Weekly Poll: Measure L Parcel Tax
In November, Dublin voters will have an opportunity to vote on the Measure L Parcel Tax. The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) voted to place Measure L on the ballot in order to generate operating funds to support our schools. If approved by at least 66.7% of voters, the Measure L Parcel Tax would generate $96/year from each parcel in Dublin for 5 years. All senior citizens and disabled persons would be able to apply for an exemption.
Here are the items that would be funded by the Measure L Parcel Tax (from the DUSD website):
- Fund programs that help all students meet new graduation requirements and promote high academic achievement
- Provide science specialists at elementary schools so students have a strong foundation in science
- Fund needed textbooks and instructional materials so every student receives a 21st century education
- Attract and retain excellent teachers
- Maintain lower class size so teachers can work more closely with students
- Make certain our students sustain high achievement by providing ongoing teacher training in reading, math, and technology.
Based on the voting and comments from a similar poll question three months ago (please note that the amount being considered at the time was $99/year), it seems that Dublin residents have differing opinions about having a parcel tax to provide funds for our school district.
This week’s question is – will you be voting for or against the Measure L Parcel Tax?
9:19 AM on September 29th, 2008
Against this and every other school tax until there’s movement toward an East Side high school.
10:00 AM on September 29th, 2008
I’ll vote NO until there is a solid plan offered for bulding a new high school in east Dublin.
12:30 PM on September 29th, 2008
I agree with the other comments. I will vote NO until there is a definite plan for building a new high school in East Dublin.
4:13 PM on September 29th, 2008
Our family with 30 plus voting citizens will all vote against any parcel tax to fund school programs. Since there is a definite NO to a high school in East Dublin my kids will be going to private school from preschool through 12th or we’ll be moving to San Ramote just to use their school. The parcel tax then yields no benefit to our families.
4:25 PM on September 29th, 2008
No to any Parcel tax as my kids will not drive or be driven 25 minutes to school each day. Quarry Lanes or move out is our plan. Having a School Parcel Tax and no High School in sight for the East side will hurt my ability to sell my home. Having no convenient East side High School is already seen as a negative to prospective buyer for Dublin Ranch, now add a Parcel tax to add insult to injury. NO WAY!
4:27 PM on September 29th, 2008
Absolutely not now and ever. No East Dublin High School plans, a NO vote from my family an this and any future Parcel Tax as we won’t be using the public schools here to benefit.
5:27 PM on September 29th, 2008
Hey, check this out:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060902/ai_n16711168
How satisfied are you with the Dublin Unified School District? Has anyone participated in this survey? I can’t say I am happy with the way things have been going. This Measure L couldn’t have made my case better. Everything it promises should come standard at no extra charge.
12:44 AM on September 30th, 2008
Parcel tax for what? to drive across to the other end of town for the rebuilt high school? I don’t care how modern it is and how many students it has (synergy) as our current board likes to point out. It is still 25 MINUTES across town, what part of this don’t you board members GET?? It is not about race, it is not about East vs West, it is though about the 25 MINUTES across town!! They say a school needs 1800 to 2400 students to be viable. Currently Dublin High is below 1500 and will remain that way. Like a bucket with a hole in it, the hole is no East Dublin H.S. As the East population grows, the School District’s wishful thinking is that the bucket will fill up. Not when Eastern Dublin students are mostly either going to private schools or moving out before they get to high school. Our family is one great example, we have no intention of sending our kids across town to Dublin High. We’ll move to San Ramote or Pleasant town before that happens. That bucket of 1400 students will not fill up anymore than it is today until an E. Dublin H.S. is built to plug that hole. Unless there are plans to build thousands of new homes in the West Hill, East side’s population will be the majority once the East is built out. Imagine a city of 65K (2020)with only 1400-1500 attending the City’s public high school, what a shame!!
1:18 AM on September 30th, 2008
Would anyone would like to join a campaign against Measure L? I’d be happy to help organize and gather enough financing and publicity to soundly defeat this parcel tax for nothing. As long as the district is not even thinking and putting aside land on the East for a potential high school, there will be no parcel tax passed. Westside kids deserves a rebuilt Dublin High, Eastside kids deserves their own H.S. where they don’t have to drive all the way across town to attend.
1:23 AM on September 30th, 2008
Does anyone know what the start population was for Dougherty Valley H.S. in San Ramon when it opened? Also what was the population for San Ramon’s other H.S. I doubt when the Dougherty Vally H.S. opened there were 1800 plus students for each school as our District claims it needs to even think about opening a 2nd H.S. or even set land aside for the possibility.
5:38 AM on September 30th, 2008
Even families who chose to send their children to private schools should realize that strong public schools drive property values. Measure L will certainly help do this but only if the money is spent wisely. Do most people trust the board enough to give them more money? If so then Measure L should pass. If not, then people should elect a new board and get rid of the ones who can’t be trusted.
6:45 AM on September 30th, 2008
All the board members and the superintendent should be replaced. I want heads to roll for this bailout measure. One of the greatest lessons we can teach our kids is that we should only spend the money we have. If the money is not there, it is not there. Period.
10:01 AM on September 30th, 2008
We live in Dublin Ranch and will send our kids to private school. Not by choice, have you seen the cost of private schools? We do it because there are no plans nor even a thought by the district to set land aside in E. Dublin for a potential H.S. Although Green Elementary and Fallon Middle School are great facilities. If I were to send my kids there, by the time they get to H.S. they’d lose friends as some will go to Dublin High, other would have moved to San Ramon or Pleasanton and some like us would transfer our kids to private school if we choose to remain in Dublin Ranch.
Great public schools do help property values, I agree. But when the H.S. is 25 minutes across on the opposite side of town it does not. Adding a parcel tax would hurt property value when prospective new residents realize that they are accessed a tax for a school that their kids may never attend as it is across on the other side of town.
It is unfortunately that under this board we got into this mess at all. Now the kids currently in the system are caught in the middle. Unfortunately the District miscalculated how passionate Easterners are about this issue that threatens to divide our town.
10:16 AM on September 30th, 2008
Having good public schools can help property value. Having a parcel tax when the H.S. is across on the Western side of town hurts. Our family tried to sell our home in Dublin Ranch a few months ago to move up to a larger home in the Ranch. On many occassions we had potential buyers looking in Dublin, Pleasanton and San Ramon. The ones with kids had one question, where is the H.S. as they drove around and did not see one. We tell them there are no plans as per our District. Weeks later we get feedback from their Agent and here is the response we got over and over. They chose San Ramon for the Schools, even when there is a Mello Roos in Windemere (1.75 property tax) they don’t mind as there is a new sparkling H.S. of their own. Also the homes in S.R. had larger yards, SFR homes there were not on top of each other and also there aren’t thousands of huge condo buildings, the number of people squeezed into a small area of Dublin City proper scares them, not even knowing there are more of that stuff to come.
We aren’t against paying extra taxes for our public school in general, easterners are well educated and have deep pockets, just against it because NO H.S. of our own in Eastern Dublin. We want a high level of education for our kids in our own neighborhoods, same that we got when we grew up in Pleasanton, Danville, Mission San Jose (Fremont), Sunnyvale, San Mateo. Dublin deserves the same for East and West.
Who is Denis King to speak for thousands of Eastern Dublin Residents when he said that we wouldn’t want a parcel tax to pay for a new H.S.? Put it up for a vote and let the voters speak (ney or ye).
