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Second-term Pleasanton Planning Commissioner Nancy Allen announced on Monday that she will be running for City Council in the November election.
A local small business owner with other service experience on city committees and task forces, Allen said she was inspired to seek a seat on the council “to preserve Pleasanton’s small-town character and keep Pleasanton a safe community with a charming downtown, excellent schools and open space for future generations to enjoy.”
“I want to represent you, the residents of Pleasanton, as my first priority. I will make objective decisions, based on the facts, putting community interests first. To ensure resident interests always come first, I will set a model by not accepting donations from local developers or political action committees,” Allen said in a statement to the Weekly announcing the launch of her campaign website.
She added that advocating for projects and efforts that bring new amenities to residents and support the local economy will be front-of-mind as well.
“I recognize Pleasanton’s business community is hurting, especially small businesses. I will advocate for programs to support small businesses and to revitalize areas such as the Stoneridge Mall, which is suffering from the loss of business due to online sales and the economic impacts of COVID-19,” she said.
Allen becomes the first candidate to publicize the launch of their City Council campaign. Typically, candidates in municipal elections would have started kicking off their campaigns publicly by spring, or even before, but the coronavirus pandemic has shifted that norm.
Two regular positions on the City Council, for full four-year terms, will change hands in the November election — with incumbent council members Karla Brown and Jerry Pentin both terming out after serving eight years. The mayoral seat, up for election every two years, will also see a new face with Mayor Jerry Thorne terming out.
Allen is a longtime Pleasanton resident who worked professionally in finance and telecommunications, including at Charles Schwab and AT&T, before retiring and opening a small business here in her hometown, Monterey Bay Seaglass.
She has served on the Planning Commission for the past seven years, including two years as chairperson. She has prior service on the city’s Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails Committee, Economic Vitality Committee and multiple city task forces.
Among her record, Allen also cited a thorough understanding of the city’s planning process, a position for controlled growth that protects neighborhoods and advocating for protecting the character of downtown.
“We need to be smart about managing our budget and pacing our growth so our existing residents have safe water, satisfactory traffic circulation, schools that maintain their reputation for academic excellence, and a unique downtown for residents to enjoy,” she added.
To learn more about Allen’s candidacy, visit her campaign website at https://www.nancyallen2020.com/.
Nancy Allen for Pleasanton City Council is exactly what is needed in our city on Nov. 3.
Nancy has the experience needed to fill a seat as two of our councilmembers are termed out.
She has served in our community for 13 years and has finance experience in large and small businesses. The years following Covid 19 will be difficult and Nancy is fully capable of hitting the ground running. Visit her website http://www.nancyallen2020.com
Nancy Allen sounds like a good fit for Pleasanton. She has my vote.
I have huge issues with Nancy Allen being in any leadership position with the City of Pleasanton. During the Downtown Specific Plan process she was incredibly difficult and often times sharing and spreading information that was incorrect or convoluted, at best. I paid very close attention to that task force and the work they did and it seemed that Nancy’s participation created more dissent and conflict than any other person involved. I would be wary of anyone to vote for her just because of where she used to work. Please take the time to get to know all the candidates and lets make sure those who are voted for in November will help our community recover from these difficult times.
I am not a fan of Personal attacks without listing your real name, it looks weak.
Both City Council and Planning Commissioners need to vote yes or no on projects. Sometimes people get bent out of shape. You don’t try to destroy a reputation of a long term Planning Commissioner because you didn’t like a decision or two.
I’m more afraid of a politician they can’t say no once in a while.
To Long-Time Resident, I followed the Downtown Planning process too. I felt lucky to have Nancy at the helm. Nancy had the courage to stand with residents when the task force and developers wanted to allow hi rise ground floor residential housing on Main Street, contrary to public opinion. Here is the Pleasanton Weekly article with the facts https://pleasantonweekly.com/news/2019/03/26/around-pleasanton-downtown-planning—-are-developers-now-making-the-decisions
It is the rare leader who has the courage to stand up against developers and special interests.
There are so many issues that residents and local businesses will be facing as we, most hopefully, step back into our community after current restrictions ease. While the health of our community appears to have been largely spared, those who are currently unemployed (and may remain so), local businesses that will struggle to rebound, and with a city government that will need to rethink services after a loss in revenues, I feel Nancy will be a clear choice for stepping into this role representing Pleasanton families and business owners.
