium, Research Library, Peace Garden and Visitors Center
San Jose Flea Market
San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, 5½ acre (22,000 m²) park in the Rose Garden neighborhood, featuring over 4,000 rose bushes
Trails
San Jose's trail network offers over of recreational and commute trails throughout the City. The major trails in the network include:
Coyote Creek Trail
Guadalupe River Trail
Los Gatos Creek Trail
Los Alamitos Creek Trail
Penitencia Creek Trail
Silver Creek Valley Trail
Additional information is available at the City of San Jose trail network website.
Museums, libraries, and other cultural collections
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
History Park at Kelley Park
Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, home of the largest Beethoven collection outside Europe
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, the largest U.S. public library west of Mississippi River
Mexican Heritage Plaza, a museum and cultural center for Mexican Americans in the area
Portuguese Historical Museum
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on display in the western United States, located at Rosicrucian Park
San Jose Museum of Art
The Tech Museum of Innovation
Sports and event venues
HP Pavilion at San José - home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, the AFL's San Jose SaberCats and the NLL's San Jose Stealth.
San Jose Convention Center-home of the CBA's San Jose Sky Rockets until the team's departure in 2006 to North Dakota.
San Jose Jazz Festival, held annually in downtown San Jose
San Jose Municipal Stadium, home of the minor league San Jose Giants.
Spartan Stadium, home of San José State University football and the previous home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes.
Other structures
Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, the oldest parish in California
Lick Observatory, home of what was once the largest telescope in the world
Sikh Gurdwara - San Jose, the largest Gurdwara (a Sikh temple) in the United States
Peralta Adobe, a restored adobe home showing the lifestyle of Spanish and Mexican California
Winchester Mystery House, a sprawling, 160-room Victorian mansion built by Sarah Winchester
Raging Waters, the largest water park in Northern California with 23 acres and millions of gallons of water
Media
San Jose is served by local media as well as that of the Greater Bay Area and national media. Media outlets based in San Jose include the San Jose Mercury News and various smaller newspapers and magazines, five television stations, six AM radio stations, and sixteen FM radio stations.
In April 1909, Charles David Herrold, an electronics instructor in San Jose, constructed a radio station to broadcast the human voice. The station "San Jose Calling" (call letters FN, later FQW), was the world's first radio station with scheduled programming targeted at a general audience. The station became the first to broadcast music in 1910. Herrold's wife Sybil became the first female "disk jockey" in 1912. The station changed hands a number of times before eventually becoming today's KCBS-AM in San Francisco.
Cultural references to San Jose
Do You Know the Way to San Jose, lyrics, Hal David – music, Burt Bacharach; Grammy-winning 1968 hit single (Pop #10, R&B #23) for Dionne Warwick, Scepter Records 12216; more than 100 other recordings.
Michaela Roessner. Vanishing Point. Tor, New York, 1993. ISBN 0-3128-5213-4. Post-apocalyptic novel, largely set in San Jose; many South Bay survivors have gathered to live in the Winchester Mystery House and the nearby Century Theatres dome.Further Information
Get more info on 'San Jose California'.
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