8:38 PM on September 30th, 2008
I won’t vote to give more money to the schools until after we clean house on the school board. John Ledahl lied to all of Dublin when he promised to revisit the plan to close Nielsen and then reneged on that promise. Then he yells at parents like Dave Bewley and Todd Padnos for fighting in support of the proper spending of Measure C funds – something the board ultimately decided to do. We need more good leaders before the schools get any more funding!
1:30 PM on October 1st, 2008
Wow! For the first time in my 22 years of working with children and the schools in Dublin has someone called me a liar. How sad they didn’t even identify themselves.
When the Nielsen issue came up I asked for and got a delay to allow community members to offer their opinions and questions. Every question was investigated and answered. Although there were no factual reasons to hold off, because this impacted that community AND we had time, I also agreed to let more study occur in the form of a formal citizen’s 7-11committee and other fora.
When the budget cuts hit earlier this year it became clear that one school had to close or music, art, and athletic programs in every school would be impacted. Nielsen was the board’s choice. If we had to start cutting these programs at other schools, would that have been a better decision? There was no lie there. More important problems overcame the issue of what school to close. The new Dublin El is a remarkable example of parents,teachers, and children coming together. A shame some can’t act like the kids and learn to work together.
2:03 PM on October 1st, 2008
I understand the frustration of residents who feel their needs are not being addressed, but I hope we can still engage each other civilly about the issues even when we don’t see eye to eye. I disagree with the board’s assessment that we need the parcel tax, but I applaud them for serving Dublin to the best of their abilities and believe they are all men and women of character.
–Jeremy
9:43 PM on October 1st, 2008
Wow, what a short memory some people have. Within the past year over 20 residents accuse Ledahl of lying to them and the public and now he claims no one has done it in the past 20 years. If this blog can’t handle the truth – a clear attempt by Ledahl to portray himself as something he is not – perhaps the whole blog should be deleted.
10:05 PM on October 1st, 2008
To Anonymous,
When you have the integrity to comment by name I’ll continue this dialog. Until then your cowardful are meaningless.
10:42 PM on October 1st, 2008
Clean house time!!! We need a board for the people of all of Dublin that has the ability and vision for the future of our city. The current board has their head in a bucket as the people of Dublin, East and West try to tell them what is important to them. Can we get some the board member from SR to move to Dublin and run for the board in future elections. The had the forsight, skills, talent and common sense to know a 2nd H.S. is needed for a city of 60K plus and pulled it off. Dublin 2020 is expect to have 60K plus but no 2nd H.S. as the current board failed to have such a vision to set land aside for another day. By 2020 the cost of acquiring such land would be prohibitedly expensive if even available is Dublin is built out. Unless we build a 21 story tower for a H.S.
10:44 PM on October 1st, 2008
John Ledahl,
Please post your contact info. and we’ll all call you and introduce ourselves, why not? Denis King was brave enough to do so. Coward is a bad word.
10:59 PM on October 1st, 2008
Voicing your opinion is one thing, but personal attacks and name calling should be done outside this blog; I am going to vote no on Measure L–and I certainly hope a high school on the east side goes up one day so my son does not have to travel roughly 25-30 minutes or longer to attend the city’s only high school.
12:09 AM on October 2nd, 2008
Do we forget that this measure will also help and support education for our children who are currently attending elementary and middle schools?
Agree that it is necessary to continue the discussion about the need of additional high school in East Dublin, but don’t let past/ current frustration cloud the main focus of this measure, which is to support our teachers and children in all of Dublin public schools (not only high school.) Especially when the schools are facing tough budget cut fiscal year.
3:12 PM on October 2nd, 2008
Let me very clear. I think this blog offers a great service to people. However, being pesonally attacked by anonymous people is not something I feel I should have to expose myself to. If you wish to identify yourself and debate the issues, lets do that. Calling names and staying in a closet is cowardly to me. In fact, a lot of folks have told me they don’t comment anymore on this for this reason. Why do you find it diificult to openly stand behind your statements?
3:18 PM on October 2nd, 2008
I’m sorry, I forgot to respond to the request for contact info.Most people I know have it. Every board member’s info is on the District website (www.dublin.k12.ca.us). Mine is LedahlJohn@dublin.k12.ca.us or 925-551-5965. You can also go to my website at http://www.JohnLedahl.com. Thanks.
4:30 PM on October 2nd, 2008
Not sure anyone asked for contact info, except you Mr. Ledahl, but thanks for answering your own question, with your own information. Could it be that people don’t really want to talk to someone who ridicules parents for speaking out? Could it be that parents and voters have already made up their minds about you in the upcoming elections and don’t need/want to speak with you any more? Reasonable questions and not a personal attack, I would say given your actions.
6:34 AM on October 6th, 2008
I would be more than happy to vote for the parcel tax if I knew we could elect three new board members who we can trust. Until then I am not sure this is a good spend. I watched the Women Voters tv show on the school board and they talked about rebuilding trust. I like the new candidates. Does anyone know when thew show will be re-played so everyone can tune in. Are there any more meetings like this?
9:35 AM on October 6th, 2008
Hi Everyone,
Is anyone organizing a voter-registration drive in East Dublin? If we can get some of the new home owners signed up, I am confident we will be able to get a fairer representation on all the important decision-making bodies.
http://www.tv30.org/forumschedule.asp
3:07 PM on October 6th, 2008
Definitely agree on organizing eastern homeowner’s to register and vote for a better representation. It is obvious by the number of comments, the residents of Dublin are passionate about the public school system, especially in regards to a 2nd H.S.
3:12 PM on October 6th, 2008
I agree with Ledalh that name calling is not necessary and this is not the forum for it if any. The site provides a wonderful forum for residents to discuss what is important for them and their community. Personal attacks should be left out regardless of how frustrated we are, like our frustration with the school District and the lack of vision for a well balanced and viable public school systems that serves both the East and West without dividing it like has it doing now.
10:18 PM on October 9th, 2008
Nope for me.
5:19 PM on October 11th, 2008
Whom to vote for to have a new High School in east Dublin?
I have the official ballot now, but have no idea which candidate support a new High School in east Dublin? Anyone can provide a comment?
I will vote AGAINST any current school board member until the new school plan is offered, unless they have proof that they have supported a new high school.
5:23 PM on October 11th, 2008
Anyone is interested in a new blog or website NewHighSchoolEastDubin or something similar? We can use it as a tool to organize the east dublin residents and have our vice heard during this election season and beyond.
10:29 PM on October 11th, 2008
Hi Anonymous – an Around Dublin reader has setup a Facebook page called “Around Dublin Blog” that could be used to discuss these topics (and more):
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=30353239148
A technical bulletin will be posted w/ more details about the new Facebook page.
Thx, John Z.
12:13 AM on October 12th, 2008
I’ll check this out. We’ll need to organize for our schools and neighborhoods. More apartments and condos with no plans for a 2nd High School. Imagine all those cars crisscrossing our town.
The greenest City? BULL!!!
11:38 PM on October 12th, 2008
You should watch the tv shows where the candidates talk about their views for a second high school. First you can read Ledahl’s comments above – no way Jose.
If you listen to the new candidates some say no way, others say only if there is enough students.
We need open minded people on the board. Greg Tomlinson, Dan Cherrier and Norm Lee all said they would consider a plan “IF” there were enough people. They will be the best chance (if there is any chance) to get a fair hearing of the facts for this issue. You should vote for them if this is what you want.
8:52 AM on October 13th, 2008
I believe if you watch the forum of the candidates, all 5 Cherrier, Cunningham, Ledahl, Lee and Tomlinson said that the demographics at this time do not support a second high school. Even if all five supported a second high school, there is not a piece of land large enough in the city to support it.
