Digging Deep Into Council Plans
In which Strategic Priorities are explained, Nerd Stuff is explained, and the CSC is called out once again
Weekend Meeting Brings Big Plans
The City Council met for over 5 hours this past Saturday to discuss the Strategic Plan. Gathered together with the heads of almost every department, City Staff presented a list of projects that they’ll be focusing on for the coming fiscal year. While often an eye-crossing bureaucratic process, if you want to know what the City is going to be focusing on between July 2024 and June 2025 then this meeting is one to keep an eye on.
How It Works
The City has taken the multitude of things it could be doing and grouped them into 7 categories, each overseen by a different Council subcommittee:
Economy - Economic Development Committee
Infrastructure - Infrastructure and Airport Committee
Housing - Homelessness and Housing Task Force
Climate - Sustainability Committee
Safety - Public Safety Committee
Organizational Health - Budget and Finance Committee
Vibrant Neighborhoods - All of Council
Every initiative that goes to these committees will eventually go to Council, but they may wind up being Consent items by that point and barely discussed.
All of the projects that live under these categories will also be viewed through the lenses of Racial Equity and Education City—the Mayor’s pet imitative. The Racial Equity lens will mostly be trying to center equity in all of the processes and procedures for the City and will be spearheaded by the new Equity and Inclusion Officer.
The Education City lens feels a little more vague, with the main plans being to grow educational pathways (make sure kids get to College) and workforce pipelines (from high school or college to jobs), and provide educational programming. That this will live under the Library is an interesting choice and follows Mayor Salinas’ pattern of wanting to put every community service that doesn’t have a place under the Library. This habit is not unique to Mayor Salinas, as libraries across the country constantly struggle with taking on services that they are unequipped and ill-funded to provide.
Nerd Dashboard Incoming
If you’re a big ol’ nerd for keeping track of City projects, keep an eye out for a new public-facing dashboard coming in April. In theory, it will show the progress for all of the City’s priority projects. They listed the Fort Collins, Colorado dashboard as an example, though it hasn’t been updated since November of last year.
What Makes a Vibrant Neighborhood?
After being presented with the basic framework of the Plan, Councilmembers weighed in and provided feedback and potential changes that might be integrated into the final product. Understandably, everyone was hot for the Dashboard as data-driven governance is a very popular topic at the moment. And if it’s properly integrated, updated, and maintained, it could provide a lot of transparency for both the Council and the general public.
Councilmembers Zermeño and Andrews showed that they think Vibrant Neighborhoods are synonymous with business. They both pushed to get reports on those projects to be delivered to the Economic Development committee, though in looking at the projects (later), most of them have nothing to do with the economy. But it does show how the ideas are tied together in the minds of these Councilmembers. Notably nothing about infrastructure was mentioned, despite it being inextricably tied to feelings of vibrancy.
Mayoral Initiatives
The Mayor also took the time to voice his concern, yet again, about the potential instability coming due to the Presidential Election this Fall. Although he didn’t mention the notorious grifter by name, Mayor Salinas stressed the need to be prepared for potential cuts to Federal funds and other national-level changes that could impact how the City functions locally. Whether he knows it or not, the Mayor is definitely adopting some tenants of New Municipalism.
Mayor Salinas also took the time to give more details on his Education City initiatives, revealing that he’s formed a working group with CSUEB President Cathy Sandeen, Chabot College President Jamal Cooks, HUSD Superintendent Jason Reimann, himself, and the City Manager. They’re going to be working on creating a policy agenda of some kind, including having a conference this fall to develop it. The Mayor also said that the four respective agencies are brainstorming a development project for an “Education Village,” though there were no details beyond that.
Another project that may come out of the Education City Working Group is a pilot prep program that would encourage chronically absentee students (presumably middle and high school) and connect them with job training at the Hayward Airport. There was no mention of the potential harms the students could face due to the continued use of leaded fuel for the airplanes at the airport.
After the topic was broached, other Councilmembers weighed in on the Education City initiatives: including the Stack Center and other agencies, potentially providing guaranteed college admission for local students—though Community College and CSU East Bay admissions standards are already very reasonable, ensuring that the Regional Occupational Program is included, as well as the Alameda County Board of Education, and Moreau High School.
