Special District Round Up

Special Districts

A Special District is an extra layer of government that usually handles one particular aspect of urban life (e.g. parks, schools, mosquito abatement, public transit, etc.). They have their own boards, cross municipal borders, and are funded by extra taxes. They seem to fly under the radar, so we dig into them every month or so keep an eye on what they’re doing in Hayward.

Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD)

HARD’s got some grant money to fund new playground equipment at Palma Ceia Park. They got some money from a GameTime playground grant, which they combined with some Measure F1 Bond money and $25,000 of People’s Budget money to make the purchase. Should be great for folks in that area!

Tennyson Park will be getting some new streetlights on the corner of Pajon and Huntwood. The City will be paying for 3 of them, and HARD will cover 5 others. Also, nothing but good here. It’ll mean improved visibility and safety, especially as the days get shorter again (though with how long things take, I wouldn’t expect them to be ready for a few months, at least).

And in labor news, SEIU and the Ranger Employee Group (non-unionized. Come on, rangers!) negotiated some raises! Both received a 3% increase in the hourly rate, effective in October 2023 and a 5% increase in October 2024. They also negotiated discretion to move up step increases before reaching 2,080 hours. Since many HARD employees are part-time hourly, this could take ages. Ask me how I know. :| The Rangers also negotiated away requirements to receive extra Holiday Pay, so all Rangers are now eligible for that. Good for them!

The Board also approved some money for the following Tennis Court renovations: 2 basketball courts, 1 tennis court, and conversion of 3 tennis courts into 2 pickleball courts and 1 multi-use court at Weekes Community Park; 2 basketball courts at Alden E. Oliver Sports Park; and 3 tennis courts at Stonybrook Park.

Finally, to cook your noodle with acronyms and government on top of government, the Hayward Area Shoreline Planning Agency (HASPA) will potentially include 2 new member agencies: the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District and the Oro Loma Sanitary District. These folks, along with HARD, East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and the City of Hawyard, all work together to decide what goes on at the Hayward Shoreline because the jurisdictions there are a mess. So if you’re interested in what goes on at the Hayward Shoreline, keep an eye out for HASPA in the future.

Hayward Unified School District (HUSD)

The district is thinking about relocating Brete Harte middle school to one of 2 locations. You can read more about it on this page. There was a zoom meeting, but I can’t find the recording anywhere, unfortunately. :-/ The potential sites are either the old Strobridge site or the old Highland site. Neither of which feel really good, honestly, but with the issues of earthquake safety, thing have to be done.

The “surplus properties” also came up. The initial resolution/plan was pretty vague, with things like: “2652 Vergil Court, Castro Valley - Use property for a park and educational spaces for youth”. The community, including teachers, came forward and pressured the Board to reject the resolution in favor of the more detailed plans outlined by the 7-11 committee that had come up with them. Thankfully the Board agreed to do so, but it wasn’t clean.

Trustee Prada abstained and Ramos voted No because he didn’t want workforce housing or shelters for LGBTQ+ youth built on the properties. That last one is kind of a big sticking point for him because he’s a bigot.

So the end result is that District staff will go back to the committee and make things a bit more explicit before the Board votes on it at a later meeting.

Here are a few other interesting things that came in comments up over the last 2 meetings:

• A Zionist requesting changes to the Ethnic studies curriculum because it doesn’t seem to have a Jewish-American lesson and doesn’t present a “balanced view” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (To be clear: Jerusalem is an apartheid state and the conflict going on now has very little to do with the majority of Jewish-American history)

• AEOTE, the school administrator’s union, is having bargaining and negotiation issues with the Board around the medical health insurance plan. They are definitely not happy about the last offer.

• Tennyson High has expanded their sports, choir, and band programs but a teacher from there was asking for an update on uniforms, which many students at Tennyson don’t have and can’t afford. Apparently an upcoming proposition will fix a lot of that.

• After hearing about Hayward High’s Downtown Rally, Trustee Prada suggested that it’d be nice to have all high schools march around downtown. Logistical issues aside, that sounds cool.

Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit)

AC Transit had a pilot of all-door boarding for their busses on 2 lines in Berkeley (Lines 6 and 51B) to see how it would improve loading times. The “dwell time”, or how long a bus sits at a stop loading passengers, was reduced by about 30%, which is pretty huge. Unfortunately, they’re super-concerned about fare evasion because loading at the back door requires a Clipper card and they worry that most folks who ride the bus outside of downtown Berkeley won’t have them. SFMTA also has all-door loading and, unfortunately, they apparently “struggle with significant fare evasion.” So don’t expect this any time soon in Hayward.

But speaking of fares, AC Transit’s quarterly financials are out and it’s interesting to see where the money comes from. Of their ~$52,600,000 budget, less than 2% of that came from fares ($942,000)! The largest portion comes from sales tax (36%) and parcel tax (27%). The good news is that all of the revenue streams are up and reliance on pandemic funding is down (25% below expectations). The operating expenses are also below budget, which is good from a financial perspective. PG&E gouged AC Transit, too, though as their utilities were up 22% over last year. Ouch.

The short story here is that AC Transit’s financials are looking better, but they’re definitely not out of the woods (24% of their income is still from pandemic money). Not to mention the issues around this kind of headline.

Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART)

New fare gates are coming to attempt to prevent fare evasion. They’ll be building the prototypes in West Oakland Station, but will have them installed system-wide by 2025, if things go according to plan. They’ll look like one of these:

And for those who like to bike on BART, there are some new (and improved, imo) rules coming:
BIKES ON BART RULES
• Bikes are allowed on all trains except in the first car or any crowded car.
• Folded bikes are allowed in all cars at all times.
• Regardless of any other rule, bikes are never allowed on crowded cars.
• Passengers must hold or secure their bikes while on the trains.
• Bikes are allowed on elevators, stairs, and escalators.
• Passengers are never allowed to ride bikes inside stations, including but not limited to station platforms and concourses. This prohibition does not include parking lots, roadways, or outdoor paths intended for bicycle use.
• Bicyclists must yield priority seating to seniors and people with disabilities, yield to other passengers, and not block aisles or doors.
• In case of an evacuation, bikes must be left on the train and must not block aisles or doors.
• Passengers under 14 years old with bikes must be accompanied by an adult.
• Gas-powered vehicles are never permitted in stations or on trains.
• If left unattended on BART property, bikes must be locked at racks or inside lockers. Bikes parked against poles, fences or railings will be removed.

Did I miss a district you want to know about? Drop me a line to let me know. Inspect your taxes to see who you’re paying! You deserve to know what they’re up to (and, to be honest, they’d probably be excited to see you if you dropped in on one of their meetings).