The study pulled seven stats from U.S. Census data plus other factors that included: median monthly housing costs, percent of people living below the poverty line, median home value, median household income, unemployment rate, percent of population that lacks health insurance and the Gini coefficient (a measure of income inequality).
Using that criteria, Tri-Valley cities did very well. San Ramon ranked No. 1, Dublin ranked No. 3 and Pleasanton tied with Folsom for fifth.
This is all despite the soaring housing prices. The study labels Pleasanton and San Ramon as “company towns” citing Chevron and 24-Hour Fitness in San Ramon (to say nothing about G.E. Digital and SAP) and listing Safeway and Blackhawk Networks in Pleasanton. To say it was a superficial swipe is an understatement when it comes to the business community. Workday was missing in Pleasanton as well as other fast-growing companies.
The study also notes the high household incomes in the three Tri-Valley cities and the low unemployment rates.
I pay little attention to professional tennis routinely—the exceptions are Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. This dates to my days as a sports writer in 1973 when Davis Cup matches pitting the United States and Romania at the Round Hill Country Club in Alamo. The featured singles matched Stan Smith of the U.S. and Ilie Nastaste. Yes, the best in the tennis world at Round Hill, which also was the site of PGA Tour events back in those days.
Given the time difference, Wimbledon, the Tour de France and this week’s Open Championship in England all take place during morning hours. It’s a nice shift in the normal routine each July—great golf first thing in the morning.
And, of course, given the length of the Golf Channel/NBC broadcast, it covered late prime time TV (Mark O’Meara hit the first tee shot at 10:35 p.m. Wednesday) and runs until 2 p.m. today.
Unless my math is off, that’s 15 ½ hours of live broadcast.
