Good! Finally. Let’s get started.

So glad Costco is coming to Pleasanton!

How long until Matt Sullivan files another lawsuit?

PCRG Statement on JDEDZ Approval

Pleasanton Citizens for Responsible Growth is very disappointed by the actions of the City Council last night to approve Costco and the Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone project. The city continues to conceal the true environmental, public health, and traffic impacts of the project and refuses to provide the details of public subsidies to Costco, a $135 billion corporation. We are weighing the alternatives to respond to this action, but suffice to say, this fight is not over.

Matt, You are working against the vast majority of Pleasanton residents who are in favor of the project. You have lost at every turn and continue to make the city spend money to fight against your personnel agenda. Get over it, you fought the fight but are on the ropes about ready to go down for the count. The City has bent over backwards to get you an updated EIR yet you say it is now just a bunch of lies. What exactly are the lies in the report? Get over yourself!

I agree with Carl. Move on. Stop messing with my cheap gas, hot dogs, and occasional upgrade to a slice of pizza upon checkout. Build now!

I was at the meeting last night...I was surprised to hear that the City has already signed an agreement with Costco. I heard many conflicting answers from the staff which contradicted their report.

The staff said Costco paying $8.4 million; city paying $8.4 million. I wonder who pays the remaining $8.4 million- the total is $25.3 million. Nothing in the staff report shows Costco paying $8.4 million.

The staff said Costco and the City splitting RIght of Ways 50/50, yet the attachments to the staff report show that Costco will be reimbursed for its contribution to ROW by sales tax revenue sharing.

The staff said 10 gas pumps with 2 sides each. This disputes the RFSEIR. Actually 20 pumps with 2 sides.

Costco is in charge of all infrastructure management and construction! The city has oversight. Good luck overseeing Costco spending $25.3 million, of which $20 million is our taxpayer money.

It was about time! We the People (or the majority of We the People) have already spoken, and this delay should never have even happened because of a few ( and I mean, very, very few) disgruntled ones. Get that Costco built. We want it!

Explain to me how this is going to work?

"This is a thriving commercial corridor that capitalizes on its location and will create many opportunities for new uses and services for our community,"

I really don't care what they build there. However, the 680 NB Sonerdige on ramp is already a crazy mess. That is also where 680 NB goes from three lanes to two lanes. Ridiculous. Then it opens up to at least 5 lanes.

I predict a traffic mess at 680 and Stoneridge Drive.

Another thing the staff said last night...

Costco and the City will split the cost overruns 50/50. This is wrong! The staff report clearly says that cost increases will be paid by the city in one of two ways:
1) increasing the rate of tax sharing- City gets less sales tax, or
2) the city uses other reserves.

Costco manages infrastructure construction and has no obligation for overruns in costs. Watch out for this one!

Way to go Matt Sullivan! Keep up the good fight! Thank you for wasting time and taxpayer dollars. You LOST. Nobody will take you seriously until you tell us who is funding the PCRG. Perhaps gas station owners who want to continue to gouge Pleasanton Residents? Get over it and move on Matt. All of us on the forum eagerly await your tired, recycled, blah, blah, blah, response. Not! Your 15 minutes were up a long time ago.

Sorry, Big Matt. I'm not going away anytime soon. Deal with it!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Put on the hard hats and grab the shovels. Matt’s conspiracy theories failed. Costco has been acquitted. Onward to a great and needed addition to our city.

Way to go Jake! Put on the hard hats while Matt Sullivan puts on his TIN FOIL HAT!

Deal with it? Are you serious, Matt? Please, Pleasanton, "weigh the alternatives" to making Matt Sullivan and PCRG pay for the millions in costs his delays and obsession has cost the taxpayers of Pleasanton. He has never had anything to back up his position, he has lost at every turn, and the cost of what the vast majority of Pleasanton wants keeps going up and up due to his delay tactics. The city keeps trying to appease him. Why? Why should we have to deal with him continuing to require the city to use our tax dollars to feed this crazy obsession he has? What exactly is in it for him? It has to be something big. I guess a big payoff from the band of top-secret financiers funding all of this. And maybe I am wrong on my thoughts of who is funding it but the accusations that are out there have never been denied and I will NEVER buy overpriced gas from the Pleasanton stations even if Costco is never built. I haven't since this was started and I won't ever again. Geesh! Enough is enough. Every taxpayer in Pleasanton should be furious at the waste.

This was all about the local gas stations and big-time loss of revenue for them.

Stopped buying gas from them after they came out as opponents of Costco.

I hope you go broke, fellas.

