San Jose's population hits 1 million; Mayor Reed says 'size does matter'

By Mike Swift
Mercury News

San Jose has hit another major population milestone — becoming the first West Coast city north of Los Angeles to notch its one millionth resident.

Actually, it's 1,006,892 residents, according to figures released Thursday by the California Department of Finance that had city leaders pleased.

"Size does matter," said a proud Mayor Chuck Reed. While not the only important thing, the mayor explained, "it does matter when I'm in Washington or Sacramento trying to get state or national policy changed on a Silicon Valley issue. I don't know if the absolute number counts, but being the 10th largest city in the country and over a million puts us in a category that people will pay attention to, even though they've never been to San Jose."

No longer does it matter that San Jose lacks the skyline of the biggest American cities, and that it continues to be the geek living next door to the Angelina Jolie of urban centers. Long the Bay Area's biggest city, it is now the 10th U.S. city with a seven-digit population, a threshold that may urge it to leave behind its long rivalry with the cultural Parthenon to the north. ....more....