Letters Letters (December 19, 2003)

Put Shadow Cliffs on ballot

Editor,

We are writing to express our dismay that the mayor and the City Council of Pleasanton are considering the expansion of Shadow Cliffs. They were elected on a platform of limited growth. According to the plans, Shadow Cliffs will be renamed California Splash Park and will bring 230,000 summer visitors. That is more car traffic than any imaginable new development could possibly bring to Pleasanton. It is hypocritical for the mayor and the City Council to say one thing at election time and then approve a new water park that has all the negatives of a new development and none of its benefits.

All other water parks (Manteca, San Jose, Concord) are farther away from residential neighborhoods than Shadow Cliffs. More importantly, they have easy freeway access. The only access that the 230,000 visitors will have will be through downtown. As longtime residents of Pleasanton, we know how busy First street can be on Saturday mornings thanks to the Farmers Market. We are extremely cautious when we drive downtown Saturday mornings. Will the 230,000 visitors, mainly young drivers, be equally cautious? We predict that First Street will be so backed up on Saturday mornings that the residents will avoid the area to the detriment of the Farmers Market and the downtown businesses. The visitors, in their rush to get to the park, will cut through the residential neighborhoods of Pleasanton Heights, Kottinger Park and Vintage Hills. Expanding Shadow Cliffs is insane!

We urge the mayor and the City Council to place the approval of Shadow Cliffs expansion on the ballot and let Pleasanton residents decide for themselves. Pasko and Colleen Varnica Angel and Del Naranjo Meryl and Zelma BaxterTouriga Drive True act of kindness

Editor,

Last Friday night our family experienced a true, random act of kindness. While dining at a restaurant in the retail center at West Las Positas and Hopyard with our children (3-year-old twin girls and a 5-year-old son, who were remarkably well behaved that night!), a nice couple sat at a booth behind us casually watching our family with smiles on their faces. When the man and woman left a little while later, they stopped by our table and told us that they "truly enjoyed dining with us." A few minutes later the waitress came by our table and told us that the couple had paid for our dinner. We were touched. We wanted to thank them, but they had already left. We then realized that the fact that they gave this gift anonymously - without needing gratitude - was exactly what made it a true act of kindness. It is experiences like this that demonstrate how Pleasanton is a rare community filled with extraordinary people. Cameron SullivanCamino del Lago

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