Dan

Matt Sullivan, please take your own words and use them-

2 EIRS approved- deal with it
1 Election lost - deal with it

Majority of community against you- deal with it

However, unfortunately for us, you'll probably continue with this BS.. not going to ask where your getting the money to fund your lawyers etc. because clearly you don't want to disclose this information....

I will be so disappointed if Costco is allowed to build another store in Pleasanton. This is a horrible idea and will only benefit the ones who will be stuffing money into their own greedy pockets. Get ready for more traffic folks amongst other negative outcomes. And as far as an eyesore?? I would rathe look at the two gravel pyramids then an ugly Costco. Time to move..

So Matt Sullivan reveals himself. It’s not about Environmental concerns. It’s not even about what our community wants. it’s about Matt getting his way because he’s smarter and thinks he superior than the rest of us. He just simply does not like big boxes because he is a child of the 60’s. But his frivolous lawsuits are costing us taxpayers money from our general fund that could have been applied to parks, senior housing, and street maintenance. Matt, you sound like Trump when you say there are public subsidies when you know that’s not true. A lot of us are not going away either.

Can anybody think of a way that a lawsuit can be filed against Matt Sullivan to recoup all of the money wasted on hos lawsuits?

I'd personally donate some money towards attorney's fees to get a suit filed.

Hear, Hear, Karl!!

Can Pleasanton file something like a restraining order against Matt Sullivan and/or put in place some means to stop these endless, losing lawsuits, and/or force disclosure of the financial supporters so we can affirmatively boycott the organization(s) behind this and make them pay for costing us taxpayers so much? It can't be just for individual, personal reasons...

Nothing will ever have 100% support in a large community. But the vast majority of us clearly WANT the Costco, are good with the deal proposed, are satisfied with the EIRs and the due diligence, and are really, really, really pissed about how long this is getting dragged out!!

Why does this Sullivan clown keep wasting our money on unnecessary delays? We can use every bit of retail sales tax revenue thatis64i we can get. JCPenney is on its last legs, and Macys isn't far behind.

Karl:
Yes, A lawsuit will destroy Matt Sullivan and his group.
How it works, engage a law firm to bring the litigation before the court.
The court will allow discovery.
Discovery is where it begins.
The law firm engaged will totally dominate the Matt Sullivan group beginning with depositions.
Discovery will get all financial records of Matt Sullivan and his group, cell phone records, email records, medical records, mental health records, much more, there is no end to what discovery can get.
With all of the discovery going on, more depositions will be continuing with all of the other people discovered in the first set of depositions.
The Matt Sullivan group will not be able to handle this type of litigation.
They will surrender, the court will order the Matt Sullivan group to pay law firm expenses.

I want the Costco... But I've also read the documents, and Matt Sullivan is right...

Jack, everyone has access to the same materials as Mr. Sullivan. It's all very public and "the most vetted," as Councilmember Pentin noted. And clearly the vast majority of the residents, along with the various City departments, commissions, and Council have concluded that we're good with it. It's time to accept that and let it go.

Resident:
Please name one person of our city leaders who is capable of negotiating with Costco. One person who can vet the contract.

Susan, I guess it’s time for you to move.

Stop with the traffic conspiracy. I did not hear anybody crying about Workday. I don’t hear anyone crying about the Mall redevelopment. Live with it as you get your gas at Costco. And you know you will.

Resident, I get it, you want the Costco. So do I. But do you believe for a minute that Patio World will generate one trip on Johnson for every 5 trips that Costco generates? That's just one of the assumptions on which this financial package is based.
I too want the Costco... But Matt's not wrong...

Last I recall, a number of the City staff were engaged in the negotiations, not just the City Council. And frankly, one only has so much leverage to negotiate when it's clear to Costco how much residents want this (for which it was actually that public ballot measure (MM) to kill the deal that first tipped the hand; bad move Matt et al!) But Costco also has an eager backup in Dublin, which I'm sure would be more than happy to make an attractive deal if we push Costco to the point of seeking alternatives. That affects how aggressive one can be. And if we don't get the Costco, and Dublin does, then we lose on a number of fronts both shorter and longer term.

Meanwhile, it was decided that regardless of whether there is a Costco, that the roadwork to improve Stoneridge and 680 is needed and will happen anyway. Or are we going to revert to arguing for reverting the JDEZ to some fields and a small strip mall?

A Pleasanton Costco will mean we don’t have to drive an extra 18 miles and sit through 9 more stop lights when we have to go to Danville. The traffic Armageddon argument is absurd. It’s about a several companies and their lying mouthpieces not wanting competition and another losing their precious street parking.

I wish Matt Sullivan cared more about the impact of all the home building that has occurred in Pleasanton over the past 5-10 years. We have exceeded the housing requirement forced upon us by the State and continue to cram in more and more housing. Costco will never put the strain on our resources as the 1000's of homes that have and will be built. Schools are grossly overcrowded, our water and sewer systems cannot handle the load, and our streets have become crowded.

