Progress made on police chief, senior living plan
This article is my final Mayor’s Column. Prior to the Pioneer’s next publication, my term as mayor will be complete and the City Council will have elected a new mayor for a one-year term.
It has been an honor and pleasure to serve as your mayor for this past year. I trust that you have found the information about Clayton and the immediate community in these monthly columns to be interesting and informative. Thank you, again, for this wonderful opportunity.
City Council news
The council approved an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement (ENA) with Fulcrum Development Group to allow it to pursue, subject to public review and council approval, a senior-assisted living/memory care facility with some limited ground-floor commercial retail frontage on the city’s vacant property off Main Street. The purchase price would be $1.9 million; the city paid $1 million for the land in 2013. Approval of the ENA does not bind the City Council to approve the proposed project or sell the land, yet it does set the course for public consideration of Fulcrum’s proposal.
Police chief update
While interim and veteran Police Chief Joe Kreins is leading our Police Department, two groups recently interviewed four candidates for the permanent position. One was a professional panel of three police chiefs, and the other included four Clayton community individuals/professionals.
City manager Gary Napper makes the final hiring selection, and he has interviewed the top two recommended finalists. He anticipates an announcement on the next chief of police will occur after the new year begins.
Autonomous vehicles on their way
As your representative to the County Connection, I want to share the latest developments for an autonomous vehicle public transportation test.
California AB 1444 (Baker) authorizes the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) to test autonomous vehicles within the city of Dublin. There will be an attendant present on the vehicle at all times for safety reasons. The main goal of this test is to prove that Shared Autonomous Vehicles (SAVs) can be a viable first/last mile solution from a major retail location (the new Ikea site) to a transit hub (Dublin/Pleasanton BART station).
The vehicle will travel at 35 mph max in a corridor shared with public traffic, transit buses, bicycles, pedestrians and emergency vehicles, including crossing signalized intersections. The proposed one-mile loop starts on Arnold Road at Martinelli Way (bus stop 1) heading southbound. It makes a left onto the service road ending at the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station parking lot. This is where future passengers will be dropped off (bus stop 2) before it returns down the service road to make a left onto Arnold Road (northbound).
When the vehicle arrives at Arnold Road and Martinelli Way (northbound), it will make a U-turn back onto Arnold (southbound) and stop at the original bus stop to pick up passengers. For the first few months of testing, no passengers will be allowed to ride the vehicle.
This is an exciting test for the transportation of the future.
Final thoughts
I wish to close this series of Clayton articles by recognizing and dedicating them to my college freshman English professor, Evelyn Bibb, Ph.D. She was an excellent and demanding professor. Bibb would have her class review a new topic she provided each week, then prepare a paper to describe and discuss it in writing. Little did I realize that more than 40 years later, this method would be so useful when writing this monthly column. Thank you, Dr. Evelyn Bibb.
To everyone: Have a wonderful holiday season. And as always, thank you for your support of our Clayton community.
Send comments to the mayor at jdiaz@ci.clayton.ca.us.