Volume One, Number 1                                       What ElseYou Need To Know                                                         June 5, 2001

Pleasanton, You Need Another Opinion!

The Tri-Valley Herald, Valley Times and The Independent cover the cities of Dublin, Livermore, San Ramon, Castro Valley, Tracy, Manteca, Lathrop and Stockton. With that number of cities to cover, it’s no wonder that those newspapers cannot devote more space to news and views in Pleasanton. The Pleasanton Weekly, though quite thorough in recapping the week’s community news, has limited space for issues-oriented articles, editorials and opinion. Because of the economics of publishing none, sadly, can afford to devote the manpower and space necessary to cover Pleasanton politics in depth or opine with sufficient regularity.  

The Tri-Valley press reports civic and political issues from the squishy middle or from the far-left.  So in-depth stories focus on the red-legged frog habitat but not a word on what the red-legged frog has cost the city in developing a municipal golf course. And almost never will you read of the loss of new building and development projects because of the red-legged frog red tape. You do read about the formation of an environmental commission and the drafting of a sustainability plan but not a word on whether we need either and what the associated costs would be if formed. During the week of April 30, 2001, one of the local dailies published two articles on a homeowners association dispute. The same paper did not however cover the meeting of the Bernal Avenue Task Force that featured discussions of housing, ACE Train needs and the city’s search for cultural and performing arts facilities.  

Each issue of Opinion Pleasanton will outline the unfinished stories that need finishing (see box below) and will eventually find their way onto our pages. These will be in the form of three dot dispatches from city hall, guest opinions or editorial opinions.  

No Solar at City Hall. The new city hall complex is progressing quite well. One wag, however, noticed that there is nary a solar panel on the new roof or in the parking lot with all of the other mechanical equipment. Hum? Odd for a city whose council has begged a future council candidate and current planning commissioner to develop an energy plan.

From the Opinion Pleasanton Assignment Editor…In future issues look for stories on: City hall’s determination of energy savings from all departments prepared by the staff (without an energy plan or energy czar.)…Has Zone 7’s emergency water plan been coordinated with Pleasanton and other agencies?…Is there enough emergency juice for our city water pumping stations, our sewage treatment plant and waste water pipeline?

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The new mayor and the new council in the first 100 days or so  

Councilwoman Kay Ayala again takes first place for the most words spoken. In this regard, she truly is “Special K.”  

Councilwoman Becky Dennis again takes first place for the fewest words spoken but her pretty pictures of Happy Valley are worth at least a thousand words.  

Vice Mayor Sharrell Michelotti, on a council that has been described as an “ornithological sanctuary of odd birds,” quietly goes about the aviary doing the people’s work.  

Councilman Matt Campbell takes first place for the sheer volume of questions asked. The only negative? One of his election opponents doesn’t feel that he asks questions of the correct people or is that politically correct people.  

Mayor Tom Pico has several 100-day accomplishments. He, first, has great political instincts and great political timing. What a coincidence that he wore a red shirt the same evening that a room full of angry, red-shirted homeowners were in the council chambers. He also receives the Tadpole and Pollywog award for being able gather up .0001692 percent of the city residents to find a frog habitat in Kottinger Park. For the mayor and the other 11 people, “plunk the magic twanger, Froggie” still works. Finally, Mr. Pico’s “do nothing and they will play” strategy is working quite well for the sports lobby’s pet field on the Bernal property. “Take the Bernal development issue off the front pages and people will forget their own priorities.” (Mr. Pico’s council must wait for the Task Force and consultants to issue a report—which, of course, has already been written for months. It will conclude that we need a magnificent, 60-acre lighted sports park with a lake). It appears that the much-needed regional, transit village and ACE Train station and much-needed and long overdue senior housing—both green and sustainable--haven’t enough priority to derail the pre-ordained park. Hum? Park, cemetery, golf course and high-school site. Looks as though we’ll have nearly 320 acres of greenness. At the going rate for raw dirt in Pleasanton ($30-$40 per square foot) that means nearly $400 million of greenness for Mr. Pico, the sports lobby and the Sierra Club.  

How did the mayor do at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon?  

When it comes to power, it is supply and when it comes to traffic gridlock it is demand. Right now there is no nexus between traffic and power and White House War room’s “it’s the “economy stupid” but there could be soon.  

Pleasanton’s Mayor Tom Pico is so off base on the state of the city that he can be rightly accused of being “caught stealing” to use baseball’s scorekeeper description of a base runner who dangerously disregards the perils of wandering too far off base and is thrown out.

Typical of  suburban eco-politicians, Mr. Pico talks one story and acts another. His Chamber of Commerce “everything’s good, nothing’s bad” state of the city address is one such example of how the mayor totally disregards reality and continues his On-Golden-Pond fantasy. As a speaker he did what he had to do. He knew his audience and he offered a few balance-sheet platitudes hoping to keep the pro-business group calm in the face of serious business and economic issues. He also did what he had to do as a politician. He parsed his words, finessed his complicated political situation and, most of all, he survived the ordeal of addressing a group that traditionally gives him a sour stomach.  

Subsidized housing, traffic and energy
Specifically, of course Mr. Pico had to share credit for tax revenues pouring into Pleasanton’s coffers. It did happened on his watch as a councilman but it happened in spite of him. As a councilman and now as mayor he has done everything in his power to prevent growth—growth of the community and growth of the city economy. It is just preposterous that he claims any credit.  

