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Despite the recent closure of the Starbucks on Main Street, the Pleasanton Downtown Association’s update to the City Council last week was positive overall, outlining several ways the organization plans to increase the economic vitality of downtown.
“Vibrant downtowns bring people together, they drive economic activity and reflect the unique character of a place,” PDA Executive Director Gabrielle Welk said during the Aug. 19 council meeting. “It’s our mission to continue on our effort to make this a place where people can gather amongst each other and preserve the historical charm that we have and just keep moving forward.”
The council also approved appointment of the PDA executive committee as the advisory board for the 2026 downtown Pleasanton Business Improvement District (BID), which could see some significant changes including new boundaries to include more business owners and a new rate structure.
The update comes after the council postponed the formation of the BID in January in order to allow the PDA, businesses owners and property owners to have further discussions and provide last week’s status update to the council.
Among the discussion topics was the association’s strategic plan for 2025-27, which Welk said will help modernize the PDA’s structure, increase funding capacity and expand engagement with local stakeholders.
The strategic plan is broken up into three points: establishing the Pleasanton Downtown Foundation, updating the downtown Pleasanton BID and launching an associate member program starting next year.
The foundation, which Welk said has already been formed and the PDA is now working on launching publicly, will prioritize economic vitality and development, historic preservation, community engagement, revitalization and beautification, and marketing and programming.
The associate member program’s objective will be to engage with stakeholders who are not part of the BID in order to create synergy throughout the city and the greater Tri-Valley.
Some of the expected benefits through this program include diversification of revenue and stakeholder input, building stronger ties with the greater community, and enhancing the visibility and inclusiveness of the PDA’s mission. Welk said at least two organizations — the Alameda County Fairgrounds and the Hacienda Business Park — have expressed interest in becoming associate members.
As for the updates to the BID, Welk said the PDA is looking into reassessing its boundaries to include additional businesses and emerging commercial zones and revising the rate structure to ensure equitable contribution while increasing the total funding capacity for operation, events and services.
However, she noted that after speaking with downtown property owners, they did not express any interest in paying into a BID assessment, which the city had been exploring since January.
“It was expressed that (property owners) had no interest in becoming part of – they called it an HOA of some sort – and just expressed that if they were to be given the fees themselves that they would just pass it down to their tenants,” Welk said.
City Councilmember Julie Testa said she was disappointed to hear that property owners did not want to pay assessment fees. “They expect the city and the downtown association and everyone else to invest in their properties and they’re not willing to invest in their properties, I don’t understand that,” Testa said.
The assessment formula is based on the annual business license payment and is calculated based on where a business is located in downtown Pleasanton — those located curbside and on the first floor on Main Street pay higher than those on a second floor or those located off Main Street. The minimum assessment is $50 while the maximum is $350.
The assessment formula and minimum and maximum amounts have not been updated since 1996 and the downtown boundary has not been updated since 2016.
Welk said the benefits of the downtown BID are inclusive representation of downtown businesses; increased stakeholder engagement; increased funding to support downtown services, beautification, and events; and enhanced alignment with the city’s Economic Strategy Plan.
Pleasanton commission set to vote on major redevelopment project off Dublin Canyon RoadApril 21, 2026 4:30 pm
According to this article, City Councilmember Julie Testa said she was disappointed to hear that property owners did not want to pay assessment fees. “They expect the city and the downtown association and everyone else to invest in their properties and they’re not willing to invest in their properties, I don’t understand that,” Testa said.
Julie Testa doesn’t understand this and yet she claims to be a small business owner. Business owners have already invested in and continue to invest in their property or business. They bought the property, pay taxes on the property, pay to maintain the the property, pay to make improvements in their property and pay the city for a business license.
Apparently this assessment appears to be another “tax” or cost of doing business in Pleasanton. Owners with money to invest would probably rather invest 100% of their money in their business than to give it to someone like Julie Testa and hope that the money is spent in some tangible way that benefits their business.