8:55 AM on October 13th, 2008
I’m amazed how myopic some of the people on this blog can be. The reasoning for a new high school has nothing to do with a quality education for all Dublin students and everything to do with convenience. A second high school will only dilute the quality of education for all students in Dublin, including those in the east.
9:31 AM on October 13th, 2008
I saw the forum, and I was disappointed by how all of them wanted to REDUCE the academic rigor of our schools. Why is Dublin trying to corner the market on academic mediocrity in the Tri-Valley? What is the point of Measure L, if we don’t use the money to “promote high academic achievement” as the parcel tax promises to do? We need to send the right message to our kids by expecting more from them, not less. I just don’t know if the crop of candidates for this election cycle is the best Dublin has to offer…
11:09 AM on October 13th, 2008
Students in the East simply will not attend Dublin H.S. in any number. They’d would have either moved to neighboring cities before they get there or are forced to go to Private School.
Nothing against Dublin H.S.. The Students there deserves a modern H.S. and as a Resident of Dublin Ranch, I voted for the bonds that will pay for that School’s modernization and will do it again.
An Eastern Dublin H.S. with an increase in Executive homes and not more Condos and Apartments will increase private funding, donations for the 2nd H.S. that we can call our own. Even at 1200 Students, with fundraising and deep pocket parents, we will be able to fund high academic classes and provide a first class campus.
Imagine the children of an CEO, for example Sybase attending such a school. Wouldn’t you think he would be involved in the School and provide financial support. Much like UC Berkeley doing fund raising, this is just on a much smaller scale.
Unfortunately we don’t have the homes that a CEO can live in and raise their kids anywhere in Dublin. So their support and money will continue to flow to neighboring schools.
11:11 AM on October 13th, 2008
no kidding there is no land left since this moron of a school board gave that land away to housing developer, that neighborhood is now called Sonata instead of open space left aside for a possible future H.S. If they had kept that land and say in 2020 it becomes obvious we don’t need a 2nd H.S., sell it then.
We got greedy and wanted the money for that valuable land now. Very shortsighted.
3:37 PM on October 14th, 2008
Absolutely NO, that is what the current board said about a potential 2nd High School, regardless of what residents are telling them. If they are so absolute, I am absolute also regardless of what they tell me the benefits of passing this measure.
3:52 PM on October 14th, 2008
LOL No on L.
1:54 PM on October 20th, 2008
Just a quick response to some recent postings.
* The current school board did not give any land away. That was previous boards and City Councils led by Randy Shumway (East Dublin) and Janet Lockhart that gave the land to the developers. This board had this passed on to them. The guy who called the current board “morons”for doing that is misinformed and careless in his speech.
* The current group of school board candidates all support the new graduation requirements. The only one who expressed concerns was John Ledahl and his concerns were about the district meeting its mandate to assure kids didn’t fall through the cracks. He called for more and better intervention programs. They all support vigor.
* All five candidates said that if we get close to the point of enough students to populate 2 high schools, they would be open to it. That would mean 4000-5000 students – something the demographers say is nearly impossible. Then the question of getting $120M to build and $500K a year to run comes up – unless you want to dilute Dublin High’s program.
If Measure L is not passed we can be assured that the graduation requirements will be lowered as the district won’t have the teachers and resources to pull it off.
A parent and homeowner
2:08 PM on October 20th, 2008
As an Eastern Dublin Resident, still a NO and will always be NO for any future school measures.
3:08 PM on October 20th, 2008
Are these mythical demographic data publicly available? Who paid for the studies? What assumptions did the demographers make in their projections? Are those assumptions still valid? These are all basic questions that those who oppose a high school in East Dublin have failed to answer. By the way, it’s not just the East Dublin residents who oppose this parcel tax. I know plenty of people in the West who are outraged by this request for another blank check.
3:49 PM on October 20th, 2008
Great point, at buildout Dublin 2020 is projected to have 60-65K residents. Pleasanton at buildout due to their housing cap will be at around 65k (currently 58K). San Ramon’s poplulation is around 60K to 70K at buildout if I’m correct. Pleasanton and San Ramon can support two high schools at that population level. Currently they also have higher scores than then our current High School. Why is it any different in Dublin when we are at(60-65K)2020 buildout? Is it because we have so many Condos/Apartments? Thus mostly young and singles with no kids to support the 2 High Schools when 60K plus should be able to?
The District’s argument that two High Schools will dilute the academic standards do not fly with us. How are our neighbor able to support two high schools with the same population that we expect to have at buildout and still have higher scores than Dublin’s? It is not the number of students obviously as the District claims!
Dublin High School and 2nd High School can both do very well with 1200 students each if we set our bars high (higher) enough, no reason they both cannot compete with neighboring high schools just because it does not have 2000 plus students each.
We are not saying we have the numbers for a 2nd high school today or even tomorrow. We are saying keep an open mind and not be shortsighted or we’ll pay dearly later. We need to work together (private and public) to identify whatever possible sites that are left and set it aside for another day. Right now our District leaders have their heads in the need 4000-5000 student bucket that has a big hole in it, that hole is leaking potential students (neighbors) to other cities.
Is the District’s so call study available to the public? Who did the study? I hope they didn’t use the same grand home grown formula to close the book on a 2nd High School as what our Planning Commission/Dept. used for the Dublin Ranch Villages Parking. They thought it was sufficient just like the District thinks 1 High School is enough for a population of 60K plus at buildout.
The fact the a 2nd H.S. is not under construction now doesn’t upset us. The fact that it has become a closed book as far as the District is concerned upsets us.
This issue will continue to divide the City unfornately although it really has nothing to do with West vs East. It has a lot to due with driving 25 minutes across town to get to the High School. We are not Green as the City tries to tout itself as being Green, not in a million years with this type of policy.
The resounding defeat of L will hopefully pull some heads out of that bucket.
4:31 PM on October 20th, 2008
Thank you for shedding light on how and who made the decision to rezone that piece of property for residential.
For the recent 8 years, we’ve gotten the following in Dublin.
1) High and High and Higher Density Housing dominate Dublin’s landscape with no end in sight.
Affordable Housing “BMR” have become a way of life in Dublin, much to the shagrin of most residents and possibly of our neighboring towns too as the disease will spread across borders.
2) Closed the book on a 2nd High School
3) Continued development of low paying retail Jobs.
4) Downtown is still not a downtown and still no plan. Just the hope that BART will be somehow be the magical savior needed.
5) No high paying job growth, no major employers relocating to town while many announcements and relocation have occurred for our neighbors. We could only be envious of their fortunes.
6) Class A vacancy rate in Dublin at an all time high.
7) No major Office projects to bring high paying jobs. Sybase was just a one hit wonder.
We are so so proud of our progression, are we? Most of the points above will be issues that we residents will have to deal with and pay for dearly in decades to come. With the issue of a 2nd high school, this will continue to divide the City unfortunately.
Can’t blame the recession as it only started in late 2007. The possible demise of our beloved town started in 2000 when it should have been the start of greatness.
Wow two terms as our Chief? We need to be careful and read the fine print for this coming election,
10:51 AM on October 21st, 2008
I agree, open minded and at least put us into that direction. It is the not listening and restatement of an absolute NO by the current board irks me.
Other then Cherrier, any other recommendations as we need to clean house there.
1:51 PM on October 21st, 2008
Other than Cherrier, here is my rank-sorted list of the candidates based solely on their performance last night:
1. Cherrier
2. Lee
3. Tomlinson
4. Cunningham
5. Ledahl
Tomlinson and Cunningham were the same to me, but I ultimately chose Tomlinson not because I believe he will be a good board member, but because I want him OFF the Planning Commission, so we can get someone who can better represent East Dublin’s interests and start reducing our residential density as a planning commissioner.
