|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Longtime Livermore park district director David Furst is not running for reelection this fall.
Since taking office in 2002, and stepping out solely for the 2010 election, Furst has racked up five terms on the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District Board of Directors.
Furst told Livermore Vine he is ready to pass the torch to a different voice given time in office, his interest in divergent activities and confidence in the candidate pool this year.
He is the sole LARPD board incumbent not running in the Nov. 3 general election, leaving two incumbents and five challengers competing for three at-large seats.
“I’ve been on the board for 20 years. It was time for somebody new to get on the board,” he said. “I have some other things I’m ‘gonna try to do, and I can’t be on the board when I’m doing those.”
During his tenure, LARPD has improved its trail connections and acquired new land, both of which he aimed for during his initial campaign in 2002, he said.
His goal to hire a grant writer, however, did not pan out with LARPD filing for grants without a designated writer, Furst added.
“Some of my campaign promises from 2002 were fulfilled, or at least have come through as promised, and some haven’t really,” he explained.
Ahead of the 2022 election, Furst said he felt uncomfortable leaving his seat to candidates he considered as unacceptable replacements.
“When I was up for reelection four years ago, the Livermore Vine thanked me for my service and (said) we needed new people and people should not vote for me to be reelected,” he said. “I was a little bit insulted, but also, the people that were running at the time had no connection to the board.”
The Livermore Vine editorial board previously endorsed candidates for office, but upon its transition to a nonprofit news organization in 2024, Embarcadero Media Foundation publications stopped issuing endorsements.
Furst said grew comfortable with relinquishing his seat for 2026 because several candidates have been on the LARPD Foundation or have served as park district coaches.
“In other words, they’ve had connections to the LARPD. So I felt a lot more comfortable stepping off the board with people who are, to me, qualified to be directors,” Furst explained.
After departing from the board, Furst said he plans to “take a bit of a break”.
Furst intends to continue his work as the Sierra Club representative to the Altamont Landfill Open Space Committee. Furst is also a director of the Friends of Open Space and Vineyards.
“I feel very honored and very privileged to have the confidence shown in me by the citizens, by the voters, and that they reelected me, again and again,” he said. “I really, really appreciate their support.”
Held Nov. 3, the general election for three at-large LARPD board seats includes incumbents Maryalice Summers Faltings and Philip Pierpont, ex-LARPD director and former city councilmember Laureen Turner, returning candidate and recreation manager Matt Bogdanowicz, retired LARPD general manager Timothy Barry, retired police sergeant Larry Bird, and returning candidate and bike shop manager Mike Ralph.
