Pleasanton’s secret sauce is its planning, and a look back at Pleasanton Weekly stories from 2019 illustrates this as the city bought property adjacent to the Firehouse Arts Center, OK’d the updated Downtown Specific Plan, and adopted a work plan of priorities for the next two years. The school district continued to look ahead to accommodating increasing student populations as well as dealing with aging facilities and voted to put a $323 million bond measure on the March ballot to fund upgrades.
Projects came to fruition this year, too, including opening the new youth agricultural center at the fairgrounds, completed upgrades at the aquatic center locker rooms and solar panels at the Amador Valley High parking lot.
And 2019 saw its share of happenings.
Pleasanton was the scene of its first Women’s March, the arts continued to thrive, student-athletes had excellent seasons, teens found more than $1.6 million in potential energy saving with a summer energy audit of city and school buildings, fundraisers hit their targets, and the 2019 Alameda County Fair ran for 18 days, kicking off with its last cattle drive through downtown.
The city also recognized its part in the larger community. As dozens of housing crisis bills worked their way through the State Legislature, Pleasanton and its Tri-Valley neighbors endorsed a Tri-Valley cities’ housing and policy framework of regional housing goals. On a hopeful note, resident Don Lewis released a new album, “Amazing Voyage,” an effort to help heal the chaotic political moods now gripping the nation.
The year began and ended being impacted by the weather — some flooding early in the year, PG&E outages in October, and the annual holiday parade being canceled in December.
A big event for Pleasanton was the 125th anniversary of its incorporation, and the city celebrated with two months of special events during the summer and a big party downtown.
Here’s a recap of the top storylines from the year that was, month by month. Also, check out our list of “Top 10 Most-Read Stories on PleasantonWeekly.com” at the bottom.
Happy Birthday to Pleasanton, goodbye to 2019, and welcome, 2020!
January
* The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office recently shines a spotlight on the 40th anniversary of the murder of Frances Rash at her home in Dublin, putting out a renewed call for information that could help investigators solve the cold-case homicide.
* Zone 7 Water Agency releases an advisory to help residents be prepared for potential flooding during the wet weather, including making sandbags available.
* The city of Pleasanton completes the latest update of the Development Project Status map on its main webpage.
* Livermore Valley Opera holds a new kind of benefit event, an elegant evening with dinner and a peek “Behind the Curtain” as though attendees are backstage at an opera.
* As part of first steps toward building a second campus on the Donlon Elementary School property, the school board begins reviewing options to pay for the estimated $61.25 million project.
* Chabot-Las Positas Community College District trustees restart the hiring process to find a permanent chancellor after not approving any applicant from the first round of recruitment. The board soon elevates vice chancellor Ronald P. Gerhard to interim chancellor during the new search process.
* Pleasanton City Council gives its initial endorsement to changes proposed for the policies governing development in Hacienda Business Park aimed at updating regulations.
* The annual Pleasanton Weekly Holiday Fund giving campaign wraps up for the season, raising $68,416 to benefit 15 Tri-Valley nonprofits.
* Chabot-Las Positas Trustee Carlo Vecchiarelli, a longtime Pleasanton resident, steps down from the Board of Trustees to retire from district service after more than 50 years.
* On the second anniversary of the 2017 international Women’s March, hundreds of Tri-Valley residents gather for Pleasanton’s first Women’s March, celebrating diversity, inclusion and the success of women locally and nationally.
* As the federal government’s longest partial shutdown continues, local nonprofits Open Heart Kitchen and Tri-Valley Haven increase their services to help feed the thousands of Alameda County families affected.
* Livermore-Pleasanton union firefighters sign a new contract with both cities that has four salary increases over the next 3-1/2 years, along with some union members covering an extra 0.5% of their pension costs starting in mid-2020.
* PG&E officially files for bankruptcy, but plans to continue operating, as the company estimates more than $50 billion in liability from fatal Northern California wildfires.
* Sixty students from Foothill High School are recognized at the annual DECA Northern California Career Development Conference, held in San Ramon with more than 850 in attendance.
* Pay raises are approved for members of the Pleasanton Unified School District’s leadership team when the Board of Trustees signed off on a 2.5% salary increase for executive cabinet members and a 5% bump for the board’s own monthly stipend.
* City officials lead a presentation at a school board meeting discussing state and local housing trends, noting that local jurisdictions will have less control as the State Legislature attempts to solve the housing crisis.
* Pleasanton resident Melissa Gianotti holds a book giveaway for victims of the Camp Fire, which wiped out the town of Paradise in November 2018, after collecting thousands of donated books.
* The Dublin community commemorates a somber anniversary, 30 years since Ilene Misheloff disappeared while walking home from middle school.
* A legal consultant investigates allegations of inconsistent grading and transcript practices at PUSD high schools.
February
* A group of voters successfully petitions to cancel the Dublin Unified School District’s provisional appointment of Nini Natarajan to the Board of Trustees, setting the stage for a special election for Trustee Area 4 residents in June.
