Danville is fortunate to have a candidate of the quality of Bob Nealis. He is the recently retired Director of International Sales for Dreyer's Ice Cream and will put his business management acumen to use in overseeing Danville's government.

We can be confident that Bob Nealis will protect our quality of life in Danville. Unlike some of the other candidates, he does not have a job that will benefit from his Council position and decisions he makes as a Councilman. I heartily recommend that you vote for him!

We need some new blood. This endless development means endless traffic. They approved Weber. They approved Elworthy. They will approve Summberhill. Lets see some new faces.

As with Tired of Traffic, I am concerned more than anything else with candidate's positions on new developments, and how they feel about carrying out the will of Danville's citizens. I could give a flying rat's butt about someone's "business management acumen" unless they have a long standing position of opposing our hills being paved over with ticky tacky cracker boxes. When Nealis says he "believes it's been well managed up to this point" that give me great pause.

Unlike Tired of Traffic though, my main worry is not increased vehicles, but rather development's impact on what little open land we have left. KB Homes may only be plastering their product on the relatively flat area next to San Ramon valley Road, but those homes will block the beautiful view we once had - unlike the small and low slung Sunset Nursery, which I never saw as a problem - homely though it may be.

Renee Morgan is a realtor and former developer employee. I have observed her at planning commission hearings (she is on that commission) and it is clear that she is a developer lackey. Don't vote for her if you care about Danville.

@Derek: Thank you for your comments. While I believe that our town has been well managed from a fudiciary standpoint, I certainly share your concerns with respect to the remaining amount of open space our town has. I believe in upholding the 2010 General Plan. That Plan may not have been followed in certain respects. For example, neither the 2010 General Plan nor the Urban Limit Line were respected on the Elworthy Ranch development on Danville's southwestern corner. While it is too late for me to have an impact on Elworthy, it's not too late for me to try to uphold the Plan with respect to other current and future proposed developments. I ask for your vote to allow me to do that.

Bob: You have my vote, as I like your position on stopping illegal development. Our schools are already so overcrowded we certainly do not need to add to it with more developments. By the way, how can I not vote for someone who made the world a better place with ice cream!

Oh, how I wish I could vote in this one. I have served with Bob on the San Ramon Valley Y Board, where he proved to be a very engaged and take-charge leader. He will be great for Danville. Also, we need someone who can help mitigate the madness of the Summerhill project. Please talk to everyone you know to support Bob's election. Anyone who lives along the Diablo/Blackhawk Rd. Corridor or has children at Vista Grande, Green Valley, Los Cerros or Monte Vista has a LOT at stake in the November election.

Thank you for making your position clear Mr. Nealis. I appreciate it.

What we now have left on Danville's western slope is only a very, very small patch of open land above Sunset Nursery and immediately to the south of it. It is the scenic west side hills, not the more barren ones to the east, that give Danville and Alamo a special quality. The same is true for cities like Los Gatos & Saratoga in the south bay. Covering these hills, or blocking the view of them from the freeway or frontage roads, alters the essence of what is Danville.

It is likely that one of the few things stopping KB and other developers from building higher up is a lack of bedrock under the dirt. As it is, you have to wonder: if we someday again experience the level of rainfall we had in 1982 and 1983, and some older homes on the high part of the west slope give way at their foundations, will the homeowners blame the developers? Of will they take personal responsibility for their choice of locations? For sure their insurance claims will impact all of us.

Others have asked how long it will be before the Elworthy homeowners begin whining that they need a sound wall. I am not an acoustic engineer. But I do have extensive experience in one niche area of acoustics and I can say for certain that sounds walls may block traffic noise on their opposite side, but they are acoustically "bright" and will reflect on the side facing the freeway. Heavy ivy or other vine growth can mitigate high frequency reflection to some degree, but it will do nothing to dampen low or mid range noise.

I hope to meet Mr. Nealis at some point before the election.

@ For the People: I know Renee, and I like her quite well, but I share your concerns.

I appreciate your insightful comments, Derek. Thank you.

All of us that disapprove of Elworthy should hold Renee Morgan, Newell Arnerich, and Mike Doyle accountable and not vote for them.

Elworthy was approved when Renee Morgan was on the Danville Planning Commission, and Newell Arnerich and Mike Doyle were on the Town Council. They ignored the fact that the Elworthy project was legally required (pursuant to the terms of Measure S, the 2000 Danville Open and Agricultural land preservation initiative) to be put to the Danville voters for approval! No one in the public realized it until it was too late. The voters could have protected that land!

