Local Issues
by John M. Zukoski on February 15, 2010 | 
2 Comments | Topics: Local Issues
The City of Dublin, CA, saw a dramatic decrease in crime for the month of January 2010 in comparison to the month December 2009. January’s preliminary tally of 171 incidents was far less than December’s revised total of 211 incidents. Theft comprised a little more than half of all cases. Traffic and Quality of Life cases accounted for about a third of all crime, while acts of violence made up the remainder. Quality of Life cases include disorderly conduct and incidents involving drugs or alcohol. The most significant improvements were in the Quality of Life and Sexual Offense categories. Sadly, most of the 19 Assault cases involved domestic violence between spouses and/or cohabitants.
Similar to past months, a total of 12 Burglaries were reported in Dublin for the month of January. Given the distribution of the dates and locations of the cases, none of the Burglaries appear to be related. The most shocking incident reported was the Battery of a Wells Middle School employee on January 14, 2010. CrimeReports.com did not specify whether the Battery was committed by a student, parent, another employee of Wells Middle School, or someone not affiliated with the School.
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by Around Dublin Team on January 16, 2010 | 12 Comments | Topics: Local Issues
curb-side locking mailbox photo from Solar Group on Amazon.com
The City of Dublin, CA, is seeing a significant increase in mail thefts recently. According to Dublin Police Services, initial reports concentrated in the North Dublin Ranch area on the eastern end of town, where outgoing as well as incoming mail was being stolen. A witness to one of the mail thefts in the North Dublin Ranch area described the suspect as a black male adult wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a black baseball cap. The suspect was seen driving a red vehicle with orange spoiler.
Another report from January 13th, 2010, indicated theft was also occurring on the west end of town, with the most recent incident taking place on Rolling Hills Circle. A witness from this case described the suspect as a clean-shaven, 5-ft-9-in black male adult with a medium complexion and a short afro in his mid-twenties. The suspect was seen driving a white car.
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by John M. Zukoski on January 12, 2010 | 4 Comments | Topics: Local Issues
Tragedy struck Dublin on December 19th when an intoxicated 26 year-old male savagely beat his 20-year old girlfriend and 5-month old daughter. The incident occurred at the 3100 block of Finnian Way. Both mother and daughter were treated at Valley Care Medical Center in Pleasanton. This beating is arguably the most disturbing crime committed in Dublin since the homicide on January 7th, 2009, when 91 year-old Selma Hill was murdered in her home on Peppertree Road.
The number of incidents reported in Dublin spiked during December to 196, compared to 172 during November. This figure represents a 14% increase overall, and below is the break-down of the types of incidents reported in December*:
- Stealing is down 11% compared to the data from November.
- Traffic/Quality of Life is up 41% compared to the data from November.
- Violence is up 57% compared to the data from November.
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by John M. Zukoski on December 7, 2009 | 3 Comments | Topics: Local Issues
Dublin had an unexpected increase in the number of crimes for the month of November with 143 reported as compared to 136 for the entire month of October. Residents had seen a decrease in the frequency of incidents during the August to October period.
November’s overall increase is entirely due to a nearly 40% increase in reported thefts, while the number of crimes in other categories remains relatively unchanged. Here is the break-down by category for November:
- Stealing: 75 (52% of Total)
- Traffic and Quality of Life: 55 (38% of Total)
- Violence: 13 (9% of Total)
There was a smattering of Breaking & Entering incidents throughout Dublin with a cluster in the Hansen Drive vicinity during mid-November and another cluster in the Creekview Drive area during early November. Please check out CrimeReports.com for more detail.
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by John M. Zukoski on November 11, 2009 | 86 Comments | Topics: Local Issues · Opinions
The City of Dublin entry monument above is located on Village Parkway at the San Ramon / Dublin border. This image was posted on Flickr on February 23, 2009. While the hateful graffiti has since been removed, many questions and concerns remain.