* Weather conditions are just right overnight to bring white to hills and peaks around the Tri-Valley. Snow could be seen on hillsides and ranges north, south and east of Pleasanton — a sight uncommon for the East Bay where snow seldom arrives.
* In approving comprehensive update to the city’s Human Services Needs Assessment Strategic Plan, the City Council commends Axis Community Health upon the opening of the Tri-Valley nonprofit’s first-ever dental clinic.
* BART changes schedules as work begins on the seismic retrofit of the Transbay Tube, starting service around 5 a.m. weekdays, an hour later than usual.
* Pleasanton closes escrow on the $2 million purchase of a commercial parcel next to Lions Wayside Park and the Firehouse Arts Center.
* PUSD had two incidents of administrators improperly removing a course from a high school student transcript — one inadvertent, one intentional, but both impermissible, according to the findings from the law firm investigating the integrity of district transcripts.
* A brazen bank heist takes place in Pleasanton. Police continue to search for culprits behind a takeover-style robbery of the Wells Fargo on Hopyard Road that led to a police chase with shots fired at an officer and a carjacking before the robbers escaped town that day.
* Brandon Crawford, former Foothill High star baseball/football player and current San Francisco Giants shortstop, holds third annual Crawford Family Invitational Golf Tournament, this year to benefit ALS CURE.
* East Bay Regional Park District takes possession of the “Grove property” between Dublin and Livermore after closing escrow on the nearly $1.3 million acquisition paid for largely by district Measure WW open space bond funds.
* Amador Valley High School first-year principal Alberto Solorzano is granted a leave of absence for unspecified personal reasons. Former principal Mike Williams returns to campus to provide administrative support.
* Fairlands Elementary students from teacher Kelly Lack’s fifth-grade class dress up and portray historic black figures to create the fifth annual “African-American Living Museum” as part of Black History Month.
* The 2018 Alameda County Fair receives more than 40 regional and international awards for innovation and excellence in competitions, agriculture and marketing.
* Officials close Del Valle Regional Park for at least two weeks as rain continues, explaining that flooding is a strong possibility, which would render recreation unsafe.
* High school pole vault coach Douglas Beck is dismissed after allegations of “harassing” text messages to a student-athlete.
* Simon Property Group unveils its plans for redesigning the eastern edge of Stoneridge Shopping Center left vacant when Sears closed. Plans include a movie theater, grocery store, lifestyle health club, outdoor courtyard, and new retail and restaurants. The city would approve the plans in April.
* Rev. Paul D. Minnihan, pastor of the Catholic Community of Pleasanton for the past six years, dies after a recent battle with aggressive cancer. He was 52.
* Mayor Jerry Thorne’s annual State of the City address reports another year of accomplishments and touches on topics ranging from the local economy to housing to downtown improvements.
* Pleasanton-based Bay East Association of Realtors installs its 2019 leadership team, including Nancie Allen of MasterKey Real Estate Advantage in Fremont as president.
* The Nimmo family works to sound the alarm about the impact of anxiety after Zachary, 14, takes his own life. Dad Steve, mom Mannie and daughter Samantha go to a screening of “Angst” to remind everyone “it’s OK not to be OK.”
* Livermore rancher Jeffrey Murray, 54, is charged with murder after authorities allege he fatally shot his younger brother Todd during a dispute over electricity on their family’s ranch.
March
* The Board of Supervisors inducts 12 women and two teenagers into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame, including Pleasanton residents Teri Johnson and Spojmie Nasiri, and Dubliners Kimberly Larson and Akemi Williams.
* Dublin school district Trustee Dan Cunningham abruptly resigns in the middle of his third term, leaving the Board of Trustees with two of its five seats vacant.
* School district board appoints vice principal Nimarta Grewal to serve as interim principal at Amador.
* Chabad of the Tri-Valley hosts Jeannie Opdyke Smith to tell the story of her mother, Irene Gut Opdyke, a Polish Catholic woman who risked her life to save Jews during the Holocaust.
* For the fourth time, Foothill High is recognized as a California Distinguished School by the state’s Department of Education.
* School board OKs security and remodel upgrades for several schools, including major work at Lydiksen Elementary.
* Compass, the venture-funded real-estate startup that launched its first office in the local market just over two years ago, becomes the Bay Area’s largest residential brokerage firm this month after acquiring Tri-Valley powerhouse Alain Pinel Realtors.
* Amador presents Every 15 Minutes, an anti-DUI program that acts out the aftermath of a car crash, including a death and a teen’s arrest for DUI.
* Castlewood Country Club members vote to proceed with remodeling the clubhouse and pool area to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards in the 1970s-era clubhouse and its swimming pool area.
* Pleasanton resident Tammy Ma, Ph.D., a leading experimental plasma physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is named Woman of the Year for State Assembly District 16.
* Alameda County Fairgrounds unveils new Marissa Hunt Agricultural Education Center, an 8,000-square-foot facility for agriculture-focused youth groups such as 4-H and the Future Farmers of America.
* As dozens of housing crisis bills move through the State Legislature, the cities of Pleasanton, Dublin, Livermore and San Ramon and the town of Danville each votes to approve the Tri-Valley cities’ housing and policy framework of regional housing goals.
