Archive for March, 2011
by Around Dublin Team on March 31, 2011 | 
No Comments | Topics: Announcements · Local Businesses
SnowFlake has descended upon the Ulferts Center in Dublin, CA. As the latest dessert establishment to open at this East Bay Asian shopping plaza, SnowFlake specializes in snowflake shaved ice (雪花冰). Made with ice blocks that have been mixed with condensed milk, snowflake shaved ice is finer than traditional shaved ice. While the texture of snowflake shaved ice is similar to sorbets, the feathery ice sheet that comes off the shaver has a lightness and flare that is unlike anything we have ever tasted.
The launch flavors at SnowFlake include strawberry, pineapple, mango, chocolate, and white chocolate. Owners Jeff and Janice Kou use only fresh fruits and real chocolate in making the flavored iced blocks. “We had the opportunity to sample different snowflake shaved ice in Taiwan,” said Janice. “You can tell which vendors used powder for their flavoring and which vendors used real ingredients, because you can taste the difference right away.”
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by John M. Zukoski on March 30, 2011 | 9 Comments | Topics: Local Businesses · Restaurants
The highly anticipated Cellar 9 Restaurant at Grafton Station is hoping to open its doors to eager customers around mid-April 2011 in Dublin, CA. Contractors are working very hard to meet this aggressive timeline. Proud owners Doug and Rose Thome plan to have their grand opening celebration by the end of April. Initial reports indicated that Cellar 9 would be a steakhouse with a wine bar; however, co-owner Rose recently asserted that Cellar 9 will serve “American comfort food” with a flare and insisted that Cellar 9 will be neither a steakhouse nor wine bar.
Cellar 9 plans to offer an “upscale experience with lower-scale prices,” said co-owner Rose Thome. “We are excited to be moving into Grafton Station, at a central location, and anticipate that the new Target (currently being built at Fallon Gateway in East Dublin) will be a draw for customers.” The Thomes had also looked in Danville before signing the agreement to move into the beautifully constructed Grafton Station in East Dublin.
While Cellar 9 will not technically be a wine bar, it will have an impressive selection of wines available for purchase through its wine room and wine club. The wine room at Cellar 9 may remind some customers of the wine room at McNamara’s Steak and Chophouse in West Dublin. While Doug and Rose Thome used to be part of the ownership team at McNamara’s, they promise to deliver an unparalleled experience second to none with the new Cellar 9 wine room.
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by John M. Zukoski on March 28, 2011 | 2 Comments | Topics: Schools
Dublin’s schools are committed to provide art education for students. With the recent budget cutbacks, Dublin has been relying more heavily on volunteer instructors and the Promotion of the Arts program by Dublin Partners in Education (DPIE). “The purpose of (the Promotion of the Arts) program is to expose students of all ages to an art experience,” noted Board Trustee Amy Miller.
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by John M. Zukoski on March 27, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Schools · Things To Do
Students in Dublin, CA are encouraged to join Spectrum of Science this summer for an enriching and memorable summer of fun and learning. Each day camp attendees will explore, discover, and experiment as part of their daily project. Kids will even get to launch a rocket. Do not worry, moms, these rockets are safe enough for kids to launch in their own rooms. Children will also learn to concoct ooey gooey squishy chemistry and take home their very own lab rack and formulas, use a motor to build a vibrating bug, build a K’NEX Tethered SOSF ‘Bot, make fossils, bling a shiny box, morph a garment, travel at warp speed, and discover solar ovens.
Camp participants at this year’s Spectrum of Science will get to participate in myth busting challenges. Have your kids ever wondered if they can crawl through a piece of paper? Are they curious about the real science behind Mentos, how tunnels are made, and if dinosaurs and dragons ever existed in the wetlands? Spectrum of Science helps to answer these questions while making learning fun through exploration.
Spectrum of Science promises that no future scientist is left behind. Please visit www.spectrumofscience.com for more details.
LOCATIONS
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by Vickie Nagy on March 26, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Opinions
Home buyers are continuing to snap up newer condos in Dublin, CA. Of the 21 condos sold during February in Dublin, 66% were built within the last 8 years, and only one was built prior to 1990. The newer homes tend to have central heat and air, garage parking, modern kitchens, and updated bathrooms. The sale prices for these condos ranged from $260,000 to $626,414, with an average of only 41 days on the market.
Inventory levels continue to shrink for Dublin CA condos. Dublin has just 86 condos and townhomes currently for sale. This figure is down 16% from last month’s report. Of these only 10 are foreclosures and 29 are short sales. Dublin also has 109 condo and townhome pending sales. This number is up 8% from last month’s report.
