Opinions
by Tyler Moxley on January 30, 2012 | 
No Comments | Topics: Opinions
Inventory for homes in Dublin, CA is near an all-time low for the first time in years, and this apparent shortage of high-quality homes has heralded the return of multiple offers on homes. When a home comes on the market in Dublin, buyers do not waste time before pouncing on them. One such highly sought-after home is at 7144 Kingston Place in West Dublin.
The location of 7144 Kingston Place is near perfect. This home sits at the end of a court and is only minutes from I-580/I-680. Although it is close to the highways, noise from traffic is not a concern.
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by John M. Zukoski on 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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by John M. Zukoski on 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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by Vickie Nagy on January 21, 2012 | No Comments | Topics: Opinions
Demand for condos in Dublin, CA remains relatively high. Condo and town home inventory is at the lowest level in a year, with only 1.5 months of available inventory. Thirty condos and town homes sold in December, only 45 condos and town homes are currently listed for sale in the Multiple Listing Service. Of these available homes, 30 are resales and 17 are new construction from builders.
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by John M. Zukoski on January 18, 2012 | 4 Comments | Topics: Development · Local Businesses · Opinions
Ross Stores recently confirmed that it will be moving its headquarters from Pleasanton to Dublin’s Emerald Point office complex by mid-2014. Ross reportedly paid around $68M for the Dublin facility that will have 414,000 square feet of class A space and be able to accommodate up to 2,050 employees. Ross had also reportedly been looking to buy the raw land owned by the Alameda County Surplus Authority to build its new headquarters from the ground up directly across from Sybase.
That plan would have included the parcel billionaire developer Rick Caruso had planned to build his first lifestyle center in Northern California . Caruso Affiliates recently killed that project.
“This move will accommodate the long-term growth of our corporate office staff for the foreseeable future. We are outgrowing our existing office space and the purchase provides us with full control,” said Ross spokeswoman Bobbi Chaville. “We looked at several options and at the end of the day, the purchase was much more favorable than staying in our existing space and made strategic sense.”
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by Around Dublin Team on January 17, 2012 | 4 Comments | Topics: City Hall · Opinions
Suspected burglar Jose Luis Gonzales Franco escaped from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA last Monday and was arrested at Video Only in Dublin’s historic shopping district seven hours later, still in most of his prison garb on a stolen bicycle. Franco’s big escape reportedly started in the same area off Tassajara Road where MythBusters misfired a cannonball and damaged several homes during an experiment conducted on the Alameda County Bomb Disposal Range. The City of Dublin has had a proud tradition of outsourcing its police services to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, but it seems to have taken this outsourcing to a whole new level.
The City of Dublin stayed silent throughout the seven-hour manhunt. The CodeRED Emergency Notification System used to publicize the MythBusters cannonball community meeting could have been deployed to warn residents about the escaped inmate. City officials instead chose to keep its residents in the dark, while Dublin Unified School District and the City of San Ramon did the right thing by notifying their stakeholders as soon as they learned about the serious breach in security and public safety in Dublin.
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by Judith Henderson on January 14, 2012 | No Comments | Topics: Opinions · Things To Do
I recently got the chance to enjoy a private tasting at the McGrail Vineyards and Winery of Livermore, CA. The entire experience was delicious. I trekked up the hill in the afternoon to the winery after a rainy morning. The McGrail Vineyards and Winery is located at Crane Ridge Bluff on the outskirts of town.
After parking the truck in the winery parking lot, I looked out over the cliff and the sky below looked like a watercolor painting with broad strokes of explosive colors dripping over the valley floor. That breath-taking view and the occasional hawk and turkey vulture soaring above the carefully tended McGrail vines presented a perfect California winter wine moment.
The McGrail Vineyards and Winery is owned and operated by Jim, Ginger, and daughter Heather McGrail. Winemaker Mark Clarin, a husky man with knee high boots and rain slicker, greeted me at the tasting room door. A jovial man with giant paws for hands, Mark spoke about his wine making technique while leading me into the tasting room.
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by John M. Zukoski on January 12, 2012 | 14 Comments | Topics: City Hall · Local Issues · Opinions
Suspected burglar Jose Luis Gonzales Franco escaped from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, CA on Monday. Before being arrested at Video Only in Dublin’s historic shopping district seven hours later, Franco was joyriding around town in most of his prison garb on a stolen bicycle. Franco’s big adventure reportedly started in the same area off Tassajara Road where MythBusters misfired a cannonball and damaged several homes during an experiment conducted on the Alameda County Bomb Disposal Range. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office oversees the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and runs Dublin Police Services for the City of Dublin by contract.
The City of Dublin stayed silent throughout the seven-hour manhunt. The CodeRED Emergency Notification System could have been deployed to warn residents about the escaped inmate. The last time the City of Dublin used the CodeRED Emergency Notification System was to let residents know about the public meeting at the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office regarding the MythBusters cannonball incident. The City of Dublin also had the option to warn the general public through the neighborhood watch program. Instead, City officials chose to keep its network of neighborhood watch block captains in the dark.
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by John M. Zukoski on January 9, 2012 | 6 Comments | Topics: Local Businesses · Opinions · Retail
Residents living in and around Dublin, CA shop at Target for everything from diapers to electronics to groceries. The addition of the East Dublin Target at Fallon Gateway has made bargain retail much more accessible for consumers; however, many families are ditching Target for Amazon Prime as a way to save money and to get the best selection on everyday items. Although shopping at Target is fairly easy for most folks, shopping with Amazon Prime is even more convenient for people whose busy schedules make that trip to the store a luxury they cannot afford.
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