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Uploaded: Tuesday, January 15, 2013, 3:39 PM
Updated: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 5:48 PM
Mayors stump for transit, infrastructure funding at annual conference
San Ramon mayor hopes for funding for an Iron Horse Trail bicycle bridge
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by Jessica Lipsky and Glenn Wohltmann
Mayors from the Tri-Valley have headed to Washington D.C. with the hope of bringing back some pork.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors, held Jan. 17 through Jan. 19, is an annual tradition for the mayors from San Ramon, Pleasanton, Danville, Dublin and Livermore, although San Ramon Mayor Bill Clarkson didn't attend last year since he'd just been elected and he was still getting his bearings.
"For the past several months, mayors of the five Tri-Valley cities have gotten together to come up wit ha list of priority projects that the mayors feel are a priority to not to each city, but the region as a whole," said Assistant to the Town Manager Nat Rojanasathira.
The top priority project Mayor Newell Arnerich will jointly advocate for is the interstate 580/680/84 corridor project, which includes updates to Interstate 580 and the I-580/I-680 interchange, updates to a traffic operating system element and the widening of several portion of State Route 84 in Pleasanton. Arnerich will also push for funds to extend I-680 southbound HOV lanes from Geary Road to Livorna Road in Walnut Creek.
The mayors will also seek funding for the Iron Horse Trail overcrossings project, which will put bicycle and pedestrian crossings at several trail locations throughout the Valley. So far, a feasibility segment has been completed for a bridge over Bollinger Canyon Road -- which is set to cost approximately $1.9 million, Rojanasathira noted. Other potential locations include Crow Canyon and Sycamore Valley roads, Dougherty Road and Dublin Boulevard in Dublin.
Like his predecessor, Arnerich will continue to advocate for the development of iGATE, a state-of-the-art technology center that combines the resources of the Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories with regional business parks, high growth businesses and universities to build a collaborative environment that can create green technologies and jobs.
Finally, the mayors will continue a policy request advocating for the use of fees collected through cable franchises such as Comcast to be used for used for capital improvements and operations costs to run local television access stations.
The Washington trip is a bit unusual this year. For the last few years, the area was represented by Congressman Jerry McNerney. Redistricting sent McNerney to the Stockton area, and the newly created 15th district is now in the hands of a new congressman, Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin).
Former Dublin City Councilman and Alameda County prosecutor Swalwell defeated longtime incumbent Pete Stark, a Fremont Democrat who'd been endorsed by everyone from President Obama to Nancy Pelosi. Although he's new in Congress, Swalwell is familiar with Washington politics. He interned for Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher in 2001 and 2002.
While in Washington, both Arnerich and San Ramon Mayor Bill Clarkson will attend President Obama's second-term inauguration.Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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Posted by Stan, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 16, 2013 at 9:58 am Why is Clarkson traveling to DC when the city is talking about major cuts to the budget???. Pls explain this mr. mayor, because this sounds like an opportunity to pal around the capital on the city's dime. What has ever been accomplished on these trips anyways??
Lets hope they can bring back more then they spent.
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Posted by Roxanne, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 17, 2013 at 7:19 am As a former legislative staff member to a Congressman, I can say with assurance that a unified Tri-Valley appeal for tranportation funding makes a large impact. The Congressman will take their appeal seriously and work to make the funding happen. If San Ramon, a very important Tri-Valley community, was not represented, it would appear as a lack of concern by San Ramon over local transportation issues.
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Posted by Stan, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 17, 2013 at 10:15 am Roxanne, you maybe right about the impacts of a unified front, however, there are other factors to consider.
1. San Ramon is talking about budget cuts, cuts to everything including staff, parks programs and even newspaper subsribtions. Do you think we should cut an after school kids program in order for the mayor to have drinks with some of our representatives? These same reps have office hours in their district offices here at home. Why can't they meet here??
2. I would like to see a quantitative analysis of the impacts of past trips to DC. How much did the city get as a direct result of going to DC?
3. The amount of grant money available to cities and especial to a city like San Ramon is extremly limited at this time.
4. Transperation is a regional issue so why is, walnut creek, tracy, contra costa transpertaion authority, Contra Costa County, Alameda County, CALtrans or anyone else invloved. Becasue it is a waste of money to go.
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Posted by Dirka_Dirka, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 20, 2013 at 7:40 pm Unwise spending, even a little, is still unwise. It all adds up. These blowhard buffoons have no business hobnobbing in DC. How about they set an example; wait, that would require putting their retread egos on the shelf. Vote them all out! Quantitative impact my goat's butt. What ever happend to a penny saved is a penny earned attitude. This attitude of entitlement is what got us to where we are today, smack dab in the middle of a big pile of rotten smelly goat poop. My goats eat organic feed, so it's not as bad as hormone and antibiotic managed goat poop - - not!
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Posted by Laura Latt, a resident of San Ramon, on Jan 29, 2013 at 12:22 pm I noticed my franchise fee on my Comcast bill went up $5 a month in January of this year, which is $60 a year. Comcast could not explain why, but indicated they have the right by law to recoup their government costs from the customers. I then asked to see documentation showing the government billing that warranted the franchise fee increase for 2013. They could not provide any information. Finally, they gave me a phone number that ended up being the City of San Ramon. I found out the fee is given to the city. I found out that Comcast made a mistake on our January bills and we are to see a refund/adjustment on our February bills. I still do not understand who is billing who, for how much, what is being done with the fee, etc. I asked who is keeping track of how many Comcast San Ramon customers (residences/businesses)are paying this fee, the amount of the fees to determine if what the city is receiving from Comcast is accurate.
I was trying to determine how many residents and businesses are in San Ramon. From what I can tell from the city's website it appears in 2010 there were 25,284 residences and 2960 businesses. This does not account for schools or places of worship. If half of those residents and businesses have Comcast the franchise fee in the past for San Ramon could be as much as $847,320 a year. I based it on my bill, which is Preferred Plus with a franchise fee of $5. I wanted to know if the city was receiving all the money charged to San Ramon Comcast customers. How can we see what is being done with the money?
If I would have not called about the increased franchise fee this month how long would San Ramon citizens been overcharged? Have we been over charged in the past? Is the increase they will charge us this year be correct? Does the city know exactly how many citizens, businesses, schools, etc are being charged Comcast franchise fees, the amount of those fees so they know exactly the amount they should be receiving? Who is doing the accounting on this? Why wasn't someone aware we were being overcharged in January 2013? I think we should have a better understanding about this issue and make sure the appropriate accounting methods are in place.
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