San Leandro Bytes

San Leandro BART-Pedestrian Community Meeting Feb. 23, 2010

The City of San Leandro is holding a meeting to gather community input on a new plan for pedestrian and bicycle access to the downtown San Leandro BART station. The goal is to better integrate the BART station into the City's Transit-Oriented Development Strategy.

The process is funded by a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. According to a flier from the City, the meeting "will emphasize design ideas needed to make pedestrian and bicycle access between the Downtown BART station and downtown San Leandro safer and more pedestrian friendly."

The design options the City is seeking input on are available from the City of San Leandro website.

The meeting will be held on February 23, 2010, from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at the San Leandro Library, located at 300 Estudillo Avenue in downtown San Leandro.

For more information, contact Phil Millenbah at 510-577-3327.

City of San Leandro Pays Out $405,000 to Settle Four Lawsuits

During the San Leandro City Council meeting on January 19, 2010, San Leandro Assistant City Attorney Richard Pio Roda announced that four lawsuits had been settled for a total for $405,000. The lawsuits were filed by Christina Tiletile, Taiwo Pena-Hornung, Kamilah Jackson, all former San Leandro police officers, and Amanda Kerr, a former records clerk.

The lawsuits, originally filed in August 2009, alleged that the plaintiffs faced discrimination and harassment because they were women. San Leandro police officer DeWayne Stancill was specifically named as a defendant in the lawsuits as well. Stancill is also the biological father of Dwayne M. Stancill, who was accused in the murder of San Leandro High School student Greg Ballard, Jr. in 2007.

The statement read by the Assistant City Attorney included the following:

"As part of the settlement, the parties agree that the City and Kamilah Jackson, Amanda Kerr, Taiwo Pena-Hornung and Christina Tiletile settle the lawsuits brought against the City of San Leandro, J. DeWayne Stancill and other named defendants. The parties emphasize there were unfortunate misunderstandings that may have led to ill-considered allegations that they now regret, and for which they apologize."

Three other lawsuits filed by San Leandro police officers Ann O'Callaghan, Cathy Pickard, and Deborah Trujillo have not yet been settled. In addition, San Leandro police officer DeWayne Stancill, who was accused of calling one of the women "babe" or "baby" and making comments about the womens' breasts, has filed a lawsuit against the City of San Leandro. The cases were previously discussed at the City Council's December 7, 2009, meeting.

The complete report from closed session follows:

Assistant City Attorney Richard Pio Roda reported that in the closed session held earlier this evening, the City Council, by a vote of 5-0 (Councilmember Souza and Mayor Santos absent) disposed by settlement agreement the following claims:

Christina Tiletile v. City of San Leandro, et al., sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation claims, in the amount of $295,000

Taiwo Pena-Hornung v. City of San Leandro, et al., sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation claims, in the amount of $50,000

Kamilah Jackson v. City of San Leandro, et al., sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation claims, in the amount of $25,000

Amanda Kerr v. City of San Leandro, et al., sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation, Bane Act and false imprisonment claims, in the amount of $35,000

As part of the settlement, the parties agree that the City and Kamilah Jackson, Amanda Kerr, Taiwo Pena-Hornung and Christina Tiletile settle the lawsuits brought against the City of San Leandro, J. DeWayne Stancill and other named defendants. The parties emphasize there were unfortunate misunderstandings that may have led to ill-considered allegations that they now regret, and for which they apologize.

City Council Approves Ranked Choice Voting - Election is Nov. 2, 2010

The San Leandro City Council approved ranked choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting) 5 - 2 at its meeting on January 19, 2010. This means that the election for San Leandro City Council will be held in November 2010 and not in June, as in the past two elections.

Fourteen people spoke in favor of ranked choice voting before the City Council voted, including representatives from Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Black Women Organized for Political Action, and New America Foundation. Nobody spoke against it.

Vice Mayor Starosciak and Councilmember Bill Stephens voted against ranked choice voting, with Stephens stating that the additional cost was too much given "a budget that's hemorrhaging." Councilmember Diana Souza said she supported the "theory of IRV [instant runoff voting]," spent the next two minutes giving arguments against ranked choice voting, and then voted to support it.

The City Council voted unanimously to accept the recommendations of the Recreation and Parks Commission to use the $3.7 million in Measure WW funds on ten projects that were chosen during two community meetings:

• Toyon Park Play Equipment
• Marina Park - Group Picnic Areas
• Par Course Improvements
• Marina Park Irrigation Improvements
• Marina Dog Park (cheaper option)
• San Leandro Ball Park Locker/Restroom Refurbishment
• Stenzel Park Drainage Project
• Bleachers at the Pacific Sports Complex
• Resurface Skate Park with concrete
• Resurface park pathways

During the City Council discussion, Souza made arguments against going forward with the recommendations of the Recreation and Parks Commission for more than three minutes, but voted to approve them.

With a November election, City Manager Steve Hollister stated that any proposed revenue increase would be on the same ballot as the City Council election. As pointed out by Stephen Cassidy during his comments, the City Council must now come up with a plan to balance the City's budget without a revenue increase in June.

City Council Decides Ranked Choice Voting and Measure WW Funds on Tuesday

The San Leandro City Council will decide at its meeting on January 19, 2010, whether to join Oakland and Berkeley by adopting ranked choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting). The other big agenda item is whether to accept the recommendations put forward by the Recreation and Parks Commission for the use of nearly $4 million in Measure WW funds.

Ranked choice voting enables candidates to be elected by majority vote without holding costly runoff elections (see here for an explanation). Runoff elections have cost the City of San Leandro nearly $200,000 since 2005. Although it will cost more initially ($52,000 more this year, according to a staff report), ranked choice voting will become cheaper than the current runoff system by 2014 and continue to save money into the future.

On the question of whether ranked choice voting does not confirm to the City's charter, the City Attorney said that, "it is possible that under a rank choice voting system the number of votes that the winning candidate receives may be less than a majority of the number of actual voters who participated in the election. Such a result is consistent with and does not conflict with the City Charter because under a rank choice voting system the winning candidate who receives a majority of "votes cast" for that office in a particular round (1, 2, or 3) will have received fifty percent (50%) plus one of the continuing ballots that contained the votes cast for that office."

After California Secretary of State Debra Bowen approved Alameda County's system in December 2009, Oakland adopted ranked choice voting on January 5, and Berkeley is likely to adopt it as well in late January or early February 2010. According to an article in the Berkeley Daily Planet, the Berkeley City Manager has sent a letter to the San Leandro City Council "indicating that Berkeley is prepared is move forward with IRV in November 2010."

The City Council will also decide how to spend nearly $4 million it received as its share from the Measure WW East Bay Parks bond passed in November 2008. Mayor Tony Santos established an ad-hoc committee chaired by Vice Mayor Joyce Starosciak with Michael Gregory and Diana Souza. After meeting three times and with no public input, the ad-hoc committee recommended that most of the funds be used for a competitive lap pool at Washington Manor Aquatic Center. When it became clear that the recommendations didn't have the support of a majority of the City Council, the Recreation and Parks Commission was tasked with coming up with recommendation. After two community meetings, the recommendations from the public were brought forward to and accepted by the Commission. Those recommendations are:

• Toyon Park Play Equipment


• Marina Park - Group Picnic Areas


• Par Course Improvements


• Marina Park Irrigation Improvements


• Marina Dog Park (cheaper option)


• San Leandro Ball Park Locker/Restroom Refurbishment


• Stenzel Park Drainage Project


• Bleachers at the Pacific Sports Complex


• Resurface Skate Park with concrete


• Resurface park pathways

The City Council meeting will be held at 7pm on January 19, 2010, at 835 E. 14th Street in San Leandro. For the complete agenda, click here.

Part-Time Rapper is Newest Rent Review Board Member

At the December 21, 2009, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, Sara Mestas was unanimously appointed to the Rent Review Board. When she became aware in September 2009 that the City of San Leandro had cut the crossing guards from its budget, Mestas volunteered as a crossing guard, spoke at a City Council meeting, and organized a press conference at Corvallis Elementary School.

According to the City of San Leandro web site, the Rent Review Board provides a "forum for the hearing of rent disputes between landlords and tenants and to provide recommendations to the City Council regarding the settlement of those disputes." It is scheduled to meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month, but the last time it met was in September 2008.

Mestas had considered running for Mayor in 2010 before she was appointed to the Rent Review Board. Although she hadn't been registered to vote in recent elections, Mestas recently endorsed Mayor Tony Santos and Councilmembers Michael Gregory and Jim Prola, stating, "I endorse Tony Santos for Mayor, 2010-2012, also council persons Prola and Gregory." Santos and Gregory are running for re-election in 2010 while Prola is expected to run for re-election in 2012. Regarding the city's current fiscal situation, Mestas suggested that "the best thing that can be done is to cut spending," and also noted that "there are some council members and city employees who are spending money like they just won the lotto, some who would rather have a fancy hotel instead of affordable housing or a hospital." She also supports ranked choice voting and city ownership of an ethanol and hydrogen fueling station.

A mortgage company employee and aspiring rapper using the stage name Mo Wiley, Mestas was interviewed in November 2009 on Sacramento & Co., about her new album and her activism to get funding restored for school crossing guards.

More biographical details are available from http://www.luckmedia.com/mowiley/biography.html.

City Mailer Details City's Financial Plight

A letter from the City of San Leandro arrived in resident's mailboxes earlier this month detailing the financial plight of the City. The letter, signed by San Leandro Police Chief Ian Willis and Alameda County Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert, states, "The City has been forced to cut six police officers, even though our police force is already below the number of officers needed for a city of San Leandro's size. The City is also facing the potential elimination ,of a fire ladder truck and nine firefighters, which would result in longer fire and medical emergency response times and greater loss of life and property." The letter was followed by a glossy mailer with essentially the same information.

The letter includes six questions and answers about San Leandro's services needs and a survey on residents' priorities.

On November 16, 2009, the San Leandro City Council voted to pay political consulting firm Lew Edwards Group $61,000 to educate San Leandro voters about the City's need for money. It is not clear whether this mailing is part of Lew Edwards' work.

See below for the full text of the letter.

November 30, 2009

Dear Friend:

As one of our community's leaders, we are writing to update you about San Leandro's urgent financial, public safety and vital services needs.

Sacramento politicians have recently taken $7 million from San Leandro to resolve their own budget mess, and with a new $20 billion deficit, are threatening to take more. Combined with the economic downturn, this already has resulted in a $14 million decline in City revenues, jeopardizing our community's local services, including public safety.

The City has been forced to cut six police officers, even though our police force is already below the number of officers needed for a city of San Leandro's size. The City is also facing the potential elimination ,of a fire ladder truck and nine firefighters, which would result in longer fire and medical emergency response times and greater loss of life and property. Unfortunately. the City does not have adequate funds to support local services needs.

To address these issues, the City recently commissioned a community survey to hear directly from residents about their needs. This survey found that San Leandrans want to protect local City services. In fact, 66% of voters would support a potential revenue measure to maintain important services like police, fire, 9-1-1 emergency response, library programs and street and pothole repairs.

We need temporary emergency funding to protect and maintain essential services, including:

• Neighborhood patrol officers


• Fire and emergency medical response times


• Investigation and gang suppression police officers


• Library programs for children, adults and families


• Street and pothole repairs


• Fire prevention services


• School police officers and crossing guards

We are working to get as many community perspectives on these issues as possible and want to hear what your priorities are for San Leandro. Please help us by providing your input on the enclosed Community Survey and returning it today.

We will continue to keep you informed and have enclosed a "Frequently Asked Questions" sheet for your information. Please contact the City Manager's Office at 577-3353 with any further questions.

Police Chief Ian Willis           Alameda County Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers About San Leandro's Essential Services Needs

Q: What is the issue?
A: Sacramento politicians have already taken $7 million from San Leandro to solve their own budget mess, and with a new $20 billion deficit, are threatening to take more. This, combined with the faltering economy, has resulted in a $14 Million decline in City revenues, jeopardizing our community's local services, including public safety. Existing local funds are insufficient to address the City's needs.

Q: Have public safety services been affected?
A: Yes. The City has been forced to cut six police officers, even though our police force is already below the number of officers needed for a city of San Leandro's size. The City is also facing the potential elimination of a fire ladder truck and nine firefighters. Less police officers patrolling our neighborhoods and fewer firefighters will result in longer 9-1-1 emergency response times, putting our safety at risk.

Q: Are there other important needs in San Leandro?
A: We need to invest in our City's critical infrastructure and services, including our streets, libraries, and parks to keep our community strong. We must continue to support our kids by ensuring the City is a good partner to schools by offering programs and activities to keep our children focused on learning and out of trouble.