Two seats on the council have termed out. We need someone who will be thorough and ask the tougher questions to ensure this community thrives.
Instead of the same tired campaign discussion, what about leadership needing to address the huge economic losses to City revenues from sales tax and development fees. Controlled growth is code for no growth at a time when the State will require Pleasanton to build a mandated large number of housing including affordable units. I wouldn’t bash developers like they are evil. It will be development that bales our town out of economic problems if they take a risk to build here. I want City Council members who are realists and not pretending that Pleasanton won’t change like the rest of the Bay Area, State, USA and World as population grows.
Ronnie, Nancy is not against growth or developers. She has, however, stated she will avoid possible conflicts of interest by not accepting donations from special interest groups and hopes other candidates will choose the same. That doesn’t make developers evil. We have the East Side and likely Stoneridge Mall to develop/redevelop. Plenty of opportunity for growth and meeting state mandates (not yet given). The city’s original plan was to stop building at 26,000 units (or somewhere near that number), so let’s not pretend we were always planning to get bigger. Now that our community will grow and change, it makes sense to have someone without conflicts and with a willingness to represent the community as a whole.
Re: Long Time Resident’s comment…
Agreeing with Joshua, a personal attack – especially against a just-announced new candidate – without showing your real name, instantly makes the rest of us think your comments are politically motivated. Whether I always agree with Nancy or any candidate, I like someone who constantly questions options for planning, and hears residents’ voices.
Nancy Allen is just the right choice for City Council, especially given the effective and thoughtful approach we have seen during her current tenure on the Planning Commission. I am pleased that she is running. By the way, Pleasanton citizens who are paying attention are capable of recognizing dishonest derogatory comments like the one I noticed above. We are quite capable of distinguishing the “wheat” from the “chaff.” I am not concerned that our intelligent population will be deceived by such garbage. Nancy’s values are the values of local citizens, not outside interests. She will have my vote.
I have know Nancy for many years. She is intelligent, dedicated and hard working. I am glad she asks tough questions and has the courage to do so. We would be lucky to have her representing our interests on the City Council.
I’m all in for anybody that wants to be a city council member and won’t be a “rubberstamper” to all the developers that want to destroy our town and cash in on some easy pickings. It’s been uneven 3-2 odds on this council for far too long favoring the developers and its time to make changes.
Will she get more cell towers built to improve the coverage around here? On AT&T it is pretty bad.
I have known Nancy for many years, since her days in the corporate world. She always had a reputation of being smart, open minded, objective and always focused on the best interests of her clients. In this case that is our residents and local business owners. She also has a strong financial background and we need this expertise as we manage our challenging economic environment. I am so glad to hear Nancy is willing to step up the plate.
Kathleen, I’ll wait to hear the candidate herself to speak to the issues. I don’t need to be coached for my vote by anyone other than those who are running for a seat on our City Council. But feel free to state your own opinion about how you are voting. By the way, nice of you to suggest East Pleasanton area to meet the affordable units requirement since I’ve read it is in the thousands and we live nearby while you live in Vintage Hills. I know, why risk votes when there is not that many people living nearby — who is playing the special interest game
Ronnie, Sorry, this was clearly my opinion. I would not expect you to vote for anything without sufficient information. I do know that Nancy is very approachable and would love to hear from you directly if you wish to do so.
I mention East Side because it will certainly be part of the debates and future City Council discussions. I have no opinion, at this point, about what should or should not be built there. I also believe Nancy will look quite seriously to those who face a greater impact—you and your neighbors, schools, traffic, water. Technically, there are ideas and no definitive plans to my knowledge. As for where I live, I was impacted by the 350 apartments at Bernal. But, I am glad to have what is in that shopping center, rather than a Home Depot.
Thank you for clarifying Kathleen. I will wait for the Townhall meetings to start and attend. As for the Eastside I did read sometime ago a draft plan that was suspended. I believe despite good intentions towards local control, the State will require thousands of units because Pleasanton has delayed building affordable units. I don’t oppose developing that area except we fear high density multi story apartments that have a lot of units subsidized like those jammed together in Dublin. In other words have a disproportionate number in the East. The Bernal apartments seem reasonable in scale because it’s a stand alone complex, but we fear probably 4 times as many apartments In the East despite what the local government wants. We can only hope for good developers instead of cheap builders.
