Showing posts with label Silicon Valley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Silicon Valley. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Facebook Files for it's Long-awaited IPO
Now THIS should shake up the Real Estate market!!!
Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.
Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Happy New Year!
Happy 2012!!!
We are going to have a fantastic year. The Menlo Park Office of Alain Pinel Realtors had a wonderful year in 2011, and this one is going to be even better.
Sales are firm in Menlo Park and Palo Alto
WE NEED MORE INVENTORY.
For a Current Market Analysis of your property please contact me at (650) 888-6628, or to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.
We are going to have a fantastic year. The Menlo Park Office of Alain Pinel Realtors had a wonderful year in 2011, and this one is going to be even better.
Sales are firm in Menlo Park and Palo Alto
WE NEED MORE INVENTORY.
For a Current Market Analysis of your property please contact me at (650) 888-6628, or to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sand Hill Road Tops List Most Expensive Office Address in North America
Sand Hill Road Tops List Most Expensive Office Address in North America
1. Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park -- $114. per square foot
The epicenter of the technology universe, Sand Hill Road houses many of the venture capitalists that provide start-ups with funding to grow and spread the tech expansion.
4. University Avenue, Palo Alto -- $83. per square foot
With immediate access to Stanford University and abundant retail amenities, University Avenue has been a popular location for start-up companies and professional services firms, the most notable being Facebook, Inc.
Source: World Property Channel, Posted by Michael Gerrity
1. Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park -- $114. per square foot
The epicenter of the technology universe, Sand Hill Road houses many of the venture capitalists that provide start-ups with funding to grow and spread the tech expansion.
4. University Avenue, Palo Alto -- $83. per square foot
With immediate access to Stanford University and abundant retail amenities, University Avenue has been a popular location for start-up companies and professional services firms, the most notable being Facebook, Inc.
Source: World Property Channel, Posted by Michael Gerrity
Thursday, August 4, 2011
LEASED in Menlo Park -- Elder Avenue in Central Menlo Park
Lovely West Menlo Park Home just LEASED!!!
Close to best Menlo Park Schools, downtown Menlo Park, Stanford University and Silicon Valley.
Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine homes in the Mid-Peninsula, Silicon Valley and Stanford vicinity.
bslaton@apr.com
Monday, August 1, 2011
SOLD In Palo Alto -- 6 Offers!!!
Great 4 Bedroom home in the Green Acres neighborhood of Palo Alto.
This home is two years new and boasts many designer features. Close to Juana Briones Park, Stanford University and Silicon Valley.
Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine properties in the Mid-Peninsula, Stanford and Silicon Valley area.
bslaton@apr.com
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tech Rebound Gives Housing a Lift
Source: The Wall Street Journal
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE
The resurgence in the Silicon Valley tech industry is leading to a new boom in the area's real estate market, with rising rents and a scarce supply of homes to buy.
Sid Vismanathan, who sold his start-up to LinkedIn in January, purchased a three-bedroom house in Mountain View for $700,000.
When Ann Schneider advertised her 1,782-square-foot, three-bedroom town home in Mountain View for rent on online classifieds site Craigslist earlier this month, she was surprised to get nearly a dozen responses right away.
The modest house has a two-car garage and a backyard, and she had redone the master bath and repainted the walls so it looks in better shape than comparable units in the complex. But she also raised the rent 60% to $4,000 a month.
Nevertheless, she had one potential renter offer to pay two months up front, and another who came to look at the house ready to make an offer with a package of documents that included a copy of a completed rental application, a letter from his employer, additional letters of recommendation and a credit report.
"I've had offers over email without seeing it," said Ms. Schneider, adding that she hasn't experienced anything like it since she began renting the house five years ago.
Inquiries came from as far away as Spain, Germany and Finland, and many from people in the high tech or medical fields. She ultimately rented it to a family. The clincher was that they agreed to sign a two-year lease.
While the nationwide housing market continues to struggle, Silicon Valley is one among a small number of areas where demand is strong. According to website Rent.com, the amount of rent that tenants are paying rose 11% in the first quarter in the San Jose market, which includes Palo Alto, Mountain View and Cupertino, compared with a 2.5% increase nationwide.
Ann Schneider had many offers to rent her Mountain View town home.