Economic Development
Some ideas from Council leaned heavily into the idea of business safety. Councilmember Goldstein wanted to ensure that people felt safe in shopping areas, specifically citing Southland Mall. Councilmember Roche brought up the Broken Window Theory of crime prevention and wanted the City to ensure that businesses knew that the City had their backs. Councilmember Bonilla suggested that staff put together a briefing on broken window and vandalism data. It would be interesting to see if this data fell under the Public Safety Committee or the Economic Development Committee—though Councilmember Bonilla is on both.
Councilmembers Zermeño and Andrews were concerned about the “leakage of Hayward dollars” to other cities. Councilmember Andrews questioned about the area around Hesperian and Industrial Boulevards and alleged that many people would sooner go to Union City than go east over 880 into Hayward. She also cited the lack of food options and amenities for workers in that area, though she didn’t give specific examples of what that could look like.
There was some discussion on the vacant storefronts with Councilmember Syrop citing the issues around empty storefronts downtown. Mayor Salinas agreed, “We gotta hold building owners accountable somehow.” The Mayor also lamented the multiple antique stores on B Street—though there are a lot fewer than there used to be. Councilmember Roche alleged that downtowns are dying nationwide—much of the recent narrative on that is due to remote work—and suggested seeing what other cities with successful downtowns are doing.
At the same time, there was concern from Councilmembers Andrews, Bonilla Jr., and Zermeño that some attention should go to other commercial sectors in the City like Tennyson Boulevard. While some expressed an interest in making the Tennyson corridor “thrive,” Andrews questioned what “thriving” meant. She and Councilmember Zermeño pointed out that the occupancy rate in the corridor is quite high—though the walkability of the area is seriously lacking. As many Councilmembers live in and around that area, Tennyson came up quite frequently.
The final point was on street vendors. Councilmember Goldstein requested there be more enforcement of the Street Vendor Ordinance, though the City Manager reminded him that the City is in the Education phase at the moment. Councilmember Andrews suggested having a sanctioned vendor area—an idea that has been brought up multiple times but is not allowable in the ordinance—and also focused on enforcement. Mayor Salinas—after bringing up the chicken mannequin again—said “we support vendors” after talking almost exclusively about protecting brick and mortar businesses at their expense and stressing the need to “protect the integrity of our neighborhoods.”
Infrastructure
Infrastructure was one that got me excited—especially since one of the projects is “Explore alternatives to the Downtown Loop.” But there were also some other big projects around parks and public transit. There is also a plan to create a Recycled Water plan and a Sustainable Groundwater plan—both of which will be key for our water-starved community.
Councilmember Syrop stressed that the City look for small changes that have a big impact, especially for the Loop and Downtown. Though I imagine everyone on Council has a different idea of what that could look like. Councilmember Goldstein wanted Public Works to focus on tracking throughput, saying that traffic calming doesn’t necessarily mean going slower—though if streets were designed for the posted speed limits, speeds would definitely decrease. But to Goldstein’s other point on tracking accident stats, those would almost certainly be improved.
An interesting idea that came up was the idea for a Downtown Shuttle. Whether it be in partnership with AC Transit or City funded was unclear, but the idea was quite popular with Councilmembers. On public transit, Councilmember Roche reiterated her confusion on payment for AC Transit—though there’s a regional effort to have more seamless payment with Clipper.
Councilmember Zermeño once again expressed his love of the Airport, requesting that Airport be the first part of the committee name. “The airport is the jewel of the city,” he said.
Housing
Housing is a complicated and multi-faceted issue, so Council discussion was pretty wide-ranging. Councilmember Roche expressed a desire to see statistics of who Centro Legal de la Raza has helped fight evictions and also wondered if Hayward Promise Neighborhood could potentially get involved in housing issues. Mayor Salinas—who has focused on HPN for some time—stressed that HPN’s focus is on education and that even if it’s related, Council should be wary about mission creep. This stands in strong contrast to how he views the Library.
The Rental Registry came up in discussion and it was pretty clear that some members of Council had recently had discussions with some landlord groups. Councilmember Zermeño mentioned the desire to have carveouts for small landlords—even though they make up the majority of local landlords. Councilmember Goldstein expressed concern about how landlords are referenced in documentation, repeatedly referring to them as “housing providers”—a preferred moniker used by groups like the California Apartment Association. He worried, without evidence, that too many restrictions might encourage them to leave Hayward.
