Mayoral candidates say traffic, housing top campaign issues Mayoral candidates say traffic, housing top campaign issues (September 24, 2004)

by Jeb Bing

Pleasanton's three candidates for mayor took their campaigns directly to voters last week, identifying traffic and housing as the city's major concerns that they would tackle if elected.

Speaking at an hour-long Candidates Forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters in the City Council chamber, veteran Councilwoman Kay Ayala said she would call on her eight years of experience on the council to speed up the General Plan revision process, which is more than a year overdue. She also promised to expedite planning for a cultural arts center on the publicly owned Bernal parkland.

Councilwoman Jennifer Hosterman, who is completing the second year of her first four-year term, said her appointments by Mayor Tom Pico to regional traffic and airport planning committees will enable her as mayor to strengthen those contacts to improve traffic and housing needs and the quality of life for residents in Pleasanton. Pico has endorsed Hosterman for mayor.

Corporate Attorney Gabe Kralik, a newcomer to local politics, vowed to use his broad-based business and social work experience to introduce "fresh and new" policies and programs as mayor. These would include bringing school busing back to Pleasanton. He said he might also ask voters to raise the current 29,000-home housing cap to allow more affordable and senior housing to be built on undeveloped county lands east of Pleasanton, which he would want the city to annex.

Fielding questions from the media and some of the more than 50 others at the forum, the three mayoral candidates generally agreed that: Ą Pleasanton needs more affordable housing for young families and employees who work here but cannot afford high market-priced homes and apartments; Ą Neal Elementary School should be built in the Vineyard corridor, with city taxpayers helping to pay some of the costs; Ą Stoneridge Drive should not be extended to El Charro, although alternative routes could be considered if Pleasanton allows development along El Charro.

Calling traffic the No. 1 "hot button issue" facing Pleasanton, Hosterman said that if she is elected mayor she will focus her efforts toward reducing freeway congestion "which is the only way we will realize true relief and be able to protect our quality of life here in Pleasanton."

"I will work to form a voting block among all city mayors in the Tri-Valley region and, partnering with Alameda County, get the strongest voice possible regarding much needed funding to address our congested freeway system," she said. "I currently sit on the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, the board that is responsible for approving transportation funding. My opponents are not at that table."

Ayala countered that freeway congestion, particularly on I-580, is the result of continued housing development along that route, including thousands of new homes now being built in the Dougherty Valley and Mountain House communities.

"We are not going to be able to solve the freeway problem without addressing all of the new housing planned for this area, I don't care how many mayors you can get together," she told Hosterman. "Because of our geographical location at the junction of I-580 and 680, it's a problem we'll face for years to come."

She said that as mayor she would continue to put controls in place to discourage cut-through traffic on Pleasanton streets.

Kralik recommended several steps he would take as mayor to reduce traffic congestion on Pleasanton streets and improve safety. Kralik's studies show that 75 percent of the city's morning commute traffic is work and school related, and that 30 percent of accidents with children occur during school hours.

"We need to provide better safety for our children," Kralik said. "We ought to start a pilot program for busing our kids. At the same time, businesses could help by staggering their starting times for employees."

On affordable housing, Kralik said he would follow the lead of Dublin's Mayor Janet Lockhart, who Kralik said is committed to meeting state-mandated numbers for providing below-market rate housing for seniors and low-income families.

"We can rezone many sites," he said. "We can build housing that is near public transportation and accessible to police and fire emergency services. We can provide developers with incentives to build affordable housing and also partner as a city with faith-based communities and nonprofit groups."

Asked about the city's voter-approved housing cap of 29,000 homes, Kralik said that as mayor he might ask voters to change that to meet higher housing needs.

"It's an important issue to me," he said. "I would use my powers as mayor to appoint people to the Planning Commission who want to build senior housing and want to develop this kind of housing for people who are in their 'Baby Boom' years, as many in Pleasanton are."

"More affordable housing will benefit our community," he added. "It would enable our families to live in the same community; it would give our local workers a sense of belonging, allowing them to share in the positive aspects of our city; it would fix the problem we have in meeting state-mandated numbers. And, I won't use the housing cap as an excuse. What we need to do when we develop the unincorporated eastside areas is to go back to voters and talk to them about that."

Even though the three candidates said they would favor affordable housing along El Charro Road, and even a baseball stadium on Staples Ranch as one organization has suggested, they would not allow Stoneridge Drive to be extended east to connect with El Charro, Livermore streets or the I-580 interchange.

"We might have to provide an alternative way to serve those areas," Kralik said, "but we can't have a super highway running down Stoneridge."

Asked about their views on city taxpayers paying part of the costs of building Neal School, the mayoral candidates said the school is needed, that it was promised to Ruby Hill families when they moved there, and that council members in closed-door sessions have already worked out a financing agreement.

"We've had closed sessions on this issue over many, many months," Hosterman said. "We're very close to being able to bring a possible, very carefully crafted and negotiated settlement between the school district and the city in order to provide the much-needed Neal Elementary School."

Asked about cost over-runs for building the Callippe Preserve municipal golf course, which has now reached the $40 million mark, the three candidates jostled over the causes of the high costs, but said the course will be an important asset for Pleasanton.

"We could have managed that project better by letting the private sector do it, and I would have placed affordable housing there instead of the luxury homes on lots around the course that already have million-dollar price tags," Kralik said.

"The $40 million cost is just an astronomical price tag to pay for a golf course," Hosterman said. "I was aghast one night when my husband came home and said there was a golf course up in Davis for sale for $6 million. Quite a difference. But it will provide a wonderful amenity for the city of Pleasanton."

Ayala agreed. "We have 500 acres of open space, trails and a golf course out there," she said. "Compare that with the 500 acres on the Bernal property that cost a developer $126 million and you can see that we have a great asset for much less. That's a lot better than the 700 houses that were once planned for the property." Next week: Candidates for the Pleasanton City Council discuss the issues.

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