The All-America City Award is given by the National Civic League annually to ten cities in the United States. As the oldest community recognition program in the nation, this award recognizes communities whose citizens work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results.

Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees President David Haubert sent the following letter to Dublin City Council on June 22, 2010. When asked about his experience with the All American City delegation, Board President David Haubert said, “I am proud to have been asked to serve the City of Dublin as a delegate to the National Civic Council’s All America City Award competition and is grateful for the experience of meeting people from so many other wonderful cities across America and hearing stories of life in their city.”

Mayor Sbranti and Honorable Council Members, as you know last week I and a delegation of residents, city staff, and community projects partners were accompanied by Vice Mayor Hildenbrand to represent the City of Dublin at the National Civic Council’s “All America City Award” competition. I am pleased to report that the City of Dublin was well represented and gained the respect and admiration of all who attended.

As one of 25 finalists out of a pool of approximately 150 applications the City of Dublin was already a winner from the beginning and I can personally report that the presentation made by the Dublin delegation was superb. City staff including City Manager Joni Pattillo, Diane Lowert, Julie Carter, and Caroline Soto went above and beyond the call of duty by devoting their personal time to ensuring that every detail of the event was handled with the utmost care and attention to detail. Additional preparation and support by Linda Maurer and Paul McCreary was critical to the delegation’s success. They should all be commended and I want to thank them personally for making the City of Dublin proud this past week. I also want to personally thank Charles McKeag from Paragon Developers and Linda Mandolini from Eden Housing for their participation, encouragement and camaraderie as well as the financial supporters – Alameda County Surplus Property Authority, Ted Fairfield, Hacienda Business Park, and many others. Lastly, I am most proud of Dublin High’s Annie Acuri for standing out among the youth who attended as one of the most mature and well rounded young adults I have ever seen. I Also want to thank fellow residents Renata Tyler, Anthony Bryant, Ed Osada and Dale and Jean Olds who played Irish Music for the cultural showcase.

I can also report that all 25 cities gave outstanding presentations, making this year’s judging the most difficult ever. In the end Dublin was not chosen as a top ten All America City – not due to any flaw on its part but rather due to the high level of competition. As I said, all finalists were winners from Day One.

More importantly the delegates who attended the competition were exposed to the most progressive, innovative and contemporary solutions to the civic challenges facing America’s cities today. We listened intently to other people’s solutions to health and social services, programs for the physically challenged, taking back communities from blight and crime, and many more. Dublin has the opportunity of a lifetime to become better and stronger by exploring the many programs shared by fellow finalist cities.

This truly was a once in a lifetime experience and I am grateful to have been able to play a small role in making this happen by helping to raise the funds required to attend.

Lastly, I want to plant the seed in your minds about entering next year’s competition. Many cities who won were repeat participants and there is a clear advantage in knowing the ropes on how to compete. I have no doubt that putting this experience to good use next year will bring back a successful top ten finish and I look forward to working hard on behalf of the residents of Dublin to make this happen.



Sincerely,

David Haubert

President
Board of Trustees
Dublin Unified School District