Also, Danville's Planning Commission (Renee Morgan) and the Town Council (Arnerich and Doyle) and the County violated the voter-approved Urban Limit Line county law when they approved Elworthy. Hard to believe, but Danville and the County created a manuever just for the Elworthys that they called a "transfer of density" from County land owned by the Elworthys to their Danville land so that KB Homes could build 26 more homes in Danville! There was absolutely no basis in County or Danville law for the "transfer of density". The Elworthy county land was outside the Urban Limit Line, so there was no right to build the 26 homes in the County. There was similarly no basis in the 2010 Danville General Plan for the "transfer of density" allowing 26 more homes to be built in Danville. What a terrible precedent to set!

Please vote for BOB NEALIS for Town Council to protect the voters' right to decide on projects like Elworthy and SummerHill (in the Diablo Road corridor) and protect the voter-approved Urban Limit Line!

The only problem is, aren't we going to need more than just one "Bob" on the council?
I'm not always looking for conspiracies, but you do have to wonder what would motivate anyone who lives in Danville to help out the likes of KB or to violate zoning laws. Hint hint.
It would take a long time to count all the lawsuits (many class action) that are either currently pending or settled against KB. Many have been in California, but there are plenty in places like Texas, Florida, Oregon, and Arizona. If a problem with this development arises, I wonder who will be left holding the bag?
Unfortunately with the dearth of available homes right now in Danville, I fear that "fools will rush in" to Elworthy. It would make me smile to see those new homes sit empty, but people are so rabid to get a house that they never do research.

My name is Jim Jordon Jelincic. I am one of the other candidates running for the Danville Town Council. I have recently grown very concerned about the 2010 General Plan. It delutes the voters ability to control zoning changes that were specific in Measure S. One of the reasons that the General Plan was updated was due to the State's imposed mandates that require Danville to meet its share of “Regional Housing Needs”. If I'm elected I will do all that I can to guard our interests from such forces. Please visit my web site and consider voting for me in November. http://www.JJJforDanvilleCA.com

The word is: "dilutes."

Thanks Dave. Yes, dilutes. Sorry about that.

“I'm proactive, I don't let moss grow under my feet," "I like to look at problems as opportunities."

-- I was thinking I’d like to start talking solely in clichés. Could you teach me how?

“This is my town, I live here, I work here, I play here.”

-- Oh, ok. Thanks for letting us know. Jeez, I thought the town belongs to all of us. I feel so stupid. I’ll try not to get in your way.

“I want to keep the small town feel while, at the same time, promoting some of the smaller businesses"

-- You only want to promote SOME of the smaller businesses? Which ones do you NOT want to promote? Do you like that tattoo parlor on Rose Ave. or the “Psychic of Danville”? You ever go there?

If you have ever opposed any developments here, you will lose your belief that the Town Council (candidates Arnerich and Doyle) or Planning Commissioners (candidate Morgan) listens to the Danville residents. The fix is in before the Council and Planning Commissioners ever vote.

Bob Nealis sounds like someone that will actually consider your opinions. I plan to vote for him and not any of the others.

I will vote for any Town Council or School Board candidate who commits to being against the $260M bond measure. I'm not holding my breath.

I will not vote for anyone who opposes the very much needed school bond that will update our schools and provide the technology infrastructure that we so badly need to educate our students in this day and age.

Please specify the line items of the so badly needed "technology infrastructure" and how it will help students. What is the price tag of this ambiguous terminology?

btw: Town Council is not School Board

Have you seen the KB Homes construction starting on the Elworthy Ranch site at the southwest side of Danville? When I bought my home I was told that land couldn't be developed. Hmmm.

Don't vote for the current Council members Newell Arnerich and Mike Doyle, or Renee Morgan, Planning Commissioner (and realtor/developer employee). They are responsible for the Elworthy Ranch development, which they approved.

Sounds like Bob Nealis and Jim Jelincic might have stopped Elworthy from being developed. I plan to vote for them.

@ vote your interest-

Realtors may say what they need to in order to move a property, but in your case the agent (or whoever told you the hillside space would remain open) probably believed what they said was true. It should have been, which is what all the above discussion is about.
Anyone have a large bulldozer we can use at night for a little reclamation project? I'll pay for the diesel. Sometimes civil disobedience is necessary.

I worked with Bob Nealis for 20 years at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. I found him to be highly entrepreneurial, persistent, and pragmatic. Most of all, Bob got things done! As important, despite being focused and goal-oriented, he was an excellent listener and inclusive to others points of view. As Danville (and now Alamo) residents for almost 40 years, my wife and I have seen the town grow from one stoplight on the Baskin-Robbins corner to a wonderful place to raise a family. All three of our children went through the San Ramon Valley Unified School system and all three have moved back to Danville so their children can also experience the fabulous education they received. As the town continues to grow, it is critical that our leaders are independent, intelligent and responsive to the majority of our citizens, rather than any special interest groups. I strongly support Bob Nealis.