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Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown is running for a third term as mayor after announcing her candidacy over the weekend.
Brown is the second person so far to throw their hat in the race after Councilmember Jack Balch announced his run for the position back in March.
“My work is not done,” Brown stated in her campaign launch press release on Sunday. “I will continue to work with the city manager to utilize the latest technology available to prevent property crimes and improve resident safety, while filling open positions with highly trained personnel.”
As for the city’s water issues, Brown said she plans on continuing to address PFAS — otherwise known as forever chemicals — which were found in the city’s groundwater wells and the city’s aging water system infrastructure.
“When PFAS … were detected in parts per trillion (in) all three of the city’s drinking water wells, we used extreme caution and closed all three wells,” Brown told the Weekly. “So more infrastructure and capital expenditures were needed for the proper flow and pressure of our drinking water system.”
Brown said the city would normally use funds from Pleasanton’s water enterprise fund to pay for these improvements and infrastructure replacements but because the city had not adjusted its water rates since 2011, she and the City Council had to make the difficult decision to increase those rates last November.
She said those increases over this year and next year will bring in much needed money back into the water fund’s reserve so the city can provide quality water services.
“As we rebuild our funding reserves, we will have the money to pay for the improvements such as the addition of new turn out pipe from Zone 7 supplies, to add piping in areas where the wells were, and additional pumps to balance water pressure in the system,” Brown said.
A Pleasanton resident for more than 25 years, Brown was first elected as mayor in 2020 after defeating four other candidates. She was reelected in 2022 after running unopposed.
Before her tenure as mayor, she served eight years on the City Council, including two years as vice mayor.
Brown said during her first year serving as mayor during the pandemic, she not only worked with city staff and local hospitals to get outdoor COVID testing, vaccine and food distribution services running at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, she also listened to residents and businesses who were struggling during those economically challenging times.
“Pleasanton closed down Main Street and relaxed policies so businesses could utilize parklets and outdoor dining throughout Pleasanton,” Brown said. “We got through it and most of our businesses survived due to the partnership that was developed together.”
But the pandemic also took a toll on the city’s economy and its budget, which is why Brown said she is committed to developing a sustainable city budget that will maintain as many services as possible, while also removing capital projects — such as the Ken Mercer Sports Park skate park and Century House renovation projects — to tighten the budget.
She also said she will continue to campaign for smart growth policies in order to meet state housing mandates and supports a balanced approach for local jobs and remote job options to improve residents’ quality of life.
Brown said she will continue to refuse donations from builders and developers and will make sure she considers all sides of any issue in order to vote for what is best for Pleasanton as a whole.
“I take great pride in my contributions which helped to form Pleasanton as a highly sought-after community,” Brown said in her press release. “Together we enjoy a beautiful and safe city, an historic downtown, scenic ridgelines, and a family-friendly community ready to help our neighbors.”
More information about Brown’s campaign is available at vote4karla.com.
I wanted to acknowledge why we have turned off comments to this article for the time being. As a journalism nonprofit, we are now subject to IRS rules that prohibit “political engagement” by 501(c)(3) organizations. That means our editorial board can no longer write endorsements of political candidates (but ballot measures are fair game), and there is prevailing belief within our organization that the prohibition on endorsements also likely extends to reader-based content deemed editorial such as Letters to the Editor and even online comments that are explicitly pro or con a declared candidate.
We are still fine-tuning our organizational policy, but in the meantime, we need to limit any potential exposure. As a result, the two “vote for” type comments previously posted below this story have been removed and we will turn off the commenting for now on this story and likely all other campaign announcement articles.
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Jeremy Walsh,
Editorial director, East Bay Division