* An online fundraising drive raises more than $12,000 in two weeks for Ben Jacobs, a utilities systems operator with Pleasanton who was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome.
* Don Lewis, a Pleasanton vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, releases a new album, “Amazing Voyage,” that he hopes will help heal the country’s long-festering slavery issues and current chaotic political moods.
* The Alameda County Board of Supervisors votes 3-2 to confirm sweeping changes to Urban Shield, a law enforcement training program and expo held in recent years at the fairgrounds in Pleasanton.
* The Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group celebrates a diverse group of companies operating on the cutting edge of their industries, at its fourth annual #GameChangers recognition event.
* Longtime Zone 7 Director Bill Stevens resigns from the board for personal reasons less than a year into his sixth term.
* City hires an engineering firm to assess the aging Amador Theater, which has served as Pleasanton’s principal and still largest performing arts facility for more than 80 years.
* Foothill High School Athletic Boosters donate $513,965 raised in the last year toward renovating the school’s aging athletic field, which will cost nearly $1 million.
* The City Council ratifies a new rent stabilization agreement with the owners of Hacienda Mobile Home Park on Vineyard Avenue that allows annual increases of no more than 5% through December 2029.
* A state appellate court rules that PUSD was within its legal rights to terminate former Walnut Grove Elementary principal Jon Vranesh in 2014 after he was accused of sexual harassment.
* Leslie Boozer’s tenure as Dublin schools superintendent ends abruptly with little explanation, with school board members announcing that they and Boozer “mutually agreed to a separation.” No reason has been cited publicly.
* Dublin teachers march down Village Parkway in protest, with the union calling for smaller classes, counseling and support services, and medical benefits.
* Arlen Ness, 79, acclaimed for his custom motorcycles and related motorcycle supplies sold at his agency in Dublin, dies at his home in Alamo.
* Courtney Lynne Peterson surrenders to authorities on two counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the collision on Altamont Pass Road in October 2018 that killed motorcycle driver Mark Nida, 63, of Pleasanton, and 64-year-old Kathleen Seifert, who was his passenger.
* The City Council completes its biennial process of adopting a work plan of top priorities for the city to accomplish over the next two years, with record input from residents and stakeholders, listing 81 specific priorities.
* Longtime Valley View Elementary administrative secretary Nancy Rae is named PUSD Classified Employee of the Year.
April
* Amador Valley and Foothill each represent California at the We the People national finals in Washington, D.C., where the Dons place second.
* City and school district leaders examine sharing maintenance facilities, during their annual joint meeting.
* East Bay Regional Park District, which includes Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area in Pleasanton and Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore, marks its 85th anniversary with free concerts and other events, and establishing “Free Park Fridays” through the end of the year.
* “ACE Rail mTickets” launches for commuters to purchase and manage their Altamont Corridor Express train tickets on the mobile app.
* Dave Marken comes out of retirement to step in as interim superintendent for DUSD. He later signs on for the next two years to allow the district ample time to select its next permanent superintendent.
* Nearly a year after Foothill High student Justin Wang receives a heart transplant, the Make-a-Wish Greater Bay Area publishes his health cookbook.
* Pleasanton is said to have the 13th fastest growth rate in rents among the nation’s similar-sized cities, according to Apartment List Rentomics; rents in the city are up 3.7% over the previous year.
* Tri-Valley Congressman Eric Swalwell, 38, announces he is running for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2020.
* School district stakeholders, including Superintendent David Haglund and trustees Joan Laursen and Jamie Yee, are among the scores of East Bay education advocates who rally at the State Capitol for increased public education funding.
* Former Dublin mayor and current Dublin High School athletic director Tim Sbranti is appointed to fill the vacant Tri-Valley seat on the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Board of Trustees.
* The City Council approves a new three-year contract with the Pleasanton City Employees Association (PCEA) Local 955 that will raise salaries by 3%, and then 3% again as of April 2020 and April 2021, give them a one-time $900 bonus and calls for employees to start contributing $50 monthly toward their medical coverage.
* BART police and staff begin working an extra day each week as mandatory overtime, for their increased presence to discourage crime.
* DUSD and the Dublin Teachers Association reach tentative agreement to end months of tense negotiations that were on the brink of a strike. Key provisions include a 4.5% ongoing salary increase, a 1% one-time bonus and a health insurance subsidy.
* A City Council meeting runs for nearly six hours as leaders, stakeholders and residents debate the Downtown Specific Plan update and endorsing a neighborhood compromise for the Chabad Center for Jewish Life expansion.
* Longtime TV30 commentator Tom Morrison dies with wife Kathy and family at his side, ending his long battle with cancer. He was 83.
* Students at Pleasanton schools and the district offices conduct daily audits of lunch waste for a few months, sorting nearly 2,000 pounds of trash, recycling and compost material, to help meet new waste management policies in lunch areas.
* Foothill alum Erik Keith Woodward dies after being struck by an SUV while walking along Highway 29 in Napa. He was 25.
