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Conservancy says No on Measure II
In the midst of all the national- and state-level decisions on the ballot this year, there is an important local issue for Dublin voters. Measure II would give the City Council permission to break Dublin’s urban limit line and allow commercial development on what is now open space between Dublin and Livermore. This development threatens to bring warehouses, truck traffic and associated air pollution into critical wildlife habitat.
Tri-Valley Conservancy has worked for 12 years to protect the land in question, including Doolan Canyon, a fragile ecosystem that serves as a well-used wildlife corridor and habitat for golden eagles, California tiger salamanders, badgers and other rare animals. Measure II would fragment this greenbelt and open the door to urban sprawl.
Dublin voters said No to urban sprawl 10 years ago when they overwhelmingly rejected a similar ballot measure. The fundamentals remain the same, and Dublin voters should again vote No.
Tri-Valley Conservancy is willing and eager to join a conversation and help broker a deal to get the road built, while making sure the wildlife corridor and open space are protected, preferably by conservation easements.
Measure II would amend Dublin’s General Plan, chip away at a precious greenbelt and violate the principle of open space in the region. And it would undo the hard work the people of Dublin did when they established the urban limit line to prevent exactly the type of controversy Measure II is stirring up.
Tri-Valley Conservancy urges Dublin residents to vote No on Measure II.
— Rebecca Spector, executive director, Tri-Valley Conservancy
Recall DA Pamela Price
On Nov. 5, Alameda County voters should vote Yes and recall Pam Price as District Attorney.
When Price was voted into office, her position was for a six-year term. Now, only two years into that term, the Alameda County DA has turned into the public defender protecting criminals and not victims.
Due to rampant crime in our county, Governor Newsom offered state resources to Price. Yet Price refused his help. Our U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell called for Price’s recall because she gives “bad guys a green light to hurt people”.
The DA of SF Brooke Jenkins has said Price’s policies have only led to an increase in crime. Price’s own deputies voted overwhelmingly to recall her. And all 14 police unions in our county have demanded her recall.
She issued a directive to all her lawyers preventing them from charging common criminal enhancements increasing prison sentences without her express permission.
It gave a quadruple murderer 15 years in state prison. It will let Shawn Killian, the Alameda man charged with executing his family of five, be eligible for parole in 20 years once he is convicted. It is giving sheriff’s deputy Devin Williams Jr. a reduced sentence for murdering his girlfriend and her husband in front of her family.
Vote Yes and recall Pam Price on Nov 5.
— Simon Li
Bright future for Livermore
From the windmills crowning our hills, our tradition of green energy can bolster our other tradition of agriculture. As temperatures warm, solar panels installed over fields can help keep plants cool. In turn, the green growth lowers local temperatures, increasing the efficiency of photovoltaic cells. This partnership is called agrovoltaics.
Green tourism can flourish thanks to building artistic solar statues, solar-shaded walkways and the Lab’s renown as the world’s first successful fusion ignition. Visitors can stay at a new hotel downtown, and they can arrive on The Valley Link or other trains, continuing our proud heritage as a train town. Increased use of public transit will reduce congestion on 580 and pollution.
Within the city, better safety pathways combined with more e-bikes and other transit options ranging from buses to golf carts will alleviate parking woes downtown and decrease car collisions. Though we will need to build more housing, creating walkable communities near hubs of public and active transportation will allow Livermore to grow in a responsible and healthy way.
Achieving this bright future will require the participation of citizens, elected officials, and volunteer commissioners, all working together to improve their community.
— Alan Marling
Bringing back the art of conversation
The word “listening” has become part of the local election debate — which candidate listens to whom and to what effect? But what that debate hides is that listening is only the beginning of a conversation and it is through conversation, collaboration and compromise that communities grow stronger.
While the debate over what listening means is part of a local campaign, the point is far larger. It applies to individuals and minorities being included or ignored, national issues, and globally. It is — writ large — polarization, the destroyer of community.
One of the effects of polarization — and, for those who stoke it, this is a feature, not a bug — is to stoke a sense of grievance and outrage.
Sometimes that outrage is justified. Sometimes it is invented out of whole cloth. The heroes are then the ones who will listen and, presumably, act on what they hear to heal the outrage and make whole those who are aggrieved. They are, by definition, larger than life.
But the politics of polarization is not healthy for any community, whether that be a family (and yes, families are the basic model for community), a city, or a nation.
There are no heroes who can heal outrage and grievance, whether objectively real or imagined. Rather that healing comes from building better communities and that is each person’s responsibility.Â
That healing begins with conversations that recognize each person’s common humanity, while not necessarily agreeing with that person’s views or behavior. It also comes from understanding that beliefs are not necessarily reality — productive conversations have to begin with questioning one’s own assumptions.
And it comes from understanding that heroes don’t exist — and that building thriving communities starts when we hear each other’s voices.
— Trish Munro
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