A Push For More Downtown Cops

In Which: I highlight Eric Swalwell's moral bankruptcy, We finally finish the budget meeting, and Mayor Salinas worries about future district infighting.

But First, Gaza

I try to keep my coverage limited to Hayward specifically. I don’t even dabble in the unincorporated areas that think they’re Hayward—sorry, friends. But part of journalism is holding elected officials accountable. Admittedly, I probably don’t technically fall in that definition, but I try to do my part.

So let’s turn to Eric Swalwell, once again. Our Federal Representative, who we pay with our tax dollars to vote for policies on our behalf in Washington DC, has continued to not do anything substantive about the ongoing genocide in Gaza. He’s focused on reproductive rights and aligning himself even further with Joe Biden, all while continuing to use his children as political props for his reelection campaign.

Swalwell continues to position himself as a champion of children and mothers, which is a noble goal, despite the universal whiteness of all the mothers and children he’s highlighted. Parents deserve to feel safe, children should be protected. They’re one of our most valuable resources—our very future rests in their hands.

So why hasn’t he done anything to help the children of Gaza? While updates on the 6 and a half month long genocide continue to be shadow-banned by social media behemoths and the Israeli government once again times its atrocities to align with holidays and media events, our Representative still does nothing—except vote curtail free speech in the name of anti-semitism.

And all the while, we as voters can do nothing. Nobody worth while is running against him—and the Democratic establishment would curb stomp anyone who tried. Local governments across the Bay Area have called for a ceasefire, an end to the genocide, and yet our elected officials are still morally vacant.

This is why local government matters. Hayward divested from companies aiding the Palestinian Genocide in January. Richmond eventually followed suit. Our actions at the bottom can ripple upwards to Federal officials—because it shows them they will be supported for doing the right thing. When even mealy-mouthed comments get shouted down by a vocal Zionist minority, elected officials are cowed into silence—nevermind the terrible job mainstream media outlets are doing.

So whenever you can, find ways to celebrate what we’ve done in Hayward. Tell your friends, colleagues, neighbors—Hayward divested first and we support Palestine. Maybe if the largest city in his district can get the message across, Eric Swalwell will start listening to his constituents over cowardly Democratic Party leadership.

We can change this from the ground up, if we have the strength and courage.

Green Salad with Budget Bits

Okay, Haywardistes. This is the last of the May 11 Budget Meeting. I can’t guarantee it’ll be worth the wait, but it is technically the most important—City Clerk, City Attorney, City Manager, and City Council. These are the most powerful government offices and the most directly tied to your votes—Council appoints the heads of all the others. So buckle in and lets finish this.

City Clerk’s Office

The City Clerk’s office is in control of the agendas, elections, public records requests, and all of the paperwork stuff that the City has to do. If you’re big into Open Government, that’s the responsibility of the City Clerk. They also run the Passport Program, which they re-started this year after stopping due to COVID.

But even with all of those responsibilities, the Office only has 5 people—including the City Clerk herself. They’re looking to increase their budget by around $14,000—but that doesn’t include the costs of the upcoming elections in November. They’ve had issues closing Public Records Requests within their 10-day goal, but if you’ve ever dealt with a ticketing system, you know that’s not entirely their fault. If they have complicated requests or particularly picky requestees—something I’ve been guilty of—the requests take a lot longer to close.

They’re also short a Deputy City Clerk, and are in the process of looking for one now.

Mayor Salinas started off the comments on a high note, “I’m gonna let my excellent comment stand when we did your evaluation.” The City Clerk has been on the Closed Session Agenda for Evaluation longer than any other appointed administrator, but clearly the Mayor, at least, thinks she’s doing a great job.

Councilmember Bonilla asked if there was a legal rationale for the 10 day closing, but the Clerk said that there’s only a requirement to respond within 10 days. When asked if the office was meeting that response window, the Clerk said that they mostly are. Unsurprisingly, Councilmember Bonilla then took aim at the ability for City Commissions to have a hybrid option—something the Mayor voiced agreement to.

While the Council could, possibly, put further restrictions on attendance requirements, the Commissions are subject to the Brown Act the same as City Council. Hybrid participation is only allowed a certain number of times and under very certain circumstances—usually needing some kind of family emergency. Outside of that, they would have to treat wherever they are as a public space, including posting the address online and posting the agenda on the door—something Councilmember Bonilla himself has made use of more than once.

Councilmember Andrews then asked how the Clerk’s Office will be affected by the upcoming districting, especially in 2026 when they take effect. The Clerk said that they’re waiting to see what happens, but are already accruing invoices and tracking costs which will come up in a future budget adjustment. The Clerk also mentioned that she didn’t have enough staff to do outreach and the existing staff is therefore working overtime. The Clerk will also probably bring in temps to handle the excess workload.

