A Post-Modern Year-End Council Meeting
Public talks Ceasefire, Public Safety Committee gains form, and Group associated with incoming Planning Commissioner fights against funding a hospital.
This is a weird one for a Council meeting. Apparently there was a goof somewhere and they posted in The Daily Review1 that the Public Hearing was going to happen at 7pm, despite the meeting starting at 5:30pm. So the order is all over the place.
Public Comment Bites on Toast
Bike Hayward called in to express their continued concerns about the realignment of the East Bay Greenway. The caller brought up issues with access for residents on the eastern side of the BART tracks, though it should be noted that these issues would have existed for residents on the west side of the tracks had the original alignment gone through. They also expressed concern about the ability of Whitman Street to accommodate a Class IV bike lane due to its width. Bike Hayward and Bike East Bay recently spoke at the Alameda County Transportation Commission meeting about their concerns, though the project was ultimately approved with the stipulation that an active transportation working group be put together to study the realignment.
A leader of the Golden Gate Boys Choir expressed frustration at the City that their invitation to perform at an event at the Mt. Eden Mansion was rescinded. Allegedly, the concern had to do with the inclusion of traditional Christmas carols, despite attempts by the Choir to alter the language to be less Christian-centered. While the allegations are fairly serious if true, it’s possible that the commenter is confused about which Hayward agency rescinded the invitation. The Mt. Eden Mansion is owned and operated by HARD, which is frequently confused as being a part of the City government as opposed to its own separate agency.2
The rest of the public comment was about the Ceasefire Resolution, which dominated public comment for over an hour and a half last week (despite the reduction in public comment time to a mere 60 seconds). A member of the public who was at the action the week prior spoke on behalf of the community which had turned out in favor of a resolution. They expressed an understanding that an existing policy prevents the Council from drafting a resolution, but also a desire that the Council revisit that policy over the break. They also noted that the City’s investment policy is coming up for review soon and hoped that the divestment conversation could continue in that regard. They closed by assigning the Council “homework” over the break and promised that the conversation was not over, “We’ll do our part for Palestine and we hope you do yours.”
Three representatives of the Eden Area Interfaith Council showed up to outline the history of their organization and extend an invitation to have community conversations about the “conflict in the Middle East,” and invited Council to “affirm the value of human life and stand in solidarity with the community.” This came across as proposing a heavily watered-down version of a ceasefire resolution, which approximately 100 members of the community showed up in person to demand the week prior.
White moderate and former City Councilmember Sara Lamnin once again took to public comment to derail the conversation from a ceasefire resolution. She called for a “consensus statement3” to bring to Federal legislators and highlighted a candlelight vigil the Eden Area Interfaith Council will be holding. She summed up her position by stating her desire was to “[keep] the divisiveness out of the Council chamber and really [work] in solidarity to get productive legislation passed.” It should be noted that the same argument about divisiveness has always been used to push back against social justice movements, despite the fact that talking about problems is the first step toward addressing them.
The final comment of the night came from condescending resident and former City Councilmember Al Mendall. He opened his comment with a version of the Serenity Prayer closely tied to Alcoholics Anonymous: “Please grant this Council the serenity to accept what it cannot change.” In an apparent attempt to make the argument that one should do nothing to help a problem unless you can fix it entirely, Mr. Mendall said “There is no action… this body can take that can save lives over there.” He then appeared to accuse the Council of being negligent in their care of the City when he said “Where you can make a difference in people’s lives, where you can save lives is here in Hayward. In fact that’s your job.” He then proceeded to explain what he believed Council should be doing to save lives in Hayward, seeming to imply that they were both not doing anything to improve lives of residents (which is untrue) and that attempting to influence foreign policy was a somehow going to take all their attention (also untrue).
After his speech, he once again left the view of the public, where he remained for the rest of the meeting.
Jellied Pubic Safety
The Council hammered out the details for the Public Safety Committee that came up after the Community Services Commission expressed dismay about the Community Advisory Panel to the Chief of Police (CAP). The highlights of the proposal are:
Dissolving the CAP
No public input beyond public comment period
The Public Safety Committee would meet quarterly
It would be administered by the City Manager’s office for a bit, but then likely rotate between HPD and HFD
To keep the number of committees down, the Airport Committee would be rolled into the Infrastructure Committee, which would then meet every other month (as opposed to quarterly) with meetings alternating between City Hall and the Hayward Executive Airport.
The first meeting of both Public Safety and the new Infrastructure Committees would be in February.
The Public Taste
The Hayward Concerned Citizens called in to express support for the Committee to address specific issues. They also called for an “open minded council” on the committee. This could have been a potential slight against Councilmember Syrop, though most of the Council has a fairly centrist, if not conservative, view of policing.
The Council Review
Councilmember George Syrop thanked the Community Services Commission (CSC) for their work on the issue of public safety and noted that it was “though their advocacy and a little bit of their agitation” that this item came into being. Councilmember Dan Goldstein also thanked the CSC for their advocacy, despite the omission of dedicated public participation in the committee.