As recently as 30 years ago, most residents living in Dublin were Caucasian. Today Dublin is home to a wonderfully diverse population that is 53% Caucasian, 20% Asian, 14% Latino, 9% African American, and 4% other, as reported on MuniNetGuide. Of the different racial groups in Dublin, the Asian population has grown the fastest, tripling from about 3,000 residents in 2000 to about 9,000 residents in 2009.
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by John M. Zukoski on November 5, 2009 | 1 Comment | Topics: Local Issues
‘Tis the season for the first installment of our annual property tax. Like many Around Dublin readers, I sometimes scratch my head when trying to figure out what all the special assessments are for on our property tax statements. When local districts or agencies collect fees through property tax rolls, they receive 100% of the amounts billed to property owners, regardless of the actual amounts collected. Alameda County charges the districts and agencies a per-property fee and assume both the risk of nonpayment and the rewards of penalties and interest. Here’s a brief summary of what your money pays for:
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by John M. Zukoski on November 1, 2009 | 5 Comments | Topics: Announcements · Local Issues
On October 5th the posh, quiet, and traditionally cloistered neighborhood surrounding Brittany Lane in the West Dublin hills was rocked with a residential burglary in one home and an attempted residential burglary in another home. Residents had hoped that these were fluke occurrences. However, on October 28th two more residential break-ins were committed near Brittany Lane on Inspiration Circle and Bay Laurel Street. These recent crimes and more are listed on a terrific website called crimereports.com. A few additional developments to note for the October period include:
- A charge of false imprisonment/kidnapping on October 27th at the 6700 block of Dougherty Road (the Arroyo Vista projects).
- 70 serious crimes were committed such as assault, burglary, theft, and vehicle burglary/theft.
- About 35% of the crimes committed in Dublin were quality of life related (aka, “victimless crimes”) and traffic violations.
A total of 127 crimes were committed in Dublin during the 10/1 – 10/30 period. This is down from 147 for the month of September 2009 and 151 in August 2009. As a point of reference, our neighbors in San Ramon had 200 crimes committed during the 10/1 – 10/30 period with nearly 70% involving serious actions such as burglary and theft.
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by Around Dublin Team on October 26, 2009 | 9 Comments | Topics: Announcements · Local Issues
Dublin Police Services issued the following Crime Prevention Alert on October 23, 2009. If you come across a suspicious vehicle (driving slowly and/or aimlessly, nervous mannerisms of drivers/occupants, parked and occupied) that matches the description, please take down as much information as possible (a license plate number would be especially useful) and call it in to dispatch (925)462-1212.
- Suspect Description: Hispanic male adult; early twenties; thin build; wearing black baseball cap with red brim, white t-shirt, dark pants
- Suspect Vehicle: Early 90’s black Lexus LS 400 with shiny silver rims
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by John M. Zukoski on October 22, 2009 | 8 Comments | Topics: Development · Local Issues · Opinions
Pleasanton’s Oak Grove is an estate home project that’s been approved for 51 custom lots spread over 66 acres with 496 acres dedicated as Pleasanton parks and trails. Oak Grove, which is arguably the most controversial project in Pleasanton, is owned by the Lin family who also own/owned most of east Dublin. In addition to the nearly 500 acres of open space, the Lin family have also offered to give $4M in school and traffic impact fees and pay for 20 affordable homes.
After 17 years of planning and 9 public hearings, the California Supreme Court recently decided that Pleasanton voters will have an opportunity to vote on whether or not to allow the Oak Grove project to move forward.
Oak Grove is located directly above Kottinger Ranch and Vintage Hills. Former Councilmember Kay Ayala has rallied many of the folks living in these communities to fight tooth and nail through the petition and court process to block Oak Grove under the guise of traffic and safety concerns related to the future 51 new homes. While traffic and safety are the official concerns for the project, this group may also have other motivations to block Oak Grove:
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