Milpitas

Milpitas was first inhabited by Tamien people, a subgroup of the Ohlone people who had resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for thousands of years. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José María Alviso in 1835. The land was divided between the 6,353-acre (25.71 km²) Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros (Spanish for "corner of the wetlands") granted to Ignacio Alvisa and the 4,457.8- acres (18.040km²) granted to José Maria Alvisi. In the 1850s, large numbers of Americans of English, German, and Irish descent arrived to farm the fertile lands. By the late 20th century, the area became known as the "Midtown" district of Silicon Valley, home to numerous high tech companies. MilpitAs incorporated in 1954 and has since become home to many high tech firms. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273, making it one of the most populous cities in California, along with San Francisco and Cupertino. It is located in Santa Clara County, in the heart of the Silicon Valley region of the Bay Area, and is part of the San Jose-Silicon Valley Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes San Jose, Santa Clara, and San Francisco. It was once known as "Little Milpas" because of the name of the village where it was located.

History

Milpitas was first inhabited by Tamien people, a subgroup of the Ohlone people who had resided in the San Francisco Bay Area for thousands of years. During the Spanish expeditions of the late 18th century, several missions were founded. The land of modern-day Milpitas is divided between the 6,353-acre (25.71 km²) Rancho Rincon de Los Esteros (Spanish for "corner of the wetlands") granted to Ignacio Alviso and the 4,457.8- acre (18.040 km²), granted to José María Alvisa. In the 1850s, large numbers of Americans of English, German, and Irish descent arrived to farm the fertile lands. The Burnett, Rose, Dempsey, Jacklin, Trimble, Ayer, Parks, Wool, Weller, Minnis, and Evans families are among the early settlers. Yet another influx of immigration came in the 1870s and 1880s as Portuguese sharecroppers from the Azores came to farm on the hillsides. By the late 20th century this area became known as the "Midtown" district. There is a local legend that in 1857, when the U.S. Postal Service wanted to locate a Post Office, there was some support for naming it Penitencia, after the small Roman Catholic confessional building that had once stood several miles south of the village. Instead of choosing another popular name for the area, Joseph Weller suggested the name Milpito.

Geography

Milpitas lies in the northeastern corner of the Santa Clara Valley, which is south of San Francisco. Milpitas is generally considered to be a San Jose suburb in the South Bay, a term used to denote the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area. The city has no concentrated downtown "center," but instead has several small retail centers generally located near residential developments and anchored by a supermarket. It is divided into three sections by Interstates 680 and 880. To the west of I-880 is a largely industrial and commercial area. Between I-680 and its eastern counterpart freeway, I- 680, is an industrial zone in the south and residential neighborhoods in the north. Other residential neighborhoods and undeveloped mountains lie east ofI-680. The boundaries that divide major Mil Pitas neighborhoods and districts include Calaveras Boulevard running from east to west and the Union Pacific railroad, which runs from north to south. The highest point in Milpit as a city is a 1,289-foot (393 m) peak in the southeastern foothills. It enjoys a warm, sunny weather with extreme winter temperatures. Rainfall is mostly confined to the few months of the year, with extreme rainfall confined to just a few days in the summer. It has been near maximum carbon monoxide levels for the last two decades for the highest levels in Santa Clara County, California. It also has a warm Mediterranean climate with extreme temperatures in the last few months for the lowest levels in the year.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 62,698 people, 17,132 households, and 13,996 families residing in Milpitas. The racial makeup of the city was 51.81% Asian, 30.87% White, 3.66% African American, 0.62% Native American, 7.48% from other races, and 4.94% from two or more races. The Census reported that 64,092 people (96.0% of the population) lived in households, 104 (0.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 2,594 (3.9%) were institutionalized. There were 19,806 dwelling units at an average density of 1,452.0 per square mile (560.6/km²), of which 12,825 were owner-occupied, and 6,359 (33.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.2%; the rental vacancy ratewas 3.1%. 42,501 people (63.6%) live in owner- occupied dwelling units and 21,591 people (32.3%) lived on rental housing units. The average household size was 3.34; the average family size was3.61. The median income for a household in the city in 2010 was $84,429, and for a family of four or more, it was $103,827. The city has a population of 66,790; the population density was 4,896.5 inhabitants per squaremile (1,890.5/ km²).

