SF rentals bounce back

SAN FRANCISCO – The rest of the US may still be wondering if an economic recovery is indeed happening but in San Francisco, thanks to the growth of tech companies, things seem to be bouncing back. Office and apartment rentals have gone up, fueled by the same optimism riding on the back of tech company growth.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports office rents rose sharply in the second quarter and vacancies decreased. The city has vaulted to the leading spot in an otherwise-tepid national office market, according to three separate research reports this week.

Colin Yasukochi, vice president of research at Jones Lang LaSalle and author of one of the reports told the Chronicle that “technology companies are the underlying driving force in the San Francisco market. It’s recovering very quickly” from the economic downturn.

San Francisco has seen steady rental-rate increases for every quarter since early 2010, whereas nationally they’re still having rental-rate decreases, another national property expert said. “In the second quarter, San Francisco had the largest rental-rate increases, going up 4.4 percent compared to the first quarter. That’s very, very strong, far better than anywhere else in the country.”

Indeed, even in the residential apartment market, rentals are rising significantly, as my own daughter is experiencing. But she is convinced there is no place to be in the US but San Francisco. Even after a start up tech company she was working with last year lost steam, she was rather quickly able to relocate to another.

The vibrancy of the San Francisco economy is obvious. Its tourism industry must have made Bertie Lim salivate with envy when he visited this city last month. There are lines everywhere in tourist points of interest. Tickets to go to Alcatraz, for instance, must be purchased in advance if you want to be sure you have a place. From the Embarkadero to the Fishermen’s Wharf, a blanket of tourists are giving the ambience of a national holiday everyday.

My daughter loves it here, calling it a manageable and gentler version of New York and you get to see the sun. The weather is pretty good too. Summer has started elsewhere in the country but I still had to wear a light jacket as we walked up to the Ghirardelli chocolate factory near the Fishermen’s Wharf. Of course the thick dark hot chocolate is to die for.

Outside of the real danger of a San Andreas fault earthquake, San Francisco is probably the best US city today. I like the city’s cultural, ethnic and social mix, not to mention its tolerance of all sorts of ideas and preferences. Its mild climate is a plus too. One could indeed, leave one’s heart in San Francisco.

Vivian Zalvidea

It was good to see Vivian Zalvidea, one of the best reporters during my watch at the ABS-CBN Newsroom, doing quite well here. She is now the Executive Producer of Balitang America for ABS-CBN International in Redwood City near San Francisco. 

Viv moved to the US some 10 years ago and found her place at the North America bureau of ABS-CBN then under Ging Reyes, who now heads news operations in Manila. I remember that I once assigned Viv to do an in-depth mini-docu on the OFW phenomena at a time when reporting on the human side of our OFWs was not yet in vogue.

Viv joined my family over dinner at Patio Filipino in San Bruno and we had fun catching up, trying to bridge 10 years we didn’t see each other. I remember the day Viv called me to say that she has decided to leave for the US. I guess years of working in the newsroom can burn out anyone and I understood she needed a change of scene.

But when news runs in your blood, you can run away from it only for so long. Like any journalist, Viv found her way back to the newsroom. She now keeps an even busier life than back in Manila. She is now raising a daughter and running a daily newscast for US-based Filipinos over TFC. What’s not surprising for me is how Viv is winning industry awards for her work.

One recent award is for the televised Town Hall meeting with P-Noy during the President’s visit to the US. The TV event produced by Viv, won the bronze Telly Award. The Telly Awards, according to its website, honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web.

Winning a “Telly” is no minor achievement. The 32nd Annual Telly Awards received over 11,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents. It is good to know that the North American operation of ABS-CBN is delivering world class productions and not just re-broadcasting Manila programs. That accomplishment belongs to Ging Reyes who delivered all that during her stint as North America bureau chief. Like Viv, I saw how good Ging was during my watch and moved her up as Producer of World Tonight. I am really proud of both of them.

