|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
We are blessed to live on Foothill Road with majestic oaks in front of our home and in the neighborhood. Our neighbor’s magnificent oak, the biggest one by a substantial margin, came crashing down at 3:36 a.m. Sunday.
Fortunately, our neighbor’s ongoing prayer was answered and it fell into the road away from homes and completely blocked Foothill. Nobody was injured—most of us were sleeping.
Firefighters responded, followed by the CHP and eventually a county contractor who established the closure boundaries. PG&E hit the scene and we were thinking it would be Tuesday before we were back in service because there was both a huge job to get the wires back up (one pole was literally dangling from wires) and then there was the matter of cutting up the huge tree.
PG&E sent several trucks to the scene and, surprisingly, restored service by 8 p.m. And the tree company, using specialized heavy duty equipment and chain saws with what appeared to be 36-inch bars, had the road cleared by 6 p.m. with all of the wood tossed on the west bank. Comcast restored cable and internet by noon Monday, while AT&T finished its work Wednesday.
Wednesday afternoon, for the first time ever, I could see any oncoming traffic on Foothill because the huge tree no longer blocked the view. Bad tradeoff—I’d much prefer the magnificent oak.
I spoke with two PG&E employees by phone on Monday and surprised them when I had high praise for their crews—not something they hear very often.
The tree crew returned Tuesday and took down damaged trees across the street and used an amazing chipper to chew up the most branches. Using a huge crane, they cut down the one standing tree that was lowered in pieces. All-in-all, a great job by a company that clearly knows what it’s doing with huge trees and has the equipment to take care of it.
Reading the current San Francisco Business Times, I saw that Alexander Mehran, Sr. is being honored for lifetime achievement in real estate. He guided the development of Bishop Ranch by Sunset Development. It’s interesting to see Sunset come nearly full circle.
Masud Mehran founded the company and built hundreds of home in the Sunset area of west Livermore. He purchased Bishop Ranch in Contra Costa County in 1978. San Ramon and Danville had yet to incorporate so county Board of Supervisors had jurisdiction and were interested in tax revenue.
County officials convinced Mehran to develop a business park that got off to a flying start with sales to Toyota and UPS, before Chevron and Pacific Bell came on board with huge complexes. Other than those few sales, Sunset built and operated the other office buildings.
Now, led by Alex’s son, Alex Jr., the company has pivoted back to a mixed use community with 4,500 housing units approved in Bishop Ranch proper. Many of the outdated older buildings will be razed for housing which also will go into some of the ample parking lots.
With Chevron moving many employees to Houston, Sunset cut a deal to bring Chevron’s headquarters into the sprawling 2600 Camino Ramon site and purchased back the 92 acres. Now dubbed the Orchards, plans include retail plus 2,600 homes.
The residential is anchored by City Center, the hopping retail and entertainment center that opened in 2018.
One of the curiosities of Tuesday’s primary was two retired members of Congress standing for election to state or county office. Unlike in California, where termed out politicians often run for boards of supervisors that pay well and have no term limits, there are no term limits in Congress.
Former Congressman Jerry McNerney, who retired after 16 years in Congress in 2020, appears headed for the November ballot in the 8th State Senate District against Republican Jim Shoemaker. McNerney won a Congressional seat over Richard Pombo in 2006 and then moved to Stockton when reapportionment put him in the same district with the late Pete Stark. McNerney won five terms there before hanging it up and going back to living in Pleasanton.
Over on the Peninsula, it’s a similar story for Jackie Speier who did not stand for re-election to Congress in 2022. After a two-year break, she seems headed for re-election to the San Mateo Board of Supervisors where she started her elected service in 1980. In addition to her time in Congress, she held seats in both houses of the state Legislature.