Q: How can these needs be addressed?
A: We want to get more input from the community on their priorities and will develop a plan to address these needs in the most fiscally responsible way possible. At this time, no reliable sources of revenue exist to fill the existing funding gap and maintain service levels, including police and fire protection, 9-1-1 emergency response, library hours and programs, and city street repairs. The City continues to explore all opportunities to attract new businesses and revenue generators to San Leandro. A potential San Leandro revenue measure, which may be considered at the end of this process, would generate temporary emergency funding that would be locally controlled for local services and could not be taken away by the State.

Q: How would temporary emergency funding affect San Leandro's local community services?
A: Additional funds would maintain essential services, including:

• Neighborhood patrol officers


• Fire"and emergency medical response times


• Investigation and gang suppression police officers


• Library programs for children, adults and families


• Street and pothole repairs


• Fire prevention services


• School police officers and crossing guards

Q: How can I find out more information?
A: We want to hear from you-please help us develop a plan that works for San Leandro by filling out our Community Survey form. If you would like to find out more about these issues, please call the City Manager's Office at 577-3353.

City Council Delays Decision on Voting Until January 2010

At its meeting on December 7, 2009, the San Leandro City Council voted to delay any decisions on whether to use instant runoff (or ranked choice voting) until it meets again in January 2010. This will allow staff to see how the City of Oakland proceeds when it meets to consider instant runoff in early January.

Councilmember Jim Prola offered a motion to table discussion on ranked choice voting (RCV) until January 2010 and to direct staff to find ways to reduce the first time costs associated with RCV. Vice Mayor Joyce Starosciak offered a substitute motion to go with the staff recommendation, which would mean that RCV would not be implemented for the 2010 elections. Starosciak's motion was defeated 4-3, with Councilmembers Prola, Michael Gregory, Ursula Reed, and Mayor Tony Santos voting against it. Prola's motion prevailed, with only Starosciak and Councilmember Diana Souza voting against it.

In other actions, the City Council appointed former City Councilmember and former Mayoral candidate Orval "OB" Badger to the Personnel Relations Board. Badger fills the position vacated by Bill Jardin, who died earlier this year. Badger was appointed to the San Leandro City Council in 2001 to replace Gordon Galvan and was unopposed when he ran for re-election in 2002. In 2006, he ran for Mayor and was defeated by Santos.

The City Council also voted to tighten restrictions on smoking in public places, work places, recreational areas and athletic facilities in the city. This was partly in response to the 2009 State of Tobacco Control report issued by the American Lung Association of California in January 2009, which awarded the City of San Leandro a "F" for its efforts to discourage smoking.

Recreation and Parks Commission to Recommend Community Selections for Measure WW Projects

At its meeting on December 2, 2009, the San Leandro Recreation and Parks Commission accepted the selections of the community for how Measure WW funds should be spent. The selections from the community were the result of community meetings held on November 7 and 10, 2009.

The selections are:

• Toyon Park Play Equipment
• Marina Park - Group Picnic Areas
• Par Course Improvements
• Marina Park Irrigation Improvements
• Marina Dog Park (cheaper option)
• San Leandro Ball Park Locker/Restroom Refurbishment
• Stenzel Park Drainage Project
• Bleachers at the Pacific Sports Complex
• Resurface Skate Park with concrete
• Resurface park pathways

These projects will be recommended to the San Leandro City Council meeting at a meeting in January 2010. The selections from the community meetings were based on safety, reducing maintenance costs, providing play equipment where there wasn't any, and projects that have widespread impact or are used by many people.

In May 2009, the Measure WW Ad-Hoc Committee, led by Vice Mayor Joyce Starosciak, recommended that $2.4 million be used to build a competitive lap pool at the Washington Manor Aquatic Family Center, $1 million for group picnic area renovations at the San Leandro Marina, and $250,000 for improving other San Leandro park areas.

Measure WW was a $500 million East Bay Regional Park District bond measure passed in November 2008. The $3.7 million allocated for San Leandro is to assist "with financing the acquisition and improvement of local park and recreation facilities."

Election Looks Set for June 2010

According to the agenda for the December 7, 2009, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, the City Council and Mayoral election looks likely for June 2010 and not November. While the City has been considering ranked choice voting (also known as instant runoff voting or IRV), the date of the next election has been up in the air. IRV would allow for a single election in November but without IRV, the City Council must allow for a runoff election to decide races in which no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.

The staff recommendation, which is usually, though not always, adopted by the City Council, is to proceed with the June 2010 election and not to pursue ranked choice voting for the November 2010 election.

However, the staff report notes that, "Delaying the decision until January 2010 will have impacts both on staff workloads and on the candidates and their campaigns. However, the Council can continue the matter to its January 19, 2010 meeting and still meet legal time lines."

Recreation and Parks Commission to Discuss Measure WW Funds Tonight

On Wednesday, December 2, 2009, the Recreation and Parks Commission will review input from two community workshops held last month on how to allocate $3.7 million in funds from Measure WW. Measure WW was a $500 million East Bay Regional Park District bond measure passed in November 2008.

The workshops, held on November 7 and November 10, 2009, gave the public an opportunity to provide input into the allocation of Measure WW funds from a list of more than 40 projects. These projects ranged from reconstruction of tennis courts and replacement of bleachers to a competition pool at Washington Manor.

In May 2009, an ad-hoc committee of the City Council, led by Vice-Mayor Joyce Starosciak, recommended that $2.4 million be used to help build a competitive lap pool at the Washington Manor Aquatic Family Center, $988,000 for rebuilding the group picnic areas at the San Leandro Marina, and $250,000 for improving other San Leandro park areas. The Recreation and Parks Commission was tasked with seeking community input when it became clear that the City Council did not support the ad-hoc committee's recommendations.

The meeting will be held at 7pm in the South Offices conference room, located south of City Hall and located behind the California Conservatory Theatre at 999 E. 14th Street.

Last Meeting on Measure WW Funds Tonight

The San Leandro Recreation and Parks Commission will hold the second of two public meetings tonight to seek community input on how best to spend $3.7 million in Measure WW funds. Measure WW was a $500 million East Bay Regional Park District bond measure passed in November 2008. The $3.7 million allocated for San Leandro is to assist "with financing the acquisition and improvement of local park and recreation facilities."

The workshop will be held tonight (Tuesday, November 10) from 7-10 p.m. at the San Leandro Main Library, 300 Estudillo Avenue in San Leandro,

For more information, Carolyn Knudtson at the San Leandro Recreation and Human Services Department at 510-577-3466.

San Leandro Zoning Board Gets New Member and Elects Gilcrest as Chair

After the recent appointment of Catherine Vierra Houston as the District 4 representative on the San Leandro Board of Zoning Adustments (BZA), the BZA elected Charles Gilcrest as the new Chair at its October 1, 2009, meeting. Gilcrest ran unsuccessfully for the San Leandro District 2 City Council seat in November 2008 and is the campaign manager for Tony Santos' re-election campaign. Darryl Shields, who has been on the BZA since March 2007, was elected as Vice Chair.

The election of Chair and Vice-Chair is normally done in July, but was delayed until last night's meeting.

Houston replaced Frank Sidari, who has served on the BZA since June 1986. Houston is a representative of United Steelworkers Local 1304 in San Leandro. With much of organized labor throwing its support behind Santos' re-election, insiders have suggested that Councilmember Joyce Starosciak's selection of Houston was an attempt to garner some labor support. Starosciak was endorsed by the Alameda County Central Labor Council in 2004 and 2008 while Santos received the group's endorsement in 2006 and in previous City Council elections.

City Hires Lianne Marshall as Assistant City Manager

The City of San Leandro has hired Lianne Marshall as Assistant City Manager to replace Interim Assistant City Manager Jacqui Diaz. Marshall served as Assistant City Manager for the City of Martinez, California, since March 2007.

Marshall will start on October 1, 2009, with an annual salary of slightly more than $176,000.

Diaz was Assistant to the City Manager when she was appointed Interim Assistant City Manager in September 2008 following Stephen Hollister's appointment to Interim City Manager. Diaz serves on the Board of the San Leandro Educational Foundation, is the Fine Arts Chair of Bishop O'Dowd High School, and on the School Board at Church of the Assumption.

See http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_13413012 for more details about Marshall.

Community Meeting on San Leandro BART and Pedestrians

On Monday September 21, 2009, the City of San Leandro will hold a community meeting to gather information on how to better integrate pedestrians and bicycles with the San Leandro BART station and the City's Transit-Oriented Development Strategy. Here is the text of the flyer sent out by the City:

We Need Your Ideas On Improved Pedestrian and Bike Access along San Leandro Blvd.

Please Join Us!

Monday, September 21, 2009 6:30-8:30 San Leandro Main Library-Karp Room 300 Estudillo Avenue, San Leandro

San Leandro-BART Pedestrian Study Community Meeting To Be Held September 21st

The City of San Leandro will host the first of several meetings to gather community input on the creation of a new plan for the San Leandro Boulevard-BART station area relative to pedestrian and bicycle safety and access.

The City has received a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to study how the San Leandro Downtown BART station can be better integrated into the plans of the City's newly adopted Transit Oriented Development strategy. The goal of the study is to provide a transportation environment that contributes to increased ridership by emphasizing accessibility, safety, and a high quality environment for pedestrians, bicycles, public transit and automobiles. Other transportation options, such as utilizing LINKS, a free shuttle linking San Leandro BART and the West San Leandro business community, carpooling, and "kiss and ride" will be encouraged. Development within the station area will ensure that it is multi-modally connected to downtown and enhance opportunities for regional connections. This transportation environment will significantly reduce vehicle miles traveled by residents.

The first community meeting will emphasize design ideas needed to make pedestrian and bicycle access between the Downtown BART station and downtown San Leandro safer and more pedestrian friendly. We welcome your participation in this meeting

For more information please call Philip Millenbah, Senior Planner at 510/577-3327.

City Council Work Session Tonight, Sept. 14, 2009

The San Leandro City Council will hold a work session on Monday, September 14, 2009, to discuss the process for the capital improvement program and Measure WW, park capital improvement program projects and park development fund fees.

Measure WW was a $500 million bond measure passed by the East Bay Regional Park District in November 2008. Under Measure WW, San Leandro is allocated $3.7 million to assist "with financing the acquisition and improvement of local park and recreation facilities."

An ad-hoc committee for Measure WW consisting of Councilmembers Joyce Starosciak, Diana Souza, and Michael Gregory met on January 29, 2009, February 9, 2009, and April 6, 2009. Unlike standing committees, ad-hoc committees are permitted to meet without posting advance notice of the meetings and without public participation. The first information from the ad-hoc committee came out in May 2009.

On May 18, 2009, the committee recommended that $2.4 million be used to help build a competitive lap pool at the Washington Manor Aquatic Family Center, nearly $1 million for renovations at the San Leandro Marina, and $250,000 for improving other San Leandro park areas.

Another issue for the City Council is the condition of streets through San Leandro, which the Metropolitan Transportation Commission(MTC) gave a pavement condition index of 60 in January 2009, bordering on "at-risk." The condition of the pavement has steadily declined from 2004 to 2007. According to the MTC, San Leandro's streets are "worn to the point where rehabilitation may be needed to prevent rapid deterioration."

Click here for a complete list of Measure WW-eligible projects.

Ian Willis Sworn in as San Leandro Police Chief

Interim San Leandro Police Chief Ian Willis was sworn in as San Leandro Police Chief at the September 8, 2009, meeting of the San Leandro City Council. Willis' family and friends, former Police Chief Dale Attarian, and about a dozen San Leandro police officers were on hand to witness the ceremony, which included his wife pinning on his badge.

Willis was appointed Police Chief on August 6, 2009, while the City Council was in its August recess and this was the first meeting of the City Council since the appointment.

Willis is San Leandro's ninth police chief since 1928, when San Leandro's top law enforcement official was given that title. Prior to 1928, the top position was town marshall.

Here is a list of the eight previous San Leandro police chiefs:

• Joseph F. Peralta
• Artel J. Lamoureaux
• Thomas J. Rogers
• Kenneth Swanson
• Donald F. Becker
• Robert J.P. Maginnis
• Joseph Kitchen
• Dale Attarian

Peralta, a direct descendant of Don Luis Peralta, was the longest serving top police official, serving as town marshall from 1912 until 1928 and police chief from 1928 to 1945.

Ian Willis Appointed San Leandro Police Chief

According to a press release issued August 7, 2009, Interim San Leandro Police Chief Ian Willis was appointed San Leandro Police Chief on August 6, 2009. Willis had served as Interim Police Chief since former Police Chief Dale Attarian retired in December 2008.

One of the reasons cited by Attarian when he retired was "the important goal that the City’s Chief live in town" and he had been unable to sell the house where he lived. Willis also does not live in San Leandro.

Willis has served for 25 years in the San Leandro Police Department in various capacities and was selected after a nation-wide search narrowed the field of candidates to five finalists.

