City Council Meeting – 12/2/2008
Our next Dublin City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday December 2, 2008 at 7pm in the City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Plaza. Please note that contrary to the agenda header, this is a Regular Meeting scheduled for 7pm (the Special Meeting will be held at 5pm). Here are a few of the hot topics that will be discussed at the Regular Meeting:
- Bus Stop in Front of Fallon Middle School – parents are currently using a no-parking area on Kohnen Way to drop-off and pick-up their kids. The Council will determine if they want to convert this no-parking area to a bus stop.
- Bray Commons Public Art Improvements – the Council will decide if they want to fund the $5,000 of improvements to the Bray Commons public artwork (the “Wind, Light, Shade = Tranquility” metal tree) to address safety and noise concerns. The funding for these improvements would come from the Dublin Public Art Fund.
- Economic Incentive Program – Mayor-Elect Tim Sbranti will be seeking City Council discussion regarding the creation of a 2008-2009 Economic Incentive Program. This is a bold step in addressing the upcoming fiscal challenges related to the economic downturn. It is wonderful to see our City Council looking for ways to widen our revenue base to ensure that the City can maintain quality services for residents.
- Decision on How to Fill Vacant City Council Seat – the Council will decide how they would like to fill the seat vacated by Mayor-Elect Tim Sbranti. Options include: appointment by January 1, 2009, special election on June 2, 2009, or a hybrid solution of a temporary appointment of the vacant seat until a successor is identified in the June 2, 2009 special election. Holding a special election would cost over $100K. Based on this, it is highly likely that the Council will decide to make an appointment for the vacant seat by January 1, 2009.
Please feel free to email or call our Mayor and Council members to share your feedback in advance of the City Council meeting.
12:14 PM on December 2nd, 2008
The Council Seat should go to the person who got the most votes, who was not elected.. I think any other way would be an insult to voters and would not send the right message for the new Mayor and Council members…. No need to spend money on another election! We just had one!—
12:38 PM on December 2nd, 2008
The “No Parking” zone was designated for a reason, so I would like to hear if those reasons still apply. If they still apply, traffic rules must be enforced to the full extent of the law (think of the extra revenue!); if they do not, the designation must be lifted immediately (imagine the convenience!). Dublin has a good track record of keeping its residents safe, so I have no doubt Council will act in the best interest of our kids.
9:21 AM on December 5th, 2008
Speaking of grafton station, I was wondering why it is taking so long for them to open the places that were signed to leases? There hasn’t been any activity over there for some time. Do you know anything about time frames john?
11:15 AM on December 5th, 2008
Hi Anonymous,
The beautiful buildings you see currently are part of Grafton Station Phase II. According to the information presented in this post:
http://www.arounddublinblog.com/2008/10/grafton-station-phase-ii-pictures.html
Sports Authority and Total Wine & More have signed for retail spaces in Phase III, not Phase II. Having said that, as seen with Circuit City, anything can happen given today’s economy. We do have confirmation that Buffalo Wild Wings will be a Phase II tenant. Please check out the photograph of the liquor license for yourself:
http://www.facebook.com/arounddublin
Once the tenant improvements are completed, Buffalo Wild Wings should be open for business. We promise to share what we know as soon as we find out more. Thank you for your inquiry.
11:24 PM on December 7th, 2008
I feel a little sheepish about spreading hearsay, but something's been aggravating me for quite awhile and I'm going to hate myself if I don't speak up about it before the fact. For months I've been hearing whispers around City Hall that the decision about who to appoint to fill Tim Sbranti's spot on the city council was made long ago in a backroom deal involving former mayor Janet Lockhart. While I almost always disregard rumors, this one has been persistent. The prospective appointees I've heard whispered about most often are George Zika & Claudia McCormick, with the names Don Biddle and Bill Schaub also coming up from time to time. It will be quite interesting to see if any of these people throw their names into the hat and, if they do, to watch how smoothly they sail through the appointment process. If not, then we can write this off as just another baseless rumor.