* More than a decade after planning began, Zone 7 broke ground on the $110 million project to expand and upgrade the Patterson Pass Water Treatment Plant to double its size to 24 million gallons per day of better tasting and smelling tap water.
* The school district issues an online survey for Amador parents asking for input regarding the upcoming construction of a new solar energy structure in the school’s parking lot, which will begin in the summer but run into the fall semester.
* PUSD staff updates the trustees on efforts to curb the vaping trend in Pleasanton, saying its students are “right up there with the national level” with 20% of high school students and 5% of middle schoolers using electronic vaping devices.
* Vintage Hills Elementary principal Ann Jayne takes an indefinite leave of absence due to an undisclosed family emergency. She would resign a month later.
* The school district expands the online school quality stakeholder survey to include more residents to give feedback on school leadership, safety and behavior, academic preparation and student support.
* The school district honors Theresa “Tessie” Gonsalves as its Teacher of the Year, for her work mostly at Harvest Park Middle School for more than two decades.
* Amador boys tennis team finishes a 24-0 regular season by winning the East Bay Athletic League title with a 6-3 win over crosstown rival Foothill.
* Former U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a centrist Democrat who represented the Tri-Valley in Congress for years and was known as a pioneering leader throughout her professional and political careers, dies following a bout with pneumonia. She was 67.
May
* Cincinnati hospital executive Rick Shumway is named president and CEO of Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare.
* Zone 7 appoints Dublin resident and public relations professional Michelle Smith McDonald to vacant seat on its Board of Directors.
* The idea to park several hundred cars on Amador Valley High tennis courts while a solar panel structure is built in the front parking lot sparks backlash from tennis players and coaches.
* An Alameda County Superior Court jury awards more than $2 billion in damages from Monsanto Co. to Alva and Alberta Pilliod of Livermore, who claimed the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused them to develop cancer. A judge later upholds the verdict but reduces the damages to $86.7 million.
* Dublin voters pass Measure E, extending DUSD’s $96-per-parcel tax for another nine years in a mail-only special election — with 74.49% of voters in favor.
* The Pleasanton Weekly takes home seven awards, including first place for online Coverage of Local Government, for stories throughout 2018 in this year’s CNPA California Journalism Awards.
* Longtime Hart Middle history teacher Mark Tierney dies surrounded by family at age 46.
* The Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation’s seventh annual Run for Education sets an event fundraising record by netting $113,000.
* Two scientific studies commissioned by the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association show 12 identifiable growing districts within the 260,000-acre Livermore Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA).
* The Amador boys volleyball team wins the North Coast Section championship, defeating Monte Vista in the finals, 25-21, 25-22 and 25-18.
* The Amador boys win the NCS team tennis championship, defeating Redwood, 4-3, in the finals.
* Members of the Castlewood Country Club reject a proposal to negotiate a letter of intent for the Bay Club to take over ownership of the club and its two 18-hole golf courses.
* Sunflower Hill celebrates the groundbreaking of its residential community for adults with special needs just outside downtown Pleasanton.
* The school board scraps a proposal to park hundreds of cars on the Amador tennis courts during construction of a solar panel structure in the parking lot after tennis coaches and families pan the plan.
* City contemplates major changes to paratransit service, including for Pleasanton to shift service for adults with disabilities to Wheels and refocus its in-house program to seniors-only.
* Residents move into 52 new affordable apartments for elders on the south side of Kottinger Drive, the culmination of an 18-year effort to replace small and old units at Pleasanton Gardens with larger, accessible and energy efficient homes.
* Workday Inc., a fast-growing software company, opens its new six-story architecturally striking corporate headquarters building on Stoneridge Mall Road.
* Fire Chief Ruben Torres steps down from LPFD to become next leader of the Santa Clara Fire Department. Assistant fire chief Jeff Peters is named interim chief.
* Tri-Valley Blue Devils ice hockey club has two teams that win California state championships and another four that advance to the earlier Northern California tournament.
* The Foothill High girls softball team completed its incredible 28-0 season by winning the North Coast Section championship with a 2-0 win over Heritage.
* NorCal Night Market returns to Pleasanton for its second year, inspired by the famous open-air nighttime bazaars of Asia.
* Kaiser Permanente opens its new Medical Offices and Cancer Center complex in Dublin.
* Triton Water Polo Club launches its opening season based out of the Foothill pool, offering boys teams this summer during its inaugural season and plans to expand with girls teams in the winter.
June
* The Pleasanton Heritage Association acknowledges owners of five historic homes who have made restorations while carefully preserving their features of yesteryear.
* Foothill boys and girls volleyball coach Dusty Collins is recognized as the 2018-19 California Boys Volleyball Coach of the Year by the California Coaches Association.
* The Pleasanton Downtown Specific Plan Update Task Force votes 4-3 to reject the City Council’s direction on several key policy issues to further restrict residential development and height in the area.
* Gabrielle Blackman wins special election to represent Area 4 on the DUSD Board of Trustees.