Housing Element Draft Available for Review and Comment

According to a notice sent out by the City of San Leandro, an administrative draft of the San Leandro Housing Element is available for review and comment on the city's web site.

The Housing Element "addresses affordable housing and other housing issues. The update helps the City meet the state requirement to revise the housing element every five to seven years and will serve as a blueprint for accommodating San Leandro's housing needs through 2014."

Comments on the draft Housing Element can be emailed to Phil Millenbah, faxed to (510) 577-6007, by TDD at (510) 577-3343 or sent by snail mail to Mr. Millenbah's attention at 835 E. 14th St., San Leandro, CA, 94577. Comments will be accepted until August 15, 2009.

The full text of the notification is after the break:

Dear Neighbor:

We are writing to let you know that an Administrative Draft of the San Leandro Housing Element has been completed and may be reviewed on the City of San Leandro's website at http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/CDHousElement2008_09.asp

During July and August 2009, this Administrative Draft will be evaluated by the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development. At the end of August, the State will issue·a formal comment letter indicating what changes (if any) will be required to receive State certification. The City will make appropriate revisions and produce a Planning Commission Draft in September 2009. At that time, a second public review and comment period will be provided and public hearings will be held.

Comments on this Administrative Draft are welcome and will be accepted through August 15, 2009. You may provide comments via email to pmillenbah@ci.san-Ieandro.ca.us, by phone to 510-517-:3321, by fax to 510-577-6007, by TDD to 510-577-3343, or by surface mail to:

Phil Millenbah
San Leandro Planning Department
835 East 14th Street
San Leandro, CA 94577

Sincerely

Phil Millenbah
Senior Planner

Former City Employees Retire on More Than $100,000 A Year

Recent articles in the San Leandro Times and the Daily Review have drawn attention to the salaries and perks enjoyed by City of San Leandro employees.

According to a June 2009 San Leandro Times article, 110 city employees made more than $100,000 during the prior fiscal year, up from 78 reported in 2007.

As noted in these articles, these salaries and perks are not unusual for government employees throughout the state.

Government pensions have recently received a lot of attention, largely due to information published by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility at its California Pension Reform web site. The web site provides the retirement amount for government retirees receiving more than $100,000 annually through the California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS).

According to the California Pension Reform web site, the following former City of San Leandro employees receive more than $100,000 annually:

San Leandro isn't unusual in the number of former employees getting more than $100,000 in retirement. It's also not unusual in that most of the former employees worked for the police department. The City of Alameda has 34 people listed, Berkeley has 37, and Hayward has 35.

Since the information at the California Pension Reform web site doesn't include recent retirees such as former City Manager John Jermanis and former Police Chief Dale Attarian, San Leandro Bytes made a request for more recent information from CalPERS. This is the current list (as of July 23, 2009):

Many government employees are eligible for retirement at age 50 and receive three percent of their salary for each year of service. In addition, employees can manipulate the system to increase their pensions. For example, the former Fire Chief of Orinda and Moraga was making $186,000 before he retired, but receives an annual pension of $241,000 because he was permitted to sell unused vacation and holidays.

Unlike many retirement plans, CalPERS guarantees its pensions. This means that when CalPERS loses money on its investments, it requires local governments to pay more money into the system. As local governments struggle to survive with less revenues, increasing retirement costs may push some into fiscal ruin.

San Leandro City Council Adopts $134.6 Million Budget

On a vote of 4 to 2, the San Leandro City Council adopted a $134.6 million budget for 2009-2010 on June 1, 2009. Councilmembers Joyce Starosciak and Diana Souza voted against adoption of the budget. Ursula Reed was absent. The budget includes $78.2 million in the General Fund, $15.1 million for the Redevelopment Agency, $12.8 million for water pollution control, environmental services, shoreline fund, and storm water fund, and $28.5 million for other activities.

Starosciak criticized the Finance Committee (Jim Prola, Tony Santos, and Michael Gregory) for saving services (the branch libraries and Farrelly Pool) instead of communicating the City's "desperate situation." Starosciak also objected to the use of "$250,000 insurance reserves to save" these services. The budget transfers a total of $1.4 million from the Self Insurance Fund, but Starosciak didn't object to the other $1.15 million transferred from that fund. Starosciak's comments are reprinted after the break.

The vote against the budget by Starosciak and Souza came as a surprise to Mayor Santos and the other members of the City Council. Santos noted that the budget had been discussed during the preceding eight months and these issues had been referred to the Finance Committee as appropriate.

Starosciak's vote and her comments are viewed by some insiders as the opening salvo in a possible run to unseat Santos as Mayor of San Leandro. Former School Board member Stephen Cassidy and former Mayor Shelia Young have also been mentioned as possible Mayoral candidates. When asked about whether they planned to run, Young and Cassidy said that they hadn't decided and Starosciak hadn't responded at the time of this article.

In other actions, the City Council nominated Thomas Makin as the District 2 member of the Board of Zoning Adjustments Makin served on the Recreation and Parks Commission for six years and will replace Melody Marr. Makin is the Deputy Director of Operations for the Housing Authority of Alameda County. Marr is the CEO of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce.

Lee Thomas was nominated as the District 3 member of the Human Services Commission. Thomas also serves on the Shoreline-Marina Committee and replaces Robert Vergara, who had served for a year and a half.

Lawrence Smith was nominated as the District 3 member of the Library-Historical Commission. Smith replaces Renee Souza, who was appointed in March 2007.

The complete text of Starosciak's comments from the June 1, 2009, San Leandro City Council meeting:

I’d like to thank the City Manager and Staff for their very hard work on the budget this year. The City Manager and Finance Director informed the Council early on that cuts in staffing would be required to balance our budget for the coming year. The communication with the City Employees has been excellent. The City Manager’s goal of a 5% reduction in public safety and a 15% reduction in all other departments was a well-chosen, measured and equitable strategy. It balanced our priorities, with a need to trim in all departments.

I also want to thank the Department Heads for their special efforts this year to maintain a hiring freeze, and in general to keep budgets tight which led to $300,000 in savings for our reserves this next fiscal year.

As hard as the Staff has worked this year, I am voting “No” on the recommendation from the Finance Committee for the 2009-10 budget. This budget started out equitable and realistic, it has become political and unrealistic.

The 15% reductions in all departments but public safety was agreed to be equitable and the Council was fully supportive. However, the community did not fully understand this and so when their local services were announced to be cut, they challenged the Council to return their favorite service.

Instead of communicating our desperate situation, the Finance Committee looked for ways to save the services that had the loudest clamoring.

The suspension of the Mulford Marina Branch and the South Branch libraries generated a great deal of fervor. Rightfully so, as many people enjoy all of our branch libraries. However, to keep them open, even at reduced hours, we are required to change our 15% strategy of reductions to a 10% policy for Libraries only and utilize almost a quarter of a million dollars of our insurance reserves.

This has become a political decision and it is inequitable to all other departments.

It was only 3 years ago that the Manor Branch library suspended its service for over 18 months to be rebuilt. During that time all of District 4 had to utilize other locations for library services. Then, as now, the suspension of the branch library service was for a better future in San Leandro. We knew that, and survived without our local library and felt fortunate to have long hours of operation at alternative locations in San Leandro. This year, we should have better communicated to our constituents that the suspension of the branch libraries means longer hours of operations and maintenance of the alternative locations. In the future, under this proposed budget, we are destined for drastic reductions in library and other operations.

Then, the suspension of Farrelly pool services brought out a literal flood of protests. Farrelly is well used by the neighboring families and it is right that they work to keep their pool open.

Still, in 2005, the Washington Manor Pool was closed for over a year and a half, which meant a season and a half of swimming was completely suspended. And even beyond that, when it reopened, Washington Manor was without its diving depth pool. To this day, all parents on the west side of town must take their children across town for advanced swimming lessons and teenagers can no longer walk and must be driven across town to enjoy swimming at their level. District 4 has not complained because they knew in 2005 that eventually they would be given all of the services that have been enjoyed by the rest of the City in both shallow and diving depth pools.

Washington Manor suffered a year and a half of concurrent library and swimming services suspended. To this day, we still don’t have a diving depth pool. Yet we knew it was for a better San Leandro future.

That is the same as we are asking our citizens today. The suspension of the Mulford/Marina branch and South branch services and the suspension of Farrelly pool services are for the betterment of the City’s future. By suspending those services, we are maintaining services for long hours in other parts of town. And with this inconvenience, our plan is to have enough revenue to re-open those facilities in future years. We should be communicating that message, not giving in to the clamoring.

There were also community protests over the Community Assistance Grants and the Children’s History Museum program – one which has been recommended for funding, and one which has not.

This shows how political the budget has become.

Our budget has also become unrealistic because of the growing number of optimistic projections that have received our quiet consent. We are budgeting based upon a number of assumptions that have us collectively crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. Some of the assumptions are:

• 6 police officers will be fully funded by the Federal Recovery Act


• Business license fees, property taxes and sales tax revenue will increase in a year of continued recession


• The State will not carry out their plan to borrow $1.8M to balance California’s budget

For all of these reasons, I am not in favor of using our $250,000 insurance reserves to save any programs this year.

However, in a spirit of consensus, at our last meeting Councilmember Souza, in an effort to balance community needs, suggested, and I supported, a Finance Committee consideration of using the insurance savings that supported the branch libraries to help fund the Farrelly pool services.

Instead, the Finance Committee took a different tact, proposing to double the pool entrance fees and potentially reduce hours at all our other pools. This means we plan to serve the same number of swimmers at twice the cost at up to half the hours. This does not make sense to me.

So I plan to make a motion for the Finance Committee to reconsider redistributing the $250k insurance reserves between library and recreation services to:

1. Provide some hours of operation at Farrelly without raising prices or reducing hours at the San Leandro Family Aquatics Center.
2. Maintain the Children’s History Museum program with a school fee to recover 50% of the costs.

And also the Council should communicate to the Community Assistance Grant applicants that funding this year will be whole, but in future years their General Fund support will likely be devoted to core services like Public Safety.

A balanced budget in this economy requires a firm stand and an effort to communicate our dire situation to our citizens. Although it feels difficult, this budget has been relatively easy due to the use of 3 million dollars in reserves. Next year, with no remaining reserve, it will be much, much worse, and we must start communicating that message. I plan to work with the community to do all we can to weather the coming 2010-11 budget storm.

The San Leandro City Manager's Contract

In last week's San Leandro Times, San Leandro City Manager Stephen Hollister refuted a claim that the City of San Leandro is paying a consulting fee to former City Manager John Jermanis. San Leandro Bytes recently confirmed that there is no contract with Jermanis by filing a California Public Records Act request with the City of San Leandro.

Hollister became Interim City Manager when Jermanis retired in September 2008. In December 2008, Hollister was named City Manager, but the employment agreement is dated January 20, 2009. The agreement states that "City agrees to pay Employee a salary 15% above step five of the salary range of the highest paid City management employee..." According to the "City of San Leandro SLMO Salary Schedule," that is $14,688 per month for the Assistant City Manager and Police Chief. Fifteen percent above that is $16,891 per month, or $202,694 per year. [Editor's Note: On May 20, 2009, the Daily Review reported Hollister's salary as $200,738.98.] The City Manager's salary does not include other benefits, such as an automobile allowance, insurance and retirement benefits.

An electronic copy of the City Manager Employment Agreement can be found online. The entire text of the agreement and the City Manager's goals are included below.

EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT is between the CITY OF SAN LEANDRO ("City") and STEPHEN L. HOLLISTER and is dated for convenience this 20TH day of January 2009.

Recitals

City desires to employ Stephen L. Hollister as City Manager of the City of San Leandro.

Stephen L. Hollister desires to serve as City Manager of the City of San Leandro.

The City Council as the appointing authority and Stephen L. Hollister desire to agree in writing to the terms and conditions of Stephen L. Hollister's employment as City Manager.

AGREEMENT

1. DUTIES
(a) City agrees to employ Stephen L Hollister Employee as City Manager of the City of San Leandro to perform the functions and duties specified in the charter, ordinances, and resolutions of City. Employee shall also perform other legally permissible and proper duties and functions as the City Council may from time to time assign.

(b) Employee shall perform his duties to the best of his ability in accordance with the highest possible and ethical standards of the profession and shall comply with all general rules and regulations established by the City.

(c) Employee shall not engage in any activity that is or may become a conflict of interest, prohibited contract, or which may create an incompatibility of office as defined under California law. Prior to performing any services under this Agreement and annually thereafter, the Employee must complete disclosure forms required by law.

2 TERM

(a) The term of this Agreement shall commence on December 15, 2008 and terminate on June 30, 2010. This agreement may be terminated in accordance with the provisions set forth in Paragraph 3 or terminated by the event of the death or permanent disability of Employee.

(b) Employee agrees to remain in the exclusive employ of the City during the term of the Agreement.