Realtors and real estate experts, meanwhile, are reporting a dearth of properties for sale, which often is a precursor to rising home values. Real estate statistics firm Altos Research of Mountain View found that, this spring, an average of about 76 homes were on the market in any given week in Palo Alto—the epicenter of the boom—compared with 110 a year earlier and about one-tenth the number in a similarly sized market near Dallas or Atlanta.
While in some cities, a lack of homes for sale could mean that owners are taking their properties off the market because they can't sell them, Altos Research Chief Executive Mike Simonsen said the very small number of homes listed with reduced prices suggested that this isn't the case in Silicon Valley. Properties with reduced prices comprised just 4% of current listings in Palo Alto, compared with a little more than 40% six months ago and 25% a year earlier.
Additionally, properties that were relisted, most likely because they couldn't be sold, also comprised just 4% of listings in Palo Alto, at the low end of the area's typical range of 4% to 15%. The median sale price in Palo Alto has largely remained unchanged in the past year at about $1.7 million, he said.
Real estate agents already see evidence of a housing crunch in a handful of communities such as Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton, which are known for their schools and are near many of the fastest-growing companies. They say a number of two- and three-bedroom houses that are less than 2,000 square feet have sold for $1 million to $2 million after receiving multiple bids.
"There's just not enough land to build [in this area]," said Keri Nicholas, a real estate agent in Menlo Park, though she added that the market appears to be heating up over the last five months at a slower pace and more unevenly than during the Internet bubble when "it happened very quickly and ended very abruptly." She said there were still pockets in the broader Silicon Valley area where homes are difficult to sell, especially in the lower-end price range where buyers might have a harder time qualifying for loans.
Those who aren't interested in buying or can't find adequate houses for purchase are looking to rent. Mara McCain, an agent at Alain Pinel Realtors, recently listed a three-bedroom 2,850-square-foot house in Menlo Park on Craigslist for rent for $9,500 a month. Despite the high price, she said she has received more than 20 inquiries. She ended up renting the house to a technology executive.
At the heart of the boom is the technology industry, led by heavyweights such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc., which has fueled jobs and created wealth in the area.
An additional factor has been the anticipation of public offerings from companies such as Facebook Inc., valued by some investors at more than $70 billion and expected to go public as early as next year. Already, employees and others who have received private shares can sell them through specialized markets.
"All of a sudden, there are a ton of millionaires coming out because of Facebook," said Katie Hammer Riggs, an agent at Coldwell Banker Menlo Park.
Already, the initial public offering of another tech company, LinkedIn Corp., a professional networking site based in Mountain View, is prompting some employees to upgrade their homes.
Sid Vismanathan is a 27-year-old co-founder of a business card reading app called CardMunch that was acquired by LinkedIn in January for an undisclosed amount. After the May IPO of LinkedIn, Mr. Vismanathan this month purchased a 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom house in Mountain View for $700,000, upgrading from the $400 a month he paid for a two-bedroom rental apartment shared with two others.
"I felt like it was a good deal," he said, adding that he lucked out because the owners wanted to sell quickly. "It was on the higher side of my budget, but it was a single-family unit and nothing of that similar type of house has sold for less than $769,000 in the last year," he said.
By YUKARI IWATANI KANE
The resurgence in the Silicon Valley tech industry is leading to a new boom in the area's real estate market, with rising rents and a scarce supply of homes to buy.
Sid Vismanathan, who sold his start-up to LinkedIn in January, purchased a three-bedroom house in Mountain View for $700,000.
When Ann Schneider advertised her 1,782-square-foot, three-bedroom town home in Mountain View for rent on online classifieds site Craigslist earlier this month, she was surprised to get nearly a dozen responses right away.
The modest house has a two-car garage and a backyard, and she had redone the master bath and repainted the walls so it looks in better shape than comparable units in the complex. But she also raised the rent 60% to $4,000 a month.
Nevertheless, she had one potential renter offer to pay two months up front, and another who came to look at the house ready to make an offer with a package of documents that included a copy of a completed rental application, a letter from his employer, additional letters of recommendation and a credit report.
"I've had offers over email without seeing it," said Ms. Schneider, adding that she hasn't experienced anything like it since she began renting the house five years ago.
Inquiries came from as far away as Spain, Germany and Finland, and many from people in the high tech or medical fields. She ultimately rented it to a family. The clincher was that they agreed to sign a two-year lease.
