San José and Santa Clara County
A lifelong Bay Area resident, Zoe is proud to represent the 19th Congressional District, which encompasses the City of San José and parts of Santa Clara County stretching towards Morgan Hill and Gilroy to the south.
One of the most notable features of Santa Clara County is its beautiful scenery and weather. The region is known for its pleasant weather and is filled with lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks. The valley is surrounded by mountains and hillsides, and is home to an extensive system of parks, recreational areas and playgrounds. As the heart of “Silicon Valley,” the county is currently home to thousands of high technology companies which employ a large number of residents to make it the most populous county in the Bay Area.
San José, the county seat and Capital of Silicon Valley, is located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay and is considered to be the heart of American innovation as the high tech center of the world. In addition, the city’s active art society is visible throughout the area, from the historic San José Museum of Art to the public art pieces of local artists. With a population of more than one million residents, San José ranks as the 10th largest city in the nation and the 3rd largest in California following Los Angeles and San Diego. San José is conveniently located just forty-five minutes east from the Pacific Ocean and forty-five minutes south from San Francisco.
Founded in 1850, Santa Clara County was one of the original counties of California at the time of statehood. San José was California’s very first civilian settlement and became the first state capital in 1850. A region that was once covered with orchards, Santa Clara County was known as the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.” For many years, San Jose has been viewed as a focal point for immigration issues. It has Northern California’s largest Mexican-American community, many of whose members are farm workers.
Local agriculture was brought into the national spotlight with the help of San José resident, Cesar Chavez, the founder of the National Farm Workers Association. Adopting the non-violent practices of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, Chavez championed a movement that changed the rights of farmers throughout the nation and is both a celebrated local and national hero.
With much to offer, San José and Santa Clara County have attracted a very diverse community rich in culture, where residents speak more than 56 different languages. The 19th Congressional District has the distinction of having the largest Hispanic population of any district in the Bay Area, and the largest concentration of Vietnamese in the country.
For more information on visiting San José, please visit the City of San José Convention and Visitor Bureau’s website www.sanjose.org
Some notable facts and items about San José:
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