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Unreasonable plan
The “Welcome back” cover story on Aug. 14, which mentioned the modernization of Alisal Elementary School, implies that the Jensen/Amador Estates community was notified regarding the Alisal modernization plan. This is incorrect.
The planning has been ongoing for over 18 months. The neighborhood was notified for the first time this June via a mailed postcard. Pleasanton Unified School District claimed there was a meeting in May; however, no one at the June meeting received any notification.
In the last few minutes of the meeting, we were informed that the future students, from the East Pleasanton Strategic Plan, which calls for 800-plus residential units, would be sent to Alisal. As the development is over 1-1/2 miles away from Alisal, the children would be driven to school. Why isn’t there a school being built there?
Jensen/Amador Estates is impacted already by heavy traffic along Kolln Street by parents avoiding traffic lights on Santa Rita Road to drop off/pick up their students at both Alisal and Amador Valley High School. In the future, we will be expected to absorb potentially 800-plus students being transported to Alisal. A driveway drop-off/pickup area, plus 60 parking spaces, is planned with the ingress and egress on Kolln Street.
Not being considered or involved in this plan is not respectful, reasonable or acceptable for the residents of Jensen/Amador Estates. Key code entrance to lot for employees only.
– Emelie Rogers
LHS class reunion
The Livermore High School Class of 1971 will hold its 55-year reunion on Saturday, Sept. 19 at the Interbitzen Ranch located at 6030 Dagnino Road, Livermore from 5-10:30 p.m.
Tickets, which include dinner, are $75 per person if purchased by Friday, Aug 28 – after which the cost goes up to $85 per person. The dinner will include barbecue tri-tip and chicken, roasted red potatoes and rice, green and pasta salads, dessert, and coffee, tea, water or soft drinks. A bar for alcoholic drinks will be available.
Go to LHS71.org or email LivermoreHighClassOf1971@gmail.com to purchase tickets or for more information.
– Russell Bargmann
Plan El Charro extension before development limits our choices
Before Pleasanton continues to develop more of East Pleasanton, the city should plan the extension of El Charro Road.
Even though the City Council has decided to fund a study to determine the precise alignment, it may take years before the road is fully built.
The concern about spending nearly $1 million on a study for a road that could cost much more, without a complete construction funding plan, is understandable. However, waiting until the surrounding properties are fully developed could leave the city with fewer choices, higher land costs and a route that does not serve residents well.
This study will provide information about drainage, utilities, environmental and water concerns, right-of-way needs, and construction cost. The city should also require developers who benefit from the road to contribute a fair share.
Planning for El Charro Road does not mean it must be constructed right away. It gives the City Council better information for future decisions. The city should publish the results of the study and provide another opportunity for Pleasanton residents to comment before approving the final alignment.
– Aarav Shah
Reservoirs are drying out
What’s causing this drying out reservoirs is our excessive air and ground traffic. These vehicles blow tremendous amounts of heat and it’s taking our water, our food, our forests and our economy away.
Added to this air conditioners running nonstop and blows heat out – plus forest fires – just too much heat and these making everything unsustainable.
We need to control or lock down any forms of transportation to cool down the earth for the rain to come for our water.
– Erlinda Jandeleit
Awareness of ‘biggest ever’ El Nino
This month’s news tells us to expect the “biggest ever” El Nino, and with it maybe “more rainstorms”. Be aware of this.
While we needn’t expect rainstorm runoff into Arroyo de la Laguna to be as much as it was during the millions of years when it couldn’t escape fast enough, and so backed up, with sediment settling out and forming the Livermore Valley; we do need to expect it may back up and flood Pleasanton like it did in the “biggest ever recorded” flood of 1955, when it flooded 6,000 acres with 2-3 feet of floodwater over Hopyard Road.
Del Valle Reservoir was built to protect us from rainstorm runoff flooding from a greater-than-1955 size rainstorm (about 12 inches over 3 days above DVRes).
Unfortunately, news this month, as it has for the past few years, tells us (example in Indiana) to expect big floods more often (maybe 2-3 times more), and even more intense. More often, for Pleasanton, it means to expect Hopyard Road flooding more often than the about 1-in-300-year 1955 event.
So “heads-up”, be aware that we have lost the protection from infrequent (to more frequent) very large floods that Del Valle Reservoir was designed to provide. We could have a big one this winter.
