Even though I'm ticked off at Julie and the rest of the Council for destroying the west side with massive development, she is absolutely right in this case. The plans for affordable housing by the state forcing cities to rezone properties is a fantasy. This is all about market-rate housing for tech workers and other affluent people. It's a scam by state legislators in the pocket of the tech industry and developers. This has led to part of what has happened on the west side, but Julie is the only one on the Council who has fought back. There has been a lot of talk by PW posters and other politicos about avoiding the so-called mistakes of past Councils by fighting the state and losing lawsuits. But at least we fought for the democratic process and didn't cave in to state overreach and mandates. The people advocating for these state policies are just as much in the pocket of big-money interests as the forces in Sacramento are.

I'm looking forward to voting out the current batch of unserious city council members. If this guest opinion is any indicator of their regard for voters, they cannot be gone too soon.

Get ready for another lawsuit Council Member Testa. The state sued the City before and their deep pockets can and will do it again. Thanks for nothing Julie.

I am for housing that fits the neighborhood setting. The city should have a say. However we should not have the State (Sacramento) or County dictate what we can or cannot do within our city limits. There has been too much politics here. From reading the piece, I am not sure where Councilwoman Tesla stands. I see 2 different views being expressed. We need someone to stand with one principle and defend it. We cannot waffle depending on the issue at hand. We as residents of Pleasanton need to understand the issue as well as the overall housing issue. If we only read what we want to read or hear what we need to hear, we will be dubbed by the politicians again! Fool me once, fool me twice and there is no third time.

Ian, I second your opinion. The current board, collectively, is an embarrassment: disrespectful of one another, self aggrandizing and utterly lack moving our city toward the future. Forget about housing, but the fact that this council could not agree to have a simple "stage or amphitheater" built for Friday night summer concerts is embarrassing. People from all over the TriValley come to enjoy these concerts and what do they see representing Pleasanton? A tacky slab of concrete with four poles holding up string lights. If this "stage" can't be agreed upon and improved by the current council nothing else will be.

Julie Testa was reelected by her constituents for her slow growth preference. She even tried demanding how the School District could develop their available land near downtown. But she gives no explanation why she voted to shut down the improvements of our downtown park, or how the contaminated well water situation the City is facing will be addressed. Nothing new on this opinion piece.

Let's at least be honest... The state wasn't Pleasanton's Boogey Man until we thought we were better than our neighboring communities and voted for an Illegal Housing Cap... And Five Story Housing Developments are the only things that make sense under the recent Downtown Specific Plan Update... Nobody is picking on us... we brought this on ourselves!

This is a bad take. Pleasanton for decades underinvested in housing. Now the state is forcing the cities hand. This town will become a retirement community, for those who bought in decades about. If the city council had its way. I for one am very happy the state is forcing Pleasanton's hand.

Todays housing is the result of imbalance between jobs created and housing units developed. Its not just the problem of Plesanton, its entire bay area. Do you know that Pleasanton city collects about ~$200k+ various fees to make family home of ~2000sqft. Add to that the land cost, engineering cost etc. Before putting first stone, a builder can easily incur ~$500k per SFR. Builders hardly make any money with all city red tape (not just Pleasanton), labor costs and big fees. Most of small builders are moved to profitable remodeling. You can't make any money unless you are a big builder doing a decent size project. With today's cost, you are lucky if you can build any thing for less than a $1.5M SFR. The only way is to ask the companies to move away so that demand for housing reduces. Every city wants companies/jobs in their boundary and let the housing be some other city problem, and the zoning policies were evolved around this fantasy. Net result, all the bay area became housing shortage. State just woke up recently, as cities are still unable to address housing issue. When companies create 1000 jobs, brace for 1000 houses more or less. If you are unable to plan for that, let some one do that planning, for you. This is what state is doing. Please see the big picture. Don't follow blindly.