Chief Spagnoli Suggests Police Narcotics Officer Stole Marijuana from Evidence Room

 Chief Spagnoli Suggests Police Narcotics Officer Stole Marijuana from Evidence Room  Police  2 Responses »
Dec 312013
 

Chief Sandra Spagnoli

San Leandro Police Chief Sandra Spagnoli has kept mum for years about the arrest and conviction of SLPD officer Jason Fredriksson on charges of furnishing a pound of marijuana to a confidential informant, with whom he was having an affair, for her to sell.  Fredriksson was turned in by a family member of the informant.  The SLPD initially proved reluctant to investigate the charges, but the family member pressed on and Fredriksson was eventually arrested.  Despite solid evidence against him, the fact that he was involved with a CI and the amount of marijuana involved,  Fredriksson ultimately was given a slap-on-the-wrist deal that required him to serve no time in jail.

While police officers have said off-the-record that the marijuana found at the informer’s home was in bags marked SLPD, Chief Spagnoli has never acknowledged where the marijuana came from. Indeed, during a City Council meeting she mentioned that an audit had been done of their evidence-handling procedures, but she refused to let the Mayor or members of the City Council see the results.  As Fredriksson did not go to trial, none of the details of the case have been made public.

At a recent City Council meeting, however, Chief Sandra Spagnoli suggested that the marijuana did come from the evidence room.  “We found out that, during the arrest of officer Jason Fredriksson, there were oversight problems with the evidence room, and so what we did was use best practices, and we dedicated one individual to have the oversight and the correct training to monitor the evidence room, because it’s such a critical area.”  Audio Player

Chief Spagnoli had only been on the job for five months when the Fredriksson case came about, so she cannot be faulted too much for a disorganized evidence room.  However, she can be faulted for the complete lack of transparency that she exhibits in the running of the Police Department.

Civil Rights Attorney Dan Siegel to Run for Oakland Mayor

 Civil Rights Attorney Dan Siegel to Run for Oakland Mayor  Short Notes  1 Response »
Dec 292013
 

Dan SiegelCivil Rights Attorney Dan Siegel announced last week that he will run for Mayor of Oakland in 2014. Siegel spoke about his race with Oakland blogger Zennie Abraham.

Originally from New York, Siegel was a political activists during his years as a law student at UC Berkeley. Since 1973 he’s been in private practice as an attorney, specializing in labor law, employment discrimination and civil rights litigation.  He served as legal adviser for Mayor Quan early in her term, but he quit in protest over Quan’s mishandling of Occupy Oakland.

Siegel has gathered attention most recently for standing up against the Domain Awareness Center and for representing port truckers against mistreatment by the City and Port of Oakland.

Siegel’s entrance into the race means that Oaklanders concerned with the protection of human rights and civil liberties now have a candidate they can support.

City Manager Chris Zapata Seeks to Delay Discussion on San Leandro’s Homeless

 City Manager Chris Zapata Seeks to Delay Discussion on San Leandro’s Homeless  City Hall  No Responses »
Dec 172013
 

homeless1As Homeless in the Bay Area Die of Hypothermia, Zapata Tells Council to Delay Presentation on Homeless Until Spring.

A week or two ago, during one of the cold-waves that hit the Bay Area, newspapers revealed that four homeless people died of the cold in Santa Clara county.  I asked Mayor Stephen Cassidy, on his FB page, what the City of San Leandro was doing to make sure our homeless did not meet the same fate.

Cassidy didn’t answer but, at last night’s City Council meeting, he asked that at the next City Council meeting, in January, staff report as to what the City is doing for the homeless.  City Manager Chris Zapata interrupted to say that the Council had appropriated about $100K to spend on all social programs in San Leandro, and that come the spring they’d have a presentation on that and the Council could decide then whether to allocate some of that money to helping the homeless.  It would seem that the City is currently not doing anything to help the homeless, and that Zapata believes that any policy should wait until the cold passes, even if that means homeless people in San Leandro die.

I had supported Zapata earlier on, as the first minority City Manager in this city, but I was appalled at his attitude towards the homeless.  I know they can be scruffy,  small bad and often times suffer from mental illnesses, drug addictions or both; but they are human beings.  “There but for the grace of God go I,” (for atheists like me, substitute “God” with “fortune”).

It’s appalling enough that the Mayor and the Council have not thought to inquire earlier what is being done to help the homeless, but the fact that the City Manager thinks that preventing their deaths from cold during the winter should not even be discussed until it’s too late, is beyond words.

Fortunately, Cassidy pressed on and they’ll have the presentation in January.   As for December 9th, seven homeless people had died from the cold in the Bay Area.  One of them was in Hayward.

Local Gift Guide

 Local Gift Guide  Short Notes  No Responses »
Dec 132013
 

Are you looking for a gift for a loved or not-so-loved one? Put some money into the local economy and shop from the wonderful San Leandro Talk community.

