Colorful Canopy

A nanny pushed a baby carriage through a canopy of leaves earlier this month in front of the Main Library.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Rent Control Advocate Finally Evicted

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 12-27-18

John Busch finally got evicted.

He had held out most of the year, but the sheriff’s department finally showed up at the door of his mobile home on Nov. 15.

The 82-year-old who grew up in San Leandro refused to go. He said he held onto the screen door and refused to comply. So he got arrested for obstruction of a public officer, trespassing, and contempt. 

Busch spent four days in the county jail. On the following Monday morning he found out that he could go, because the District Attorney wasn’t going to press charges.

A spokeswoman at the DA’s office said they weren’t pressing charges “in the interest of justice.”

Now Busch is sleeping on the couch of a generous friend and planning to live in a camper. He said the group Our Revolution has taken up his cause, helping him with legal work and in acquiring a camper.

Busch has always said that he believes what is “criminal” is the big rent increases that are squeezing the working people of the Bay Area. The former Eagle Scout has made it his cause.

Since the beginning of the year, Busch had refused to pay the 60 percent rent increase at the Bayshore Commons mobile home park on Grand Avenue in San Leandro. Instead he paid each month with a 7 percent increase in his rent, which he believes was fair enough.

The property management company didn’t see it that way, though, and refused to take the checks.

In the meantime, last summer Busch agreed with the management company’s lawyer to move out in July and he wouldn’t have to pay his back rent.

Busch stayed until he was evicted, saying he wanted to make a point – to bring attention to rent increases and evictions.

Before the eviction, Busch said that Mayor Pauline Cutter offered to meet with him, along with other city staff members.

“They said they could find me a place,” Busch said. “I said, ‘If you could find me a penthouse in the tallest building in town, the answer is no.’ That’s not the issue. I have a car. I can survive homelessness. They kept trying to find me a safe landing. And I kept telling them, it’s not about me, it’s about rent control.”

Busch grew up in San Leandro and attended local schools – Roosevelt Elementary through San Leandro High. He says he shouldn’t be forced out of San Leandro by huge rent increases.

Before the eviction, Busch said people told him he needed to leave his place or he might go to jail.

Busch says he told them, “Well, my second cause is the prison-industrial complex.”

On the day of the eviction, Nov. 15, Busch said the sheriff’s department knocked on his door at about 9 a.m. Busch said he didn’t put up a fight, but he did hold onto the screen door and wouldn’t let go when they tried to handcuff him.

The deputies got him in the back of the squad car, and Busch said they told him they hoped they didn’t hurt him. On the way to jail, Busch said he talked to the deputies about why he believes in rent control.

“And I think they were beginning to see my point a little,” he said.

At Santa Rita, Busch said a couple of the inmates said they had seen him on TV (in a story about his pending eviction).

“One guy said, ‘I know you. You were on TV.’ So I got special treatment from them,” Busch said. “They even got my meals for me.”

When last contacted, Busch sounded sure as ever about his cause – rent control. He regularly goes to City Council meetings and tries to win over the City Council members.

“Everyone on the City Council has pulled me aside,” Busch said. “A couple have tried to let me know they’re for it, but they can’t do anything because of gentrification.”

CAPTION: John Busch, at his trailer before he was evicted, says he doesn’t want to leave San Leandro where he’s lived his whole life.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Year in Review: Rent, Taxes, & Fosters Freeze

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-27-18

As the year draws to a close, take a look back at some of the most noteworthy events in 2018 in San Leandro – Part II of the year-end wrap up.

July

• Independent investigator Karen Kramer released the findings on the sexual harassment allegations made by Davis Street Family Resource Center CEO Rose Johnson against City Manager Chris Zapata. Kramer’s 50-page report found no wrongdoing by Zapata and said Johnson’s allegations lacked credibility.

• Despite being cleared of allegations and reinstated as City Manager, Zapata announced he was leaving his job in mid-July. The City Council agreed to a “mutual separation agreement” which gave Zapata a $350,000 severance package. Zapata left for a job as Anaheim’s city manager and Jeff Kay was appointed San Leandro’s new city manager.

• In a letter sent by the City Council, members of all of the city’s boards and commissions were threatened with losing their positions if they refused to sign a gag order regarding Zapata. A few refused to sign, but no one was taken off any boards for not signing.

August

• The San Leandro School Board voted unanimously to put a $39 per parcel tax on the ballot. It passed in November and will bring in about $745,000 to the district annually.

• A new downtown parking plan made its debut, with colored stickers delineating six different parking zones for the 3,000 parking spaces in the area, all with different time limits and parking costs. The police department started using license-plate reading technology to enforce parking limits.

• It was discovered that an Alameda County Sheriff's deputy at the Eden Township Substation illegally recorded inmates’ private conversations with their lawyers, violating attorney-client privilege. Sgt. James Russell was later charged with four felonies by the district attorney's office.

September

• A man was struck and killed by an Amtrak passenger train near the Williams Street crossing. Amtrak urges people to use caution around railroad tracks and crossings – nationwide, about 2,000 people are killed annually by trains.

• The City Council voted to extend a moratorium on non-hosted short-term home rentals such as Airbnb.

• Fumes from a fire at the Alco Metal & Iron Company at the intersection of Davis Street and Doolittle Drive prompted a shelter in place order from the Alameda County Fire Department. Authorities say they’ve been called to Alco at least 10 times over the past three years for incidents including fires and an accidental death, leading the company to be publicly chastised by the City Council.

October

• Thousands partied downtown at the annual Sausage and Suds Festival, enjoying beer, food, and live music.

• The Oro Loma Sanitary District broke ground on a new $19 million water treatment plant.

• Two men were arrested in the shooting death of Joseph Gormley, a San Leandro man who was killed while sitting in his parked car in Castro Valley. The suspects, Davis Harrison, Jr. and Marcus Smith, are next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 7.

November

• The Camp Fire devastated Butte County and Alameda County fire and sheriff’s staff provided mutual aid, sending firefighters, bulldozer operators, police search dogs, coroner investigators, and rescue volunteers to the town of Paradise.

• Former City Councilman Michael Gregory filed a complaint against the four “fresh clean slate” candidates with the state’s Fair Political Practice Commission alleging campaign finance violations. The complaint was eventually tossed out for lack of evidence.

• Real estate developers, unions, and the Chamber of Commerce were the biggest donors to local candidates. The candidate with the biggest war chest in the 2018 election was Benny Lee, who raised over $69,000 but failed to win his bid for mayor.

December

• Less than a month after the election, the City Council directed city staff to begin preparations for a new parcel tax to be placed on an upcoming ballot.

• Nearly $1 million of city funding that had been earmarked to upgrades to the historic Casa Peralta were diverted to the upcoming expansion of San Leandro police headquarters instead.

• Hundreds gathered downtown for the annual “It’s a Wonderful Night” celebration, featuring carolers, carriage rides, and a tree-lighting to get San Leandrans in a Christmas mood.

CAPTION: Cub Scout Pack 635 took a bike ride along the Bay Trail last summer.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KEN BAKER

 

Physician’s Assistant Prescribed Illegal Opioid Pills

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-27-18

A San Leandro physician’s assistant has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally prescribing over 1.6 million pills, mainly addictive opioids.

Prosecutors say David Lague, 61, of San Mateo, was the state’s number one prescriber of opioids in 2015 and 2016, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California.

Lague was convicted last July of 39 counts of distributing the pills for non-medical reasons and was sentenced at the U.S. District Court in Oakland last week.

Lague was arrested in 2017 after a confidential source who was working for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in exchange for a lighter sentence for his or her own drug crime, recorded Lague prescribing unnecessary medication, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a press release.

Among the evidence presented against Lague were details of two occasions where he prescribed oxycodone to a patient who had told Lague that he planned to sell the pills.

In addition, the jury concluded that Lague had prescribed addictive controlled substances to four other patients in a manner that he knew was not medically necessary, prosecutors said.

The drugs that Lague distributed were oxycodone, oxymorphone, methadone, amphetamines, clonazepam, fentanyl, hydromorphone, morphine, hydrocodone, alprazolam and carisoprodol, prosecutors said.

Those pills- which have been deemed to be in the “most dangerous and abused” category by the DAE, accounted for 1.4 million of the 1.6 million he prescribed.

Lague has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, a fine of $5,000, and three years of supervised release following his time in prison.

"This case represents an important victory for the community in its fight against the diversion of prescription drugs," U.S. Attorney Alexander Tse said in a press release. "The medical profession has made great strides in reforming prescribing practices, and the DEA has worked to decrease the total quantities of pills that pharmaceutical companies produce every year, all with the end of decreasing the numbers of powerful opioid pills getting into the hands of vulnerable members of our community."

 

Veterans Turn Memories to Art

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 12-20-18

Jim Hardy had a recurring dream where he was trying to run in the sand and his legs kept getting bogged down.

One day, the former combat photographer was scanning negatives from pictures that he had never printed. An image appeared on the screen of the picture he took in Vietnam from a Huey helicopter firing rockets.

“It came back to me right then,” Hardy said. “That’s what my dream was about.”

The memory came back after 50 years. Hardy said he remembers the pilot flying low behind the sand dunes along a beach, so the dunes would block the sound of the chopper. And then the helicopter rose up over the dunes and people started running. The chopper, along with another Huey, let go a volley of rockets.

“I said I think they’re farmers,” Hardy recalled. “But the pilot turned around and said, ‘No, those are Viet Cong.’ That’s what I was dreaming. I was one of the people running from the helicopter.”

Hardy and a few other artists were on hand last Friday at the Veterans Memorial Building on Bancroft Avenue in San Leandro for a luncheon for the Veterans Art Project, hosted by the Alameda County Arts Commission and the Oakland Veterans Center.

Hardy’s sketches and photos are in Washington, D.C. but he made copies that he had on display at Friday’s luncheon. But the first thing to catch your eye is his carvings of soldiers in Vietnam.

After the war, Hardy decided his art degree wasn’t going to get him a job, so he learned to weld. After work he wanted to do something else, so he started carving balsa wood.

He used his photos to make the carvings, so they aren’t just generic soldiers, each is a specific person, and all his drawings are signed by the subject of the drawing.

“I didn’t want to put my name on it – I thought their name should be on it, so I asked them to sign the drawing,” Hardy said.

The carvings have great detail – the radio operator, the medic, the guy with the grenade launcher. And one is of Hardy himself, with his camera hanging from a shoulder.

A couple of the carvings got knocked over and broken when on display in Washington one time.

“The park ranger kept apologizing,” Hardy said. “I said, ‘No problem. These are grunts. I’ll just patch ’em up and send ’em back out.’”

Another artist at the luncheon, Ehren Tool, works with pottery and displayed his cups. Took works in the art department at UC Berkeley and is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

Another veteran, Sal Castaneda, said he resumed working in film and cinematography after 50 years because of the Veterans Art Project.

“Art can tell a very complicated story in a simple way,” Castanada said.

David Joseph, director of the Oakland Veterans Center, emceed the luncheon and thanked numerous people who contribute to helping veterans, from Dorothy Salmon and the Pathway Home for donating furniture to a woman who helps vets file their claims to the yoga instructor, who got in a word for his class.

“Don’t think hippie yoga, or yoga pants, it’s just bettering ourselves,” he said.

Art is part of healing from PTSD, said Violet Juno, the county Arts Commission coordinator.

Juno said one of the veterans told her, “It’s better to make art than talk about it.”

One figure stands out in Hardy’s carvings, a bespectacled fellow with a bow tie, overcoat and a Panama hat with big, boxy camera on a tripod.

“That’s Matthew Brady,” Hardy said. “So you have a combat photographer from the 1860s and a combat photographer from the 1960s.”

CAPTION: Hardy made many carvings of soldiers in Vietnam, including this one of himself.

 

New Council Sworn In at City Hall Love Fest

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-20-18

Newly elected City Council members took their oaths surrounded by friends and family members at a love-fest Tuesday night at City Hall.

In the November election, Mayor Pauline Cutter, District 1 councilwoman Deborah Cox, and District 5 councilwoman Corina Lopez were all re-elected, and Victor Aguilar defeated incumbent Lee Thomas for the District 3 seat.

Cox was sworn in by her husband Kevin and son James and her 93-year-old father flew in from Iowa for the ceremony.

“I want to say thank you to everyone and I’m incredibly humbled and honored to be reelected,” said Cox. “In the Bay Area we are facing huge social issues and we can’t solve them alone, we have to work together. I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done and I look forward to the work we will do in the future.”

Aguilar was sworn in by Ricardo Lara, the newly-elected state insurance commissioner. Aguilar’s defeat of Thomas was the first time an incumbent City Council person has been unseated since 1974.

Aguilar was emotional as he took the oath and said he was proud to be the first openly gay San Leandro city council member.

“I have experienced the sting of discrimination,” said Aguilar. “I stand up for myself and I will stand up for others. I pledge to always put the people of San Leandro first.”

Corina Lopez thanked her family, including her mother, for coming to the ceremony. Lopez is the daughter of migrant farm workers and she often comments that her childhood disadvantages shaped her values.

Lopez said she was proud to be the first Latina San Leandro council member when she was first elected four years ago and even more proud that the council now has two more Latino members, a Chinese-American member, and that women are well represented on the council.

“It has been quite a road from the lettuce fields of Bakersfield and Salinas to being here on the San Leandro City Council,” said Lopez. “It’s my hope and anticipation that the next four years will be as productive as the past four.”

The last person to be sworn in was Mayor Pauline Cutter, who was surrounded by three generations of her family and sworn in by her daughter Jessi.

Cutter told the crowd this would be her sixth and final time getting sworn into an office after having first been elected to the San Leandro School Board 20 years ago.

Cutter called her fellow council members a family who “are all in it for the right reasons” and also thanked the city’s staff for their work with the council.

“When you work together, you can create things that really matter to you,” said Cutter. “I think I bring common sense, and leadership through common sense is a good thing to have. It just makes me so proud to stand up here.”

CAPTION: City Councilwoman Corina Lopez was surrounded by her family as she was sworn in for a second term on the council.

PHOTO BY  AMY SYLVESTRI

 

Santa Louie Delivers the Bikes Once Again

Bikes for Tykes handed out over 400 bicycles last Saturday at Davis Street;

this Friday it’s the annual toy giveaway

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-20-18

After ten years, it has become a holiday tradition and this past weekend San Leandro Police officer Louie Brandt once again passed out hundreds of bicycles to underprivileged kids at the Davis Street Family Resource Center.

“Santa Louie” spends months soliciting donations from San Leandro businesses and residents as part of his “Bikes for Tykes” campaign. This year, Brandt was able to raise funds to buy over 300 bikes, and Abbott Diabetes Care in Alameda donated over 100 more.

The San Leandro Kiwanis Club pitched in 360 helmets, so the kids can hit the road right safely.

Cars lined up around the block at Davis Street last Saturday morning as parents who have kids enrolled in Davis Street’s various charitable programs waited to pick up the bikes in time to get them under the tree on Christmas morning.  The lucky kids who got bikes were selected in a lottery.

And this Friday, Davis Street will hold its annual toy giveaway, passing out toys to families in need to put under the tree.

In the decade that he has overseen the “Bikes for Tykes” program for the San Leandro Police Officers Association, Brandt estimates that they’ve given away over 3,000 brand new bicycles to boy and girls of all ages – from tricycles to mountain bikes.

Brandt says he may retire this upcoming year, but plans on handing over the reigns of the Bikes for Tykes program to Jason Jower from Abbott Diabetes Care to make sure San Leandro kids will be provided for.

“The program will absolutely continue,” said Brandt. “I am proud of what we’ve done so far and it will go on. Everyone has been so generous. It’s a community effort.”

Davis Street CEO Rose Johnson says that Brandt’s Bikes for Tykes giveaway is always a highlight of Davis Street’s holiday season.

“Louie has brought so much joy to so many over the years,” said Johnson.

The bike giveaway is over for this year, but Davis Street is still accepting donations for their toy drive and turkeys and other food for their holiday basket program through today, Dec. 20.

You can drop off toys at the Davis Street Family Resource Center at 3081 Teagarden Street or visit www.davisstreet.org for more information or to make a monetary donation.

CAPTION: Jason Jower dressed as Santa and helped Davis Street CEO Rose Johnson and San Leandro police officer Louie Brandt give out hundreds of bikes last Saturday.

PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

 

Year in Review: A Look back At 2018

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-20-18

As the year comes to a close, here is a look back at some of the most memorable news stories of 2018 in San Leandro.

January

• The first San Leandro baby of the year, Prince Abraham McElligott, was born at 2:11 a.m. at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, weighing in at 7 pounds and 2 ounces, the son of Edlyn Rodriguez of San Leandro and Reuben McElligott.

• Recreational pot sales became legal and business was booming at the two stores in the unincorporated area: We Are Hemp in Ashland and the Garden of Eden in Cherryland had lines out the doors. Despite the fact that the City of San Leandro first granted marijuana sales permits in 2015, none of the three shops planned have opened yet.

• City Manager Chris Zapata sent out a 23-page mass email preemptively denying sexual harassment allegations that had been brought against him by Davis Street Family Resource Center CEO Rose Johnson. Zapata said that Johnson was retaliating against him due to his demand that her non-profit repay a city loan. After a five-month independent investigation that cost the city nearly $40,000, Zapata was cleared of wrongdoing.

February

• City Finance Manager David Baum gave the city a gloomy financial forecast, predicting a decade of budgets in the red, including a $4 million deficit for this fiscal year. Baum also reported that the city’s  projected unfunded pension liabilities – money that will be needed to pay pensions in future years – have doubled in the past four years to $210 million.

• Mayor Pauline Cutter was appointed Chair of the Women’s Leadership Alliance at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and led a panel on women in government at the Washington, D.C. conference.

• After months and months of debate, San Lorenzo High picked the Grizzlies to be their new mascot, replacing the Rebels which some had deemed racially-charged. It will cost the school an estimated $200,000 to re-brand with the Grizzly logo.

March

• On March 14, someone at San Leandro High wrote a school shooting threat on a bathroom wall, leading to a 4-hour campus lockdown and the cancellation of classes the next day. Dozens of worried parents gathered outside the school while police investigated the threat, using police dogs to search the campus. The threat was eventually determined to not be credible.

• A week later, a 15-year-old student was caught with a semi-automatic gun on campus at Arroyo High and arrested. In May, a 16-year-old student brought a loaded gun onto the San Lorenzo High campus. No one was injured in any of the incidents.

• Mayor Pauline Cutter delivered the annual “State of the City,” declaring San Leandro “a city where kindness matters.”

April

• The East Bay Municipal Utility District marked the 112th anniversary of the great San Francisco quake by giving a tour of their sites around the East Bay and showing off flexible pipes and retrofitted reservoirs to prove they are prepared for the “Big One.”

• The Alameda County Sheriff's Office announced plans to take over operations at the REACH Ashland Youth Center, but hundreds attended a standing-room-only community meeting to dispute that plan. Opponents said that kids would be intimidated by an overt police presence at REACH and questioned why law enforcement would be involved in what is essentially a youth social services program. Supervisor Nate Miley, who had suggested the sheriff’s takeover, withdrew his request but left the door open for the sheriff's office to do so in the future.

• The San Leandro Unified School District was named an Advanced Placement District of the Year by the College Board, an award given to just three school districts in the nation.

May

• The annual salaries of Alameda County’s top employees continued to be among the highest in the state. Administrator Susan Muranishi was paid $775,000 including benefits, nearly $300,000 more than the next highest paid county administer in California.  Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern’s pension and benefits totaled more than $630,000 and District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s totaled $487,000.

• The City Council decided against placing a parcel tax on the 2018 ballot, saying they didn’t want to compete with the school district’s parcel tax. Immediately after the election in November, the City Council directed city staff to research putting a parcel tax on an upcoming ballot.

• “Truth Thursdays” returned to the downtown area on the last Thursday of May, June, July, and August and featured food trucks and live music in the space around the 55-foot “Truth is Beauty” statue at the tech campus.

June

• Thousands gathered downtown for the Cherry Festival, the annual event celebrating San Leandro’s now defunct agricultural roots which was first held in 1909.

• The primary election was held and just 20 percent of registered Alameda County voters showed up at the polls. Locally, the San Lorenzo School District passed Measure B, a $130 million bond that the district said will be used to update classrooms and improve student access to technology.

