Airway
Boulevard’s already congested on and off ramps were spared
an estimated 2,000-vehicle daily increase when concerned neighborhood
citizens packed Granada High’s student union in Livermore
last week to protest a proposed auto auction site south of the
airport.
The Livermore City Council meeting was held at the high school
in an attempt to accommodate an overflow crowd of more than 1,000.
The citizens were solidly behind Rick Camacho, who appealed the
auto auction proposal when he noticed in the newspaper the project
had been passed by both the city’s Design Review Committee
and Planning Commission.
Camacho based his appeal on the negative impact the auction
would have on his neighborhood, citing quality of life and excessive
traffic issues, but said the auction would also have hurt LPC.
“The auction’s sole purpose was to move volumes
of cars,” Camacho said. “The college lets out on Airway;
[the auction] would be joint users of that intersection.”
Thirty-seven speakers addressed the council, voicing concerns
about air quality, low wages, traffic and the auction’s
impact on a pair of burrowing owls who nest in the vacant 150-acre
lot. The lot was designated for agricultural use until the city
council rezoned it to light industrial in 1979.
Dr. Carol Clough, an LPC instructor, was among those who took
advantage of the open forum, addressing the council on behalf
of the LPC faculty and faculty association president Esther Goldberg.
“I think the planning process made a mistake,” said
Clough in an interview after she spoke. “It shouldn’t
have gotten this far.” Clough worried about a college community
population, expected to double, that is already competing for
access to a single onramp with drivers from Costco, Camelot,
the airport and a growing business park.
“I know how students and faculty are,” she said.
“We get a little harried racing off to jobs and homes.”
Former LPC instructor George Mancusco chided the council for
even considering the proposal, saying the city should be building
community services such as a DMV, courthouse and a full-service
hospital and focusing its attention on improving LPC.
“Livermore has never supported that college one iota,”
Mancusco said. “Livermore has no direction right now.”
The speakers were particularly harsh towards Tony Moorby,
the CEO of ADT, the company which proposed the auction and promised
residents they would be “good neighbors.” Moorby opened
the forum with a plea to the council not to be intimidated by
the public’s “enormous political voice.”
“Please don’t surrender,” said Moorby.
But, after listening to 2.5 hours of testimony, including
thunderous applause and standing ovations for some of the more
articulate citizens, the council voted 4-0 to uphold Camacho’s
appeal and put an end to ADT’s hopes of finding a home in
Livermore for what would have amounted to the largest auto auction
in the western United States.
“You were so dignified,” said Mayor Cathie Brown,
to the crowd when the forum ended. “I am just so proud of
our community.”
When asked after the meeting if students should get involved
in local politics, Brown said yes.
“It’s Poli Sci 101,” she said. “We listen
to the public. When I hear their opinion doesn’t matter,
I get so upset with them.”