On Performative Grief
In Which: Swalwell grieves murdered aid workers but does nothing of substance. Districting is explained in detail. And Hayward declares a new Poet Laureate.
Swalwell’s Empty Words
At the beginning of the month, news broke that the Israeli military used drones to systematically attack and kill aid workers with World Central Kitchen who were operating in Gaza. It was, in all honesty, a relatively minor escalation in a genocide where Israel has targeted journalists, hospitals, and civilians with a venom that has turned Israel into a pariah state—unless it’s being retaliated against for bombing a foreign embassy, but that’s another article.
After the news of the attack on World Central Kitchen workers broke, our Representative, Eric Swalwell, took to social media to express his feelings on the matter: “It is just gutting to think about the innocent World Central Kitchen volunteers who were killed so unnecessarily in Gaza.” He said, “The hard truth here is that they didn’t have to die.”
And he’s right. I would have though that over 14,000 children deserve a similar amount, if not more, air time than seven volunteers, but if this is what it takes to come around to the right idea, who are we to complain? Swalwell continued, “America must also really reconcile and think about what are our priorities.” Yes!
Should we be sending $14,000,000,000 to a country that systematically targets foreign aid workers? Should we be their screen in the UN blocking every attempt to hold them accountable on the world stage? These are our country’s current priorities and we should definitely be rethinking them.
Nancy Pelosi, a fellow AIPAC-PAC funding recipient, was so appalled by these murders that she pushed for Biden to put conditions on military aid to Israel. It was signed and/or supported by almost every Representative in the Bay Area. Almost. Eric Swalwell did not sign on to the letter and did not even make a single mention of conditioning aid to Israel.
In fact, less than a month away from his performative and mealy-mouthed Instagram post, he’s shown through his votes—votes he’s casting on our behalf—that he seems more than comfortable with Israel murdering aid workers. He approved H.R. 8034 which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is valued at over $26,000,000,000 (that’s billion). In a message to constituents, Swalwell said he voted in favor of it because $9,150,000,000 of that (or 35% of the funding) will go toward humanitarian aid.
I’m sure the 65% of the funding that goes toward murdering the people that the other 35% is supposed to feed will definitely be appreciated by the Palestinians. This is like offering someone first aid while handing more bullets to the person shooting them. There is no justification for this—that money we’ve already sent was used to kill the people Swalwell alleges to mourn.
And honestly, I don’t even have the energy to push back on the part where he visited Rwanda to mark the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsis. The double-think necessary to highlight a 30-year-old genocide while ignoring the one happening at that very moment is almost impressive. But I’m sure that, years from now after he’s done absolutely nothing to stop the Palestinian genocide, he’ll sign some document proclaiming it Palestinian Awareness Week or something.
Don’t insult our intelligence, Swalwell. Stick to the advice you’ve doubtless been receiving from your campaign team: play your part in the Republican-led media circus, promote your AI-generated images of Trump sleeping in court, and don’t even pretend you care about anyone in Palestine—it’s painfully obvious to everyone how little you value their lives.
Districts Are Arriving All Over Hayward
We’ve been going on about districting a lot recently and I realized that we haven’t taken the time to explain what it is and what it means to you. Consider this section an explainer, because it’s happening all over Hayward this year.
What’s Happening?
Districts are coming for just about everything that isn’t districted already. As we’ve covered before, the City of Hayward is being sued to force us into districts—they approved the timeline last week and will have districts approved by July 15th. Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) got a similar threat letter and they voted to move to Districts on April 10th—similarly, they should have districts approved by July.
The Hayward Area Recreation and Park District (HARD) hasn’t gotten a threat letter yet—despite being the least representative group of the bunch—but having seen the way the winds are blowing, they’re looking to move to districts to get ahead of it.
The three biggest governmental bodies that cover all of Hayward are moving from at-large elections to district elections—and it’s still possible that some of it will happen in time for November, though it much more likely to affect 2026.
What Are Districts
Right now, when you vote for a City Councilmember, a HUSD Director, or a HARD Director (when you get to vote for them), you’re voting for multiple people from around the whole City or District. Each one of them will, in theory, represent the interests of the entire area. These are at-large elections.
An election district is, much like the Assembly or State Senate or House of Representatives, a specific area that’s grouped together and, for the City, would represent one portion of the City.
For example, for a district that looks like Sector 2 on this map, someone running for the District 2 seat would have to live in the District—usually for at least a month or few before declaring candidacy. Then the only people who could vote for them would be other people living in that district.
Ideally, that person would be plugged into those neighborhoods and be a voice for their needs on City Council. Given that some areas contain ethnic enclaves or have a high concentration of people around the same income level, the demographic make-up of Council could change both ethnically and economically.
Are Districts Good?
On the face of it, yes! According to many Political Scientists, having a district system is usually a good idea in any City with more than 100,000 people. Hayward has 160,000 people, HUSD covers even more (it includes Cherryland and parts of Castro Valley), and HARD is even bigger (including Cherryland, San Lorenzo, and all of Castro Valley).
This means that each person on these bodies is supposed to understand and represent the needs of over 160,000 people, which feels like a lot for anyone to do. Breaking it into smaller pieces is supposed to make that job easier and give otherwise-neglected areas a louder voice in government decisions.
Moving to Districts will also dilute the power of some of the larger institutional players. For example, the Chamber of Commerce won’t be able to elevate a slate of Councilmembers through downtown ads anymore, and will instead have to do outreach for each Councilmember they want to back within those specific districts.
