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Residents right to worry about Barone’s project
The lack of any affordable housing in the Barone’s redevelopment plan ought to concern all Pleasanton residents. Robson Homes, the project developer, opted to pay fees of $1.2 million in-lieu rather than constructing any affordable housing.
The fees in-lieu collected for this project are minuscule for a project of this scale. Fourteen units of housing will be constructed on the Barone’s site and not a single unit of which will be an affordable home.
Downtown resident Melissa Morgan deserves kudos for organizing the effort to stop the approval of the Robson Homes project. Mobilizing local residents on important issues is no small feat. The 1,000-plus signatures on her online petition symbolizes Pleasanton’s people power potential in opposition to this developer friendly housing plan.
Nadine Moore, another downtown neighbor of the project, spoke of the vitality added to the community through the preservation of heritage-sized trees at the council meeting to approve the project.
Residents are right to be worried. The Barone’s redevelopment project will likely become the new model template for in-fill construction in our city. Development that fails to add a single unit of affordable housing is not right for Pleasanton.
Furthermore, development that fails to preserve the ecological needs of the neighborhood is simply disrespectful to longtime residents like Melissa and Nadine.
— Matthew Gray
Tolls on bridge article
The article in the Jan. 3 paper was not informative. Rising cost is not news. All costs rise as materials and wages increase.
Bay Area CPI has increased about 4.5% annual since 2020. The toll increases will be 5% annually.
The federal inflation goal of 2% is also unrealistic. If my wage was only increased 2% annually over 40 years, I’d be on the street. Housing costs have increased 6% annually in the Bay Area over 40 years.
A 2% increase for $25,000 is $500; 2% increase for $50,000 is $1,000.
Percentages and increases over multiple years do not give clear understanding of cost.
— Bob Sanchez
Oakland A’s column
Incredibly relatable article you wrote recently, Jeremy. Grew up in San Ramon, been to many games at the Coliseum. I now live in Livermore. My daughter, (born recently) will never get to share a game there with her dad, which are some of my favorite memories as a kid.
Couldn’t agree more how baseball just doesn’t feel the same anymore. Raiders’ endless wheel of misfortune is hardly something to be able to lean on. We’re in this together! There are many of us out here in the East Bay. If/when he sells the team, maybe we can return out to Vegas for some games. We’ll have to see what the landscape looks like then. Who knows what the future holds.
— Ernie Collins
