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(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose is the third-most populous city in California after Los Angeles and San Diego, and is the county seat of Santa Clara County. It is the tenth-most populous city in the United States, and, for the past several years, has held the title of The Safest Big City in America [4]. The city is located at the south end of the San Francisco Bay within the informal boundaries of Silicon Valley. With an estimated population of 953,000, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose is also the largest city in Northern California. [5]

(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose was the first town in the Spanish colony of Nueva California (later Alta California), founded in 1777. Originally, the city served as a farming community to provide food for nearby military installations. It served as the first capital of California after it gained statehood in 1850. After over 150 years as an agricultural center, increased demand for housing from soldiers and other veterans returning from World War II and starting families, as well as aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s led to (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose being a bedroom community for Silicon Valley in the 1970s, which attracted more businesses to the city. By the 1990s, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose's central location within the booming technology industry in the area earned the city the nickname as the Capital of Silicon Valley.

On April 3, 1979, the city council adopted San José as the spelling of the city name on the city seal and official stationery; however, the name is still more commonly spelled without the diacritical mark. The official name of the city is The City of San José.

History
For thousands of years before the arrival of European settlers, the area now known as (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose was inhabited by several groups of Ohlone Native Americans. Permanent European presence in the area came with the 1770 founding of the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo by Gaspar de Portolà and Father Junípero Serra, about sixty miles (100 km) to the south. Don Pedro Fages, the military governor at Monterey, passed through the area on his 1770 and 1772 expeditions to explore the East Bay and Sacramento River Delta. Late in 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza led an expedition to bring colonists from New Spain to California and to locate sites for two missions, one presidio, and one pueblo (town). He left the colonists at Monterey in 1776, and explored north with a small group. He selected the sites of the Presidio of San Francisco and Mission San Francisco de Asís in what is now San Francisco; on his way back to Monterey, he sited Mission Santa Clara de Asís and the pueblo (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose in the Santa Clara Valley. De Anza returned to Mexico City before any of the settlements were actually founded, but his name lives on in many buildings and street names.

Early Spanish pueblo
El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (The Town of Saint Joseph from Guadalupe) was founded by José Joaquin Moraga on November 29, 1777, the first settlement not associated with a mission or a military post (presidio) in Alta California. (Mission Santa Clara, the closest mission, was founded earlier in 1777, three miles (5 km) from the original pueblo site in neighboring Santa Clara. Mission San José was not founded until 1797, about 20 miles (30 km) north of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose in what is now Fremont.) The town was founded by the colonists led to California by de Anza, as a farming community to provide food for the presidios of San Francisco and Monterey. In 1778, the pueblo had a population of 68. 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 (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, surrounding Pueblo Plaza (now Plaza de César Chávez).

Early statehood
(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, 1875.During the Bear Flag Revolt, Captain Thomas Fallon led a small force from Santa Cruz and captured the pueblo without bloodshed on July 11, 1846. Fallon received an American flag from John D. Sloat, and raised it over the pueblo on July 14, as the California Republic agreed to join the United States following the start of the Mexican-American War. Fallon would later become the tenth mayor of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose.

During the California Gold Rush period, the New Almaden Mines just south of the city were the largest mercury mines in North America (mercury was used to help separate gold from ore). The cinnabar deposits were discovered in 1845 by a Mexican cavalry captain, Don Andres Castillero, when he recognized the red powder used by local Ohlone Indians to decorate the chapel at Mission Santa Clara. Mining operations began in 1847 at what was the first operating mine in the province, just in time for the Gold Rush. The importance of the mercury industry at the time explains why the local newspaper is named the Mercury News.

On March 27, 1850, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose became the first incorporated city in the U.S. state of California; the first mayor was Josiah Belden. It also served as the state's first capital with the first and second sessions of the California Legislature, known as the Legislature of a Thousand Drinks, being held there in 1850 and 1851. The legislature was unhappy with the location, as no buildings suitable for a state government were available in the city, and took up State Senator Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo's offer to build a new capital on land he donated to the state in what is now Benicia.

In 1884, Sarah L. Winchester (nee Pardee), the widow of William Winchester and heiress to the empire that manufactured the Winchester rifle, was told that the Winchester family was cursed and haunted by ghosts who were killed by the rifle. She moved from Connecticut to (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose and began a construction project of such magnitude that it was to occupy the lives of carpenters and craftsmen until her death: the house was continually under construction for thirty-eight years. It is believed that she built the massive, bewildering house to confuse these spirits. Before the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the Winchester Mystery House reached a height of 7 stories; today it stands three stories with approximately 160 rooms. Many visitors to the house claim to have felt the presence of ghosts.

(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose has historically been known for ghost sightings, especially the East foothills. Tragically, the early 1940s consisted of a string of murders by one farming family. Their house still stands 2 miles behind Cliff Drive in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose. There have been many reports of missing tools and strange behavior in the neighborhood near Old Piedmont Road. Every member of the family was found and prosecuted except for the youngest son. There have been numerous sightings of Frederick Wallace in this haunted area of old orchards.

Earthquakes
(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose lies near the San Andreas Fault; a major source of earthquake activity in California. Significant quakes rocked the city in 1839, 1851, 1858, 1864, 1865, 1868,1891 and 1906. The Daly City Earthquake of 1957 caused some damage. Most recently, the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 also caused some major damage to parts of the city. The most serious earthquake, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, with its epicenter slightly off the coast of San Francisco near Golden Gate Park[6] , devastated many buildings in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose. The city was still primarily rural and the population much smaller than San Francisco, so houses and businesses were not so closely built, providing no opportunity for a major fire like the one that destroyed the city up the Peninsula. The all-brick Agnews Asylum (later Agnews State Hospital) suffered possibly the worst damage in the (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose area, killing over 100 people as the walls and roof collapsed. The 8-year-old (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose High School's three-story stone and brick structure also collapsed, and many other buildings were severely damaged. There have been many other numerous earthquakes felt in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose that cause little or no damage other than causing a "stir" around town and a few broken bottles or windows. Although most damages from earthquakes are quickly repaired, if you look closely, earthquake damage may be seen around town in the way of cracked sidewalks, raised curbs, slanted or cracked walls, patched freeway divider walls. The other faults near (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose are the Monte Vista Fault, South Hayward Fault, Northern Calaveras Fault, and Central Calaveras Fault.