And other than the P-Noy townhall meeting, ABS-CBN International won five other Tellys: Streets of my Lolo, a documentary on social issues which also won two other Tellys for use of graphics and editing; Bayaning Pilipino: Little Manila Foundation, a documentary; Adobo Nation: Sari-Sari Etcetera: Filipina Winemakers in the Information category; and Global P-Noy: Town Hall Sa TFC in the live events category. Raffy Lopez who runs TFC must be very proud.

Viv was also the executive producer of Bayaning Pilipino,an awards show that honors people and organizations that make a difference in the lives of overseas Filipinos. The winning entry was a segment, produced (segment producer is head of the graphic and image department Pia Lopezbanos) in documentary style that aired on said awards show.

The documentary discusses the struggles of the Little Manila Foundation to preserve the historical legacy of Filipino migrant workers in Stockton, California. Stockton is known to be the biggest Filipino community outside of the Philippines in the early to mid 1900s. I don’t know if ANC has shown the documentary but maybe it should so that we all get to know the struggles of the earliest OFWs.

I particularly like the award given to the P-Noy Townhall broadcast. I was in a meeting with Oscar Lopez and some other executives one morning brainstorming how we could participate meaningfully in P-Noy’s US visit other than sponsoring a dinner or a lunch which the other conglomerates like Ayala were doing.

I proposed using the full telecast facilities of ABS-CBN in Redwood City for a Town Hall type of event. Initially, some in the group who attended a previous meeting with the Palace organizing committee said that may not be possible because the schedule is already set. But I convinced Mr. Lopez to make a personal proposal and we called Ricky Carandang who promised he would do what he can. The rest is history plus an award.

Of course it helped that Ging was still in Redwood at that time to moderate it and she assigned Viv to lead the production. It established P-Noy’s ties with the local Pinoy community and played up P-Noy’s skills in responding to questions with his very honest and down to earth answers. The question of my cousin-in-law, SFO-based Dennis Normandy on family planning, established P-Noy’s commitment to a sensible family planning program even under pressure from the Catholic bishops. Another plus for P-Noy.

Well... here’s hoping more great things from Viv and the rest of the ABS-CBN International staff here. Between Viv and Nadia Trinidad who took over Viv’s work as North America Bureau Chief, we have America well covered.

Patio Filipino

A persistent question I still don’t have a good answer is how come Thai and Vietnamese cuisine are able to attract international attention and Filipino cuisine can’t seem to get it right. Here in the Bay area, there are dozens of Filipino restaurants but mostly catering to Filipinos.

Maybe things are just about to change. I was looking at Yelp, a site where folks can give feedback on their restaurant experiences and it seems Filipino cuisine is starting to get good notices. Even a Filipino food truck was getting rave reviews.

It also helps that there are now very respectable Filipino restaurants where a Pinoy will not be embarrassed top take a non-Filipino friend. One such restaurant is Patio Filipino in San Bruno. The food is typical Filipino but with a creative twist. Its crispy pata, for instance, is even better than many crispy patas we have had in Manila.

I came across Patio through an e-mail from its owner, Tito Gonzales who happened to be in Manila when he read my column that indicated I was in the Bay area. He invited me to try his restaurant and it was a great experience. His wife Tess is personally supervising operations with a very dependable manager, Rico Domigpe.

Apparently, it was already a favorite of Viv who readily said yes when I invited her to join us there. I sure wish they had something like it in Southern California. Where we are in Anaheim, we have a pretty good turo turo type restaurant where we buy take outs but to graduate to something that will go beyond the Pinoys, something like Patio is needed.

The Pinoy’s culinary creativity (like the fusion of sisig and burito) and our traditional hospitality should be great advantages. We need to have our restaurants positively reviewed by the mainstream media the way Purple Yam, of my UP classmate Amy Besa, was reviewed by the New York Times. For the West Coast, Patio is a good bet to move Filipino cuisine several notches higher.

Usapang lasing

This one is from Ruth Marbibi.

A woman was sipping on a glass of wine, while sitting on the patio with her husband, and she says: “I love you so much, I don’t know how I could ever live without you.”

Her husband asks: “Is that you, or the wine talking?”

She replies: “It’s me ............. talking to the wine.”

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. He is also on Twitter @boochanco