Please reach out to Norm Lee and Dan Cherrier and find out for yourselves who they are and what they will bring to the Board. We need to make sure these two hear more from East Dublin than West Dublin, so they will remember who got them into office!
2:45 PM on October 21st, 2008
Thanks for the feedback and list. Tomlinson concerns me given that he is responsible for the residential element of the city. I want him out of our government completely. I saw him at the Grafton Plaza site tour over the weekend and he is so arrogant. Much like he is as a Planning Commisioner where he chastised Blake Hunt for not providing enough parking spaces close in for Hulking Gas Hogging SUVs. So out of touch with public sentiments. His term is not up until 2010. But 3 are up this year so if we get the right people into the Council and Mayor’s seat, we’ll have enough newly appointed Commissioners to outnumber him.
No incumbents as the City has gone in the absolute wrong direction. We need to do a 180 with regards to School, Housing, BMRs etc…
10:31 PM on October 22nd, 2008
I’ve attended several of the forums to see the candidates for school board. I was surprised to see that Dan Cherrier changed his position on a high school in east Dublin. In the forum held by DTA, he was opposed to a second high school. Now that he was in front of east Dublin people he supports it. If there is one thing I don’t want on the school board it is someone that changes their view to please an audience.
No matter what you might think of the other candidates, at least they have kept their views consistent whether they are popular or not. I would prefer someone that stands by their views rather than changes when it is convenient. My votes are for Lee, Cunningham and Tomlinson.
8:50 AM on October 23rd, 2008
Yes on L! What in the world does an East Dublin HS have to do with the needs of existing schools and students? The two are not connected! Our kids deserve the best in the existing conditions!
9:42 AM on October 23rd, 2008
Our children do deserve the best, but throwing money at the many systemic problems ailing our school system is not the way. Hold onto your money and demand a better deal. You owe it to your children.
10:28 AM on October 23rd, 2008
Your kids, not mine. As an Eastern Dublin resident I will have no choice but to either move to another town or stay and send my kids to private school. Here are the reasons.
1) If I were to remain in Dublin. Although Green Elementary and Fallon Middle School are wonderful, I cannot send my kids there. If I were to do that, by the time they get to High School, I’d have to break them from their school mates as they will not be driving 25 minutes across town to just attend a public school. If they are going to go that far, might as well attend a private school. On the other hand if I short change my kids and send them to Dublin High way across town, chances are their friends would have broken away for the same reason, either way the same result. They lose all their friends and would have to start fresh. I will not do that to my kids.
2) I would have moved out by the time my kids are at 1st grade. Moved to San Ramon or Pleasanton where they can attend public schools K-12 as there are two top notch High Schools for eacth town. I will put my current Dublin residence up for rent, any parcel tax will cut into my cashflow as an investor.
With either option 1 or 2, my kids will not be using the Dublin Public School system. Why should I pay any additional tax, there is not benefit, direct or indirect to me?
You may say a better school will help property value. No it will help West Dublin and not Eastern as our achilles heel in the eyes of potential home buyers with families will be, where is the High School.. Adding a school Parcel tax on my property would only add salt to injury. Also add to this achilles heel are the thousands and thousands of Apartments that the City has planned for and will shove down the throats of Eastern Dublin Residents. With so many low end units, the home values will continue to remain much lower than any of our neighbors for similiar products.
Case closed, NO ON L and any other future public school measures until the District devise concrete plans towards a 2nd High School for Eastern Dublin. Currently their stance is an absolute no. So an abolute no for any future school measures due to my two options above.
11:42 AM on October 23rd, 2008
Don’t blame the parents of Eastern Dublin nor the Kids of Dublin High School. Focus on the failed Lockhart Doctrine and the failed policies of the District for this negative sentiment and divisive tone that hangs over our school system. Lockhart was part of the land sellout that was originally slated for a 2nd High School in Dublin, yes it went to the powerful housing developers, what a surprise!
3:02 PM on October 23rd, 2008
I’m truly amazed at all the posts for a quality high school in eastern Dublin. I hate to break it to you but a “quality high school in eastern Dublin” is an oxymoron. Even if you look at the demographers highest numbers for eastern Dublin, a high school in the east would never be bigger then 800 – 900 students and most the time smaller than that.
A high school that size would have very limited course offerings especially elective classes like art, music, drama and vocational education classes. There would be very limited opportunities for advanced placement and honors classes as well. Not to mention small athletic teams that would be the door mat for the rest of the valley.
You should be grateful that eastern Dublin was acquired by the Dublin School District; otherwise your students would be going to Livermore schools.
The only solution is to work from within. Get involved in the schools, support the parcel taxes lime measure L and bond measures like Measure C that will make the district better. A small high school in eastern Dublin is not the solution you think it is.
4:07 PM on October 23rd, 2008
Could we split from the City of Dublin? It would be a wonderful thing. We can finally control our destiny. It isn’t so bad to be part of the Livermore or Pleasanton School District, my home value would be greatly enhanced.
You are wrong that we are grateful to be accepted into the Dublin USD. You are so wrong.
Most of our Eastern Dublin counterparts voted for Measure C, although it did not include a provision for a new High School, it did or was promised to pay for modernization of Dublin High which we feel those Students also deserves.
You brought up an interesting topic. In a Council meeting a few years ago when discussion came up about the possibility of placing 1 high school at camp parks, Mayor Lockhart eluded to the possibility of the East wanting to split. That idea is becoming more interesting by the day.
Property tax and development fees in Eastern Dublin and the votes of Eastern Dublin Residents plays a major role in the District’s modernization plans. Without Eastern Dublin and the fees the city is receiving for all the High Density Housing, you would be in worst shape than you are today.
You should be grateful Eastern Dublin is still part of the City. Otherwise you would still have that 1 square mile many used to call the dump of the Tri-Valley.
As the population continues to grow in the Eastern, the infuence in number will out vote the West on any issue. You need our votes to pass any future measure regarding the school unless a measure is presented that only taxed the West will it pass.
Measure L is going down along with any future school Measures John L. and friends.
4:13 PM on October 23rd, 2008
I forgot one thing to add, NO WE HATE to break it to YOU!
8:04 PM on October 23rd, 2008
Mr. or Mrs. Anonymous on October 23, 2008 4:13 PM wrote: “I hate to break it to you but a “quality high school in eastern Dublin” is an oxymoron. Even if you look at the demographers highest numbers for eastern Dublin, a high school in the east would never be bigger then 800 – 900 students and most the time smaller than that.”
OK, I’m honestly doing my very best to not to sound exasperated or sarcastic when I say that I’m experiencing deja vu all over again. Claims similar to Mr./Mrs. Anonymous’s were made long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
In the early 1980′s, parents in the Mission San Jose district of Fremont joined together for a common cause — to demand that the Fremont School Board reverse its refusal to build a new elementary school where all the new homes were being constructed. We got organized and held a big rally at the now-departed Weibel Winery in Fremont’s Mission Hills to kick off the campaign. Supportive politicians spoke at the rally. There was barbecue, a band, and activities for kids. A table was set up to register new voters. Despite the huge show of force, the school board continued to insist that a new school was not needed because there would never be enough school-age kids in the area. A tremendous amount of time and effort was spent before the board members were either voted out of office or convinced to do what they should have done in the first place and stop digging in their heels trying to save face defending a bad decision based on faulty assumptions.
