Pleasanton, California
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Categories: Cities in California | Cities in the San Francisco Bay Area | Communities in Alameda County, California | Pleasanton, California
Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, incorporated in 1894. It is a major suburb (or edge city) in the San Francisco Bay Area located about 25 miles (40 km) east of Oakland. According to the city's website, the city has a total population of 67,724. In 2005, Pleasanton was ranked the wealthiest middle-sized city in the United States by the Census Bureau.[1] Pleasanton is home to the headquarters of Safeway Inc. and the now-defunct PeopleSoft. Both Oracle and Kaiser Permanente have offices on the former PeopleSoft headquarters in Hacienda Business Park. Although Oakland is the Alameda County seat, a few county offices and a courthouse are located in Pleasanton. Additionally, the main county jail is just a stone's throw away in the neighboring city of Dublin. The Alameda County Fairgrounds are located in Pleasanton, and the annual County Fair is held there during the last week of June and the first week of July.
HistoryThe town was founded by John W. Kottinger, an Alameda County justice of the peace, and named after his friend, Union army cavalry Major General Alfred Pleasonton. A typographical error by a U.S. Postal Service employee apparently led to the current spelling. One of the earliest houses built in the valley in 1854 is still standing and serves as the centerpiece of the Alviso Adobe Community Park. In the 1850s, the town was nicknamed "The Most Desperate Town in the West" and it was ruled by bandits and desperados. Main Street shootouts were not uncommon. Bandits such as Joaquin Murrieta would ambush prospectors on their way back from the gold rush fields and then seek refuge in Pleasanton. This reputation passed and in 1917, Pleasanton became the backdrop for the film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, which starred Mary Pickford. The town was once home to Phoebe Apperson Hearst, who lived in a 50-room mansion on a 2,000 acre (8 km²) estate, now the site of Castlewood Country Club.[2] GeographyPleasanton is located at (37.672530, -121.882517)[3] and is adjacent to Livermore and Dublin. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 21.8 square miles (56.5 km²), of which, 21.7 square miles (56.1 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km²) of it (0.78%) is water. Pleasanton is situated at the crossroads of two major Interstate Highways, I-580 and I-680, which mirror the prehistoric crossroutes of Native American tribes who used the precursor paths as major trading routes. This fact was first discovered with the excavations for Hacienda Business Park, revealing significant tribal artifacts and human skeletal remains.[10] Much of Pleasanton is drained by the Arroyo del Valle and Arroyo Mocho watercourses. Pleasanton lies along the route of the historic First Transcontinental Railroad. EconomyImage:Haciendapleasantontrafficlights.jpg
Distinctive traffic lights of the Hacienda Business Park
Pleasanton experienced a major economic boom starting in the early 1980s, largely associated with the development of a number of business parks, the largest of which is the Hacienda Business Park. These host a number of campus-like clusters of low-rise and medium-rise office buildings. Pleasanton has been successful in attracting a number of corporate headquarters, such as those of Safeway, Inc., Thoratec Corporation, Polycom, Shaklee Corporation, and Ross Stores. Despite an increase in office space vacancy rates in 2000-2004, economic development has remained strong through the middle of the decade. Pleasanton was also the headquarters of the former PeopleSoft, Inc. (which was acquired by Oracle Corporation), E-Loan (which was acquired by Popular, Inc.), Spreckels Sugar Company (which was acquired by Imperial Holly), and the home loan operation of Providian (which was acquired by Washington Mutual). Oracle maintains the former Peoplesoft campus as a major division and is the second-largest employer in Pleasanton, behind Safeway. In addition, Pleasanton is the site of a large AT&T campus. Other companies with major operations in Pleasanton include Hitachi High Technologies America, Inc., Sage Software (Accpac, etc.), CooperVision, Clorox, Fireside Bank, Roche, BMC Software, Applied Biosystems, EMC Corporation, Portrait Displays, Inc. and Symantec. In the retailing field, Pleasanton has one major regional mall (Stoneridge Shopping Center) and a number of other shopping centers. Most national and regional retailers have a Pleasanton location; besides the anchor tenants Nordstrom, Macy's, Sears, and JC Penney at Stoneridge, notable large stores elsewhere in the city include Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, and Borders Books. In addition to the business parks and retail centers, Pleasanton is known for its lively downtown, which is home to a number of fine-dining, casual, and ethnic restaurants, specialty retailers, and service businesses. A redesign of Main Street in the 1990s emphasized pedestrian traffic and outdoor dining. According to the latest U.S. Census information, Pleasanton is the wealthiest midsize city in the nation. In 2005, the median household income in Pleasanton was $101,022, the highest income for any city with a population between 65,000 and 249,999 people.[1] Pleasanton is considered a prominent example of the edge city phenomenon. According the the Bay East Association of Realtors and Pleasanton's Moxley Real Estate the median price of a detached single family home is $832,000 as of November '07. Public transitThe eastern terminus of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) commuter train system's Dublin/Pleasanton - SFO/Millbrae Line is located in Pleasanton. Groundbreaking ceremonies for another station, West Dublin/Pleasanton, took place on September 29, 2006. Plans for this station include transit-oriented development in the form of 170,000 sq ft (16,000 m²) of offices in Pleasanton and apartments, a hotel, and a restaurant in Dublin.[11] Completion is projected for 2009.[update needed][12] The WHEELS bus transit system, which has a number of routes in the city, serves Pleasanton. Additionally, the Altamont Commuter Express rail service stops near Pleasanton's downtown. Community activitiesPleasanton continues to maintain a hometown flavor with regular events for the community. Every Saturday morning the Farmers' Market sets up on Angela, off Main Street. "First Wednesday" celebrations run May through September. Main Street is blocked to traffic and adopts a street fair atmosphere, with local businesses and organizations setting up booths in the center of the street. Live bands play in the Round Table Pizza parking lot. Friday evenings in the summer bring a series of live band concerts between Main and First Street at the gazebo. Everyone brings blankets and chairs to enjoy the music and socializing. Pleasanton is sometimes nicknamed "P-town".[13] Notable past and current residents
DemographicsAs of the census[4] of 2000, there were 63,654 people, 23,311 households, and 17,390 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,938.1 people per square mile (1,134.1/km²). There were 23,968 housing units at an average density of 1,106.3/sq mi (427.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.44% White, 3.38% African American, 0.33% Native American, 10.69% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 2.35% from other races, and 3.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.87% of the population. There were 23,311 households out of which 40.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.7% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.15. In the city the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 7.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.3 males. According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $105,956, and the median income for a family was $117,898.[15] Males had a median income of $77,072 versus $44,493 for females. The per capita income for the city was $41,623. About 3.6% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over. PoliticsIn the state legislature Pleasanton is located in the 10th Senate District, represented by Democrat Ellen Corbett, and in the 15th, 18th, and 20th Assembly Districts, represented by Republican Guy Houston, Democrat Mary Hayashi, and Democrat Alberto Torrico respectively. Federally, most of Pleasanton is in California's 11th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of R +3[16] and is represented by Democrat Jerry McNerney. A small part of Pleasanton is in the 13th district, which has a Cook PVI of D +22 and is represented by Democrat Pete Stark. SchoolsPleasanton's two comprehensive high schools, Amador Valley and Foothill, are ranked by Newsweek among the top 400 high schools in the nation.[17] There are also two continuation high schools: Village and Horizon; the latter is for school age mothers and young fathers. There are a number of private schools in Pleasanton, such as Carden West School and Hacienda School. Elementary schools
Middle schools
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Sister cities
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