The City Councils from all five Tri-Valley cities came together for a meeting on May 19th, and we were joined by two of our state legislators - Senator Loni Hancock and Senator Mark DeSaulnier. We were also joined by Pat Jordan, who represents all five Tri-Valley cities in Washington, D.J. as our lobbyist.

Pat Jordan discussed the success of our current legislative agenda for the Tri-Valley, including possible funding for improvements to I-580, Highway 84, and the East Bay Communications System. We also talked about important legislation that we are collectively backing such as Congressman Garamendi’s bill to allow technology transfers at the labs and the Community Access Preservation (CAP) Act to protect the ability of community television stations such as TV30 to operate.

The discussion was very lively when discussing state issues, and there wasn’t nearly the unanimous consent as we saw when discussing our federal agenda. The local elected officials stressed the importance of protecting local revenue sources from state take-aways and for suspending certain state mandates. In response, we heard directly from the legislators about the immense challenges of balancing the state budget, given the demand for both equal/lower taxes, more services, and dramatically declining revenue. Although there were a wide variety of opinions, everyone was appreciative that the two state legislators were there to have an honest and open discussion about the present and future challenges of state and local government.

As a by-product of the meeting, Senator Hancock approached me about hosting a state budget exercise in Dublin. This will be the opportunity for Tri-Valley residents to use interactive softward and work in a simulation on how to balance the budget. Participants will be be given existing revenues, constitutionally-mandates spending obligations, and the true costs of maintaining existing programs. They will then have the opportunity to figure out how to balance the budget using a variety of options. Residents will also see first-hand the consequences of any actions taken, meaning they will see the impact on households for tax increases while also seeing the impacts to all programs that would be felt by any cuts. The group will try to reach a 2/3 consensus, similar to what a state budget needs to be enacted. The event will take place on Thursday, June 17th at 6:30 p.m. in the Dublin Library, and will also be jointly hosted by Senator DeSaulnier, Senator Ellen Corbett, and Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan. More details to follow as they become available.

Tags: Tim's Travels by Tim Sbranti
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For decades, Tri-Valley cities have come together on many issues, most notably transportation. We have also worked on many other endeavors such as community television, public safety, and the arts. Yet one area where our cities have not historically worked together is on economic development. However, with the development of both the I-GATE technology transfers at the two labs and the development of the Innovation Tri-Valley group lead by Sybase Vice-President Marty Beard, this is quickly changing.

I had a meeting with Marty at the Sybase offices on May 24th where this very issue was discussed. Marty noted that to truly be considered an area to attract companies of innovation, that a regional approach is essential. This approached worked in Silicon Valley and can easily work here. To a certain extent, this has already started happening with the formation of the group amongst leading innovation companies representing each of the Tri-Valley’s cities. Now we are also seeing this happen on the public side as our City’s Economic Development Directors meet together regularly. I will be hosting a Mayor’s Roundtable on this very topic next month in Dublin, where Marty and some of the other leaders of the Innovation Tri-Valley group will be presenting the concept of a joint group focused on regional economic development. Although we may still have a “friendly” competition for various retail stores and restaurants (and to a certain extent individual businesses), the joint branding and coordinated efforts will benefit all of us.

A recent study has just been completed that showed the incredible potential of our region for economic growth over the next 20 years. The data and the findings of the report will be officially released in July at an Innovation forum that will be jointly hosted by all of the Tri-Valley cities and organized by Marty Beard’s Innovation Tri-Valley group. In addition to presenting the findings about the Tri-Valley to venture capitalists and other investors, innovative companies and entrepreneurs in the Tri-Valley will have booths featuring what they have to offer. There will also be some prominent individuals involved in panel presentations, workshops, and the keynote address. A date and location is still being determined, but it will likely be in late July. As it approaches we will work to get publicity from various business magazines and trade industry journals, as well as conventional media attention. I will report more as information becomes available.

Tags: Tim's Travels by Tim Sbranti
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On Monday, May 24th, the Dublin City Council hosted the first ever elected officials summit at the Alameda County Office of Emergency Services, and the sole topic of discussion was Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management. All five members of the Dublin City Council were present, as well as board members and staff representing the Dublin Unified School District, Dublin San Ramon Services District, Camp Parks, Alameda County Fire Department, Dublin Police Services, Zone 7, the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority, and the Chamber of Commerce.

There has been discussion for many years about the desire to have all public agencies and the business community conduct a meeting and partner on a key initiative. the Council added it to this year’s Goals and Objectives, and Councilmember Kevin Hart and I served on the steering committee. Although there are a multitude of topics we could have discussed, we agreed that there is no more important topic than disaster preparedness and reviewing our emergency management plans. Sheriff Ahern gave a great presentation on Alameda County’s disaster preparations, and we also heard about Camp Parks’ role and the interface with Homeland Security and FEMA in the event of an emergency. The presentations were followed by an extensive tour of the Emergency Operations Center.

Afterwards, those in attendance broke into groups and discussed a variety of issues related to the evening’s topic. One of the key take-aways is that although our individual public agencies may have solid disaster preparedness and emergency management plans that are enhanced and practiced regularly, there is very little coordination with one another. It was also discovered that very few businesses, neighborhoods, and individual families are very prepared either.

Two concrete take-aways from the discussion that will likely be approved as part of the City’s 2010-2011 Goals and Objectives were to do joint disaster planning exercises with all of the public agencies at least once a year. The other take-away was to work to do more trainings with businesses, and to reach out to all of the City’s HOA and Neighborhood Watch leaders to do a special workshop, while also doing a training for individuals in the community that may be interested in becoming more prepared.

Everyone left the meeting feeling that it was very informative, and they were excited to see concrete action items to work on. It was decided that the idea of an elected officials summit should become an annual tradition, where each year we come together to tackle a different topic. Next year’s event may be hosted by the City with a focus on environmental issues, or another agency may take the lead and plan a summit with an emphasis on another topic of mutual interest.

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