Under duress, the board eventually agreed to build the school, but not without repeating their belief that they knew best and the parents would be proven wrong. Within a couple of years after the new school opened in 1987, it became obvious what a great school it was, and families flocked to the district. By 1991, Weibel Elementary School maxed out at 840 students, and parents had to start camping overnight each Fall to have any hope of getting their kids into its kindergarten classes. Overflow kids had to be bused to other schools.
The birth of Weibel School jump-started the remarkable transformation of the entire Mission San Jose district. Weibel is the elementary school that my daughters attended. It is a wonderful neighborhood school with outstanding parental support and participation. Weibel’s most recent API score was 976. Mission San Jose High School’s most recent API score was 935, making it the NUMBER ONE non-magnet public high school in California, out of 7000 high schools. Although there are lots of high-end custom and tract homes in the district, many families are more than happy to live in apartments, condos, or townhouses if it means the kids can attend Mission San Jose schools. A high-quality education for their kids is that important to the parents.
My point is that the same thing can, and will, happen in Dublin if the school board members (and candidates) will just swallow their pride and stop fighting it. Don’t make the east Dublin parents go through all the time, effort and expense that the Weibel parents had to, just to convince the board to do the right thing. The board should be able to figure this out for themselves. If you build it, they will come. And with two outstanding high schools, Dublin will eventually have the same student-to-resident ratio as Pleasanton and San Ramon, resulting in 4500 high school students, more than enough to fill two schools. If you don’t build it, it is a physical impossibility for the Dublin school district to achieve excellence on par with its neighbors, as I’ll explain with my next posting in this blog topic.
Finally, let me remind everyone that there’s no reason to start pitting west Dublin against east Dublin. When it comes to schools, what’s good for one area is good for the other. A rising tide raises all boats. It’s unavoidable.
Now let’s all calm down and do our best to avoid the type of hateful, bigoted comments that have been made (on both sides) by a very small number of posters who have let their frustrations get the best of them. Although I think it’s great that people are expressing their passion on this topic, those inflammatory types of comments are counter-productive. Let’s identify ourselves and work together on this wonderful blog forum toward a common good — outstanding public schools for all Dublin students.
Tim Hall
Dublin
tiger650@comcast.net
8:06 PM on October 23rd, 2008
I already posted a slightly modified version of this lengthy post a couple of days ago in the almost 5-month old “Opening a High School in East Dublin” topic, but I’ve decided to cross-post it in this newer topic so that more people will see it. Feel free to skip it if you read the original posting, as very little has changed.
****************************************
Please forgive the length of this post, but I have to get something off my chest and unfortunately I’m not very good at brevity. I attended the 10/20/08 forum at Fallon School for the five school board candidates. I left the forum very disillusioned about the prospects for Dublin’s schools based on these candidates. My main topic of interest is the need for a second high school in Dublin. As I’ll explain later in this note, I believe that this is THE fundamental issue that will determine whether Dublin will have an outstanding school district comparable to the Pleasanton and San Ramon Valley districts, or a school district that pales in comparison to its neighbors. And yet, what I saw last night was an almost unanimous “can’t do” attitude on the part of the candidates. They dismissed the topic as not worthy of consideration, primarily based on the premise that Dublin does not need a second high school, and secondarily based on lack of land & budget.
I was so surprised and discouraged to hear the candidates essentially saying, “Forget it, get over it, it’s not gonna happen.” They base their reasoning on the fact that Dublin only has something like 1500 public high school students today and is projected by a demographer to have a maximum of 2500 at build out (at which point the city estimates, at http://www.ci.dublin.ca.us/DepartmentSub.cfm?PL=econ&SL=demog, that it will have 65,000 to 70,000 residents).
In fact, one of the candidates (and current board member) — John Ledahl — stated on Sept. 13, 2008 in his “balanced view” posting on this blog that the idea of building a second high school is “a failed proposal” and “something that shouldn’t happen”. He even stated that Dublin will max out at 2300 high school students. Is this the kind of “visionary” leadership Dublin residents want for their schools?
If you accept the number 2500 (or 2300) as the ceiling, then a reasonable person might agree that it is unnecessary to have two high schools, despite the significant inconvenience, expense and environmental impact of East Dublin students having to to drive across town to attend Dublin High School. One thing I found particularly condescending was the way the candidates talked down to the attendees about this issue. It seemed like they were scoffing at the absurdity of anyone thinking there should be two high schools in Dublin, when everyone knows that each high school would only have 1250 students. The fallacy in the candidates’ position is that by limiting their vision to 2500 total public high school students in Dublin, they avoid having to make the changes necessary to improve the schools to the point where they would attract far more than 2500 students. They are essentially condemning the city to having a permanently-mediocre high school system. It’s as if the school board is subconsciously willing its high school system to remain inferior to its neighbors so as to limit the number of students to 2500. It becomes a self-fulfulling prophecy. And it’s the opposite of the attitude the board should have.
Let me explain the numbers. With 70,000 residents at build out, Dublin will have a couple thousand more residents than Pleasanton has today. But Pleasanton currently has 4600 public high school students, far more than the 2500 that Dublin expects to have. And don’t think that Pleasanton is an anomaly. A comparable student/population ratio also holds true for our neighbors to the north in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District, which has 8400 public high school students out of the 129,000 residents in San Ramon, Danville, Blackhawk, Alamo and Diablo. Why the huge disparity between Dublin and its neighbors? Simple — it’s because families seeking superior high schools are attracted to Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville, Blackhawk, Alamo and Diablo, but not to Dublin.
Now is the time to start changing that, before it’s too late. It’s time for an attitude adjustment among residents of Dublin as well as among its school board members (and candidates). If, instead of resigning ourselves to the unhappy prospect that Dublin will forever have a mediocre high school system that will attract at most 2500 students, let’s switch to the attitude that Dublin will have top-notch high schools that will attract families that seek the best education for their children. The result will be similar to that of our neighbors, and Dublin will end up with at least 4500 public high school students. So where would we put those 4500 students? In Dublin’s TWO top-notch high schools!
If you abandon the idea of building of a second high school, as the school board & candidates seem to have done, you guarantee that it will be impossible for Dublin to ever have an outstanding school system. That’s because a top school system would attract far more high school students than Dublin HS could accommodate, so it can’t possibly happen. I am puzzled why any of these candidates would even want to be on the board of a school district for which they have such low expectations.
Candidates — can’t you understand that if you succeeded in transforming Dublin HS to be comparable educationally to its neighboring high schools, it would eventually attract thousands more students than it could hold? Now is the time to plan for how you are going to accommodate all of those eager, ambitious students, before there is absolutely no more land or money for a second high school. As I see it, the board’s options are (1) plan for a second high school, (2) prevent Dublin HS from becoming a top school to avoid attracting more students than it can handle, or (3) prepare to suffer unbearable overcrowding at Dublin HS. Paradoxically, option #3 cannot ever really happen because, by definition, an outstanding high school cannot be unbearably overcrowded. Thus the problem will take care of itself and families seeking a superior high school will look elsewhere, with the result that Dublin HS will remain a less-than-outstanding school. It’s another self-fulfilling prophecy courtesy of the school board. The obvious solution is for the board members to get creative now, and to use their considerable expertise to work with school district officials to figure out a way to build a second high school.
But how do we finance a new high school? That’s clearly not easy, and it’s certainly something I personally know very little about. But it’s something the candidates and district officials should all be experts in. Based on numbers I think I heard expressed at last night’s forum, Dublin receives something like $5500 per student per year. With an extra 2000 high school students, Dublin would receive an extra $11 million per year from the state. And as one of the candidates said last night, it doesn’t cost anywhere near $5500 to educate a student, so there will be extra money available to help pay off things like construction bonds.
