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Tri-Valley mayors played Jeopardy in front of more than 300 of their constituents at their annual Tri-Valley Mayors Summit, but it was hardly the fun and game version that’s popular on TV.
The event was videotaped by Tri-Valley Community Television TV30 and is being aired daily. A schedule of the broadcasts is listed at the end of this report.
Speaking at the annual joint gathering held this year in Dublin, the mayors talked mostly about taxes and transportation, although the Jeopardy-like format bundled with fast and fairly easy questions from David Stark, government affairs director of the Bay East Association of Realtors, livened the presentation.
In the past, these annual sessions involving the mayors of Danville, Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton and San Ramon have been less than stimulating.
The questions ranged from “What does your crystal ball tell you about pensions for public employees?” to “How would your city cope with a financial crisis?”
Fortunately, none of the Tri-Valley cities is facing bankruptcy and the mayors agreed that the economy is looking better, not great, but better. Danville’s Mayor Newell Arnerich pointed out that with his town’s budget well under those of the mayors next to him, “every penny only counts, and not only that it’s easily seen.”
Mayor John Marchand boosted iGATE, the regional public-private partnership that is working closely with the Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories and Tri-Valley cities.
Dublin Mayor Tim Sbranti and Mayor Jennifer Hosterman of Pleasanton, who are on the board of directors of iGATE, praised the collaborative opportunities and entrepreneurial education and assistance the technology upstart is already bringing to their cities.
The Alameda County mayors also endorsed Measure B1, the $7.7 billion countywide sales tax measure on the Nov. 6 ballot that would add another 1/2-cent sales tax to support transportation projects.
Hosterman, who has been leading the effort to see Measure B1 passed, said that as important as the added revenue would be to completing key transportation projects here, approval of the measure also will enable the county and cities to receive additional matching funds from other sources. “It will enable us to add more hot (toll) lanes on our freeways and reduce congestion,” Hosterman said.
Arnerich, president of a successful architectural firm, said he knows voters don’t like to approve tax measures. But he urged them to look at the tax proposal just as they would an investment they might consider. Will it help in their children’s education, make traffic in their town a little bit lighter, will it help improve their quality of life. If they like those kinds of investments, then they should vote for the tax.
Marchand urged his fellow mayors to support efforts to extend BART to Livermore. The plan, which underwent another environmental review Wednesday, would extend the tracks to a new station at Isabel Road, and then later farther east. “We’re very close to getting the money we need to finally make this happen,” he said.
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A video of the Tri-Valley Mayors’ Summit is now airing on Tri-Valley TV 30 and may also be viewed via Video on Demand at the Tri-Valley TV website: www.tri-valleytv.org. Click on the banner at the top of the page to view.
The broadcasts on TV30 are scheduled for:
Tuesday 6pm
Wednesday 8pm
Thursday 7pm
Friday 5pm
Saturday 9am
Saturday 10pm
Sunday 4pm
Sunday 11pm
Monday 2pm
Monday 7pm
These canned events where a moderator asks softball questions while the audience dines on rubber chicken are a joke. Whatever happened to the audience being able to ask their own questions?
I didn’t know anything about it. If it’s open to the public, I would have attended.
Thank you Mr. Bing and the Pleasanton Weekly…for the broadcast channel,day and times for viewing the meeting. Providing the solution(day/time) to view…for whatever problem(whether real or inferred) is the point I see in the piece. Nothing more…nothing less. Add more toll lanes? Making traffic in their town a little bit lighter? What do iGate board of directors…actually do? Measure B1 information…will it assist me in how to vote? Watch…you decide.