Councilmember Roche was more on board, though she expressed a desire to see a more regional approach to the registry—similar to Mayor Salinas’ idea of a Joint Powers Authority with adjacent governments.
Councilmember Andrews alleged that unhoused people migrate to California because of the weather. However, Community Services Staff has pointed out before that county data shows that the vast majority of unhoused people—over 80%—still live in the neighborhood where they lost their housing. And if that’s the case, we can’t blame the good weather and need to think about what policies we’re enacting to help our neighbors—most of whom are one missed paycheck away from homelessness.
Climate
Some interesting plans for this section are providing compost hubs throughout the city and partnering with All In Eats to encourage food recovery. The City is also looking to plant a lot of trees, 1,500 per year—though it’s still unclear if that’s net or gross trees.
Councilmember Andrews continued to push for partnerships with CalTrans to address environmental impacts to homes adjacent to 880. She also called attention to the unhoused folks who camp on the on/offramp land, which is technically owned by CalTrans and not under the City’s jurisdiction. In a similar vein, she called for more partnerships with Union Pacific as many people camp along the disused tracks that criss-cross Hayward. However, Public Works Director Ameri admitted that “UP is extremely difficult to work with.”
A lot of energy in the plans is dedicated to electric vehicle adoption. Councilmember Roche continued to encourage developing plans for charging stations at older multifamily buildings—something staff has stressed is difficult in prior discussions. She was also open to the idea of multifamily buildings having shuttle stops for any proposed Downtown Shuttle.
On electrification, Councilmember Goldstein stressed the importance of heat pumps despite their expense. He encouraged staff to look at partnerships to increase adoption which will reduce natural gas usage for the City. He also encouraged ebike rebates and increasing their adoption though events that incourage biking—group rides or races.
Councilmember Syrop pointed out that one of the reasons for a lack of bicycle use of any kind is a lack of basic bicycle infrastructure—especially places to lock up. He couraged staff to examine the basic bicycle experience and that adoption would increase in tandem. Mayor Salinas once again floated the idea of providing free bikes for high/middle schoolers with funding from the Alameda County Transportation Commission.
There was also a lot of talk about tree planting, specifically the group 100,000 Trees. An issue with maintenance came up and Councilmember Roche encouraged education on the part of homeowners—it would also be nice to have some native trees involved as they’re typically less resource-intensive to maintain.
Safety
One of the biggest investments in this section is in Emergency Dispatch. This would simulatneously help all emergency services from the Police to Fire to HEART. It looks like they’ll be getting a new space to work, too, which is nice. I hope they still plan to spin it out of the Police Department as that’s where Dispatch currently lives, if I recall correctly.
Councilmember Syrop brought up the issue of Wage Theft being the most prominent crime perpetrated in our country by dollars lost. Unfortunately, like most things that privileged people do, Chief Matthews said that dealing with something like wage theft is difficult to do and so they don’t deal with it.
Many on Council pushed for more community outreach from HPD. Councilmember Andrews congratulated HPD on having a youth basketball program to “encourage the youth to connect with you all [HPD].” Councilmember Goldstein also pushed for more police engagement with the community, as well as more deescalation and customer service training.
At the same time, Councilmembers Syrop and Goldstein both agreed that Community Service Officers—non-sworn officers who undergo less training—should be leveraged in a sort of triage system. Councilmember Bonilla asked if it was possible to fill all empty officer positions, which the City Manager characterized as an “aspirational goal.”
But when it comes to resourced departments, nothing beats HPD. Chief Matthews said that they have at least a 13 (might have been 30) person recruitment team to try to fill all their empty positions. With so many focus areas, it feels strange that one small part of the Safety plan should have so many resources.
Vibrant Neighborhoods
A lot of the stuff here has to do with Community Services and the Library—they apparently are in charge of the Community Enrichment and Educational Programming. There’s also the vendetta against the sign on Jackson and Silva. They’ve already removed the trees nearby it (again, net or gross?) so I assume that’s coming soon, much to the relief of Councilmembers Andrews and Roche.