• Michael Kitterall, 25, was stabbed to death with a pair of scissors in the Downtown Plaza. Kitterall and a co-worker got into a fight in the parking lot with Michael Mendozaroche, 23, and Alex Fernandez, 23, after they all left a bar downtown. Kitteral was killed in what is San Leandro’s only murder so far in 2018. Mendozaroche and Fernandez continue to be held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and have their next court date scheduled for Jan. 4.

Look for Part II covering the second half of 2018 in next week’s issue.

CAPTION: Construction got underway on AC Transit’s BRT stations on East 14th Street.

TIMES FILE PHOTO

 

SL Turns Out for a Wonderful Night

Downtown San Leandro celebrated the holidays with the annual “It’s a Wonderful Night” festival last Friday night with a tree-lighting by Mayor Cutter, the City Council and other civic leaders, followed by music and activities including carriage rides, as the Shapiro family is seen here. Below, the San Leandro High jazz band plays and Terri Zugnoni came to see the tree lighting with her Labrador, Jackson.

PHOTOS BY JIM KNOWLES

 

City’s Cell Tower Deal May Be Limited by FCC

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-13-18

The City Council continued to promote technology in San Leandro with a vote last week to approve a unique plan to install small cell boosters on city utility poles.

The City Council’s decision comes just weeks before a new federal rule goes into effect that will limit the amount of money cities could collect from cellular providers.

The city has entered into an agreement with ExteNet Systems to install “small cell” devices on streetlights and other poles which boost bandwidth, according to Tony Batalla, the city’s information technology manager.

As mobile usage continues to grow, more bandwidth is required, and cellular providers want to install these devices on streetlights to supplement the larger cell towers.

The small cells are closely spaced, so streetlights are ideal, Batalla said. Coverage is limited to around 300 to 500 feet, so it would take hundreds to cover a city.

The city says it’s a way that San Leandro can benefit from money that a private entity is willing to spend.

“Small cell deployments are happening all over the country, paving the way for 5G, which is expected to power everything from smart phones, to smart homes, to autonomous vehicles, and more,” said Batalla. “The agreement approved by the City Council ensures that the city and residents of San Leandro will benefit as much as possible from the massive investments cellular companies are making in 5G technology.”

Cell service is already pretty good in San Leandro, but there is high density usage here which can slow things down. Batalla said there would be the added benefit of faster service once the small cells are installed.

The city’s small cell agreement with ExteNet allows for up to 12 installations in 2019 and that number will likely expand, according to Batalla.

Complicating the small cell rollout is the fact that in September, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed strict regulations on local control of small cells which will go into effect at the first of the year.

Some other companies were considering installing small cells in San Leandro, but withdrew their offers after the FCC decision, leaving ExteNet the only provider still interested, according to the city.

Under the current agreement, ExteNet would license the poles for five years, with options for renewals. The city would have approval of which poles are used and be paid $2,000 annually per pole. If ExteNet uses fiber optics in installing the small cells, the city gets a portion of the fiber for municipal use.

But the FCC decision limits a city’s control of the small cells. Notably, it slashes payment limits cities can receive to $500 for the first five poles and $100 per site thereafter and cuts annual fees to $270 per site after the first year.

In its ruling, the FCC said this will save cell carriers an estimated $2 billion. Batalla said that’s bad news for municipalities, because that’s money cellular providers had previously been willing to pay to cities.

The $2,000 per pole that San Leandro and ExteNet have agreed on in the contract only applies to these first 12 approved poles, so the majority of poles would be subject to the FCC law.

“The FCC order will have a negative impact on the city,” said Batalla. “It will limit license fees the city can charge, while imposing strict permit review periods that will place a tremendous burden on city staff.”

Batalla said that the City Council's decision to accept ExTent’s offer on the first dozen poles in San Leandro before the first of the year at least mitigates the FCC ruling in a small way.

“The City Council has set its own terms and rates, which ExteNet has agreed to and which are much more favorable to the city than the FCC guidelines will be,” said Batalla.

San Leandro is not the only municipality that is unhappy with the FCC ruling. Cities including Portland, Seattle, New York, and Boston and the National Association of Counties and have announced plans to file lawsuits against the FCC.

CAPTION: Small cell installations are going up all over the country, paving the way for 5G mobile communication.

 

Mental Health Workers Picket Kaiser Hospital

Kaiser disputes claim that mental health care is understaffed

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-13-18

Hundreds of therapists, nurses, and other mental health care workers protested outside Kaiser hospitals all over California this week, including the San Leandro Medical Center on Wednesday morning.

The picket was designed to call attention to what they say is a critical shortage of mental health care staff at Kaiser facilities. But Kaiser officials say the employees just want more money and are putting mental health patients at risk by leaving work.

“Mental health is in crisis, not just at Kaiser, but all over the country,” said Michelle Oyarzo, a nurse at the Kaiser San Leandro Medical Center who was out picketing. “San Leandro is one of the newer Kaiser facilities and it’s always a big concern to us when patients don’t have access to care. We recently got a new nurses’ contract that we are all happy with, but nurses are out here to support mental health workers and patients because that is a special population.”

The National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) organized the picket, demanding that Kaiser hire over 100 new mental health care clinicians statewide to ease a workload they say has become unreasonable. The union also wants a contract with the same pensions and benefits as other Kaiser employees.

Therapist Rascel Perry said that some patients suffering from depression and other mental health issues are being forced to wait months to see a therapist after taking the difficult first step of seeking care.

“We are all out here because we want to fight for our patients who are struggling or in crisis,” said Perry. “You see facilities expanding services, but not expanding staffing to meet the demands, so some patients are waiting six to eight weeks to be seen. That’s a travesty.”

But Kaiser says that the protest is less about patient care and more about a push for higher wages and benefits, according to Michelle Gaskill-Hames, chief nurse executive for Kaiser in Northern California:

“Kaiser Permanente is the highest paying employer for mental health workers in California,” said Gaskill-Hames in a written statement. “The union is demanding wage increases that would be even higher. The union’s principal demands at the bargaining table have not been about improving care and access.”

Gaskill-Hames said that in Northern California, the majority of psychologists earn $138,000 or more, and the majority of social workers earn $111,000 or more. She added that Kaiser has increased their staff of therapists by over 30 percent since 2015 (more than 500 new therapists in California) despite a national shortage.

Gaskill-Hames also said the protest was counter productive, as some mental health patients had their appointments cancelled this week during the five-day protest.

“It’s particularly disheartening that union leadership would call this strike during the holiday season, when many of our patients with mental health needs may be at their most vulnerable,” said Gaskill-Hames.

The NUHW countered that even though some appointments have been cancelled this week due to the picket, the protest will benefit patients overall.

The protest will continue today, Dec. 13 at the Kaiser San Leandro Medical Center.

CAPTION: Kaiser employees picketed at the San Leandro Kaiser Hospital this week, part of a one-week protest across the state about mental health care. 

 PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

 

County OKs Plan to Assist the Homeless

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-13-18

Last week the Alameda County Board of Supervisors approved a 3-year “homelessness action plan” for the unincorporated area, including San Lorenzo, Cherryland, Ashland, and Castro Valley.

The plan would include: dedicated parking sites for people living in their cars, tiny homes, a mobile hygiene unit, two winter shelters, a downtown street litter team, and more.

The $10.5 million plan begins in January on services for the estimated 440 homeless people living in the unincorporated area, said Chris Bazar, director of the ty’s community development agency at a Board of Supervisors meeting last week.

The plan’s basic goal is to meet immediate needs of the homeless by linking them to services including temporary shelter, food, and showers. The overall goal is to reduce the number of people living on the streets, Bazar said.

According to data from the county public works and sheriff’s offices, for every homeless person you see on the street, there are many more living in the creeks and in hidden encampments, Bazar said. The county says the homeless population has increased by nearly 40 percent since just 2015.

Last January, the county mapped out these encampments where up to 15 people live together on a semipermanent basis. Many are located along the San Lorenzo Creek. There’s one by the railroad tracks on Springlake Drive, another at Cull Canyon in Castro Valley.

One of the first steps of the new action plan will be to contact the residents of the encampments and determine how to best help them, the county said.

The largest expenditure identified so far is $1.2 million to establish three to five safe parking sites where people living in their cars can park overnight. There would be access to restrooms and outreach workers at each site, but locations have not yet been decided. The county estimates that around 50 people are living in their cars in the unincorporated area on any given night.

The plan also includes $310,000 in funding earmarked for the “tiny home” project at the First Presbyterian Church of Hayward at 2490 Grove Way.

That project came one step closer to becoming a reality this week after over a year of consideration when the Castro Valley Municipal Advisory Council gave its approval for a conditional use permit to operate in the church’s parking lot.

The tiny home plan will now go to the county Board of Zoning Adjustments in January and the Board of Supervisors in February, with the hope of starting to accept applications from prospective tenants in March, according to Chizu Buckalew, the church’s community development director.

Other proposed projects for the county’s unincorporated homeless plan include $460,000 for a mobile hygiene unit – a mobile home with restrooms, showers, and laundry facilities.

Over $310,000 has been earmarked for the creation of a “downtown streets team” of homeless people who would be hired to clean up litter and debris in the western unincorporated county.

The county will also spend $718,000 to convert two existing winter warming centers into winter shelters, plus $380,000 for 25-bed shelter for men. There is no current men’s shelter it the unincorporated area.

CAPTION: Homeless tents have sprung up in many secluded areas, including along the railroad tracks near Springlake Drive.

 TIMES FILE PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

 

Downtown Festival to Kick Off Holidays

San Leandro Times • 12-06-18

Downtown San Leandro kicks off the holidays with the annual “It’s A Wonderful Night” celebration this Friday from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Downtown Plaza, featuring music, dancers and singers, and horse-drawn carriage rides.

The tree-lighting ceremony opens the festivities at 5:30 p.m. Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus will take pictures with families and horse-drawn carriages will give rides around the downtown.

The San Leandro Downtown Association presents the festival each year with funds raised at its annual Sausage & Suds Music Festival in October. Other activities include arts and crafts, cookie decorating, and outdoor movies.

The evening will also feature the “Holiday Tree Lane,” a row of artificial holiday trees lining the pathway from Washington Ave. to East 14th St., donated by the San Leandro Improvement Association (SLIA) and decorated by San Leandro schools.

“The return of this event every year has become a tradition for families and friends to come together and enjoy downtown’s festively decorated public spaces, magical sights, cheerful activities and the company of each other,” said SLIA president Gordon Galvan.

On Stage at It’s a

Wonderful Night:

6:00 – Broadmoor Preschool sing holiday tunes

6:15 – Assumption School Choir sing Christmas songs

6:30 – Assumption Band sounds of the season

7:00 – Principled Academy Kindergarten class sings

7:05 – DC Dance Center holiday dance review

7:30 – Dance Therapy Dancers

7:40 – Music Together by Vita audience participation holiday songs

7:45 – Pallens Martial Arts Karate performance

8:00 – San Leandro High Notables sing Holiday classics

8:20 – Zumba Holiday dance performance

8:30 – Bancroft Middle school Band will play Holiday Favorites

CAPTION: Jerry Howe with the City of San Leandro tree crew trimmed the trees in the Downtown Plaza last week. This tree is over the area where the stage will be for “It’s a Wonderful Night” this Friday, so the crew is helping it look its best. Carriage rides, Santa Claus, singers and dancers will bring the holiday spirit to downtown San Leandro. 

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Casa Peralta Funds Going to Police Building

City Council decides money needed to expand cop shop

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-06-18

The City Council voted last month to reallocate nearly $1 million from a fund to make improvements at the historic Casa Peralta property and instead use the money for an expansion of the police station.

Nick Thom, a city engineer who is overseeing both the police building expansion and the restoration of Casa Peralta, says that the funds were diverted because construction costs on the police building rose by about 15 percent over the last year.

The council decided to take $943,000 from the Casa Peralta improvement budget, bringing the police department project to a total of $9.4 million.

The Casa Peralta improvement budget of $4.5 million was cut to $3.6 million.

Now fewer improvements recommended for Casa Peralta will be possible. An architect hired as a consultant recommended a variety of improvements and made a list of where the money should be spent.

Among the projects suggested by the architect that may no longer be possible were restoring the fountain, repairing ceramic tiles, upgrading the landscaping, restoring windows, adding a toiler, and renovating the kitchen.

Thom said it is not known exactly which projects will be eliminated until the architect does further design work. But Thom added that the improvements that don’t get funded this time will be eligible to compete for funding in future capital improvement budgets.

The short-term improvements that will be funded include the installation of a security system, roof replacement, installation of a handicapped-accessible lift, refinishing the floors, and painting the interior.

Cindy Simons, the president of the San Leandro Historical Society said she was disappointed to hear that some of the Casa Peralta money was being shifted to the police building, but gratified that some improvements will still be made.

“Casa Peralta is so unique because it melds the American town and the Spanish town that came before it,” said Simons of the house, which was built in 1901. “It’s essential to preserve.”

CAPTION: Casa Peralta on W. Estudillo Avenue is the City of San Leandro’s historic house museum. It’s open to the public on weekends with tours led by docents. 

 TIMES FILE PHOTO

 

Council Honors 15 for their Contributions

San Leandro Times • 12-06-18

The San Leandro City Council honored fifteen residents this week who have made contributions over the past year.

As part of the annual district leadership and Mayor’s awards of excellence ceremonies, the City Council recognized ten individuals, including one from each of the six council districts, along with four Mayor’s award recipients who have made a significant difference in San Leandro.

The following were presented with District Leadership Awards from each of the council districts:

• Robert Caruso, District 1 Leadership Award, Councilmember Deborah Cox                               

• Helena Straughter, District 2 Leadership Award, Councilmember Ed Hernandez               

• Rick Solis, District 3 Leadership Award, Councilmember Lee Thomas 

• Yan Zeng, District 4 Leadership Award, Councilmember Benny Lee     

• Noel Moritz, District 5 Leadership Award, Councilmember Corina Lopez               

• Terry Guillory, District 6 Leadership Award, Councilmember Pete Ballew 

The following were presented with the Mayor’s Award of Excellence:

• Tony Farley, San Leandro Academy for Multimedia, Mayor’s Award of Excellence, Individual             

• Tong Sengsourith, Noodles Pho Me, Mayor’s Award of Excellence, Small Business   

• Rachel Rendel, Columbia Cosmetics Manufacturing, Inc., Mayor’s Award of Excellence, Large Business

• Delane Sims, Steps to Success, “A City Where Kindness Matters” Award

The following five individuals were recognized for five or more years of dedicated service on various city boards and commissions:

• Michael Bolar, Five Years, Recreation and Parks Commission

• Justin Hutchinson, Five Years, Recreation and Parks Commission

• Corina Lopez, Five Years (combined), Human Services Commission and City Council

• Marguerite Mazzitti, Five Years, Board of Zoning Adjustments

• Louis Neira Heystek, Ten Years (combined), Youth Advisory Commission and Personnel Relations Board

“As mayor, one of the fun parts of the job is being able to tour different organizations and businesses that operate in San Leandro and learn about the countless ways in which residents contribute to our community,” said Mayor Cutter. “We know that San Leandro is a city where kindness matters because the people who live or do business here make it such a special place. As my colleagues on the City Council can attest, it is our pleasure each year to recognize the service of those who make San Leandro the city we know it to be today.”

To view yesterday’s City Council meeting, visit: https://sanleandro.legistar.com

For more information, contact Alice Kim, Communications Manager at akim@sanleandro.org.

CAPTION: The Mayor’s Award for Excellence went to Tony Farley.

 

Foot-Dragging Pot Shops Irk Cutter

Date for the opening of pot shops is still just a little hazy

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 12-06-18

Three years after the first medical cannabis dispensary was given a permit to operate by the City Council, none of the three permitted shops have opened yet and the city is getting impatient.

“It’s unacceptable that they aren’t open yet,” said Mayor Pauline Cutter at a City Council meeting last month. “I think we’ve been patient long enough. We went into this with good faith and I don't think we are being treated that way.”

The dispensary owners have cited reasons for the delays including a lack of available construction workers and a desire for a state-of-the-art sprinkler system. But Cutter has said the real reason is more likely a matter of money.

Cutter believes the dispensaries are dragging their feet until the city allows recreational pot sales – not just medical – which would be more lucrative.

But part of the problem might be that San Leandro’s pot ordinance is out of date now that marijuana is legal without a medical license. San Leandro’s pot ordinance only allows medical marijuana sales to people with doctor’s prescriptions.

Dispensaries in the nearby unincorporated area and Oakland allow adult recreational sales and even deliver to San Leandro. So it’s easy to see why the San Leandro dispensaries would want to change the outdated city ordinance to allow recreational use in order for the business to be competitive.

“Of course, everybody is waiting for adult use to happen in San Leandro,” said Cutter. “They’d be at a disadvantage if they open up with no adult use. We want to see them open, but the feedback is that they are saying it’s (medical dispensaries) not profitable. That’s something the council will have to look at after the first of the year.”

The idea of allowing cannabis shops to operate in San Leandro was sold to the City Council at a series of meetings a few years back largely on the reasoning that sick people needed access to medical marijuana. But since adult use became legal in California this year, there has been less emphasis on medical use.

Though Cutter believes the council will be open to considering adult use, she says the city is still displeased with how long it has taken the pot shops to open.

“Some people on the council will say ‘Let’s see someone get open before we approve anything else,’” said Cutter. “The operators can’t be surprised that we are frustrated with them. Maybe we need to incentivize them to open, whether that be a fine or something else. Their permits could be pulled, but I don’t believe it will come to that.”

Calls to all three dispensary operators – Harborside, the Davis Street Wellness Center, and Blum – for comment were not returned.

At this point, Blum looks like it will be the first to open at their location at 1911 Fairway Drive, Cutter said. Construction was underway this week and Cutter said that owners Terra Tech told her that they are eyeing a late January opening date.

Blum got a a permit from the city in the fall of 2016, the last of the three operators to do so. At the beginning of 2018, they estimated they’d be open last April.

Construction is also underway at the Davis Street Wellness Center, which is considering a name change to “NUG,” according to Cutter. The Wellness Center received its city marijuana permit in July 2016 and is setting up shop directly next door to the Davis Street Family Resource Center on Teagarden Street.

The first clinic to receive a city dispensary permit was Harborside back in September of 2015. Last summer, Harborside said they’d open up before Christmas 2017, but did not. In August, they said they’d be open by this Christmas.

Cutter said she has plans to speak with Harborside’s owners next week to get an idea of when they will open their dispensary at 1965 Marina Boulevard. 

The delays in opening the dispensaries cost the city money because in 2016 the city passed Measure NN, a special tax on revenue from marijuana sales. The city estimates that it will make $500,000 annually from the three dispensaries once they finally open for business.

CAPTION: Work is underway at the future Blum dispensary on Fairway Drive in San Leandro. The city council gave Blum a permit to operate over two years ago. 

 

Rain Returns, More on The Way

San Leandro Times • 11-29-18

The rain finally blew in off the ocean last week and gave Northern California a good soaking.

Thankfully, the rain helped put out the fire in Butte County, and kept the rest of the fire-prone state from being a tinderbox. At least we won’t have wildfires to worry about until next year.

The clouds opened up last Wednesday afternoon and streets flooded where the storm drains were clogged. Downtown on East 14th Street, storekeepers watched the water come right up to their doors.

But relief was in sight. A city crew in a pickup truck came along to unclog the drains. Workers slogged around in knee-deep water looking for the drains. When they found one, they used shovels and other tools to clear them out.

Soon a whirlpool appeared and the puddles gradually receded. All done by some guys in a pickup truck in wading boots with shovels, as low-tech saves the day.

– By Jim Knowles

CAPTION: Cars plowed through the water after a small lake formed on East 14th Street

downtown last Wednesday. A little later a city work crew showed up to unclog the storm drains.

 

City Council Looking at New Taxes

Now that the election is out of the way, taxes on the agenda

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-29-18

The election was less than a month ago, but the San Leandro City Council is already considering a variety of possible tax measures to put on a future ballot.

At last week’s City Council meeting, deputy city manager Eric Engelbart ran down four ideas for taxes. The City Council directed him and city staff to start polling the community on priorities and the public’s openness to the taxes in the new year.