(c) City agrees to give the Employee at least 180 days notice if it does not intend to renew or extend this agreement upon its expiration.

3 RESIGNATION AND TERMINATION

(a) Employee may resign at any time with or without cause and agrees to give City at least ninety (90) days advance written notice of the effective date of his resignation. Upon notice of resignation, or sooner, Employee, in consultation with the City Council will develop a "transition plan" and Employee will, if requested, assist the City Council in the recruitment and hiring process for the position of City Manager on a permanent or interim basis.

(b) Subject to the provisions of the Charter, City may at any time terminate Employee upon thirty (30) days advance written notice.

(c) The parties recognize and affirm that: 1) Employee is an at will employee whose employment may be terminated by the City without cause, and 2) there is no express or implied promise made to Employee for any form of continued employment. This Agreement is the sole and exclusive basis for an employment relationship between Employee and City.

4 SEVERANCE PAY

If Employee is terminated by the City Council while still willing and able to perform the duties of City Manager, City agrees to pay Employee a cash payment equal to six (6) months salary and benefits. At the option of the Employee, the cash payment may be paid in (1) a lump sum upon date of termination; or (2) a lump sum on January 1 of the calendar year following termination. Such payment will release City from any further obligations under this Agreement. Provided however, if Employee is terminated for cause, including but not limited to conviction of any criminal offense then City shall have no obligation to continue the employment of Employee in any capacity.

SALARY

For the term of this Agreement City agrees to pay Employee a salary 15% above step five of the salary range of the highest paid City management employee as shown in the City Council adopted Pay Plan (hereafter referred to as the "Baseline Salary"). Employee's compensation shall be adjusted whenever the Baseline Salary is adjusted so that Employee's salary shall not be less than 15% above the Baseline Salary at any time during the term of the Agreement.

AUTOMOBILE

Employee's duties require that he shall have the use of an automobile at all times during his employment with City. At the option of Employee, City shall either provide Employee with an automobile or reimburse Employee $475.00 per month for the expense of owning maintaining and insuring a personal automobile.

7 OTHER SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS

The City shall provide the Employee the same benefits as provided to management employees and as they may be amended from time to time. All actions taken by the City relating to benefits for management employees shall be considered actions granting the same benefits to Employee. As used herein and without limitation of the foregoing benefits for Employee include but are not limited to twenty-five (25) days of annual vacation leave, twelve (12) days of annual sick leave, management incentive pay of 120 hours per calendar year paid equally at each pay period, holidays, retirement benefits and payments, health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance and management development allowance.

8 PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The City Council shall evaluate Employee's performance at least annually. In addition, every year, the City Council and Employee will set goals and objectives for the ensuing year (Exhibit A hereof).

OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

The City Council by resolution shall fix any other terms and conditions of employment as it may determine from time to time relating to the performance of Employee, provided such terms and conditions are not inconsistent with provisions of this Agreement or law.

10 NOTICES

Any notices required by this Agreement shall be in writing and either given in person or by first-class mail with postage prepaid and addressed as follows:

TO CITY: City Council
c/o Mayor Anthony B Santos
City of San Leandro
835 East 14th Street
San Leandro CA 94577

TO EMPLOYEE: Stephen L Hollister
City Manager
City of San Leandro
835 East 14th Street
San Leandro CA 94577

11 ARBITRATION

Any controversy or claim arising out of or pertaining to this Agreement or breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association, and judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be enforced as provided by California law.

12 ENTIRE AGREEMENT

This Agreement is the final expression of the complete agreement of the parties with respect to the matters specified herein and supersedes all prior oral or written understandings. Except as prescribed herein, this Agreement cannot be modified except by written mutual agreement signed by the parties.

13 ASSIGNMENT

This Agreement is not assignable by either City or Employee.

14 SEVERABILITY

In the event that any provision of this Agreement is finally held or determined to be illegal or void by a court having jurisdiction over the parties, the remainder of the Agreement shall remain in full force and effect unless the parts found to be void are wholly inseparable from the remaining portion of the Agreement.

15 COUNTERPARTS

This Agreement shall be executed simultaneously in three counterparts, which shall be identified by number, and each of which shall be deemed an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same instrument.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, The City has caused this Agreement to be signed and executed on its behalf by its Mayor and duly attested by the City Clerk. It has also been executed by the Employee.

Stephen L. Hollister, Employee

Anthony B. Santos, Mayor
City of San Leandro

ATTEST:
City Clerk, Marian Handa

APPROVED AS TO FORM:
City Attorney, Jayne W. Williams

EXHIBIT A
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES - CITY MANAGER GOALS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2008-09

The following City Manager goals reflect City Council's Fiscal Year 2008-09 goals as modified by changing circumstances including the fiscal crisis and personnel changes and a review of the Interim City Manager's goals and objectives These goals will be updated and modified for Fiscal Year 2009-10.

- Adoption of a balanced budget plan and FY2009-2010 budget
- Advocacy of City projects for Federal stimulus funding
- Approval of Kaiser/ICI Development Agreement and approval of San Leandro Crossings TOD Project
- Work with Stakeholders on revenue enhancement measures
- Council review and prioritization of CIP process, including criteria for use of park development funds (i.e. WW, TOD, park fees)
- Recruitment of permanent Police Chief and Assistant City Manager
- Approval of SLUSD Ninth Grade Academy/Gymnasium Agreement and analyze with the District(s) City School growth impacts
- Continue Downtown development and beautification
- Succession planning
- Continued development of Shoreline Master Plan

Starosciak Selected as New Vice-Mayor

San Leandro Councilmember Joyce Starosciak was unanimously selected as Vice Mayor by the San Leandro City Council at is meeting on Monday, May 4, 2009. Starosciak replaces Councilmember Bill Stephens, who was selected last year over Starosciak in a 4-3 vote. In the past ten years, the position of Vice Mayor has been held by the same person for at least two years.

The position of Vice Mayor is largely ceremonial. The Vice Mayor represents the City and chairs City Council meetings when the Mayor is absent. According to Section 310 of the City Charter, "In the absence of the Mayor, the Vice Mayor shall possess and perform the powers and duties of the Mayor."

In other actions, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring Bay-friendly landscaping for City projects valued at more than $100,000 or larger than 2,500 square feet. The ordinance would result in landscaping that generates less waste, uses less energy and water, and costs less to maintain.

The City Council also approved a "golden handshake" package that would give some employees an addition two years of service credit as an incentive to retire early. Such incentives are frequently used to encourage employees with higher salaries to retire so that can be replaced with less expensive employees or as a way to avoid laying off other employees. Six of the Councilmembers voted yes for the package and Stephens abstained.

For a listing of recent Vice Mayors, see below.

Vice Mayors of the Recent Past:

• 1998 - Gordon Galvan (District 1)


• 1999 - Gordon Galvan (District 1)


• 2000 - Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2001- Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2002 - Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2003- Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2004 - Orval "OB" Badger (District 1)


• 2005 - Orval "OB" Badger (District 1)


• 2006 - Surlene Grant (District 2)


• 2007 - Surlene Grant (District 2)


• 2008 - Bill Stephens (District 5)

Council Gives Green Light to San Leandro Crossings and $500K to Davis Street

A capacity crowd filled the City Council Chambers on April 6, 2009, as the San Leandro City Council approved financing for the San Leandro Crossings (now Cannery Court) project by a vote of 4 to 3. The City Council unanimously approved a resolution committing $500,000 to help the Davis Street Family Resource Center purchase its property at 3801 Teagarden Street. A 10% rate hike for Alameda County Industries was approved with Councilmember Bill Stephens abstaining.

After honoring long-time commissioner Frank Sidari and installing new commissioners, Mayor Tony Santos shuffled the agenda to address the items that the crowd was interested in: San Leandro Crossings and Davis Street. After a presentation by Tom Liao, Bridge Housing's Lydia Tan advocated against a project labor agreement for the affordable housing project while labor advocate Barry Luboviski of the Alameda County Building Trades Council and other argued in support of an agreement. While the entire Council express support for the affordable housing project, Councilmember Joyce Starosciak argued to approve the financing agreement without requiring a project labor agreement that might delay the project. The financing agreement was approved by a vote of four to three, with Councilmembers Jim Prola, Ursula Reed and Santos, who supported a project labor agreement, voting against.

For Davis Street, the first time the request for financial assistance was on the City Council's agenda, it was narrowly defeated in a four to three vote. After a subsequent meeting of the finance committee, the measure passed unanimously after a motion to modify the agreement by Councilmember Souza was rejected.

A request by ACI to increase it rates by 10% was passed with six votes and an abstention by Councilmember Bill Stephens.

Annual City Financial Disclosures

Members of the City Council are required to file a Statement of Economic Interest (Form 700) upon election or appointment, annually by April 1, and upon leaving office. Certain city staff, including the City Manager, City Attorney, Police Chief and police captains are also required to file these documents. These are public documents on file at the City Clerk's office at City Hall and are available to anyone who requests them for $0.10 per page.

Mayor Tony Santos was the only Councilmember to report gifts for 2008, including A's tickets from Kent Myers and the Alameda County Mayor's Conference and Raiders tickets from Alameda County Supervisor Gail Steele. Councilmember Jim Prola reported rental property income and Councilmember Joyce Starosciak reported income from her computer business, Starotech.

The following disclosures are for the San Leandro City Council for 2008 or assuming office:

• Michael Gregory


• Jim Prola


• Ursula Reed


• Tony Santos


• Diana Souza


• Joyce Starosciak


• Bill Stephens

The following financial disclosures are for members of the City staff:

• City Manager Stephen Hollister
• City Attorney Jayne Williams
• Finance Director Perry Carter - not available at this time
• Police Chief Ian Willis

Invitation to City Meeting on Local Housing Issues

The City of San Leandro recently sent out this letter to community members:

March 6, 2009

Dear San Leandro Resident or Interested Party:

The City of San Leandro invites you and your neighbors to attend a community meeting on local housing issues. The meeting will be held at City Hall's South Offices Conference Room (835 E. 14th Street) from 6:30-8:30 PM on Wednesday March 18, 2009.

The purpose of this community meeting will be to discuss proposed policies for meeting San Leandro's affordable housing needs during the next five years. We are seeking your input on these policies as part of a year-long process to update the San Leandro Housing Element, the state-mandated plan addressing affordable housing and housing conservation in the city.

An introductory meeting op.this topic was held in June 2008. Since last summer, staff has collected and analyzed data, met with community members and housing providers, and held work sessions with the City Council and Planning Commission on housing issues. Through this process, new policies and priorities have been identified. The March 18 workshop provides an opportunity for residents to weigh in on these policies before formal Planning Commission and City Council hearings take place later this Spring.

The current San Leandro Housing Element was adopted in 2003. The Plan guides City decisions on new housing construction and rehabilitation, affordable housing development, first-time homebuyer programs, housing for seniors and others with special needs, and fair housing practices. State law requires that an updated Housing Element be adopted by the City Council and submitted to the State Office of Housing and Community Development by June 30, 2009. State certification is an important prerequisite for affordable, housing funds, grants, and other programs that benefit San Leandro residents.

Please visit http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/CDPlanHousElement.asp for more information. We look forward to seeing you on March 18.

Sincerely,

Phil Millenbah
Senior Planner

2009 State of the City Speech

On February 23, 2009, San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos delivered his annual State of the City. Santos described how the economic downturn has affected San Leandro, with a 19% drop in automobile sales, a decrease in sales tax revenues, a decline in the growth of property taxes, and a $10 to $12 million budget deficit, unless changes are made.

Some of those changes have been discussed in the City's Finance Committee, including library closures, elimination of some cultural events, and hiring freezes.

Santos noted some bright spots, including construction of the Senior Center on E. 14th Street, the ninth grade campus across the street, General Foundry expanding its operations in San Leandro, construction of a third office building at Creekside Plaza, Kenworth Trucks moving to a San Leandro location, and the Kaiser Permanente facility near Interstate 880 and Marina Boulevard.

After noting the importance of the upcoming 2010 census, the Mayor closed with a welcome to the newest Councilmember, Ursula Reed, and acknowledgment of former Councilmember Surlene Grant's 10 years on the City Council.

The complete text of the Mayor's speech follows:

Mayor Anthony B. Santos
State of the City Address 2009
San Leandro – Getting Leaner and Greener

Welcome. Thank you for permitting me once again to address the state of San Leandro – what our past year has been and what is in store for 2009.

The fact that San Leandro is getting leaner and greener has a variety of connotations. We are getting leaner because much of the community is giving renewed commitments to healthier lifestyles and improved fitness. But as an organization, the City of San Leandro is getting leaner due to cuts we are making as a result of the recession.

We are getting greener thanks to the industries in San Leandro that are focusing on renewable energies and more energy-efficient technologies, while at the same time the City of San Leandro is working hard to reduce San Leandro’s carbon footprint.