The city of Dublin also assesses an impact fee of $90K for each new residence built in the city. With another 5000 units to be built in East Dublin, that’s an additional $450 million. That’s close to half a billion dollars! Can’t some of that be earmarked to help pay for a second high school?
Finally, new home prices in East Dublin would be boosted significantly if a high school was planned for the area. That would bring a big bonus to homebuilders, who should be required to contribute to, or perhaps build, the new high school in return for increasing their profits. This is something the school board should be pushing with all their might instead of hanging their heads and saying it can’t be done.
As for the lack of land — and I must admit that I have no knowledge of the practicality of this idea — I wonder if the Camp Parks land swap could accommodate a new high school? That’s assuming there is no other available tract of land in East Dublin, which I seriously doubt considering all the undeveloped land around Fallon Road and Tassajara.
These are just some quick ideas about ways to get a new high school built in East Dublin, something that would benefit all of Dublin. If these ideas won’t work, there must surely be other ideas. Why can’t we have a school board with the imagination and ambition to pursue ideas like these, or think of new ideas, instead of simply shaking their heads and dismissing the whole idea as impossible? Candidates — don’t
throw in the towel today by taking the short-sighted attitude that it can’t be done. Our neighboring districts have achieved scholastic excellence. Why can’t Dublin? Your job shouldn’t be to just balance budgets and ratify contracts, it should also be to help Dublin’s schools achieve greatness. But first you need to believe that it can be done. And if you believe it can be done, voters will elect you to the board and they will help you get the job done.
We need school board members with the vision and ambition to elevate Dublin’s high schools to at least the level of its neighbors. What we don’t need is board members who have resigned themselves to living within the confines of bad decisions made by previous boards that lacked the foresight to aspire to creating a top-performing high school district, and thus refused the land for a second high school and diverted all expenditures to improving Dublin High’s facilities. I guess the old board didn’t think Dublin had the potential. I think it’s time for the new board to prove them wrong.
In fairness, I should point out that there was one exception to the candidates completely dismissing the idea of a second high school. That lone exception was Dan Cherrier. Mr. Cherrier at least has an open mind about the issue and thinks it would be wonderful to have a second high school if the land could be found, the budget could be raised, and there were enough students to justify two high schools. He understands that it would benefit all of Dublin, not just the east side. As the only candidate with a vision towards true excellence for Dublin’s schools, Dan Cherrier has my vote on November 4.
Now everyone please use your imaginations. Picture two superlative
public high schools in Dublin. Picture a friendly cross-town rivalry between the two schools, just like Amador Valley vs. Foothill in Pleasanton. Picture the competition elevating both schools’ performances in the classrooms and on the sports fields. Picture the pride of parents and students in their great high schools. Imagine Dublin as a community that families dream of moving to because of its outstanding high schools. It’s easy if you try.
I’m grateful that my daughters graduated from a top high school (in Pleasanton). I would like my one-year old granddaughter, who lives in Dublin, to have the opportunity to graduate from a top high school. Dublin has 13 years to prepare for her freshman year. Let’s not look back 13 years from now with the sad regret over what could have been accomplished if we had put our collective minds to it in 2008.
As disillusioned as I was by the candidates’ defeatist attitudes, I must say that I was honestly impressed that Dublin has five highly educated and informed candidates for the school board. I really admire their dedication, hard work, and obvious understanding of the fiscal challenges currently facing Dublin’s schools. It takes a special person to volunteer their precious free time for such a noble cause. If they could only channel that dedication & selflessness into a visionary “can-do” spirit for achieving scholastic excellence in Dublin, it could really happen. It really could. It’s been done elsewhere, so why not in Dublin?
Finally, I feel compelled to express how appalled I was that a couple of the candidates at last night’s forum, particularly John Ledahl, had the audacity and discourtesy to badmouth this Around Dublin blog because some of the anonymous comments posted here contain inaccurate information. The nature and the beauty of public blogs is that they promote free speech and unexpurgated exchanges of information, opinions and ideas. Instead of feeling threatened by such openness, and merely grousing about it, complainers like John Ledahl should participate more in the blog and correct the information they consider inaccurate. More participation by city leaders will make this great blog even better.
The Around Dublin blog is a remarkably impressive labor of love by John Zukoski and his team. It is one of the most valuable civic resources I’ve ever seen on the web. I continue to be amazed at its thoroughness, timeliness, usefulness and professional quality. What a great public service it provides! In my opinion, it is downright disrespectful, ungrateful and uncalled for to denigrate this outstanding non-political, non-partisan information service that is provided voluntarily through the hard work, expense, time and dedication of John Zukoski because he cares about Dublin and thinks it is important that residents have an easy way to keep informed about new happenings in the city. John is not responsible for the occasional ill-informed or mean-spirited comment posted by residents. We all need to rise above such comments and focus on working together towards the common good. For that, this blog is revolutionary and essential. Just imagine the information vacuum that would exist in Dublin today without this blog, especially since the Tri-Valley Herald has almost completely abandoned local coverage in favor of news from Tracy, Lathrop, Martinez, Richmond, Concord, Manteca, etc. I think all of Dublin owes John Zukoski and his team a huge debt of gratitude.
Sincerely,
Tim Hall
Dublin, CA
tiger650@comcast.net
10:33 AM on October 24th, 2008
Great post Tim.
Mission San Jose District in Fremont is a Great example. In the late 80s and early 90s when that area of Fremont was seeing an explosion of residential development, mainly executive and estates, the District dismissed the notion of needing an expanded or new High School for the area, based on flawed research data. Mission San Jose High if you don’t know was recently recognized as one of the top 5 public High School in Northern CA.
Well with all the development for over a decade, based on the District’s findings that an expansion or new campus was not needed or ever needed, impact fees were not collected for the schools as it was deemed not necessary.
In the late 90s Mission San Jose begin to burst at the seams, the district needed to do something drastic. Expanding or relocating the School now was not feasible as the cost has gone through the roof, it would have been cheaper in the early 90s when this all started. Plus the Mission Area is now nearly built out with impact fees coming to a trickle. With any thought of expansion out of the questions for MSJ High, the District broke up the boundaries of Mission San Jose, Splitting thousands of tracts/residents out and sending them to Irvington High School, a decent school roughly 25 minutes across town.
This resulted in an immediate drop in values for the homes that were dropped out of the MSJ boundaries, while the ones still in the boundary became high demand.
Case in point is that we are looking at the same mistake. Fremont was only building low density SFR and Estate homes in the Mission District (we could only envy) and realized this fate. Dublin is building thousands of High Density thus you do the math. One difference is that in Fremont people were able to choose to pay a premium to move across the street and get back into the MSJ boundary, not having to leave town. In Dublin we don’t have that option as West Dublin is built out. We are left with the only option of leaving for neighboring towns, although reluctantly.
I know I’m preaching to the choir here though.
Thanks!!