The city says a parcel tax, a property transfer tax, a vacant property tax, or a modified business license tax are all possibilities.

“We are, as a city, facing a number of challenges,” said Engelbart of the city’s desire for more revenue.

Those challenges include a decade of projected budget deficits as well as soaring pension costs.

The city also says they need more money for public safety, including $650,000 for new fire department vehicles and medical equipment within the next two years.

Additionally, the police department and the fire department have both told the city they want more staff. Each additional San Leandro police officer costs the city and average of $270,000 per year including salary, benefits, and retirement costs.

Engelbart said the city is considering a $65 to $140 per parcel annual tax, which would bring in $3 million to $6 million annually and would need a two-thirds majority of votes to pass.

Another option would be an increase to the property transfer tax, which would be assessed when someone sells their home and would only need a simple majority of votes to pass.

Currently, San Leandro’s transfer tax is $6 per $1,000 of value of a home, the lowest in Alameda County. Berkeley and Oakland charge $15.

Engelbart says that if San Leandro raises the transfer tax to $11, the city would bring in an additional $3 million annually and the biggest impact would be on commercial property owners.

Another option would be a vacant property tax, which Engelbart called “a very new, emerging concept” as the first one in the state in Oakland only just passed on the November ballot.

The vacant property tax is a tax on buildings that are in use fewer than 50 days per year. It would need a two-thirds majority to pass. Engelbart cautioned that it would be difficult to assess and that property owners would likely contest that their properties are vacant.

Several Other Speical Taxes Will Be Considered Finally, the city could consider another specialized business tax, such as the current Measures OO, PP, and NN which are assessed on warehouses spaces, hotels, and cannabis revenue.

“There are all open questions right now, we are just raising them,” said Engelbart.

The cost of putting a tax measure out to public vote ranges from $685,000 for a stand-alone election, to $420,000 for a mail-in election, to $280,000 for a regular election, said Engelbart. The City Council didn’t take a vote, but indicated they’d like the more inexpensive option.

Additionally, surveying the public and hiring consultants will cost an another $100,000, Engelbart said.

“We are going to hit the ground running with the survey work if you tell us to do so,” said Engelbart.

City Manager Jeff Kay say that in the next several months, the city will also produce a budget that will promote voters’ faith in a new tax measure.

“(The budget) will demonstrate to the community how committed this organization is, not just to the revenue side, but to the expenditure side,” said Kay.

The City Council said they were interested in seeing the public’s feedback on all of the taxes as well as what their priorities for how the city spends its money.

Mayor Pauline Cutter also offered an alternative tax idea – hitting the city’s three unopened marijuana dispensaries with a financial burden. She said it’s unacceptable they haven’t opened after all these years.

 

Man Dies in House Fire

in SLZ

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-29-18

A man was killed in a house fire during a family gathering on Thanksgiving Day in San Lorenzo.

Firefighters responded to the home on the 1400 block of Via Coralla shortly after noon and found heavy flames coming from the single-story house.

The identity of the dead man was still in the process of being confirmed as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Alameda County Coroner's Bureau.

Nine people, both adults and children, escaped from the home before the fire department arrived and told first responders that one man was still inside. Firefighters attempted to rescue him, but could not and he was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the fire department.

Crews arrived within five minutes of being called and the one-alarm fire was extinguished within 20 minutes and contained to the home. The source of the fire appears to have been at the rear of the home, near the back bedroom where the man was found dead, authorities said.

Firefighters said that there was a second roof constructed over the home’s original roof, which necessitated cutting four separate holes in the roof with chainsaws, creating “vertical ventilation” holes which gave crews inside relief from heat and helped them gain visibility, authorities said.

Five adults and eight children from two families as well as two dogs, were displaced by the fire and the Red Cross was called to assist them.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, according to the Alameda County Fire Department. The home is completely burned out and uninhabitable.

 

Kaiser to Mark AIDS Day this Friday

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-29-18

This week marks the 30th annual World AIDS Day, and the Kaiser San Leandro Medical Center is commemorating that by inviting the public for a special AIDS awareness open house on Friday, Nov. 30 from noon to 2:30 p.m.

Nearly 40 years after the dawn of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the disease remains incurable, but tremendous advances in treatments mean those infected can still lead full lives.

Kaiser’s program will include a remembrance of those who have passed away from the disease and booths that guests can visit to learn the history of HIV/AIDS, gain knowledge about prevention, and get information about how to get tested.

There are an estimated 500 HIV and AIDS patients at Kaiser’s San Leandro and Fremont facilities, according to Susan Miranda, Kaiser’s infectious diseases manager.  Her department’s goal is to get everyone to know their status, so further infection can be stopped.

“The campaign we have is called ‘Getting to Zero’ meaning zero new infections and zero deaths,” said Miranda. “The goal is to have everyone between the ages of 18 and 65 to get tested at least once.”

Miranda wants people to know that any Kaiser patient can walk into any Kaiser lab and ask to get tested even without a doctor’s referral.

“HIV has become very manageable,” said Miranda. “A lot of our HIV patients are dying of geriatric causes instead of AIDS-related causes. They are dying of old age.”

Dr. Daniel Klein is an infectious disease expert at the San Leandro Medical Center with decades of experience working on HIV/AIDS.

“I’m sure I saw my first HIV patient in the ’70s,” said Klein. “I was working at San Francisco General and there were these cases of gay men coming in with minor lab abnormalities. It was described as some unidentified illness for some time. 

“In 1981, I saw my first official case. And then there was this population of gay men who were infected but not yet showing symptoms.  The rate of infection in high-risk patients at that time was absolutely phenomenal.”

Since then, there have been numerous advances in treatments and what was once a death sentence is now manageable for the vast majority of patients, though Klein says a stigma still surrounds the disease.

“Many patients still feel marginalized,” said Klein. “I have patients that get a diagnosis and are absolutely devastated. But when I do give a diagnosis, I say if you take one thing away from this conversation it should be ‘80,’ because 80 is your life expectancy on average with this disease. You can live to be 80 or older.”

The important thing, according to Klein, is that if you get an HIV positive diagnosis you need start getting treatment as soon as possible. 

“Some people still don’t understand the great benefit of the advances that have been made so they are still hesitant to get tested,” said Klein. “The other side of that is that perhaps others take HIV/AIDS less seriously. With the successes we’ve had with treatment maybe there is less of a sense of doom, but we still need to remember that people die and it’s not curable at present.”

Klein said that World AIDS Day and events like Kaiser’s are a way to keep the disease in the public consciousness and a good chance to get your questions answered in an open, informal environment.

“There have been a lot of advances and there are a lot more opportunities today than in the past,” said Klein. “I’ve been fortunate to see a true medical miracle in my lifetime with all the advances that have been made through testing, treatment, and prevention.”

CAPTION: HIV Health Educator Joyne Taylor, Dr. Daniel Klein, and Infectious Disease Manager Susan Miranda will be at a World AIDS Day Open House at the Kaiser San Leandro Medical Center this Friday.

 

 

County Food Bank Delivers the Goods

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-22-18

Pallets of apples, oranges, and carrots were bagged by eager volunteers at the Alameda County Food bank this week, just in time for the fresh produce to hit holiday tables throughout the county.

It’s the time of the year when many people’s thoughts go to volunteering or donating, but the warehouse on Edgewater Drive in Oakland  is busy year-round, according to Michale Altfest, the food bank’s communications director.

The county food bank supplies nourishment for 1-in-5 Alameda County residents.  The bank receives about 60 percent of its annual  donations during the holiday season. Some of that comes from non-perishables donated during food drives – especially those barrels you see in grocery stores.

Aside from the barrels, the bank can turn one dollar in cash into six dollars worth of food because of deals they have set up with farms and food companies. That’s how they get a lot of their fresh produce.

Lorma Pascua was bagging dozens of Granny Smith apples as a chaperone for a group of high school students who were volunteering at the food bank to earn some community service hours.

“They are earning credit from their school, but it’s not really about that,” said Pascua. “It’s about helping and that’s really fulfilling.”

After the food is sorted, volunteers take carts and wander though the food bank’s large warehouse selecting items. After “shopping,” the food is boxed and distributed to 240 Alameda County soup kitchens, shelters, and programs.

The food bank uses the monetary donations to buy perishable items such as meat, milk, and fresh produce.

The food bank says the grocery items they need the most are canned fruits and vegetables, canned meat and fish, peanut butter, pasta and tomato sauce, beans, rice, soups, cereals and powdered milk.

A "virtual food drive" on the food bank's website allows people to shop and choose individual items at an online grocery store and then pay with a credit card, so they can choose exactly what they want to give.

The website also has information on the bank’s “share our holiday” program which allows people to link their friends and family to give a donation to the food bank in lieu of giving them holiday gifts.

Also coming up is “Giving Tuesday,” which is set for Jan. 1, 2019. It was created as a kind of antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. At the food bank, they have a group of generous donors lined up who will match the cash donations that are collected from the public on that day, up to $50,000.

“I think New Years Day is going to be one of the biggest giving days of he year,” said Altfest. “It’s exciting.”

Donors can drop nonperishable foods in one of the 300 barrels that have been placed in grocery stores and other shops all over the county or make an online contribution at the food bank's website (www.accfb.org), or by sending a check to the Alameda County Community Food Bank, P.O. Box 2599, Oakland, CA 94614.

To volunteer at the food bank, visit the accfb.org website. Individuals, church groups, schools, and companies are all welcome to volunteer.

And if you need food, call (800) 870-FOOD and you will be referred to a source that can provide groceries and hot meals, usually the same day. The Alameda County Food Bank makes over 3,000 referrals each month.

CAPTION: Volunteers Lorma Pascua, Mylah Cachola, Kylah Cachola, Gabriel Cachola, and Aira Cabrera bagged up fresh produce at the Alameda County Food Bank this week.

PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

 

Council Votes For Upgrade to Police Station

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-22-18

The City Council unanimously approved a $9.4-million construction contract earlier this month to remodel and expand the police department.

The police will be expanding into the South Offices building, next door to the current police station at 901 East 14th Street.

The current station’s public lobby will move next door with an added children’s alcove designed to make young visitors to the station more comfortable.

The revamp has been in the works for over a decade, according to Keith Cooke, the city’s director of engineering.

When the Senior Community Center opened in 2014, much of the city’s recreation staff moved to that facility, leaving space in the South Offices building.

“This project has been in the works for quite a while,” said Cooke. “When cell phones came out, the volume to the dispatch center started to grow. We realized in the mid-2000s that we needed to do this.”

Cooke said that constructing an entirely new building could cost up to $90 million, so they’ve taken the cheaper approach. Funds for the construction are coming from the general fund as well as capital improvement bond money.

But the total cost was about $1 million more than what the city had set aside, so the council voted to divert $943,000 from a fund for improvements to Casa Peralta to the public safety building project.

Much of the project will be the expansion of the dispatch area. There will also be a new lieutenant’s locker room, supervisor offices, and staff restroom. The new facilities will include gym with gender neutral showers, skylights, conference room, break room, and interview room, Cooke said.

The project will also involve converting the old California Conservatory Theater into the “Surleen Grant Public Meeting Room,” named after the city’s first African American woman City Council member.

The space at 999 East 14th Street was leased by the city to California Conservatory Theatre group from 1978 to 2012 when the CCT shut down, saying ticket sales were down and production costs were up and they couldn’t afford to stay in business.

The new plan is for a public meeting hall that would be open for use by the police, other city departments, and available to rent out by the public.

“We are making this our high-tech meeting room that will be available to the public,” said Cooke. “We are pretty excited about that.”

Construction on the project is expected to start in early 2019 at the South Offices, and in fall of 2019 at police headquarters, with completion expected in early 2020. Because the construction is set to be done in phases, Cooke says they don't anticipate any disruption in city services.

CAPTION: The South Offices building (left) will be remodeled as part of the police station (right).

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Residents Cutting Down City-Owned Trees

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-22-18

The Public Works Department says the city is being too lenient with people who chop down or trim city-owned trees, so it could soon cost San Leandro residents thousands of dollars for arbor offenses.

Trees in the public right-of-way (roads and sidewalks) are the city’s property. Many people don’t realize exactly where the public right of way ends and their property begins, according to Debbie Pollart, the city’s Public Works director.

City owned trees in some instances are where the public right of way extends a few feet into a front yard. In other cases, where a strip of sidewalk runs between a yard and trees planted along a curb.

Either way, if the tree isn’t yours, keep your hands off it because plans are in the works to hold a City Council vote to raise the current fine from $100 to up to $5,000 plus the cost of a mature replacement tree, which can be hundreds more.

Pollart presented plans for higher fines at a City Council meeting earlier this month.

“This is something that happens quite a bit,” said Pollart of people cutting down trees. “We investigate and pursue those who do it, but it’s still happening. Not only does the $100 fine not cover the staff time to investigate a violation, it doesn’t cover the cost of the replacement tree.”

The city’s tree staff consists of four people who maintain over 20,000 street trees annually. If you ever see anything wrong with a tree, don’t hesitate to call Public Works, Pollart said.

Sometimes people do something as simple as chopping a branch or trimming treetops, but the city pays attention and if that tree dies from the trim even months later, public works staff is going to show up with a bill for the homeowner.

And because most tree-trimming professionals know not to touch city-owned trees, people do it themselves or hire non-licensed workers, so they are more apt to hurt the tree.

“We also investigate trees that have been hacked on, for lack of a better word,” said Pollart.

The money collected from the fines could go to buy replacement trees.

The replacements aren’t necessarily planted where the old tree used to be for the very practical reason that someone who has already chopped down one tree has shown pretty clearly that they aren’t interested in having tree on near their property.

“We don’t impose planting a tree if the property owner doesn’t want it,” said Pollart.

The issue, Pollart says, is that some people think the $100 fine is worth getting rid of a tree they find to be a nuisance for whatever reason.

“The one glaring omission (to the current tree ordinance) is having a fine with a little bit of sting to it,” said Pollart. “I’ve had property owners flat out tell me ‘Go ahead and charge me $100, it’s worth it for me to get rid of a tree I don’t want.’”

If San Leandro raises the tree fee, it will join other cities with more expensive fines.

Livermore charges the value of tree, or $5,000 if value is unknown, and San Jose charges up to $15,000. The city of Rancho Cordova threatens violators with up to six months in jail. The actual fine is limited to $5,000 but because replacement costs can be many thousands more, violators could be out a lot of money.

The idea to raise the fee was put forth by Councilman Lee Thomas after he noticed two trees chopped down in Washington Manor.

“Obviously, we’ve got a really serious issue on our hands here,” said Thomas. “We’ve got to put a really significant fine here that will scare you and make you think twice. I would support putting in the maximum fine amount that you could. We aren’t imposing a financial impact on anyone. If you chose to cut down the tree, you’ve chosen to put that impact on yourself.”

While Thomas supported the maximum fine, Mayor Pauline Cutter and Council members Pete Ballew and Deborah Cox said it might be too high. They said they’d like more input from the  community before they settle on a figure.

Councilman Ed Hernandez asked Pollart how this would affect people who had legitimate issues with trees breaching their property – roots that raise sidewalks or have grown into the sewer laterals. Pollart responded that the city always tries to work with homeowners and if a tree is a genuine problem, her staff will remove it themselves.

Cutter said a decision about raising the fine and the amount will be on a City Council agenda in the coming weeks.

CAPTION: Pictured is an example of an illegally cut tree in San Leandro from the Public Works Department.

 

Arc of EB Pitches in for Butte County

San Leandro Times • 11-22-18

A shipment of supplies left to Butte County fire zone last Friday, packed, labeled and loaded by people with disabilities.

The truck left the Arc of the East Bay in Hayward with 10 pallets of clothing and household goods. Everything was boxed at the Arc’s facility on Doolittle Drive in San Leandro.

The truck headed north to the Arc of Butte County’s thrift shops in Chico and Oroville.

“They’re really getting depleted up there,” said Tim Hornbecker, director of Business and Resources at the Arc of the East Bay. He had been on the phone with the Arc office in Butte County.

The supplies will go to people who have lost their home in the Camp Fire. Clothes, shoes, diapers, even inflatable mattresses donated by the Coleman Company, headed north to the fire zone.

But the one difference in this donation shipment is that the supplies were all put together by people with disabilities.

“Even people with disabilities can lend a hand,” said Ron Luter, CEO at Arc of the East Bay. “They’ve learned the skills and now it’s time to help.”

Luter said that he plans to have a meeting to let Arc’s clients know the role they played in helping people in need.

The 21 local chapters of The Arc advocate for the rights of children and adults with developmental disabilities and their families. They provide job training, employment, respite care, education, housing and health services in California and throughout the United States with a total of 650 local chapters.

CAPTION: Tim Hornbecker and Ron Luter of the Arc of the East Bay and (on the truck) Arc client Michael Vasquez, and staff member Mark Caldeira load supplies for Butte County.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Patrons Say Goodbye to Victorian Pub

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 11-15-18

The regulars come in for the final days of the Victorian Pub before it closes on Nov. 24. 

They all agree on one thing. Make that two things. They all love Nancy, who’s behind the bar on this night, and they’re all sad the neighborhood pub is closing. 

“It’s going to be sad, it’s like a landmark,” said Donna Molzen. “It’s one of those places like Cheers where everybody knows your name.” 

Molzen is having a drink and chatting with Charlie McClaren, who used to tend bar here at the Victorian at 15325 Washington Ave. He’s also worked at Cunha’s, Shilo’s, Shooters; all the local watering holes. 

McClaren is old school. He’s dressed casually tonight because he’s a customer. But he never steps behind the bar without a tie and vest. The vest is covered with pins from customers. 

“That vest must weigh 40 pounds,” McClaren laughs. “It has pins from Southwest Airlines, City of San Leandro, Texas Longhorns, you name it.” 

McClaren and Nancy Mrak have been bartending here since current owner Daniel Kim bought the bar 11 years ago. Mrak said Kim decided it’s time to sell the property, and he was hurt by a frivolous lawsuit too. She said a restaurant will be opening on the property. 

“I didn’t believe it was closing myself till I saw the sign posted on the window,” Mrak said. 

The way the regulars see it, it’s not just the closing of one bar, neighborhood bars in general are going out of style. McClaren has a theory. 

“The younger, nighttime crowd has no respect,” McClaren says. “They don’t care, there’s fights, the new owners want to make a club. No, it’s not a club, it’s a neighborhood bar. 

“Somebody who made a bunch of money in Silicon Valley decides he wants to have a New York-style club. They got a lot of money but they don’t know what to do with it. Lots of loud music. They hire a DJ. Raise prices after 9 o’clock and make a nightclub. But it’s not, it’s a neighborhood bar.” 

McClaren is no longer working. He says he’s more worried about longtime bartender Nancy.

“People like Nancy who are working full time, they’re the ones hurt,” he says.

Donna Molzen adds, “Nancy’s irreplaceable.” 

Truck driver Dan Britton said he started coming to the Victorian when Nancy came over from the Iron Gate in San Lorenzo.

“It’s just nice here,” Britton said. “I know the people here. I’m not a nighttime guy, just have a pop or two and go home. They’re good people here.” 

Everybody has already gotten dibs on the neon signs, especially the Budweiser sign with the Raiders logo.

“Everybody wants the Raiders sign,” Nancy said. 

The pool team plays on Thursday nights. That’s when Jennifer Saucedo likes to come in. She’s a hairdresser, but these days she’s taking care of both her parents who are on dialysis.

“I’m at the pool table most of the time I’m here,” said Saucedo. 

Bartenders Scott Gomez and John Laster aren’t sure what they’re going to do next. Gomez says there’s not as much demand for male bartenders as female bartenders. Laster says he’s just going to see what happens.

“But I’m going to get choked up when this place closes,” Laster said. 

CAPTION: All the regulars at the Victorian Pub stop by for the final days at the neighborhood bar before it closes on Nov. 24. Nancy Mrak is in the center, and to her right are Jennifer Saucedo, Donna Molzen and Charlie McClaren. 

 

How Seniors Can Get Tax Exemption

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-15-18

A pair of parcel taxes from the San Leandro and San Lorenzo school districts were passed in last week’s election, and now seniors will want to know how to get the exemptions they were promised as part of both districts’ campaigns.

