By Patrick Creaven, Dublin Patch.

Mayors from throughout the Bay Area sported aprons for the annual Mayor’s Healthy Cook-Off Saturday morning in Clayton’s Grove Park.

The mayors, with a wee bit of help from chefs from their cities, prepared brunch for the judges in hopes of winning prizes for their local schools.

Salmon tacos, a spinach and shrimp omelette, yogurt with berries, and salsa with fresh vegetables were just some of the dishes the political leaders and their talented partners concocted.

The winner was the Concord team. Mayor Laura Hoffmeister and Bravo Bistro chef Habib Jacifi took the top prize: An organic garden for one of their local school. The garden, said Hoffmeiste, will go to Mt. Diablo High School.

“Mt. Diablo High already has a garden and they’ve done a great job incorporating it into the school,” Hoffmeister said. “I think this will only improve their program.”

Competition aside, the mayors said they participated to raise awareness of the importance of nutrition, especially for young people.

“It’s important to promote that you can eat well. It makes people happier, you live longer and keeps life great,” Walnut Creek Mayor Cindy Silva said.

The annual cook-off could expand in the coming years. Dublin’s mayor, Tim Sbranti, participated even though his city is in Alameda County.

“We have a mayors conference on Sept. 14 and I’m excited about bringing this to all of the East Bay,” Sbranti said. “This is something I’m passionate about and want to be personally involved in.”

The cook-off also gave one of Contra Costa County’s smallest cities, Clayton, a chance to bring regional leaders to its downtown.

“This gives us an opportunity to show off The Grove park and tell people about the concerts and other activities we have here,” Clayton Mayor David Shuey said. “I think its been fun for people from Clayton to come by and watch the event.”

Only Contra Costa Cities were eligible to place in the competition. Here’s how the cities finished in the cook-off:

1. Concord
2. Martinez
3. Walnut Creek
4. Pittsburg
5. Moraga
6. Richmond
7. Lafayette
8. Pleasant Hill
9. El Cerrito
10. Clayton
11. Danville

Tags: Dublin Updates, Newsroom by Tim Sbranti
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By Robert Jordan, Contra Costa Times.

Purple pipes are expected to snake their way into central Dublin starting in the summer of 2012.

The Dublin San Ramon Services District received a $1.13 million grant Wednesday from a state program that will help the special district expand the infrastructure for its current recycled water system to serve areas near Wells Middle School and Dublin High School.

Recycled water would be used to irrigate lawns at parks, schools and other public land in one of the oldest sections of the city.

“Why waste precious potable water on watering the lawn?” said Sue Stephenson, Dublin San Ramon Services District’s community affairs supervisor. “This is the right kind of water for that.”

The expanded system is expected to reduce the amount of drinking water used for irrigation by 70 million gallons per year.

The California Department of Water Resources grant funds roughly a quarter of the $4.6 million project. The district is seeking additional grants, including federal ones, to help cover the remaining costs. Construction is expected to start in the summer of 2012 and create between 91 and 138 temporary construction jobs, Stephenson said.

The district — which provides drinking water and sewer service to Dublin and the Dougherty Valley and sewer service to Pleasanton and parts of San Ramon — has 55 miles of recycled water pipes that serve 60 customers at 224 locations in Dublin and San Ramon. The agency first began using recycled water at the Dublin Sports Ground in 1999.

In 2006, it formed a partnership with the East Bay Municipal Utility District called the San Ramon Valley Recycled Water Program, which delivers recycled water to Dublin and San Ramon.

The program delivered 714 million gallons of recycled water in 2010, saving enough drinking water to meet the needs of 6,075 families a year. The average family household uses an average of 322 gallons per day.

The district has also received two grants totaling more than $400,000 to help fund studies into expanding the district’s recycled water program. A $253,400 grant was awarded earlier this month to study the possibility of expanding to central Dublin. In May, the district was awarded a $150,000 grant to explore expanding its recycling system to Camp Parks, Santa Rita Jail, the Federal Correctional Institution and areas west of Interstate 680.

Currently, no recycled water is delivered by the San Ramon Valley Recycled Water Program to areas west of I-680.

Tags: Dublin Updates, Newsroom by Tim Sbranti
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By Robert Jordan, Contra Costa Times.

DUBLIN — It was not the ideal climate to start a business. It was 2008, the housing market was in turmoil. Unemployment levels were skyrocketing and the financial system was on the brink of collapse.

Despite the conditions, Tae Oh opened a Japanese/sushi restaurant in his home city of Dublin where the economic picture was just as gloomy.

Within a two-mile radius of Oh’s Amakara location on Regional Street, Circuit City, Mervyn’s and Expo Design Center either closed or were in the process of shuttering.

“All my friends thought I was suicidal,” Oh said about his decision to open during a recession. “Especially since I was serving something raw.”

Three years later, Oh and Dublin have weathered the economic storm.

The city has replaced two of the three large downtown vacancies and five other major retailers or grocers have or will open in the city by the end of the year.

“It was pretty grim,” said Linda Smith-Maurer, Dublin’s economic development director. “Collectively, between the loss of the tenants, we took a $700,000 hit (in sales tax revenue) to the general fund. How do you crawl out from that?”

The city made a decision to make it easier to do business in town. They tweaked its permitting process and began asking prospective businesses when they needed to be open and worked backward from there, streamlining its process.

The approach not only benefitted Oh, but helped the city land the Sprouts market, which opened in June, and Sports Authority and REI, which are scheduled to debut by the end of the year.

“Dublin is more established as far as residential and had not been hit as hard,” said Sandra Weck, a senior vice president for Colliers International, a commercial realty firm. “Other areas in the Bay Area were oversaturated with retail.”

Brokers and businesses cited Dublin’s location at the intersection of Interstates 580 and 680 and its demographics, particularly its household income, as key factors in landing new businesses.

Within a mile radius of the existing Target, the average annual household income is $120,171, according to figures from Colliers International.

Oh took over the former Pasta Primavera in the Almond Center and remodeled the inside. He debuted March 2008 with business starting slow. A focus on providing high-quality fish and a word-of-mouth focus on attracting clientele has since made him a hit in the Tri-Valley.

“The business climate was more favorable in Dublin and the demographics were there,” said Oh, who has operated a number of businesses. “With any business you have to rely on a clientele base not only in your own city but peripherally as well.”

The success has not been limited to the downtown. Target is also opening a second store on the east side of the city near the Interstate 580 and Fallon Road interchange.

The economic rebound has extended to Dublin’s commercial market and housing. In mid-2009, the vacancy rate at the Dublin Corporate Center at the intersection of I-580 and Tassajara Road was at 70 percent. It is now less than 10 percent.

Dublin’s housing market, both new and existing, is also on the mend. The city’s existing housing market has a one-month supply, one of the lowest in the Tri-Valley, and has the shortest average number of days for homes on the market in the Tri-Valley. Building permits in the city have also rebounded over the past three years, from 135 in 2008-09 to 463 in 2010-11.

“Something happened last summer and confidence came back,” Smith-Maurer said. “Retailers and banks got serious in off-loading properties.”

Tags: Newsroom by Tim Sbranti
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