* Jonathan Epps, who attended Walnut Grove, Harvest Park and Amador, is surprised when billionaire businessman Robert Smith promises to pay off all student debt for Epps and his classmates at historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta.
* Dublin City Council votes unanimously to fly the rainbow flag at City Hall to recognize the LGBTQ community.
* The library summer program, “Reading through the Years,” celebrates Pleasanton’s 125th anniversary this year, kicking off with songs, puppetry and dancing on the front lawn.
* The school board appoints Amador vice principal Josh Butterfield, who grew up and attended school in Pleasanton, to be the new principal. He is one of five new principals for 2019-20, along with Joe Nguyen at Pleasanton Middle, Caroline Fields at Hart, Heidi Deeringhoff at Fairlands and Mike O’Brien at Vintage Hills.
* Ross Colby, 36, who hacked and temporarily shut down PleasantonWeekly.com and other Embarcadero Media websites in September 2015, is sentenced in San Jose federal court to jail time served, one year of home incarceration with electronic monitoring, three years of supervised release, and $27,130 in restitution.
* Pleasanton celebrates the 125th anniversary of the city’s incorporation, with programs, camps and events throughout the summer, and a celebration downtown.
* Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty announces he won’t seek re-election in 2020, opening the door for a hotly contested election to represent District 1, which includes Dublin and Livermore.
* Museum on Main closes temporarily to renovate its permanent history gallery and do some building upgrades.
* A cattle drive kicks off the 2019 Alameda County Fair for the last time, and thousands of people go to Main Street to watch the celebration of Pleasanton’s Old West origins.
* The 2019 Alameda County Fair runs for 18 days with the theme, “I Spy Summer,” and featuring carnival rides and games, nightly concerts, local entertainment, exhibitions, horse racing, fried foods, farm animals and more, and ending with a demolition derby.
* Youths who did the dirty work of the recent trash audit at the schools are recognized during the annual World Environment Day Celebration at the Veterans Memorial Building hosted by the Go Green Initiative.
* The school district strikes a deal to temporarily use part of the parking lot at Valley Community Church in the fall semester while Amador Valley High’s student lot has a solar panel structure installed.
* The family of Jacob Bauer, a 38-year-old man who died at a hospital in Pleasanton police custody the previous summer, files a wrongful-death lawsuit against the city and Police Department.
* Shawn Joseph Imlig, who grew up in the Tri-Valley, dies in an ATV collision at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area near Pismo Beach. The other driver is accused of DUI while causing the fatal crash. Imlig was 37.
* The school district conducts a community poll about a potential new $120 million school facilities bond measure for the March 2020 primary election ballot.
* Blackhawk developer and resident Kenneth E. Behring, known for his worldwide philanthropy, his development career and collection of automobiles, dies at age 91.
* Foothill softball player Nicole May is named to the All-USA High School Softball First Team.
* Crews plant a 35-foot Deodar cedar outside the Museum on Main to be the city’s holiday tree, after the old one that had grown to seven stories tall was removed for health reasons.
* Pleasanton resident Lisa Deanne Carlson, 44, is killed by her estranged husband, who then turned the gun on himself, at the Castro Valley home of the man’s mother, according to the sheriff’s office.
* Twenty-five teams and more than 200 volunteers support the American Cancer Society’s 24-hour Relay for Life of Tri-Valley at Granada High School in Livermore and raise more than $100,000.
July
* The cities of Pleasanton, Dublin and Livermore and community organizations team up again to provide provisions this summer for hundreds of Tri-Valley families and individuals affected by food insecurity.
* Zone 7 asks Tri-Valley residents to take part in an environmental review process concerning possible changes in reclamation and mining activity in the unincorporated Chain of Lakes area between Livermore and Pleasanton.
* The Planning Commission moves the draft Downtown Specific Plan forward to the City Council but urges officials to prioritize a downtown parking action plan as soon as possible, noting that its absence in the plan makes it incomplete.
* Rep. Eric Swalwell ends his presidential campaign, becoming the first serious Democratic candidate to bow out of the crowded field.
* Livermore High student Emanuel Moseby, 16, is shot and killed near the Taco Bell in the Peppertree Plaza Shopping Center. Police are still searching for their suspect, 21-year-old Jorge Luis Tellez.
* The City Council welcomes a new Ambassadog, Jeffrey, a member of the local Williams family, with a ceremonial green leash to highlight the dog-friendly policies and practices in Pleasanton, including work by Valley Humane Society.
* Pleasanton Public Library eliminates daily fines for overdue items, to focus on recovering materials and positive interactions with library-users.
* Construction begins to add a solar panel structure and reorient the Amador student parking lot facing Santa Rita Road.
* U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) reintroduces proposed legislation aimed at stopping law enforcement firearms from getting into the wrong hands, inspired in part by the shooting death of Pleasanton native Kate Steinle four years ago.
* The city renovates locker rooms at the Dolores Bengtson Aquatic Center, changing the style and configuration indoors and adding rinse showers outdoors.
* Two longtime East Bay private nonprofit organizations, Child Care Links and Family Service Counseling and Community Resource Center, merge under the names Hively, derived from “lively” and “hive,” meaning a place full of life and energy.