Here are some products sold by our enterprising citizens.  If you are a local and have stuff to sell, e-mail me and I’ll add you to the list.

zocalobeansCoffee Beans & Gift Baskets

Zocalo Coffeehouse is close for remodeling, but their bean business is still going strong.  You can buy beans, of course, but they have more festive ideas:

– The Zocalo Coffee Passport. With each new season, Passport bearers are entitled to one pound of beans harvested from a premium coffee producing region of the world. These beans are offered exclusively to Passport bearers. $60

– Melitta gift baskets.   Tucked into a Melitta pour over filter you will find, a quarter pound of Jamaica Blue Mountain, 2 biscotti made exclusively for Zocalo by Top Tier Bakery, Zocalo stickers and more. $20

Order by e-mailing beans@zocalo.com or check out Zocalo’s Facebook page for where they’ll have tables selling stuff.

 

calblanketFleece Blankets & Scarfs

San Leandro native Yvette Buhler Rice makes beautiful and very warm fleece blankets and scarfs.  They’re nicely priced at $6 for scarfs and $35 for blankets. She has LOTS of designs, from cute cats and flowers, to sports, military or even Duck Dynasty stuff.  Check her out!
Salami
Now, this is the perfect gift for the hard-to-shop-for/have-too-much-stuff-already person.  Three flavored salami, in a variety of wine flavors (blue cheese, fennel & pepper, etc.).  They are manufactured by Oakland-based Milan Salami Co and get great Yelp reviews. $12

Lunardi is located at 570 Williams St. @ San Leandro Blvd.

San Leandro to Hire a Lobbyist

 San Leandro to Hire a Lobbyist  City Hall  No Responses »
Dec 062013
 

lobbyist

It should elect a full-time Mayor instead.

“The City of San Leandro is currently seeking the services of a state legislative advocate who will assist the City of San Leandro develop a state legislative program as well as advance its legislative goals at the state level. For additional information, please see the Request for Proposals document or contact Eric Engelbart, Assistant to the City Manager at (510) 577-3391.”

Former Assembly member Johan Klehs has been lobbying for the job and has tried to get it without going through a competitive proposal process, but fortunately the Council chose to open the process up to proposals from other lobbying firms.  The City of Alameda just hired former state Senator Don Perata for a similar role without such process, and while that’s a good way of rewarding old friends, it doesn’t guarantee the best results in Sacramento.

It’s not clear what San Leandro plans to pay its lobbyist, but Alameda’s contract is for $90,000 a year.  It may also be a waste of taxpayer money.  Lobbying Sacramento should be part of the job description for the Mayor and City Council members. They are, after all, politicians and they can and should be developing the relationships with elected officials in Sacramento to make any direct lobbying not just possible, but successful.   Sacramento, after all, is only a couple of hours away with bad traffic.

Unfortunately, San Leandro Council members have shown very little inclination to do actual political work.  For example, the only Council member who attended the holiday party thrown by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, State Senator Loni Hancock, Assembly members Rob Bonta and Nancy Skinner,  and Supervisor Keith Carson last Tuesday, was Ursula Reed.   She is running for County Superintendent so is courting political favor for her next race.   Reed and Jim Prola were the only two to attend the Democratic Party holiday party in San Leandro on Wednesday.  Parties are great opportunities to schmooze, make relationships and lobby.

An even better opportunity to do all three is the Democratic Convention which takes place every year.  There, you get access to state legislators from throughout the state in one single, fairly informal, but 2-days long event.  The Convention happens in Sacramento every other year, which makes it within driving distance.  And yet, the only Council members who attended this year’s convention were Jim Prola and Ursula Reed, who is busy with her own campaign.

One of the main reasons why our Mayor and Council members are so detached from their Council jobs is that these are all part-time positions.  This means they have other jobs that take most of their time.  Not surprisingly, the only retired member of the City Council is Jim Prola.   I have advocated before that we turn the Mayoral position into a full-time job. This would allow the Mayor to actually do his job as Mayor, in addition to represent the economic and political interests of the City in other fora.  And having a full-time Mayor could actually save us money.  A full-time Mayor need not be paid more than what Oakland’s Mayor makes currently, $137,000 a year – which is about what the City will spend in the combined salaries of a part-time lobbyst and part-time Mayor.   A full-time Mayor, however, should also be able to shoulder some of the responsibilities of the assistant City Managers.  Currently, San Leandro spends over a million dollars a year on its City Manager and two assistants.

Mayor Stephen Cassidy, however, doesn’t want to even entertain this possibility as it would not behoove him.  He’s currently a partner in a major law-firm so his current salary is probably more than twice what he’d make as a full-time Mayor.  However, Mayor Cassidy’s employment obligations are probably to blame for the fact that he has abdicated most of his responsibilities as Mayor.   The current system cheats the voters.

Before any actual changes can happen at City Hall, however, we need to elect a Mayor and Council members who actually want to do the job, and not just hold the title.  That is difficult, of course, given how little they get paid – seldom we have elections among quality candidates.  Ultimately it’s a chicken-and-egg question.