Transition from agriculture to technology
For nearly two centuries a farming community, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose produced a significant amount of fruits and vegetables until the 1960s, and many past and current names of teams, streets, buildings, and so on reflect its agricultural beginnings. Prunes, grapes, and apricots were some of the major crops. In 1922, the first commercial farming of broccoli in the U.S. was started in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, by brothers Stephano and Andrea D'Arrigo. The Del Monte cannery in Midtown was the largest employer in the city for many years. [7]

Food Machinery Corporation (FMC) was founded in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose as the Bean Spray Pump Company in 1883. In 1941 the company received an order from the United States War Department for one thousand LVTs, bringing defense contracts to (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose for the first time. After World War II, FMC continued as a defense contractor, with the (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) 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. FMC's military business would later be spun off into United Defense. [8]

IBM established their west coast headquarters in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose in 1943. In 1952 they opened a research and development facility in downtown, where Reynold Johnson and his team invented RAMAC. In 1956 IBM opened its Cottle Road manufacturing facility in the Santa Teresa neighborhood, where disc drives were invented in 1962. IBM moved the research and development operation out of downtown, opening the Santa Teresa Laboratories in the Coyote Valley in 1976, and the Almaden Research Center in 1986. [9]

Growth
Downtown (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose looking over the Tech Museum towards Mount Hamilton; hills in the background show their winter green color. Click photo for detailed description.A. P. Hamann (nicknamed "Dutch") became city manager in 1950. At the time, the city had a population of 95,280 and a total area of only 17 square miles. Hamann instituted an aggressive growth program by annexation of adjacent areas, such as Alviso, Cambrian Park, and other neighborhoods, and a program of dispersed urbanization, called urban sprawl. Hamann also spent significant time on the East Coast, selling (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose as an ideal place for businesses to expand into. Hamann's efforts resulted in an annual population growth rate of over eight percent. When Hamann left office in 1969, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose had grown to 495,000 residents and 136 square miles. [7]

Following Hamann's retirement, anti-growth city councils came to power, cemented with the 1971 election of Norman Mineta as mayor. Under Mineta, the city adopted the "General Plan" that restricted development of land inside the incorporated area of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose and banned development in an additional 200 square miles east and south of the city, an area known as (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose's sphere of influence. To the west, communities such as Campbell and Cupertino had incorporated as cities to avoid being annexed to (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, while expansion to the north was impossible because of San Francisco Bay. The result was that there was no land available to build housing. The plan's goal was to bring population growth down to a more manageable level. [10]

However, with the boom of the electronics industry, specifically personal computers and integrated circuits, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose and the surrounding areas' population continued to grow rapidly. By 1980, the city's population was 629,442; it reached 782,248 by 1990; and at which point Santa Clara County as a whole had grown to 1,682,585 residents. [11] However, the city council passed another General Plan in 1994 with the original 1974 urban growth boundaries intact. As a result, housing costs in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose and the rest of the Bay Area rose faster than the national average in the 1980s and 1990s; between 1976 and 2001, (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose's housing costs increased by 936%, the fastest growth in the nation over that time. The average 2003 home price in Santa Clara County was approximately 330% of the national average. [10]

Many people's view of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose is still formed by the Dionne Warwick hit from 1968, "Do You Know the Way to (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose?" Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David (neither of whom had spent time there and chose the name because it suited the tune), it includes the lyrics, "there's a lot of space in (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose; there'll be a place where I can stay" and "I may go wrong and lose my way," and contrasts it to Los Angeles, "a great big freeway." In 1960, the population of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose was only 204,000, just over a fifth of the 2003 population. The only freeway through or near (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose was U.S. Route 101, which touched only the outermost edges of the city and was still a rural route or controlled by traffic lights in some areas. A large portion of the Santa Clara Valley still contained commercial orchards.

Law and government
The (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose City Hall opened in 2005.See also: Current leaders of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, California and List of Mayors of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, California. (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) 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 (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose 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 does not have the right of succession to the mayor's office upon a vacancy.[12]

The city manager is the chief administrative officer of the city, and must present an annual budget for approval by the city council. The council elects 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 elected by the council are the city attorney, city auditor, and city clerk. [12]


(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose, surrounding cities, and salt evaporation ponds from space, September 1994. North is to the lower right.Like all California cities except San Francisco, both the levels and the boundaries of what the city government controls is determined by the local county [13] (LAFCO). The goal of a LAFCO is to try to avoid uncontrolled urban sprawl. The Santa Clara County LAFCO has set boundaries of (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) 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 (Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) 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 Services Area' (indicated by the red line in the map), effectively limiting development to areas where urban infrastructure (sewers, electrical services, etc.) already exists.

(Bought to you by limousine services - San Jose, California) San Jose has consistently been ranked as one of the safest large cities in the United States. During the 1990s and 2000s, the crime rate has consistently fallen. [14] From 2001 to 2005 the city was ranked as the safest American city with a population over 500,000 by the Morgan Quitno Awards. [15] 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. [16] However, reports of police brutality have become more common. [17][18][19]

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