City Manager Sendoff
In Which: Eric Swalwell votes against protesting students. Elected Officials bury the City Manager in framed documents. And a veteran City Manager moves to Santa Barbara.
Eric Swalwell Curtails Free Speech
This week, Eric Swalwell and 319 other members of the House of Representatives dealt a blow to free speech in education with the passage of HR 6090, misleadingly called the Antisemitism Awareness Act. The act requires that the Department of Education use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism when investigating complaints of discrimination. The official summary says that the IHRA working definition “is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.”
On the face of things, that sounds like a good thing. The definition itself seems innocent enough. Unfortunately, there’s more than a little criticism of this definition, with one paper on the subject saying, “In particular, the ‘Working Definition’ is inconsistent, contradictory and formulated very vaguely. It therefore does not satisfy the requirements of a good definition.” (Ullrich, 2019)
The IHRA working definition also comes with 11 examples of what antisemitism is and 7 of them (almost 2/3rds of them) relate to criticism of the Israeli government. This would mean that the Department of Education would be required to cite criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu as evidence that a student faculty member is antisemitic—presumably leaving all political science classes in a rhetorical minefield.
This also applies only to the Department of Education. There have been pro-Palestine encampments set up on College and University campuses across the country, with dozens already resulting in arrests and detainments. If this bill gets signed into law—it still has to pass the Senate—it will mean that the Department of Education will be required by law to use this definition to determine if a student or faculty or program or institution is discriminatory if they use Federal funds.
Simply by engaging in protest against the Israeli government, the students and faculty risk putting all Federal funding at their institutions at risk if someone so much as hints that there’s discrimination. This disgustingly bipartisan bill will encourage administrations—many of whom are already engaging in severe repression tactics—to repress these students even more to protect their funding.
Antisemitism is a problem—neo-Nazis exist and are unfortunately on the rise. But using a definition so vague that it encompasses legitimate political discourse is not how we should define antisemitism. This will not make Jewish people more safe. This will not stop neo-Nazis.
This bill was cynically written to further punish the tens of thousands of students and faculty who are trying to convince their administrations and our government to do the right thing and put an end to a genocide. And Eric Swalwell voted for it. This AIPAC-funded official, allegedly representing our interests, is actively working to make life worse for students and faculty fighting for justice and human lives.
Its far too late to run a candidate against Eric Swalwell—he’s got the entire backing of the DCC establishment anyway—but it’s worth keeping an eye on this man who represents us. He can hide behind the bill title, saying it’s a good thing to combat antisemitism, but I’m not sure it looks any better to look incompetent instead of malicious. Either behavior should make anyone unfit for office.
City Manager Gets Warm Sendoff
City Manager Kelly McAdoo got a big sendoff at the April 30th City Council meeting before she starts her new job as the City Manager of Santa Barbara. After working for the City of Hayward for 14 years—8 years as City Manager—politicos from all over came to deliver their well wishes.
Representatives from the offices of Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Laphonza Butler, Representative Eric Swalwell, State Senator (and former Hayward Councilmember) Aisha Wahab, and Assemblymember Liz Ortega read prepared remarks of varying length and delivered resolutions celebrating McAdoo’s work. It was interesting to see how long or involved the speeches were—though, in fairness, Eric Swalwell is the only elected who had been in office for more than 2 years.
More locally, the General Manager and Board President of HARD showed up to deliver a gift of a picture of Mia’s Dream Playground, which was completed during her tenure and doubtless involved a lot of work between HARD and the City. The HUSD Superintendent delivered remarks, along with the Chabot College President.
Former Mayor Barbara Halliday started off the City-specific crowd and reminisced that one of the first projects that Kelly McAdoo had worked on as Assistant City Manager were the 238 properties. “And now,” the Former Mayor said, “there are neighborhoods up there. There are people living and working up there, benefitting our city, instead of a horrible freeway structure that was originally planned.”
A theme that emerged was the true power and importance of the City Manager. “I can’t imagine,” Former Mayor Halliday said, “how much more difficult it would have been to be the mayor of this city without your being there by my side the whole time and making sure everything ran properly.”
The Former Mayor was followed by remarks from the Library Director, McAdoo’s former executive assistant, and the CEO of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce who said, “I’ve admired you from afar.” Next was former Councilmember Marvin Peixoto who, when not talking about his usual morning golfing routine, celebrated McAdoo’s fiscal acumen and coordination efforts.
Council Remarks
Council came next and, although the majority of the Council has only been in office for less than 2 years, all had warm things to say. Councilmember Zermeño continued to show the way to his heart when he said, “She knew Spanish and she knew Hayward. Instant liking.” He also explained what a City Manager really does, “You need one person who has their finger in every single issue we face.”
Councilmember Roche took time to highlight the benefit of McAdoo’s experience during a tumultuous 2022 election year. “When I started there were 4 of us,” she said, “I think that’s a lot for a City Manager to take on.” Councilmember Bonilla Jr. also leaned into McAdoo’s experience when he said, “Other City Managers come and get trained by Kelly,” and celebrated her financial stewardship.
Councilmember Andrews said, “I’ve always looked up to you [Kelly McAdoo],” as both of them are single mothers with daughters. Councilmember Andrews also expressed gratitude for McAdoo’s “methods of lean innovation.”
Councilmember Goldstein expressed gratitude for McAdoo’s coordination skills, calling her “someone with such aptitude to herd cats so well.” Councilmember Syrop took a tone of graduation, saying “Kelly has been running the City for almost half of my life,” but, he said, “you have made us all better Councilmembers… the training wheels are off.”
Mayor Salinas reminisced about the first Alameda County Conference of Mayors meeting he went to with McAdoo, “I knew almost all of the City Managers in the room because they had all come under the tutelage of Kelly McAdoo.” He also highlighted the kind of asset that a prominent City Manager can be for a Mayor, “The level of credibility… I had just by being next to her was incredible.” He continued, “She knew who to talk to, who to be connected to, throughout the County.”
This was capped off with a Certificate of Commendation, presented to Kelly McAdoo by the City Council.
During her remarks, Kelly McAdoo reminded everyone what a City Manager’s job really is, “My job is about creating the conditions to allow great things to happen,” before thanking all of the City staff. “The City Manager gets the credit, but I don’t really do a lot of the work.” She also lifted up the executive team for the City and said that it was “the reason I feel comfortable leaving.”
When it came time to discuss her accomplishments—many of which had already been listed in a highlight reel—she lifted up two: getting the streets paved in the Old Highland Neighborhood—a project which had been in the works for decades—and statewide policy changes that came about as a result of the explosion at the Russell City Energy Plant.
She closed by saying that it was important for her to “leave a place better than you found it.” Kelly McAdoo’s final day is Friday May 3rd.