Councilmember Ray Bonilla Jr. pushed for meetings to be every-other-month, which was universally supported by the rest of Council. This fit well with Councilmembers Julie Roche and Angela Andrews’ interest in having topics of immediate concern, especially business break-ins and crime. Councilmember Andrews requested regional updates on human trafficking, catalytic converter theft, and shoplifting, especially if there was an investigation into some kind of organized ring around those issues. She also pushed for HEART getting 24 hour service and deploying more Community Service Officers4 downtown as items to add to the agenda.
Councilmember Roche also asked what the CAP felt about the change. According to the City Manager, the remaining members were mostly concerned about the lack of community input and said that there would be a need for more community outreach. Councilmember Andrews voiced concern about the voices being lost without the CAP5, however she did not push for, for example, non-voting members of the public to be included on the Committee.
Councilmember George Syrop asked how AB 481 reports would be handled with the new committee. The City Manager explained that the subcommittee would count for the “community meeting” requirement6 and that the full Council would still need to adopt the report.
Councilmember Syrop also requested that the various development projects for the Airport be kept on the agenda, specifically highlighting the Skywest development plan. This concern about development projects was echoed by Councilmember Angela Andrews who stressed that the Infrastructure Committee would need to get up to speed on a lot of projects, especially the Skywest development plan.
The lone voice of dissent came from Councilmember Francisco Zermeño who spoke, at length, about the importance of the Airport Committee and felt that it shouldn’t be merged with the Infrastructure Committee because it was too important. He recommended, instead, potentially dissolving the Homelessness and Housing Task Force, despite homelessness and housing being top-of-mind issues for Hayward residents in every single priority survey that the City has done in the last 5 years. Mayor Salinas, thankfully, politely shut down that idea. However, he did ask if the committee could be renamed the Infrastructure and Airport Committee, which other members (aside from Zermeño) supported.
Mayor Mark Salinas celebrated the creation of the new committee while simultaneously lamenting the decreasing prominence of initiatives like the Neighborhood Alert System7 and the National Night Out8 and encouraging residents to organize with their neighbors.
The plan moved ahead, despite Councilmember Zermeño’s dissent on the merger between the Infrastructure and Airport Committees.
Pay Increase Pudding With Green Mint
We’ve covered the updates to Council Salary before, and this update also included the recent negotiations between the Police Officer’s Association (Cop Union) and the Police Managers. Here’s the important bits:
Police Managers get an increase of 18.45% retroactive to August 28th
Rank-and-file Officers get an increase of 5% starting Jan 1
Reserve Officer Coordinator gets an increase of 4% starting Jan 1
The Police Chief gets an increase of 9.5% (or $43,288/year) Also retroactive to August 28th
Mayor pay increase to $69,288/yr starting Jan 1
Council pay increase to $43,305/yr starting Jan 1
There was no discussion and the item sailed through.
Whipped Funding With St. Rose-water
The last hospital standing in Hayward, St. Rose, has been facing some tough financial problems in recent years. Alameda County is hoping to save it, but it’s also hoping that Hayward can lend a financial hand. Part of that help is coming in the form of a referral from Councilmember Ray Bonilla Jr and Mayor Mark Salinas9. The idea is to find between $250,000 and $500,000 a year to help support it. That money could then be used by St. Rose to leverage grants and other ways of making itself financially stable.
Overall, Council was supportive of the idea, though there were some concerns about the funding. Councilmember Roche asked where the money would be coming from, and the City Manager suggested potentially Measure C funding, though it would require more Staff research to find out for sure. Councilmember Andrews wondered if there were any metrics on how the money would be spent. The City Manager explained, in essence, there will be a plan when there’s a plan. Right now, there is no plan yet.
Councilmember Andrews continued to seem keen about getting as much as possible out of St. Rose for the money, recommending the money only go forward if there is a new operator and further money from the County. She also suggested having St. Rose partner with HEART to help keep people out of the emergency room to begin with. This is a good plan in theory, but Councilmember Bonilla Jr. expressed concern about putting any more work on St. Rose while they’re still getting their feet under themselves administratively.
Other Councilmembers expressed support for the project, recognizing that having a safety net hospital for those without insurance is vitally important for our unhoused and “indigent10” population.
The Public Taste
The Hayward Concerned Citizens came out against the referral, specifically citing the one-time cash injection that St. Rose received when Kaiser pulled up stakes in 2014 and moved to San Leandro.
They did not, however, take into consideration the disconnect between the need to make a profit and the need to serve those without the ability to pay. The financial plight of St. Rose is another in a long list of reasons why California, if not the whole United States, should move toward a single-payer plan.
Consent Item Dessert Flight
Members of the City Council, with the exception of Mayor Mark Salinas, all thanked outgoing Community Services Commissioner Artavia Berry and outgoing Planning Commissioner Arti Garg for their service and welcomed the incoming Planning Commissioner Ron Meyers and Community Services Commissioner Hoang Dao.
Bitter Public Herbs, Bruised
The Hayward Concerned Citizens came out in force for an item on the Consent Calendar. The focus of their ire was an item approving $290,000 to have a consultant do research on the viability of a continuation of Measure C (a 1/2 percent sales tax).