In San Lorenzo, Measure J is a $99 per parcel annual tax that is expected to bring in around $2 million annually to the school district’s general fund.

In San Lorenzo, seniors are eligible for the exemption if the property owner is 65 or older and resides at the property for which the exemption is claimed. Seniors need only to apply once for the exemption and it will remain in effect for the length of the tax – eight years in the case of Measure J. 

Seniors must prove their age by attaching a copy of a driver’s license or birth certificate and provide proof of residence by attaching a property tax bill. They will also need to include their property’s parcel number, which can be found on the property tax bill.

The exemption form for the San Lorenzo school district residents can be found at www.slzusd.org under the departments tab, click “business services” or call 317-4641.

San Leandro

In San Leandro things are a bit different. District officials are waiting until the election results are certified a before they make exemption materials available, according to assistant superintendent Kevin Collins. 

San Leandro’s Measure I is a $39 per parcel annual tax that will bring in an estimated $745,000 annually to the district. The district says Measure I is a continuation of a similar $39 school parcel tax that ended this past June. But unlike the tax it replaces, Measure I will be permanent.

Collins said that if you have already applied for an exemption to that former tax, you will have to re-apply, but the district plans on mailing applications directly to those 658 senior households who had the previous exemption by the end of January. 

Others who want to apply will have to send proof of age and property ownership to the district. An application will be available in late January on the district's website, www.sanleandro.k12.ca.us.

Despite the tax not having a sunset, the San Leandro applications are one-time only and will remain valid as long as the applicant remains the owner of the parcel.

The new taxes go into effect in 2019. In order to qualify for the exemption, seniors must file applications by June 30, 2019.

Official results for the Nov. 6 election won’t be certified by the county until the end of the month at the earliest, but the San Leandro school district’s Measure I parcel tax looks to have passed comfortably with 74 percent of the votes (it needed a two-thirds majority to pass).

San Lorenzo’s Measure J also needed a two-thirds majority and, as of a week after the election, it has 67.6 percent of the vote – a narrow margin of victory of just 144 votes.

 

Church Taking Supplies To Send To Paradise

San Leandro Times • 11-15-18

The Castro Valley Church of the Nazarene has a drop-off center for donations to be trucked to Paradise, California where fire destroyed most of the homes in the town.

Church of the Nazarene Pastor Steve Redmond has been in touch with a pastor in Paradise who said they could use as much support as possible.

Supplies can be dropped off by the front door of the Church of the Nazarene, 19230 Lake Chabot Road in Castro Valley every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through Nov. 28.

Personal hygiene items needed include soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, Band-Aids, combs and brushes, towels, Kleenex, fingernail clippers, socks, underwear, first-aid kits, etc.

For a list of items needed, go to castrovalleynaz.org.

Families from Chico and Oroville will be taking supplies to the evacuation centers. Also needed are families willing to house evacuees.

For more information, call the church at 581-8377

 

SLZ School Board Appoints New Member

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 11-15-18

Juan Campos joined the San Lorenzo School Board earlier this month, but he didn’t win a race for the seat: he was unanimously appointed by his fellow board members after no candidate filed to run in the general election.

Originally, the San Lorenzo School Board race was going to be a pick-two election with the top two vote getters earning a spot as board trustees.

But only one person - teacher and 2012 Arroyo High grad Samuel Medina – filed to run. The other incumbent, current Board President Janet Zamudio, did not run for reelection.

So the school board had to appoint a member to fill the empty seat.

Campos was one of five applicants considered by the board during a special meeting and interview on Friday Nov. 2. The other candidates were Sarah Ansari, Lisa Burns, Alicia Gonzalez, and Daniel Murdock.

If the board didn’t select a new member before the Nov. 6 general election, they would have been forced by the Alameda County Office of Education to hold a special election, which could cost up to $300,000.

“We were delighted by the level of interest that we saw from our community,” said board vice president Penny Peck in a written statement. “They demonstrated sincere interest in our public schools in general and in our school district, specifically. It was inspiring to see this strong showing of community commitment to our schools.”

Campos has lived in San Lorenzo for the past five years and has a child attending Bay Elementary School in the district. He works as a program director for the East Bay Asian Youth Center with experience in court advocacy, probation, and schools and is also the non-profit organization’s soccer coach.

Campos grew up in Oakland and began his career in youth work in 2001 at Castlemont High and says he’s ready to bring that experience to San Lorenzo.

“I am excited to serve our children, our dedicated teachers and employees, and the San Lorenzo community that I love so much,” said Campos in a written statement. “I am humbled and honored by this appointment and I intend to give this board and our district the time, energy, and passion that they deserve.”

The San Lorenzo School District last had to appoint a new member in April of 2017, when trustee Helen Randall stepped down mid-term due to her health and the death of her long-time partner. Her replacement was Medina, 23, who was unanimously appointed by his fellow members to take over Randall’s term.

The San Lorenzo School District is looking for new leadership on the administrative side as well, as former superintendent Fred Brill resigned in October. At this week’s school board meeting, the board hired a firm to search for a new superintendent.

A shortage of school board candidates isn’t unique to San Lorenzo. In the San Leandro general election last week, only one candidate ran in each of three races for open school board seats. Those newly elected-by-default board members will be incumbent Leo Sheridan and newcomers Christian Rodriguez and James Aguilar, 18, a 2018 graduate of San Lorenzo High.

In the 2016 San Leandro school board election, none of five candidates faced any opposition.

 

Assumption Opens New Playground

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 09-06-18

It took God seven days to make the world, but it took 10 years to re-do the parking lot, playground and landscaping at Assumption Church and its school.

But then God knows how to cut through the red tape.

No matter how many years it took, it was still quite a feat to get the job done, and it’s made a big improvement to the look of Assumption. To recognize the job, Assumption held a celebration after the noon Mass on Sunday, Aug. 26.

The parking lot doubles as a playground when school is in session, and a small part of the lot was turned into grass.

“Kids had to dodge the potholes when they were playing,” said Robert Caruso, a parishioner who helped manage the project.

They paved the lot, built new fences, planted trees, added more landscaping with drought-resistant plants, and installed LED lights.

At the outdoor ceremony, Father Leonard Marujo thanked the church members who worked on the project. He then asked the congregation to turn around toward the playground and raise a hand to bless the new facility.

The project was finished just in the nick of time. They squeezed the work into the summer recess, with no time left to spare.

“We started on the Monday after school stopped,” said Matt Loesch, one of the volunteers who helped manage the project. “And we finished at noon on the day school started at 2 p.m.”

The funding came from school tuition, church funds and fundraisers, said school board president Paul Carney who was in charge of the financial part of the project. 

Though volunteers organized the work, the job was done by professional companies, pointed out Caruso, who is a project manager by profession.

Caruso got down to the brass tacks. This wasn’t just a patch-up of the pavement, they completely removed the blacktop.

“This paving job was monumental – it was dug down to the soil, started from scratch,” Caruso said.

Another thing Caruso wanted to point out was that he’s managed projects in a lot of cities and that the City of San Leandro was easy to work with.

The whole idea started 10 years ago when Angele Sweet drew the sketches, said parishioner Faye Clements.

Over the years, church members heard enough about the plans, so it’s finally good that now everybody can see the results, Caruso said.

“It took us a long time,” said Caruso, adding with a chuckle, “I think people were getting tired of hearing us talk about it.” 

CAPTION: Guillermo Elenas looks on as Jayden Pruitt and Javier Perez go up for the ball on the new outdoor playground at Assumption School just after the church held a ceremony to mark the completion of the project.

 

 

Candidate Gets Involved: Runs For Five Offices

Nick Harvey got no response from politicos, so he’s running

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 09-06-18

When Nicholas Harvey moved to the Fairview area two years ago, he saw room for improvement – speeding cars, overgrown weeds, and several blocks without sidewalks.

Harvey started attending meetings and speaking to representatives on the Fairview Municipal Advisory Council, the county Public Works department, the school district, and the Alameda County Board of Supervisors – but he said they just weren’t listening.

So Harvey decided to do something about it. He’s running for five separate offices in this November’s general election.

“Every time I’ve spoken about these issues, they’ve fallen on deaf ears,” said Harvey. “I’ve just become very fed up. No one wants to do anything, so I will.”

Harvey is running for East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) Ward 7 seat, the Eden Health District Board of Directors, the Fairview Fire Protection District Board, the Hayward School Board, and AC Transit Board Ward 4.

Harvey admits that he’d most like to take the AC Transit spot, as he questions opponent incumbent Mark Williams’ financial honesty. Williams did not file campaign finance reports between 2012 and 2016 and was fined $60,000 earlier this year by the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

Harvey says the transit system is just plain badly run, with AC Transit’s per ride operation costs roughly twice that of the Muni in San Francisco. And he would know - Harvey is reliant on public transportation, taking buses, trains, and his bike everywhere.

“I’ve never owned a car, but I do own a house,” said Harvey, who has a degree in chemistry and now runs his own real estate consulting business.

But Harvey says he would be content to win any – or all – of the five races.

“If I win all five, I’ll serve all five,” said Harvey. “When I filed  (to become a candidate) it was my intention to serve, so I will. I have the breadth of knowledge to serve on all five.”

Incumbent Mellon Complains That Challenger Makes

Election Cost More

EBMUD Ward 7 incumbent Frank Mellon has been openly critical of Harvey casting a wide net when it comes to the election.

Mellon has been on the utility board for 24 years and has often run unopposed for reelection. He last faced an opponent 8 years ago.

But Mellon says’s it’s not the fact that he’ll have to campaign that he’s worried about, its the cost of Harvey’s gambit.

Elections costs the county (and therefore the taxpayer) hundreds of thousands of dollars and the cost is based on of the number of voters.  If a race is uncontested, if doesn’t appear on the ballot and so doesn’t cost taxpayers money.

Mellon said that Harvey’s five-race election was superfluous.

“I couldn’t care less if someone is running against me; my concern is waste,” said Mellon. “Am I really running against someone who stands for something or just a guy that wants some sort of Guinness record? I’ve worked really hard for our rate payers and I have a record of that.”

But Harvey said if that’s Mellon’s concern why is the cost being pinned on Harvey’s candidacy and not Mellon’s?

“How is the cost to the county from me running and not him?” asked Harvey.

Harvey says he does have a platform. His scientific background will help him grasp the work of the utility and that he intends to reform the tiered rate paying system to help lower-income residents. He also wants to focus on water conservation efforts.

In August, Mellon went to Harvey’s home and dropped off a load EBMUD staff reports and other documents.

“I dropped off the documents to show him what kind of work he’d have to do,” said Mellon. “Apparently, he took umbrage with that.”

Harvey called Mellon’s action “unprofessional” and added that he would like people to look at him as a serious, well-rounded candidate for each of the offices, not just a novelty.

“Before people criticize me, I’d say they should reach out and get to know me,” said Harvey.

CAPTION: Nick Harvey moved to Fairview and saw a need for improvement.

 

Only One Candidate For SLZ School Board

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 09-06-18

There are not enough candidates for the San Lorenzo School Board to get the race on the ballot for the November election.

Additionally, San Lorenzo’s superintendent announced he’s leaving the district less than two months into the school year for a job outside the education field.

Originally, the San Lorenzo School Board race was going to be a “pick-two” election with the top two vote getters earning a spot as board trustees.

But only one person filed to run – teacher and 2012 Arroyo High grad Samuel Medina. The other incumbent, Janet Zamudio, did not run for reelection. Zamudio didn’t respond to a request for comment.

So with only one candidate, Medina automatically gets a spot on the school board and the race won’t even appear on the ballot.

To fill the second spot, the school board will have to appoint a new member sometime after the election.

The San Lorenzo School District last had to appoint a new member in April of 2017, when trustee Helen Randall stepped down mid-term due to her health and the death of her long-time partner. Her replacement was Medina, 23, who was unanimously appointed by his fellow members to take over Randall’s term.

Dr. Fred Brill, the district’s superintendent, said he didn’t think it was a lack of interest in local education that has led to a dearth of candidates, but a frustration with the state of education in general.

The lack of candidates is not just in San Lorenzo. In all of San Leandro’s school board races the candidates are running unopposed, guaranteed victory.

As for Brill, he announced that he is resigning as superintendent of the district as of Oct. 8, saying he’s leaving for a job with a non-profit. Brill came to the district in 2014 and did not want to elaborate on his decision to leave.

“I would say that I think it is interesting that you are seeing a short tenure for superintendents, a lack of interest from candidates and that is certainly a trend in California and I think probably beyond,” said Brill. “There are a lot of difficult decisions being faced in education. For example, last year the board had to identify $5.2 million in cuts. That’s hard.”

Closed session discussions to find Brill’s replacement were scheduled for this week’s school board meeting.

CAPTION: Samuel Medina is the only candidate running for two openings on the San Lorenzo School Board.  

 

City Council Extends Airbnb Moratorium

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 09-06-18

The City Council unanimously approved an urgency ordinance on Tuesday night to extend a moratorium on non-hosted short-term home rentals such as Airbnbs.

The ban has now been extended for ten more months, bringing the total length to one year.

In the spring, dozens of North Area residents complained to the City Council that out-of-town owners were effectively operating hotels out of homes, sometimes hosting up to 16 people in single-family homes at rates up to nearly $2,000 per night.

The speakers complained about the revolving door of guests and said that the Airbnbs were detrimental in creating a neighborhood since new people were coming in every day and potential buyers were also being priced out by investors who own multiple rental properties where they do not live.

The temporary moratorium went in effect just before the City Council’s August break and was extended this week when the council came back into session.

The ban does not apply to short-term rentals that are hosted, meaning owners can still rent out a room in a home if they’re also living at the property.

Now the City Council has until the end of next July to re-write the municipal code, which was originally drafted before these type of short-term rentals were popularized.

The ban appears to have been successful so far – San Leandro rentals have been removed from the Airbnb site.

City code enforcement officers are monitoring short-term rental sites, but most enforcement is complaint-based, according to Andrew Mogensen, the city’s planning manager.

During the month of August, the city received six complaints of active short-term rentals. Of those cases, one was found not to have been a non-hosted rental and one was a non-hosted rental whose owner agreed to desist in renting the property after a notice of a violation. The four remaining cases are still under investigation by the city.

The process for penalizing violators is a long one: if an owner is found to be in violation, they’ll receive a courtesy notice.

If the violation keeps happening, they get another notice 14 days later, then a $150 fine 14 days after that, and the fine doubles every two weeks after that. Only two and a half months after the initial notice could they be served with a judicial order to abate, according to Mogensen.

The next step in creating the new ordinance will be a meeting in the Karp Room at the San Leandro Main Library on Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. to get feedback from the public and also present a survey.

After that meeting, a City Council follow-up is expected in late November or early December, with the goal of having a finalized ordinance shortly after the beginning of the new year.

CAPTION: The Airbnb website has taken down listings for this San Leandro house and others since a moratorium was passed by the City Council at the urging of North Area home owners.

 

Tax Bill Lands on Church Door

County says church renting out hall as business; pastor says church fund-raisers don’t make it a business

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 08-30-18

A San Lorenzo Baptist Church says the county is trying to take away its tax-exempt status and shut it down to build housing or shops that produce more tax revenue.

Rev. Michael Wilson of Cornerstone Fellowship on Lewelling Boulevard says the county has been harassing him and threatening to take away the church’s tax-exemption. He said he believes that his church has been targeted with inspections by the county’s health and building departments as part of a county plan to force out the church.

“What Alameda County is doing is illegal. Under our Constitution we are allowed to worship freely and at a place of our choice, especially one that has been a place of worship for seven decades,” Wilson said.

Wilson said he now has two tax bills, totaling $17,000 on his desk. And the county has threatened to sue the church if the bills aren’t paid.

But Wilson maintains a church should be tax exempt. Besides that, the church only has 21 members and could never afford to pay that price anyway. Wilson says that Cornerstone, founded in 1946, is an older congregation and in the last few years a lot of its older members have passed away.

“We would have to declare bankruptcy, go out of business and sell the land and I think that’s what they want,” Wilson said.

The church hall is rented out four to six times a year for Quinceaneras by two Catholic churches in the area that don’t have a hall, and for weddings, Wilson said. He says the county told him that makes it a business, so it’s taxable.

In addition, the church has had a few, small pot luck dinners. But Wilson said lots of churches have things like that and they aren’t hit with tax bills.

But Alameda County says the church has been renting out space for events, which negates at least some percentage of the church’s tax-exempt status.

“In short, a church is 100 percent exempt if it’s used as a church 100 percent of the time,” said Brian Hitomi at the Alameda County tax assessor’s office.

“We’ve found that he rents rooms out commercially,” Hitomi said. “Once you begin using some of the property for non-exempt purposes, then that portion being used is no longer exempt.”

Hitomi said that the county has been in touch with Wilson about the use of the property, and is still in the process of determining the percentage of the exemption.

“If you rent the property out, then it’s quite possible that you would lose an exemption for that area of use,” Hitomi said.

So it’s the county’s position that the church would pay a fraction of the tax bill it received. How much of the property is exempt depends on the percentage of exemption.

But to determine the percentage of exemption, Hitomi said the county needs more information from Wilson.

“We’ve talked to him and asked for further verification of his rent of these properties,” Hitomi said. “We’ve asked for written documentation as to the nature of commercial use and we have yet to receive it. We just need that for us to make our determination. They say they don’t have them.”

But Wilson says other churches have functions that raise money, in some cases a lot more.

“They had a big pot luck at Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland for $1,500 a plate fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and the county didn’t do anything,” Wilson said. “We’re small. So it’s no equal application under the law.”

Wilson says the county is wrong, the church isn’t a business. These events are just church fundraisers, like all churches have.

Around six years ago, Wilson said the county told him that if the events are not the sole income of the church, it’s all right. But this year he says the county told him the rules had changed.

“Now they said they can retroactively go back 10 years,” Wilson said.

Wilson says he’s gone to many county planning meetings and gotten an idea of what the county wants. He believes they want to put in housing or upscale shopping, attracting higher income residents to boost tax revenue.

“We’re a test case,” Wilson says. “If they succeed here, they’ll go after other places, Goodwill and places that pay no property tax.”  

CAPTION: Rev. Michael Wilson, working on the lighting last week at Cornerstone Fellowship Baptist Church in San Lorenzo, says the county is illegally trying to make the church pay taxes.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES 

 

Pot to Wreak Havoc on Roads, Say Experts

Whether a driver is stoned on cannabis is

hard to nail down, unlike the test for alcohol

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 08-30-18

Recreational marijuana use has been legal in California since the first of the year and the effects are being seen out on the roads. 

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) estimates that the Bay Area will experience a 70 percent increase in pot DUI arrests in 2018 over the previous year when recreation use wasn’t yet legal.

The CHP hosted a special marijuana traffic safety summit Monday at the county’s Office of Emergency Services in Dublin, in conjunction with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Speakers included Golden Gate CHP Chief Ernie Sanchez, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley and Lori Ajax, the chief of the state Bureau of Cannabis Control. 

Complicating matters, there is no breathalyzer equivalent to measure marijuana intoxication like there is for drivers suspected of being drunk. And there’s no “legal limit” on marijuana intoxication like the .08 blood alcohol threshold.

For now, officers must use their observation skills during field sobriety tests and find probable cause for an arrest. At the station, an officer with specific training as a “drug recognition expert” can request a blood test which can determine levels of THC present.

An oral swab and breath test are in the research stages, according to Dr. Philip Drum, a pharmacist and one of the speakers at the summit. 

Drum says driving after ingesting marijuana is also complicated by the fact marijuana potency isn’t regulated by the FDA and mitigating factors contribute to how long it stays in the body, so it’s difficult to determine how long to wait after consuming pot before being safe to drive.

A lot is still unknown about marijuana DUIs, Drum said. There are joints with the potency of a Bud Light and edibles that are as a strong as Everclear. He said that dispensaries label their products, but consumers don’t always follow the “serving size” and may be getting higher than they realize.  

Drum said that because the pot growing industry is getting so lucrative and becoming more mainstream, the number of pot-related crashes will only rise.

Drum offered a few humorous pieces of trivia, like the fact that in airports in states where it is legal, pot shops are advertising in the bins where you put your shoes to go through the security screening. And someone is apparently manufacturing pot laced tampons, and fancy restaurants put on multi-course gourmet dinners with marijuana-infused ingredients.

