Archive for February, 2009
by John M. Zukoski on February 27, 2009 | 
24 Comments | Topics: Local Businesses · Opinions
When is $1 worth more than $1 for Dublin residents? When we spend that $1 at Dublin-based businesses. How can this be? It’s an economic principle called “The Multiplier Effect” which says that an increase in money spent locally creates a ripple effect as businesses and their employees in turn spend their earnings locally. This creates a virtuous cycle where a higher percentage of every dollar spent at locally-owned businesses gets redeployed back into the local community.
Studies conducted in Maine and Austin, TX found that locally-owned retailers tend to reinvest 45% of their revenue back into the local community (for a multiplier of 1.8), whereas national retailers only reinvest 15% of their revenue (for a multiplier of 1.2). If Dublin residents were to shift $100M of disposable income to Dublin-based businesses, the difference to Dublin’s economy would be $60M ((1.8-1.2) * $100M). This would equate to $600K in additional sales tax revenue (Dublin gets 1% of the 8.75%) that could be spent on local services (e.g., police, fire, street maintenance).
The difference in reinvestment rates is due to three main factors:
- Owner’s Profit – if the owner is a local resident, then they are more likely to spend their earnings on products and services (cars, retail, restaurants, etc.) in Dublin and other Tri-Valley cities.
- Local Vendors – a locally-based business is more likely to utilize other local businesses to provide services (e.g., accounting, legal, advertising/marketing, catering, and entertainment). These businesses will in turn reinvest a higher percentage of their revenues back into this area.
- Employee Wages – a locally-based business tends to hire a greater percentage of their employees from Dublin and other nearby cities than a business headquartered outside of this area. These employees will likely buy services from businesses in the Tri-Valley and then those businesses will in turn re-invest in this area, etc.
In essence, if residents spend more at locally-based businesses, then the Multiplier Effect will pump more money into our local economy and lead to:
- More companies doing business in the Dublin area;
- More jobs in Dublin;
- Higher demand for housing and commercial space in Dublin; and
- More funding for the City of Dublin and Dublin Unified School District that will translate into more services that can be provided for residents.
Please check out Yelp to see which of Dublin’s top-rated businesses you’d like to visit.
Illustration by Yes Magazine
by John M. Zukoski on February 25, 2009 | No Comments | Topics: Things To Do
The Tri-Valley’s first Citizen 2.0 training will be held on March 29, 2009 from 1:00PM to 3:00PM at the Elan community room in Dublin (between BART and Dublin Boulevard). The focus of this free training session will be to provide residents with an overview of the various social media tools (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, Yelp) that empower citizens and businesspeople to engage with their local community and government in ways not seen since back in the days of small town life.
This free 2-hour Citizen 2.0 training will provide:
- An overview of the importance of participation in local government;
- Suggestions for how to overcome barriers to participation as a Citizen 2.0 using social media tools; and
- Advice on how local citizens can make a difference using social media tools to build community, advance issues, drive local business development, and participate in local policy making.
The Around Dublin Team will also be on-hand to share a few examples related to the Around Dublin blog and to benefit from the invaluable knowledge presented during this hands-on training session.
Please visit Dublin Townhall or email Adriel Hampton at adriel@adrielhampton.com for more information about this event.
by John M. Zukoski on February 23, 2009 | 1 Comment | Topics: City Hall
The Dublin Planning Commission will be meeting Tuesday night at 7pm in the City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Plaza to discuss two key items:
Springfield Montessori School
The Planning Commissioner will consider Springfield Montessori School’s request to build and operate a 16,002 sq. ft. daycare and playground for up to 180 children. The 2.57 acre facility would be located on the corner of Kohnen Way and Brannigan Street (next to Fallon Middle School and the Sonata community) and operated Monday through Friday from 7am to 6pm each day. Springfield Montessori is proposing to provide 52 parking spaces – 1 parking space above the Dublin Zoning Ordinance requirement.
Valley Christian Modular Buildings
Valley Christian currently has three modular buildings – one for administration and two classrooms. Valley Christian is requesting permission to relocate their administrative office modular building to another location on their property to make way for the construction of a sanctuary (scheduled to begin in 2010). Valley Christian would also like to extend the Conditional Use Permit for all three modular buildings by 10 more years to provide enough time for the build-out of their facilities Master Plan. Given that the proposed new location of the administration office modular building is not visible from any residential areas, the Planning Commission is expected to approve Valley Christian’s request.
by John M. Zukoski on February 22, 2009 | No Comments | Topics: Announcements · Profiles
Dublin held it’s civic version of the Oscars this past Friday night at the Dublin Senior Center to recognize volunteers and our Citizens and Organization of the Year. Most of Dublin’s luminaries were in attendance including Mayor Tim Sbranti, Former Mayor Janet Lockhart, member of the City Council, and last year’s Citizen of the Year Rich Guarienti.
This year’s event was scaled back in comparison to last year’s Mardi Gras themed night of wine, dinner, and song. It was great to see that Dublin’s City Council and Staff are committed to eliminating non-essential expenses and being good stewards of our City’s resources.
In addition to recognizing volunteers that dedicated at least 1,500 hours during 2008, Mayor Tim Sbranti announced this year’s Citizen, Young Citizen, and Organization of the Year.
Citizen of the Year
Fawn Holman won for her service on the Dublin Partners in Education (DPIE) Board of Directors, coordination of DPIE fundraising events to provide much-needed financial support for Dublin’s schools, and her hard work and dedication on the Measure L parcel tax campaign to provide Dublin’s schools with an additional $1M/Year for the next 5 years.
