City Council

San Leandro Ignores Teens

San Leandro Ignores Teens Short Notes No Responses »

Jan 262014

I was just looking through the City’s Spring Activity Guide. There are tons of classes, trips and activities for seniors (defined as those 50 and over).

If you’re a teen or pre-teen, however, you are pretty much out of luck. Your choices are tennis, martial arts and jazzersize. There is basketball for those under 15, and spinning and yoga for those above. Your only other choices are belly dancing and cake decorating.

Another problem is getting to the classes. Most of the classes are at the Marina Community Center. Great if you live in the neighborhood or have a parent to drive you, but otherwise, you’re out of luck. No bus service at the time the classes are offered.

This is all to say that the City is not doing nearly enough to serve out children, in particular our teens. We have all heard that one of the biggest reason why kids get in trouble is idle time. This is particularly true for middle school aged kids. Why does the city insist in ignoring them?

The answer is pretty simple. Seniors vote, teens can’t and parents don’t. If you want things to change and you don’t make it a priority to vote, please start. Only then will the politicians start listening.

Diana Souza: Will She or Won’t She?

Diana Souza: Will She or Won’t She? Politics No Responses »

Jan 152014

Diana Souza

And, more importantly, “Can she win?”

San Leandro City Council member Diana Souza is playing the old “will I, won’t I” game vis a vis running for Mayor.

On the one hand, she has been seeking the endorsement of highly placed Democrats. On the other hand, when asked in so many words whether she’s running for Mayor, she’s denied it.

While it’s likely that what she is doing is trying to assess whether she can garner enough political support to mount a credible challenge to Mayor Stephen Cassidy, she hurts her credibility by not being straight about it. If she does decide to run, that lack of honesty may come to haunt her.

Mayor Stephen Cassidy is profoundly disliked by Central Labor and, by extension, by many powerful elements in the Democratic party. Souza may feel she can exploit this vulnerability. However, Souza’s right wing ideology – she has opposed everything from urban farming to marijuana dispensaries to even discussing services for the homeless, while pushing for restricting civil liberties in town – is not likely to be well received within Democratic circles. Souza’s insistence that the flag of the People’s Republic of China be flown over City Hall, also suggest that she has very poor political instincts. Anyone endorsing Souza does so at their own peril.

Souza’s greatest problem, however, is that she is not actually a viable candidate for Mayor. Not only does she not have a base (though she will lean heavily on Benny Lee‘s connections within the Chinese community), but she has accomplished nothing in the seven years she has served in City Council. She ran with the single purpose of building a competitive swimming pool in San Leandro, but was unable to get this done due to opposition by the public. who wanted WW funds spent on a variety of projects. Since then, she’s had no initiatives and has served as a vote for the Police Department.

Souza also suffers from a lack of campaign experience. She ran in 2006 against Julian Polvorosa., an elderly barber and former Council member who had been pushed to run by former colleagues and showed no desire to actually be elected. Souza did a good job of putting signs around town and getting relatives to drop off some fliers, but didn’t need to create the grass root organization that pushed Cassidy into his 2010 win. She ran for re-election unopposed.

Souza will likely receive the support of the Police Union if she runs for Mayor. However, that is a double-edged sword in San Leandro. While she can expect thousands of dollars from them, police support of former Mayor Tony Santos was likely a key reason for why he lost the race. Indeed, current Councilmember Jim Prola blames news stories about Police Union contributions to his campaign for loosing him votes at the polls. She is also likely to have the support of the city employee union, but that will just remind voters of how she has put employee’s interests above those of taxpayers..

Her biggest problem, however, is that whatever dissatisfaction there is in San Leandro with Cassidy, extends to the Council as well. For example, she – along with Cassidy – voted to have the major downtown property sold to a developer for a fraction of its value, so as to be occupied by a drugstore that already has two branches downtown. She has also voted to give the Police Chief and City manager raises, while complaining there is no money for city services. Making a case that she’s any better than Cassidy will be tough.

Her candidacy, however, could precipitate another candidate jumping into the race. Any votes she takes from Cassidy, could help a non-establishment candidate take the plunge.

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

As 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.

San Leandro to Hire a Lobbyist

San Leandro to Hire a Lobbyist City Hall No Responses »

Dec 062013

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.

Mayor Cassidy, What’s your policy on following City Policy?

Mayor Cassidy, What’s your policy on following City Policy? Short Notes No Responses »

Nov 232013

I posted this on Mayor Stephen Cassidy’s Facebook page. I don’t believe he will answer, but I wanted to give him the opportunity to do so before I write a more comprehensive blog article on the subject. Cassidy has also failed to answer questions on the dangers of flooding in the San Leandro shoreline and on what actual gang activity in San Leandro is.

Question
What is the city’s policy on following City Council policy? As you know, I wrote to you and the City Attorney pointing out how the San Leandro Police Department was commonly violating the social media policy passed by the City Council.

As you also know, the response by the City Attorney was to acknowledge this fact and say that the social media policy would be changed to accommodate SLPD practice. As far as I know this hasn’t happened, but the Police and you, yourself, continue to systematically violate it. For example, you just posted a photo of a meeting that includes four identifiable individuals, including Oakland’s Mayor Jean Quan. By the City’s policy, you should have gotten the expressed permission of each one of them before posting it. Did you do so?

So my question to you is: what is your policy and the City’s policy on following City Council policies? Are policies approved by the City Council recommendations, guidelines, hopes, or what exactly?

I think San Leandro citizens have the right to know why you pass policies but will not actually follow them.

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