Let me get the bad news out of the way first – the City of San Leandro is suffering in the recession, just as all of you are in your businesses and homes. This is the worst decline in City revenues any of us can remember. And of course, without revenues we can’t provide services. We will be seeing at least a $7.5 million deficit by the end of this fiscal year.

In previous years, we saw a 6%-8% growth in property taxes – this year we’re lucky if we’re seeing 1% to 1.5%. Our sales tax revenues are down $3.3 million since last year. Car sales alone are down 19% from this time last year, which I believe is a good deal less than the industry standard. But the forecast for 2009 is grim. In fact, predictions are that 2009 revenues from sales tax and real property tax may be the lowest San Leandro has ever seen.

Our revenues are truly a moving target. Every time we get a projection we think we can count on, it gets worse with the next report. We have been doing a good job in controlling our expenses. But be that as it may, unless significant reductions or revenue increases are made to our budget, we will be facing a $10 to $12 million deficit in July when our new Fiscal Year begins.

Of course, we’re not alone in this condition – nearly every city in America is experiencing significant drops in revenues; some worse that others.

Fortunately, as I reported to you last year, San Leandro’s past City Councils have had the foresight to insist that we maintain a multi-million dollar reserve for economic uncertainty. That allowed us to balance our budget last year with some modest cuts in services and programs. This fiscal year, which ends on June 30, will also see us drawing on those reserves to keep us in the black. However, those reserves are just like your savings account at home. Once it’s gone it’s gone, and we won’t have that money to fall back on again until the savings can be built up once more.

The City Council is taking a hard look at our use of reserves this year and may very well come to the decision that we can’t reduce those reserves any further. Our goal has always been to keep at least 20% of the General Fund budget in reserves – which is about $16 million – but we haven’t been able to hold that line and will likely be dipping into the reserves to end this year with a balanced budget.

It is looking more and more likely that we will be headed to 15% cuts throughout most of the organization. If and when that happens, everyone including you as our customers will see marked changes in the way the City does business. Positions may be eliminated, programs will be reduced or ended, and services will definitely be fewer and slower.

What we need to do is find a balance of services and programs that we can sustain in good years and bad so we get away from the rollercoaster budgeting effect. What is our essential level of service in all departments that we can always maintain?

You all have heard me say that one of my goals as Mayor has been to bring our Police Department staffing to 100 sworn officers. Sadly, we won’t see that happening this year and likely not next year either.

I still think it is a priority and it will remain my goal as long as I am Mayor, but the Police Department, like all of our other services, has to make cuts to help us balance the budget. Those cuts could very well include vacant police officer positions.

We may be able to get Federal help to pay for one officer position. There is the hope that the “Citizens Option for Public Safety” Program, better known as the Federal COPS program, will be authorized again in next year’s federal budget. That might give us funding for one officer, but that comes with strings attached with promises from the city to continue to pay those costs in future years.

But remember, we can’t have a City with just police and fire services and only skeletal libraries or parks – no one would want to live here. We have to balance our services to meet all of our community’s needs, recognizing of course that public safety is vital.

I know the press is following our budget dilemma closely. So, I’m sure you’ll be hearing how and where we need to make cuts when they come. There will be public meetings on the budget from now until June, and we certainly welcome your input as we go through this challenging process.

In early February, I had the opportunity to testify before a joint Subcommittee of the State Assembly regarding local government finance. I was able to share with them the plight of local government in this downward economy. One point I made to the Subcommittee was the urgent need to reform tax codes to allow local governments the ability to create new revenues.

One area we need to explore locally is building a closer relationship between our school districts and the City in the area of taxation. Our school districts are having budget problems just as we are. We need to collaborate on ways of improving our revenues to maintain our schools and our City services.

There is money in the President’s stimulus package to help districts through these difficult economic times. However, it probably will not be enough to offset the current financial situation of our schools. As with local governments, schools must look beyond the State for funding. We need to work together to see if we can create revenue sources from right here in San Leandro.

One idea that is floating around is the concept of building new administrative offices for the San Leandro Unified School District in the downtown area. The District is badly in need of new administrative offices, and they could certainly use the school space at Madison Elementary School for classrooms. The District moving downtown could improve the downtown and bring more shoppers and diners to the area.

Further, we know that there are many “at risk” youngsters in our community. Dr. Dennis Byas, San Lorenzo Schools Superintendent, recently paid a visit to Juvenile Hall and ran into some of his Arroyo High School students. He told me this made a very real impression on him.

I am working on developing an “at risk” kids program here in San Leandro. I am hopeful of putting together a program which will help the most troubled youngsters here in our community – those who are part of gangs and who have either been suspended or expelled from the school system. I am working with both school districts in setting up a plan which will assist these youngsters and bring them back into the mainstream of society. And, I have asked Senator Boxer for help in securing federal funding for the program.

Let us change tracks and talk about some of the healthier aspects of San Leandro.

The very successful Downtown Farmer’s Market this past summer demonstrated just how much we’re all welcoming fresh fruits and vegetables and baked goods into our homes. The Market will be back beginning on May 6, with the promise of entertainment, cooking demonstrations, and wine tasting once again, plus we will be bringing in Green events to the Market to help people learn things like composting and reducing waste. And, of course, Bayfair Center hosts a farmer’s market every Saturday, year round.

The Recreation and Human Services Guide for Spring activities asks us to “Come out and play!” and that doesn’t just mean for the kids. That means all of us – we need to get a little more play in our lives.

Just before he advanced the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, John F. Kennedy, in a speech to the National Football Foundation in 1961 said, and I quote, “We are under-exercised as a nation. We look, instead of play. We ride, instead of walk. Our existence deprives us of the minimum of physical activity essential for healthy living.”

Little did President Kennedy know that the generation of boys and girls at that time would be our mothers and fathers of today. Whether or not they learned from his efforts to get us out and moving is hard to say. What we do know is that obesity is a growing epidemic in our nation, but one that we can easily turn around with a bit more exercise and better choices in our diets.

When you have a moment, check out www.50millionpounds.com This is a dynamic program aimed at getting the nation to lose weight, get active and get healthier.

Besides the activities and events the City offers for all of us to get out and move and play or hike or dance or swim, we’re partnering with the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA) to bring a pilot program to Roosevelt Elementary and Bancroft Middle Schools to educate students and their parents about “Safe Routes to Schools.”

We need to change the paradigm of parents or grandparents driving one or two children to school each day. Students need to become comfortable in walking or riding their bicycles to school, whether it be chaperoned or with friends. We need to break up the traffic congestion around our schools in the mornings and afternoons, which is not only creating traffic safety issues, but is also adding a considerable amount of vehicle exhaust to our carbon footprint. If the program is successful, we hope to see it brought to every school in San Leandro.

ACTIA is also launching an effort to get federal transportation funding for the 2010 Campaign for Active Transportation, which promises to bring improved trails, better pedestrian and bicycle access to public transit, urban greenways, and Safe Routes for Seniors. I, for one, am excited to see this coming.

On another track, City staff is working with folks from BART, Alameda County, Union Pacific, and all of our neighboring communities, to see if there is a way a trail, or an “East Bay Greenway”, can be created beneath or next to the BART tracks from Oakland all the way down to Fremont. Think of it – a landscaped, well-paved, well lighted path from one end of the county to the other, just for bicycling and walking. What a concept! Communities on the east side of the hills have done it with the old Iron Horse Trail; we could too.

One of the City’s largest efforts towards reducing vehicle miles traveled is the Transit Oriented Development Plan for the downtown. I recognize that the Bridge housing project has created some controversy.

Granted, some people feel that the T.O.D., and particularly the Bridge project, is too much housing too soon for a community of our size. I respect their opinions, but honestly I think this is just the direction in which San Leandro needs to move to meet our housing goals and reduce our carbon footprint. And, to a great extent, the State legislature is leading us toward the TOD development with passage of Assembly Bill 32 and Senate Bill 375.

AB 32 has said that California communities must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and beyond. The City’s objective is to reduce GHG by 25% by 2020.

SB 375 says that our land-use decisions have to be consistent with regional planning needs for housing and greenhouse gas emission reductions – in other words, reduced vehicle miles traveled.

We already know that the Association of Bay Area Governments, in its Housing Needs assessment, identifies San Leandro as needing to provide 1,630 more housing units by 2014, and nearly 600 of those should be for low- to very low-income families. The Bridge project will only get us to about 25% of this housing goal for at-market and affordable units. And to add to that projection, we’ve heard that California is expected to grow by another 20 million people by 2050.

People want to live in clean, safe, well planned communities, and San Leandro is certainly one of those communities. Some current residents bristle at the thought of our population growing. But I ask, if they chose to live in San Leandro, why can’t someone else choose and have the opportunity to live here too.

I think we need to put the concept of low- to very-low income households in perspective.
A waiter or waitress has an average salary of $18,500. Their affordable housing cost should be about $460 a month.
A retail sales person typically has an annual salary of $27,500, and their housing cost should be about $695 a month.
A middle school teacher makes about $63,000 a year, and should be spending about $1,575 a month in rent.

Now, I ask you, where can people find rents at these prices? Some exist, but not nearly enough to allow these important members of our community to be able to live in San Leandro. There just is not enough supply to meet the demand. That is why we need to champion housing projects that mix market-rate and affordable homes, and we need to do so near transportation and jobs so that vehicle trips can be reduced.

Let’s talk Green!

We got some exciting news recently. San Leandro has been invited to join the East Bay Green Corridor Partnership. This means economic development opportunities, partnerships with other cities in the East Bay, research and development opportunities in environmental technologies, jobs, and further opportunities to foster healthier cities.

The City was very proud to host the Alameda County and Cities Climate Forum in January. Elected officials and staff from every city in Alameda County and the County Board of Supervisors participated in a day-long discussion about a coordinated countywide response toward reducing the carbon footprint throughout our region.

One of the largest projects the City is starting soon is the building of a Co-Generation System at our water treatment plant. As you can imagine, everything that gets washed down or flushed through our sanitary sewer systems generates a good deal of methane gas as it is processed. With the new Co-Generation System, we’re going to be able to capture that gas, use it to power our generators, and treat the wastewater.

The new system will also accept waste grease from commercial waste haulers to enhance the process and increase the methane gas production. It is going to save energy, improve performance of our treatment systems, and generate revenue. We anticipate saving about $360,000 in power costs and eliminating more than a million pounds of CO2 emissions each year. Plus, we will be able to send any unused power back to the grid.

The water treatment plant is also recycling 97 million gallons of water a year. This is great, and we are trying to find even more efficiencies in our community.

We have had discussions with Waste Management about developing a waste-to-energy facility at the Davis Street Transfer Station. That would benefit all of Alameda County.

And we have some other impressive businesses in San Leandro that are making some remarkable strides in energy conservation and environmental protection, as well.

OSIsoft, for instance, recently won a technical innovation award for its advancements in environmental sustainability and energy management. They are developing cutting-edge technology in this field, and we are proud to have them here in San Leandro.

Clēaire on Wicks Boulevard won the Breathe California 2008 award for its development of diesel emissions control devices, virtually eliminating soot emissions from diesel motors. Clēaire is a subsidiary of Cummins West, which is also on Wicks. The City is contracting with Clēaire to retrofit our own fleet. You might want to think about it for your business fleet.

Energy Recovery, Inc. on Doolittle Drive has become a global leader in the development of ultra-high-efficiency energy recovery products and technology for desalination. They have numerous contracts around the world to help companies and nations affordably turn sea water into potable water. This technology is going to be more and more in demand, so it is good news that E.R.I. has plans to expand and move into a larger location here in San Leandro soon.

Very impressive for a small town like San Leandro.

I know in these tight times it is hard to commit to being totally green. Not all of us can go out and buy a hybrid, install solar panels on our homes, or use wind-generated energy to power our businesses. But we can all make small changes in our daily lives to be greener.

The next time a light bulb burns out, replace it with a compact florescent or LED globe. Use a tote bag instead of paper or plastic at the grocery store – my wife does. Turn your water heater down to 140° or lower. At work, copy on both sides of the paper instead of one. There are lots of simple things we can all do that save money and save energy.

Let me touch on some other business news. As President Obama said to a group of CEOs meeting at the White House recently, “Business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country,” and that holds true for San Leandro as well.

Bay Area Kenworth, the leading medium and heavy duty truck dealership in Northern California, is moving to San Leandro. They will be occupying the property at 1755 Adams where Valley Power used to be. I understand they will be open in a matter of weeks. That is new jobs coming to town.

And Creekside Office Plaza has given us the terrific news that they are poised to begin construction on their third and final office building – the parcel that is next to Davis Street. We are being told the primary tenant looks to be a service provider for disabled individuals. They were particularly drawn to this site because of its quality as a Class A office park, and because it is so close to BART. Construction could begin as soon as April 1, bringing more new jobs to San Leandro.

