(DUBLIN, Calif.) - Dublin has built apartments and offices next to both of its BART stations, but the walkable downtown promised in 2019 still hasn’t broken ground. Mayoral candidate Kiran Mohammad wants real deadlines, funding sources and results residents can see.
(Photo Credit: Kiran Mohammad / OpGov.News)
"As mayor, I will work with the City Council, city manager and community to accelerate Dublin’s downtown plans," Mohammad said. "Development should be prioritized near BART and within the Downtown Dublin Specific Plan, not our remaining open space. What we don’t have is the town square, walkable streets and businesses that make it feel like a downtown."
Mohammad’s plan includes four priorities:
First, within her first 100 days, Mohammad will bring the city’s stalled downtown project (shops, housing and a town square, pulled by its developer in 2024) before the City Council for a public hearing and a firm deadline. She’ll back that with a public Delivery Dashboard tracking every major project against real deadlines, so projects can’t quietly expire.
Second, she will direct new mixed-use housing toward BART and downtown, not the city’s periphery, building on the council’s 2024 move to eliminate downtown parking minimums. BART-area projects should be comparable to the deeper affordability of the city’s Golden Gate Drive development. New projects should combine homes with shops and walkability, not isolated housing surrounded by parking lots.
Third, Mohammad will strengthen the city’s Small Business Navigator Program, which offers marketing, design, and financial guidance but not permit help. She will push to cut permit delays, add a liaison for permits and tenant improvements, fast-track small storefronts, and require long-vacant storefronts to register so owners market or lease them, not sit on them for years. Dublin deserves independent businesses alongside national retailers, not empty windows.
Fourth, she will make transportation and congestion a citywide priority: new development near BART should help fund real transit connections through the city’s Transportation Impact Fee, not just parking. She will bring Dublin, BART, and regional transit providers together on station access, fares, wayfinding, and safety. Widening roads is a temporary solution, but concentrating growth in downtown and near BART is what actually brings congestion down over the long run. Other BART cities are already building what Dublin keeps promising: El Cerrito broke ground last year on a walkable neighborhood with a public plaza and a library around its station, while the Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre station is already a thriving neighborhood with offices, restaurants and homes. Dublin’s stations should be welcoming gateways, not afterthoughts.
"Dublin has grown, but growth alone does not create identity," Mohammad said. "As mayor, I will connect housing, transportation, small businesses and public spaces through one coherent vision, so Dublin is a place people choose to stay, not a bedroom community — because we are stewards of this city for the next generation, not its developers."
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Kiran Mohammad for Mayor of Dublin
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