Eight years ago, Mike Tassano was an intern with the city’s traffic division. Today, he is the deputy director of public works and transportation.
City Manager Nelson Fialho announced this week that he appointed the post to Tassano, who has been working in the job title since May on an interim basis.
After an extensive interview process and search, Fialho said Tassano was the top candidate because “in addition to the excellent communication skills combined with a solid technical background, Mike has the excitement and energy to bring new and fresh ideas to the traffic division.”
The position was vacated after the former traffic engineer Jeff Knowles was terminated. Knowles is now the traffic engineer for the city of Vacaville.
Tassano is no stranger to traffic and how it relates to Pleasanton. He began in the traffic division as an intern in 1998 and worked his way to higher positions. Some of the laundry list of projects he’s working on include those involving Interstates 580 and 680, State Route 84, the Congestion Management Agency, Tri-Valley Transportation Committee, Alameda County Transportation Committee and the city’s Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program.
One of his proudest accomplishments, he said, is the upgrade of about 95 city traffic signals to make it easier for public works staff to operate them from city offices instead of having to go on-site to assess a problem.
In his role as deputy director of public works and transportation, Tassano said he’d like introduce more neighborhood and residential programs so that residents can better express their traffic concerns and problems to the city.
“We need to find a streamlined way to help the community,” he said. “We also need to provide a system that’s more friendly to bicyclists and pedestrians.”
The city has recently installed additional bike lanes and is working to incorporate pedestrian counting heads (the electronic signals at traffic crosswalks that give a countdown to when the light will turn red) at all its intersections.
He said he is also having his staff work on school routes and assessing safety surrounding schools.
Tassano has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from San Jose State University. He lives in Tracy with his wife and two kids, ages 6 and 9.