While the nationwide housing market continues to struggle, Silicon Valley is one among a small number of areas where demand is strong. According to website Rent.com, the amount of rent that tenants are paying rose 11% in the first quarter in the San Jose market, which includes Palo Alto, Mountain View and Cupertino, compared with a 2.5% increase nationwide.
Ann Schneider had many offers to rent her Mountain View town home.
Realtors and real estate experts, meanwhile, are reporting a dearth of properties for sale, which often is a precursor to rising home values. Real estate statistics firm Altos Research of Mountain View found that, this spring, an average of about 76 homes were on the market in any given week in Palo Alto—the epicenter of the boom—compared with 110 a year earlier and about one-tenth the number in a similarly sized market near Dallas or Atlanta.
While in some cities, a lack of homes for sale could mean that owners are taking their properties off the market because they can't sell them, Altos Research Chief Executive Mike Simonsen said the very small number of homes listed with reduced prices suggested that this isn't the case in Silicon Valley. Properties with reduced prices comprised just 4% of current listings in Palo Alto, compared with a little more than 40% six months ago and 25% a year earlier.
Additionally, properties that were relisted, most likely because they couldn't be sold, also comprised just 4% of listings in Palo Alto, at the low end of the area's typical range of 4% to 15%. The median sale price in Palo Alto has largely remained unchanged in the past year at about $1.7 million, he said.
Real estate agents already see evidence of a housing crunch in a handful of communities such as Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton, which are known for their schools and are near many of the fastest-growing companies. They say a number of two- and three-bedroom houses that are less than 2,000 square feet have sold for $1 million to $2 million after receiving multiple bids.
"There's just not enough land to build [in this area]," said Keri Nicholas, a real estate agent in Menlo Park, though she added that the market appears to be heating up over the last five months at a slower pace and more unevenly than during the Internet bubble when "it happened very quickly and ended very abruptly." She said there were still pockets in the broader Silicon Valley area where homes are difficult to sell, especially in the lower-end price range where buyers might have a harder time qualifying for loans.
Those who aren't interested in buying or can't find adequate houses for purchase are looking to rent. Mara McCain, an agent at Alain Pinel Realtors, recently listed a three-bedroom 2,850-square-foot house in Menlo Park on Craigslist for rent for $9,500 a month. Despite the high price, she said she has received more than 20 inquiries. She ended up renting the house to a technology executive.
At the heart of the boom is the technology industry, led by heavyweights such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc., which has fueled jobs and created wealth in the area.
An additional factor has been the anticipation of public offerings from companies such as Facebook Inc., valued by some investors at more than $70 billion and expected to go public as early as next year. Already, employees and others who have received private shares can sell them through specialized markets.
"All of a sudden, there are a ton of millionaires coming out because of Facebook," said Katie Hammer Riggs, an agent at Coldwell Banker Menlo Park.
Already, the initial public offering of another tech company, LinkedIn Corp., a professional networking site based in Mountain View, is prompting some employees to upgrade their homes.
Sid Vismanathan is a 27-year-old co-founder of a business card reading app called CardMunch that was acquired by LinkedIn in January for an undisclosed amount. After the May IPO of LinkedIn, Mr. Vismanathan this month purchased a 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom house in Mountain View for $700,000, upgrading from the $400 a month he paid for a two-bedroom rental apartment shared with two others.
"I felt like it was a good deal," he said, adding that he lucked out because the owners wanted to sell quickly. "It was on the higher side of my budget, but it was a single-family unit and nothing of that similar type of house has sold for less than $769,000 in the last year," he said.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
House of the Week -- 2 Serrano Drive, Atherton
WOW!
This house is the complete package...
Stunning, peaceful, park-like grounds, impeccable craftsmanship, woodworking, moldings, lovely windows and appointments -- all the bells and whistles!
The home has the ageless appeal of an East Coast home, all the hallmarks of outside-oriented California living, grace and charm galore! An ideal setting for your museum quality paintings or porcelains...
This house is the complete package...
Stunning, peaceful, park-like grounds, impeccable craftsmanship, woodworking, moldings, lovely windows and appointments -- all the bells and whistles!
The home has the ageless appeal of an East Coast home, all the hallmarks of outside-oriented California living, grace and charm galore! An ideal setting for your museum quality paintings or porcelains...
