Dublin City Council Election

This is a very important election for the residents of Dublin. The new Dublin City Council will decide whether to allow IKEA to build a huge yellow and blue eyesore in one of the most prominent locations in the city. If you look at the color of the houses in your neighborhood, the color of the car dealerships, the color of the outlet mall, the color of other businesses throughout the city, you will see that they are all are in a pleasant color range. IKEA builds gaudy buildings that have only been approved in what were at the time economically depressed areas, desperate for any development. Dublin, with its new Persimmon Place and a new Kaiser Permanente on the way, certainly does not fall in the desperate category. An IKEA would be an eyesore that does not fit in our community.

The proposed IKEA would be on a prime plot of land right next to BART and across from the new Whole Foods store. An IKEA is not consistent with regional plans to build transit oriented communities near BART. Residents of Dublin want local restaurants and small shops to patronize. Whole Foods is a magnet for that type of business. The plot of land is much better suited to another Persimmon Place type development. Persimmon Place is so successful that it is hard to find a place to park. We need more similar places to hang out and relax with a good meal. A brewery would be another good business, where residents could meet and have a good time.There is a movie theater across the street, so people could plan an evening of dinner and a movie, without having to get on the highway. Most people use an IKEA store infrequently. Restaurants and shops are businesses people can use every week. There is an IKEA only a half hour away in Emeryville, for the times one is needed. An IKEA store would be a very poor choice for this location.

An IKEA on this piece of land would probably mean fewer new jobs than a development with restaurants and small shops. Big box stores keep their employees to a minimum. When I go into a Home Depot or a Macy's, it is often hard to find someone to answer a question or check on stock. On the other hand, restaurants are labor intensive and even a small one has many employees. An IKEA could mean less tax revenue. From my observation, the parking lots of big box stores often have few cars. The parking lot at Persimmon Place seems to be crowded all the time. If parking lots are any reflection of revenue, then I don't see any tax revenue advantage from an IKEA. IKEA would take business away from big stores already in Dublin like Target and would also hurt many of the small businesses. This would decrease tax revenue generated by those stores and could even threaten the existence of some of the small businesses.

For IKEA to succeed, it must be a regional draw. An IKEA would bring many additional cars into our area that would not be here, if not for IKEA. Traffic will be a problem no matter what goes in that space, but a development of restaurant and small shops would draw primarily local residents. This is a big issue for residents from both the west side and east side of Dublin, because we have only one street, Dublin Blvd., that connects us.

IKEA is just one issue, although a very important one. Many residents are also concerned about a lack of transparency on the City Council. People are also dismayed by the tone of the dialogue at City Council Meetings. I believe two of the candidates for City Council could bring real improvement to the City Council. The East Bay Times has endorsed Mona Lisa Ballesteros and Arun Goel . They are the only two candidates to express their opposition to IKEA. It takes three votes to pass or reject an item before the City Council. I believe it is very important to elect both of these candidates in order to stop IKEA and bring more transparency and civility to the City Council.