About John M. Zukoski
Background
John is the publisher of the Around Dublin Blog. He works at Robert Half International and lives in Dublin. As president of Dublin Rotary Club, John dedicates his free time to community service and helping others help themselves. John is also one of the founders of Tassajara Prep and a board member of Shakespeare's Associates.
Contact
Email: John M. Zukoski
Website: http://www.arounddublinblog.com
February 4, 2012 | 
No Comments | Topics: Announcements · Things To Do
The Hindu Community and Cultural Center at the Shiva Vishnu Temple in Livermore, CA will be conducting a free overview of Medicare by Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program (HICAP) on February 11th from 2:00PM to 4:00PM. This free presentation is open to the general public. HICAP is a volunteer-based program aimed to help those who are on Medicare navigate the health insurance maze. The HCCC is located at 1232 Arrowhead Avenue.
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February 3, 2012 | 2 Comments | Topics: Local Businesses · Things To Do
Livemore’s Tap 25 is building a strong reputation for delivering some of the finest brews in Northern California. Customers have given Tap 25 a 4.5 star rating on Yelp since its opening just last year. Located at the Blacksmith Square in Downtown Livermore, Tap 25 offers customers both indoor seating and an outdoor beer garden to quench their thirst on warm and sunny days. “We (rotate) 25 handles of the rare, the favorite and the crazy flavors that make up this beer revolution,” wrote Tap 25′s proprietors on their website.
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January 31, 2012 | 1 Comment | Topics: Sustainability
Residents in and around Dublin, CA may have to pay just a little more at their neighborhood grocery stores soon. Encompassing cities such as Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore, the Alameda County Waste Management Authority (ACWMA) recently adopted two ordinances that will help the county achieve its long-term waste reduction goals. The first ordinance prohibits free distribution of single-use bags at check out in stores that sell packaged food. This law will help reduce the number of bags going to landfill and decrease the problems caused by plastic bags at recycling processing centers and landfills. Recycled content paper or reusable bags may still be provided but only if the retailer charges a minimum price of $0.10 per bag. The other ordinance requires recycling of high market-value materials from larger businesses and multi-family properties.
Setting restrictions on single-use bag distribution will help local jurisdictions meet their storm water permit and litter control requirements at lower costs and reduce environmentally harmful trash in storm drains and creeks. Despite voluntary efforts to promote reusable bags countywide for several years, plastic bags remain 9.6 percent of litter collected during coastal cleanup days (based on 2008 data) in Alameda County.
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January 28, 2012 | 1 Comment | Topics: Sustainability · Things To Do
An upcoming workshop held by the experts from GreenPoint Rated will educate Dublin residents and their neighbors in the Greater Bay Area about how to green their homes through easy, do-it-yourself techniques. Open to the general public, this workshop will be held on February 2nd at 5:30PM at Truitt & White in Berkeley, CA.
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January 27, 2012 | No Comments | Topics: Retail
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the value-priced grocer of healthful and convenient products, has experienced tremendous success with its Pleasanton, Danville, and Walnut Creek stores. The upstart market has hit a growth spurt lately with roughly 20 future stores planned throughout the Northern California area. Some new stores even have a convenience store format similar to a 7-Eleven.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market offers a variety of ways to save including the “buy one get one,” “half off,” and other standard discounts on meats, meals, fruits, and vegetables readily available to all shoppers. For customers who are looking to stretch their dollars a little further, they can join Fresh & Easy’s Friends program to save even more money. These bonus points are in addition to the reward points many shoppers get from their credit cards.
The Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market’s Friends is pretty straightforward. Shoppers who sign up will immediately receive 250 points in their accounts. Every $1 spent at Fresh & Easy earns another point. Every 500 points earned can be converted to $5 in-store cash.
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January 26, 2012 | 5 Comments | Topics: City Hall · Opinions
The City of Dublin, CA raked in a surplus of over $6.4M for the last fiscal year. This amount was $5.3M more than what had been expected. The unexpected budget surplus is the result of both a $2.7M revenue surprise and extra savings of $2.6M for the year. Over $1M of extra sales tax and property tax revenues flowed into the City coffers with another $1.4M bounty coming from boosted charges for services. Dublin’s strong financial showing for the most recent year gives many residents a good reason to wonder why the City would be contemplating a proposed joint utility tax measure with the Dublin Unified School District for the November 2012 ballot.
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January 25, 2012 | No Comments | Topics: Development · Local Businesses · Opinions
Residents living in and around Dublin, CA are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new 543,000-square-foot outlet mall right off the El Charro exit on I-580, kitty corner from the new East Dublin Target at Fallon Gateway. Paragon Outlets Livermore Valley is expected to open in time for Black Friday this year. Like premium outlet malls across the United States, Paragon Outlets promises to offer consumers great prices on luxury brand items.
Many outlet malls use an assortment of psychological gimmicks to confuse shoppers and wrest money from their wallets. Stores like Nike, Adidas, Gap, and Banana Republic often make products specifically for their outlet stores. These shoes, shirts, and sweaters never spend time on the racks in regular retail stores. Instead, they use less stitching, lighter fabric, and cheaper buttons to offer lower prices while keeping profitability high. This common trick relies on the inability of most shoppers to differentiate between B-grade products and the real McCoys.
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January 23, 2012 | 6 Comments | Topics: Local Businesses · Local Issues
Dublin’s Planning Commission will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, January 24th to decide the fate of a local entrepreneur’s request to operate a fortune telling business in Dublin’s historic shopping district. The proposed location for the new business is 6918 Village Parkway with an intimate 140 square feet of space. Services would be provided from 10:00AM to 10:00PM seven days a week.
Some residents believe that the Commission’s decision is already in the cards. If approved, Dublin’s oracle would provide psychic, tarot card, and palm readings on a one-on-one basis. Group seances and readings over the phone will not be available, so Dublin will not be getting its own Miss Cleo.
The Planning Commission’s conditional approval for the fortune telling business would include a series of requirements and restrictions, and it would only be the first step for the applicant Janet Evans. Evans would then need to obtain approval from Dublin’s Chief of Police Tom McCarthy, who reports to both Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern and Dublin City Manager Joni Pattillo.
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January 19, 2012 | 11 Comments | Topics: Development · Local Issues
City officials have confirmed that the grand opening of Kaiser Permanente’s medical facility in Dublin, CA has been pushed out to at least 2020. Kaiser Permanente had originally expected to complete its East Dublin medical facility project by 2015; however, it may still build and open the medical offices before 2020. Kaiser Permanente has reportedly held off building its Dublin facility until it has completed its San Leandro project in October 2014.
Kaiser Permanente’s medical facility projects typically take about five years to finish. If the San Leandro project can proceed without any major delay, the East Dublin facility should be able to start in 2015 and complete by 2020. “We envision a range of possible future uses for the site, from a medical office building or outpatient surgical center to a full-service hospital,” said Kaiser Permanente’s Media Relations Specialist Deniene Erickson.
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