“Hopefully everyone takes a cab or an Uber to those dinners,” said Drum. “But I’d love to see law enforcement parked outside.”

But Drum wasn’t all jokes and he didn’t pretend to be objective during his talk to an audience of over 100 people, mostly law enfacement. Drum’s sister was killed by a driver who was high on cannabis in Seattle shortly after Washington state legalized adult use.

“My sister was older than me, but I’ve now lived longer than she has,” said Drum. “Driving is a choice, not a right, and nobody’s high is worth a life.”

CAPTION: A sign reminds drivers that stoned driving can get you a DUI just as it can with alcohol. 

 

Orchard Supply Closing Shop

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 08-30-18

The Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) at 300 Floresta Boulevard will be closing its doors by the end of the year, along with all 99 stores in the chain. 

The move will cost 4,300 jobs nationwide, 3,900 of which are in California.

The announcement that OSH stores are closing came suddenly last week when they were closed for one day last Tuesday to inform employees that the stores would be going out of business. When stores reopened on Wednesday morning, the “everything must go” signs were up.

And when they say everything must go, they mean it. A sign at the San Leandro store told customers to make an offer on the store’s shelves and other furnishings.

The San Leandro OSH on Floresta opened in April 2013, moving from a location on Lewelling Boulevard in San Lorenzo. The chain was opening up new locations locally as recently as 2017, when a store opened in Pleasanton.

“It’s a shame because it’s a good store and I usually get my plants here,” said shopper Helen Vo while picking up a fern Tuesday afternoon at the San Leandro OSH. “I don’t like going to the bigger stores because you always spend too much time there.”

The decision to close was made by parent company Lowe’s, which bought OSH in 2013, shortly after OSH filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Lowe’s said that some of the OSH locations may be turned into smaller Lowe’s stores and that former OSH employees would be giving priority hiring at Lowe’s stores.

OSH was founded in 1931 in San Jose when 30 farmers, mostly prune growers, were facing hard times and bought their farm supplies as a cooperative. Each farmer chipped in $30 to get the equipment they needed. The chain is mostly California-based, but there are locations in Florida and Oregon.

Now, the 87-year-old retailer will go the way of Toys R Us, Radio Shack, and other brick-and-mortar stores that have shuttered entirely. 

There’s no set date for the San Leandro store’s closing, but this week it seemed as busy as ever as customers were eager to take advantage of the up to 70 percent off, going-out-of-business sales.

“I’m getting lightbulbs,” said Bill Souza who was stopping by before dinner at Elio’s. “I don’t need them yet, but I’ll need them eventually.”

CAPTION: The Orchard Supply Hardware on Floresta Boulevard will close by the end of the year.

 

Whatever Happened to SL’s Pot Shops?

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 08-30-18

Three years after the first medical cannabis dispensary was given a permit to operate by the San Leandro City Council, none of the three permitted shops have opened yet.

The pot dispensaries were given a permit with a sense of urgency. Speakers at meetings urged the City Council to issue the permits, some with tears in their eyes, because the drug would relieve the pain of people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. 

All three who have been issued licenses - Harborside, the Davis Street Wellness Center, and Blum - have their marijuana retailers permits and conditional use permits in place with the city, according to Eric Engelbart, San Leandro’s deputy city manager.

Engelbart says that Harborside and Blum will likely open in the fall and Davis Street before the end of the year.

So why the delay?

The first clinic to receive a city dispensary permit was Harborside back in September of 2015. Last summer, Harborside said they would open up before Christmas 2017.

Construction delays were a hindrance in opening Harborside’s dispensary at 1965 Marina Boulevard, according to Harborside government relations manager Conrad Gregory.

Gregory said that after the Ghost Ship fire, Harborside wanted their sprinkler system to be completely redone.

“And that’s not cheap and it really slowed us down,” said Gregory. “We hired a contractor for the fire suppression work and we’re in the process of getting the design of the system approved by the city.”

Gregory said that he couldn’t give an exact date as to when Harborside will open its doors in San Leandro, but does believe it will be before the end of the year.

Since the medical marijuana permits were issued, recreational marijuana use for adults has been made legal in the state, so you don’t need a medical reason to buy pot. San Leandro would have to pass a separate city ordinance to allow the sale of recreational pot in the city.

Asked if Harborside is dragging its feet until San Leandro allows adult sales so they can make more money, Conrad says no.

“We are going to open regardless of recreational use,” said Gregory. “I don’t anticipate that they’ll have adult use on the books any time soon, but I do hope the city moves in that direction.”

The second dispensary to receive a permit from the city was the Davis Street Wellness Center back in July 2016. 

The Wellness Center has had a series of delays, including a debate about whether their location - right next to the Davis Street Family Resource Center on Teagarden Street – was appropriate for a cannabis dispensary.

Davis Street also had to get an extension on their conditional use permit and partner agency Davis Street Family Resource Center had to pay back a $325,000 loan to the city before they could begin construction.

Wellness Center CEO John Oram could not be reached for comment on when the dispensary will open. 

At a May City Council meeting, former mayor Stephen Cassidy said that the hope is that the dispensary will open in the “fourth-quarter” of this year. He also expressed his desire that the city allow adult recreational use.

Cassidy works as an attorney for Bloom, a cannabis consulting firm affiliated with the Davis Street Wellness Center.

“You’re going to put San Leandro dispensaries at a competitive disadvantage if you don't allow adult use,” said Cassidy.

Blum was the last dispensary to receive a permit in October 2016, but according to the city, it appears they will be the first to open.

At the beginning of 2018, they estimated they would be open last April. But Mikel Alvarez, Blum’s director of retail operations, says that he anticipates the shop at 1911 Fairway Drive will now be open for business in October. 

“We’re in the middle of a power upgrade to the whole building and we’ve got some beautification to do on the outside, but we are almost done with construction,” said Alvarez. 

Alvarez said that Blum has already put out ads for employees and will soon be hosting a job fair.

The three permitted cannabis shops may not be doing business in San Leandro yet, but that doesn’t mean no one is involved in the pot business in town. In March of last year, police discovered a marijuana growing business operating out of a warehouse at 660 Marina Boulevard.

The operator, Daniel Fineman of a company called Justice Grown, did not have a permit to grow pot in San Leandro, but was able to provide documentation proving he as growing the pot for medical sale legally under state law.

After police consulted with the district attorney's office, Fineman was not charged with any criminal offense and the city treated the incident as civil matter of code violation.

As for the permitted dispensaries, Mayor Pauline Cutter said that she’s disappointed that none of the dispensaries have been able to open in the years since the permits were issued, but says that she’s pleased that progress has been made.

“It’s so curious that we issued those permits and nothing happened,” said Cutter. “Right now, I’m happy that hammers are being swung at all three properties. It seems like now it’s just a matter of getting these places finished.”

Pot stands to be a cash crop both for the dispensary operators and the city, as the city is estimated to make up to $500,000 annually in tax from the three clinics once they open, more if and when recreational use is allowed.

As for a possible ordinance to allow adult recreational use, Cutter says it’s something that’s on the council’s minds.

“We are going to have to take a look at that,” said Cutter. “I plan to get in touch with the (dispensary owners) and see what they think. We will have to see what's best for San Leandro.”

Cutter said that before any ordinance is voted on, there will be a series of meetings to gather community comments.

 

Last Ride of the Summer

San Leandro Times • 08-23-18

On August 14 some of the Cub Scouts from San Lorenzo Pack 635 had a final outing before school started.

They met at the Hayward Shoreline parking lot at the west end of Grant Avenue and bicycled north along the paved walking trails to Monarch Bay golf facility in San Leandro.

The management of Monarch Bay very kindly lets those developmentally challenged people served by Arc of Alameda County use the driving range and practice putting green of their Marina course each Tuesday. They are helped by the volunteer Ambassadors of Monarch Bay.  

Last Tuesday the Cub Scouts who had bicycled there got to use the upper deck of the driving range.  Management loaned them junior-sized golf clubs and plenty of balls to hit.

They thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Across the street is Manor Park where they ate their lunches and then bicycled south to their original starting point.

CAPTION: Cub Scout Pack 635 took a bike ride along the Bay Trail, the last outing of the summer before the start of school. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF KEN BAKER

 

Long-Awaited Fix Coming to East 14th Street

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 08-23-18

At least a small portion of pothole-plagued East 14th Street may be patched up by CalTrans in the next couple of months. 

But the City of San Leandro is also moving forward with a plan to take over maintenance of the street from the state, saying the rough road needs to be fixed sooner.

East 14th Street is San Leandro’s main drag, but is maintained by CalTrans because it is a state highway, State Route 185. The street is in such poor shape that the city is considering asking CalTrans to relinquish ownership of the road so the city can do repairs itself.

At the next meeting of the city’s Facilities and Transportation Committee – scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 5, at 4 p.m. at City Hall – they will discuss the next step in the relinquishment process, according to Eric Engelbart, San Leandro’s deputy city manager.

“The City Council and city staff share in the public concerns regarding the pavement condition of East 14th Street,” said Engelbart. 

CalTrans has bundled the East 14th Street repairs with other regional projects, so progress doesn't happen quickly. The idea behind the relinquishment would be that the city could apply for state funding directly and cut out the wait.

Engelbart added that the most recent news that the city has received from CalTrans is that a half-mile portion of the street from Bayfair mall to Hesperian Boulevard will be repaved within the next few months.

Engelbart says that CalTrans has received permission from the California Transportation Commission to use state gas tax funding to repave East 14th from the southern end of San Leandro all the way to Davis Street, but such a project would not happen for several years.

If City Takes On the 

Maintenance of East 14th, Repairs Could Be Costly

If CalTrans does agree to relinquish the road to the city, not only would San Leandro have to find money for the repairs, the city would also likely become permanently responsible for future maintenance costs. Engelbart said the condition of the road and other considerations would be made in determining a price for the street.

According to CalTrans, the annual average preventative maintenance cost per lane mile is $106,000, while major rehabilitation work is around $800,000 per lane mile. (So a 2-lane street would be double that amount per mile.)

But in addition to getting  the road in better shape, a relinquishment would mean that San Leandro would also have local control over the road right-of-way for any future projects and would be able to connect East 14th Street traffic signals, streetlights, and other infrastructure into the city’s traffic control system.

CalTrans has already relinquished a 2.4 mile portion of East 14th Street in the unincorporated area to the county for $10 million and the state trend seems to be going towards relinquishing local roads.

CalTrans has made a proposal to the Alameda County Transportation Commission that said they would be open to relinquishing roads which primarily support local travel as they would be “best managed by local agencies.” 

CalTrans has identified over 30 miles of roads with the potential for relinquishment in Alameda County and 72 percent of the proposed roads are said to be in “distressed” condition.

CAPTION: The pavement is rough along East 14th Street with potholes that are worse than what’s seen here at East 14th and Hesperian Boulevard. 

PHOTO BY AMY SYLVESTRI

 

School Board Candidates All Shoo-Ins

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 08-23-18

The election is still a couple of months away, but we already know that James Aguilar will be on the San Leandro School Board as the Trustee for Area 6.

Aguilar’s name won’t appear on the ballot since he’s the sole candidate in Area 6, so he’s guaranteed victory.

Aguilar, 18, just voted in his first election earlier this year in the June primary, but he does have some political experience under his belt, having previously served as the student board member of the San Lorenzo School Board last year.

“I’m really exited for someone my age to be elected to office – it’s big,” said Aguilar, who will be attending San Francisco State this fall with plans to major in political science and minor in education.

Aguilar says that he knows he’ll have his doubters, but believes his age will be a help, not hindrance as he serves on the board.

“Of course, if people don’t think I have enough experience, I’d refer them to my time on the San Lorenzo board,” said Aguilar. “I truly believe that if anyone my age wants to get involved, they should. We are the generation who is going to inherit the consequences of decisions that are being made now, so get involved in those decisions.”

As a student school board member last year, Aguilar was on the board during two particularly tough decisions – budget cuts and the changing of San Lorenzo High’s mascot from the controversial Rebels to the Grizzlies – both of which he says helped him mature as a politician.

“The mascot issue was emotional for a lot of people,” said Aguilar. “During that process, I changed my mind about what was the best decision. I learned how to allow myself to listen and that things change, opinions change and I appreciated experiencing that.”

The board dealt with the serious matter of recommending where to make over $5 million in budget cuts. Aguilar said that even though his vote as a student was symbolic, going through the process of meeting face to face with employees facing reductions was very real.

“That was difficult,” said Aguilar. “School districts are a people business and we’re talking about people’s jobs and making cuts. It’s very difficult.”

The other school board seats in Areas 2 and 4 are also one-candidate elections this year, with business owner Christian Rodriguez the only candidate in Area 2 and incumbent Leo Sheridan the only candidate in Area 4.

In years past, the San Leandro school board has had trouble attracting candidates. In the last election in 2016, all the races were also uncontested. That same year, a teenage trustee was temporarily appointed to the school board when no other candidates came forward.

“Apathy is an issue in San Leandro and nationwide,” said Aguilar. “I feel like that’s something that needs to be examined. I see very few people at board meetings and I’d like to get people more engaged in what’s happening in their schools.”

CAPTION: James Aguilar says it’s his generation that will inherit the consequences of the decisions that are being made now, so it’s good to get involved.

 

New Parking Plan Enforced Downtown

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 08-23-18

You may have noticed color coded stickers on the meters downtown, part of the city’s parking management plan to revamp they city’s approximately 3,000 downtown paid public parking spaces.

There are now seven parking zones downtown. And you can’t just move your car a short distance and have a fresh start on the time limit. Cars can’t park in the same zone past the stated time limits even in free spaces. 

You’ll need to move at least one-tenth of a mile to be in the clear. The monitoring of this is done electronically, so don’t look for a chalk mark on your tire to serve as a warning.

Parking rates vary in the different zones that have recently been put in place. Parking is free throughout downtown after 6 p.m., all day on Sundays, and on designated holidays.

The new parking plan includes meters where people have the option pay via phone app, which charges a 20 to 35 cent service fee per transaction. The app can tell you if your time is running out and offer you a chance to pay to extend your parking period remotely.

About 630 people paid for their parking via the app in the month of July, according to Alice Kim, the city’s communication manager.

To enforce this new payment structure, the city is using two Jeeps equipped with license late readers to see if parked cars are all paid up. 

The license plate readers can also tell whether a car is stolen. The data from the license plate readers will be uploaded at the end of each shift to the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), a regional law enforcement data center that compiles information. 

The city’s parking plan is still evolving, according to Kim. The city is currently researching and working with businesses in Pelton Center to see if paid parking may be viable there. City staff is also planning to contact people who live in the downtown area about a residential permitted parking plan.

 

SL Swim Team Stays Unbeaten

By Andrew Joseph

San Leandro Times • 07-19-18

The San Leandro Drowning Darryls swim team beat the Mission Valley Swim Club at home in an East Bay Swim League (EBSL) meet on Saturday by a close score of 554-526.

“We knew we were going to have a tough meet against Mission Valley today, they’ve been our arch-rival for a long time,” said San Leandro head coach Fred Scheberies. “The goal is always to improve our times every season and win.”

The scoring breakdown was the San Leandro boys winning 285-255, while the girls fell just short of Mission Valley, 269-271.

“I was a little bit nervous about today because Mission Valley is really good,” said 15-18 boys swimmer Quinn Sitchon. “I just focused on swimming fast today and bringing my times down to help us win.”

San Leandro has been undefeated for the past seven years, looking to make it eight straight with a championship this season.

“I was excited going into the meet today to beat Mission Valley and stay undefeated,” said 13-14 girls swimmer Kaira Willits. “The goal for this year is to make it to the championships and drop our times so we can do well.”

The road this season to their eighth consecutive EBSL Championship had not been easy in 2018.  Last week the boys struggled against Newark and lost 253-287, though the girls won by a large margin 314-226, to give San Leandro the win in the overall score.

“It has taken a lot of hard work, practice, good technique and a lot of dedication to win seven championships in a row,” added coach Scheberies. “We have even had a lot of kids move on to real high quality swimming in sectional meets and other meets outside of just summer.”

The San Leandro Drowning Darryls will compete in the last meet of the EBSL regular season this Saturday, from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., at home at the SLHS pool against the Highland Sharks.

CAPTION: San Leandro Swim Team 14-18 year-old boys swim against Mission Valley in the freestyle on Saturday.

PHOTO BY ANDREW JOSEPH

 

Zapata Lands Job In Anaheim

City Council names Jeff Kay city manager in special meeting

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 07-19-18

A month after being cleared of charges of sexual harassment and two weeks after separating from the city of San Leandro, Chris Zapata has a new job as city manager of Anaheim.

The Anaheim City Council voted on Tuesday to hire Zapata as city manager with an annual salary of $291,000.

“Chris has the experience and community dedication we are looking for in a city manager,” said Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait in a written statement. “He embraces what it means to be a city of kindness. We welcome him to Anaheim and look forward to working together.”

Meanwhile, the San Leandro City Council voted, 7-0, to appoint Jeff Kay as the new city manager in a special closed session meeting last Thursday. Usually, personnel matters are handled in closed session right before the regular City Council meeting, which would have been Monday, July 16.

The special meeting to hire Kay was held because of  City Council “calendar conflicts and travel schedules coupled with a desire to move forward,” according to deputy city manager Eric Engelbart.

The City Council has demanded that all city commissioners and board members sign an agreement not to say anything negative about Zapata while acting in their official capacity or else possibly be removed from their commissions. 

The commissioners had until July 13 to sign the demand letter, which also said they could potentially face a lawsuit if any defamation occurs.

The document dictates that neither party – Zapata and the city (including the City Council, all employees, and appointed commissioners) – say anything negative about the other. 

Would Gag Order Stifle Candidates’ Speech? City Hall Says No 

One commissioner who did not want to be named is considering a run for City Council this year said he was worried that signing the agreement would impede on his ability to speak critically of the current administration during his campaign.

But Engelbart said that any commissioner campaigning would not be in their official capacity as a city commissioner and so could say whatever they want, as they would be speaking as an individual.

The potential candidate said he still had his misgivings and chose not to sign the document. He said he spoke to the city attorney who told him that failure to sign means that the City Council is within its rights to remove him from his appointed position, but no action has yet been taken against him.

“I refused to sign this agreement due to the poor language written in the agreement and the infringement of my First Amendment right to free speech,” said the commissioner. “Our fellow appointed and elected citizens should not be silenced. This is a matter of the city of San Leandro manipulating and trying to silence our community with this agreement.”

Engelbart said the city would not comment on how many commissioners returned the requested signature because it’s attorney/client privileged information.

Why Was Zapata Given $350,000? 

Engelbart also said that the $350,000 Zapata is being paid was not a severance package, but a “negotiated mutual separation agreement.”

Engelbart said that the City Council and city attorney came up with that agreement in closed session so he could not comment on why the city would choose to give Zapata the $350,000, despite there being no provision for a payment in his contract.

Mayor Pauline Cutter has said that Zapata has said he will donate that payment, minus lawyer’s fees and taxes, to San Leandro charities.

City Hall Says Don’t Call It a Gag Order

City Hall also objected to using the term “gag order” to describe the demand that the commissioners not speak ill about Zapata. 

“The city respectfully requests that the San Leandro Times cease referring to this matter as a ‘gag order,’” wrote Engelbart in an email. “That is a factually inaccurate description that is inconsistent with the legal definition of the term, and its continued usage further perpetuates inaccurate reporting on this topic.”

A gag order can be a judge’s order that a case may not be discussed in public, or a nonjudicial prohibition against public discussion of a sensitive matter. 

CAPTION: The City Council named Jeff Kay as city manager in a special meeting last Thursday night.  

 

Speakers Rally for Evicted Tenant

San Leandro Times • 07-19-18

Over a dozen speakers demanded that the San Leandro City Council do something to protect low-income mobile home residents at Monday night’s meeting. Though there’s not much the City Council can do. 

Many speakers came in support of John Busch, 81, who is facing having to live in his car after rent on his mobile home was hiked by over 60 percent when a new company purchased the property.

Harmony Communities bought the Estudillo Trailer Park on Grand Avenue, changed the name to Bayshore Commons, and raised that rent earlier this year. 

