People live in bubbles and think the world is beautiful. They only look in black and white, (i.e., good vs. bad) and can only see color if they just open their eyes to the real world.

I love this topic. Good job moviebuff.

This string is going to open up, yet again, deragatory and negative comments about Pleasanton. Anyone who visits these blog pages on the Weekly knows that in the past couple of months it has all been about bashing teens, Pleasanton, you name it....No we do not live in Pleasantville, but we do not live in Detroit either....New topic please......

I in fact think this topic is a very good one to discuss.

Why do you think it is going to cause people to write badly about our community?

Many people like living in their own suburban bubble, away from the rustle and bustle of big city life. It is much more calm and relaxed here in Pleasanton, where I have lived nearly all of my life. There is no need to bash Pleasanton, I was merely looking for others opinions on how they felt Pleasanton was portrayed towards non-residents.

I personally have friends from other cities that come to Pleasanton and love the city...especially Main St. People need to learn to take the good with the bad, not all topics are going to stir up smiles and bubbly feelings.

I think it all depends on who you ask. I moved here with my husband 10 years ago to start a family because the schools were great and we loved the strong sense of community. We are very happy here and although nobody is safe from danger, crime or violence, I can sleep a little better at night knowing that the crime levels in Pleasanton are some of the lowest around.

Now... if I was a 16-year old growing up in this town I could see how Pleasanton could be a challenge in terms of the boring factor. But you have BART! Hop on and go into the city or Oakland to become a little more cultured and a little less bored.

Jane, you might want to think twice about suggesting that teens hop on BART and visit Oakland. Bored? NOT! I think that maybe Pleasanton teens are not very creative. What the heck "bored" mean? Lazy?

Cholo, you lend absolutely no value to these message boards. And what's wrong with Oakland? There are some beautiful areas of Oakland, great shopping, coffee shops and restaurants. Take you two-bit little mind and start a posting in Livermore where you belong.

I agree with Jane, but I think that "Cholo" is hiding.....Obviously full of resentments and probably a Pleasanton resident sitting down at Tully's with nothing better to do that stir controversy and it works...and yes, there are some lovely areas of Oakland I agree with that....good and bad everywhere....Hey everyone Happy Holidays too...love, love, love.......!!!

Jane,
I don't think that you should launch a personal attack on someone just because they disagree with you. Can't we all get along?

How much is two bits? Oakland is a very dangerous city. It's BAD advice to suggest to kids that they hop on BART and visit Oakland. How have you come to believe that kids want to visit Oakland so that they can go shopping,and hang out in coffee shops and restaurants? Get real!

I have a hunch that somebody is Pleasanton is hiding and ashamed of his latino ancestry! Hmmmmmmmmmm, who could it be? Would somebody please explain what "two bits" is worth? The expression is before my time.

Incidentally, I haven't noticed that anyhbody is "bashing teens". Later for teen drunk drivers that endanger the lives of innocent people. They are in violation of our laws! I still think that Pleasanton teens are not very creative and stuck in their boredom, whatever that is? Happy Qwanza!!!

Regardless of any perceived value Cholo may or may not bring to these threads, I agree with him that hopping on BART to take a trip to Oakland should be done only with prudence. My little sister sure learned her lesson when her friend and her got mugged standing out in Oakland waiting at a bus stop late at night. They got "culture" then!

And the ambulance trip to the hospital to get checked out cost each $900 after being viciously knocked down. Everyone is thankful they were both OK. We don't recommend learning culture this way. And both of these young ladies were no neophytes, having spent a year at school together in Germany the previous year.

This is the problem with people who live in "bubbles" like Pleasanton -- stereotypical bigots who think that one incident is how the rest of an area acts.

Jane - don't let these narrow-minded fools get you down. Oakland is a beautiful city with wonderful shops and lots of fun things to do. It's ignorant people like this who make something worse than it is.

Don't let one incident launch a negative stereotype. Although this incident was an unfortunate one, please keep in mind it could've happened anywhere..... look at the poor man who just got carjacked in his garage in Laguna Oaks.... enough said.

Stacey wrote: "hopping on BART to take a trip to Oakland should be done only with prudence"

More name-calling and poor reading comprehension. Great.

Where are you recommending that teens hang out in Oakland: International Bvd., Chinatown, Fruitvale, West Oakland street corners, hmmmmm...? Culture in Oakland....did you mean to say agriculture in Oakland!

But Wait! Not to forget drugs, alcohol, prostitution, street violence,tattoo parlors...what else? I wonder if the people that are suggesting that teens hop on BART and hang out in Oakland are married or even have kids? Are you a mother wannabee? Tee hee hee, tee hee hee! A Responsible parent would never suggest that their teens hop on BART and shop for drugs in Oakland. Drugs are available all over Pleasanton. Just ask the PPD...It's not nice to call people names!!! Happy Qwanza!

How much is two bits?

"This is the problem with people who live in "bubbles" like Pleasanton -- stereotypical bigots who think that one incident is how the rest of an area acts."

Isn't it kind of bigoted of Cheryl to take this one story posted by Stacey and conclude this is how the rest of "people who live in "bubbles" like Pleasanton" are? Isn't it also kind of contradictory of Cheryl to accuse the "ignorant people" that live in the Pleasanton "bubble" as "narrow-minded fools" yet she herself lives in Pleasanton?

I may have grown up in the Pleasanton "bubble" but I have lived and read and learned about many many other "bubbles" in this world. The fact is, some "bubbles" are nicer than others and people always try to live and have fun in the nicer "bubbles."