Here are some economic facts the mayor did not mention in his address. He says he’s a fighter. He fights for affordable housing--read that subsidized housing. So, where do we stand? Plainly, we have no affordable housing, not even for the working middle class. And how did that happen? First, Mr. Pico’s policy of opposing development is a major cause. With no housing stock, prices for existing housing edges up. In the last couple of years it skyrocketed so that not even the upper middle class can afford to live here. One simi-humorous result is that the upwardly mobile has had to move north up I-680 to Danville to find housing that they can afford.

Second, the fees and mitigations demanded by Mr. Pico and his quislings have caused what new housing that’s been approved to wildly escalate in price--with as much as 20 to 25 percent of asking prices in fees extorted by government and passed along to buyers.  

Third, the fees for subsidized housing are extremely low when compared to our neighbors. Livermore collects $10,000. and Pleasanton collects only $2,500. Why? Mr. Pico knows that to collect those fees implies that they’ll be used. There is a reported $10 million in the fund. His dilemma is that he must decide who will receive them in direct subsidies. Who, even with the subsidy, can afford to pay $1,500 for a one-bedroom apartment? But the middle class apartments are already here. Sadly, it ends up being the working middle class who receives our largesse when there are those who need our compassion more—namely seniors and children. To choose those two groups though means that new housing must be approved and that doesn’t fit well with Mr. Pico’s environmental agenda. The child and senior applications of our community compassion are bottled up in Mr. Pico’s many committees and task forces. Under his tenure we have studied senior assisted living for four-plus years but don’t have a final plan. We have discontinued senior day care and ask working, middle-aged children to cart their elderly, needy parents to Livermore or elsewhere. While we are doing this, Mr. Pico and his supporters send their minions (not the Pollywog stage of frogs) out to find wetlands so that we can heap our compassion on frogs. As of April 23 Mr. Pico found  a new wetland in Kottinger Park.  

Power plants and transmission lines
Mr. Pico mentioned that we might face some difficulties because of the state’s power crises. His solution, however, is typical of eco-extremeists—do nothing. Just how vital will our city economy be when we have blackouts this summer? Small business cannot afford two-hour mid-day closures on any kind of regular basis. Bio-tech and high-tech cannot afford the fallout of rolling blackouts. The very nature of those businesses requires constant power. Finally, to hell with the residents. They can just darn well reset their clocks and VCRs while they swelter in the summer heat. They can also follow Governor Gray Davis’ suggestion of camping out in the backyard during hot nights.  

Stop scaring the people
Fill our short-term need with long-term environmental impacts? Yes Mr. Pico. Downtown Pleasanton was not the suggested site for peaking power plants. That’s just the rhetoric the mayor and the eco-extremists pedal to scare people. There is appropriate land available in Pleasanton for peaking power plants and we better get on with the job of bringing in the power or we can kiss former mayor Ken Mercer’s good economy goodbye and eat-up our bulging treasury. Rather than announcing that the sky is falling, Mr. Pico should direct his professional staff to find environmental engineers—who breathe the same air and drink the same water as the mayor—to build an environmentally friendly peaking power plant and do it in a hurry. PG&E’s new transmission lines should also be approved as soon as possible.  

Finally on energy, Mr. Pico’s dream of renewable energy is simply that—a dream. Renewable sources only supply about 12% of the state’s total energy. If renewables worked the energy companies would be in that segment of the industry. Does Mr. Pico’s dream include windmills dotting the Pleasanton Ridge ala The Netherlands? Will solar panels don the rooftops ala The International Space Station? Will battery storage be in outbuildings throughout the city ala Tijuana? Will the surplus power generated by solar be transmitted back to PG&E on overhead wires? Will immigrants operate pedal-cranked contraptions moving large rattan-bladed fans for air conditioning in our tonier downtown restaurants ala turn-of-the-century Bombay? And, who pays? Ask our now house-poor upper middle class residents to comply at their own expense? At city expense?  

ACE and BART
Clean Air? Mr. Pico gets this wrong as well. It is his enviro-extremist policies that have gotten us into a defensive position vis-à-vis the Clean Air Act. Yes, we do live at the intersection of two Interstate freeways. And yes, we know that people will do whatever they can to reach those freeways with as little inconvenience as possible. So, since we know this, what is the action plan? A committee, a blue-ribbon committee, a task force? How ironic, Mr. Pico serves on the County Congestion Management Agency and he’s the leader of one of the most congested cities in Alameda County.  

Pleasanton has an outmoded traffic management plan. Eco extremists reasoned that because we were not allowing any growth no modification of our traffic plan is needed. To their way of thinking, streets mean growth. Conversely, no growth equates to no streets and that means more and more vehicles on small and inefficient city streets cutting through to get to the freeways. Today, most people call this mix of local and cut-through traffic GRIDLOCK.  

Putting people first?
Mr. Pico’s provincialism has caused the problem and now he suggests that the solution is regional. Funny, a couple of regional solutions are staring the mayor in the face and he balks. One such regional solution is the ACE Train and a permanent station in conjunction with a transit village on the Bernal Avenue property. The mayor balks because he’d have to disappoint the sports lobby in town and would have to face the wrath of the Sierra Club which certainly has cheered his efforts to protect the frogs in Happy Valley and Kottinger Park at the expense people.  

On the other hand, Mr. Pico proposes Diamond Lanes, or, more politically correct, HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes. So let’s get this straight? A hundred Pleasanton cars with two or more occupants and a like number from San Ramon, Dublin and Livermore heading to Silicon Valley will cut down on Pleasanton’s traffic gridlock and will alleviate Tri-Valley smog?  The jury is out on this prospect. And even if they were used, HOV lanes are years and many, many commute hours away from being built.