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Vote Testa for mayor
Pleasanton deserves a Mayor who puts our community first. This November, I encourage residents to support Julie Testa.
I had the privilege of serving with Julie on the City Council from 2020 through 2024. During that time, I saw firsthand her commitment to thorough preparation, thoughtful decision-making and meaningful engagement with residents. Julie never shied away from difficult issues or tough decisions.
Leadership is about integrity, accountability and doing what is right — even when it is difficult. Public office is a responsibility, and Julie understands that responsibility.
Pleasanton deserves a mayor who makes decisions based on the best interests of our entire community, avoids conflicts of interest and remains focused on the needs of residents. We deserve a mayor who listens respectfully to everyone, including those who are less fortunate, our youth, our seniors, and residents who come before the City Council to share their concerns.
Julie also understands the importance of keeping commitments, treating people with dignity, and working hard on behalf of the community. She embodies the values reflected in Pleasanton’s Community of Character.
I am proud to support Julie Testa for mayor. She has the experience, integrity, and commitment to public service that Pleasanton needs. I encourage Pleasanton voters to join me in supporting Julie Testa for mayor this November.
– Valerie Arkin
Parallel universes
The Independent reported that Eden Housing had secured the state funding needed for its downtown Livermore development, thus removing the final obstacle to construction.
That milestone officially signals the demise of the Community Coalition’s hallucinatory hotel, since it would have been built on the Eden Housing site.
Yet, along with the article about Eden Housing’s funding win, the Independent provided a progress report on the Coalition’s hotel, as if the project still has a pulse.
The Independent thus violated a fundamental journalistic tenet by affirming the co-existence of two mutually exclusive phenomena, akin to reporting the earth is round while also reporting it to be flat.
The Independent also states the Coalition’s hotelier is standing by for “the City to contact him and discuss and work out the finances”.
That’s a comically absurd expectation, since the city is negotiating with Presidio. To add to the comedy, super-sleuth Doug Mann announced in a letter that his forensic research had unearthed that Presidio “does not exist”, when in reality Presidio is alive and well. In an act of man-bites-dog rarity, the Independent fact-checked one of Joan Seppala’s fervent followers, calling Mann’s finding “incorrect”.
Coalition cultists continue to blow up the Independent mailbox with letters of support for their lost cause, seemingly oblivious of reality, like the Japanese holdout soldiers who refused to surrender after the end of WWII.
I hope you’ll emerge from your jungle, throw down your keyboards and join all Livermore residents in warmly welcoming Downtown Livermore Apartments’ future residents into our community.
– David Jonas
Sustainability Beyond the Lab
As a high school student interested in science and sustainability, I have often wondered why promising technologies developed in laboratories do not always make it into the real world.
Scientific breakthroughs are only one part of solving environmental challenges. Funding, policy, infrastructure, manufacturing, economics and public understanding can all determine whether an idea actually reaches the people who need it.
This question inspired me to create Sustainability Beyond the Lab, a student-led science communication website focused on making sustainability research and emerging technologies more accessible to the general public.
Through the website, I interview expert researchers and write accessible articles about technologies such as carbon capture, advanced solar cells, batteries, nuclear energy and carbon dioxide conversion. I also share community initiatives that give members of the public opportunities to get involved and take action on environmental challenges.
My goal is not only to explain how these technologies work, but also to explore what happens after the laboratory and how individuals and communities can contribute to meaningful environmental progress.
As a student from the Tri-Valley, I believe our community has an important role in these conversations. Sustainability is not just a scientific challenge. It is a community challenge, and understanding the path from an idea in a laboratory to a solution in the real world is an important place to begin.
– Annie Luo
Response to writer’s reflections on Ray Bradbury
I wanted to commend Reem Peerzada, for her insight as well as her clear and powerful voice in last week’s Guest Opinion.
I agree, our humanity is our most treasured gift that must be cultivated with the same or more reverence as what society defines to be success. I love all the literary references throughout the ages which ask us to feel life.
In this day and age, technology is forgotten as soon as it is replaced, humans endure and with our collective conscious intention thrive.
Thank you for this wonderful reflection.
– Michelle O’Neil Puryear
Too many houses being built in Danville
My name is Joshua Zaidifard, and I am a Boy Scout in Troop 815. I am writing because I think there are too many new houses being built in Danville. I have noticed a lot of new houses and housing projects being built around our community.
I understand that people need places to live, but I think there should be a limit to how many houses are built. More houses can mean more traffic, more crowded schools and less open space. Danville is already a busy community, and adding too many houses could make these problems worse.
I think the town should slow down and think more carefully before building more houses. We should make sure there is enough space, good roads, and enough schools and other services for everyone.
I hope people in our community will talk about this issue and that local leaders will listen to their concerns.
– Joshua Zaidifard
Support Angela Brady for school board
I am writing to support Angela Brady for the Area 3 seat on the LVJUSD School Board. Our district will face important choices ahead, and we need leaders who listen and put the students first!
I have known Angela Brady for five years. I was her daughter’s teacher five years ago and Angela still continues to come and read to my students for Read Across America day every year. This was happening before her run for candidacy, which shows her heart is in the right place and she has integrity even before she came into the public’s eye.
Angela Brady focuses on the right priorities. For instance, she does many community outreach activities such as planning community clean up days and continuously volunteering at our school site.
She is warm and welcoming with all students. Not only is she kind and compassionate but her daughter is one of the sweetest students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching which also shows her dedication as a parent to raise a daughter with similar qualities.
Her character and disposition are unmatched and she will be an asset to our board and district. She is transparent in all interactions and communication and does not have her own agenda. Instead, she supports diversity and is compassionate to every student, especially underserved and marginalized students. She vows to keep all students safe and she is trustworthy.
Please join me in voting for Angela Brady on Nov. 3.
– Teren Ruiz Frazier