Call me at (650) 888-6628 to see quality homes in Atherton, Menlo Park and Palo Alto.
I specialize in fine homes in the Peninsula, Silicon Valley area.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Valley is BACK!
Source: Excerpted from Venturebeat.com, Dean Takahashi
March 26, 2011
Dean Takahashi comments, "The bulls are back in Silicon Valley in a variety of ways. Let’s hope reports of the recovery are true and that the optimism doesn’t get overheated too fast and turn into a bubble of the dot-com era’s scale".
The front pages of the San Jose Mercury News and the New York Times both have stories today about the return of good times in Silicon Valley (and let’s not forget the Los Angeles Times). They point to both hard figures in unemployment data and anecdotal evidence of a recovery, rather than a bubble.
March 26, 2011
Dean Takahashi comments, "The bulls are back in Silicon Valley in a variety of ways. Let’s hope reports of the recovery are true and that the optimism doesn’t get overheated too fast and turn into a bubble of the dot-com era’s scale".
The front pages of the San Jose Mercury News and the New York Times both have stories today about the return of good times in Silicon Valley (and let’s not forget the Los Angeles Times). They point to both hard figures in unemployment data and anecdotal evidence of a recovery, rather than a bubble.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Power Lunch Discusses the Midas 100 Venture Capitalists
Forbes Editor, Nicole Perlroth
on CNBC's Power Lunch
with Michelle Cabruso Cabrerra
with Michelle Cabruso Cabrerra
WATCH THIS:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xi15iy_nicole-perlroth-of-forbes-talks-to-power-lunch-about-vcs_news
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Russian Billionaire Yuri Milner Drops $70M on Sweet New Digs
In order for one to become a Russian billionaire, they make you take a test to determine whether you're committed to buying egregiously egregious real estate.
Shipping magnate Alexander Ponomarenko passed—he bought a Russian palace (from Prime Minister Putin's right-hand man) for $350M. As did Roman Abramovich—he owns more than 10 properties.
Now Yuri Milner, the billionaire founder of Moscow-based venture firm DST, has reportedly scooped up a 25,000-square-foot number in Silicon Valley for $70M. Apparently Milner has no real plans to relocate stateside, but as far as his portfolio goes, consider it seriously beefed up.
Source: Sarah Firshein, Curbed National
Monday, February 28, 2011
Bloomberg Launches West Coast Show from San Francisco
Bloomberg News’ San Francisco team is launching a new one-hour show. Called “Bloomberg West,” the show will focus on technology news with a Silicon Valley angle on business information.
It will air weekdays at 3 p.m. Pacific time and then again at 8 p.m. It’ll will be available to 250 million people worldwide who have Bloomberg TV.
Bloomberg has 65 reporters and editors in the local bureau, up from 32 in 2007, and plans to add five more soon. The bureau itself has about 250 employees.
The new show is hosted by Emily Chang, formerly with CNN in Bejing, and Cory Johnson, who was most recently a hedge fund manager and was CNBC’s first Silicon Valley correspondent.
Bloomberg’s new show will cover the impact of Bay Area companies including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Twitter Inc.
Johnson told the San Francisco Chronicle that “New York media looks at things they don’t understand as numbers and trades and stock charts. We don’t care if a company made their numbers or missed their numbers. We care what that tells us about the business and the technological changes that the company may be succeeding at or failing at.”
Source: Bloomberg News, by Robin J Phillips on Feb 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Facebook friends Menlo Park
Facebook is moving and hiring
Source: BBC, dot.Maggie, Maggie Shiels
09:20 UK time, Wednesday, 9 February 2011
A year and a half after cutting the ribbon on its Palo Alto HQ, Facebook has just unveiled plans to quit that complex and move six miles up the road to Menlo Park to a home that will house the social network's expanding employee base.
With a workforce of around 2,000, two-thirds of which are in the Bay Area, Facebook is busting at the seams. That is very evident when you walk around the place with people always milling around, the cafeteria's always brimming with employees and the overcrowded car park.
The world's biggest social network, which celebrated its seventh birthday last week, is growing like a weed and predicts that this year will see their hiring department working overtime to fill new posts.