11:47 PM on December 7th, 2008
Thanks for sharing and for being so specific with the names, Mr. Felt. Dirty politics will have come to Dublin, if Tim Sbranti, Kasie Hildenbrand, and Kevin Hart do not appoint the people’s third choice from the general election. Thanks to this blog, we will at least have left a digital trail for how these three are trying stack the deck against the people of Dublin, as they collude with former mayor Janet Lockhart and the developers. With the help of Google’s extensive indexing, I am confident people will be able to find their way to the information presented here and judge those three depending on the ultimate outcome of this special appointment years from now.
3:25 PM on December 8th, 2008
All four names send shivers through me. Zikas, McCormick in particular as they are as in love with High Density Residential as Lockhart. They were as responsible as any at City Hall for where we are today with High Density. They want the door prize of entitlement as much as Lockhart, her cronies if you want to say it politely.
Schaub has made it a practice of blaming users and not planners for the Dublin Villages parking fiasco that is bound to continue and get worse.
Biddle, don’t know much about him but we need change so anyone from the Curren tor Past Council/Planning Commission is bad for Dublin.
We’ll know in January if City Hall has really changed and broken free or is it Lockhart still holding the hammer and whip alhtough behind the scenes now.
9:21 PM on December 8th, 2008
It is a travesty if John Z. does not get the council seat. I agree with the previous posting that a back room deal has been made by the Lockhart Party. Claudia McCormick is the strongest Lockhart Ally. I have no doubt that the decision has been made in favor of McCormick. Zika is probably second choice. In the final analysis, John Z if appointed will be a lame duck council member against 4 pro-high density homes and clustered homes council members. The real solution is to recall all council members the next time they vote another high density/clustered home development. Before that we need to get all Dubliners to the real issues. East Dubliners alone cannot recall the Lockhart Party dominated council. We need a show of force in support of John Z at the council selection meeting. I see a lot of talkers in this blog but no do’ers. It is about time that we take the fight to the streets and educate Dubliners to the real issues, if John Z does not get appointed.
10:21 PM on December 11th, 2008
Just because someone finishes a distance 3rd in an election does not give them the right or preference to a vacant council seat. John finished in 3rd by almost 3800 votes or 16.64%. That is not a mandate for the position. The Council process is open and public and I find it offensive that individuals would accuse people of backroom dealings with out proof. Just because it’s said on a blog, does not make it true.
I have faith that the City Council will make the decision for the person that will best serve the community. If I am wrong, we all get a chance to vote the person out of office in November 2010.
10:50 PM on December 11th, 2008
I agree with the previous poster about false accusations. Mr. Felt shared a rumor. Shame on you Mr. Felt. How about I share a rumor that you never passed ethics class in college. What a poor example of integrity.
Since Hart wasn’t even elected months ago, how could he be part of this conspiracy? What you have done is smeared the names of people who had nothing to do with any supposed deal with the intent of preventing them from getting a seat. Given some of the names mentioned they have earned a seat a lot more than Mr. Felt. You should apologize.
12:36 AM on December 12th, 2008
We’ll just wait and see who is right, Mr. Felt or the last two bloggers.
Hart is an old time Dubliner, former school board member with Lockhart, nail in the coffin for a 2nd H.S. ring a bell? Don’t try to convince me he has no connection to the past and have not had contacts with Lockhart, McCormick and Zikas.
Whether a close third or a distant third in the 2008 election, it is still much closer and many more votes than anyone who will be submitting an application for consideration.
If they wanted to be on the Council, why didn’t they run for election? Unless they knew they had it in the bag. What a travesty if they had run for office and finished 4th behind John, now the Council hands are tied as they can’t possibly select the 4th guy over the 3rd guy and think they can get away with it. Thus it was safer for Zikas or McCormick not to run, now one of them will get a free ticket.
1:23 AM on December 13th, 2008
I still think Felt created this rumor and others joined in because it gave them more vile to spew. For example, your lack of knowledge about the facts is extraordinary. You conjecture that there is a conspiracy to put Zika or McCormick back on the council. Zika may apply but I doubt McCormick will. I’ll bet $1000. neither of them gets back on. Why? Because Hart was not aligned with Lockhart. In fact, if you bothered to listen, he ran against some of her positions – particularly about growth in the city. The proof in the previous person’s inaccuracy? Hart never served with Lockhart on a school board. The last time she was on a school board was in the late 80s, well before Hart got on in 1996. They have never been close. The biggest problem I have with Felt’s speculation is that it may prevent a good person from applying. Some of the names mentioned are people who have served this city in multiple ways for many years. While John Z. has done some good things with this blog it frankly doesn’t equate to many years of good service by others which is probably why he lost.
