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By Tim Hunt
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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add...
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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in addition to writing editorials for more than 15 years. I have served as a director of many non-profits in the Valley and the broader Bay Area and currently serve as chair of Teen Esteem and on the advisory board of Shepherd?s Gate. I also served as founding chair of Heart for Africa and have travelled to Africa seven times to serve on mission trips. My wife, Betty Gail, has taught at Amador Valley High (from where we both graduated) since 1981. She and I both graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, as did both of my parents and my three siblings. Given that Cal tradition, our daughter went south to the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in international relations. Since graduation, she has taken three mission trips and will be serving in the Philippines for nine months starting in September.
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Let process with Costco play out
Uploaded: Apr 21, 2016
The majority of the Pleasanton City Council took the right step last week after a long workshop session on the Johnson Drive Economic Development District.
They directed the staff to move ahead with the public hearings necessary to allow the Planning Commission and City Council to consider approval of plans to create the district that likely would include a major Costco store with a 24-pump gas station. Marriott also has expressed interest to build two hotels on the southern portion of the site across from the FedEx facility on Johnson Drive.
The decision to move ahead will keep both the city process moving as well as an initiative gathering process that would forbid any retail store larger than 50,000-square-feet to locate there in the district. Proponents, led by Black Tie Transportation owner Bill Wheeler, hope to qualify it for the November ballot. The workshop drew a full house to the Senior Center and ran for three hours.
Bill said the signature gathering is gaining momentum and he expected to qualify the initiative for the November ballot. He reported that as people learn about his effort, more are volunteering to solicit for signatures.
The process to date has allowed for plenty of put input, but the notion that was floated by council members of a public vote should the City Council eventually approve the district and Costco is just wrong-headed. The public has processes in place to challenge a council’s action—as has been done on the Lund Ranch II approval and as Wheeler and his team are doing now—so voluntarily putting it on the ballot is just silly.
Councilmembers are elected to make decisions on behalf of the public. If enough members of the public believe the council was wrong, there are referendum processes in place to overturn it. Members need to remember we are a representative democracy, not a direct one. Councilmembers should do their jobs and let the chips fall where they may.
We need your support now more than ever. Can we count on you?
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