There are 3,700 parking spaces at the new campus and room for 3,600 people, reporters were told during a news conference to unveil the new premises. When questioned, David Ebersman, chief financial officer admitted the company is planning to "add people". While he refused to be drawn on precise figures he did say "Facebook is growing 50% a year in terms of headcount and our growth plan is to continue hiring in the Bay Area."
The new digs which were built between 1993 and 1995, was Sun's corporate HQ until Oracle bought it for $7.4bn in 2010. The campus takes up 57 acres, has nine sprawling buildings and totals about one million square feet.
Facebook said it has also purchased an adjacent 22-acre tract that is connected to its new campus by a tunnel for possible future development.
Facebook did not say how much this is all costing but said Menlo Park did not offer any tax breaks to entice the hot Silicon Valley company to its neighbourhood.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Merger of Agilent, Varian Brings Two Companies Full Circle
Merger of Agilent, Varian Brings Two Companies Full Circle
By Brandon Bailey
bbailey@mercurynews.com
More than 60 years ago, a group of young scientists and engineers were getting ready to change the world. Brothers Sigurd and Russell Varian started a company to develop electron tubes and other cutting-edge devices, with help from several Stanford instructors and grad students who were also pals with Bill Hewlett and David Packard.
Varian Associates would become one of the first tenants of the Stanford Research Park, later joined by Hewlett-Packard and a host of other high-tech companies. In their early years, Packard served on Varian's board and, the story goes, let the Varian crew borrow tools from the HP supply shed. Varian co-founder Edward Ginzton, who would later help build the Stanford Linear Accelerator, raced Hewlett to see whose car could reach the top of Page Mill Road first.
Now that story is coming full circle, as a company that was spun off from the renowned Hewlett-Packard is preparing to buy a company that was spun off from Varian Associates — which is not quite as well-known but has a notable history of innovation in fields ranging from radar and telecommunications to semiconductors and health science.
The purchase of Varian by Agilent Technologies, in a $1.5 billion deal announced last week, will reunite elements of two companies started by visionaries who shared a common belief in the power of technology and the importance of treating workers with collegiality and respect, said Stanford science historian Henry Lowood.
The deal could almost be considered "harmonic convergence," added local author John McLaughlin, who has written about the early days of the tech industry here. Varian Associates and HP, he said, "helped create the foundation of Silicon Valley."
By Brandon Bailey
bbailey@mercurynews.com
More than 60 years ago, a group of young scientists and engineers were getting ready to change the world. Brothers Sigurd and Russell Varian started a company to develop electron tubes and other cutting-edge devices, with help from several Stanford instructors and grad students who were also pals with Bill Hewlett and David Packard.
Varian Associates would become one of the first tenants of the Stanford Research Park, later joined by Hewlett-Packard and a host of other high-tech companies. In their early years, Packard served on Varian's board and, the story goes, let the Varian crew borrow tools from the HP supply shed. Varian co-founder Edward Ginzton, who would later help build the Stanford Linear Accelerator, raced Hewlett to see whose car could reach the top of Page Mill Road first.
Now that story is coming full circle, as a company that was spun off from the renowned Hewlett-Packard is preparing to buy a company that was spun off from Varian Associates — which is not quite as well-known but has a notable history of innovation in fields ranging from radar and telecommunications to semiconductors and health science.
The purchase of Varian by Agilent Technologies, in a $1.5 billion deal announced last week, will reunite elements of two companies started by visionaries who shared a common belief in the power of technology and the importance of treating workers with collegiality and respect, said Stanford science historian Henry Lowood.
The deal could almost be considered "harmonic convergence," added local author John McLaughlin, who has written about the early days of the tech industry here. Varian Associates and HP, he said, "helped create the foundation of Silicon Valley."
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Bay Area Ranks High in Contentment Survey
If you have ever wondered at the high price of Peninsula Real Estate this recent survey might help you sort it out...it speaks to the resilience and entrepreneurial spirit of the special place in which we live!
Source: exerpted from
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
In a time of downer headlines and depressing recession news, California's 14th Congressional District - home to Silicon Valley - has something to "wahoo!" about: It is a comparative bastion of contentment and well-being, according to a new Gallup Poll.