The prices for the foreclosure pending sales range from $92,610 to $424,900. A whopping 67% of these are reported as short sales, is down compared to the 79% from last month. One unlucky buyer has been waiting since last June for bank approval to proceed with a short sale. The listing prices for the pending short sales range from $119,500 to $425,000.
Of interest to many Around Dublin Blog readers are the condos in Brookside. As of March 14th, two homes in Brookside are listed as pending:
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by Scott Hill on March 25, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Local Issues · Opinions
You have found the perfect home in and around Dublin, CA. You have negotiated the right price or arranged a great refinancing opportunity. As I had described in my first article on the Around Dublin Blog, one option is the No Closing Cost option. No Closing Cost mortgages are also referred to as No Point No Fees loans, and they have existed in the mortgage industry for over 15 years. Before you can fully appreciate how No Closing Cost mortgages work, you have to understand that all loans have associated costs, and these costs generally fall into three different categories.
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by Around Dublin Team on March 24, 2011 | 19 Comments | Topics: Schools
Dublin Unified School District (DUSD) Board of Trustees took action earlier this year to reinstate the Intra-District Open Enrollment policy at John Green Elementary School in Dublin, CA. Families of current John Green Elementary School students who are impacted by the boundary change had the option to submit a “Request for Intra-District Transfer” form. According to DUSD, current 4th grade students who are impacted by the boundary change have the option to remain at John Green Elementary in the 2011-2012 school year to complete their 5th grade year. For these students, no form is required. K-3 students who wish to stay at John Green Elementary School, on the other hand, needed to submit the “Request for Intra-District” form before the March 15th deadline.
Each student who turned in the “Request for Intra-District Transfer” form prior to the March 15th cut-off date was entered into the “Grandfather Pool.” Enrollment at John Green Elementary School will be awarded to families based on the following priorities:
- Children of DUSD employees
- Children currently in grades K-4 from neighborhoods affected by the boundary change
- Siblings of current students with the exclusion of incoming kindergartners
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by Judith Henderson on March 23, 2011 | No Comments | Topics: Opinions
The Tri-Valley holds a subtle beauty expressed in a swath of earthen tones, natural smells and textures. Mount Diablo’s cretaceous skirt sweeps the regions floor, offering recreational and historical value from indigenous peoples, their myth and lore, to hiking, water sports and wineries.
This weekend, friends took me for a walk up Mount Diablo. I was assured our efforts would be worth it, as we slowly ascended the west peak between rain and tiny snow flakes.
You locals may already know this, but the native people of the region believe the world was created within the massive crevices of Mount Diablo. Once you reach the north, south, east, or west peaks, you can understand why the natives feel something spiritual about the mountain; it’s eerily surreal standing in the heavens, and the views are breath taking.
If you want to know where you live within the north, south, east and western central coastal regions of California, I encourage you to climb Mount Diablo and take a look. Once I arrived at the northwest point, I was startled at the vastness in view. First, looking northwest I identified a familiar shape from my new perspective. Like a navy blue construction paper cut-out, the golden gate bridge lay flat against a lavender backdrop, floating in a sage sea. The city under a deluge of rain clouds, just turned on the afternoon lights. Like diamonds sewn on black velvet, the lights twinkled and danced over Twin Peaks. I could almost hear the Hyde Street cable cars ringing their bell.
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by John M. Zukoski on March 22, 2011 | 1 Comment | Topics: Announcements
According to Dublin’s Economic Development Director Linda Maurer, Butler Amusements has canceled the carnival this year due to recent weather and the expected rain this coming weekend. The storm has apparently made the site usable. Butler Amusements had planned to bring its family-friendly carnival back to Dublin, CA from Thursday, March 24th, through Sunday, March 27th. This year’s carnival would have been located directly across from Hacienda Crossings on the corner of Hacienda Drive and Martinelli Way. Among the new rides added this year were the Ring of Fire, the Gravitron, the Tea Cup, and Butler’s European 1001 Nachts.
On the Ring of Fire, passengers are firmly secured in their seats within a train of cars and are taken on a journey that circumnavigates the inside of a ‘ring of fire’. The train pauses only once at the top before cascading down the track backwards! The Ring of Fire is a spectacular ride just for teens and adults.
The lights and excitement of the midway literally become a blur as The Gravitron sweeps you off of your feet. Spinning at 24 RPM, The Starship 2000 uses centrifugal force to float the passengers off the floor, giving them the feeling of weightlessness. All aboard this 45-person capacity Gravitron for one wild ride.
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