Remembering late Mayor Tom Pico
His leadership cooperating with Juanita Haugen critical to community of character formation
Two governors with opposing party affiliations came together this month to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the California climate control act, AB 32.
While governors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gavin Newsom shared the spotlight and congratulated each other, those of us who take a dim view of the ill-advised act had the opposite view. The Legislature and governor surrendered all of the power to establish regulations to the unelected state air board. That’s been a disaster in practice.
The air board has given us electrical vehicle subsidies that generally have amounted to major tax giveaways to Tesla drivers, banned gas-powered outdoor lawn mowers and other equipment and have the Bay Area board on the threshold of banning natural gas stoves and water heaters. It doesn’t matter that natural gas burns clean and is efficient—it’s fossil fuel and thus bad.
A portion of those high electrical prices we pay can be traced to the air board requiring that utilities use renewable power. Remember when the power shortage was in the afternoons because of air conditioned offices? Now, it’s when the sun goes down and solar quits plus the wind stops while people are home—evening hours.
Both Bay Area metro newspaper groups did stories this month on why gasoline prices are so high in California. It’s the special blend of fuel—not used anywhere else—plus refineries have closed, oil pumped in California (despite significant reserves) has dropped requiring expensive imports plus hefty taxes. We are paying nearly $2 more than the national average for gasoline yet drive on rotten roads that are not maintained or repaired.
As veteran state columnist Dan Walters observed earlier this year we get a lousy, lousy return on investment in state taxes pretty much across the board—educational achievement is awful for way too many kids, terrible roads and an awful state bureaucracy.
Connect the dots folks. We all want clean air and water—at what point are the tradeoffs explained.
Stanford professor and Hoover Institute senior fellow Michael J. Boskin wrote that even if California hit all of those carbon dioxide reduction goals in AB 32 it would result in a reduction of one one-hundredth part per million. At what cost? The air board doesn’t pursue that question seriously.
A couple of final thoughts on the passing of wine legend Jim Concanon as I watched his memorial mass on Tuesday. Father Carl Arcosa selected the story of Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into fine wine for the Gospel scripture. Jim’s deep faith and his passion of wine reflected Jesus. Four wreaths made of grapevine were placed on the altar.
His son, Paul, reflected that Jim’s father, Capt. Joe Concannon served in the First Calvary in the Army and had a lieutenant serving under him named George Patton. The commanding general was the legendary John Pershing who routinely received a case of Concannon wine for Christmas.
An aside: the Wente Chardonnay clone accounts for about 70% of the California vineyards of that variety so the two most popular varietals literally have their roots here in the Livermore Valley. The three Concannon clones are planted on about 80% of the grapes.
The winegrowers group and other industry people are pushing to establish Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc as the key marketing varietals for the Livermore Valley. They both have plenty of history here, but that strikes me as an uphill battle, particularly given the prominence of Concanon and Wente in the highest selling varieties.
Jim’s passing at 95 years came shortly after the death of former Pleasanton Mayor Tom Pico. Pico was part of “the Dream Team” with Mayor Ben Tarver and Councilwoman Becky Dennis (updated) that swept to power in 1996. Sadly, with Tarver, you were for him or against him and it was personal. It took Pico, working hand-in-hand with long-time school trustee Juanita Haugen to move Pleasanton into “A Community of Character.” Juanita founded the group, but Pico enforced decorum from the dais at council meetings. His leadership was critical in reversing that trend.
Pico worked with people with diverse views so well that he drew Chamber of Commerce and other business backing when he unsuccessfully ran for state Assembly.
Listen to the music: Top high schools regale Pleasanton at 52nd Foothill Band ReviewOctober 28, 2026 8:05 am