The region that stretches from Belmont to near Santa Cruz was ranked as the nation's most contented congressional district in the country in Gallup's latest "well-being" study - a detailed poll that ranks dozens of factors in American life, from emotional health and work quality to job satisfaction and typical body mass index.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, the eight-term representative and the first woman ever elected to represent the district - which includes the cities of Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Palo Alto - said that the news is welcome indeed in a time when, well, happy headlines are hard to come by.
"There's not a shred of good news around - but when I woke up and saw this on my BlackBerry, I let out an 'all right!' right in my bathroom," said an ecstatic Eshoo in an interview on Tuesday.
Eshoo said she has long bragged to her congressional colleagues that "I represent the most distinguished district in the entire nation" - but she noted that the new Gallup survey now confirms that there's more than just bragging rights involved.
"It is an extraordinary place," she said of the region that boasts of Stanford University, the venture capital bastions of Sand Hill Road, Santa Clara University and the Google headquarters. In a region where her constituents include some of the country's most innovative and successful high-tech entrepreneurs, she said, "change is not this year's political promise ... it's a constant requirement and continuing expectation."
Other Bay Area districts also ranked well among the 435. The Peninsula's 12th, represented by Jackie Speier, ranked No. 11 while San Francisco's 8th, represented by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ranked one below that. Northern California Republican Tom McClintock's 4th District ranked 25th overall.
The Gallup Poll, in conjunction with the American Health Insurance Plans and Healthways, created what it calls "The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index" to rank factors that help measure well-being in America's rural and urban communities. The effort, "an on-going daily survey that began in January 2008," polls 1,000 Americans per day, 350 days per year, according to the survey's Web site.
The poll studies "not only the absence of infirmity and disease, but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being," pollsters say.
But Eshoo says other factors - the geographic and environmental factors - are a key reason her district is the nation's standout.
"Is there a better place for magnificent weather - with the bay on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other, and the magnificent parts of the California coast?" she asks, sounding like a proud parent. "People value the land there and they're worked hard for generations to protect it. The environment is not an issue here - it's valued, cherished ... and sustained by each generation."
Source: exerpted from
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
In a time of downer headlines and depressing recession news, California's 14th Congressional District - home to Silicon Valley - has something to "wahoo!" about: It is a comparative bastion of contentment and well-being, according to a new Gallup Poll.
The region that stretches from Belmont to near Santa Cruz was ranked as the nation's most contented congressional district in the country in Gallup's latest "well-being" study - a detailed poll that ranks dozens of factors in American life, from emotional health and work quality to job satisfaction and typical body mass index.
Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, the eight-term representative and the first woman ever elected to represent the district - which includes the cities of Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Palo Alto - said that the news is welcome indeed in a time when, well, happy headlines are hard to come by.
"There's not a shred of good news around - but when I woke up and saw this on my BlackBerry, I let out an 'all right!' right in my bathroom," said an ecstatic Eshoo in an interview on Tuesday.
Eshoo said she has long bragged to her congressional colleagues that "I represent the most distinguished district in the entire nation" - but she noted that the new Gallup survey now confirms that there's more than just bragging rights involved.
"It is an extraordinary place," she said of the region that boasts of Stanford University, the venture capital bastions of Sand Hill Road, Santa Clara University and the Google headquarters. In a region where her constituents include some of the country's most innovative and successful high-tech entrepreneurs, she said, "change is not this year's political promise ... it's a constant requirement and continuing expectation."
Other Bay Area districts also ranked well among the 435. The Peninsula's 12th, represented by Jackie Speier, ranked No. 11 while San Francisco's 8th, represented by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ranked one below that. Northern California Republican Tom McClintock's 4th District ranked 25th overall.
The Gallup Poll, in conjunction with the American Health Insurance Plans and Healthways, created what it calls "The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index" to rank factors that help measure well-being in America's rural and urban communities. The effort, "an on-going daily survey that began in January 2008," polls 1,000 Americans per day, 350 days per year, according to the survey's Web site.
The poll studies "not only the absence of infirmity and disease, but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being," pollsters say.
But Eshoo says other factors - the geographic and environmental factors - are a key reason her district is the nation's standout.
"Is there a better place for magnificent weather - with the bay on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other, and the magnificent parts of the California coast?" she asks, sounding like a proud parent. "People value the land there and they're worked hard for generations to protect it. The environment is not an issue here - it's valued, cherished ... and sustained by each generation."
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