“Why would they change their name to Harmony when they are causing more disharmony than I’ve ever seen?” Busch said when he addressed the council. “If you know that in order to make a profit you are going to disrupt 40 people’s lives, maybe you should find another business.” 

Busch isn’t the only one to be forced out of his home. Other residents of Bayshore Commons are feeling the strain, as are residents of Trailer Haven, who saw their rents increase when a new property owner bought that park in 2016.

“We have a crisis going on, as you well know – we have residents being gouged out of their homes” said speaker Jeromey Shafer. “This has happened before, this is happening now, it will happen again. The question is what are we doing about it?”

Tom Liao, San Leandro’s Community Development Director, said that the city has little recourse other than acting as an arbitrator when dealing with the decisions made by private companies. But several members of the City Council said maybe that should change.

“I’m just furious about this whole situation,” said Councilman Lee Thomas. “Now is the time to send a message. We just can’t allow this to happen in this city.” 

Thomas suggested that the council form an ad hoc committee or create a task force of mobile home residents. He said that the city should look into imposing restrictions on developers when they buy a property so they have to give a year’s notice before raising rents or displacing residents.

The council directed Liao and staff to look into what other cities are doing to protect mobile home residents, noting that San Leandro could become a haven for unscrupulous developers if it doesn't have the same ordinances in place as other cities.

“Where is the protection we are offering our most vulnerable?” asked speaker Rob Rich. “That is not lost on speculators who come here and see someone like John Busch as someone to be evicted.” 

Currently there are nine mobile home parks with 855 spaces in San Leandro. Councilman Ed Hernandez said the city should see if those other parks will be changing hands soon.

“We need to do whatever we can do to be proactive,” said Hernandez, who wants mobile home parks to be eligible for tenant relocation assistance. That’s the ordinance that the city created last year that requires landlords to pay the equivalent of three months rent to tenants forced out of their homes by rent increases of 12 percent or more in a year, with the amount not to exceed $7,000.

Councilwoman Corina Lopez said that, while San Leandro has touted attracting tech businesses and economic growth, the council must make sure the city’s most vulnerable residents are cared for.

“We are going though a transformation here in San Leandro that could inadvertently have consequences,” said Lopez. “I don’t want San Leandro to go through gentrification and leave certain people from the success story.”

The group Our Revolution San Leandro has started a Go Fund Me page for Busch’s legal representation in his fight against homelessness. So far, over $2,600 of the $10,000 goal has been raised (www.gofundme.com/81-year-resident-faces-eviction).

 

Tobacco Stores Hit with $500 Annual Fee

San Leandro Times • 07-19-18

Stores that sell tobacco products will be required to pay $500 annually for a special tobacco retailer’s license beginning on Jan. 1, 2019.

And starting Aug. 15, those stores will no longer be allowed to sell any flavored tobacco products.

On Monday night, the City Council voted 6-0 (with Councilman Benny Lee abstaining) to require each of the 86 stores in town that sell tobacco to pay for the special licenses.

Lee said that he supported keeping tobacco away from kids, but he’d like to see what the ban accomplishes before making a decision on the licenses.

The city says the $500 license will go towards paying for police to make sure stores are in compliance with the flavor ban.

The City Council first approved the flavor ban last fall, and at that time, dozens of shop owners said it would hurt their businesses.

This week, shop owner Paul Sekhon said that he didn’t believe the $500 license was fair and that the city should prove people are out of compliance before instituting a costly means of keeping them in compliance.

“There is no data proving we are bad retailers,” said Sekhon. “We are good people, actually, I think that’s something that gets lost in this. We are already paying two different associations to come and investigate us. We are losing an estimated 30 percent of our sales (to the flavor ban).”

Tobacco retailers already pay for a business license from the city and for a state Board of Equalization tobacco license.

Sekhon said that things are bad for small independently run shops because of these types of fees and from the city’s mandated minimum wage increases.

“We want to work with you,” said Sekhon. “We want to cooperate. We want a fair business relationship.”

Compared to other cities with license requirements, San Leandro’s $500 tobacco retailer’s fee is about average: Hayward charges  $400, El Cerrito charges $439, San Jose charges $533, Union City charges $769, and Oakland charges a whopping $1,500.

Currently, there is no ban on flavored product in the unincorporated area, so people would just have to take their businesses a few blocks away to by flavored products, according to Lt. Robert McManus of the San Leandro police.

But the city said that making tobacco harder to access is an effort to keep it away from kids.

“Our whole goal here is to keep people in compliance and to obey the laws here in San Leandro to keep people safe,” said McManus.

Among the programs that would be funded from the license fee would be decoy operations where underage kids working for the police try to buy cigarettes. McManus said they would also do checks to make sure no forbidden products are on the shelf.

Those outlawed products will include flavored cigarettes, cigars, or vape juice, but menthol is still legal. All cigarettes must be sold in packs of 20 or more, all individual cigars must be sold in packs of five or more and cost at least $7 but individual cigars can be sold if they cost more than $5.

Several people, most from the Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition, spoke about the dangers of tobacco and thanked the City Council for taking strict measures to make it difficult to buy tobacco products in San Leandro.

“I am long-time champion of banning flavors because flavors target kids like my grandson,” said Beatrice Cardenas-Duncan, a volunteer with the American Lung Association.  “For the health and well-being of all San Leandro residents, I respectfully ask you to establish the tobacco licensing fee at $500.”

Brian Davis, a member of the Alameda County Tobacco Control Collation said that convenience stores make “only 17 percent” of their money from tobacco sales and that they will still be able to sell non-flavored tobacco, so they will survive.

“The profit from those products will be much more than adequate to pay for the license,” said Davis. “San Leandro has taken a positive stand by developing a strong tobacco retailer’s license.”

There will be an information session for retailers about the specifics of the flavor ban on July 25 at 5 p.m. at City Hall.

 

Our Readers Remember

San Leandro Times • 07-12-18

Rick Wood works on an old Ford in 1949 at the Texaco gas station that was across the street from San Leandro High in a photo sent by reader Bob Juntz.

A Young Cowboy Poses for a Photographer at Thrasher Park

Back in the early 1960s my dad and grandfather had a shoe repair shop on Davis Street near Douglas Drive where my brother and I would spend many afternoons after school.

One day as my dad drove us down Davis Street, we noticed that there was a guy with a pony at Thrasher Park taking photos. I remember what a thrill it was for my 5-year-old self to get all decked out into full cowboy gear for this photo.

My parents, Benny and Sarah Jason, who still live in the same house they bought in San Leandro 63 years ago, still have this photo, and the matching one of my brother, proudly displayed in my old bedroom.

The Picture that Became Picazo Family Treasure

Mama couldn’t afford three pictures but one did the job

By Ester Picazo

Special to the Times

In the 1940s there were men who made a living with a pony and a camera, traveling all over Texas documenting wide-eyed children atop a tired horse. 

Mama couldn’t afford three pictures, so the photographer willingly eliminated the pony. He gave our grandparents copies of this photo, and through the years a copy has surfaced at unexpected times. 

Our clothes were home-sewn and the pose reflects the era – the older sister in charge of the younger ones. Being poor did not mean being hungry or on public assistance. The war erased many barriers and our mother worked as a Rosie the Riveter at a shipyard in Galveston. 

Our memories are of an unfettered childhood, playing outside until dusk, falling in love with movie cowboys (I never recovered from loving Gene Autry), learning to read from hymn books, and having no activity more high-tech than playing cards with our grandparents and learning to count in the bargain. 

It was a sunnier world then, less threatening and safer, because in our neighborhood a kid was everybody’s child. 

The Bush Girls Take a Picture at the Fountain

Back in the day, schools had plays that were presented to the students at an assembly during school hours. They were always fun to be in them, or to watch.

In 1939, at McKinley School, our class put on a play where a few classmates and I were flowers. I cannot recall what the play was about, but it was fun preparing for it and making our flower costumes.

In the picture, the three girls kneeling are (left to right) Leah Godwin, Mimi Fithian, and me, Margaret Castro (Dambley). Standing is my best friend Midori Ogo.

Years later, in 1945 at San Leandro High School, our Spanish Club put on a play for the Junior assembly, and then for the Senior assembly. It was directed by our Spanish teacher, Annie Tedeschi.

Left to right in the high school picture are Mary Castro (Hicks), John Behymer, Margaret Castro (Dambley), Joe Torres, and Marie Vigallon (Rodriguez).

PHOTO COURTESY OF GIN MURPHEY

 

Board Members Forced to Sign Gag Order

On Zapata

‘Failure to sign will result in immediate removal,” Council  woman Cox tells commissioners

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 07-12-18

The City Council has issued a gag order to all the members of the city’s board and commissions, preventing them from speaking ill of former City Manager Chris Zapata.

The document is dated July 3 and is addressed to all appointed officials of the city of San Leandro, informing the recipient of a new legal obligation.

Zapata and the city entered into a “mutual separation agreement” last week when Zapata exited the city’s top position after having been accused, and subsequently cleared of sexual harassment allegations.

The document sent to the commissioners refers to the separation agreement which says that neither party will “defame, disparage, demean or besmirch the reputation” of the other.

If the commissioners do not sign the agreement, the letter says they will be removed from their appointed positions.

The document also says that the commissioners could face a “legal risk to you personally” for making any defamatory comments about Zapata.

If any commission or board member wishes to make statements in violation of the separation agreement, they would have to resign before doing so.

The non-disparagement clause is two-way street, so Zapata also can’t say anything bad about the city and city officials and employees.

The gag order only applies to the commissioners and board members when they are acting in their official capacity, according to deputy city manager Eric Engelbart.

Engelbart said that the agreement is “fairly standard” and that it does not force the officials to abandon their First Amendment rights to express their opinions when acting as an individual.

Engelbart said that the agreement also applies to all San Leandro employees when acting in their official capacities, but city employees are not being asked to formally acknowledge the agreement in writing.

None of the commissioners who were reached wished to be identified, but one who is planning to sign the document said she is doing so because she doesn’t want to lose her spot on the board.

Another was on the fence about signing and said he was considering getting his own lawyer to look at the document before he made a decision.

Another said he did feel that the letter violated his First Amendment rights and questioned the city’s authority to make him resign if he didn’t comply. He called the City Council's handling of Zapata’s case “filthy.”

In a cover letter sent with the gag order to the commissioners she appointed, Councilwoman Deborah Cox said she was saddened by Zapata’s loss and said he was “falsely accused of sexual misconduct.”

Cox’s letter also told her commissioners: “Failure to sign the document will result in the immediate removal from your commission.”

In her own cover letter, Mayor Pauline Cutter wrote: “Although at first glance this letter may appear to be strongly worded, please know we are doing our best to protect the best interests of all parties involved and appreciate your cooperation.”

Former Mayor Stephen Cassidy has criticized the city’s decision to issue the gag order to the commissioners. It should be noted that Cassidy now works for Bloom Innovations, a marijuana-related business whose CEO is also the CEO of the Davis Street Wellness Center, where Zapata’s accuser Rose Johnson is the director of community benefits.

Cassidy said he was “shocked” that the city was trying to limit the speech of the commissioners and wrote:

“Threatening the service of city commissioners in an effort to silence any negative comments concerning the job performance of the former City Manager constitutes an abuse of power by the mayor and City Council and displays a shocking lack of understanding of the value and importance of the First Amendment’s right to free speech.”

The city has given the commissioners and board members a deadline of July 13 to return the signed document.

CAPTION: Mayor Pauline Cutter and City Councilwoman Deborah Cox sent letters to their commissioners advising them to sign the document, or be removed from their position. 

 

Sex Charge Dropped on Ex SL Cop

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 07-12-18

Charges have been dropped against the San Leandro police officer who had sex with an underage girl in the department’s youth Explorers program.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has dismissed the case against former San Leandro policeman Marco Becerra, 27, because the young woman involved declined to press charges.

Under California law, alleged victims of sexual misconduct have the right to decide not to proceed with prosecution at any time and the victim, who is now over 18, made that decision.

Becerra was facing three statutory rape charges stemming from having a sexual relationship with the Explorer in late 2017 when she was still 17-years-old.

Becerra was a mentor in the Explorers program that the girl had joined. The program is designed for young people interested in law enforcement careers.

Becerra resigned and confessed last October to having sex with the 17-year-old on three separate occasions while he was off duty.

In November, Becerra was charged with three felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse.

Becerra had been with the department for three years, was a SWAT team member, and was formerly a part of the Explorers program himself.

The Explorers program is open to young people ages 14 to 19. The program was temporarily suspended following Becerra’s arrest, but started running again in February.

The San Leandro police made changes to the Explorers program policies, including allowing Explorers to go on ride-alongs only with officers of the same gender and adding rules on how instructors can contact Explorers.

Becerra’s lawyer Michael Rains said shortly after the arrest “This relationship in every sense was consensual. There were strong emotional feelings by both parties and despite that she as just shy of 18, the law says it was illegal.”

The age of consent in California is 18, under California state law.

 

Full Report Finds that Accusations Against Zapata Don’t Hold Up

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 07-12-18

The City of San Leandro released the full 50-page independent investigator’s report on the allegations of sexual harassment made against former City Manager Chris Zapata by Davis Street Family Resource Center CEO Rose Johnson.

The report is the result of an independent investigation by attorney Karen Kramer who found Johnson’s accusations to lack credibility. The report includes interviews and documents that weren’t included in an earlier summary of Kramer’s findings which was released in June.

“The credible evidence presented during the course of the investigation establishes that more likely than not, Mr. Zapata did not make any sexual overtures towards Ms. Padilla Johnson, nor did he express any interest in having a romantic or sexual relationship with her,” Kramer wrote in summary.

Zapata has said that Johnson’s allegations were designed to undermine his credibility, whether as a distraction from Davis Street’s financial issues or in retaliation for the city not granting the Davis Street Wellness Center a lucrative medical marijuana permit. A few of Kramer’s discoveries seem to indicate that someone was trying to dig up dirt on Zapata.

At some point, Zapata learned that Davis Street made a Public Records Act request from his former employer, National City, seeking any complaints made against Zapata while he was employed as city manager there.

Zapata and several other National City officials were named in a lawsuit in 2006 in which a national City employee alleged she was wrongly terminated and harassed for being non-Hispanic.

Zapata told Kramer that on May of 2017, a redacted party told him “I’m not a part of this. It’s Rose (and two other redacted names)” who were obtaining “opposition research” against  Zapata.

Another part of Kramer’s report says that Zapata believed that Johnson or an affiliate of hers had hired a private investigator in an attempt to uncover something to discredit him months before she sent the City Council a letter saying she’d been harassed by Zapata.

The conflict between Johnson and Zapata apparently stemmed from the fact that Zapata made public that in 2016 Davis Street failed to pay back a loan of $1.5 million in taxpayer money the city gave the non-profit to open a clinic, and missed payment deadlines even after they were extended.

Kramer’s report determined that not only did Davis Street not pay back the money in time, Johnson signed papers stating that the loan was unencumbered when she knew the same piece of property was being used as collateral for both the city loan and a separate loan from Wells Fargo.

Zapata’s interview with Kramer also  suggests that Davis Street did not not intend to back the city’s loan of taxpayer money immediately, even after they sold some real estate.

“Mr. Zapata shared that in June 2016, he saw Ms. Padilla Johnson at the Cherry Festival,” Kramer wrote. “He had heard from (redacted) that the Davis Street property was for sale, so he asked Ms. Padilla Johnson if the City would be paid back once the property sold. According to Mr. Zapata, Ms. Padilla Johnson told him that Davis Street has other bills.”

Kramer’s full report is available on the city’s website under the “press releases” tab.

CAPTION: At the Fosters Freeze on Alvarado Davis Street CEO Rose Padilla Johnson claimed that City Manager Chris Zapata behaved inappropriately.

TIMES FILE PHOTO

 

Big Crowd Protests Immigration Policy

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 07-05-18

Hundreds of people turned out for the “Families Belong Together” rally in San Leandro on Saturday morning to protest the Trump administration’s policy on immigration.

Some people brought signs, some made them on the front steps of City Hall, and then the crowd marched down the street to Root Park where the rally continued.

Drivers passing by on East 14th Street honked as people chanted and held up signs reading “No Border, No Walls,” “Families Together,” “No One Is Illegal,” “Abolish ICE,” “Babies Need Their Mommies, and “Make America Kind Again.”

Mayor Pauline Cutter found the opportunity to use her patented catch phrase, “San Leandro is a city where kindness matters,” over a portable PA, and a poet spoke as well.

City Councilwoman Deborah Cox said there’s a movement going on since the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and added, “and I haven’t stopped, and we won’t stop.”

Immigration Policy Isn’t the American Way, Marchers Say

One person in attendance said she came to the march for a simple reason.

“Because taking children away from their parents is not what America is about,” said Pam Streitfeld, who mentioned that her family had to leave Poland to escape the Nazis just before World War II, even changing their family name to avoid getting captured by the Germans.

Our country should open the door for people who are escaping terrorism in other countries, Streitfeld said. There’s a way to keep out those who would do harm to the country, while letting in the vast majority of immigrants who would contribute to the country, she added.

The crowd protested the stricter immigration policy that began in April and has resulted in separating over 2,000 kids from their parents apprehended for entering the country illegally. Many are families fleeing turmoil in Central America.

The Trump administration said there is no policy to separate kids from their parents. But the stricter enforcement that started in April, holding the parents for a criminal offense, inevitably leads to separating parents from their kids when they enter the country together.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order stopping the separation of families, and a federal court ordered immigration to place the children back with their parents within a month. But it still remains unclear how many families have been reunited.

CAPTION: Hundreds of people came to rally against the Trump administration’s policy on immigration in front of City Hall and at Root Park in San Leandro on Saturday.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Zapata to Leave; Council Doesn’t Give a Reason

City manager to get $350,000 ‘severance pay’ in what is called a ‘mutual separation agreement’

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 07-05-18

Despite being cleared of sexual harassment allegations by an independent investigator last month, San Leandro City Manager Chris Zapata will no longer work for the city as of next week.

After a closed session meeting Monday night, the City Council did not say whether Zapata was fired or quit but instead said they had unanimously approved a “mutual separation agreement.”

Under the agreement, Zapata will receive a $350,000 severance package and neither party admits any wrongdoing or gave a reason for the separation. Zapata also agreed not to file a lawsuit against the city.

Also in the agreement, both Zapata and the city agree not to “defame, disparage, demean, or besmirch the reputation, character, image or services of the other party.”

Assistant City Manager Jeff Kay will once again serve as acting city manager, just as he did throughout Zapata’s nearly six month paid leave of absence earlier this year during the investigation.

The City Council offered no comment on why Zapata, who has been the city manager since 2012, was separating from the city.

Instead, the city sent out a press release where both parties compliment each other.

“Chris has been a valued leader in our community,” said Mayor Pauline Cutter in the press release. “Included in a long list of accomplishments, our city has made advances in technology, has a strong support net in place for those residents who depend on services, and is more diverse financially than ever before in our history.”

The statement attributed to Zapata reads: “I want to thank San Leandro and particularly want to thank the city staff and the mayor and the City Council for their work during my time here.”

Zapata was recently cleared of accusations after he was accused last December by Davis Street Family Resource Center CEO Rose Padilla Johnson of inappropriate behavior during a series of one-on-one business meetings over a period of several years.

Among Johnson’ accusations was that Zapata told her she “held the key” to getting a permit for the Davis Street Wellness Center to get a city permit to open a medical marijuana dispensary.

But Zapata denied there was any sexual meaning behind those words and an independent investigator hired by the city found Zapata to be credible and that Johnson was factually inconsistent in her account.

Zapata was reinstated to work at the city on June 4, but has not attended any City Council meetings which have taken place since then.

The controversy was made public when Zapata sent a 23-page email from his city email address preemptively denying any wrongdoing and accusing Johnson and Davis Street board member Gordon Galvan of trying to influence the decision on the medical marijuana permit.

In the email, Zapata also said Johnson’s allegations were retaliatory because his office made public the fact that Davis Street was overdue on a $1.5 million loan of tax payer money.

The loan issue also revealed that Johnson used the same piece of property as collateral for the loan from the city while concealing that it was also being used as collateral with another loan from Wells Fargo.