Larry Stone
10:53 AM on October 25th, 2008
As a Central Dubliner for 20 years now, I sympathize with east Dubliner’s plight for a 2nd high school. With the increase of population at East Dublin in the coming years, the school district will finally realize the need to expand to a 2nd high school. My daughter commuted to a private high school in Concord. I fully understand East Dubliners frustration driving across town to drive their children to school. She is now in college after being educated in the private school system. No knock on our school system. Except I was raised and educated in a catholic sectarian private school. I feel that this is where my daughter can learn more about my religion. You must have figured out my frustration of the defeat of the school voucher election proposal years ago. Needless to say, the $234 school district yearly assessment included in my property tax is money well spent. Donated money I feel can someday have a positive impact in increasing my home equity. Apparently, property values in San Ramon and Pleasanton are greatly affected by the test scores in their schools. Homebuyers prefer those cities than our slightly below test scores in Dublin. San Ramon and Pleasanton residents are very supportive of their school. Parents volunteer time and donate financially to the schools. Windemere residents pay Mello Roos for their schools. Dougherty Valley HS has excellent test scores. As well as their elementary and grade schools. As a realtor, I have placed buyers to Mello Roos areas. Their support for this tax measure for schools is astounding. Some of you may not agree with this. But believe you me, Mello Roos money for schools that is managed properly will increase your property values due to high test scores. As a resident and as a parent with no child entering schools, I will support Mello Roos for schools. In case I end up moving to a Mello Roos community. As to your frustration for a 2nd high school in East Dublin, it is not too late to have one funded through Mello Roos. I spent $5,000 per year at St. Raymond School and $8,000 per year at Carondelet HS in Concord. That is far less you will pay for Mello Roos school funding. Put it as a measure in the ballot, then you will have a say where the school district or a separate Community Facility District will channel those funds. The good thing about it is that if the community agree and vote for it, you can start building your 2nd high school funded through issuance of municipal bonds. Those bonds can be paid in the future years by the Mello Roos taxes. Windermere San Ramon community issued municipal bonds at the start of the community development to build parks, a large community center, schools and library. They pay .7% to Mello Roos to pay those municipal bonds. There will come a time that those bonds will be fully paid and residents will decide to continue or fund more services. For some, it looks like a stiff price to pay. In the final analysis, better education and better quality of life resulting in increase in desirability for home buyers in the area. Property values and your home equity increase. You also boast of receiving the best education for your children. A well funded school results in better test scores. As residents you need to make sure that your money goes to your community.
Jing Firmeza rfirmeza@willowcreekdublin.com
1:14 PM on October 27th, 2008
No to Kevin Hart for City Council, we do not need a redux of his part in the demise of any hope for a 2nd High School. He confirmed his flawed decision again as noted in a “Valley Times” article 9/23/08 titled “Dublin City Council candidateds spar”. Kasie Hildenbrand unfortunately has the same view. Robert Boboc didn’t bother to show up so no vote from me.
Elpi Abulencia and John Zukoski both kept an open mind about the issue.
Up the three seats are open if Sabranti gets the Mayor’s Seat. Re-elect Hildenbrand, elect Zukoski and Abulencia to fill the 3 open seats. Although Hildenbrand is not open minded about relooking at a 2nd High School, at least she agrees on the High Density Housing issue.
1:16 PM on October 27th, 2008
Nothing wrong with putting a Mello Roos up for a vote. Once and for all Eastern Dublin Homeowners will have a say and would have to live with whatever decision it makes by voting yes or no instead of relying on a select 5 to make their decision.
5:19 PM on October 27th, 2008
John Z…. If you will take the lead, I will assist you on this measure. I am not an East Dubliner. My stake on this is our property values. I want to make Dublin the most prestige place to live with values higher than San Ramon, Pleasanton and Danville. We have the best location and the growth space to be there. Definitely, I am pro school to raise our property values. At this trying times of diminishing property values, we need to focus on this goal. That is where Pleasanton, San Ramon and Danville is beating us. As a Central Dubliner, I will assist you all to get your measure in the next ballot.
Jing Firmeza, rfirmeza@willowcreekdublin.com
9:38 PM on October 27th, 2008
Hi Jing – we share the same vision and goal for Dublin. We truly can become the premier city of the Tri-Valley if we focus on improving our school facilities, test scores, and the overall educational experience of our students. Part of this can be achieved by increased parental involvement, student attendance (given that the majority of school funding is based on student attendance), and curriculum development. However, providing adequate facilities for the children in our community is at least equally as important.
I know of a group of residents and A/D readers that have started to work on an initiative to build a second high school. I’m sure that they will reach out to you for assistance in the effort.
Thx, John Z.
10:53 PM on October 27th, 2008
Once you have more info. on this group that has started to work on an initiative to build a 2nd High School please provide information on how we can get involved and help mobilize. Paying for private school K-12 is not something our family is looking forward to but we have already started saving for it should a 2nd H.S. never materialize within the next 5 years.
The alternative is to follow our neighbors to other towns nearby. We would hate to do this as we love Dublin and feel we have the best location in the Tri Valley and room to grow. Our achilles heel is the amount of High Density Housing built and planned in Dublin (creating an unbalanced housing inventory) and the lack of a plan for a 2nd High School for all the new development in the East to boast.
If we could tackle these two items and also balance residential with more high paying jobs we’d be a first class all around city. Right now we are quite 2 dimensional. Heavy on High Density and Retail. Lack of low density housing and high paying jobs centers to make Dublin a 4 dimensional Metropolitan City.
Irvine CA is a perfect example to immulate. A wondeful balance with a UC campus to boast. Excellent Public Schools, Great Location, first class Retail centers, High Paying Jobs, Estate Homes, Executive Homes, SFR Neighborhoods, Medium and High Density, a UC Campus, well maintained public areas (streets, medians) etc…, abundance of parks for all (organized or just casual family), responsive City Hall. All are built in the right places.
12:12 AM on October 28th, 2008
Willow Creek in Central Dublin is a mix of SFR’s, Condo’s and Townhomes built in ’87 – ’89. Dublin for years somewhat followed this type of mix in a particular development. I have no problem with this type of mix development as long as it is well layed out. At Willow Creek our problem is parking. I have placed clients at Serrano in El Dorado Hills. At Serrano, you cannot park cars overnight in the streets. You should have your car parked in your driveway or inside your garage. Most developments are all gated. The community looks prestigious, clean and open. They have Mello Roos just like planned at Windemere. Great schools with high test scores. They do not have low, and medium density mixed in the same development. Their high and medium density are in another area of the city. Mixing low with medium and high density makes it a problem for the low density homes to increase in value. Not because of people living in the medium or high density homes affect the value, the issue is congestion. Parking ratio, street parking, yard space, wider roads, single access in and out, and gated community are factors in the eyes of a buyer. But you can have the best development that address all these issues. If your school test scores are not high enough, buyers think that the school is not a good school. Plain and simple buyers will stay away. Simply you cannot mix low, medium and high in the same stones throw distance. Just won’t be attractive to potential buyers of single family home buyers. Willow Creek is a high demand community due to its single in and out access. Burglars stay away from this developments. Serrano development in El Dorado Hills was perfect in that aspect. On the north side of the main street is the executive homes. On the south side of the main street is the low density tract homes. All developments have their own security gates. Well planned community that the executive custom homes brings the prices of the low density tract homes high with it. Does the low density tract homes drag the price of the executive custom homes downward. No, because the low density tract homes are built almost like a custom home. The homeowners association are very strict in a lot of aspects. My client almost wishes to move out due to its very tough restrictions. We have to get out of that kind of mixed development. High density homes need to be placed in areas far from the low density homes. The medium density homes should be a separate development and should be situated in between the low and the high. Oxnard, Ca. has a well planned community. That is the new annexed lands. To keep our property values high in the next 3 to 5 years, we need to control inventory from new home developments. As I mentioned before high density developers has a lot of money and investment tied in to the structure prior to selling. If the units don’t sell, they will offer more incentive and may go in auction. That is our challenge in the next 3 years. Low density new homes will release homes as they sell the home. So less money is tied in to the structure itself. The problem during 05-06 was developers mass produced new homes and got caught with a massive inventory that they cannot sell. When homeowners (mostly investors) who had adjustable or sub prime loans that matured to higher interest rates started selling their home. With an increasing number of resale home and mass produced new homes went in to the market, developers offered tremendous incentives that the resale market cannot compete. That dragged us in to this mess we are in now. Our challenge in the next years is to choke the inventory of new homes or compel developers not to sell at bargain basement prices.