Economy

34.1% of men and 26.9% of women are employed in the computer and electronic products industry. Milpitas is home to the headquarters of Adaptec, Aerohive Networks, FireEye, Intersil, SonicWall, IXYS Corporation, Viavi Solutions and Lumentum Holdings. Many other companies have corporate offices in the city including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Western Digital, Cisco Systems, Renesas, Infineon Technologies, Varian Medical Systems, Teledyne, Quantum, LifeScan and International Microsystems Inc. The city is also home to one of Santa Clara County's two correctional facilities, the Elmwood Correctional Facility, which houses over 3,000 inmates. According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the City are: Lockheed Martin, Apple, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Texas Instruments subsidiary Texas Instruments. The number of people who live and work out of the city actually increases by nearly 20% as there are more people living in other cities who work in Mil Pitas than those living in Mil pitas. This results in heavy traffic commutes along key arterial roads twice each day. The daytime population of Milpit as increases by almost 20% because of the increase in people living and working out of city. It is the largest city in the United States with the largest percent of residents employed in this industry. It ranks first in the U.S. in terms of the percentage of residents who live in the Computer and Electronic Products industry.

Arts and culture

Milpitas is home to the largest Bay Area enclosed shopping mall (in terms of land area), the Great Mall of the Bay Area. As late as the 1950s, Milpitas was an unincorporated rural town with the Midtown district on Main Street as its main center of business and social activities. Most of the land now within modern-day Mil Pitas's boundaries was used for strawberry, asparagus, apricot, and potato cultivation until the postwar boom during the 50s and 1960s. The suburb offers a rich variety of food options, including sit-down restaurants and fast food. The Santa Clara County Library system operates the Milpit as public library. The Celebrate MilpitAs Festival is held annually every August, featuring vendors of crafts-type merchandise and providing local talent with a performance venue while selling visitors samplings of exotics like garlic fries or lumpia and even offerings from one or two Californian wineries. The "Art in Your Park" project has put many sculptures in local Mil pitas parks, including a ceramic tower in Hillcrest Park, a sundial in Augustine Park, and a historical memorial in Murphy Park. "As MilpitAS Goes, So Goes the State" used to be a popular slogan around the town. In the past, Mil Pit as had a very different culture from that of its modern suburban state. The Cracolice Building was one of the oldest commercial buildings in Milpitis and was the site of many political conventions and meetings.

Parks and recreation

Milpitas has 17 traditional neighborhood parks which are generally 3 to 10 acres (12,000 to 40,000 m2) There also is a sports complex with two swimming pools and sports parks with baseball and tennis play areas fenced off. Two golf courses, Spring Valley Golf Course and Summitpointe Golf Course, are located in the Milpitas foothills. The city has begun to develop the San Francisco Water District's Hetch Hetchy right-of-way as park land in lieu of using land from new high density residential developments adjacent to it. The City Council voted February 16, 2016, to designate Jacaranda mimosifolia as Mil Pitas's official city tree. The town has a population of 2,000. The population of the city has grown to 3,000 in the past 20 years. The growth of the town has been fueled by the growth of Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. The community has a history of being active in the arts and sports. The area has a reputation for being a hotbed of crime and violence. It has been home to a number of high-profile murders, including the murders of Mark Wahlberg and his ex-wife, Susan, in the early 1990s. It is home to the Santa Clara County Museum of Art and Science, which has a collection of more than 1,000 works of art. It also has a library, community center, sports center, teen center, library, and senior center.