Nobody else had much to say, so it’s safe to assume that no news is good news on this front.

City Attorney’s Office

The City Attorney took the chance to make some sideways remarks about Attorney Scott Rafferty during his opening remarks. After saying that he had been at a City Attorney Conference, he mentioned that he had talked with other City Attorneys about districting lawsuits and relayed that they were encountering, “some of the same personalities.” Thankfully for the City, this appears to have been settled by now.

On the budget front, the City Attorney’s Office will be staying static for the moment, though they’re hoping for more staff next year to help with technology issues. Unfortunately, insurance premiums are going up about $2,000,000 which impacts their budget a lot. That being said, it seems difficult to predict what the City Attorney’s Office budget will be, “My office,” he said, “spends whatever is required.” Who knows when a lawsuit will crop up?

The few questions that were asked focused on the insurance costs. Councilmember Zermeño asked if there were other increases in insurance, the City Attorney said that they’re expecting increases of up to 20-30%, but are not changing things yet. Councilmember Andrews asked if there was a possibility to advocate at the State level around the increasing insurance costs, but the City Attorney was not optimistic about it.

Finally, Councilmember Syrop asked if the legal fund should be increased, but the City Attorney could only say that it would hopefully be enough. In this society, it’s impossible to know who will sue you.

City Manager’s Office

The City Manager’s Office is a big one. It houses the Economic Development, Community Services, Media, and Equity Divisions. All told, they have about 27 people, though each department ranges from 1 to 6 people—though it should be noted that every department reports to the City Manager or one of the Assistant City Managers at the end of the day. It’s THE office.

Some of the things that the City Manager wanted to highlight were some High School Internships and civic leadership programs. They also removed 211 programs from the Community Agency Funding process and added them to the Community Services Division’s operating budget instead—which is good for stability. Unfortunately, that also came with a $165,000 decrease in the Community Agency Funding budget, though it wasn’t clear if that money was re-allocated to the Community Services Division or just eliminated. Combined with other things, the City Manager’s Office is saving the City over $400,000 this year.

For those interested in upcoming projects, there’ll be another update on the St. Regis project in the Fall of this year and you can look out for Hayward Paratransit in Spring of 2025. The City Manager’s Office is also going to develop a Language Equity Access Plan which should hopefully allow the huge number of people in Hayward who don’t speak English as their first language to have an easier time participating in meetings.

Mayor Salinas started the conversation by asking about the ticketing that the City Manager’s Office uses to keep track of Council requests. But rather than being concerned about efficiency, he tied it back to districting. “How do we create a culture and how do we create a process of council requests that it doesn’t turn into this sort of district competition?” He further expressed concerns about future councilmembers fighting for their district at the cost of the whole city—something people in less-resourced parts of town may find issue with.

The Mayor also asked if the Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Officer would be able to offer teach-ins and staff training in response to an alleged increase in anti-semitic rhetoric—possibly referring to the neo-Nazis who invaded public comment back in February.

Councilmember Syrop asked if there was any possibility to increase the Community Agency Funding (CAF) budget, but the Acting City Manager said that one of the priorities of the CAF was to be a start-up and not make agencies reliant on City funding. However, Councilmember Syrop pushed back and asked for an increase in CAF funding for the Community Services Commission (CSC), “How can we unlock more capacity in our community?” For context, the CAF funding for the CSC has remained flat for at least 10 years.

Councilmember Andrews asked if there could be a concierge for sidewalk vendors, “to get them into brick and mortar.” Council continues to assume that this is the end goal of anyone who starts to vend on the sidewalk—something for which they have provided no evidence beyond their own desires. She continued, “If we only just focus on violations and education, we’re going to keep getting the same output.” It was unclear what her desired output was, beyond transitioning people into brick and mortar businesses.

Councilmember Zermeño went straight to policing, once again expressing a desire for a walking Police beat downtown, “the folks that are causing problems need to see them.” The Acting City Manager talked about the need for Firefighters and the need for medical assistance for those downtown, pushing for solutions “other than just an officer with a gun.” Thank goodness. Councilmember Zermeño also briefly expressed his support for the People’s Budget.

Councilmember Roche asked about the funding for the Stack Center, and the Acting City Manager said they’re trying to close the gap for later phases and may use Measure C money—like was approved for the Phase 1 shortfall. She also asked about Access Hayward, though specifically referenced its use in regards to street vendors and reporting violations. Finally, she highlighted the St. Regis project, and expressed a desire to keep “a close watch” as well as a need for “safeguards,” though she did not elaborate as to why.