General Foundry is moving into a new building in Bayside Business Park. They had been operating very successfully on Merced Street near the old Albertson’s distribution site. That property was sold for the retail project next to Kaiser, so they are moving to Bayside Business Park and expanding their operations. We are very happy General Foundry is staying here and keeping jobs in San Leandro.

There is great hope all through our country that the new $789 billion economic stimulus package the President signed will bring jobs and needed improvements to our nation, our state and our city. On behalf of San Leandro, I was able to submit a list of 22 different infrastructure projects through the US Conference of Mayors totaling $78 million that are “shovel ready” and ready to create jobs for our community – projects like building a new Mulford-Marina branch library, or turning Eden Road into a true street, and about $9 million in badly needed street repairs. Our list could conceivably bring as many as 1,800 jobs to San Leandro as soon as the funding is released and projects get underway.

There are still questions to be answered about how projects will be chosen and whether or not the funding will come directly to our local governments or be funneled through the State. However, we are ready to get underway with any of these projects as soon as Washington gives us the green funding light.

Separate from the stimulus projects, the City is asking Senators Feinstein and Boxer and Congressman Stark to carry three very important projects forward for funding in the 2010-2011 federal budget. Those are continued work on East 14th Street improvements in the south area, expansion and renovation of our Police building, and construction of the “Marina Spine” which is the Bay Trail link from Marina Boulevard to Fairway Drive. If these are approved at our asking amount, we stand to get over $7 million.

And speaking of City projects, the fine weather we have had this winter has really been an advantage to the Senior Community Center project. The undergrounding work is done and the foundation has been poured. I believe we’re still on-schedule for the Center to be completed in spring 2010.

What with this project, and construction right across the street of San Leandro High School’s 9th Grade Academy and Gymnasium, which the City is helping to fund, by the way, with Redevelopment funds, there is a considerable amount of congestion and distractions occurring on East 14th Street for the next several months. On behalf of the City and the crews working out there, thank you for your patience and cautious motoring in that area. It can be challenging during the day.

We are making steady progress on a vision for the future of our shoreline and marina. The firm of Cal Coast Developers has been brought on board to work with our community and the City Council to create a development plan that will provide us with the highest and best use of this valuable property, while at the same time creating a self-sustaining development that will stop being a drain on the City’s General Fund.

The Shoreline Development Citizens Advisory Committee has been meeting regularly since December. The C.A.C. is made up of City board members and commissioners, residents, business owners, and representatives from various stakeholder groups, including boat owners, environmentalists, housing advocates, and others. We are finding these folks have a very positive vision of San Leandro and its future, and they are very committed to bringing us a quality project.

We hope to announce Town Hall meetings in late April, and we anticipate a report will come to us in the fall with recommendations as to how the Shoreline-Marina can be developed into facilities and amenities that all of our community can enjoy.

Right now, our plan is to do a modified dredging of the marina channel which will keep the boat launch ramp open to small craft. The Army Corps of Engineers will be able to do this for us hopefully sometime this year. We will still have to pay for the disposal of the dried materials at some point, but we are exploring our options.

The Plans for Kaiser Permanente to build their new medical center here in San Leandro remain on track. You can see the old distribution site has already been demolished. The last projection we have heard puts the opening sometime in 2013. I am told this will be a $1 billion project – the largest in San Leandro’s history. We are expecting that the Environmental Impact Report will be released this spring, with Planning Commission and City Council review of the design and plan development in late spring and summer.

The retail element, however, is not moving forward quite as quickly – a victim of the economic downturn, I’m sure. But it remains an important part of this project and I know Kaiser and our City staff are continuing to be optimistic on its progress.

When the Shoreline-Marina development is completed, Kaiser medical center is built and the Transit Oriented Development projects are completed, San Leandro is going to have a considerably different look to it than any of us can imagine. We need to get ready for change, because it is coming.

The Downtown Lighting and Pedestrian Improvement Project is nearly done. Our goal continues to be to make the downtown more pedestrian friendly and encourage more patrons to come to the restaurants and businesses. I think we are making great progress, if it is only one step at a time.

I don’t have any breaking news to report on the former Albertson’s site downtown. The City is still in litigation with the property owners, although there are some negotiations occurring with attempts to get a tenant on the site, at least as an interim use. Unfortunately, the economy has put the skids on those plans too. I promise you, as soon as we have news suitable for printing, we will make it public.

The San Leandro Cherry Festival is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year. People really like the Festival being Downtown. We have planned the 100th Anniversary festival for Saturday, June 6th, including resurrecting some of the old Festival traditions, like a vintage fashion show, vintage cars, and of course lots of cherries to enjoy. Put it on your calendar; it will be a great San Leandro event.

I also need to alert you that the US Census is coming again. Yes, it has been nearly 10 years since we all did Census 2000. This year we are forming a “Complete Count Committee” to make every effort to count absolutely every person who lives in San Leandro. And, I am now a member of the US Conference of Mayors Census Task Force, representing smaller cities like ours across the country.

We had a better than average reporting rate in 2000, but we can do even better this time around. What we need to do is make contact with those hard-to-reach members of our community and help them understand how important it is that they participate in Census 2010. By hard-to-reach, I mean non-English speaking people, new immigrants to the US, seniors, and even the homeless.

Every person counted means that we have better representation in Sacramento and Washington, DC, and better opportunities to receive state and federal funding. Every person not counted could lead us to losing $2,200 in yearly federal funds. If you or someone you know has a communication network with a special segment of our population in San Leandro, I want to hear from you and find out how we can be sure these individuals and families are counted on April 1, 2010.

I will definitely focus more on Census 2010 in my address next March. I’ve heard, by the way, that the US Census Bureau is already recruiting temporary part-time census takers for the 2010 Census. The pay is good, the hours are flexible, and the work is close to home.

As I close, I want to welcome our newest member of the City Council, Councilmember Ursula Reed. We were sorry to lose Surlene Grant in District 2, but she served her District and all of San Leandro well in her 10 years on the Council. I have every confidence that Councilmember Reed will do the same.

On January 20th, we all witnessed a historic event when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of these United States. President Obama’s inaugural speech spoke of courage, determination, progress, and a renewed hope in America. I hope all of us can be part of this change, creating an exciting and dynamic future for San Leandro starting today.

Thank you to all of my colleagues on the City Council for their hard work in making San Leandro a great place to live, work and play. I am thankful for the many hours the Council spends in making certain we remain a great city.

Thank you to all of the hard working men and women of the City of San Leandro for the remarkable and dedicated job you do for this community.

Thank you for your considerate attention.

Here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2009.

City Council Seeks Applicants for Boards and Commissions

San Leandro Councilmembers Ursula Reed, Joyce Starosciak, and Jim Prola are looking for residents willing to serve on the nine boards and commissions that provide guidance to the City Council.

Those boards and commissions include the Board of Zoning Adjustments, Human Services Commission, Planning Commission, Library-Historical Commission, Recreation and Parks Commission, Personnel Relations Board, Senior Commission, and Youth Advisory Commission.

The Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Adjustments and Youth Advisory Commission are scheduled to meet twice a month and all other commissions meet once a month or less frequently.

Applicants must be registered to vote and live in San Leandro in Districts 2, 4, or 6 (see the City Council district map at http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/CouncilWeb2007.html to find out which district you live in). The members of the City Council submit nominations which are approved by the entire City council.

For more information about each of the commissions and boards, download the application at http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/pdf/commission.pdf.

Hollister Appointed City Manager; City Settles Police Officer Lawsuit

San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos announced that Interim City Manager Stephen Hollister was appointed City Manager effective immediately at the December 15, 2008, meeting of the San Leandro City Council. The City Council also voted to settle a lawsuit by the San Leandro Police Officers Association that demanded compensation for getting into and out of their uniforms.

Hollister was appointed Interim City Manager in September 2008 when John Jermanis retired after 12 years as San Leandro's City Manager. The City Council did not consider outside candidates, although it is common for cities to hire a firm to conduct a search for a new city manager. The City Council also extended Hollister's contract to June 30, 2010. A copy of Hollister's contract will not be available until next month.

The police settlement means that a total of 20 minutes will be built in to police officers' shifts for getting into and out of their uniforms (donning and doffing). The San Leandro Police Officers Association had originally asked for a total of 30 minutes for donning and doffing. The settlement also extends the current police contract to 2010 and is estimated to cost $200,000. For more details, see the staff report.

City Council Votes for Partial Dredging and Banning Alcohol in Parks

The San Leandro City Council voted to ban alcohol in parks and open spaces and to partially dredge the San Leandro Marina Harbor at its December 1, 2008, meeting.

The Shoreline-Marina Committee of the City Council considered three options for the future of the boat harbor at the Marina: Option 1: do nothing; Option 2: a complete dredging; and Option 3: a partial dredging. The Shoreline-Marina Committee recommended Option 3, which was approved by the City Council. According to the staff report, Option 3 was as follows:

This would entail closing the Harbor or converting it to a small boat facility, while parts of the rest of the marina would be improved to meet the overall recreational objective. Under this option, 85,000 cubic yards of material will have to be dredged from the federal channel and disposed of in the next two years. The cost of dredging will be fully covered by the COE [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] with the available allocation, but the City would have to cover the dredge disposal cost of about $2,000,000, partially from the available harbor area dredging allocation of slightly more than $1,000,000. Maintenance dredging and material removal (about 50,000 cubic yards) would have to be undertaken in about five years at a cost of about $2,200,000 to $3,500,000. A four-year cycle maintenance dredge will ensure a continued use of the Marina for small boats and crafts.

The use of alcohol at city parks was discussed at four meetings of the Recreation and Parks Commission and on November 4, 2008, the Facilities and Transportation Committee recommended that alcohol be banned at parks and open spaces. The ordinance has an exception for City-sponsored events that have prior approval of the City Council. These events would likely include the Sausage & Suds Festival and the Cherry Festival.

Videos of San Leandro Crossings Presentation

On September 22, 2008, the San Leandro City Council held a work session where the San Leandro Crossings partners presented information about the transit-oriented development project.

A copy of the presentation is available from the City of San Leandro web site.

Videos of the presentation have also been posted to YouTube.

First, Kathleen Livermore's summary:

Livermore's summary was followed by a presentation by Westlake, Bridge Housing, Thomas Cox Architects, and David Baker Partners:

Council Delays Action on Revenue-Generating Measures

On Monday, July 21, 2008, the San Leandro City Council made no decision whether to proceed with three possible ballot measures to generate revenue for the City. The City Council recently approved a budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year with a $4.4 million structural deficit and an ad-hoc committee was formed to look at ways to increase revenue for the City.

The possible measures recommended by the ad-hoc committee include an update to the utility users tax, originally adopted in 1972, which taxes telephone, electrical, gas, and cable television. The tax generates about $4 million each year and unless changes are made, the City may lose out on $3 million each year.

Another possible measure to protect existing revenue is to change the 911 fee to a tax without changing the $2.5 million in revenue it provides each year. The legality of the 911 fee has been challenged in other cities and there is a chance that if the challenges are successful, the City could lose this as a source of income. However, in order to change the fee to a tax, it would require the approval of 2/3 of voters.

The third measure to generate revenue under consideration is a parcel tax to support police services. According to the staff report, the tax would be linked to the Police Department Strategic Plan and staff recommends a sunset clause that would end the tax after four years. The parcel tax would generate an estimated $2.6 million annually. A parcel tax would also require the approval of 2/3 of voters.

Recent parcel taxes put forth by the City of San Leandro and the San Leandro Unified School District (SLUSD) have both failed. In November 2004, Measure DD, a police and fire parcel tax, failed with just 50.5% of the vote (66.67% was required to pass). That parcel tax would have assessed $78 for single-family residences, $46.80 per multi-family unit and $16 per thousand square feet for industrial and commercial properties and had a sunset clause of five and a half years.

In April 2006, Measure A, a parcel tax for San Leandro schools failed with 61.04% in favor (66.67% needed to pass). The tax would have assessed one-and-two tenths cents ($0.012) per square foot per parcel for a period of six years.

The meeting coincided with Mayor Tony Santos' 53rd wedding anniversary and the City Council approved a resolution to increase the Mayor's car allowance from $250 to $375 each month. The allowance had been set at $375 per month in 1997 and was decreased in January 2007 to $250 per month. City Councilmembers may receive up to $125 for travel reimbursement each month.

The City Council revised its contract with City Manager John Jermanis to extend his employment through September 5, 2008. Assistant City Manager Steve Hollister received a contract to be Interim City Manager from September 6, 2008, to June 30, 2009.

The three potential ballot measures will be revisited on July 28, 2008.

City of San Leandro Website Unavailable Again

Surfers trying to reach the City of San Leandro web site on Saturday, July 12, 2008, were greeted with a login prompt:

San Leandro Mayor and Staff Featured on Pix Page of San Francisco Chronicle

San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos, interim Planning Manager Kathleen Livermore, and Community Development Director Luke Sims, were featured on the Pix page in the Sunday May 11, 208, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle. They picture was taken at the Breathe California Annual Clean Air Awards, where the city received an award for the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy.

