East Bay – Silicon Valley One World

By Sharon Simonson WEST OAKLAND—For an instant after Minh Tsai opens the metal front door of his West Oakland tofu manufacturing plant, I wonder, ‘Who is this man?’ The Hodo Soy founder and chief executive is dressed in a hairnet, a faded blue, crew-neck long-sleeved t-shirt and sagging blue jeans. My mind connects the face to a photo on the company's website. A note taped to the front door instructs visitors to call to announce their arrival. “We’ll send someone out to get you,” the receptionist’s voice crackled through the intercom after I call. A moment later, Minh pushes open the door with a smile and beckons me inside. I had not expected the company founder to wear a hairnet. The Viet Nam Project He leads me into a small dark room, separated from a factory floo...

By Sharon Simonson New residents settling in the East Bay suburbs and exurbs are leading regional population growth, according to new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Of 20 Bay Area cities, Pleasanton and Brentwood were the fastest growing at 2.7 percent from July 2012 to July 2013. Pleasanton neighbor Livermore; Brentwood neighbors Antioch and Pittsburg; and Walnut Creek helped complete the top 10 fastest. San Jose, the region’s largest suburb, also appears to have turned a corner. The self-named Capital of Silicon Valley added not quite 16,000 people, making it the country’s 11th fastest-growing city on a numeric basis. San Jose’s 1.6 percent growth rate was its fastest in three years. The Bay Area trends echo national trends reported May 22 by The Wall Street Journal bas...

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