I think Matt and his organization is mainly backed by Black Tie and the Shell Gas Station owner. He has probably nothing else to do with his time so he has this pass time of creating trouble for a project which is liked and backed by majority of Pleasanton residents. I personally do agree that probably we are giving too much to Costco but that is the trend all over the country where cities and counties give millions of incentives to companies like Google and Amazon to attract them. So my request to Matt is that please stop wasting the city's money and time and let us all move on with life.

The Costco is needed and welcomed. The residents have spoken. That area will definitely need traffic improvements and the road infrastructure addressed.

Lets get the truth out there. The main opponents to the Costco are the Cox family, whom with 6-7 gas stations or more, could no longer have a control over the gas prices in the area, their monopoly would have to end and they would have to be more competitive on their gas pricing.

The other is the owner of Black Tie Transportation whom does not want to be forced to move, and/or lose free parking at both the rear Double Tree lot or street parking for the company's employees and equipment.

For both of those organizations it is only about their profitability and that only, yet they both pull the "traffic and environmental" card out.


The Danville and Livermore Costco locations are far too crowded as it is, the new Costco is needed. While there would be an increase in local traffic, it would be less of an impact with road improvements. In turn, there would b3 less cars on both 580 and 680 traveling out of their come town to reach the existing Costco locations.

The tri-valley is short on hotel space. This would be addressed. Other Johnson Drive tenants, including AT&T, Fed Ex and others, have already agreed to cooperate. It's time for Cox Family and Black Tie to think about the community and not just themselves.

So down with the "pyramid" and up with much needed Pleasanton improvememts.

Don't have strong feelings about a Pleasanton Costco either way. May be a bit more convenient (despite the added local traffic) but I've had no complaints on driving to Costcos at Livermore or San Ramon.

Oh, and everyone: Lay off the personal attacks on Matt Sullivan simply because you don't agree with his views on this matter.

I don’t think the attacks are because Matt disagrees... it’s because he keeps interfering with and delaying the desires of the majority of residents (2 to 1 by Measure MM), and costing taxpayers in the process. There has to be an end to this after so many failures!! And we all believe the key drivers (and funding) for these efforts are certain selfish business interests.

The residents have voted against MM, the City has gone around and around to appease the opposition, and the duly-elected City Council has voted to proceed. Accept the reality and move on. Otherwise the majority of people will rightfully be angry and will attack back. We want the Costco and our rights to that are just as valid (and there are 2x as many of us!) :-)

Easy extra income for all. Try paid surveys and other.



Web Link

Dear Reality, not to get off track but Pleasanton has not exceeded the number of houses mandated by the State. In fact, our City has not met the fair share allocation of actual homes built. It is because of no growthers like Sullivan that has placed Pleasanton in a deficit so the State’s updated mandates will necessite building a bunch a higher density units in order to catch up and comply instead of spreading the units across town in smaller quantities. The State is getting very serious about building more homes to meet population demands.

Dear Wombat, Sullivan claims back room deals, conspiracy theories, etc against City Councilmenbers and Staff members. . Talk about personal attacks. He deserves the criticism and he should not dish it out unless he’s prepared to take it. He writes letters to the PW and goes to meetings to personally attack the character of those who don’t share his opinion. He has cost the taxpayers money needlessly, and created a lot of chaos in the community. I’d wish he would find a hobby, new religion or moved.

Perhaps Matt can tell us how he knows about the backroom deals he claims are going on?

I mean, it sounds as if he might be intimately familiar with how business is REALLY conducted in government, being that he was once part of said government.

Hat tip: Joe Biden

Looking forward to Costco. Great use for that piece of wasteland by the freeway.

I guess Sullivan is not going to give up until someone sues him and make him financially liable for the cost of delay.
I am tired of driving down to Costco Livermore or San Ramon last two years and dealing with the large crowds. Also, My wife pays more around 50 cents whenever she fills up gas our neighborhood.
We need volunteers of lawyers who can sue Sullivan and make a kind of "go fund me" to support lawyers' cost.
Thanks.

Kim,
What it takes is 10% of the voting residents to give $5K each into a offensive fund to take on the Mat Sullivan group, run them out of town forever. I for one am willing to provide the first $5K. Do you have idea as to how we can make this happen?

Wait, what? Run them out of town?

Look, I’m sick of the delays too. And I consciously don’t go to most Pleasanton gas stations—the ones that had the lawn signs. But they have a right to be here, and I’m proud they have the right to be wrong about this issue without being ran out of town.