After claiming incoming Planning Commissioner Ron Meyers as “one of us,” five different people called in to speak against the consultant.* The comments included a general sentiment of being anti-tax, erroneous accusations of what Measure C money had already been spent on, and a general feeling that not enough money had been given to HPD already.
Normally, I’d spend time debunking their claims, but I don’t even have to. City Manager Kelly McAdoo responded to the comments by highlighting that the proposed extension of Measure C was primarily to pay for a new police headquarters. The consultant is mostly involved to get community feedback to make sure that priorities of the community align with their plan for what to spend it on. She further pointed out a different consent item earmarking $8,000,000 to repair the locker room in the current Police Department HQ with Measure C money “to make it livable until we get the $100,000,000+ needed for a new building.” She also cited the 5 sworn officers, 6 dispatch officers, and multiple other HPD positions which have been paid for by Measure C.
So… I guess she did my job for me this time.
*Although I’m generally against consultants on the principle that we should instead be investing in permanent, unionized staff who have local knowledge and would be able to apply that knowledge to a range of other future projects, this feels like a weird hill to die on.
Planning Biscotti With Cocoa
This has been sent back and forth between the Planning Commission and Council for some time now. And Council must have been done with it, too, as they skipped any presentation on it.
The Public Taste
The public comment was… a bit jumbled. They didn’t like the higher density, but also blamed real estate speculation for the problem. They didn’t like the plan, but it was because they felt like more should be done. Overall it was just really difficult to get a read on where they stood. But anyone who points out systemic issues with housing already gets a few points in my book.
The Council Review
The big commenters this time around were Councilmembers Julie Roche and Angela Andrews. Councilmember Andrews asked about the possibility of incentivizing off-site parking as there have been complaints when higher density development (with reduced parking minimums) are near offices or businesses and they get illegal parking spillover. Staff suggested looking into incentivizing a shared parking agreement in the Transit Demand Management (TDM) plan. Councilmember Andrews also expressed concern about Pickleball being called out as a specific amenity to incentivize as it can be noisy, but ultimately chose not to pull it out of fear of the pickleball crowd.
Councilmember Roche asked how developers feel about it, and staff reported that developers have generally been excited about the plan. Surprisingly, when there’s more clarity and less dealing with the whims of the Planning Commission, things move more smoothly. Councilmember Roche also asked about the Artwork plan. This caught my ear because it gives another peek into how powerful the Planning Commission can be and why it should always be watched:
When the Planning Commission makes amendments, we just blindly accept and support the recommendation.
Just to call out that who gets on this commission matters a lot for the future of the built environment in Hayward.
However, in this instance, staff pushed back a little. They specified how big a mural could be, which is objective, but then specified that it had to go through the City Mural Art Program which does have an oversight element in there. This is probably a good thing, but will always be subjective. Having a community art advisory group would be something that could provide oversight while still allowing diverse tastes and thoughts into the process. More bureaucracy, but who would you rather have gatekeeping your art?
Councilmember Goldstein asked about the increase in rear fence height to seven feet, and apparently it’s standard practice in a lot of other places, including unincorporated Alameda County.
Councilmember Syrop asked about biking infrastructure in the TDM. Here’s the chart to read:
He also expressed a desire for short-term bike parking, especially for businesses, but that’s already covered by Cal Green and the Mission Blvd Code. Councilmember Syrop also pushed for a more ambitious stance on rezoning the copious amount of low density in the City, which is more of what we need to hear.
All of Council supported it, thanked staff, and was all happy smiles because it was the last meeting of the calendar year.
Mayor Salinas adjourned the meeting in memory of Jodie Gordon.
Although that publication was eaten by the East Bay Times years ago, it’s still listed as a “newspaper of record” in the municipal code. To get around it, the East Bay Times publishes 1 issue a week on Fridays in Hayward under the Daily Review masthead. This allows the City to meet its requirements under city law, allows the East Bay Times to benefit from the guaranteed money from it, and allows both to evade scrutiny because the Daily Review only exists in print and the Newsbank version doesn’t list any of this stuff! Did I ever mention that my dream is to turn this into the newspaper of record for Hayward?
Though there was a member of the HARD Board of Directors in the audience, it is unknown whether she spoke to the Choir representative to clarify the issue.
Essentially an open letter.
These are unarmed employees who aren’t sworn officers. The upside of these are: the positions are easier to fill, they cost less to fill, and they’re unarmed. They’ve proven a fertile middle ground for members of council on the subject of the sworn officer vacancies.
It should be noted that CAP was down to, depending on who you asked, between 4 and 5 active members from its full size of 11.
Despite the fact that it’s a committee meeting, not a community meeting but to find a silver lining, at least this should be better publicized than the last one.
Neighborhood Alert System helped to establish Neighborhood Watch groups which can be problematic or helpful, dependent entirely upon the make-up of the group. Personally, the idea of deputizing a group of residents to keep an eye on neighbors with an eye specifically toward crime seems rather authoritarian, especially with the police as the explicit supporter.
Both of these initiatives are Police initiatives. The Night Out for Safety and Liberation was created as an alternative to the police centered ideas of community safety.
Did you know they were both born at St. Rose Hospital?
It just means “poor” but it sounds harsh, no?