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By Julie Testa
Our city is a place of exceptional beauty, rich history, and a deep sense of community. These qualities — our aesthetics, small-town character and historic charm — are not accidental. They are the result of thoughtful planning, community engagement and a shared responsibility to protect what we cherish most about Pleasanton.
Today, we are facing unprecedented challenges.
A significant and growing budget deficit — driven largely by unsustainable pension obligations, put in place decades ago — requires tough, responsible decisions to ensure our city remains financially stable.
Pleasanton is working to ensure a reliable and cost-effective water source. At the same time, unfunded state mandates continue to erode local control over housing, threatening our ability to shape growth in a way that reflects Pleasanton’s values. Housing projects are being approved in Pleasanton with no City Council input.
In these difficult times, the importance of our guiding documents — the Pleasanton General Plan and Downtown Specific Plan — cannot be overstated. These are not just policy frameworks; they are clear promises to our community.
Absent state overreach, they intend to give us the authority to guide land use, design and development in a manner that reflects the will of our residents and preserves what makes Pleasanton truly unique.
It is your City Council’s job to uphold these plans whenever possible and to ensure that our decision-making process remains rooted in community character and responsible stewardship. Whether it’s safeguarding the historic charm of downtown or maintaining aesthetic standards citywide, we must continue to act with care, clarity, and purpose.
Pleasanton is more than a place to live — it is a community to belong to. In these challenging times I am working to elevate Pleasanton’s interests at the state level and committed to you, our residents, in every decision that I make on the City Council.
Editor’s note: Julie Testa is in her second term on the Pleasanton City Council, representing District 3.
Pleasanton commission set to vote on major redevelopment project off Dublin Canyon RoadApril 21, 2026 4:30 pm
Interested that Council Member Testa doesn’t mention is that she along with previous council are largely to blame for our current budget deficit. Ms. Testa has opposed every development proposed in our city or has tried to make developments for seniors only, see her stance on the East Side Plan. Quite frankly we need developments (housing) to continue to contribute to our tax base.
I don’t want more development in Pleasanton. That’s why I voted for the tax measure that was on the ballot last year.
This opinion piece comes across as political posturing rather than offering meaningful solutions. First, the General Plan is too vague and leaves much open to interpretation—it needs to be revised with clearer, more specific guidance. Second, the Downtown Specific Plan should be updated to better support and attract businesses looking to invest in our community. Both plans need serious attention if we want to see real progress.
Anti-home building Testa, does not get it. Fifty-Six Thousand (56,000) people commute into Pleasanton for work every day. Aesthetics, small town charm, is a figment of the mind of a handful of Pleasanton residents. The same handful of people who believe that the old house on Santa Rita Road is original. A location that should be a large apartment community for people to call home, and stop commuting.
Without responsible development communities, no matter how quaint and aesthetically pleasing, will surely wither and die. Councilmember Testa has long led the NIMBY cry for limiting growth to such an extent she would even have Pleasanton secede from California, or at the very least become a Charter City to avoid having to play by the rules.
The result of this thinking, like that of my Touriga Drive Neighbor, has placed Pleasanton squarely in the middle of the precarious financial situation of the current budget balancing act leaders are now facing. Hindsight tells us if the East Side Plan had been completed, as council’s workplan outlined, we’d have saved countless staff time and effort trying to redo things in order to comply with RHNA requirements. We may even have had a healthy chunk of developer fee monies to offset CIP expenditures for needed water and sewer upgrades, the completion of West Las Positas improvements, and a more robust shopping demographic to pour enough into city coffers to have avoided the months-long pain and agony of making the city’s ends meet.
Ms. Testa’s long-held belief that the State of California is responsible for all Pleasanton’s ills has been well documented over the years and her obstructionist methods of leadership have thrown many a monkey wrench in to the formerly well-oiled machine that is city government at work.
Her failure to grasp the concept that if we divorce ourselves from California and its pension obligations, we also separate ourselves from the many funding opportunities afforded the city for major infrastructure work. It simply boggles the mind. Where were her aesthetic concerns when the ugliest building in town, 10X Genomics was allowed to appear like a big gray whale in a previous retail shopping area? I find nothing aesthetically pleasing about the myriad green, bulbous bollards cropping up everywhere in the interest of bike safety. and the bulbouts, bollards, painted sections at the intersection of Stanley Blvd. and Bernal/Valley by McDonalds have created one of the most dangerous intersections in town! How many tires have been blown hitting that bulbout as drivers maneuver the left turn coming from Livermore on Stanley Blvd.?
Quibbling over minutiae, such as the canopy signage at gas stations, isn’t responsible leadership; rather, it is just making noise. Please stop. Quit being confused and start getting to work on what really matters to our community. We value this place, and need our elected officials to make it work, not make more noise.
Regarding Touriga Drive Neighbor’s senseless comment.
The Measure PP life span, if passed, was for ten years.
Property taxes are forever.