Isabel Interchange Wins Enough Money to Finish Lobbying by Livermore Mayor the Interchange Will Occur in Spring Was Far Enough Along in Its Planning Ings
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VOLUME XLIV, NUMBER 10 Circulation: 48,365 Serving Livermore, Pleasanton and Sunol THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2007 Isabel Interchange Wins Enough Money to Finish Lobbying by Livermore Mayor the interchange will occur in spring was far enough along in its planning ings. After the first session, in Sacra- westbound HOV lane on I-580. Marshall Kamena and city staff at the 2008. The project is expected to be com- and design work. The other two projects mento, he and City Manager Linda Kamena praised state Sen. Don California Transportation Commission pleted 16 months later, or roughly by were left off a list recommended by the Barton met with Gov. Arnold Perata, whose district includes Dublin (CTC) paid off in a major way last week. the summer of 2009. CTC staff for commission approval. It Schwarzenegger’s staff. The governor and Livermore. “Sen. Perata was very The state panel took funding away from Two other I-580 projects got the took one week of lobbying before the later wrote a letter to the commission influential in lobbying the commis- a north coast freeway project, and gave green light from the CTC, as part of $1.8 CTC approved the two projects at its pointing out how money should be sion,” said Kamena. some of it to construction of the Isabel billion of first-round funding from Mea- Feb. 28 meeting in Irvine. shifted away from rural areas, and in- Kamena also gave Haggerty a pat on Avenue/Highway 84 interchange on In- sure 1B, approved in November by vot- The last approval for funding at the stead be devoted to decongesting urban the back. The Livermore resident is a terstate 580. ers. One project provides for a high oc- Feb. 28 meeting was for the westbound and suburban areas. member of the county Congestion Man- Others, including Supervisor Scott cupancy vehicle (HOV) lane eastbound, HOV lane. “It was a nail-biter until the The valley corridor of Interstate 580 agement Agency (CMA). From his posi- Haggerty, also had a hand in convinc- with an award of $72.2 million. The end,” said Dawn Argula, deputy chief of is the second worst freeway traffic bottle- tion on the CMA, Haggerty helped ing CTC to provide funding for local other is for a westbound HOV lane, staff for County Supervisor Scott neck in the Bay Area. The commission speed up the time schedule for the west- highway projects. which will receive $103 million. All Haggerty. She said that she kept track of appeared to respond to that at its Irvine bound HOV lanes project to make it eli- The $68 million authorized for the projects must be underway by 2012 to the Irvine meeting via cell phone from meeting. First it voted to take an alloca- gible for this first round of funding. Isabel interchange completes the qualify for the money. reports provided by Congestion Man- tion of $176 million away from Willits Argula said that her boss conducted amount of money needed to build the At its meeting Feb. 21 in Sacramento, agement Agency (CMA) staff in atten- on the north coast, and give $68 mil- some critical shepherding of the west- project, said city engineer Cheri Sheets. the CTC had approved only the east- dance. lion to the Isabel interchange. Later, the bound HOV project through the CMA She estimated that groundbreaking for bound HOV lane on I-580, because it Kamena testified at both CTC meet- commission found more money for the (See FUNDS, page 4) Long-time School Board Member Juanita Haugen Dies Juanita Haugen, a long-serv- served for the past 10 years on ing Pleasanton school board the board, said, “She was my member recognized by many as mentor. I referred to her as the an educational leader, has died. mother of all school board mem- A victim of cancer, Haugen bers. She is sorely missed. She passed away Monday at the age was the district. She was the pil- of 69 at the Hacienda Care Cen- lars, not just one pillar, of our ter in Livermore. Haugen was first community, as far as I’m con- elected in 1979 to serve on the cerned.” Amador Valley Joint Union High “Juanita’s favorite image was School District. When voters ap- a shooting star. It pretty well em- proved unification in 1988, she bodied her. She was an amazing was elected to serve as a trustee woman, with boundless energy. for the Pleasanton Unified She fought for every kid across School District. Haugen was the board. She felt very strongly only a few years short of attain- about some things, and wouldn’t ing a record of the longest ser- budge. She epitomized what the vice on a school board in the role of a school board member state. is: how to act, inside and outside She worked hard as a trustee