Features

Voters in Castro Valley have rejected a proposal to become an incorporated city and Fremont voters passed a $51 million fire station bond measure, according to complete unofficial election returns. 

Voters Tuesday night overwhelmingly rejected Measure Q, which would have created the new city of Castro Valley. The proposed city would have existed as of July 1, and been governed by a five-member city council. Some critics of the plan had said they were worried that the city would not be able to support itself financially. 

Nearly three in four Fremont voters approved Measure R, a $51 million bond measure that will replace three small fire stations and seismically upgrade seven others. A two-thirds was required for passage. 

Measure S, a bid to raise the salaries of Fremont City Council members and the mayor, went down to defeat. Under the measure, the monthly salary of each member of the City Council would have increased to $2,083 from  

$1,407 and the salary of the mayor would have increase to $2,916 from $2,211 per month. 

Alameda County voters passed Measure C, which will amend the county charter to specify that any county chief probation officer taking office after Wednesday will be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Board of Supervisors. 

On Friday, the current probation chief, Sylvia Johnson, announced that she would retire from office on Jan. 31. 

Measure A, approved by the voters, will allow the county to adopt a hotel and lodging tax of 10 percent of the rental charge that would apply to unincorporated areas of the county. With the exception of Piedmont, all cities in the county currently impose a hotel and lodging tax of 8 to 12 percent. 

Measure B, passed by the voters, will enable the county to continue to impose a business license tax in unincorporated areas. 

Measure AA, which would enable the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District to levy a $24 annual parcel tax over the next five years, to protect bus services for children and seniors, help ensure passenger security and help reduce traffic congestion and air pollution appeared to have been passed by at least two-thirds of the voters in Alameda County in final unofficial returns. However, the measure was falling just shy of the two-thirds mark in Contra Costa County returns. 

Measure BB would allow the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District to issue up to $1.05 billion in bonds to perform seismic upgrades on BART facilities in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco counties. The passage of the measure is still too close to call by unofficial election returns. Measures AA and BB require a two-thirds majority in multiple counties for passage.