It will also make it cheaper for new candidates to run since they will have a much smaller area to worry about and can, ideally, get more in touch with those constituents.
There’s lots of reasons to suggest that this will be a net benefit to local residents—especially in Hayward.
I’m Sensing a “But…”
But none of that is guaranteed. The biggest fights are going to be over the district boundaries. The map of Sectors from The People’s Budget gives a pretty good idea of what those boundaries will look like—though they’ll have to be modified to meet State law. Many current Councilmembers live near enough to each other to potentially be forced into a district together—there can be only one.
There’s also a need for truly robust community involvement in the process—something which is impossible to do well on a compressed timeline. Running it quickly benefits people who have the time and resources to engage with the process on short notice—usually people who are wealthier, whiter, and older. In a City as diverse as Hayward, there’s reason to be concerned that already powerful groups will have the ability to shape the maps in their favor—though there are guardrails in State law.
On top of all of that, the compressed timeline means that City Staff—especially in the City Clerk’s department—will have to drop everything and work long hours to make this happen. With only 3 months to do outreach, get a demographer, organize and run community meetings, set up presentations, and do all the behind-the-scenes work… there’s hardly time for anything else. If we’re very lucky, it’ll go smoothly, but if something’s hinky we won’t have another chance to change the maps until 2031—after the next Census.
How Should I Feel About This?
As with many good things in life: cautiously optimistic. This is undeniably a good thing—better representation and more neighborhood-level control should benefit the residents who have felt marginalized in the City. It will allow smaller Council campaigns to get off the ground and hopefully make Council seats more competitive—running a city-wide campaign is expensive and benefits people with existing connections.
There’s a chance for things to go sideways—there always is—so it’s up to each and every one of us to make our voices heard and stay informed. We’ll be covering this here, and don’t be shy about sharing it out with your neighborhood.
This is coming. It’s up to us to make sure it changes Hayward for the better.
Consent Items
Poet Laureate
Hayward will be getting a new Poet Laureate, Leticia Guzman. On top of lifting up a local poet, educator, and organizer working for Youth Speaks whose poetry has been featured in Quiet Lightning, The Offing, and doubtless other outlets I can’t find at the moment, the City is also setting up a process for selecting future Poets Laureate going forward.
For anyone potentially interested in the 2026 process (the Poet Laureate has a 2 year term), here’s what the process will entail:
Submit between three (3) and five (5) original works of poetry demonstrating
commitment to, and mastery of, the art and craft of poetry in any style or form.
Submit a brief paragraph not exceeding 300 words describing why applicant wants to be Hayward’s Poet Laureate and who or what inspires them to write poetry.
Submit a video no longer than five (5) minutes of one poem read aloud as if to a large audience.
Submittals must not include gratuitous violent or sexual content, hate speech, or
slander
Selected candidate must be willing to fulfill the Poet Laureate duties.
Candidates must live within the city limits of incorporated Hayward at the time of applying and during their tenure as Poet Laureate if selected.
Candidates must be 18 years of age or older as of April of that year
Selected candidate must be willing to submit a W-9 form to the City of Hayward in order to receive stipend.
And here’s what the City is expecting of Ms. Guzman over the next two years of her tenure:
Promote creativity and appreciation of poetry and the literary arts.
Write at least two (2) poems annually dedicated to Hayward or major occasions or current events affecting Hayward residents, as and when mutually agreed upon.
Attend between one (1) and four (4) City of Hayward and/or literary events annually and read or otherwise perform their poetry at these events and may attend additional events at their discretion.
Create and share original content (such as poems, videos of poetry readings, etc.) for the City of Hayward’s social media platforms or other forms of marketing and/or outreach, as mutually agreed upon.
Act as an ambassador representing the City of Hayward in the local literary arts community and representing poetry in the wider arts community.
Represent the City in a professional and positive manner while in their official role as Poet Laureate.
I’ve never been particularly hot for poetry—my enjoyment peaked with Dr. Seuss—I am excited that we’re investing in local artists and have a transparent process for those who are going to be champions of the arts in our City. I look forward to reading Leticia Guzman’s poetry and seeing her at City events over the next 2 years.
Big Money Coming For Safe Routes to School
Our local schools will be getting some minor improvements soon with the injection of over $6,200,000 into the Safe Routes to School (SR2S) program. The Staff report says that the projects will include:
a SR2S implementation project for 12 schools (listed below)
a Citywide bike voucher program
bike parking installations near the City’s key destinations and school sites
active transportation education and promotion including bike classes, engagement events, and crossing guard training.
The SR2S schools identified are:
Burbank Elementary School
Faith Ringgold
Impact Academy
Longwood Elementary School
Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School
Park Elementary School
Schafer Park Elementary School
Southgate Elementary School
Tennyson High School
Tyrrell Elementary School
Winton Middle School
Palma Ceia Elementary School
Now, this sounds amazing, and I’m definitely excited that the City has secured funding to make infrastructure improvements at local schools. But as I’ve covered before, it’s important to remember the very modest scope of some of these projects. Most of them are little more than paint—an improvement, to be sure, but a far cry from what’s needed
Bike parking is a lot more exciting, as that’s a real quality of life improvement for cyclists. I’m also intrigued by the bike voucher program—the Mayor has previously expressed interest in getting ACTC funding for a voucher program in the past—but I haven’t seen evidence that the issue of low ridership is the cost of a bicycle.
More often than not, the concern is that cycling isn’t safe—there’s plenty of evidence that cycling is a dangerous hobby in Hayward. And it’s going to take a lot more than painting “advanced stop bars” to solve that.