* Pleasanton resident Minseok Bu, 20, dies in a crash near the ACE train station in Livermore after a train hits the back of his car pushing it hard into a power pole.
* The newly launched Pleasanton Youth Theater Company offers 17 performing arts camps, with more than 200 attending.
* A hotly contested plan to build a three-story boutique hotel on the southeast corner of South Livermore and Railroad avenues in downtown Livermore generates intense debate at the Livermore City Council meeting. A hotel development agreement is approved, but later challenged by a referendum petition.
* Gerry Beaudin, the city of Pleasanton’s community development director, announces he will leave next month to become assistant city manager in Alameda. His second-in-command, Ellen Clark, is later promoted to lead the Community Development Department.
* The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announces that a new parking garage at the Dublin-Pleasanton BART station project will receive a share of $9.3 million in funding from bridge toll revenue, which will complete the funding needed.
* A stretch of the Centennial Trail in Pleasanton is reopened after being closed for repairs to a damaged bank slide in a flood control channel overseen by Zone 7.
* Livermore dedicates new $6 million City Council chamber, meeting rooms and emergency operations center on South Livermore Avenue.
* Tri-Valley Conservancy holds a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on a new bridge at Sycamore Grove Park that will permanently connect a 44-mile trail through five parks from Livermore to Fremont.
* In the face of a referendum petition backed by JUUL Labs, Livermore community rallies in support of new city ordinance to ban the sale of flavored tobacco in Livermore, as well as severely restrict businesses from selling electronic smoking paraphernalia and establish a city tobacco retailer license program for the first time.
August
* Pleasanton hosts a 125th Anniversary Celebration downtown, with a “Happy Birthday” sing-along and cake-cutting, the unveiling of the Museum on Main’s new exhibits, and a special Concert in the Park.
* Yaneli Morales, 26, of Livermore, is struck and killed by a car while trying to cross the street on a stretch of East Avenue notorious for high speeds and dangerous conditions. Her supporters later call on the City Council to prioritize safety improvements there.
* Tiffany Cadrette takes the reins as executive director of the Pleasanton Downtown Association after her predecessor, Pleasanton native Laura Olson, steps down to relocate with family to Alabama.
* A fire breaks out at Chabad Center for Jewish Life but significant damage is limited to the exterior and roof of the Pleasanton synagogue. LPFD reports no immediate indications of arson but continues to look for the cause of the fire.
* Pleasanton city leaders lament the destruction of a historic home at 4371 Second St., allegedly torn down early in the summer in violation of city regulations that protect heritage resources.
* The renovated Museum on Main reopens with more interactive ways to engage visitors and a new permanent exhibit that is a collection of three-dimensional objects, images and archives.
* The City Council signs off on updates to the Downtown Specific Plan with regulations and objectives for the downtown business district and surrounding neighborhoods.
* Niche.com’s 2020 Best Schools raised PUSD from No. 17 to No. 11 in school districts in California. Amador is ranked as the No. 1 high school in Alameda County, followed immediately by Foothill. Harvest Park and Fairlands also rank as the county’s best in their school levels.
* Members of the Amador Valley High School Local Leaders of the 21st Century Club are given the prestigious Next Generation Recycler Award, which was designed to promote the next generation of zero-wasters in California.
* The City Council gives Pleasanton City Manager Nelson Fialho a 12% salary increase and city attorney Daniel Sodergren an 8% raise, raising them to $255,452 and $226,800, respectively.
* Jose Ines Garcia-Zarate, an undocumented Mexican immigrant who held the gun that killed Pleasanton native Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier four years ago, still faces two federal gun charges, but a California appeals court has now overturned his state gun possession conviction.
* Livermore Shakespeare Festival presents its final performance at Wente Vineyards after five years of performing Shakespeare-in-the-round outdoors at the winery. Next season it will perform at Darcie Kent Vineyards.
* The school board unanimously adopts a resolution that aims to snuff out flavored tobacco and e-cigarette use among students.
* Livermore council confirms the “Central Park Plan” downtown initiative measure for the November 2020 ballot. The city is also now facing a referendum in March 2020 over its developer agreement with a prospective hotelier in line with the city’s Downtown Specific Plan (which the initiative seeks to supplant).
* Local nonprofit CityServe of the Tri-Valley announces the hiring of Christine Beitsch-Bahmani as its new CEO.
* Foothill’s renovated athletic field hosts its first football game of the season, a 34-13 varsity win over Heritage. Delays with the renovation project had pushed into the regular season, meaning the Falcons’ first “home” game a week earlier was actually played at Amador.
September
* Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club members celebrate their 35th anniversary at one of their monthly meetings with a slideshow and special exhibit.
* Students uncover more than $1.6 million in potential energy savings for both the city and the school district, according to the Go Green Initiative, after 33 high school and college interns spent the summer performing an energy audit on their buildings.
* Simon Property Group, owner of the majority of Stoneridge Shopping Center, files an application to build nearly 500 apartments on a southeast portion of the mall site.
