Let’s have a do-over

Even more childish than asking for do-overs when the results do not suit, is the people letting our elected officials get away with it. No, this is not about junior high school kids looking for cover on a failed test. It is about a few adults lucky enough to be elected or appointed to key leadership positions in city government.

Here is how it works.

The West Las Positas Interchange has been a part of Pleasanton’s long-range plans since the early ‘70s. For votes from NIMBYs and selfish and ignorant homeowners, Pleasanton civic leaders ask for a do-over to remove the project from future plans.

The Stoneridge Drive extension to El Charro, long a Pleasanton plan, was re-codified by the council and voters in 1996. Now that, six years later, it does not suit our current leaders and a small cadre of liming followers, the plan has to be revisited as a part of an “East Side Study.”

The Bernal property has been lined out. A big park and maybe a school site are about all that will fit on the remaining 300+ acres. When the council came up with laundry list of ideas for the free property, obstructionist leaders sensing that some counselors might approve of development, asked for a Task Force. When the Task Force looked as though it was leaning toward development-like projects, the do-nothing crowd came up with an initiative to stymie anything but open space. Another election—another do-over. Seniors took it on the chin this time. The housing you see on Bernal is all that will be built without another vote. Subsidized housing on already-owned land be damned.

Today, Bernal is still a bone of contention. The promised ACE train station—a natural fit for the Bernal property since it runs alongside the tracks—is about to be axed from Bernal plans because there is not enough Pleasanton ridership. The train station has been a part of the Bernal discussions since the property was given to us. The do-over is in the new and improved General Plan review.

The Happy Valley annexation vote did not go the way the city fathers had hoped. The do-over on this one involved running off to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) to annex a smaller portion of the Happy Valley land the city needs for a municipal golf course for which they have already spent nearly $4 million. They won. We can only smile when thinking of how obstructionists would react if Happy Valley homeowners collected enough signatures for an annexation initiative.

The do-overs cost a lot of money. The Bernal initiative cost a lot of money in wasted time and motion. Removing the West Las Positas Interchange from the General Plan could cost $1 million. If it will cost to remove West Las Positas, scrapping the Stoneridge Drive extension could likewise cost a bunch. Although it is a long shot to halt the development of the Happy Valley golf course, the county residents out in Happy Valley could win their lawsuit against the city. Even if they lose, the city has invested in a defense. So in winning, we lose.

The saddest part of do-overs is not the expense, it is that the children who ask for them because of their youth and inexperience see that the concept works right downtown at City Hall. That negative reinforcement does not serve them well. At some time they will have to face the consequences of their behavior. Counselor Matt Campbell, when he wears his other hat as a high school government teacher, must try to explain the do-over behavior of his colleagues to his students. It works for them why cannot it work in school?

News Opinion

It is truly amazing that it costs money to
remove something that hasn’t been built

A perfect example of environmentalism run amok is the news that it will cost the city from $250,000 to $1 million to remove a planned, but unbuilt freeway interchange from the city’s General Plan.

The money, of course, is for an environmental impact report.

The West Las Positas Interchange has been Pleasanton’s General Plan since 1976. The right of way from Foothill Road to the current overcrossing is four lanes wide to accommodate the eventual roadway leading to the proposed interchange structure. In the face of that overwhelming evidence that there would be an interchange, residents in Oak Hill and Highland Oaks have fought valiantly against building the interchange—and have apparently won.

The losers are the rest of the Pleasanton neighborhoods. Those taxpayers will have to pitch in to have the plan scrapped.

Quick Opinion

Nut cases abound

There is no end to the idiocy that comes from environmental extremists. Now the Sierra Club does not know from where the expansion money for Contra Costa County’s Los Vaqueros Reservoir will come. When it comes to spending like drunken sailors, they have never shown much fiscal restraint. Is it that they cannot come up with a logical reason for not expanding water storage and money is a way to regroup while they find an endangered species that will drown if Los Vaqueros expands? The East Bay Area Trails Council does not want to cover bicycle trails around Los Vaqueros Reservoir with a major expansion to increase desperately needed water storage capacity. Increased capacity will allow for the distribution of water to eastern and southern Alameda County and to Santa Clara County.

The expansion will also improve water quality.

OpinionPleasanton feels that it is the presence of bulldozers that scares the extremists. Bulldozers indicate growth. If we have additional water storage we can grow more houses. More houses means more people. More people means more automobiles. More automobiles means more air pollution. Yada, yada, yada. All of this puts the Sierra Club and housing special interest groups in a bind. The ultra liberal California state legislature and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) want mandated subsidized housing but cannot find anyplace to put it without going beyond their own urban boundaries. Without that, houses will have to be built in the suburbs—near Los Vaqueros and points east and south. Oops. Liberal, extremist constituencies clash once again.

More water could also mean more agriculture in eastern Contra Costa and Alameda counties. Eco extremists have formed an unholy alliance with farmers to stop sprawl. The Los Vaqueros expansion could mean desperately needed water for vineyards in the Livermore valley. It could also mean more houses and more people. Is it no wonder that the Sierra Club cannot decide to …or get off the pot?

Earth Day

We are still doing this? This non-event has moved from a conservation movement, which was good to a socialist event, which because of its initial goodness goes unchallenged for our school children. Anti-American Green politics should be allowed no more than Libertarian or Republican politics are allowed in our schools. Consequently, Earth Day must be removed from the classroom.

In its place, industry should visit the classrooms to explain to our students that some forms of recycling cost much more in energy use than is saved. Some forms of energy generation are still too expensive to be viable in the unregulated, free marketplace.

Industry is the only way to deliver this message, as teachers have become willing accomplices to the eco extremists and their propaganda. If it is warm and fuzzy you can be sure that the teachers will embrace it. The fact that some recycling is too expensive in its energy use and that extinction happens will never appear to be warm and fuzzy and not a part of most lesson plans.

Guest Opinion

Stop capitalism campaign begins in the classroom

I am so upset. I hope the good people of Pleasanton protest.

The Valley section of the Tri-Valley Herald Tuesday April 8 {contained a story headlined} “Walnut Grove to celebrate Earth Day.” The article quoted a Walnut Grove representative as saying that it is catching on in other schools around the nation and w are so proud it started here.” I think it is a shameful outrage. Would the learned scholars call it the Democrat or the Republican initiative? This is just a way to brainwash and confuse the learning process of the children. Kids will soon be chanting and passing out literature for the Green Party from school, not having the ability to separate the two. This is an intentional blurring of the messages. Surely these “educators” know semantics and have a vocabulary large enough to come up with another choice of words. No accident. Someone in the district should have suggested finding another name for the initiative. I am outraged as the ignorant and silent just allow it to happen. But then we know that they must capture the minds of the young if they are ever to save the earth and stop evil capitalism.

Also I saw the Independent’s “City Council asked to take a stand against the Patriot Act”
…We elect the council for potholes not national policy. The city will be forever divided into camps on all future LOCAL issues. Counselors Jennifer Hosterman and Pico wanted to have a major discussion. …We knew that when Ms. Hosterman got on the council Pleasanton will be said in the same breath as Berkeley and Santa Cruz. We too can become a socialist enclave and national joke.

Judy Symcox