Dublin

City, Alameda County

© McCormack's Guides

 

Zip Code: 94568

Bedroom town that mixes old and new suburbia and is adding many apartments near the freeway and its BART station. Another BART station to open in a few years, which will improve the commute. Many local jobs. www.mccormacks.com

Population 46,934. School scores high, crime low, amusements and shopping plentiful and getting better. In many ways a progressive town that is adding amenities as it adds residents.

Dublin is located at the junction of Interstates 680 and 580 in a bowl called the Amador Valley. Pleasanton, which borders Dublin to the south, and Livermore, to the east, are also located in the Amador Valley.

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Immediately north of Dublin another valley, the San Ramon, begins. It takes in the Contra Costa County towns of San Ramon, Danville, Alamo and Blackhawk. The region is often referred to as the I-680 corridor.

Danville, Alamo and Blackhawk are upscale to rich. San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore are middle-class affluent, high-tech, bedroom towns. San Ramon has Bishop Ranch, 350 firms employing 30,000; major tenants include AT&T, Chevron and Toyota.

Pleasanton has Hacienda Business Park; major tenants, Oracle, AT&T, Safeway headquarters, Kaiser Permanente. Livermore has the Lawrence Livermore Lab, a large weapons and nuclear research facility run by the University of California, Berkeley. www.mccormacks.com

In all of these towns, school scores are generally high, crime low. Many residents are college educated, some are brilliant. See See Schools.

The setting is pretty. Hills and valleys, Mt. Diablo to the northeast. Green in spring and winter, gold in summer and fall. The less enlightened might call the gold “dried-out grass” but no matter, the region cast its charms. Wineries dot the east side of the Amador Valley, cachet by the vat.

Over the past 25 years or so the region has been jelling as a high-tech haven, in large measure because it has brains but also because it has plenty of land and freeways. Both Silicon Valley, about 30 miles to the south, and San Francisco, 30 miles to the west, are short of land. In the 1990s, BART (commute rail) was extended to Dublin.

Dublin, named by Irish pioneers, lagged behind San Ramon and Pleasanton. Up until about 1960, the town was no more than a hamlet under the jurisdiction of the county government. When the housing came, it followed a plan but residents soon became dissatisfied. The county had one vision, the residents another — an old story in California.

In 1982, Dublin incorporated as a legal city and took control of its own planning. It revised its general plan and focused its energy on securing a diverse economy with a good base of high-tech and retail. www.mccormacks.com

The initial housing followed middle-class tract lines, nothing fancy. As the prosperity of the region increased, homes stepped up in quality and size. The oldest housing, much of it spruced up and remodeled, is found on the valley floor near Interstate 680. As you move west into the hills, the homes become newer, wood-shake roofs give way to terra cotta or tile and at a certain point utility lines are placed underground. Some hill homes command great views of the valley and the Diablo hills.

In the 1990s, Dublin approved a plan to build thousands of homes and apartments on its east side — Dublin Ranch. This section, close to the BART station, set aside large parcels for high-tech firms, hotels and modern retail stores in a large mall.

Much of this work is under way. The mall, Hacienda Crossings, is up — Barnes and Noble bookstore, Pier I, Old Navy, Bed, Bath and Beyond, restaurants, etc.

Several years ago, Sybase (software) moved its headquarters and 900 employees from Emeryville to Dublin. Signs of the times: the Sybase facility includes a day-care center for employees' kids (also a gourmet cafeteria, a fitness center, a children's playground and a jogging track).

Other office and high-tech firms have also moved in, creating on the east side a glistening neighborhood of the sleek, the glassy and the modern bordered by shops, apartments, single homes and new schools. More on the way, the pace and type, determined by the housing market, apartments now, single homes probably later, although new ones are still available. www.mccormacks.com

Each of these towns — Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville — has its special characteristics that residents find endearing (and maybe irritating). But they have much in common.

If you are shopping for housing in the region, you should perhaps look at all five. Of special note, drive Dougherty Road north out of Dublin to Bollinger Canyon Road. Thousands of homes, condos and apartments are being built just east of San Ramon and about three miles north of Dublin.

For Dublin, zero homicides in 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002, one each in 2001 and 2000, zero in 1999, two in 1998, zero in 1997, 1996 and 1995, one in 1994, zero in 1993 and in 1992, two in 1991, zero in 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987. Dublin contracts with the sheriff for protection. Sheriff’s deputies in Dublin uniforms do the patrolling. See Crime.

