Reflecting on a Month
Hayward City Council goes international, Election season 2024 begins (already), and I need your help.
City Council Goes International
The August 5th Hayward City Council meeting was cancelled this week as multiple council members are on a delegation to Hayward’s new Sister City of Faro, Portugal. On August 15th, the City Council voted to formally include Faro in the list of Hayward Sister Cities, joining the ranks of Funabashi, Japan; Ghazni, Afghanistan; and Yixing, China.
The Sister City idea started after WWII in an effort to form international partnerships. It started with the people of Coventry and Stalingrad sharing money and care after the War. In the US it was formalized under the Eisenhower administration as a way of promoting diplomacy. They’re usually created because of shared connections of some kind, whether similar size/demographics, business connections, diaspora communities, or shared history.
For Faro, it started in 1965 when former Councilmember Julio Bras started a committee on it, based on the significant number of Portuguese immigrants who came to Hayward in the early 20th Century (possibly earlier), and got a council resolution voted on to formalize it. Though there was, apparently, never anything signed by both parties formalizing it bi-laterally. Despite that, in 1976, Faro contributed traditional material from Portugal to aid in the construction of the Portuguese Centennial Park (corner of First, Foothill, and C streets)*. On the 15th, this was remedied with the signing of an agreement by both mayors.
What does this mean to you? Mostly warm fuzzies, honestly. Maybe there will be some work between the two cities on education, economics, tourism, and other stuff laid out in the agreement, but it’s pretty vague. I think mostly it’s good PR, and an excuse for local electeds to engage in international travel. But time will tell how much Hayward invests in this relationship.
*No mention was made of any contributions Hayward made to Faro in return over the last 47 years.
Election Season 2024 Already
No, you did not read that incorrectly. Even though no normal person would possibly be thinking that far ahead (because you have lives and real things to think about), it’s time to start thinking about 2024 elections already.
HUSD School Board
Austin Bruckner Carrillo has officially registered candidacy for the HUSD School Board. Currently on the Community Services Commission, Bruckner Carrillo works in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office in the Community Support bureau. He formerly worked in Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley’s office, but switched positions 4 months ago, presumably to distance himself from some of Supervisor Miley’s more problematic political views*.
Bruckner Carrillo has been looking to make his break into an elected position in recent years, applying for the vacant seat on the City Council now occupied by Ray Bonilla Jr., and now pulling for the School Board. He seems to have no children, nor a background in education, so my feeling is that this position may be a trial run for further elected offices. According to his LinkedIn page, he’s been working in different offices of elected officials off and on since 2013.
Hayward City Council
Angela Andrews has also recently announced a fundraiser for her upcoming 2024 political campaign. The host list starts with the current State Controller, Malia Cohen, and then moves into a who’s who of local establishment political figures: Aisha Knowles (Alameda County Board of Education and head of the Russell City Reparative Justice Project Steering Committee), Sara Lamnin (former City Councilmember and current HARD Boardmember), Al Mendall (former City Councilmember), Elisa Marquez (County Supervisor, former City Councilmember), and Julie Roche (City Councilmember), Alanda Johnson of the local NAACP, and others.
Although it’s always a good idea to start getting funds together now, with how Hayward politics usually go, I feel like most of this money will get donated to a different 501(c)4 after the campaign as she’s an incumbent maintaining her seat. And the only incumbent I can think of who lost their seat in recent history was Marvin Piexoto in 2018 to Aisha Wahab. (Wahab ran a killer campaign with solid union ground support, which is pretty unusual in Hayward.) Maybe Andrews knows something I don’t about any competition, but I suppose it never hurts to fundraise early.
*Miley is, generally speaking, seen as one of the more conservative Supervisors in the county. His District encompasses Fairview (and the Hayward hills), Castro Valley, and Pleasanton, the demographics of which are usually whiter and more conservative. He’s generally seen as pro-law enforcement and pro-landlord, especially after his skepticism of Just Cause Evictions protections.
Reflections
It’s not been quite a month since I started this, but given the slow news week, I thought I’d reflect on how things have gone so far (as an educator, I know how important reflection is to the learning process).
I’ve learned a lot more about local politics than I knew before, and that’s definitely saying something considering I was a massive townie nerd before now (just ask my wife). I’m also pleasantly surprised that this is actually useful to people. It’s one thing to have an idea of what people need, and it’s another entirely to have people take you up on it.
After reading as much as I can about what Local News is available these days, I’m even more firm in my belief that something like this is necessary. Having a specialized understanding of Hayward politics, history, and policy so people can have context about what’s going on, I think that’ll increase understanding and maybe even engagement. That’s the hope, anyway.
Finally, I’m starting to realize just how much I still don’t know. There’s still people I don’t know about, organizations I’m not fully up on, and history I still don’t know. I mean, even I didn’t know this thing was hiding in an industrial park until recently*!
Because of that, I want to say that I can’t do this without your help. I need you, fellow Haywardiste, to fill me in on what’s going on in your neighborhood. I don’t know everything about South Hayward (or… SoHay… blugh), Cannery, Santa Clara, Southgate, the Hills, the Jackson Triangle… things are going on all the time. And I would love to hear about it. So, if you ever want to share out a lead, know the story of something, or even just chat about local townie bullshit, hit me up: haywardherald@gmail.com. It’d be cool to know you.
*Check out the event about it at Hayward Public on Friday. It seems pretty cool.