City Manager Gets Put On Ice
In Which: Dr. Ana Alvarez is placed on administrative leave by the Council, City Staff celebrates and push to rebuild trust, And Councilmember Syrop speaks against increased Police surveillance
City Manager Put On Administrative Leave
Mayor of Hayward Mark Salinas started the meeting by giving a summary of what happened during Closed Session. Closed Session is where Council meets behind closed doors to discuss either legal or employment matters. “The City Council voted unanimously to place City Manager Alvarez on administrative leave, with pay, while we complete a performance evaluation that the City Council started on April 22nd, and continued on May 6 and May 13.”
While we don’t know what’s being said in Closed Session, we do know that—as the Mayor announced—City Manager Alvarez has been under scrutiny for some time. Members of City Staff spoke during public comment on April 15th, which presumably started the process the following week on April 22nd. Staff came out again on May 6th to protest decisions around the outgoing Human Resources Director, and on May 13 the City Manager’s comments were delivered by Assistant City Manager Regina Youngblood.
One can only assume this last meeting was contentious because during the two hour meeting, which was supposed to also include negotiations with the City Attorney and the Hayward Police Management Unit, the only thing they did was put Dr. Alvarez on administrative leave. The Mayor also revealed that he moved the item, perhaps signaling that he has lost faith in the City Manager.
When Mayor Salinas made the announcement, applause erupted from the Council chambers. City Staffers had once again filled the Council Chambers to presumably speak against Dr. Alvarez.
City Attorney Lawson will serve as Acting City Manager until the end of the evaluation. That the duties didn’t fall to either of the Assistant City Managers seemed unusual, and the reasons behind the decision to appoint the City Attorney remain unclear.
City Staff Celebrates Sidelining City Manager
Similar to the turnout on May 8th, City Staff filled the Council Chambers on Tuesday. Half a dozen members of City Staff spoke, even after several declined to speak. It was evident from some of the comments that the decision to place Dr. Alvarez on administrative leave was a pleasant surprise.
“I want to begin by offering my heartfelt thanks for the action that you took today,” Sachiko Riddle said, “By listening to us—truly listening to us—you’ve shown that our voices matter.” She also mentioned the damage that had been done in Dr. Alvarez’s first 100 days. “While it’s a shame that we lost so many dedicated employees under Dr. Alvarez, your decision today is a step toward the opportunity to rebuild.”
Multiple members of Staff, specifically men, took to the podium to speak for others who did not feel comfortable speaking up in public themselves. “I came up to speak on behalf of someone that was afraid to speak tonight,” Theo Spores of the Planning Division said, “and I want to thank you all for taking action on behalf of all those people who were afraid for their jobs, afraid to speak out, intimidated, and put in a position that they couldn’t overcome on their own.”
Rick Rivera, an Analyst in the Community Services Division, took to the podium for the third time—this time on behalf of another anonymous Staffer afraid to speak on their own. He reminded Council that it is important to not fall victim to the Sunk Cost fallacy. “Policy makers must be willing to admit mistakes or change course when needed, “ he said, “I truly appreciate that Council has done the hard thing.”
Emily Hwang, also from the Community Services Division, also spoke publicly again. She hinted at the possibility that Dr. Alvarez may not return from her administrative leave. “It feels wrong to celebrate an individual’s departure from the city in this way,” she said. “This decision was not without complexity, but it was the right decision.” Ms. Hwang also called for “transparency and scrutiny” for future recruitment—seeming to believe that Dr. Alvarez’s replacement is not far off.
Danny Magalhaes, President of HAME, said that he had prepared a speech, presumably in opposition to Dr. Alvarez. “I ripped up that speech,” he said. “Turns out it was a good thing.” He thanked Council for support and emphasized the need for recruitment and retention—many City Staff had either threatened to leave or had left in the months since Dr. Alvarez took over.
And Manny Grewal, the HAME Treasurer from the Maintenance Services Department, said that the groundswell of opposition to Dr. Alvarez was out of concern for Hayward residents. “Many people chose to speak up, not for themselves, but for the well-being of our City and the community we serve.”
It is unclear how long Dr. Alvarez will remain on paid administrative leave.
Syrop Speaks Against Surveillance
During the Consent Items section of the agenda, Councilmember George Syrop pulled the item regarding the Flock Automated License Plate Readers for additional discussion. He clarified that he hadn’t even intended to have it pushed off like it was. “But I am happy that we spent some time on this,” he said.
He was grateful for the additional information in the Staff Report, which addressed concerns about video recording and sharing information with a large database that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can access. “I think as we’re making expensive equipment requests,” he said, “especially of this dollar amount, I would appreciate this level of detail each time we go forward.”
Councilmember Syrop still ultimately voted against the purchase, in part, because of concerns about future City Councils in this political climate. “There are unanswered questions around our strategy around surveillance if we lose our Sanctuary City status.” he said. “I have genuine concerns around what it means for us to expand surveillance in this specific moment in time.”
During public comment, Mike Katz-Lacade, who spoke against the purchase of the Flock cameras previously, asked pointed questions around data retention, data sharing, and the effectiveness of the technology. In the Staff Report, it correlated an increase in stolen vehicle recovery by raw numbers, but as a proportion of vehicles stolen, the percentage actually decreased after the cameras were installed.
A second commenter, who went by TR, supported acquiring more cameras. She argued that “sometimes data goes too far,” in regards to Mr. Katz-Lacade’s analysis of the Staff Report data. She also made the argument that people are already surveilled by multiple other forms of technology, so it would be fine to add a little more for Police.
The Flock Camera purchase was approved 6-1 with Councilmember Syrop voting against it.
Quick Planning Approvals
The City Council took a few minutes to talk about the Universal Residential Design Ordinance, though they skipped the presentation. Apparently it has been in the works for so long that Councilmember Andrews remembered it from her time on the Planning Commission over 4 years ago. Though this is the first time it’s been in front of either the Planning Commission or the City Council since 2023.
Thankfully, it’s not a controversial thing. Universal design is just building things to be accessible to all ages and abilities. And all this ordinance does is require that residential buildings—that’s single family homes, duplexes, and triplexes—are built in a way to accommodate future changes for universal design.
Councilmember Roche asked if the ordinance forces accommodating future changes, not necessarily requiring universal design when its built. “[We’re] mandating that developers design from the get-go to accommodate. It doesn’t require that they install it.” He cited things like extra reinforcement in some walls for future grab bars or flat thresholds for doors.
“It’s all to accommodate individuals who would like to just stay in their home without having to move,” Staff said, “because their home wasn’t designed to accommodate that.” With a rapidly aging population of Baby Boomers, aging in place has been a trend in development for several years. The City already spends money on local nonprofits who do free or discounted installations—things like ramps or grab bars—and State and Federal Governments both have grants targeted at building homes for low-income seniors.
Councilmember Roche celebrated the change. “I’m really pleased Hayward is focusing on this for the multigenrations [sic] of kids,” she said. “I mean, a zero threshold allows a stroller and a walker to go over it.” Councilmember Andrews agreed that this change will benefit multiple demographics. “So this is also providing dignity for others who need those types of features,” she said.
Councilmember Syrop tied the ordinance to both senior and disability justice. “[This is] how we make sure that we’re building more units in our community that can accommodate all kinds of people.” However, he was curious to see what the reaction will be from developers and encouraged the City to be ready to pivot to address concerns. “Not every policy is perfect on its first go,” he said.