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tenfold what it was only twenty ye ar s a go. A defens e o ffer ed by the a utho r ities may be that "ther e ar e mo r e r egulatio ns now." T hat is ir onically tr ue, with s aid r egulations conjur ed by the s am e a utho r ities . My s pecific gr ievance at this tim e s pur r ing me to addr es s the C ouncil is that the C ity P lanning office has bee n unr es pons ive in r es o lving a num ber o f is s ues in the Diam ond Ca nyon pr oje ct, ultimately dr iving s e ver al of my clients in the developm ent to s ee k r emedy thr ough the City Atto r ney's office. Following two wr itten a ttem pts to s che dule a m eeting, m y clients have yet to be exte nded the cour tes y of a r es po ns e. My gener al gr ievance, one which I a m s ur e is s har ed by m any, is that this municipal gover nment s eeks to co ntinue to gr o w while pr o viding s olutions in s ear ch o f pr oblem s . O ne need only loo k at the pr o pos ed budget cuts , e.g., the de fer r al o f hir ing a "Chief Dive r s ity O fficer." S ur e, 60% of For tune 500 co mpanie s have o ne fo r s ome r eas o n; but is Pleas anton compa r a ble to a For tune 500 com pany? A s ugge s te d do wns ide to not ha ving s uch a po s itio n ma y lead to "de cr e as ed em plo yee m o r ale." What ar e the cur r ent ma nager s not doing that m o r ale is s o bad? O r a "S us taina bility Mana ger ;" r eally? All can agr e e that the bas ic function of m unicipal go ver nm ent is to pr o vide for the comm on s afety a nd welfa r e while offer ing es s ential s er vices s uch as water , s ewage, and r o ads . T he anticipated gr owth in pr os per ity of P lea s anton cannot be as s ur ed if its gove r nme nt co ntinues to deviate fr om s uch foundational as pe cts by m aking it incr eas ingly difficult to o per ate her e. The C ity s eem s to ado pt a po s tur e that anyone s ho uld be gr ateful that the y s ho uld be gr anted the pr ivilege to live her e, m aking incr eas ingly oner o us dem ands of their time and money. The fact that the City mus t com e to r ealize is that it s hould be gr ate ful tha t s o m any people of means wis h to r es ide her e, and s hould aid them in that des ir e r ather than be an o bs tacle. The futur e de s ir ability and po pular ity o f P leas anton is no t guar anteed. We ar e a ll awar e of the s tr ife facing the co m me r cial pr oper ty m ar ket, o ffice buildings in par ticular. The ver y r ecent s ale of the for m er Ke n B ehr ing e s ta te in B lackhawk is a bellwether for the ups cale r es idential m ar ket in the Eas t B ay. Lis ted at $25M for o ver o ne year , it was r ecently s old at auctio n for $10.8 m illion, a s tar tling dr op in va luatio n for s uch a s tunning r es idence. I br ing this up to s ugge s t that ther e a r e da r k clo uds ahea d, giving the lie to any as s um ptions o f this or any city's "r evenue gr o wth." B allot Meas ur e PP is ill-advis ed as it evide nces yet again go ver nm ent's notio n tha t it can ta x us to pr os per ity. P leas anto n mus t find its way back to the m eaning of "es s ential" a nd "cr itical" s er vices a nd budget fo r it accor dingly, not by a dding layer s of bur eaucr acy