Response to Cityhood

I was not surprised to once again read that a faction has risen to contemplate yet another shot at cityhood for Castro Valley.

Forum reader Mr. Peter Kavaler is on spot when he defers to history of the many attempts (if memory servers me, seventeen in all), and failures to accomplish this dead-end street that have taken place since 1945, the last in 1988. It too failed. I was part and parcel of helping defeat that attempt.    

The fact of the matter is simple to comprehend.  Castro Valley has not the commercial or corporate tax base to afford incorporation. The real factor is that if incorporation were to become reality, this brand new city would have to draw up bankruptcy papers even before the ink was dry on papers of incorporation.  Think then of property taxes. They would rise considerably and the swim from turbulent financial waters would be an expensive undertaking.

Castro Valley is a bright and successful jewel of the Bay Area with all the trappings of remaining a part of Alameda County, and the benefits this association provides.  I’ve lived here for sixty years and never looked back.

–Ron Darcey, Castro Valley