* The school board reviews progress from the district’s summer school enrichment courses and intervention programs, which served 938 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.
* Former Foothill football star Isaiah Langley, 23, is among 12 people charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s office in a widespread crime ring that targeted UPS and FedEx drivers delivering cellphones to cellphone stores.
* The City Council endorses a conditional use permit to allow an ax-throwing lounge to open in the Valley Plaza shopping center.
* A brazen residential break-in — in which masked burglars kick in the front door of a Vintage Hills house while a resident and her child were inside — is caught on camera and sends shockwaves through the community.
* The Niles Canyon Railway, operated between Sunol and Niles by the nonprofit Pacific Locomotive Association, holds a three-day commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the true completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which took place when the local line was finished.
* Pleasanton Public Library begins Pop-Up Programs, bringing its offerings to new locations around town.
* Dublin City Manager Chris Foss announces his retirement effective Dec. 31. The City Council then selects his top deputy, assistant city manager Linda Smith, to become the next city manager.
* Foothill drops its freshman football team due to a lack of players, with the remaining players combined with the junior varsity team.
* Four candidates emerge for the election to succeed Supervisor Haggerty: Fremont City Councilman Vinnie Bacon, Dublin Mayor David Haubert, Dublin Vice Mayor Melissa Hernandez and State Sen. Bob Wieckowski, a Fremont resident who is being termed out at the state level.
* Foothill High School alumnus Seth Rogers’ quest to become the next “American Ninja Warrior” comes to a close when he falls off the course during the final stage of the NBC athletic competition show, although at 19 he was the youngest ninja to make it to the show’s third and final round.
* Pleasanton police Officer Brad Middleton is awarded a Bronze Star for Heroism from the department for his actions in the face of gunfire while responding to an armed robbery at a Hacienda bank last winter.
October
* Downtown Pleasanton lights up with IGNITE!, the third annual extravaganza where art meets innovation in front of and inside the Firehouse Arts Center.
* Pleasanton police Chief David Spiller announces he will be retiring next month after more than eight years at the helm.
* The owner of the Owens Drive property where the former Denny’s building has sat vacant for years proposes to redevelop the site with a large commercial building.
* The Clubhouse and Lily’s Spirited Dining restaurants inside the Pleasanton Hotel both close their doors without warning, less than a year after opening.
* Stanford-ValleyCare receives certification as a primary stroke center by a national quality accrediting group.
* The Pleasanton Police Department and BART Police Department mark the opening of their Joint Police Services Center at the West Dublin-Pleasanton BART Station.
* The BART Board of Directors votes to adopt swing-style barrier gates to make it more difficult for scofflaws to evade paying fares, which is done by 5% to 6% of riders, costing the transit system $25 million to $30 million a year.
* A video goes viral of a traditional Filipino dance called “tinikling” performed to “My Type” by Bay Area rapper Saweetie and choreographed by Mireya Paulos, a 2017 graduate of Foothill.
* Work is underway on the Tri-Valley’s first all-abilities playground in Dublin.
* Amador parking lot facing Santa Rita Road reopens with its new half dozen solar panel structures.
* The Valley Link commuter light rail system aiming to directly connect BART to Livermore and the San Joaquin Valley likely won’t see its first trains run until at least 2027, three years later than initially estimated, as regional officials are now planning on less funding from the state in the short term.
* Pleasanton shakes to a 4.5-magnitude earthquake at 10:33 p.m. on a Monday, centered near Walnut Creek. The next day a 4.7 magnitude quake hits near Hollister and another at 3.4 magnitude is in Pleasant Hill.
* Actress Felicity Huffman is incarcerated for 11 days in the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin following her conviction in the college admissions scandal.
* East Bay real estate developer James Tong, 74, is found guilty of funneling tens of thousands of illegal contributions to the congressional campaigns of U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Livermore).
* Former Foothill superstar softball player Valerie Arioto, now 30, is named to the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
* Pleasanton resident David James Bamber Jr., 28, is identified as the suspect in two kidnappings who died after being shot by law enforcement in Idaho while trying to flee from state police and county deputies during a high-speed chase.
* Kyle Henricksen, a Pleasanton Police Department officer whose battle with aggressive pancreatic cancer inspired support from throughout the community, dies at the age of 36.
* In response to high-velocity winds heightening the risks of wildfires, PG&E issues shutoffs that leave tens of thousands of Tri-Valley residents without power, some for days at a time. Outages affected approximately 4,900 Pleasanton residents; 6,800 in Livermore; 3,523 in Dublin; 2,673 in Danville; and 1,601 in San Ramon.
* The Weekly announces its 2019 Tri-Valley Heroes: E. Trent Thompson (Arts & Culture), Gary and Nancy Harrington (Community Spirit), the Nimmo family (Courage), Tri-Valley Conservancy (Environmental Stewardship), Darrell Jobe (Innovation), Vidhima Shetty (Rising Star), Dana Dornsife (Role Model) and Alex Mehran Sr. (Lifetime Achievement).
* More than 500 students are recorded absent from Pleasanton Middle School on one day at the height of a stomach virus.