San Leandro received an honorable mention "For adopting a Transit Oriented Development strategy that promotes development in the transit-rich downtown area to reduce driving and encourage the use of alternative transportation."

Cleaire Advanced Emission Controls, based in San Leandro, received an award "For devising and manufacturing the Longview and Horizon emission devices which can reduce particulate matter by at least 85 percent in diesel buses and trucks."

The picture was taken at the Breathe California Annual Clean Air Awards Luncheon, held April 18, 2008, in San Francisco.

Councilmember Bill Stephens Elected Vice Mayor of San Leandro

At the May 5, 2008, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, Bill Stephens was elected Vice Mayor. Current Vice Mayor Surlene Grant nominated Stephens and Councilmember Michael Gregory seconded the nomination. Gregory noted that Stephens had been considered for the position previously and withdrew because of his work commitments. Councilmember Diana Souza then offered a substitute motion nominating Councilmember Joyce Starosciak that was seconded by Jim Prola.

Starosciak advocated to be elected Vice Mayor, noting that the title would add credibility to San Leandro's presence on the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, to which she is assigned. She also noted that she would have the energy and time to devote to the position.

Mayor Tony Santos noted that Districts 5 and 6 had not had a Vice Mayor in many years and he believes that the position should rotate among the City Council districts. A review of recent vice mayors shows that Councilmembers from Districts 3, 5, and 6 have not been Vice Mayor for more than 10 years. During that time, District 4 Councilmember Bob Glaze served as Vice Mayor for four straight years and District 1 Councilmembers Gordon Galvan and Orval "OB" Badger served for two years each.

In a 1992 staff report from former San Leandro City Clerk to former San Leandro City Manager Mike Oliver, Calvert wrote, "As you will recall, in 1989, the City Council discussed the matter of the designation of the vice mayor and concurred that the position of vice mayor should not be just one of rotation, but was a privilege given to the vice mayor, and that the new policy would be that the vice mayor will be elected by the City Council."

Councilmember Jim Prola expressed his support for Starosciak, noting that she has the time and that the Vice Mayor should be female because we have a male Mayor.

Grant noted that this is an election year and Starosciak may have an advantage if she was elected Vice Mayor. She also stated that the position of Vice Mayor has been held by members of the same sex previously and discounted the need to have it filled by a member of the opposite sex of the Mayor.

Councilmember Stephens joked that he was "not going to get a sex change operation," but noted that he did have a demanding schedule. Stephens said that he would be "honored to perform the duties of Vice Mayor."

The City Council vote on electing Starosciak as Vice Mayor was defeated with Souza, Starosciak, and Prola voting for Starosciak and the other four members voting no. The subsequent vote on electing Stephens as Vice Mayor was unanimous, making Stephens San Leandro's new Vice Mayor.

According to Section 310 of the City Charter, "In the absence of the Mayor, the Vice Mayor shall possess and perform the powers and duties of the Mayor."

For a listing of recent Vice Mayors, see below.

Vice Mayors of the Recent Past:

• 1998 - Gordon Galvan (District 1)


• 1999 - Gordon Galvan (District 1)


• 2000 - Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2001- Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2002 - Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2003- Bob Glaze (District 4)


• 2004 - Orval "OB" Badger (District 1)


• 2005 - Orval "OB" Badger (District 1)


• 2006 - Surlene Grant (District 2)


• 2007 - Surlene Grant (District 2)

Hillary Van Austen and Adan Alonzo to Join Peronnel Relations Commission

Adan Alonzo and Hillary Van Austen will likely be appointed as at-large members to the Personnel Relations Board at the May 5, 2008, San Leandro City Council meeting. They will replace Michael Munoz and Anna Brannan.

Brannan left the Personnel Relations Board when she was appointed to replace Marcene Nardine at the Planning Commission on March 3, 2008. The City Council issued a resolution commending Munoz for his years of service on the Personnel Relations Board at its April 7, 2008, meeting. Munoz was first appointed in March 1993.

Van Austen is president of the Broadmoor Neighborhood Association and works for the East Bay Regional Parks District. She also works with her husband at Van Austen Creative, a design, illustration, and multimedia communication company.

Alonzo is active at Madison Elementary and sought the appointment to the District 6 City Council seat in February 2007. He was a vocal opponent of a possible bridge over San Leandro Creek between San Leandro and Oakland's Sobrante Park neighborhood. Alonzo works for Waste Management at its Fremont transfer station facility.

Update: Alonza and Van Austen were appointed unanimously on May 5, 2008.

Financial Disclosure for Newest Planning Commissioner

The newest San Leandro Planning Commissioner, Anna Brannan, was appointed on March 17, 2008, to replace Marcene Nardine, who was removed on March 3, 2008. Brannan works as an attorney in Danville and previously served on the Personnel Relations Board. She has lived in San Leandro since 1977 and is married to Robert Brannan, who serves on the Recreations and Parks Commission and was previously President of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce.

According to her Statement of Economic Interests, she is the principal of her own San Leandro law firm and has an interest in Network Professionals, a local computer services business with her husband. She also works for the law firm of Gagen, McCoy, McMahon, Koss, Markowitz & Raines in Danville and receives contractor fees from Lloyd A. Wise Leasing.

Update on Financial Disclosures

On April 8, 2008, San Leandro Bytes reported on the Statements of Economic Interests filed by members of the San Leandro Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA). Today, the City Clerk received the annual Statement of Economic Interests from BZA member Melody Marr. which was due on April 1. Planning Commissioner Heidi Finberg has yet to file any Statement of Economic Interests since she was appointed in April 2007.

Marr has been on the BZA since August 1996 and is the CEO of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce.

Annual Financial Disclosures for Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments

In California, members of the Planning Commission are required to complete a Statement of Economic Interests (Fair Political Practices Commission Form 700), to disclose financial interests that could lead to a conflict-of-interest. In San Leandro, the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) is also required to complete Form 700. Members are required to complete the disclosures annually and within 30 days of assuming office.

These disclosures are public documents and any member of the public can inspect and obtain copies ($0.10 each) of these disclosures. San Leandro Bytes obtains copies from the San Leandro City Clerk, scans them, and publishes them here to increase local government transparency and to save you from a trip to City Hall.

Below are the disclosures for 2007 for current members of the San Leandro Planning Commission and San Leandro Board of Zoning Adjustments:

Board of Zoning Adjustments

• Philip Daly
• Charles Gilcrest
• Amanda Goldt
• Melody Marr - Statement not yet filed.
• Neal Pearson
• Darryl J. Shields
• Frank Sidari

Planning Commission

• Denise Abero
• Anna Brannan - Assuming Office statement not yet filed.
• Esther Collier
• Thomas C. Dlugosh
• Heidi Finberg - Statement not yet filed.
• Rene Ponder
• Dale Reed

BZA Member Marr has not yet filed her Statement of Economic Interests for 2007. The Statement is due by April 1 every year. Marr is the CEO of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce. Planning Commissioner Finberg has not filed a Statement of Economic Interests since she was appointed in April 2007. Finberg is the former CEO of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce. Planning Commissioner Brannan was appointed in March 2008 and has not yet filed a Statement of Economic Interests.

Previous filings can be found here and here.

Annual Financial Disclosures for City Council, City Manager, Police Chief, and Others

Members of the San Leandro City Council and others are requird to complete Statements of Economic Interests (California Form 700) upon being elected, each year thereafter, and upon leaving office. Certain city staff, including the City Manager, City Attorney, Police Chief and police captains are also required to file these documents. These are public documents on file at the City Clerk's office at City Hall and are available to anyone who requests them for $0.10 per page.

City Council:

Surlene Grant, District 2
Michael Gregory, District 1
Jim Prola, District 6
Tony Santos, Mayor
Diana Souza, District 3
Joyce Starosciak, District 4
Bill Stephens, District 5

City Staff:

City Manager John Jermanis
City Attorney Jayne Williams
Police Chief Dale Attarian

Marcene Nardine Removed from Planning Commission

At the March 3, 2008, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, Marcene Nardine was removed from the Planning Commission. Nardine was appointed as the At-Large member of the Planning Commission on March 5, 2007, and replaced Susan Kleebauer.

Nardine will be replaced by Anna Brannan, who has served on the Personnel Relations Board since March 2007. Brannan is the wife of Robert Brannan, former President of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce and member of the Recreation and Parks Commission since May 2005.

In June 2006, Nardine campaigned for Mayor and came in third behind Tony Santos and OB Badger. Nardine endorsed Santos' Mayoral campaign shortly after losing the election. Nardine is the daughter of former San Leandro City Councilmember and School Board Trustee Glenda Nardine.

Although no reason was given in the agenda for removing Nardine, it may have something to do with missing five of the 12 Planning Commission meetings since she became a member of the Planning Commission.

Update: Coverage by the Daily Review confirms that Nardine was removed for missing too many meetings. In her defense, Nardine said, "If I would have known about the attendance policy, trust me, I would have been there."

The City Council Handbook section on Boards and Commissions reads:

ATTENDANCE POLICY

1. The City Council requires that members of boards and commissions abide by the following policy:

2. Members of boards or commissions shall be required to attend not less than 75% of all regular meetings held;

3. Failure by a member to attend three consecutive regular meetings of a board or commission will be cause for Council declaring the member’s position vacant;

4. Attendance records will be reviewed by the City Council in June of each year based on the previous 12-month period (June 1 through May 31), except for appointments effective July 1st or thereafter.

Of the five out of 12 Planning Commission meetings that Nardine missed since she was appointed, three were consecutive meetings: June 28, July 12, and July 26, 2007. However, the Council did not declare her position vacant, as called for in the policy.

City Council to Focus on Housing on Monday, February 11, 2008

Overview of Affordable Housing and Housing Element Update is the topic for the San Leandro City Council work session on Monday, February 11, 2008. The meeting will start at 7pm and will be held at the Helen Lawrence South Offices Conference Room at 999 E. 14th Street.

San Leandro Cop Reappointed to California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training.

San Leandro Police Officer Michael Sobek was re-appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). POST sets "minimum selection and training standards for California law enforcement." Sobek's appointment requires confirmation by the California Senate.

According to the POST web site, Sobek, 45, of Dublin, "has over twenty years experience in law enforcement, serving with the San Leandro Police Department since 1991 and the Alameda County Sheriff's Department from 1984 to 1991. Additionally, Sobek has served as adjunct faculty at Chabot/Los Positas Community College since 2002. Sobek is an American Independent."

Sobek was the police officer who found the bodies of the USDA and state inspectors at the Santos Linguisa factory after they had been shot and killed by Stuart Alexander in June 2000.

Finance Director Jesse Baloca Quietly Leaves Post

San Leandro's Finance Director, Jesse Baloca, has quietly left his position without a send-off or acknowledgment from the City. The only evidence of his departure is the lack of a name for the Finance Director on the list of City Hall contacts on the City web site.

Baloca, 38, was hired as the City's Finance Director in May 2004 after working as Interim Finance Director in Sammamish, Washington, Interim Assistant Finance Director in Bellevue, Washington, and Administrative Services Director in Saratoga, California. Prior to Baloca, Assistant City Manager Ed Schilling had served as the acting Finance Director since October 2003, replacing Mike White.

When he was hired, San Leandro City Manager John Jermanis was quoted in the Daily Review as stating, "We are very happy to have him as part of our management team. Overall, he fits the San Leandro mold of quality employees through his academic and work experience."

Update: According to City Manager John Jermanis, Baloca resigned his position effective October 31, 2007. Perry Carter, the former Finance Director for the City of Hayward, has been hired part-time as the Interim Finance Director. On November 13, 2007, the City Clerk received Baloca's final Statement of Economic Interests (California Form 700).

San Leandro Featured in New York Times Article

Uche Udemezue, San Leandro's Engineering & Transportation Director, is quoted extensively in an article about building costs in the January 26, 2008, edition of the New York Times.

From the article:

In San Leandro, a city of 78,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Udemezue said the city could not afford to delay work on the parking garage and retiree center.

“We can’t wait,” he said, “because we don’t know if the prices are going to come down or go up.”

In the grading guide known as the Pavement Condition Index, zero is not far from a dirt strip and 100 is a fresh new roadway. When Mr. Udemezue began working for San Leandro 16 years ago, the average road ranking in the city was nearly 70. Now it is closer to 60, despite what Mr. Udemezue said were the city’s efforts to keep up maintenance.

Years ago, there was more money in the city’s general revenue stream that could be diverted to help with basic maintenance, which Mr. Udemezue said required about $5 million a year.

