Hi Guys,

   It has been a while since I've posted to change. We have an election coming up. Our city council continues to allow for increased housing density, traffic congestion, and highway noise. San Ramon is a great place to live now, but what about the future?

We have several new candidates running for office. I am going to post here a letter from Sanat Sethy, who is running for mayor. If we are to preserve the quality of life in San Ramon, we can't have more of the same.

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Dear Neighbors,

Unless we do something about it, the unsustainable pace of development here is going to impact our daily lives even more than it already has.

My opponent has written and said several times that only 157 new homes were approved since he took office. This statement is false: 558 have been approved since he took office!*

In addition, 489 units at City Center 2 were approved before he took office and 523 more units are in the works: a grand total of 1,570 new homes are either underway or likely to be underway soon. This is in addition to all the homes that have been annexed in Dougherty Valley.

Friends, more housing means more people, more cars, more traffic and more crowded schools.

I can’t do anything about what has already been approved, but I believe preventing future problems is much less expensive than solving them. Here’s what I will do when I am Mayor:

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I will not vote for any project that does not have enough on-site parking for the foreseeable number of residents, customers or workers.
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I will vote to reduce the density of developments that come before the City Council to a level that is sustainable in the areas proposed.
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I will make sure that our city’s “density bonuses” (incentives the City provides to apartment and home builders in exchange for low-income and senior housing) will directly benefit the neighbors of the project in a way that helps to reduce the impact of the project on them.
Right now builders can choose from a menu of things like putting up a sculpture. Why not make them choose from a menu that includes adding underground parking or paying for traffic-expediting technology or road improvements or a number of other options that will help out local residents?

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I will not vote for any project that breaks our Urban Limit Line or for any annexation of new projects in areas now outside our Urban Limit Line.
Do you know that our General Plan requires the City to automatically extend our “Sphere of Influence” any time we move our Urban Limit Line? Our sphere of influence is land that can be developed in the future. In other words: by approving a new development and annexation, we are ensuring future growth and annexation!

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I will work creatively with the school district to make better use of our existing facilities to solve the extreme overcrowding in our middle and high schools.
Friends, our future is in your hands. If you want solutions and prevention of future problems, vote for me. If you want more of what we already have, vote for the Mayor we already have.

I am running to make a positive difference in San Ramon. Please vote for me on November 6 or sooner. I will work every day to get San Ramon back under control.

Sincerely,

Sanat Sethy 
Candidate for Mayor of San Ramon