Mayor Salinas Rallies at CSUEB
I quote a movie, The Mayor pokes fun at a politico, and The Council gets a very easy agenda.
State of the City
On February 28th, the Mayor delivered his State of the City speech at CSUEB. The event was a combination of Celebrating Mayor Salinas and recapping City accomplishments. The opening speaker, a former colleague of Mayor Salinas and Dean of Ethnic Studies at CSUEB, celebrated the Mayor in a way that felt more like a campaign event than a State of the City event.
He referred to the decision to hold the address at CSUEB as “visionary leadership in action” and said “Salinas is a mayor for the people and of the people.” He also brought up things that are almost Salinas memes at this point: grilling, being born at St. Rose Hospital, and Education City. It was a glowing introduction that felt too effusive for a State of the City address.
When he took the podium, Mayor Salinas mainly focused on three themes: Safety, Economy, and Housing. He highlighted the new Fire Station 6—which is important to him because it strengthens ties between the City and Chabot—and the HEART Program. Though, rather than framing the HEART Program as something that grew from community need, he framed it as something that the Police and Fire departments would have done all on their own:
“…if you give people such as Hayward’s Fire Chief and Police Chief the space and flexibility to design new things, they can and will reimagine their tools. In this case, mental health response.”
As a history lesson, in 2020 HPD officers shot and killed a man who was having a mental health crisis in his own driveway which—along with prior police killings and the nationwide Movement for Black Lives protests—resulted in massive community outcry for change. This was not something that HPD would have initiated on their own, especially with a then-Police Chief who very recently referred to peaceful protestors as “crazy”.
When it came to Housing, the Mayor highlighted the St. Regis project which will create hundreds of beds for those experiencing homelessness and mental health crises. He also shouted out the surprisingly small but very mighty Housing and Services departments. It was probably the most standard portion of the address.
When it came to the Economy, the Mayor had a lot more to say. He highlighted Buffalo Bills being open—thanks in part to a loan the City gave to Alejandro Gamarra—, an industrial area at 96% occupancy with technology and battery companies, and the recent purchase of the movie theater building on B Street. This last point included a specific jab at former City Councilmember Al Mendall—who presumably didn’t like the idea—and the Mayor further insisted that it was going to be the “safest” theater in the area.
The “safety” push continued when Mayor Salinas mentioned the extension of Measure C by highlighting the big new Police HQ they’re going to pay for with the money. There’s also the chance of a new Weeke’s Branch Library, though he waffled on that there may not even be a new library—just… something.
The Mayor then said the quiet part out loud by showing everyone how Police get 43% of the General Fund, dwarfing every other department in the City. And that’s including the funding for the 40+ empty Sworn Officer positions that they use to fund purchases that don’t necessarily need Council approval. Considering a Sworn Officer and a Housing Development Specialist have almost the same salary (a Community Programs Specialist is $6,000 less per year), maybe that money could be put to use on the things that residents actually worry about.
Finally, he shared the departure of City Manager McAdoo and announced that himself, Councilmember Roche, and Councilmember Goldstein will be on the search committee. It’s difficult to know what the Mayor’s rationale is here, but this feels like a more conservative choice of Committee members. The full Council gets final hiring decisions, but the search committee will probably narrow the choices down to around three.
So while the “State of the City is strong and thriving,” according to the Mayor, the event itself was a mixed bag. Part campaign, part highlight reel, it was difficult to figure out who this event was for. If I can modify a quote from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, I found myself asking “Why did the Mayor hold the State of the City event? Was it for his glory, or for ours?”
Consent Items
This week’s agenda is a pretty sparse one. It’s 100% Consent Items, so we’ll have to see what comes up, if anything, during what will doubtless be a brief City Council meeting.
Moving Money Around
The City was going to drop over $600,000 in Federal money on the St. Regis project, but because of the reporting requirements, the folks with that project decided against taking the money. This is what happens with too much means-testing, by the way.
But the City still has it, so they’re going to drop it on some other projects, instead.
Unspecified Security Upgrades to the B St. parking garage ($222,000)
Tree maintenance at Weeke’s Park ($45,000)
Stryker fire safety tools for the Fire Department ($384,000)
The upside is that the money is still useful, the City already gathers this information anyway, and spending it out will allow them to apply for more funding in the future. Hopefully the St. Regis project didn’t need the $600,000 too badly, but waste not.
You Want Improved Pavement? You Got It.
A call for bids is out for a massive pavement improvement project throughout the City. $15,000,000 from 6 different funding sources is going to be pooled together for this one.
The maps make it easiest to read, so here they are—for the key, Red is Rehabilitation, Blue is Preventive Maintenance, and Green is new Bike Lanes.
There’ll be two big areas with a lot of work. One is in the North of the City in and around upper B street. The second is in West Hayward near Hesperian Blvd.
But the big winner here will be for anyone using Tyrrell Avenue, which has been a nightmare of potholes and construction damage. It’ll be repaved and get a new bike lane, though it doesn’t specify what kind of bike lanes they’ll be. But any improvement is good for some of these roads.
Keep an eye out for them in the next year or two.
Opioid Settlement Money
The City is going to get a little over $1,300,000 over the next 15 years from the big pharmaceutical companies that pumped opioids into our communities for many years. As a part of the settlement, there’s only certain things we can use the money for that center around opioid use.
But there are a few that are a little more open-ended:
Support the treatment of opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions
Support people in treatment and recovery from opioid use disorder and any cooccurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions, including wrap-around services like housing, transportation, education, job placement, job training, peer support, counseling, community navigators, case management, legal services, and connections to community-based services
Provide connections to care for people who have or are at risk of developing opioid use disorder and any co-occurring substance use disorder or mental health conditions
These ones will probably get a lot of use in the future, if only because they’re more flexible. So look out for additional funding for programs like these in the coming years. The CSC has already benefitted from it.