Posted by missed it, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 8:02 pm

I missed it...how was she comparing Pleasanton to Antioch or Brentwood?

Posted by Stacey, a resident of the Amberwood/Wood Meadows neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Stacey is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

She was comparing how housing prices in Pleasanton have dropped versus in Brentwood and Antioch. What kind of comparison is that?

Posted by missed it, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 21, 2009 at 8:15 pm

What did she say about housing prices in Antioch or Brentwood?

Posted by Tim, a resident of the Ironwood neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 12:09 am

Her long speech was the same propaganda, lacking in credible substance, that the pro-tax group has been promoting.

Posted by Stacey, a resident of the Amberwood/Wood Meadows neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 8:18 am
Stacey is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

She compared the percentage drop in housing prices in Pleasanton versus Brentwood and Antioch, admitted that other factors play into housing prices, then tried to somehow attribute Pleasanton prices to the schools. When comparing housing prices linked to school quality, all other things must be equal like house characteristics and community characteristics; house age, number of rooms, square footage, median income, demographics, crime rate, etc. Would anyone here consider Pleasanton, Brentwood, and Antioch as comparable?

Posted by Joe, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 8:59 am

The Pro-G people have nothing but emotional scare tactics to promote their agenda.

The real estate thing has been beaten to death and we know that the tax is not for the kids...with 83% going to teacher raises what's left for the kids? Too many people have asked too many questions and they don't like the answers.

Posted by Wondering Too, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 9:53 am

Comparing Pleasanton to either Brentwood or Antioch is not a valid comparison.

Brentwood has a smaller population (not even projected to approach Pleasanton's current population until 2012) , Antioch a much larger one (by at least 40K) The demographics are very different.

I have to ask why Ms. Look didn't compare Pleasanton to like communities and can only assume that doing so didn't serve her purpose.

Check out Web Link

for information on crime statistics in these three communities.

Check out each city's chamber of commerce websites for demographic information as well as community programs.

Ms. Look noted that there are other factors that play into housing prices? No kidding.

This wasn't a comparison, it was a sales pitch, and a bad one.

Posted by resident, a resident of the Downtown neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 10:07 am

People like her make the argument for us that the tax is stupid and not needed. We do not need another tax to add to the teacher raises. Let her keep talking, rational people will be turned away from the tax issue just by listening to her.

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 22, 2009 at 10:00 pm

83% to keep teachers in classrooms happens to benefits the students. It is the her who teacher who delivers the product to the teacher.

I am astounded at the viciousness of some of these posts. Most if not all, of the people reading this have a teacher or two to thank.

Posted by Diana, a member of the Amador Valley High School community, on Apr 23, 2009 at 6:50 am

There is nothing vicious about asking for honesty, accountability and stating facts.

Debbie was not being honest when she said that, if passed, the parcel tax money would be required to be spent on the listed items. There is no legal requirement to do so. Given PUSD's track record there is no reason to believe it will happen.

The parcel tax is a discretionary pot of money that can be used anyway the district chooses. It is also a shell game that allows money from other areas to be freed up to allow for those continued raises.

Pro-kids

Pro-teacher

Pro-community

Pro-accountability

No on G

Posted by Robert, a member of the Mohr Elementary School community, on Apr 23, 2009 at 8:52 am

The essence of this tax is.....

The Union has been promised raises.......

The State says they will not give PUSD money for any raises during this economy.......

PUSD says we have no money left after paying the raises.......

The school board says we must take away programs from the kids to pay for the raises.........

So the community must pay more so there is money, for programs for the kids, after paying the raises.

Posted by Resident, a resident of the Another Pleasanton neighborhood neighborhood, on Apr 23, 2009 at 10:25 am

Who would want to live in Brentwood? It is far, and many people who live in Pleasanton work in Santa Clara County, a decent commute from pleasanton but not at all good from Brentwood.

Pleasanton cannot be compared to Brentwood. Brentwood, by the way, saw sharp house prices decline even before the market crashed. Houses are hard to sell over there, but that is nothing new, it was like that even before the market crashed.

Posted by Stacey, a resident of the Amberwood/Wood Meadows neighborhood, on Apr 23, 2009 at 10:32 am
Stacey is a member (registered user) of PleasantonWeekly.com

When you could purchase a brand new house for about the same price as a house built in the 1960s in Brentwood, who would go for the older house? That was the biggest problem with the wild development going on over there.