* JUUL Labs withdraws its Livermore referendum, clearing the way for the special election to be canceled and the new city ordinance banning flavored tobacco sales and implementing other anti-vaping regulations to take effect.
* The City Council endorses a property owner’s plan to tear down and replace the 7-Eleven store and Shell service station on Hopyard Road with a new 7-Eleven, gas station and drive-thru car wash.
* More cutting-edge treatment arrives at Stanford-ValleyCare with new wire-free radar technology to help breast cancer patients.
November
* Capt. Craig Eicher, a career officer and supervisor with the Pleasanton Police Department, takes over as interim police chief.
* The City Council signs off on a response plan to address levels of certain human-made chemicals found in the local groundwater supply.
* Catherine Kuo wins special election to represent Area 3 on the DUSD Board of Trustees.
* The city commemorates Livermore’s 150th anniversary and dedicates new community room in honor of founding father William M. Mendenhall.
* Local CHP officers Samuel Garcia-Zepeda and Luis Toris are hailed as heroes for pulling a badly injured woman out of her car as it caught fire following a crash in rural Livermore.
* The school board agrees to place a $323 million bond measure on the March 2020 election ballot to fund projects on the district’s 2018 Facilities Master Plan, which has identified $1.1 billion of facilities needs and upgrades.
* The Chabot-Las Positas board approves a three-year contract with Dyrell Foster, Ed.D, a Riverside County college administrator with career ties to the Bay Area, to become the next president of Las Positas College.
* WalletHub names Pleasanton the No. 2 best small city in California to live in, just behind Los Altos. Dublin, Livermore and Danville were rated fourth, ninth and 10th, respectively.
* The Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) selects deputy executive director Tess Lengyel to serve as its next executive director after predecessor Arthur Dao retires at year’s end.
* DNA from a discarded plastic Baskin-Robbins ice cream spoon leads to the arrest of Livermore man resident Gregory Paul Vien, 60, for allegedly sexually assaulting two women more than 22 years ago.
* The city closes in on new regulations to create strict penalties for unauthorized demolition or alterations of buildings designated as historic in Pleasanton.
* Alan Leeds, whose life was saved by a group of quick-thinking good Samaritans and first responders when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest while playing racquetball in June, invites them to a reunion at his home in Ruby Hill.
* Newsweek’s Top 500 Best STEM Schools rankings includes Foothill and Amador among the 82 in California.
* Mayor Jerry Thorne presents the 2019 Pleasanton Mayor’s Award to Christina Gray, a photographer, business owner and author who volunteers her time and skills to a variety of causes.
* The Amador girls and boys cross-country teams both win NCS championships and post strong showings at the state meet, including the boys team finishing in eighth place and setting a slew of new team records.
December
* The City Council delays further discussion about the project approach and scope of work for the new East Pleasanton Specific Plan process until January after a council member is out sick from the originally scheduled meeting.
* Pleasanton cancels the annual Hometown Holiday Parade and Tree-Lighting Ceremony due to rainy and windy conditions but reschedules the tree-lighting for the following Friday.
* Zone 7 applies to the state for a $500,000 grant to safeguard its water supply; the California Department of Water Resources signed off on Zone 7’s Alternative Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) earlier this year.
* Final set of public records reveal little about the sudden departure of former superintendent Leslie Boozer from DUSD in March — pretty much nothing other than a few emails with the teachers union president over the disputed donation of LGBTQ-themed bunny book “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo.”
* Sandia National Laboratories announces James S. Peery, Ph.D., will be the new director of the country’s largest national laboratory, which includes its facility in Livermore.
* Just a small fraction of Alameda County’s homeless live in the Tri-Valley but local communities face unique challenges serving their needs, according to experts and advocates who spoke during a panel on homelessness at Congregation Beth Emek.
* Two PUSD programs — Local Leaders of the 21st Century Club and Estrella del Pueblo, PUSD’s Mariachi program — earn Golden Bell awards from the California School Boards Association.
* Planning Commission endorses revised Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone plans, setting the stage for City Council reconsideration in January over the city’s policy effort to provide the framework for a Costco store and other new redevelopment on land near the I-580/I-680 interchange. The plan was reworked after additional environmental work spurred by a lawsuit over the council’s previous JDEDZ approval.
Top 10 Most-Read Stories on PleasantonWeekly.com
1. “Two restaurants in Pleasanton Hotel abruptly close”
2. “City: Historic downtown Pleasanton home demolished without permit”
3. “Amador Valley High principal takes leave of absence”
4. “Stoneridge Mall owners submit plans for new cinema, retail, health club at Sears site”
5. “Feds: Pleasanton restaurant cited for violating overtime pay regulations”
6. “Ax-throwing lounge approved in Pleasanton”
7. “Pleasanton woman killed in Castro Valley murder-suicide”
8. “PUSD enlists law firm to investigate transcripts, grading practices”
9. “Remembering Mark Tierney, longtime Hart Middle School history teacher”
10. “Woman killed trying to cross East Avenue in Livermore”