Up until about 1950, Dublin and the Amador Valley were desperate for jobs and welcomed any and all that came their way. Now the city is much pickier.

On the east side of town are two large jails, one run by county, one by feds. The fed prison is noted for its alumni, who included Patricia Hearst and Theodore Kaczynski, Unabomber. Dublin's population includes about 5,000 inmates.

Alameda County had long planned to add a juvenile jail to its detention facilities and the old Dublin would have welcomed the place. The new Dublin … forget it! When the county finally pushed the project a few years ago, Dublin dug in and after hearing after hearing, the county dropped the idea.

Dublin also has a military presence: Camp Parks, training ground for Army reservists, and these days, very active. www.mccormacks.com

In the 1990s, Dublin schools split from Pleasanton and formed their own district. In state rankings, Dublin is scoring in the 80th and 90th percentiles. A bond was passed to add classrooms and other amenities. The new housing is being taxed, often indirectly, to provide schools as the tracts are built. Four schools have been built in recent years; another elementary is to go up in 2007 or 2008.

Residents, aware of the need for construction funds, approved $184 million bond in 2004. Earlier in the year, they turned down a measure to raise funds for school programs and operations. One big difference between the two efforts, the construction bond required 55 percent approval, the program measure, almost 67 percent, very hard to get. About 56 percent voted for the measure. Many school districts fail with the two-thirds requirement. When this happens, parents and school supporters try to raise the money to keep the programs.

Thanks to the bond, many of the schools are now being renovated. Among the major jobs: an overhaul of the high school and the addition of a math building, a science building, a sports center and a performing arts center. Large Christian high school in the west hills.

Many activities for children. Tennis courts, bowling center, ice-skating rink, six parks, a swim center (lap pool, wading pool, slide). Summer water carnival and concerts. Movie complex with 20 screens and an IMAX (giant) screen. Soccer thrives. Nearby San Ramon has a roller-skating rink. Seniors center and community center. Adult schools offer variety of classes, many vocational or hobby oriented. Little theater. Heritage center. SPCA recently opened a large center that encourages adoptions. It puts the dogs through obedience training.

Among new parks: Emerald Glen on east side: lighted tennis and basketball courts, baseball and softball diamonds, soccer fields, skate park, pond with fountains. www.mccormacks.com

In 2007, two more parks were opened.

Large library in the civic center; it has a homework room where kids can get special help. The city gave the library, a county facility, money to open on Sundays.

Fairgrounds in Pleasanton; many events, including — hoot mon! — the annual Scottish Festival and a county fair with horse racing.

Dublin ties into a trail called Iron Horse that runs to Walnut Creek and beyond. It follows an abandoned rail track. Iron Horse has proved very popular; on weekends, people take to it by the hundreds. Large parcel on the north side has been dedicated to open space and within a short drive of Dublin are large parks and horse ranches. Many kids and adults are into horses.

About 230 cities and towns in this great nation allow the sale of fireworks for the Fourth of July. Dublin is one. For safety, Dublin directs the buyers to certain parks where they can fire away without setting the countryside ablaze.

On weekend evenings, many Dublin residents head for Hacienda Crossings, which has the movies, the new shops, the giant bookstore, and a variety of restaurants, and turn the place into sort of town center where you meet your friends and socialize. Dublin has another shopping section west of Interstate 680 but, older and less focused, it doesn’t seem to have caught on as well as Hacienda Crossings. www.mccormacks.com

In Pleasanton, about five minutes from Dublin, is a giant mall, Stoneridge, that includes a Nordstroms, a Macys, a Sears and a Penneys and about 165 stores. Within a short drive are a Costco, a Wal-Mart, a Lowes, a Home Depot and office supply stores.

If you enjoy shopping, this region delivers, down to its supermarkets, at least one of which sells not only sandwiches but paninis. Trader Joe’s just outside city limits, in Pleasanton. Whole Foods in Danville. Delis, bakeries.

Community college campuses in Livermore and San Ramon offer classes in computers, the arts and academics. Open to public; you don’t have to be pursuing a degree. Major universities rent local buildings and offer MBA programs.

If you have a local job, the commute is a snap. If you toil in Oakland or Berkeley, your nerves will grate but your sanity should remain intact.

If you're heading for San Francisco and driving ... good luck! The Bay Bridge is being rebuilt and even on good days, the approach to the toll plaza, during peak hours, backs up for one or two miles.

BART, commute trains, runs to Oakland and San Francisco; it might be a better bet. BART is building another station on the west side of Dublin, which might not seem a big thing. But it will add parking and spread out the traffic to and from the stations. The station is scheduled to open in 2009.

