Labor, Students, and Trains
In Which: SEIU Clerical calls out broken promises, Capitol Corridor changes rankles Mayor Salinas, And Syrop is concerned about overcomplicated projects.
SEIU Takes The Stage
A contingent of SEIU 1021, the Clerical Chapter, used public comment on Tuesday to call out issues with recent contract negotiations. The sticking point was around CalPERS contributions—which I’m not an expert on so I won’t go into detail—but the broader concern was with unfulfilled promises from the City’s negotiation team.
According to Evelyn Olivera, the SEIU Clerical Chapter President, there was an agreement to allow SEIU to speak directly to City Council by the City’s contract negotiation team. However, that agreement was later ignored. “This decision,” Ms. Olivera said during public comment, “directly contradicts our established agreement. This is not merely a procedural oversight, it undermines the integrity of our negotiation process and raises serious concerns about the transparency and honesty of our communications.”
The City Council doesn’t negotiate directly with the Unions, though it does approve the final contract. The negotiation team for the City of Hayward included Interim City Manager Claussen, City Attorney Lawson, the two Assistant City Managers Youngblood and Kostrzak, Human Resources Director Frye, and Finance Director Gonzales. This means that the City Council may not get key details of the negotiation process if they are not relayed to them by the City’s negotiating team.
“Such actions are unacceptable,” Ms. Olivera said, “I urge you to reconsider… and honor the commitments made during our negotiations.” Although the cost to Union members was a factor, breaking trust and silencing the Union was the primary concern—they’ll directly affect how SEIU approaches future negotiations. “This action has effectively silenced our voices and undermined our collective efforts.”
Mayor Unsatisfied With Rail Plans
If you weren’t aware, Hayward has its own Amtrak station near Burbank Elementary school at the East end of B Street. Although it resembles little more than a shelter from the rain with some benches attached to a parking lot, the station is attached to the Capitol Corridor—a passenger train line running from Sacramento to San Jose. It even runs to Levi Stadium.
Unfortunately the line is scheduled to be switched from the current Niles Subdivision, which runs through the middle of Hayward, to the Coast Subdivision freight line, which runs through the industrial part of town—formerly Russell City. Freight trains would then be re-routed to the current Capitol Corridor line, running right through residential neighborhoods and near multiple schools.
The proposed plan removes stations in Hayward and Fremont and consolidates them to a station at Ardenwood. The new alignment along the Coast Subdivision will be susceptible to sea level rise and flooding, disproportionately impacts Hayward residents, and the plan itself seems full of contradictions and vagaries.
Mayor Salinas took issue with the public hearings which have taken place exclusively in Oakland, despite the affected areas being over 20 miles away. “I have complained that all of the meetings on this issue are in Oakland in the middle of the morning,” he said, “which is completely inaccessible to folks in Hayward.”
The Mayor pointed out that the cities of Hayward, Fremont, and Union City are all opposed to the realignment, though the Environmental Impact Report was approved on Wednesday, anyway. “To plan a nearly billion dollar project and not have it in the community that it will be impacting… I think is shortsighted and, quite frankly, disrespectful,” Mayor Salinas said.
And Make AC Transit Pay For It
The consent item about bus shelters was pulled for brief discussion by the City Council. Councilmember Andrews asked questions about standards for bus shelter maintenance, if there was a “policy or points system for improving our bus shelters,” and if there were standards of design for bus shelters. None of the questions received answers from City Staff.
Councilmember Andrews specifically highlighted differences between shelters along Mission Blvd and in West Tennyson. “There’s different standards that I’m seeing in different parts of the community,” she said, “and I want to make sure everyone is represented equitably in that type of infrastructure.”
Councilmember Bonilla maintained his laser-focus on the budget by asking if maybe the City could just… not pay for the maintenance. “Is there a way that AC Transit can fund the main maintenance of these bus shelters versus the City doing it?” he asked. He clarified by referencing the bus bench pilot project put forward by Councilmembers Syrop and Zermeño and took the stance that if the City is building them, then AC Transit should maintain them.
City Staff insisted that there is value in the nominal investment the City makes in order to have a say in AC Transit matters. Councilmember Syrop, one of the AC Transit Liaisons, agreed. “There’s a give and take,” he said, “where on one contract we might be contributing a little bit of money, but they also contribute a lot of labor in another way.”
Councilmember Bonilla’s comment is in reference to an annual payment of $39,361.
A Moment For ARPA Funds
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was an economic stimulus package approved by the Biden Administration in 2021 to help the country recover from the effects of COVID-19. The City of Hayward received over $38,000,000 of that money and used it for a variety of projects across the City.
However, many of those funds have time limits on them—use them or they go away. Fortunately for the City, they can take any unused funds and put them into the General Fund if the Council chooses—recovering lost City revenue was also a possibility for the funds. The majority of the money comes from a First-Time Homebuyer Down Payment Assistance grant that nobody took advantage of—none of the $2,000,000 was used. Those funds, and $1,500,000 from other programs, will be rolled into the general fund.
Councilmember Bonilla stressed how helpful the funds will be in mitigating the budget deficit. “Using this money to replenish our reserves is a commitment to the community that we’ve made… on our ability to rebuild a reserve,” he said. During his speech, he mentioned the reserve multiple times.
Councilmember Syrop focused on how the funds should be used. “This is helping put $4,000,000 into our reserves,” he said, “Of that $4,000,000, 2 of that is coming from a housing program. And as we explore housing policy and work to address our homelessness crisis over the next year, I want us to be mindful of making sure that some of these dollars get used for that intent.”
Student Discounts Not On The Menu
Councilmembers Syrop and Andrews put forward a referral to implement a student discount program for local businesses, which they called the StackPass Education Discount Program. During his comments, Councilmember Syrop explained that the program “would be an all-inclusive educational discount program for the city.” He said it would cover all students at all educational institutions—from HUSD to CSUEB to ROP to Life Chiropractic to Moeler Barber/Cosmetology and local apprentices.
A similar program exists through the Associated Students Incorporated at CSU East Bay, but it pursued businesses as far away as Oakland—justified by the Oakland Center which never saw many students and is no longer a part of CSUEB. There also seemed to be an issue with awareness. “If a discount exists and nobody knows about it,” Councilmember Syrop said, “does it actually exist?”
Unfortunately, the Staff Report said that staff capacity—a small division of 2 people would be assigned to it—is already maxed out with the Special Events Grant Program. Citing an 80 hour estimate “to select and onboard a vendor to build and maintain the web platform” and a further 80 hours to recruit eligible businesses and clarify terms—not to mention 120 hours of training for businesses—Staff recommended revisiting the program in February for the next Strategic Roadmap.
Councilmember Syrop expressed concern about the workload estimates. “I have already gone through the process of ID’ing and securing some discounts,” he said. The referral lists 18 businesses that have at least indicated interest in the program. He also pushed back on the idea of spending 80 hours contracting with a vendor to run a web platform for what is, in essence, a list of businesses with a map. “To me, that represents a kind of operational bloat that I want to call out,” he said. “We’re overcomplicating a project.”
Councilmember Syrop also questioned the idea of Councilmembers somehow pressuring businesses into situations they wouldn’t be able to afford. “Councilmembers are asked to negotiate on behalf of the City all the time with developers, with labor partners,” he said, “We’re here to try to make something work for our small businesses and our residents.”
Councilmember Andrews, who co-signed the referral, seemed unconcerned by the Staff response. “[I] hope it can be discussed further during the Strategic Roadmap,” she said.