Jing Firmeza rfirmeza@willowcreekdublin.com
6:30 AM on October 28th, 2008
So basically we have our current Mayor Janet Lockhart and her cronies throughout the city to thank for our historic glut of inventory, since developers like Toll Brothers bought her off with favors that include a 60th-birthday bash. Thanks, Janet.
10:19 AM on October 28th, 2008
Accepting birthday bash or other favors is unacceptable. I am not sure if those are facts. The state of high density homes in our city is both the council’s fault and our fault. If the opposition against it was so loud when they were approving developments then, we would not be in this state. There were times early 07 that I was even ashamed to stand and talk to the council opposing development. I was the only opponent to the flood of planners and developers at the council chambers. The writing was on the wall at that time. I tried to strike an argument regarding water shortage that we have to put a moratorium on development. My case was valid in my opinion. But to them I was crying wolf. Mayor Lockhart is finally acknowledging that we have a water crisis. But will they use that to stop development. I know it was a losing cause. Our voice is too strong to be ignored now. I stress sustainable growth. I support getting to be an entitlement city. We need to bring class A businesses in Dublin. I want to beat our neighboring cities in regards to home prices. High Density homes must not destroy the values of nearby neighborhoods. It must be built with class and ambience that a top executive would wish to live in it. High density homes must be built with commercial development fostering zero commute and stay at home concepts.
I applaud the city council that included Mayor Lockhart for our commecial development improvements. I support them with regards to beautification of old commercial establishment and the vision for downtown Dublin. Exception is the West Dublin Bart areas and Windstar development. Windstar is a cluster of more high density with the worse parking ratio. I applaud them for the parks, senior housing, senior center, and keeping a sound fiscal budget. When we throw unfounded mud and attacks to our public servants, it just makes our city more undesirable. We need to sway their votes to us not be us the enemy. I don’t think we can stop growth. We are in the outskirts of the explosion of growth in the metropolitan cities. There is a fine line between a progressive city and being a metropolitan city. That is the challenge. There comes a point where the income generated from commercial establishment and property taxes will impact the type and quality of services we can provide to our residents. I am not even sure at the growth we are in that we might be spending more for services we can provide our citizenry in Dublin. Our police and fire services are excellent. Growth may come at a stiff price to maintain those type of services. We have more challenges as a city for the coming years than slinging mud to something that has happened in the past. We need to work in the future and forget the past.
Jing Firmeza
10:40 AM on October 28th, 2008
I don’t think it’s fair to make unsubstantiated claims about a woman who has given the city so much of her own time. It is true Toll Brothers threw a birthday party for her at the Sorrento Clubhouse the weekend of April 12th. No one is denying that. Any Toll Brothers employee will be more than happy to confirm this fact, because there is nothing to hide. It was a simple gesture on Toll Brothers’ part to generate positive buzz for their new homes in Sorrento. Please do not lump our mayor together with the now convicted Senator Ted Stevens. It’s not fair to her, and it’s certainly not fair to Dublin. Also, I fail to see how this party is relevant to a discussion on the merit of a parcel tax for our schools?
4:18 PM on October 28th, 2008
I agree we must focus on Measure L and why it will not pass nor will any that follows it. As long as Eastern Dublin is being ignored about our plea for a second look at a possible new High School, we will ignore and vote no on any measures this School Board puts up. Remember with all the High Density Packed into Eastern Dublin, the population density is swaying to the East. Singles, young couples in these Condos/Apartments won’t vote for a school tax neither along with parents of kids nearing high school age.
The past is the past, we’ll just need to leave it behind and pick up the pieces and make best of what we have left. Lets show the world that we can be more than a 2 trick (High Density Housing, Low End Big Box Retail) pony. We can do more, lets scale the same mountains all our neihboring towns are scaling, why be content with standing on a mound built with High Density Housing and Retail. Class A Development, up eschelon of Housing, Top notch school system should be our focus.
Regardless of what studies there are that is fueling the argument against and E. Dublin H.S. We need to look higher, shoot for the stars, set the bar high and do what others have said cannot be done. Don’t take no for an answer. We need to teach and expect that of our Kids. Why be content when neighboring school districts are also scaling and standing on top of high mountains. We’ve scaled the mound here in Dublin, great but now lets shoot even higher and not be content on the mound as being successful, lets scale the same mountains or even bigger ones than our neighbors. Why set our goals so low?
Do the impossible is what I ask the incoming District Leaders, look within and be that pioneer to tread water no other Board Member had dared to, a start of a new progressive ERA of CAN DO, not Cannot Do because someone said so as the current board is in love with.
4:44 PM on October 28th, 2008
Way to go!! Progressive people with progressive ideas. Let us not be negative at what is here. Look at what we can do to what lies ahead. We can all make a difference. I have not lost the fight. I feel the fight has just begun. Dublin the bright star in the Tri Valley.
Jing Firmeza,
3:57 PM on October 29th, 2008
I don’t trust these oversight committees. All they seem to be doing is to OVERlook the bad decisions made by the Board. Just look at how well the Oversight Committee worked out for Measure C. What a joke.
12:49 AM on November 7th, 2008
John Ledahl wrote:
The following is an email I sent Tim Hall a couple of weeks ago. I received no reply.
If anyone wishes to continue a mutually respectful dialog on this issue, or others, please feel free to email at the address below.
Mr. Hall,
I am writing this to offer myself to you for a frank, candid, and mutually respectful discussion of the issue of a second high school in Dublin. I read your recent blog post, and although you particularly singled me out, I think your concerns are sincere and worthy.
However, I refuse to respond via the blog because of attacks by folks who fail to reveal themselves. I understand the nature of blogs, but you have no idea the vile emails I have received stimulated by the blog. Perhaps if all of us treated people respectfully like you do in your posts we could have a more in-depth look at the problems. You seem to project that value in your comments.
This is not about the upcoming election, If you wish, we can wait to meet until after the election. Whether I win or lose, we can meet because educating our kids in Dublin is my primary concern and has been since I arrived 22 years ago. While I try to state my views openly, they are not entrenched in a stubborn will, but rather in many years of analyzing the problems and coming to conclusions. This is why you typically won’t see me change my positions in the middle of an election campaign. At the same time I have always been open to new information or points of view and have changed my mind on issues. That is what triggered my first response to give a clear argument for where I think we are. In fact, I first got elected on an issue that I was able to get the existing board at the time to change their vote on a boundary dispute. I have also been directly involved in replacing a mediocre Superintendent, censuring a dangerous school board member, and successfully fighting to improve a technology investment that was millions too high – all highly volatile events.
Like you I find it takes considerable words to articulate my thinking. If you wish to meet over coffee, please let me know. Thanks.
Regards,
John
John Ledahl
Vice President, Dublin School Board
ledahljohn@dublin.k12.ca.us
2:23 PM on November 10th, 2008
Hi John Z.,
As I look at your blog I don’t see the school district website under usefull references. Can you add it?
http://www.Dublin.k12.ca.us
John Ledahl
2:36 PM on November 10th, 2008
Hi John – that’s a great idea. I just added it to the list of Useful References.