Dublin has bought into “smart growth”— put the housing, especially condos and apartments, near the freeways and BART stations. Also the jobs. For some people, BART is a walk of maybe two football fields. The new BART station will quickly be joined by shops, a motel with 150 rooms and 210 condos. www.mccormacks.com

WHEELS runs buses, some free, around town and to Livermore and Pleasanton.

Altamont Commute Express dispatches trains from Manteca to San Jose with a stop in Pleasanton.

Many freeway improvements — widenings, interchange rebuilt — have been made in the last 10 years and more will be made. Voters recently approved a giant state bond for transit jobs

But traffic is also increasing. Thousands have moved to Tracy, Manteca and other towns in the San Joaquin Valley, where prices are lower. Also to east Contra Costa and Solano.

During peak hours, many commuters pass through Dublin on their way to jobs in Silicon Valley, Oakland and San Francisco. All it takes to jam a freeway is one little fender bender and they happen with depressing regularity. Diamond (high-occupancy) lanes kick in at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Drive with friends or neighbors and you’ll go faster.

In 1989, Dublin opened a civic center, a building that gives more substance to the idea of a downtown. But Dublin still wrestles with the criticism that it lacks an “identity.” Its response: mild regret to indifference. The new BART station, however, is reviving interest in creating more of downtown feeling in the older shopping section. www.mccormacks.com

The state tally in 2008 showed 16,029 residential units: 8,138 single homes, 1,304 single attached, 6,557 apartments or condos, 28 mobile homes.

Chamber of commerce (925) 828-6200.

• 2003 saw the opening of the BART line to San Francisco International Airport. The Dublin-Pleasanton line is the only one that goes directly to SFO. Being at the end of the line, Dublin BART commuters are assured of seats in the morning.

• IKEA, the giant furniture stores, was supposed to open a store in Dublin. In 2006, IKEA killed the project. Its spot will be taken by, probably, some kind of mall.

• School district used some of the bond money to install wi-fi at the schools, upgrade technology and buy computers. www.mccormacks.com

•About 2001, Dublin was calling itself Digital Dublin because it was about to land big high-tech firms. Then tech stocks crashed, firms killed building plans and doubt furrowed the Dublin brow. Since then, high tech has rebounded, office and commercial space has been rented and while the nickname “Digital Dublin” has been discarded and fingers are crossed, the financial sun shines bright over Dublin town.

• Annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration draws 60,000. Parade, craft booths, carnival rides, 5K run. In some of its public art, Dublin weaves in Celtic symbols.

• Dog Park to open in 2007. Designed for small and large canines. Cost $544,000 (but who’s howling?)

• Ice-skating rinks are few in the Bay Area. Dublin’s has helped train Olympic gold winners Kristi Yamaguchi and Brian Boitano. The rink offers lessons and rents time for kids hockey league.

• Country living is pleasant but sometimes it can be a bother. In December 2006, a wild turkey, now late of this world, flew into a power line and knocked out lights for almost 5,000 customers. www.mccormacks.com

• Dublin requires developers to pay into an arts fund or commission art works.

• Camp Parks, the Army reserve base, would like to upgrade its facilities but no money. The base, however, has extra land that the Army is trying to sell to a developer in return for improvements.

• If someone blows smoke in your face, you have legal recourse in Dublin. City council in 2006 passed ordinance giving victims the discretion to sue for damages (up to $7,500) without having to establish that smoking is a nuisance.

• In 2005, Dublin deputies shot and killed a man with a knife who they thought might be attacking another person. One of their bullets hit and killed a second man hiding in fear of the first man.  Messy case, family angry. In 2006, district attorney exonerated the deputies.

• In 2006, Carnegie Medal for Heroism was awarded to Albert Ybarra of Dublin. Driving across the San Mateo Bridge in 2005, Ybarra came across an accident that ejected two children, ages 4 and 3, into the cold and tidal waters about 20 feet below. The father went in after the children but was struggling. Ybarra took off his shoes, jumped in and helped the father. The younger boy was saved, the older drowned. www.mccormacks.com

• Dublin has upscale homes but few luxurious homes. This will change with Schaefer Ranch, 302 single homes on 500 acres in the west hills overlooking I-580 and fairly close to Castro Valley. From 2,694 square feet to over 6,000. Trails from project will link to trails in region. Other developments will erect 1,000 homes on the east side and 600 on the north.

City web site: www.ci.dublin.ca.us