Young Citizen of the Year
Brian Del Rosario won for his leadership as Dublin High Senior Class President, academic excellence, volunteer efforts with St. Raymond’s Church and the Dublin Rotary Interact program, and success as an MVP on Dublin High’s varsity soccer team.
Organization of the Year
Friends of the Dublin Library won for their commitment to providing funding for the Dublin Library. The Friends raised $20K last year to fund library programs and materials through various book sales, member fees, cash donations, and t-shirt sales.
Congratulations to this year’s nominees and winners!
by Around Dublin Team on February 19, 2009 | No Comments | Topics: Announcements
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger held a Capitol Press Conference regarding the passage of the historic budget package that addresses California’s $42 billion deficit on February 19, 2009.
by John M. Zukoski on February 18, 2009 | 14 Comments | Topics: Schools
The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) is continually looking to encourage academic achievement and maximize student success. With this in mind, the DUSD Board of Trustees recently approved the creation of a “Diploma with Distinction” to recognize Dublin High School students that receive all Cs or better and high scores on the California state exams.
Many parents have argued that while this new type of diploma is a move in the right direction, it does not go far enough to encourage students to stretch for the level of achievement required for acceptance into the University of California (UC) system. To this end, the DUSD Board recently discussed the possibility of creating an Advanced Diploma to recognize outstanding students that meet the average acceptance standards set by UC schools (e.g., 4 years of science and math, 3 years of foreign language).
At the conclusion of their discussion, the DUSD Board of Trustees voted 3-2 against further exploration of the ‘Advanced Diploma’ concept. DUSD Board Trustees Ledahl, Henry, and Cunningham felt that the DUSD should focus on cost-cutting measures and developing classes to support the new Dublin High School graduation requirements. On the other hand, DUSD Board President Haubert and Trustee Tomlinson noted that exploring the concept of an Advanced Diploma would not require much additional work and could be a huge win for students striving for acceptance into a UC school.
This week’s poll question is - Do you think that Dublin High School should have an Advanced Diploma?
by John M. Zukoski on February 16, 2009 | 10 Comments | Topics: City Hall · Public Works
UPDATE: The Dublin City Council approved the funding of additional safety measures near John Green Elementary school tonight. Please check out Dublin Townhall for the related summary.
The Dublin City Council will be meeting on Tuesday night (2/17/09) at 7:00pm at 100 Civic Plaza. Some of the key items to be discussed include:
Please join the Around Dublin Team at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night.
by John M. Zukoski on February 14, 2009 | 14 Comments | Topics: Sustainability
One of the questions on the minds of most Dublin residents is – How much money will Dublin receive as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan? Mayor Tim Sbranti recently provided an update on Dublin’s request for funds.
The City of Dublin is working diligently to obtain Federal funds as part of the recently approved $787B stimulus package. Residents are unlikely to see a specific earmark for the city of Dublin on websites such as stimuluswatch.org because of our small size (under 50,000). The actual funding for smaller cities like Dublin is being channeled through state, county, and metropolitan planning agencies. These agencies will distribute the money to cities based upon project funding requests.
The largest portion of funding for local governments is related to shovel-ready road maintenance and repairs on major arteries. Dublin’s funding share will likely be between $692K-$865K and will go towards repaving, maintenance, and rehabilitation for all of Dougherty Road as well as portions of Dublin Boulevard. These two projects have been approved by Alameda County as being eligible for funding, so once the County receives the money it will be funneled to Dublin so that work can start immediately.
Other existing or future Dublin funding requests include:
Mayor Tim Sbranti is on the Executive Board for the Economic Development Alliance for the East Bay (EDAEB). At their most recent meeting, the Board gave direction to their Executive Director to make it his highest priority to identify funding opportunities through the stimulus package for local governments and businesses in the East Bay. Mayor Sbranti has made a commitment to relay updates on items that Dublin qualifies for and work with Dublin’s City Staff to apply for funding requests.
The Around Dublin Team would like to thank Mayor Tim Sbranti for providing this comprehensive update.
by John M. Zukoski on February 13, 2009 | 5 Comments | Topics: Schools
The Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) Board met this past Tuesday night and voted to delay the construction and opening of the $26M Kolb Elementary School at least one more year with an option to go out to bid in 6 months. The Board’s decision boiled down to the evaluation of two options:
- Build Kolb now to take advantage of low construction costs and open in fall 2011; or
- Delay building Kolb for at least one more year and plan to open in fall 2011.
The state of California will eventually provide $19M for the construction of Kolb with an additional $7M funded by the DUSD. If the DUSD Board had chosen to build Kolb now, they would have needed to receive a bridge loan on the $26M at a rate of 3.5%/year until the State and development impact fees could be received (the interest could have been reimbursed at no net cost to the DUSD).
While many residents provided feedback at the Kolb townhall and Board meetings supporting the “build now” option (as summarized in speeches from Dan and Katherine Cherrier), the DUSD Board felt that it would be best to hold off on building Kolb for at least one more year. As Board Trustee Jennifer Henry noted, “If there is community pressure to build Kolb, then tell them to go talk to the State.”
Given that the construction of Kolb will be pushed out at least one more year, the DUSD Board will likely take the following actions to address the projected shortage of K-5 classroom space in East Dublin (in order of priority):
- Move the Dougherty Elementary School boundary line to Hacienda Drive. Kids living west of Hacienda Drive will attend Frederiksen Elementary School.
- Forced student diversions to West Dublin schools.
- Portables at Green Elementary School.
The DUSD Board will be working in the months ahead to craft the optimal approach to accommodate East Dublin’s burgeoning K-5 population.