Before the council adjourned into closed session Monday night, the public had a chance to speak.

Speaker Peggy Combs said that, if not for the unproven allegations of harassment, Davis Street’s financial issues would’ve made a bigger splash with the public.

“The questionable acts of Davis Street and their deception with the loan, in any other context, that would’ve been the news,” said Combs. “There have been no explanations and there have been no apologies from Davis Street.”

Of the half dozen speakers, only Mike Katz-Lacabe urged the council to terminate Zapata.

“You don’t have to consider the results (of the harassment investigation) in order to have cause to get rid of him,” said Katz-Lacabe. “That email was a 23-page breach of trust.”

But several speakers told the council that Zapata would not have had to write the inflammatory email if he hadn’t been falsely accused in the first place, so he shouldn’t be punished for trying to defend himself even if the way he did it may have been less than professional.

“The investigation concluded with no evidence of wrongdoing,” said speaker Dale Gregory. “His letter doesn’t constitute enough of a violation to cancel out his excellent work. Frustration in defending himself is a human response.”

Former City Councilman Jim Prola agreed.

“I worked under four city managers and Chris has been the best one,” Prola said. “If someone accused me of sexual harassment, I too would have written a letter.”

Prola’s wife Diana, who is on the San Leandro school board, also spoke in favor of Zapata.

“I don’t want to see the city manager dismissed,” said Prola. “Basically, I think this whole thing has made the City Council and Davis Street look bad.”

 

How to Run For City Council, School Board

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 07-05-18

The nomination period for this year’s election opens later this month and running for office may be easier than you think.

In fact, winning may be easier than you think.

During the 2016 general election five out of six San Leandro races were unopposed. Two out of three council races had no competition and all four of the San Leandro School board elections were one-candidate races.

This year, the mayor’s seat and City Council seats in Districts 1, 3, and 5 and  school board trustee in Areas 2, 4, and 6 are all up for election. The nomination period runs from July 16 to Aug. 10.

Anyone is eligible to hold office as an elected council member if they are a registered voter in San Leandro and a resident of the district where they are seeking office for at least 30 days prior to the filing date. A district map is on the city’s website.

Nomination packets are available at City Hall. San Leandro City Clerk Tamika Greenwood can set up an appointment to go over the paperwork and answer questions.

Greenwood said it might seem intimidating at first but she works with the candidates and hasn’t had anyone send in an incomplete packet yet.

The next step for a candidate is getting at least 20 but no more than 30 signatures from residents of their district.

Then, there’s the optional candidate statement which is up to 200-words and is published on the sample ballot and mailed to all registered voters. Candidates have to pay for the cost of printing, which is $900.

Greenwood says she’s more than willing to walk people though the required financial contribution statements, guidelines about posting camping signs, and everything else involved in running for office.

If you decide to run and wind up getting cold feet about actually representing the people of San Leandro in offie, you have until Aug. 10 withdraw your nomination papers.

For more information, visit the city’s website at www.sanleandro.org and click on the “How Do I” tab.

 

81-Year Resident Faces Eviction

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 07-05-18

John Busch grew up in San Leandro where he was a Boy Scout and got his picture in the San Leandro Observer playing the acting police chief for a day. 

Busch, 81, who worked as an engineer most of his career, has to move out of his home at the Estudillo Trailer Park by July 11. He’s been in a dispute with the new owners of the trailer park on Grand Avenue who’ve raised his rent from $560 a month to nearly $900. 

For the past five months, Busch has given the landlord a check for $560 plus an additional 7-and-a-half percent, an amount he thinks is fair. He says he can’t afford any more. 

But the landlord hasn’t accepted the checks because it’s far less than the current rent. 

So Busch went to the courthouse in Hayward last Wednesday. He said they have legal aid people in the hallway to help people who can’t afford a lawyer. Busch said he should have talked to them first, but the landlord’s lawyer caught him and proposed a deal that Busch accepted. 

Busch agreed to move out by July 11, and he wouldn’t have to pay the back rent for the past five months. But now he’s having second thoughts. The 81-year-old admitted he can sometimes be forgetful. 

“I kind of blew it,” Busch said. “I got a little confused and agreed with their offer.” 

Busch said he was planning on going to court, but when the lawyer came up and offered a “compromise,” it sounded good at the time. 

Now Busch has about a week left before he has to move out, and he can’t afford any place else. He’s lived in San Leandro his whole live, attending school here from Roosevelt through San Leandro High, and can’t fathom living anywhere else. 

“I’m going to have to live in my car and get harassed by the cops for being homeless,” he said. 

Residents were notified of the rent increase in January just after the property was sold. (“Rent Hikes Hit another Trailer Park,” San Leandro Times, Jan. 18, 2018)

Management at Harmony Communities, the new owner of the property, hadn’t yet returned a phone call this week, but previously said that even though they raised the rent, it’s still lower than in other parks in nearby Castro Valley and Hayward. 

The increased rent is being used to improve the property and make it fit in better with the surrounding neighborhood, said Harmony Communities spokesman Matthew Davies earlier this year. He said the company has budgeted about $400,000 over the next year to make improvements. 

But Busch says he just doesn’t have the money to pay the new rent, an increase of 60 percent. 

“I really wanted to make an issue of this because I thought it was immoral, if not illegal,” Busch said. 

Busch said he will check with legal aid to see if there’s anything he can still do, but he just has until July 11. He’s always liked to be an activist, joining protests, including the “Families Belong Together” rally on Saturday at Root Park. 

But Busch said the agreement he signed forbids him to make an issue out of his eviction, or he will have to pay his back rent. He acknowledges that he decided to sign the agreement, though. 

“I just don’t think people should be in my position,” he said. 

CAPTION: John Busch, who has lived in San Leandro his whole life, is getting evicted from his trailer home.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Breakfast Club Honors Past Presidents

San Leandro Times • 06-28-18

The San Leandro Breakfast Club celebrated its Past Presidents Luncheon on Friday, June 22, at Paradiso Restaurant.  

The club was established in 1954 with member breakfast meetings each week in San Leandro.

Club president Tom Baker spoke of the amazing San Leandro leadership present in the room and recognized that it was the Breakfast Club that has shaped San Leandro.  

Two of the club members attending the luncheon are World War II veterans. Mayor Pauline Cutter attended and was the first speaker of the lunch.

Former mayor Shelia Young and City Councilman Ed Hernandez, both club members, were also in attendance.

CAPTION: Past San Leandro Breakfast Club presidents with Mayor Pauline Cutter and former Mayor Shelia Young are Franck Haggas, Susie Kleebauer, Arnold Mew, former police Chief Robert Maginnis, Pat Sangiacomo, Ken Pon, Mike Adelson, Tom Baker, Melody Mar, Lary Huls, Whit Magor, and Wayne Gregori. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF SAN LEANDRO BREAKFAST CLUB 

 

Two Suspects Arrested for Downtown Murder

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-28-18

Two men have been arrested for last week’s fatal stabbing in Washington Plaza which left one man dead and another in critical condition.

The two victims apparently got into an argument in the parking lot near the downtown Safeway with two other men who stabbed them.

San Leandro police have arrested Michael Mendozaroche of Alameda and Alex Fernandez of Oakland, both 23-years-old. On Friday, the district attorney’s office charged both with murder.

The homicide victim has been identified as Michael Kittrell Smith, 25.

The name of the other man who was injured has not been released, but police say he was a 36-year-old coworker of the dead man and he remains in critical condition at a local hospital.

Both Mendozaroche and Fernandez were arrested at their homes less than 12 hours after the stabbing, according to Lt. Isaac Benabou of the San Leandro police.

Police say that both pairs of men appeared to have been in the same nearby restaurant on the night of Tuesday, June 19, and got into the argument at around 11 p.m. in the downtown plaza parking lot near the Safeway.

Benabou said that both victims were stabbed multiple times and described the surviving victim as “clinging to life” when emergency responders arrived.

A weapon, reported in the San Francisco Chronicle to be a barber’s scissors, was left at the scene and appears to have been used in the attack.

Witnesses reported seeing two men leave the scene and Benabou said San Leandro police also used surveillance footage from cameras in the area to identify the suspects.

"We are very thankful to the community, and to everyone who came forward to assist us in the investigation," said Benabou in a written statement. "Without the assistance of witnesses, business owners, and residents in the area it would have been a challenging and time-consuming investigation.”

Mendozaroche and Fernandez are being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and face charges of murder, use of a deadly weapon, and premeditated attack. They are scheduled to enter a plea at the East County Hall of Justice today, June 28.

 

East Bay Set to Celebrate 4th of July

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-28-18

There are plenty of places in the East Bay to watch fireworks and celebrate Independence Day next week.

If you can’t wait until the Fourth to see fireworks, there is a nightly display at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, now though July 8 – every night except for the Fourth of July, when the fair closes its doors at 6 p.m.

There will also be an early fireworks show following the Oakland A’s 6:05 p.m. game against the Padres on Tuesday, July 3. Or you might just want to catch a game on the Fourth and watch the A’s play the Padres at a 1:05 p.m. day game.

The City of Alameda Mayor’s parade starts at 10 a.m. on July 4 and they expect about 60,000 spectators to line the over 3-mile route.

And after the parade, check out the Second Annual U.S. Coast Guard Festival at Pier 3, Alameda Point. Tour a Coast Guard Cutter, view a rescue drill, and watch a silent drill team demonstration. There will be food trucks, kids’ activities and more from noon to 4 p.m.

Jack London Square is having  a “block party” for over 10,000 expected guests from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with live music, a beer garden, barbecue, a kids’ zone, and local vendors.

The party starts at noon at the Berkeley Marina with live music, food vendors, free dragon boat rides, carnival rides, and fireworks set to start at 9:35 p.m.

In San Francisco, the Fisherman’s Wharf fireworks over the Bay start at around 9:30 p.m., but don’t plan on seeing them from the San Leandro Marina, as the park will be closed at 6 p.m. on July 4. Access to the El Torito and Horatio's restaurants and Marina Inn hotel will be accessible to their customers only.

 

Cutter Returns from Mayors’ Meeting

With Hopes for More Child Care

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-28-18

Mayor Pauline Cutter recently returned from four days at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where she got the opportunity to chair a panel on women in government.

Cutter was one of more than 250 mayors from cities with populations of 30,000 or more who traveled to the annual conference, which was held in Boston this year.

Cutter said she relished having a chance to explore a city with such a rich political past and at the same time speak with her fellow elected officials about the political future.

“It was exciting to see all the history in Boston and being around the mayors is also exciting because you have the opportunity to learn a lot form each other,” said Cutter.

Cutter is the chair of the Women Mayors Leadership Alliance, so she led a panel on women in politics featuring a speech from Senator Elizabeth Warren, who shared her own struggles balancing motherhood and her career.

Warren said that child care is essential for any working woman and that she wouldn’t have been able to complete her own higher education, let alone be elected to the Senate, without help raising her kids – in her case from family members.

But people who don’t have family to help need affordable day care, and Cutter says San Leandro needs to work to provide more childcare opportunities.

“It’s important to do everything we can as a city in support of that,” said Cutter, who said that the 5,000-square-foot child care center at the Marea Alta apartment building is a start. The city has contributed $800,000 to help run the center to be operated by Bridge Housing and the Davis Street Family Resource Center.

Cutter said that women’s issues in general were a “trend” at the conference and that male mayors seemed more open to listening than in previous years.

“Women’s issues were more prevalent and got more equal time, if you will,” said Cutter. “The men mayors are starting to notice and there was a large audience at the women’s leadership meeting – not just a specialized meeting for women.”

Cutter and several of her fellow mayors took the opportunity to march in the Boston Pride Parade while they were in town and Cutter says she planned to be a part of a San Leandro contingency at the San Francisco Pride Parade last weekend.

Part of the parade route was along the Boston Marathon route and they took a moment to remember the victims of the 2013 bombing.

“If was a lot of fun walking out with your colleagues, but it was also poignant in a way,” said Cutter. “When they say ‘Boston Pride,’ it has two meanings for them.”

Part of attending these national meetings is getting your city’s name and identity out there and Cutter said that more big-city mayors are aware of San Leandro than ever before.

“They know we are in the Bay Area, they know we are tech-friendly,” said Cutter. “We’re mentioned with other cities like Portland and Kansas City with a focus on technology. People are really starting to notice us.”

CAPTION: Cutter meets Elizabeth Warren in Boston.

 

Ashland Kids Learn from Real Madrid

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 06-21-18

Kids in Ashland took a soccer lesson on a recent Saturday in a program run by one of the greatest soccer teams in the world.

The Real Madrid Foundation Soccer clinic came to Ashland on June 9 and held a one-day clinic on the field at Edendale Middle School. The coaches teaching the clinic are traveling around the country holding one-week clinics at different cities, including Oakland.

These 5-day clinics cost hundreds of dollars per player, but the 1-day course in Ashland was taught for free.

“This is a special day,” said Miguel Miranda who helps run the Real Madrid program.

The training gives the kids some of the experience of the Real Madrid Academy. The goal isn’t just to teach soccer, but the values of the club as well, said Miranda.

All the kids are part of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Activity League, which runs the soccer programs at the Ashland REACH Youth Center.

“We work with around 2,000 kids, and it’s all free,” said Nick Lusson who runs the Sheriff’s Activity League soccer program. “It’s the only one in Northern California that’s free.”

Lusson has taught in youth soccer clubs where kids – or their parents – pay from $2,000 to $5,000 a year. He and another coach decided they wanted to bring soccer skills to kids that don’t have the means to join those expensive programs.

“We wanted to use soccer for a bigger objective,” Lusson said.

Besides teaching, Lusson said another challenge he’s facing is just finding fields in the area – where there is a shortage of parks and open space.

“Field space is a big problem,” he said. “The Eden Area is under-parked. It’s a big challenge trying to find new spaces.”

The Sheriff’s Activity League is part of a broader program by the Sheriff’s Department involving sports, art, community economic development in the less affluent neighborhoods of the county.

The Sheriff’s Office says that it’s shifting form “an enforcement-driven model to a more holistic approach that takes into account community-level stressors and strengths-bases solutions.”

The Sheriff’s Offices says the program is a national model. The Community Capitals model of economic development by the Sheriff’s Office and the Deputy Sheriff’s Activity League has:

• Launched Dig Deep Farms and Food Hub

• Expanded the DSAL Soccer League to over 2,000 players

• Advocated for the construction of the REACH Ashland Youth Center

• Created a community hub for the Hayward Adult School

• Built a mini-soccer park in a vacant lot with volunteers

• Created Spanish-speaking Residents’ Academies

• Supported development of the Ashland Community Association.

 CAPTION: Youth soccer players in Ashland took a lesson from coaches for the Real Madrid soccer team the Saturday before last on the field at Edendale Middle School.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

Marina to Be Demolished By Next Year

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-21-18

There will likely be no boats in the San Leandro Marina by this time next year, according to a report the City Council heard Monday night about the upcoming $6.7 million “decommissioning” of the harbor.

The old harbor must be demolished before work begins on the Monarch Bay Shoreline Project. The project by developer Cal Coast includes plans for houses, apartments, a hotel, restaurants, and a pedestrian boardwalk around where the harbor is located today, and for kayaks and small boats rentals to be available.

The city will have to pay to remove the wooden docks, pylons, the foundation of the old Blue Dolphin restaurant, restrooms, and the harbormaster’s office. Funding for the nearly $7 million deconstruction project has already been set aside over the next two fiscal years’ budgets, according to the city.

Councilman Lee Thomas, who sat on a citizen’s marina committee before he joined the council, was pragmatic about the future of the marina.

“I think it’s time to move forward,” said Thomas. “We have a plan in place. I feel like we are just holding on to something from the past.”

Even the people who keep boats in the harbor seem to be resigned to the idea that their days of sailing out of San Leandro are numbered.

Public Works Director Debbie Pollart said that the city stopped accepting new berth rentals in 2012 and occupancy is currently down to 18 percent (87  boats) and only six people still live aboard vessels. Two more boat owners have announced their intentions to leave by the end of the month.

Because the marina fills in with silt, only boats with drafts of less than four feet can get in and out of the harbor at low tide and conditions continue to worsen. Pollart said that just 47 of the boats in the berths can do so at this point, so she encourages them to watch their tidal charts.

The decommissioning of the harbor will take about 13 months beginning this fall, with the physical demolition to begin next April with an eye to completion in October of 2019.

Cal Coast has estimated that they will begin construction of the developed portion of the marina in summer of 2019 and Pollart said the demolition and some of the construction can be coordinated to happen concurrently.

But even though the marina was built on a natural mudflat and the channel out to the Bay needs to constantly be dredged, a few council members weren’t totally ready to give up on the idea that dredging could be possible and boats could once again use San Leandro as a spot to launch into the Bay.

Council members Ed Hernandez and Corina Lopez asked if anything could be done to keep the cement piers in place so if a dredge was somehow possible five or ten years down the line, at least they could be used.

”We can’t unring that bell,” said Lopez of decommissioning. “I don’t want to take opportunities away from a future council.”

Hernandez asked if there was any last-ditch possibility of federal funding if a commercial enterprise could operate from the harbor or a creative solution to the dredging problem could be found.

But Pollart said there is just no funding available for such improvements and even if there were, the harbor has over $10 million in deferred maintenance that would need to be done first.

And developer Cal-Coast has made their designs based on plans of not having any vessels larger than a kayak in the the harbor.

Pollart reminded the council that the dredging costs millions of dollars and the city had been unable in the past to even find a company who’d perform the task. Additionally, it costs millions more to haul away and dispose of the silt once it is dredged.

Mayor Pauline Cutter said that she understands the desire to keep the marina the way it was in the past but that’s just not possible, and that once the decommissioning is over, the city can look forward to a new amenity to enjoy.

“We all knew this was coming,” said Cutter. “This is one of the unpleasant parts of it, but when it’s all over, we will be pleased.”

CAPTION: The southern half of the San Leandro Marina is practically empty these days as the basin fills in with silt and sailors move their boats to other marinas. When the project is finished the marina will become a basin for shallow-draft boats such as kayaks.

PHOTO BY JIM KNOWLES

 

DA Says Don’t Fall for Phone Scam

San Leandro Times • 06-21-18

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office said they’ve learned of a recent attempted scam in which people are receiving calls on cell and home phones from someone claiming to be from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

The callers leave messages or speak to the individual answering the phone and addresses the call recipient by name and supplies a correct date of birth. The caller claims to be collecting on a payday advance loan with a case number and demands an immediate cash payment be wired or the person will face arrest, prosecution and wage garnishment.

But the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office never calls with a demand for money or payment. Any such calls are a scam and the public is warned not to wire or send money in response to such calls.

Anyone receiving a similar call demanding payment may report the attempted fraud to the District Attorney’s Office by calling 383-8600.

 

Man Murdered in Downtown Plaza

Man stabbed by unknown assailant in front of Safeway;

in another case, man pulls gun and fires at liquor store clerk

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 06-21-18

One man was killed and another remains in critical condition after a fight broke out in the Washington Plaza parking lot in front of Safeway late Tuesday night.

When police arrived at the parking lot at 1499 Washington Avenue at around 11 p.m., they found two men with stab wounds lying on the ground, according to Lt. Isaac Benabou of the San Leandro police.

One man was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was taken to the hospital where he has undergone surgery and was in critical condition as of Wednesday morning.

The victims' identities have not yet been released.

Benabou said that police believe that a total of four men including the two victims were involved in the fight. He said that no motivation for the stabbing has yet been determined. It appears the two victims knew each other and got into the altercation with two other men, but it’s not known if they knew the suspects.

“We have no information as to what led to this altercation,” said Benabou in a written statement. “Whatever the reason, nothing justifies taking another life. We send our deepest condolences to the victims’ families for this senseless crime.”

The two men who fled the scene are wanted for questioning. Benabou said that detectives were able to speak with witnesses who gave accounts of the incident. Police are also currently going over video surveillance footage from the area.

Shot Fired at Liquor Store San Leandro police are looking for two suspects after one of them shot at clerks at the 3-Ring Liquor store last week.

A man entered the store at 15267 Hesperian Boulevard on June 15 at around 7:40 p.m., bought a bottle, and then left.