Del Valle Reservoir does and will continue to significantly help reduce damage from medium-size flood floods.
A retired water engineer and Pleasanton resident, with state flood training and experience, and addressing many flooding issues over 50 years, I worry about Pleasanton flooding. My wife also lived through the 1955 flood.
– Ken Henneman
Vote Democrat
The control of both the executive and legislative branches by the current Republican administration and Congress has accelerated a deeply concerning decline in our nation’s foundational systems and global standing.
The relentless focus on deregulating major industries has dismantled decades of critical environmental protections, accelerating habitat destruction and leaving public health vulnerable to industrial pollution.
Economic policies favoring tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy have worsened wealth inequality, putting an unsustainable financial strain on the middle and working classes while ballooning our national debt.
The administration’s isolationist foreign policy and erratic approach to international diplomacy have severely damaged our relationships with our global allies.
By retreating from international agreements this administration has created a dangerous leadership vacuum on the world stage.
We urgently need a return to balanced governance that prioritizes long-term economic equity, environmental stewardship, and responsible global leadership.
This year, let’s choose leaders who will defend our democracy and build a country that works for all of us, not just a few. I encourage everyone to vote Democratic in this year’s elections.
Let’s move our country forward-with hope, with unity, and with a commitment to justice and opportunity for all.
– Becky Green
From an idea to PET Lab
Plastic waste is one of the world’s most persistent environmental challenges, and one statistic made it impossible for us to ignore: 91% of all plastic waste ever produced has never been recycled. Realizing that our everyday choices were part of the problem, we wanted to use something we loved, biology and computation, to help solve it.
Two years ago, we began using artificial intelligence to redesign enzymes that break plastic apart and make them stable enough to survive real-world conditions. That idea became an AI model, then a research project, and eventually PET Lab.
Our platform analyzes how mutations may affect enzyme stability and helps prioritize candidates for laboratory testing. In benchmark testing, our system achieved up to 93% precision when identifying enzymes capable of operating at higher temperatures and up to 81% precision when identifying potentially stabilizing mutations.
This work has grown into a team of 15 researchers across more than four countries. Our work has been presented at NYU, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and Santa Clara University, and two of our abstracts have been accepted at scientific conferences. This year, we also signed a formal agreement with the municipal government of Babolsar, Iran, to test our filtration work in a real water system.
We started because learning that only 9% of plastic waste had been recycled, while 91% had not, felt like a reality two teenagers should not have to accept as the future we will inherit.
You can learn more about our work at https://petlab.bio/.
– Abhinav and Ayush Iyer
Cruelty to animals
Recent letters in response to the crimes at Miranda Dog Rescue (Fortuna, CA) bring to mind a quote from a 1990 letter to me at Action for Animals from the late United Farm Workers’ Cesar Chavez (himself a vegetarian for ethical reasons):
“Kindness and compassion towards all living things is a mark of a civilized society. Conversely, cruelty, whether it is directed against human beings or against animals, is not the exclusive province of any one culture or community of people. Racism, economic deprival, dog fighting and cock fighting, bullfighting and rodeos are cut from the same fabric: violence. Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well ourselves.”
Words to live by.
– Eric Mills, coordinator, Action for Animals
The fate of our country
As we approach this year’s crucial election, we face an important choice about the future of our nation. Voting for Democratic candidates is the most effective way to ensure a future built on shared prosperity, equality, and progress for all Americans.
Democrats consistently advocate for policies that invest in everyday citizens rather than concentrating benefits for corporations and the ultra-rich as Republicans policies do.
From lowering prescription drug and health care costs to supporting infrastructure improvements and clean energy, Democratic leadership has focused on building a stronger, more equitable future.
Conversely, the current Republican platform has shifted away from consensus-building. It favors an agenda that threatens civil liberties and economic fairness, placing an unfair burden on the working class. Their national economic proposals consistently favor large corporations and the wealthy who spend billions of dollars per year lobbying Republican elected leaders.
No political party is perfect, and healthy debate is essential to a healthy democracy. However, at this pivotal moment, Democratic candidates offer the clearest commitment to protecting democratic institutions, personal freedoms, and economic opportunity for everyone.
Democracy works best when every voice is heard. I urge every eligible citizen to register, research the issues, and vote for Democratic leaders. The fate of our country is in our hands.
– Ron Sadler
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