PLEASANTON, CALIFORNIA

'Pleasanton', nicknamed "Ptown"^[1], is a city in Alameda County, California and was incorporated in 1894. It is a major suburb (or edge city as many now call it) in the San Francisco Bay Area and located about east of Oakland. According to the city's website, the city has a total population of 67,724. In 2005, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau.^[2]
Pleasanton is home to the headquarters of Safeway Inc. and the now-defunct PeopleSoft. Both Oracle and Kaiser Permanente have offices on the former PeopleSoft headquarters in Hacienda Business Park. Although Oakland is the Alameda County seat, a few county offices and a courthouse are located in Pleasanton. Additionally, the main county jail is just a stone's throw away in the neighboring city of Dublin. The Alameda County Fairgrounds are located in Pleasanton, and the annual County Fair is held there during the last week of June and the first week of July. Pleasanton is sometimes referred to as "P-Town," which sometimes is a cause for confusion as nearby Piedmont has the same nickname.

Contents

History

Geography

Economy

Public transit

Community activities

Notable past and current residents

Demographics

Schools

Elementary schools

Middle schools

High schools

Sister cities

Media

See also

References

External links

History

The town was founded and named by John W. Kottinger, an Alameda County justice of the peace, after his friend, Union army cavalry Major General Alfred Pleasonton. A typographical error by a U.S. Postal Service employee apparently led to the current spelling. In the 1850s, the town was nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West" and it was ruled by bandits and desperados. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Bandits, such as Joaquin Murrieta, would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then seek refuge in Pleasanton. This reputation passed and in 1917, Pleasanton became the backdrop for the film ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'', which starred Mary Pickford. The town was also home to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, who lived in a 50-room mansion on a 2,000 acre (8 km²) estate, now the site of Castlewood Country Club.^[3]

Geography

Pleasanton is located at (37.672530, -121.882517) and is adjacent to Livermore and Dublin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 56.5 km² (21.8 mi²). 56.1 km² (21.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.4 km² (0.2 mi²) of it (0.78%) is water.
Pleasanton is situated at the crossroads of two major Interstate Highways, I-580 and I-680, which mirror the prehistoric crossroutes of Native American tribes who used the precursor paths as major trading routes. This fact was first discovered with the excavations for Hacienda Business Park, revealing significant tribal artifacts and human skeletal remains.^[4]
Much of Pleasanton is drained by the Arroyo del Valle and Arroyo Mocho watercourses. Pleasanton lies along the route of the historic First Transcontinental Railroad.

Economy

Pleasanton experienced a major economic boom starting in the early 1980s, largely associated with the development of a number of business parks, the largest of which is the Hacienda Business Park. These host a number of campus-like clusters of low-rise and medium-rise office buildings. Pleasanton has been successful in attracting a number of corporate headquarters, such as those of Safeway, Inc., Thoratec Corporation, Polycom, Shaklee Corporation, and Ross Stores. Despite an increase in office space vacancy rates in 2000-2004, economic development has remained strong through the middle of the decade.
Pleasanton was also the headquarters of the former PeopleSoft, Inc. (which was acquired by Oracle Corporation), E-Loan (which was acquired by Popular, Inc.), Spreckels Sugar Company (which was acquired by Imperial Holly), and the home loan operation of Providian (which was acquired by Washington Mutual). Oracle maintains the former Peoplesoft campus as a major division, and is the second-largest employer in Pleasanton, behind Safeway. In addition, Pleasanton is the site of a large AT&T campus, formerly that of SBC Communications.
Other companies with major operations in Pleasanton include Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Sage Software (Accpac, etc.), CooperVision, Clorox, Fireside Bank, Roche, BMC Software, Applied Biosystems, EMC Corporation, Portrait Displays, Inc. and Symantec.
In the retailing field, Pleasanton has one major regional mall (Stoneridge Shopping Center) and a number of other shopping centers. Most national and regional retailers have a Pleasanton location; besides the anchor tenants Nordstrom, Macy's, Sears, and JC Penney at Stoneridge, notable large stores elsewhere in the city include Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, and Borders Books.
In addition to the business parks and retail centers, Pleasanton is known for its lively downtown, which is home to a number of fine-dining, casual, and ethnic restaurants, specialty retailers, and service businesses. A redesign of Main Street in the 1990s emphasized pedestrian traffic and outdoor dining.
Also, according to the latest U.S. Census information, Pleasanton is the wealthiest midsize city in the nation. In 2005, the median household income in Pleasanton was $101,022, the highest income for any city with a population between 65,000 and 249,999 people.
Pleasanton is considered a prominent example of the edge city phenomenon.

Public transit

The eastern terminus of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) commuter train system's Dublin/Pleasanton - SFO/Millbrae Line is located in Pleasanton. Groundbreaking ceremonies for another station, West Dublin/Pleasanton, took place on September 29, 2006. Plans for this station include transit-oriented development in the form of of offices in Pleasanton and apartments, a hotel, and a restaurant in Dublin. BART had previously estimated completion of public improvements by late 2007, although this was based on construction beginning in 2005.^[5] Later reports project completion by 2009.^[6]
The WHEELS bus transit system, which has a number of routes in the city, serves Pleasanton. Additionally, the Altamont Commuter Express rail service stops near Pleasanton's downtown.