I am in the military and have had the opportunity to live in several different communities throughout the United States. I lived in Pleasanton for two years and was transferred to the East Coast about a year ago. The citizens of Pleasanton should be very proud of their community...low crime, excellent schools, great infrastructure and city planning, great downtown, great weather and clean streets to name a few. The two years I lived in Pleasanton, I felt like I was on vacation. The only negative that I can think of is the high housing costs. But, with a city as near perfect as Pleasanton you can expect the housing costs to be high beacuse everyone wants to live there.

Hi Ron,
Thank you for having served our country!
Best of luck in your new digs.....Cholo

It's much more than "one incident" that has created a "negative stereotype" of Oakland. There are some nice neighborhoods but the majority of the city is not considered desirable by most people. Poor schools (look at the test scores) and high crime (7th most violent city on the US)are sad truths about Oakland.

Cholo,

"Two bits" is a quarter (25 cents). If you had grown up in the 40's or 50's, you would remember the cheer "Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar, all for (insert team name), stand up and holler."

Thank you Alan. I wasn't born in the US. I'm an immigrant!

"stereotypical bigots who think that one incident is how the rest of an area acts."

I just checked in and found this post and can't contain my laughter, and deep concern. This comment, like the earlier one, seems to prove there are people in Pleasanton who are just like the citizens of Pleasantville. Oakland is not laden with crime relative to most of the rest of the Bay Area, and the nation!!!???? Of course, being called "stereotypical bigots" by someone who has not apparently experienced the real world is rather innocuous, but not welcome, and speaks poorly of the writer.

More to the point. Please don't teach your kids everywhere is like Pleasanton and just as safe, especially Oakland. They need to develop some survival judgement and you as parents are responsible to help them. In the late 50s and early 60s I grew up on the east side of Cleveland, and even at that time I would not recommend, for example, anyone who would be "easy pickings" to walk down Scoville Avenue, especially on a hot summer night. We are not debating theoreticals here, but a city (Oakland) with one of the highest violent crime rates in the U. S.! When your kid comes home in a box, your attitude will definitely change. Your primary imperative with regard to your children is their safety and survival. After that, everything else.

Pleasanton seems to be straight out of The Stepford Wives, or even the Truman Show. It was almost unsettling when I moved here.

I understand the reference to The Stepford Wives but not the Truman Show. I'll look it up on line. Me...can you say a bit more about what you mean by your reference to The Stepford Wives....hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Grandad, I think you're missing the point. Oakland has some really nice areas (i.e., Lake Merritt, Jack London Square, etc.) I think that's what one of the original posters meant. I'm sure he or she didn't insinuate that teenagers should take BART down to the potentially dangerous areas of Oakland. Maybe I'm reading it wrong?

I am 18 years old and have grown up here all of my life. And yes, Pleasanton is extremely boring. But I find other ways to keep busy and I have a lot of friends who live in the Rockridge area of Oakland and I wouldn't call that area dangerous.

Be careful how you stereotype a city.

Talk to the Oakland PD re: crime rates in Rockridge, Lake Merritt, and Jack London Square. Crime is high in all of the areas that you name Jason.

Jane's advice to bored teenagers to hop on BART and visit Oakland is BAD BAD BAD ADVICE.

Jason, what do you mean by boring? And,what to you do when you're bored? Is there another way for you to see your situation so that you are not so bored?

Cholo, I have to agree. You don't lend any value to these postings with your two-bit comments. And a spelling lesson might help you as well..... Qwanza is spelled Kwaanza or Kwanzaa. Spelling the holiday name incorrectly and using it as humor is offensive. It may do you some good to spend some time in Oakland!

Hi Cholita! Why not hop on BART and visit the SF Zoo! Tee hee hee, tee hee hee....

No thanks, Cholo. I hear the tigers like Mexican Food....

I'm still waiting to hear about the Stepford Wives? Whatever do you mean.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Jason....what do you mean by boring?

HI JANE....I forgot to mention that besides the several dozen registered sex offenders presently living in Pleasanton, there are dozens more in Oakland! I would also not recommend that teens hop on BART and visit the SF Zoo...catch my drift Jane?

I have to ask---the people who imagine that people who don't live in Pleasanton read this and think badly of Pleasanton residents, and care about that, I don't even know how to phrase this. It's all imaginary, why does it worry you? You're imagining people imagining critical things about your town. This concerns you? I can't understand this. It's all imaginary. You're feeling shame about imaginary people thinking things you are imagining. There is no reality to this. No one is writing about you, personally. Do you read other town's forums? Do you generalize about the residents based on what a relatively few people write?

No matter what anybody writes here, I don't feel shame.

Blaine...what in the world are you talking about?

about going back to mexico cholo.


Pleasanton is nice, stop trying to but in.

why are aaron and stan trolling for arguments with cholo?

I think it was lousy to insult the family that experienced the mugging in Oakland. If you had such a traumatic experience, and wrote about it to warn others, would you deserve to be called narrow-minded bigots? No, you wouldn't.
To the Pleasanton family that was the victim of that crime, I'm very sorry you had to go through that.

Where's the 'teen-bashing'? I've been reading this forum for a month and haven't read anything condemning teens.

Pleasanton has it's moments, yes. Oakland is not very safe. It's true, realize that and move on. Pleasanton is for the most part pleasnt, even though @ my school, the teenagers are annoying. It is boring, if you that unhappy with it, you can move. Yeesh. Be proud of where you live! And stop bashing one another.

"boring" ain't bad.