Last year I started getting emails complaining about the traffic situation in the area where I live. They definitely had my ear, because at the time I was driving my daughter to and from her elementary school, and really didn’t enjoy the gridlock I encountered every day. I had to time it right, because if I got there too late, after the middle school and high school let out, I’d be sitting in traffic for an additional 15 minutes. My boss couldn’t figure out why it took me 45 minutes to an hour to pick up my daughter, when her school and our apartment were 5 minutes away from work. Of course she could have easily walked to school herself… if the traffic wasn’t so bad as to be an unacceptable hazard.
The reason for the traffic appears to me to be purely political. Communities need to plan for growth. Pleasanton citizens did this in the 80’s when they put the Stoneridge Drive Extension into the General Plan. However residents that live near where the extension is planned don’t want it because it will impact them. They are apparently influential enough to gum up the works, to keep this planned and funded extension from happening. The result? Horrible traffic elsewhere.
Time to point out that I’m not an expert on this situation, just a citizen who has done as much research before an election as I have time to. A couple of weeks ago I was in an accident on Valley near Santa Rita, so this is really my cause now, and the deciding factor in who I choose to vote for in races for Pleasanton Mayor, and Pleasanton City Council. If you want to do your own research, go to Stop Pleasanton Gridlock. There is a plenty of good information, and links to articles to give you a fairly balanced view.
So who are my picks?
Pleasanton Mayor: Steve Brozosky - He seems kind of wishy washy on the subject, but appears to support the Stoneridge Drive Extension. The mayoral incumbant, Jennifer Hosterman opposes the Stoneridge Drive Extension. She proposes bandaid measures to appease the citizens angered by the traffic caused by failure to follow through on the General Plan. My opinon. My run-on sentence.
Pleasanton City Council:
Cheryl Cook-Kallio
Jerry Thorne
City Council candidates opposed to the Stoneridge Drive Extension are Brian Arkin and Dan Faustina. Funny that there were 3 people on the corner of Valley and Santa Rita last night waving red and white “Brian Arkin” signs. I thought to myself “That’s pretty distracting. They are going to cause another accident.” How true on so many levels.
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