the board room,” said Kernan. until the end of her life, missing Jim Ott, appointed to the only the last two school board school board last May, said, “She Photo - Doug Jorgensen meetings that were held before was passionate about all kids in Snow that capped the hills around Livermore last Wednesday was long gone as warmer weather dominated the last few days. she died. She was sick several the district. She was a strong ad- months ago from chemotherapy vocate for the financial health of treatments, but insisted on at- the district, for civic education, tending by watching the meet- and was instrumental in devel- Livermore District Adds Upper Administrative Positions ings on a local cable TV chan- oping the community of charac- nel, and commenting during the ter in Pleasanton.” By Patricia Koning and human resources and teaching credential, he taught at leadership in this District,” said “We’ll miss her. She was an The Livermore Valley Joint Bronzan covering facilities, fi- Hillside Elementary School in Martinez. “And I was drawn to meeting via speakerphone. She nance, and technology. Later South San Francisco. some of the issues. I like work- still had very strong mental en- inspiration to me. She was one of Unified School District is beef- ergy in the discussions. the reasons I joined the school ing up its upper management Susan Kinder was promoted to After five years, he took a po- ing in collective bargaining and board,” said Ott. He counted him- staff with the addition of two new Director of Fiscal Services and sition as a program manager of labor relations.” Praise for Haugen’s life, some Floyd Wilson joined the District Title 1 school improvement, and Another appeal of the job was of it expressed with tears held self lucky that he was able to see assistant superintendents and a back, focused on her love of chil- her about one hour before she director-level position. as Director of Facilities. decided to pursue a career in a chance to expand his experi- died. Five years ago, the District had With Bronzan’s retirement last school administration. He served ence as a district administrator. dren and her long hours of ser- vice for them. Assistant superintendent three assistant superintendents July, the District was without an as a principal for 12 years at el- While Martinez has a strong Trustee Pat Kernan, who has (See HAUGEN, page 3) and one deputy superintendent. assistant or deputy superinten- ementary schools in the Antioch, background in human resources Then, Brenda Miller (educa- dent. On Dec. 4, Mike Martinez Milpitas, and Mt. Diablo school and labor negotiations, student tional services) was promoted to joined the District as Assistant districts. He then became Direc- services and special education superintendent, Don Gatti (busi- Superintendent of Business Ser- tor of Certificated Personnel for are newer areas for him. McNerney Says Green Bill ness services) took another job, vices. Mt. Diablo. In January, the District gained and Mike White (facilities) re- Martinez, a San Francisco na- He served as the Assistant Su- a second assistant superintendent tired, leaving just Bob Bronzan, tive, has spent his entire career perintendent of Human Re- when Kelly Bowers, Director of Would Bring Jobs to District the Deputy Superintendent. in education. He knew in high sources in both Hayward and San Curriculum and Special Projects, The responsibilities of these school that he wanted to become Leandro. Along the way he was promoted. Her new job title Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleas- provisions have strong biparti- three positions were spread a teacher. After graduating from earned an M.A. in Educational is Assistant Superintendent of anton, spoke in favor of a bill that san support, he added. among existing staff, with Miller St. Mary’s College in Moraga Leadership from St. Mary’s. Educational Services, the job will help give the United States McNerney said that having keeping educational services with a B.A. in English and a “I was impressed with the (See LIVERMORE, page 3) more energy independence in the worked for 20 years in the field coming years, and create as many of renewable energy, he knows as 800,000 jobs. that in several categories “we McNerney is cosponsor of the have not begun yet to realize the Lab Replacement Warhead Design Selected bill, which is dubbed the benefits that new energy technol- The design team from (NWC) approved a design for a pile has been certified regularly Senator Dianne Feinstein was PROGRESS Act, shorthand for ogy can offer to this country.” Lawrence Livermore and Sandia joint NNSA and U.S. Navy pro- through the stewardship pro- among those questioning the the Program for Real Energy Se- One is job creation, where the National Laboratories has been gram to provide a replacement gram.