Community activities

Pleasanton continues to maintain a hometown flavor with regular events for the community. Every Saturday morning the Farmers' Market sets up on Angela, off Main Street.
"First Wednesday" celebrations run May through September. Main Street is blocked to traffic and adopts a street fair atmosphere, with local businesses and organizations setting up booths in the center of the street. Live bands play in the Round Table Pizza parking lot.
Friday evenings in the summer bring a series of live band concerts between Main and First Street at the gazebo. Everyone brings blankets and chairs to enjoy the music and socializing.

Notable past and current residents

★ Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden is a resident of the city (and lives in a historic restored adobe); his production company is also headquartered in the city.

★ Former NFL safety Rod Woodson

★ Former NFL All-Pro Defensive End Keith Millard attended Foothill High School and is currently a defensive line coach with the Oakland Raiders

★ LPGA golfer Paula Creamer grew up in Pleasanton.

★ Actress Gabrielle Union attended Foothill High School.

★ NFL player Scott Peters, currently with the Carolina Panthers, attended Amador Valley High School. His mother teaches Geometry and Pre-Calculus at Amador.

★ Musician Roger Manning attended Amador Valley High School.

★ San Jose Sharks broadcast announcer Randy Hahn and his wife, KPIX-TV weather anchor Roberta Gonzales

★ Musician Tony Furtado grew up in Pleasanton.

★ Former NFL linebacker Daryl Talley

★ Congressman Jerry McNerney from California's 11th District

★ Former NFL player Greg Kragen attended Amador Valley High School. Kragen played in the NFL for 13 years for the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Carolina Panthers.

★ Actor Christopher Knight

★ Phoebe Apperson Hearst, philanthropist and mother of William Randolph Hearst

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 63,654 people, 23,311 households, and 17,390 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,134.1/km² (2,938.1/mi²). There were 23,968 housing units at an average density of 427.0/km² (1,106.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.44% White, 3.38% African American, 0.33% Native American, 10.69% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 2.35% from other races, and 3.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.87% of the population.
There were 23,311 households out of which 40.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.7% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.15.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $90,859, and the median income for a family was $115,944. Males had a median income of $77,072 versus $44,493 for females. The per capita income for the city was $41,623. About 3.6% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

Schools

Pleasanton's two comprehensive high schools, Amador Valley and Foothill, rank among the top 300 high schools in the nation.^[7]. There are also two continuation high schools: Village and Horizon; the latter is for school age mothers and young fathers.
There are a number of private schools in Pleasanton, such as Carden West School and Hacienda School.

Elementary schools

★ Public: Alisal, Donlon, Fairlands, Hearst, Lydiksen, Mohr, Valley View, Vintage Hills, Walnut Grove

★ Private: Carden West, Hacienda

Middle schools

★ Public: Hart, Harvest Park, Pleasanton Middle School

High schools

★ Public: Amador Valley, Foothill, Village, Horizon

Sister cities

★ Blairgowrie and Rattray, Scotland^[8]

★ Fergus, Ontario, Canada

★ Tulancingo, Mexico^[9]

Media

Due to its central location within the "Tri-Valley," a group of neighboring cities including Livermore, Dublin, and San Ramon, Pleasanton is home to most of the local media. This includes cable access station TV30, radio station 101.7 KKIQ, and newspapers ''Pleasanton Weekly'', ''Tri-Valley Herald'' and ''Valley Times''.

See also

★ Bernal Subbasin

★ Pleasanton Fault

★ Pleasanton Public Library

References

1. Ptown (Pleasanton) Bike Advocates Meeting, ''East Bay Bicycle Coalition'' website, August 14, 2007, retrieved August 17, 2007
2.
Pleasanton: midsize home of the biggest bucks Sophia Kazmi

3. Hacienda del Pozo de Verona
4. Gary Deghi, C. Michael Hogan, George W. Ball, Miley Holman et al., ''Environmental Assessment for Hacienda Business Park/ General Plan amendment'', prepared for the City of Pleasanton by Earth Metrics Inc. (1984)
5. West Dublin/Pleasanton Infill Station
6. Pleasanton gets look at 'transit village' Meera Pal
7. The 100 Best High Schools Barbara Kantrowitz
8. Pleasanton - Blairgowrie - Fergus Sister City Organization
9. Pleasanton/Tulancingo Sister City Association

External links

★ City of Pleasanton Official Website

★ Alameda County Fairgrounds

★ Tri-Valley Community Television (TV30)

★ 101.7 KKIQ

★ ''Pleasanton Weekly''

★ ''Tri-Valley Herald'' Online Edition

★ ''Contra Costa Times'' (parent of ''Valley Times'')

★