RES 88440 - Laserfiche WebLink

Mr. John Steinbuch March 23, 1988 Page 4 Factors that were given little or no weight at all by companies in making their decision were: political environment (although I suspect this would be much more prominent if the community were perceived as antigrowth); day care facilities; quality of schools; and climate. I believe those factors which were given little or no weight were considered of equal value compared to the communities from which the companies were relocating. A comment should be made that companies that we, re relocating employees from other parts of the country chose the Interstate 680 corridor specifically because it was perceived as having the best combination of quality of life and cost of living, when compared with the rest of the Bay Area. The cost of living is still generally greater than most regions in the country. The issue that caused the most concern to companies contemplating a relocation to Pleasanton was traffic. Specifically, they were concerned with the ability of the commu~'~y to stay ahead of the potential growth they perceived. Other concerns were: lack of lower entry-level employees in the labor base; lack of the ability of the community to control balanced development due to its small size and huge potential for growth; and the perception of Pleasanton as a relatively suburban community with the lack of a wide range of activities and amenities for the employees. Concerns About Pleasanton: Most of these concerns have been dispelled by the company's experience in Pleasanton. Traffic is still seen as the number one problem. The inability of the local community to get action to implement traffic mitigation at the State and Federal levels is of great concern. Lesser concerns were voiced about sewer problems and local restrictions on where certain types of businesses could locate. There is also a definite perception that large developers are much more "equal" in the eye of City Planners than are individual businesses. It should be noted, however, that these concerns would not dissuade companies from making the same choice for relocation again. Only Farmer's Insurance would choose another community if they were going through the process again. Initial Motivation For Move: The final question asked was what initially motivated the companies to consider relocating in the first place. The most common response was the need for a cost-efficient place for expansion. Closely tied to that was the desire to reduce the cost of their office space. The third most-frequent response was to find a more central accessible location for their own employees first, their customers second, and their suppliers third. Most of the companies were looking to the future when they made