San Ramon has over 75,000 residents. To put that in perspective Walnut Creek has 69,000. We are now tearing down businesses so that the City can approve more housing including part of Bishop Ranch offices. the explanation is that state law requires we take X number of more residents. Danville is actually paying a fine to avoid compliance.

Our Mayor, Hudson said, explaining that communities like San Ramon might have to accommodate housing for other cities that may not have been as responsible with their own planning and development. Mayor Hudson has affiliations with over 30 different state, county and city organizations that affect our growth.

It seems that when ever we push back on more growth we are told that we are required to do it for reasons as listed above and we will be getting more money. Considering we already have 65 parks, water structures such as the two on Crow Canyon that require $10,000/month, who knows how many medians, street lights, etc. we seem to need this money to pay for what we are behind on.

People are moving out because this is no longer "one one of the best cities to live in". There will always be people that will choose to live here even if we built out every square inch.

But, would you want to stay?

TRC and the City of San Ramon presented future development opportunities here as a binary option: Grocery store or housing, but not both. In fact, there is no reason that TRC couldn't have built a high-density, multi-story apartment or condo building *with* a grocery store on the ground floor.

Mixed-use retail with essential community services *does* see plenty of foot traffic, even during COVID. So it's a load of bull honky that TRC cannot see further than its nose in order to understand how to come up with creative, adaptive reuse ideas of this major corner that satisfies all needs.

Bollinger Canyon Road, for better or worse, is the main backbone of San Ramon. Denser housing, robust transportation options, and walkability is key to creating a resilient and attractive community. Eliminating essential community services, like a full-line grocery store, along this backbone is tragic at best and malfeasance at worse. Target, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's are not acceptable substitutes.

In a time when cities like Oakland are begging for full-line grocery stores in their food deserts, TRC set up this grocery for its own demise. The City of San Ramon's tacit approval of this outcome proves that the wrong individuals are currently sitting on City Council and Planning Commission. They lack the vision, knowledge, and sophistication to understand and build a master plan for neighborhoods like this.

The bottom line is that we need more housing, but it cannot come at the expense of essential community services like a full-line grocery store. If the City can't make sure the developer keeps both uses on this site, then we need different elected city officials in leadership. It's time to vote these bums out during the next election.