About Us

Since 1963, The Independent has helped create a great community!

Since our founding in September of 1963, The Independent has been dedicated to giving Dublin, Livermore, Pleasanton, and Sunol readers the news they need to be in-the-know about what's going on in the Tri-Valley region. 

The Independent’s management and almost all of its writers have lived here in the Livermore-Amador Valley since 1963. We’ve put down roots. We care about our readers and our community. We take pride in offering the following in our pages:

• We publish the most complete ongoing coverage of city councils, school boards, water boards, park and recreation boards and other public agencies.
• We stood for and have spoken out on a series of grassroots referendums, initiatives and other citizen-driven campaigns, spanning approximately five decades of our existence. We’ve consistently championed the community’s grassroots citizen groups in their struggle against inappropriate development- Friends of the Vineyards, Save Our Sunol, Preserve Area Ridgelands Committee, Citizens for Balanced Growth, SAVE, Friends of Livermore, and others. The result is a greenbelt of parks, vineyards and open spaces slowly but steadily encircling the Livermore-Amador Valley with urban growth boundaries in place in Livermore and Pleasanton and a long-term planning campaign underway to revitalize the area’s agricultural heritage.
• Along with the campaigns to save threatened lands out beyond the city limits, The Independent has promoted redevelopment of the downtowns, with the idea of centering future growth in the city cores, with a “transit-oriented” focus and substantial affordable housing.
• We carry the most youth sports news, with an emphasis on participation.
• When the independence of our community hospital was threatened by a merger with John Muir of Walnut Creek, The Independent spearheaded a successful fight to keep the facility under local control.
• We devote considerable space in every edition to news of the local arts scene, which is enjoying a renaissance.
• Hand in glove with that, we’ve given all-out support to the rejuvenation of the Livermore Valley Wine Country. We’ve done more than merely report on it. Partnering with winery leaders in the early days of the rebirth, we launched an annual magazine celebrating the Harvest Wine Festival. It continues, serving as the September event’s official publication, growing larger every year.
• The magazine, meanwhile, has taken on a life of its own, spotlighting a different aspect of the Valley’s cultural life — Art & Entertainment, Giving and The West.

Since 1963, The Independent has worked to keep you informed and protect your quality of life.