Councilmember Goldstein also pushed for the police to have “a presence downtown”—similarly to Councilmember Zermeno. “We definitely need to do something,” he said.

Councilmember Bonilla asked about the funding going to equity training, which is about $50,000 per year. He also expressed interest in giving further equity training to the police—pushing additional investment into a department that already dominates the general fund.

Finally, Mayor Salinas highlighted the State of the City address. “The State of the City this year was elevated to an entirely new standard,” he said. “There were Mayors from other cities in there… and they were blown away.” The City Attorney noted that the State Attorney General perhaps took note and pushed for future State of the City Addresses to be covered by the Brown Act.

Mayor and City Council

There wasn’t a lot of reflection on this one as the City Council should know pretty well everything they’ve done over the last year. Councilmember Bonilla highlighted the Councilmember’s discretionary fund—a little stash of cash that Councilmembers can spend on whatever they want—it was difficult to hear, but it sounded like Councilmembers will have $2,500 per year and the Mayor a bit more, but there will be more information next year.

Councilmember Andrews took time to thank Councilmember Bonilla for his work, “[I] wanted to give kudos to Councilmember Bonilla for the creation of the Council Public Safety Committee.” Readers will hopefully recall that the Public Safety Committee was Council’s unhappy response to recommendations from the CSC about the Captain’s Advisory Panel back in October. Councilmember Andrews, not having forgotten, highlighted the ad hoc committee that was put together to re-evaluate the roles of Commissions—specifically created in response to those recommendations. She hinted that the ad hoc committee had already been formed—since it is not bound by the Brown Act, we’ll have to wait until their recommendations are public to see what happens there.

Councilmember Andrews also asked for more information about the Point in Time Count and expressed a desire to get ahead of the messaging—the City has been highlighting the increased number of people who are sheltered, finding some silver lining in the otherwise bad-looking news.

Several Councilmembers also talked about the Council salary increases. Councilmember Syrop said, “I don’t want us to be shy about it… It’s about folks in the future who can see this role as something that they can pursue themselves.” Councilmember Zermeño agreed, though perhaps was a bit shy himself, “It was an Equity Adjustment, not a raise.”

Mayor Salinas closed the section by expressing concern about divisiveness as a result of districting. He praised “Council’s ability to be a cohesive unit,” and said that, “Hayward is looked at as one of the most stable councils in the County.” Whether or not that’s good or bad may be a matter of some debate.

Closing Out

The City Council closed out the meetings with some final thoughts and asks. Councilmember Roche asked for the library to get an additional $100,000—though it’s unclear where it will come from. Staff said it will come up at the next Budget meeting on June 4th.

Councilmember Syrop commented on the budgeting process itself. “I’ve seen budget processes in the past,” he said, “it feels very pre-determined. And it feels like we’re just going through the motions of rubber-stamping it.” He said he wants options in the future and to engage with changes. Councilmember Syrop also refuted the adage that government is slow to change. “Hayward’s pretty nimble,” he said, “Government can be responsive.”

Councilmember Bonilla asked Staff to prepare a hypothetical budget where no reserves are used—not to implement, but to show the public what would happen if spending had to be decreased enough to balance the budget. “So they know we’re making sound financial decisions here.”

Councilmember Zermeño seconded Councilmember Syrop’s comments. He said that he joined the City Council because he thought government moved slowly, but praised the City’s actions this past year. He also said that a $1,700,000 shortfall is the lowest he remembers seeing in all of his years in government—and he’s been on Council for over 15 years.

For her closing comments, Councilmember Andrews expressed excitement about the Events Department—a department under Economic Development where people can better plan events within the City. She was also excited about the Economic Development Corporation and the long-term possibilities that it can open.

Councilmember Andrews then turned her attention to making HEART a 24/7 service, but took the time to spread around the blame about the state of homelessness in Downtown Hayward. She took aim at the State and Federal governments, other cities, BART, and AC Transit, saying that they all needed to step up their role in the state of Downtown. “This is impacting our sales tax. This is impacting our quality of life. And I’m sick of it. This is not our fault.” Time will tell if focusing on the effects of homelessness on businesses will be a winning messaging strategy.

Councilmember Goldstein had the last word during the meeting and expressed admiration for the “constant improvement process,” that the City had been undertaking.

And on that note, the Mayor ended the meeting after 5 hours and 48 minutes.

That’s it! It’s over. That’s the Budget Mega-Meeting. If you’re hot for more budgeting action—and I know you are—keep an eye out for coverage of the June 4th meeting. Hopefully it won’t take 3 weeks to get through.