But the man returned right away and got into a dispute with the two clerks for an unknown reason, according to Lt. Isaac Benabou of the San Leandro police.

He left the store again but returned moments later, this time brandishing a firearm and shirtless. A woman who apparently knew the man entered the store and tired to get him to leave. The man was pointing and waving the gun at the clerks and he fired once, narrowly missing the clerks and hitting the wall behind them, Benabou said.

The woman then grabbed the man and pulled him out of the store. The couple got into their car and fled south on Hesperian Boulevard.

The man is described as a black male, mid to late 20s, 6-foot to 6-foot-2, about 200 pounds with black hair. The woman is described as a white or Hispanic female in her mid to late 20s, 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-7, 220 to 225 pounds, with red hair. The car is described as a red 2004 Chevy Monte Carlo.

The San Leandro police are asking anyone with information about this incident to call them at 577-2740.

 

Market Revives Sleepy Mall

A once desolate little strip mall on Doolittle now booming

By Jim Knowles

San Leandro Times • 06-14-18

Just a few years ago, the Marina Faire Center on Doolittle Drive was an old-fashioned strip mall, past its prime.

But not anymore.

Today, cars circle the parking lot looking for a space. The place is packed.

Shoppers flock to the New Sang Chong Market where fresh produce at reasonable prices lines the front sidewalk, shaded from the afternoon sun by canopies. Grocery workers unpack boxes of produce from a truck.

Inside, the checkers are going non-stop, serving customers who come from Alameda to Castro Valley to Newark. Workers pull live fish, caught by local fishermen, out of tanks for waiting shoppers.

Next door to the market, new restaurants have opened – The Pearl Bay Tea House on one side, and Hanoi Chicken Noodle on the other.

The whole center at Doolittle and Fairway is seeing a revival that all started with the New Sang Chong Market. But it wasn’t easy, says the founder’s daughter.

“The first year was rough,” said Janet Phung, whose father John Phung started the market, moving to San Leandro from Oakland’s Chinatown. John Phung has since passed away from a heart attack.

“This was his pride and joy,” said his daughter, who described how her dad started out selling fruit from a little sidewalk stand, before eventually moving into a fish store. He took a gamble opening the store in a sleepy old strip mall in San Leandro.

“The first year was very slow,” said Janet’s sister Linda Phung. “My dad really took a gamble. A market that size could wipe you out.”

This wasn’t just a little shop in Chinatown. The family’s savings were put into this new venture and they didn’t know if it would catch on or not.

It took three years of construction and getting all the permits required by the city before the market opened in 2011, and then another slow year before word spread and business started to grow.

Both Janet and Linda say their dad always tried new things and he was very resilient. Even though he had almost no formal education, having to escape Vietnam during the war, he taught his kids about business.

“My grandparents fled China during the Japanese occupation when their entire village was wiped out,” said Linda Phung. “They went to Vietnam and then war broke out in Vietnam. My parents fled Vietnam to Hong Kong.”

Janet said a Mormon family sponsored her mom and dad to come to the United States. After living in Utah for a year, they came to California where her dad liked the weather and the opportunity to go into business in Oakland’s Chinatown.

“He loved America and he was go glad for the opportunity,” Janet said.

Her dad couldn’t go to school in Vietnam, bombs and land mines made it impossible. But Linda thinks that instilled in her dad a resilience that she and her five siblings, who grew up in America, don’t have.

“I don’t think we have the vision and courage he had,” Linda said.

Their dad taught them to put themselves in the customer’s shoes, said Linda, who then described her dad’s approach to business.

“What do the common people want?” she asked. “A good deal, basically. Fresh produce, but affordable.”

Though their market is more affordable than a lot of places (fresh tomatoes for 49 cents a pound, cherries for $1.99), produce in general has gone up a lot in recent years, Linda said. So maybe people are looking for a good deal more than ever.

Janet and Linda’s mom owns the new restaurant next door, Hanoi Chicken Noodle, in a beautifully remodeled space, where their brother Chris is the manager.

“My parents have had chicken noodle soup in the family for a long time,” said Chris Phung, who also recalls the slow year where they weren’t sure the market would make it.

Linda Phung said she’s not sure how it caught on, maybe just word of mouth.

“It’s not social media,” she said. “We don’t have social media. It’s not a trendy thing, just a market.”

But for some reason people all over the East Bay are swarming to the little mall on Doolittle Drive. The other restaurant, Pearl Bay Teahouse, has a busy lunch crowd all week.

Linda said her dad knew the owners of Pearl Bay Teahouse and encouraged them to open.

“The restaurant and grocery store go hand-in-hand, both help each other,” Linda said.

When they started the market, people would come by and see the empty parking lot, the lack of customers, the little strip mall that was out in nowhere, Linda said.

“Everyone would come by and say, ‘What are you guys doing?” Linda recalls. “But my dad knew what he was doing.”

CAPTION: The Marina Faire center has seen a revival since the opening of the New Sang Chong Market.

 

North Area Residents Not Down with Air BnB

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-14-18

A dozen neighbors from the Broadmoor area took to the public comments section of last week’s City Council meeting to say that there are several single-family homes in San Leandro being rented out to 20 or more people per night via Air BnB and other websites.

The main complaint was about 393 Dowling Boulevard, a house the owner has listed on Air BnB as “The Summit.” The website describes it as a “beautiful retreat home perfect for large groups” and is recommended for 16 or more guests with five bedrooms and 14 beds, including some bunk beds. The cost is $875 per night and there is self check-in with a keypad code

Frank Hicks, who lives on nearby Beverley Avenue, said that the residential area simply isn’t zoned for that type of use.

“It is legally in fact a hotel,” said Hicks. “It wastes critical local housing that could be used for a family here in San Leandro. Why is this hotel permitted to operate?”

Currently, the city estimates that there are around 75 rentals operating in the city through AirBnB, VRBO, HomeAway and other listing services.

Short-term rentals aren’t addressed in the city code, which was written before the popularization of Air BnB-type rentals. So the city needs to make the code more specific to address the new issues the rentals bring up.

“Short term rentals are prohibited under the zoning code,” said Andrew Mogensen, the city’s planning manager. “We never allowed them to begin with, so this is something that we need to address at the enforcement level.”

Enforcement against short-term rental units is complaint-based – basically the city has no way of knowing about them unless someone calls to complain. Last November, the city reported that it had received four complaints about disruptive renters and the city has issued four cease-and-desist letters as a response.

The problem is, without an explicit Air BnB ordinance on the books, the city has little recourse for further enforcement if the cease-and-desist letter doesn’t work.

Last November, the City Council began discussions about regulating Air BnBs and other rental companies but has yet to take any vote.

The homeowner of the Air BnB is known by the username “Shashi” on the website. In addition to “The Summit,” Shashi lists another San Leandro home as a seven bedroom “mansion” in the San Leandro hills available for rental for $1,600 per night and he also rents another a 10-bed retreat called “Treetop” in San Leandro for $1,200 per night.

The house rules Shashi has posted on his Air BnB ad discourage house parties and loud music, though one neighbor who appealed to the City Council last week said that she ran into a group of DJs from Germany who were planning a rave at the property.

“Imagine at 5:30 in the morning going out to walk your dog and there are 20 strange men outside your house,” said speaker Rainee McGrew.

Neighbor Gloria Strom rents in the city and want to buy a home but said her family is being priced out of living in San Leandro by people who own multiple properties that they aren’t living in. She said her family is willing to spend over $100,000 more than the asking price on some homes and are still getting outbid.

“You may very well lose me as a San Leandro resident,” said Strom. “My family is being pushed out by investors who buy single-family homes and open hotels. They contribute nothing to the community.”

Speaker Rose Riskund took the council to task for not properly regulating the rentals and said the overcrowded homes could potentially lead to a fire or other tragedy.

Because the Air BnB issue was not on the meeting agenda, the City Council could not respond to any of the speakers, but Mayor Pauline Cutter told them she would put the matter on an upcoming agenda.

CAPTION: Houses in San Leandro are being rented out to 20 people per night on Air BnB.

 

School District Plans Parcel Tax

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-14-18

The San Leandro school board came one step closer to putting a parcel tax on the November ballot that would likely collect about $1.8 million for the school annually.

At the Tuesday night meeting, the board continued the discussion to a special meeting to be scheduled in the next few weeks. The board didn’t approve placing the tax measure on the ballot because they have yet to decide the exact amount of the tax, how long it may be levied, and how it would be assessed.

The school district is considering either a flat per parcel tax, a per-square-foot tax, or a hybrid model of the two.

So far, the hybrid seemed to be the most popular pick. In that case, homeowners would be assessed a $64 annual tax, plus one cent per-square-foot of their homes.

So someone in a 2,000-square-foot-home would be paying $84 dollars annually, which is more than the $78 parcel tax the school district failed to pass lass year.

But the district thinks the hybrid will be more palatable for homeowners. Under that model, it would be commercial property owners who would be paying the highest parcel tax, so the board is hoping to appeal to homeowners to pass it, as they wouldn’t have the largest burden.

Board member Lance James suggested that the district try to appeal to businesses by saying they could tout the fact that they are helping schools.

“The businesses will try to slap us back with the hybrid (tax), but we can try to get in front of that and say ‘Look what you can say you are doing for schools,’” said James.

Several of the school board members expressed concern that a the hybrid model will be confusing to voters, but also said they were worried a flat parcel tax would not pass with the necessary two-thirds voter approval.

School board president Monique Tate said that she thinks the tax can pass this time because it will be on a general election ballot and more people will be voting.

“It will be different than the mail-in,” said Tate. “I think we could promote it to where the community will support it.”

The City of San Leandro was considering a parcel tax of its own, but decided against it in part because it didn’t want to compete with the school district’s tax.

Former school board member Morgan Mack Rose told the board she supports the hybrid model and even gave them some marketing advice.

“I think it’s really easy to say, ‘You won’t even give one penny to our schools?’” said Mack Rose. “I think that’s a good argument.”

A telephone survey of 300 likely voters was commissioned by the school board and conducted May 30 through June 1.

The survey indicated that 43 percent of those questioned would “strongly” vote yes and 22 percent said they were a “not so strong yes.”  And 20 percent said they would “strongly” vote no and 8 percent said “not so strong” no, and 7 percent were undecided.

Though the 2017 parcel tax failed, voters have been supportive of school revenue measures. 

In 2016, voters passed Measure J1, a $104 million general obligation bond that has property owners pay $36 per $100,000 of their assessed property value. 

And San Leandro residents are also currently paying for two other school bonds – the $109 million Measure B bond from 2006, and the $50 million Measure M bond from 2010 assessed at $25 per $100,000 of property value.

 

New Electricity Firm to Cover San Leandro

By Amy Sylvestri

San Leandro Times • 06-14-18

When you flip that light switch in your home, the electricity that comes out might not be from PG&E – San Leandro has begun the switch over to East Bay Community Energy (EBCE) an alternate electricity provider.

Last week, municipal, industrial, and commercial electricity was switched over to EBCE. Residential accounts will be enrolled in November.

The City Council voted in 2016 to join the program, which is Joint Powers Authority. In Alameda County, all cities except Alameda, Pleasanton, and Newark are part of the EBCE.

The EBCE will still pay PG&E to maintain the transmission infrastructure. The county says EBCE saves money because they buy power directly from a source, circumventing PG&E.

The money saved from that step could go to pay for more expensive forms of energy, including solar and wind. The EBCE currently has a request for bids out to alternative energy providers, according to Annie Henderson, EBCE spokeswoman.

For now, the EBCE says it is using energy from a variety of sources including hydroelectric dams in the Pacific Northwest and wind farms in Southern California, but they hope to get electricity from more local sources.

“We hope to stimulate the renewable market,” said Henderson, who added that sources from within Alameda County would be given preference.

EBCE is also sourcing some of its energy from PG&E because of ongoing long-term contracts. Henderson said that PG&E does sell them energy at a reduced rate because they have more than they are using.

Going through a middleman seems an unlikely way to cut costs, but Henderson said EBCE customers can expect about a one and a half percent savings over PG&E because EBCE is a non-profit governmental agency that “runs lean” with a small number of employees and doesn’t have to answer to shareholders like PG&E.

The EBCE is overseen by a board of directors with one elected official from every participating city. City Councilman Lee Thomas is San Leandro’s representative.

Community energy aggregators like EBCE currently serve just over 12 percent of Californians.

They’ve received some opposition from PG&E, which spent $46 million on Proposition 16 in 2010, which would have made the creation of the local utilities more difficult but was voted down.

Others say the agencies are just being used so cities can say that they are doing something “green.” The former mayor of San Diego said that such agencies are being created because cities are under pressure to comply with the various climate action plans they have put in place over the years that demand clean energy use.

And the California Public Utilities Commission issued a report in May saying a state plan needs to be put in place about what would happen should one of the local energy aggregators fail, leaving customers with out a supplier.

“You’re going to have some failures,” wrote Michael Pickler, CPUC president. “Electric markets can be brutal. So what happens to the customers, midyear, if the company or the (program) goes away? Where do those customers go?”

The EBCE program is opt-out rather than opt-in, so your electricity will be coming from EBCE unless you chose to take action to leave the program.

Those with questions about EBCE or who want to opt out and remain with PG&E can visit ebce.org or call (833) 699-EBCE.

“This is a model that’s been working in California for over eight years, beginning in Marin County,” said Henderson, who said the participation rate is about 95 percent in places with community energy aggregators.

 

Music in the Streets

As Cherry Festival Draws a Crowd

San Leandro Times • 06-07-18

The Project 4 Band was in a groove as part of the entertainment at the Cherry Festival on Saturday on W. Estudillo Avenue in downtown San Leandro. Many booths sold cherries as the crowd mingled and enjoyed the sunny afternoon to mark the annual festival that began in San Leandro in 1909. 

 

City Council Puts Zapata Back on Job

5-month investigation finds no wrongdoing by city manager

Padilla Johnson’s claims shown to be inconsistent with evidence

By Amy Sylvestri San Leandro Times • 06-07-18

San Leandro City Manager Chris Zapata has been reinstated following a lengthy leave of absence after an independent investigator found that claims of sexual harassment made against him were unsubstantiated.

The city hired attorney Karen Kramer to look into claims made by Davis Street Family Resource Center CEO Rose Padilla Johnson that Zapata allegedly made sexual comments to Johnson and implied that a $1.5 million loan the city gave to to Davis Street in 2016 could have been extended if Johnson were to have a relationship with him.

After five months of interviews with nine people, and reviewing hundreds of documents, emails, and text messages, Kramer found Zapata had not behaved inappropriately and that Johnson’s account of events could be proven to be false in several instances.

The City Council voted 6-1 at a closed session Monday night to reinstate Zapata, with Councilman Ed Hernandez dissenting. Hernandez could not be reached for comment. 

Zapata returned to work  on Tuesday afternoon, hours after being reinstated by the council.

In her report summary, Kramer wrote: “The credible evidence presented establishes that more likely than not the relationship between Ms. Padilla Johnson and Mr. Zapata was a professional relationship.” 

The council offered no comment on their decision at Monday night’s meeting, but Mayor Pauline Cutter released a statement via email.

“The City Council has unanimously accepted the findings of the independent investigator,” wrote Cutter. “The City Council has also determined that it is appropriate for the City Manager to return to his duties. City Manager Zapata denied all wrongdoing and the investigation concluded that his testimony was credible.” 

Cutter went on to say that the city was eager to move forward and complimented Zapata on his work as city manager.

Johnson’s Account Called ‘Inconsistent’

Kramer’s report said that Johnson’s account of the timeline of events was often inconsistent and said that Zapata backed up his testimony with numerous emails and texts.

Kramer wrote: “Ms. Padilla Johnson made many inaccurate statements during her interviews as part of this investigation. It is unclear if Ms. Padilla Johnson did so knowingly or because of the passage of time and/or her own perception of certain events being clouded by the stress she was under due to the financial condition of Davis Street during the relevant time period.”

Kramer said that some of Johnson’s allegations were easily disproved such as a claim that Zapata would only agree to meet with her privately at the Fosters Freeze when there was evidence they met numerous times at City Hall over several years.

Zapata said that he agreed to meet at the Foster’s Freeze because it was approximately halfway between his and Johnson’s offices and that he doesn't like to meet for meals or after work, but he said Johnson initiated all the ice cream meetings.

Kramer’s report included a not-before-heard allegation by Johnson that while they were in the parked car in the Fosters Freeze lot, Zapata spilled ice cream on his crotch and rubbed his genital region. Johnson could not tell Kramer when this event allegedly happened and Zapata denied it outright. 

The report says that Johnson’s primary allegation – that Zapata would extend the terms of the $1.5 million loan that Davis Street owned the city – doesn’t make chronological sense by Johnson’s own timeline.

Specifically, Johnson said that she “begged” for a loan extension in October 2016 and Zapata tried to take advantage of her desperation. Kramer found that, at that time, Zapata believed that the matter was already settled and that the city would be wired the money by the end of the month. 

In fact, a Davis Street representative contacted San Leandro Finance Director David Baum to get the city’s banking details to make the transfer and the city thought the money was on its way, so Kramer therefore determined that it was unlikely that Johnson had pled with Zapata days earlier.

Kramer said it wasn’t until a voicemail was left by Johnson on Oct. 31 at 3:40 p.m. (the day the payment was due) that Zapata became aware the city wouldn’t be repaid. 

When the loan became overdue, Zapata discovered that Johnson had used the same piece of property as collateral to secure the loan from the city and as well as a line credit from Wells Fargo. Kramer found that Zapata would’ve been unlikely to pursue a romantic relationship with Johnson given his discovery of her dishonesty in that matter.

Johnson said that the alleged misconduct came to a head when Zapata told her “you hold the key” regarding the loan extension, which she says she took as meaning he’d help Davis Street financially in exchange for a sexual relationship. 

Kramer found that Zapata likely did say “you hold the key” to Johnson at some point, but said Zapata provided a reasonable explanation for using the phrase, in that he was referring to negotiating with Mayor Cutter because he thought she would be the swing vote for the City Council to approve an extension.

Zapata’s Reason for Sending Email

Before Johnson’s allegations were made public last January, Zapata released a preemptive 23-page email denying any inappropriate behavior.

In a phone interview with Zapata on Tuesday with San Leandro City Attorney Richard Pio Roda also on the line, Zapata said he’d heard whispers of the allegations for over a year and after speaking with his lawyer, he decided he needed to fight back.

“For 400 days, I’d been a victim of a smear campaign,” said Zapata. “If you don’t tell your story, someone else will, so I sent the email.”

Zapata said that despite the accusations made by Johnson, he and the city will still work with Davis Street, as it is one of San Leandro’s largest charitable organizations.

“Any type of perceived retaliation is a non-starter,” said Zapata. “We must work with Davis Street. They have an important mission.”

Zapata: ‘Johnson Owes San Leandro an Explanation’

Zapata said he doesn’t want an apology from Johnson, but does think she owes San Leandro as a whole an explanation. 

“This was a cruel and calculated attempt to impugn my integrity,” said Zapata. “It was not well-thought out. This person owes an explanation to the community, to the Davis Street board of directors, and to others as to what was on this person’s mind. I think it’s a tragedy that this occurred at public expense but my reputation will survive because I did nothing wrong.”

City Attorney Pio Roda said that the total expense of the investigation was $38,000. The city also had to pay Zapata’s salary ($244,170 annually) on top of the acting city manager’s pay while he was on leave. 

Johnson: ‘Report Favored the Aggressor’

On Tuesday afternoon, Johnson sent out a written statement through her publicist Sam Singer saying that she is disappointed in Kramer’s conclusion and will continue her charitable efforts.

“There are no winners here.” wrote Johnson. “I am proud and pleased that I stood up and reported the incidents and situations that happened to me. I am disappointed in the report and its findings, which I believe favored the aggressor in this misconduct case.”

Johnson said that she believes that the public will be wary of dealing with Zapata in the future.

“We must challenge our leaders to lead by example,” wrote Johnson. “In the future, the City Manager must be compelled to conduct himself appropriately and to execute the work of the City with the highest standards of fairness. The importance of Davis Street and its services to the neediest members of our society is more important than anything else.”

Kramer’s summary of her investigation is available at https://bit.ly/2Jh5aae and Pio Roda said the complete report will be made public by July 31.