5:00 PM on December 13th, 2008
Thanks for the reply, we’ll just wait and see how things go in the coming months. Action speaks louder than words, rumors or speculations.
I’ll step back and watch.
BTW: I did vote for Hart for his stance against High Density Housing although I had the false believe that he was aligned closely with Lockhart and that he had anything to do with the School Board of the 90s.
Thanks for the clarification about Hart’s past. Much appreciate it!!
8:20 PM on December 13th, 2008
I see that a couple of commenters are upset that I posted my note about a possible backroom agreement. I was just sharing what I had overheard multiple times from more than one person in more than one venue. I finally decided it was worth posting because I have always had a distaste for dirty politics and I feel the public has a right to know about possible misdealings in government. If I had an ulterior motive of discouraging people from competing with an applicant I supported, I could have named several more people. But I only named four, and two of them actually applied for the city council spot. That’s a pretty good batting average. Either someone is psychic, a really good guesser, or perhaps there is something to the rumors. Besides, I don’t know anyone who wants to be on the city council and I don’t care who gets appointed, as long as the process is fair and not pre-determined.
11:04 AM on December 14th, 2008
Perhaps you named those people in order to make the process seem unfair and “dirty”. I wonder who your source is? Obviously it is some disgruntled person with nothing better to do than try to negatively influence the outcome. I highly doubt it has been pre-determined as you suggest and it would be nice if you would give credit to the people that the residents of Dublin did vote into office. Obviously the majority of the residents believe in them to represent the enitre city (not just your small corner of Dublin)and will undoubtedly choose the best person who has all of Dublin’s residents best interest in mind.
12:54 PM on December 14th, 2008
The position of City Council is not a cabinet position, so a special appointment based on an application process and not popular vote should be regarded as highly suspect at best. Why should we in the small but growing corner of Dublin believe that the current Council has our best interest at heart, when Mayor Sbranti and Councilwoman Hildenbrand have consistently voted against the interest of the community they serve? They are basically corrupting the process, so they can pick someone who will approve the Grafton Plaza project as is, so they can get their kickback from Charter.
2:08 PM on December 14th, 2008
What proof do you have they are not voting for the best interest of the entire city and that they receive kickbacks? Utterly ridiculous to make such unfounded statements. The appointment process has been done not only in Dublin in the past but in other communities such as Livermore and Pleasanton. Your speculation of corruption is baseless.
8:11 PM on December 14th, 2008
The way they flip-flopped on the issue of residential density was enough to convince me they are in league with the developers. What is happening in the East is only a preview of what will happen in the West. Just look at how the density of Schaeffer Ranch and the West Dublin BART project has increased under their watch. The City had a chance to turn the tide with Liz King, but it’s too bad people just didn’t give her a chance.
10:29 PM on December 14th, 2008
Oh please! If anyone ever listened to Liz King during the election they would know she did not have an adequate understanding of how local government works. There is a reason her campaign failed so badly and it’s mostly because she had no idea what she was talking about. You obviously do not the know history of land use and how Eastern Dublin was planned because if you did you would know development is happening exactly how it was planned years ago – with high density near the freeways and less density as the city approached county and city limits. Don’t blame those in office now. You should look at those who originally planned East Dublin. It has never been a secret and the density was always planned to be exactly what it is today. If you are surprised by it, blame the sales office who sold you on something different. They never know what they are talking about anyway. All they are interested in is selling a home.