Government

The city is headed by five-member city council consisting of a mayor, a vice mayor, and three councilmembers. As of 2020, the mayor is Rich Tran, the vice mayor is Carmen Montano, and the councilmembers are Evelyn Chua, Karina Dominguez and Anthony Phan. The city's seal shows Daniel Chester French's Minuteman statue, musket in hand, standing in the Santa Clara Valley, with the golden hills of Milpitas rising to the east. The seal was the idea of former Councilman and Vice Mayor John McDermott, who came up with the idea for a seal of the Minutemen from one of his son's history textbooks. The police chief is Armando Corpuz, the fire chief is Brian Sherard and the city manager is Steven McHarris. In the California State Legislature, MilpitAs is in the 10th Senate District, represented by Democrat Aisha Wahab, and in the 25th Assembly District,represented by Democrat Alex Lee. The U.S. House of Representatives is in California's 17th congressional district, representedby Democrat Ro Khanna. The mayor of Mil Pitas is Rich Tran; the city attorney is Christopher Diaz; and the mayor's daughter is Carmen Montano; the mayor's son-in-law is Evan Chua; and the city mayor's grandson is Anthony Phan; The city manager's son is Armando Corpuz;  the police chief's father is Brian Sherard.

Education

From 1912 to 1956, students attended Milpitas Grammar Schoolnow a city library. Additional schools were built, administered by the Mil Pitas Elementary School District. In 1968, the community voted to combine the city schools as part of the Mil pitas Unified School District, which includes the following schools: Elementary, Middle, and High School. The district also includes a number of private schools, including a private day care center and a daycare center for up to 100 children. The school district is part of California's K-12 education system, which also includes the Santa Clara County School District and the San Jose City School District for special education students. It is the largest school district in the state, with more than 1,000 students in primary and secondary schools. It also includes several charter schools, some of which have been open since the 1970s. The city is home to one of the nation's largest high schools, the University of California, San Jose. The community also has a large number of community colleges, many of which are located in the city. The town has a population of more than 2,000 people, making it one of only a few cities in California to have a large percentage of its students in college and graduate programs. It has a reputation for being a good school district. It was founded in 1912, and has been around since the early 20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, with about 1,500 students.

Infrastructure

The city is served by the Milpitas BART station, which opened for service as part of Phase I of the Silicon Valley BART extension on June 13, 2020. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) runs light rail and local buses for public transportation. The nearest major airport to the city is the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC), less than ten minutes away in San José. USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL are readily available to Mil Pitas. The USPS post office on Abel Street is Mil pitas's main office for postal mail. ZIP code 95035 is the only standard ZIP code for the city. Until the merger of AT&T with SBC in 2006, the city had relied on Pacific Bell for its telecommunications services. On Earth Day, April 22, 2009, the public-private partnership Silicon Valley Unwired announced the rollout of a free municipal WiFi network, providing free access to the Google Mountain View network. The city has a walk score of 48; not all streets have bicycle lanes or sidewalks. It has no boat access to San Francisco Bay in the extreme northwest, but has a marina and boat launch that allows motorized and non-motorized boats to access the bay. It is located near the city limits of San José, and is bounded on two sides by the Montague Expressway and Capitol Ave. The VTA runs timed connecting shuttles to the Altamont Corridor Express train's Santa Clara Great America Station, meeting the four daily trains in the morning.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Milpitas, Santa Clara County, California = 11.8. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Milpitas = 5.1 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 80,273 individuals with a median age of 37 age the population grows by 10.65% in Milpitas, Santa Clara County, California population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 5,900 residents per square mile of area (2,300/km²). There are average 3.52 people per household in the 18,761 households with an average household income of $101,359 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 12.20% of the available work force and has dropped -6.14% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 15.52%. The number of physicians in Milpitas per 100,000 population = 263.9.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Milpitas = 14.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 0 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 58. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 261. 82 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 41.5 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 52, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Milpitas, Santa Clara County, California which are owned by the occupant = 67.97%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 30 years with median home cost = $395,310 and home appreciation of -14.07%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $5.62 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $4,516 per student. There are 23.1 students for each teacher in the school, 4841 students for each Librarian and 880 students for each Counselor. 9.47% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 24.44% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 12.13% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).