Tennyson was once again a focal point here. Councilmember Bonilla Jr. expressed a desire to beautify Tennyson. That will come in the form of lights and other things, but likely not increased walkability. But when it came to improving streets, Councilmembers Andrews and Roche still have a referral in the works around Foothill, and though it remains to be seen what that exactly entails, she stressed that it was “all hands on deck.”
There was a push to move Council meetings into the community and maybe have alternate meeting locations—the Stack center will likely become one of those. A desire from Councilmember Roche to have more of those enormous signs on Foothill that she seems to like. Councilmember Goldstein suggested a motorcycle safety class from HPD. Councilmember Syrop expressed concern around dog crap being everywhere—prompting the City Manager to reassure the Mayor that dog poop does, in fact, go in the garbage.
There was also an idea floated of a Neighborhood Services Division, which the City Manager didn’t rule out. It will be interesting to see what that entails if it ever develops.
Organizational Health
Lots of talk here was about the Access Hayward App, which definitely could use some work. Council liked the dashboard and several wanted the City to share more information with residents about how the City is saving money—I certainly hope they do a cost/benefit analysis of that one. Councilmember Roche wanted to maintain fiscal responsibility and disciple. “We’re open to ‘no’ and we’re open to ‘please wait,’” she said.
There was also some concern about referrals, to which Councilmember Syrop had an idea of making sure that referrals are used to further existing goals. Councilmember Goldstein wanted to make sure that any referral ideas—even ones that aren’t implemented—are tracked and monitored so they can be incorporated into later planning discussions. The City Manager reassured him that this already happens.
Finally Councilmember Bonilla Jr. encouraged the City to leverage AI which is a really tricky subject. I’m generally opposed to AI, personally, but I also know that Councilmember Bonilla Jr is a C-suite at Meta, so it shouldn’t be surprising that he has this on his mind.
Community Services Commission
Finally, the last thing on the Council agenda was the Community Services Commission. It’s apparently been living rent-free in the minds of many of our Councilmembers for some months. After Councilmember Roche suggested that The People’s Budget might be given to the Community Services Commission—an idea Councilmember Syrop was skeptical of, Councilmember Bonilla Jr. expressed concern that the CSC had too many roles.
“I am concerned,” he said, “about these commissions weighing in on things outside of their purview.” This is a reference to a Council Meeting in October where the CSC made recommendations on the Community Advisory Panel to the Chief of Police—a meeting body that has since been disbanded.
Mayor Salinas was in a similar frame of mind. “For all intents and purposes,” he said, “let’s be real on why we’re even talking about this right now: it’s the Community Services Commission… We really have to figure out the scope of the Community Services Commission because there’s commission creep... It has gone awry and we really need to reel this back in.” And while some criticism was given to the Keep Hayward Clean and Green Taskforce and the Library Commission over “commission creep,” the majority of the focus was pointedly directed at the CSC.
Councilmember Bonilla Jr. continued to express concern about the CSC, wanting oversight of “self-written charters or mission statements.” The City Manager responded that the City Attorney is also “concerned” about self-written bylaws and said that this particular topic will be a work session in the spring. This is despite the fact that all bylaws changes have been conducted in accordance with the Brown Act and the most recent changes have mostly been concerned with formatting and minor modifications.
Councilmember Andrews also weighed in, saying that the City Council “literally restructured our [Committees] based off the stuff happening with the CSC.” Which feels like giving a lot of credit to the CSC for what was billed as Councilmember Bonilla’s idea for a Public Safety Committee. She then previewed a proposed scope for the CSC by saying, “the focus is also giving money out to agencies.” Though it should be noted that this process takes a grand total of 3 months of Commission time, leaving many other months for other things.
Even Councilmember Goldstein characterized the CSC as a commission gone wrong, saying that the CSC “just kind of went off the rails.” He also characterized himself as having turned the commission around, “prior to my arrival they weren’t really getting the instruction on what their real goals and purposes are.” This feels like a stinging rebuke to former Councilmember Lamnin who was the previous Council Liaison to the Commission.
The only real dissenting voice to this discussion was Councilmember Syrop who spoke against mapping Commissions to Council Goals, calling it “trying to put a square peg in a circle hole.”
Considering everyone on the City’s executive team aside from Councilmember Syrop and the City Clerk have openly expressed concern with the CSC’s past actions, all Commissions should watch out for Council tightening the reigns in the coming months.