Ronnie,
I welcome the opportunity to talk with you more about East Pleasanton. I am very familiar with area as served on the task force (and strongly advocated for the process to be halted) and live on the east side. I was also involved with halting the 2nd Home Depot that was planned in the area as it was the wrong location and would have harmed residents and small businesses. Traffic would have been two to five times the level as we see today with the apartments. We need to be thoughtful about planning this area and ensure any plan is a win win for our residents. The test of a good plan is that the voters endorse it. I welcome the opportunity to talk further and hear your concerns. You can reach me at ncallen@comcast.net.
It is quite apparent by the comments on this thread that Ms. Allen is firmly backed by PleasantonVoters.com. I see that Ms. Allen won’t take any developer money but I wonder how much she will be controlled by this group, as candidates before her have been.
@ Those who believe asking questions are personal attacks….
These are legitimate questions for a candidate – not personal attacks. Questions like these give candidates an idea of the issues voters are concerned about.
I was serious about the mobile phone coverage. Something really needs to be done. Kansas City council maybe do something to loosen the regulations or encourage more towers to be built? Honest question.
Not “Kansas”. Replace “Can the”.
Sarah, Please, if you have some time, visit Nancy Allen’s web site. She is not taking campaign donations from any special interest groups. Given that the majority of people on this thread have not given a full name, I am not sure how you are drawing conclusions about PleasantonVoters.com. Also, as Nancy has posted her email, please feel free to reach out to her; she will be happy to respond to your concern. nancyallen2020.com
BobB, it might be easier to get Kansas to get us better cell coverage. :o) Otherwise, it will take a majority on the council to push for any changes. I would suggest reaching out to Nancy to see if she has even looked into this issue before; she did work for AT&T.
Thank you for your good questions about cell site coverage. I know how important good cell coverage is for residents and businesses. I am reaching out to get much more detail, including calling AT&T to better understand their plans. Please e-mail me so I can update you when I get further information at ncallen@comcast.net. Here is what I know so far about soome cell coverage plans:
– The city approved new ordinances to support carriers who want to provide 5G for small cell sites on March 11, 2019. So far, it does not appear we have any applications.
– The city approved a contract to work with some carriers (not AT&T) to lay fiber on April 21.
– The AT&T tower on Santa Rita was recently damaged by fire. We are checking on the status of that plus another project that was approved last year near Mission Plaza.
– The city does not have any pending applications from carriers that are being held up on our side. As such, I am seeing if i can learn more about what AT&Ts plans are.
Look forward to having more details to share with you in a week or so. Just let me know how to reach you. Thanks again for asking.
It is not often that a candidate as qualified as Nancy Allen decides to run for city council. Her experience with the Planning Commission and the Economic Vitality Committee demonstrates her commitment to serving Pleasanton as well as providing her with an understanding of how city government actually functions. Along with that, Nancy’s tireless work ethic and intense attention to detail will get her up to speed as a council member very quickly. This will be extremely helpful given the fact that we will have a very green council come November as well as very uncharted waters to navigate our city through.
Please join me in voting for a Nancy Allen on November 3rd. Visit Nancy’s website at http://www.nancyallen2020.com.
Nancy Allen:
Pleasanton voters overwhelmingly approved a new Costco store in Pleasanton.
Do you support that vote and support to build a Costco store in Pleasanton?
Michael, thank you for asking. Yes, i support the Costco project. It brings new amenities to our residents, it is in the right location, and it keeps our tax dollars in Pleasanton.
As wth any large big box store though, it creates impacts, especially traffic. That is why i worked hard to mitigate these impaacts to our community. I required, as did many others, that the necessary traffic mitigations be “built” prior to occupancy so existing residents and businesses would not be harmed.
I am hopeful that a satisfactory settlement can be reached between all parties involved so we can move on in a win win way.
Feel free to reach out to me at ncallen@comcast.net to discuss further. I welcome your thoughts about this and other issues that are important to you. Thanks.