I read this article on the CC Times site about the release of the Environmental Impact Report on the San Ramon City Center Project.

I immediatley called my friend and strategic business partner Dennis Viers of The Viers Team to see if he could give me more information. Dennis response was immediate and here it is:

I read the article yesterday in the paper.  Unfortunately, I can’t comment on it because it is coming before the planning commission soon.  Our position is always neutral until we have digested all the facts.  Then we vote on it.

I can say that the draft EIR is step one in the process and it has a 45 day review by all interested parties, including the citizens.  The feedback received will be included in the draft EIR.

So much for my hopes of having an inside source! Of course, this is one of the qualities we appreciate most in Dennis and others – integrity. Just one of the reasons we love doing business with him and Kris, his wife and business partner.

Dennis also mentioned that a couple of people had mentioned that The Harper Team is opposed to the City Center project. The only place I can think of where they have gotten that idea is this post where we asked Randal O’Toole for more detail on his views after this article in the East Bay Business Times.

Obviously the people talking to Dennis had not read our follow up comment on our post:

We are not opposed to the project, but have concerns about the impact, cost and process, The majority of what we find on the subject is created by the city and the developer. Opposing views or those that raise questions and thought on the subject we encourage.

And they obviously didn’t read a later post where I, John Harper, author of all the posts about the City Center, wrote this:

When the new City Center is built, I may buy one of the condos – it would cut my gas bill dramatically as I seem to spend a lot of time in this area.

Hardly the view of someone opposed to the development of the City Center.

I think it’s probably another case of “sound-bite fever” – where someone gets a piece of information and then extrapolates from there without asking for more clarification. Such is the way of the world we live in.

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