Tri-Valley: Early results in for Pleasanton mayor, sales tax measure

TRI-VALLEY — In this region’s marquee race, challenger Jack Balch was leading in the race to become mayor of Pleasanton and the city’s first-ever sales tax measure was failing to pass, according to initial election results posted Tuesday evening.

“I’m feeling optimistic and hopeful and very grateful and appreciative of the voters in Pleasanton placing their trust in me for the position of mayor,” Balch said in an interview Tuesday night. “We’ll see what the future additional results show. It’s a little too early to call.”

The contentious mayor’s race pitted two elected officials against each other, with incumbent Mayor Karla Brown trying to fend off at-large Councilman Jack Balch. According to results posted just after the polls closed at 8 p.m., Balch was leading Brown by a nine-point margin.

Brown, who previously served two terms as a councilwoman before being elected mayor in 2020, had received campaign support in small donations from residents, many of whom are retirees. The real estate broker was backed by the Livermore Pleasanton Firefighters Local 1974, Teamsters Local 70, as well as fellow council colleagues Julie Testa, Jeff Nibert and Valeria Arkin, among others.

“I joined this race for mayor because it provided what I believe was the best opportunity for a different path for Pleasanton,” Balch said. “Had I not gone for reelection, the likelihood of any different path forward would be not likely. This was me placing the best opportunity for the residents of Pleasanton to choose a path forward for our community.”

Interestingly, Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert endorsed both Brown and Balch, who was first elected to council in 2020.

Pleasanton’s first-ever half-cent sales tax was losing, according to early results. Measure PP, which the City Council in July voted 4-1 to put on the ballot, would bring in $10 million per year until sunsetting in 2035 and has been billed as a way to counteract the city’s expected budget deficit of $100 million over the next eight years. Balch was the sole dissenter, instead favoring a tighter belt on the city’s funds.

“I think that the City of Pleasanton and our residents understand that we have fiscal challenges and they would like us to look at other potential options and ways to continue to create a well-managed city that balances its checkbook,” Balch said.

“At this time, if that’s what the residents have chosen, the voters have chosen, then I respect that. And we’ll work hard to try to find those other solutions,” Balch added. “If it ultimately passes then we will use the money wisely and prudently because that’s the trust the residents have given us.”

The measure was presented as a means to preserve essential services, such as police and fire, from major budget cuts across the city.

Brown expressed her disdain for the possibility the measure could fail.

“I was very saddened and disappointed by that because the community needs that half cent sales tax revenue,” Brown told this news organization Tuesday night. “We know these funds are needed for the community to maintain Pleasanton’s high quality positions. And so I strongly supported Measure PP. Perhaps that was a concern for some voters.”

And she added she is “very concerned that Pleasanton will look different after these cuts were made. And that services to our businesses and our residents will be dramatically reduced.”

In the Pleasanton City Council races, Councilwoman Arkin faced off with Craig Eicher, a retired Pleasanton police captain and former interim chief, in the District 2 race. Early returns showed Eicher was ahead with 11% more votes than Arkin.

Again, Brown expressed her disappointment in the early results.

“I’m sad to see what appears to be two women with extensive service to their community. That’s me and Councilmember Valerie Arkin, voted out of office,” Brown said. “And if the results hold, that will leave four men and one woman on the leadership team.”

Two planning commissioners, Vivek Mohan and Matt Gaidos, also an Alameda County prosector, contended for the District 4 seat, with Gaidos ahead by nearly 14% over Mohan, shortly after polls closed.

Dublin election results

In Dublin, the mayor’s race between Councilwoman Jean Josey and Vice Mayor Sherry Hu was favoring Hu with Hu taking 38% of the early vote. Josey was trailing challenger Tom Evans slightly. Early returns showed Shawn Costello with just 2% of the vote.

Dublin’s most expensive race raked in over a quarter million dollars in donations across both sides of the aisle. Measure II, called the “Dublin Traffic Relief, Clean Air/Open Space Preservation Measure,” was ahead by nearly 20%, according to early returns.

The measure was described by the city as a means to reduce traffic flow and could open an untouched 80-mile corridor of land along the future Dublin Boulevard extension to North Canyons Parkway along Interstate 580 for commercial development.

Environmentalists, who previously sued to block the measure, lambasted the measure as a “land grab,” and raised over $136,300 against it. The opposition group, called Save Dublin Open Space, spent over $75,000, largely in advertisements and mailers, against Measure II.

The opposition’s main objective was to maintain a decade-old urban limit line, which protects 3,282 acres in the surrounding Doolan and Collier Canyons from commercial development.

Developers and labor unions amassed $122,500 in financial support for the measure by the latest campaign finance filing deadline.