I watched the meetings on density. The council never flip-flopped. They accomplished exactly the same thing as if they had renamed the density and set specific boundaries. Whoever you are… you keep trying to make the council look as if they didn’t change anything. They had only 2 properties left to make a change and that’s exactly what they accomplished. 50% will be in the medium low and 50% in the medium mid. Unfortunately you consistently misrepresent that on this blog in order to try to promote a certain person’s agenda. The majority of the land in Dublin is planned and entitled. It can’t be changed unless the development does not occur during the entitlement timeframe. If you understood that you would quit whining about the development in the East. Besides, most residents of Dublin are happy with the progress the city has made. If they weren’t different people would have been elected to office. Change happened on the Federal level because that’s what the majority wanted; however, the voters of Dublin made it clear they were happy with the City of Dublin, its leaders and its plans for the future. The voters spoke and the leaders are in place. Maybe if people on this blog got out and actually became active members of the community they would find that those they so easily criticize behind their anonymous posts are actually well respected active community members. It’s the reason why so many chose them over the 3rd place candidate for city council. Establishing a blog does not make one a leader in a community. Active involvement does. Being genuine and caring about the entire city is also a key element to their success. A limited and narrow vision of the city and its future only lands a candidate in 3rd place or less.
5:02 PM on December 15th, 2008
The point of the outrage in the East was that the more strict definition was not adopted, when it could have been. The irony today is that the concerns of home owners on the West are essentially the same as the concerns of those of us on the East. When I read beyond the details and get to what is at the core of the various colorful comments, I have always found we are really one Dublin. We may express our concerns in different ways, but deep down we are all worried about the true impact of higher density development on the rest of us.
I do think we need to give our newly elected officials a chance to prove themselves, and we should not jump to conclusions. I didn’t always agree with Mayor Lockhart, but I have respected her for her overall vision. I am excited about what Mayor Sbranti and his new ideas. I made a mistake on this blog earlier, when I incorrectly attacked a School Board member for a quote he did not make, and I have since apologized and learned from that mistake. I understand people feel very passionate about their particular candidates. Although I still don’t quite understand why we needed to open the appointment process to everyone and not just to those who ran, I am happy to see that we have about 15 people who felt so passionate about Dublin to go through this application process. Of course, I will be rooting for one specific candidate, but they all deserve our utmost respect for stepping up at a time when everyone is hunkering down.
Kate S.
1:48 PM on December 16th, 2008
It does not matter if East Dublin is being developed as planned or not. The plan has proven to be flawed and needs to be relooked at as it is too loose. Developers have taken advantage of it and have built nearly the highest density possible on nearly every parcel so far. Our flawed land use policy allows it thus we can’t really blame the developers for trying to maximize profits, wouldn’t you if you owned a business? It is the City’s responsibility to relook at land use from time to time and see if it is really working or does it need tweaking.
High Density is good for entry level housing, good to attract the young and energetic, good for low and moderate income housing, good for rental investments, good to get the entitlement prize. They are not good for traditional families, not good for our public schools as they do not contribute many students to our system compared to SFR, they contribute to overcrowding and blight as these buildings age, they contribute to a strain on our policing as you are putting a lot of people into small spaces.
Are you saying that we are a locomotive out of control and cannot make a turn or a adjustment for the better even when we see a cliff coming up on us?
I believe the City of Dublin is small and agile enough to recognize that the developments of the recent past is not working as well as it was envision when it was first drawn up a decade ago, especially with High Density housing. Do we have the expertise, wisdom and know how in our Council Members and Planning Commissioners to recognized this and implement change for the better of all of Dublin?
Do we have the guts to tell developers/landowners that we have enough of this, now we are taking a different direction as a City?
11:08 PM on December 25th, 2008
I've been wondering why Mark Felt hadn't posted another comment on this topic to gloat about correctly calling the appointment of Don Biddle to the city council. Now I know the reason. This evening I've been catching up on my old newspapers (Merry Christmas to me!) and I just read in the 12/19/08 edition of the Tri-Valley Herald that Mark Felt passed away last Thursday. How very sad. My thoughts go out to his family & friends.
Tim Hall
Dublin, CA
tiger650@comcast.net
1:41 AM on December 26th, 2008
Tim, Tim, Tim…
You are confusing “Deep Throat”, who helped undercover a real crime (Go see Frost and Nixon – A great movie) with a guy who spread rumors. In this case, Biddle was appointed dispite his not being able to run as he Chaired Measure L.
I kow you were kidding. Thanks for the humor. A great comparison.