That general revenue now goes to other needs, like public safety, and the roads go wanting, with flat revenue from gas taxes and other declines leaving about $1.2 million to maintain roads each year. The $13 million retiree center and the $8 million parking garage have been affected, too, with the city dropping plans to build commercial space beneath the garage and reducing the space for social programs in the center.

Presentation on Crime Posted on City Web Site

San Leandro Police Chief Dale Attarian's report entitled, "Council Report, Crime Trends, Staffing and Future Trends," which was presented at the City Council Work Session on Monday, January 14, 2008, has been posted to the city's web site.

The report received by Councilmembers at the Monday meeting included a few additional pages which reported crime information for each of the six City Council districts.

Copies of the report were handed out to leaders of homeowners associations at a meeting held by Mayor Tony Santos at the San Leandro Library on Tuesday, January 15, 2008.

San Leandro Crime Statistics for 2007

The statistics on crime in San Leandro in 2007 are out and, as San Leandro Police Chief Dale Attarian has previously stated, crime is down overall in San Leandro. Despite statistics that show an overall decrease in crime and San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos assuring residents that "It's just fear" in response to concerns about public safety, heightened concern about crime is reflected in discussions at recent City Council meetings, a Town Hall held by Councilmembers Diana Souza and Joyce Starosciak, and a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 15, 2008, with the leaders of homeowner associations.

By the numbers, crime in San Leandro is down, from 5,115 crimes in 2006 to 4,848 in 2007. Those numbers include rapes, murders, robberies, aggravated assaults, simple assaults, burglaries, larcenies, auto thefts, and arson.

As reported previously, there were no murders in 2007 compared to four in 2006. Rapes declined 59% from 29 in 2006 to 12 in 2007. Aggravated assault declined 18% from 302 in 2006 to 248 in 2007. Larceny declined 11% from 2,176 in 2006 to 1,933 in 2007.

Arsons increased 33% from 12 in 2006 to 16 in 2007. Burglaries increased 3% and auto thefts increased one percent.

In 2006, Las Vegas was listed as the metropolitan area with the highest auto theft rate by the National Insurance Crime Bureau with a rate of 1,310 vehicles stolen for every 100,000 residents. In 2006, San Leandro had a rate of more than 1,580 vehicles stolen for every 100,000 residents.

According to Chief Attarian, some vehicles are now stolen just to remove the catalytic converters, from which the platinum catalyst is recovered for its value. Last year, four vehicles stolen from San Leandro were recovered at one Oakland address and all were missing their catalytic converters. The owner of Converters West, a San Leandro auto parts dealer, was recently arrested for buying stolen catalytic converters.

But the numbers don't tell the whole story. Crime in one area of the city could increase while crime in another area is flat or dropping. Unfortunately, that data isn't available yet, but San Leandro Bytes is working on it and will publish it once it becomes available.

At last night's City Council work session, the Councilmembers received a report entitled, "Council Report, Crime Trends, Staffing and Future Trends" by Chief Attarian. Included at the end of the report were specific crime statistics for each City Council District. That data is reproduced in the graph below. Chief Attarian noted that the total number of crimes when separated by district (4761) doesn't match the 2007 number of 4848 because of problems with identifying the proper district for each crime. Click here for the data used to create the graph.

Chief Attarian noted that the high number of larcenies (thefts) in District 2 is because the area includes Bayfair Center and the commercial corridor along E. 14th Street.

City Council Work Session on Crime, Monday, January 14, 2008

The City Council will be discussing police services, a strategic plan for the police and crime statistics at its work session meeting on Monday, January 14, 2008.

The meeting starts at 7pm and is held in the Helen Lawrence South Offices Conference Room, located south of City Hall and the Police Department at 999 E. 14th Street.

San Leandro Ends 2007 With No Murders

According to San Leandro Police Chief Dale Attarian, there were no murders reported in the City of San Leandro during all of 2007. The most recent year prior to 2007 in which there were no murders in San Leandro was 1984, according to Chief Attarian.

This appears to at least partially corroborate Chief Attarian's previous claim that "San Leandro has seen the lowest crime rate in the past five years." The City of Oakland also recorded fewer murders in 2007 than in 2006.

The Complete Presentation of the Revenue Measure Feasibility Study

On December 18, 2007, San Leandro Bytes reported on the results of a Revenue Measure Feasibility Study conducted by Godbe Research for the City of San Leandro. The results of that study were presented at the December 17, 2007, City Council meeting and the presentation is now available online.

Former Mayor Jack Maltester's Testimony Before the US Commission on Civil Rights

On May 6, 1967, San Leandro Mayor Jack Maltester testified at a hearing of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which was investigating housing discrimination.

The complete text of Maltester's testimony follows.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. The next witness is the Hon. John D. Maltester. Whereupon, the Hon. John D. Maltester was sworn by the Chairman and testified as follows: )

TESTIMONY OF THE HON. JOHN D. MALTESTER, MAYOR OF SAN LEANDRO, CALIFORNIA

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Would you please state your full name and address for the record.

MAYOR MALTESTER. It's Jack D. Maltester, 715 Woodland Avenue, San Leandro.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. What is your occupation?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Half owner in a printing business and mayor of the city of San Leandro.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How long have you been mayor?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Since 1958.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Are you also a member of the city council ?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. What is the population of San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. The last official population was 69,000, close to 70,000, and anticipated at this time probably closer to 75,000.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. You think it's about 75,000?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How many Negroes live in San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I cannot tell you to the exact amount. I get two different reports. I would guess it's between 20 and 25, 26.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Twenty or 25 persons or families?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Persons.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Are Negroes employed in the industries in San Leandro.

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Do you have any idea how many?

MAYOR MALTESTER. No, I haven't. We haven't asked for that type of a survey, although lean tell by the plants when the shifts go off duty that there are quite a few Negroes employed in our industries.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. We have some statistics, Mr. Mayor, a study we did that indicates that the companies in San Leandro employing 100 or more persons that report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and that report to the office of Federal Contract Compliance, provide approximately 13,500 persons, of whom about 572 are Negroes, about 5 percent or so. Does that sound as though it might be right?

MAYOR MALTESTER. That might be right. I presume that some plants according to the type of work may employ more than others. I wouldn't question that.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. And those are companies of 100 employees or more. Companies with less than 100 employees are not included in those statistics. Are Negroes employed in stores and small businesses in San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes, they are.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How would you account for the fact that just across the border of San Leandro in Oakland there are large numbers of Negro families, and yet there are just 20 to 25 Negroes in your city?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Well, basically the question in the past has been one of prejudice. San Leandro grew from a farming community to a bedroom community for people who mainly worked in San Francisco. I guess prior to World War II there were about 20,000 people in the community.
Industry started to come in. Half of our present land area is zoned industrial. I don't think there is any question but what there was prejudice involved.
Although some of the families, Negro people who live in San Leandro, have lived there for many years. We have a very heavy Portuguese, Mexican American, Spanish people living in our community. At the present time the families that are moving in are moving in different areas of the town.
As you just heard Mr. Lucot state that the one property on the Hills at some $75,000 or $80,000. We have other families that moved into the Marina Fair and different areas which, from a personal standpoint is good for everybody, and in other words we don't get any ghetto, or where it's white or dark or anything else. It is spread throughout the community. One other thing that has, I'm sure, kept an awful lot of minority races out has been the cost of property.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. The cost of property?

MAYOR MALTESTER. The cost of property in San Leandro. I do not have facts to back this up. I get this statement from real estate people and appraisers, that the same property on one side of Durant Avenue, which is our dividing line with Oakland is worth $1,000 to $1,500 more than this property is in Oakland. The reason for that, I don't know. One has been that we have had a reduce in tax rate, and we have increased our services to the people. Beyond that I can't say, I'm just guessing.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Do you think that the fact that two cities so close to each other, and one of them has such a large Negro population and the other has such a small one, might lead to friction of some sort?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I'm certain it will some day unless something is done. As I say, it is--I feel something is being done now, but it is being done slowly.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Is the city concerned that racial disturbances in Oakland might affect San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I might say as the mayor I'm concerned, yes.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. What actions or plans do you have to deal with the problem?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Well, we haven't any plans to deal with the problem. You must understand that in our community, although the mayor is directly elected by the people, we are a little different than some of the Eastern cities.
We do not have the authority as mayor, I technically do not have any more authority than any city councilman, so it is just a problem as to what you can do. We hope that we are getting, I think, more and more people in our community that realize the problem and are willing to recognize that it is there and help do something about it, but it's an awfully slow process.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Do you have problems in your community with white racists groups?

MAYOR MALTESTER. No. In fact, the only time I knew one existed was a series of articles in a local newspaper.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. But the groups themselves you don't consider terribly significant or a force in molding opinion in the community?

MAYOR MALTESTER. No, I've checked this out with our own police department and they feel that it does not pose any problem at all in the community.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. There has been some testimony about the meeting that you held with business and religious leaders to discuss problems of racial integration in San Leandro. Have there been many such meetings ?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Well, no. That was probably the largest where we've brought industry into the picture and the banks.
I have attended three or four meetings with various clergy groups and I would think that the clergy has been the most interested in the problem in the community, and probably not only the most interested but probably the most knowledgeable as to what does exist.
There have just been unofficial meetings over a cup of coffee talking about the problems as they would see one or the others that would come up.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. But in December you had a meeting which included a larger number of individuals?

MAYOR MALTESTER. That is correct. I was asked if I could get together some of the industrial people to join some of the clergy and the banks. We thought it would be a good thing to sit down and talk to them and just see what they felt.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Has that meeting been followed up with additional similar meetings?

MAYOR MALTESTER. No, it hasn't been. It was left on the basis that see how things are going for a while and then we would get together again unofficially. When you try to get a group together like that, sometimes it takes a little time to get them together. Everybody is busy, but we undoubtedly will have other discussion. That is, if I have my way about it and they show up.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How long have you lived in San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I was born in San Leandro.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. On the basis of your knowledge in general, and on the basis of your experience as mayor what factors in the local real estate market do you think have kept Negroes from buying homes in San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I don't think it is the real estate people nor the lending institutions. I think it's the people themselves. I'm quite sure that any real estate man would sell any home in San Leandro to a Negro if the seller of that home gave them the go-ahead.
There is still the fear that if one home is sold to a Negro, the whole block will be sold to Negroes and then the next block. This is a fear, I think--and I am not a historian--which grew up over many, many years which ultimately, I guess it did happen in the West Oakland area. And this, I think is the basis of fear.
I really don't--oh, there may be one or two real estate people, maybe one or two lending institutions, but I think the basic problem is with the people themselves, not only in our community but in any other community,

MR. GLICKSTEIN. But you have had some large tract developments in San Leandro where the homes were sold new by the developer.

MAYOR MALTESTER. Right.

MR. GLICKSTEIN, Not by individual sellers. Yet, those developments have turned out to be predominantly or, exclusively white. Isn't that correct?

MAYOR MALTESTER. It is correct, and yet probably the largest and latest development and the last one from the land standpoint that is available now has three Negro families living in it, and the development is only five or six years old and all of the three--and one I know was sold through the developer of the tract.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. One was sold through the developer of the tract?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Definitely to the Negro.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. That is the Marina

MAYOR MALTESTER. Marina Fair.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. That is a new area that is being developed?

MAYOR MALTESTER, Right.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How do you account for the older tracts that were developed that were not integrated?

MAYOR. MALTESTER. This, again, I cannot account for except for the fact that I think it goes back to the people themselves. I've talked to apartment house owners that the rest of their tenants have threatened to move out if they rent one apartment to a Negro family. So then who do you blame, the people or the apartment house owner?

MR. GLICKSTEIN. When Negroes have moved into San Leandro how have they been received by their neighbors?

MAYOR MALTESTER.. Normally very fine. We've had one bad incident that you have undoubtedly picked up on us. This happened to be on the most expensive one we were talking about, but it had nothing to do with racial problems, just outright hoodlums, but outside of that they are well accepted.
In fact, I would think exceptionally so. The reports that I get from this Marina Fair area is that the people in the area are happy with these families. They have gone in and fixed up their homes better than they were before and joined the Home Owners Association, become active in the area. This is what I think is tending, as I say, to break down this barrier that is built up, but I don't think it will be broken down politically. It's got to be through people.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. And I gather from what has been said that you as mayor have been exercising some leadership in the direction of breaking these barriers down?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I try as much as possible, in fact maybe a little more than I am supposed to, but it has to be persuasion and on a friendly basis. Yes.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. One of the witnesses said you had proposed to the city council that a human rights commission be set up and you were unsuccessful in getting that through.

MAYOR MALTESTER. I went beyond the human relations commission. I also tacked the word responsibilities in there because this had been proposed right after President Kennedy addressed the United States Congress of Mayors in Honolulu and asked for this type of support throughout the country because I think every city has areas where the property is getting run down, and this is not always Negroes' areas. In fact, most of the time it isn't.
So we wanted not only the human relations commission aspect, we wanted some responsibilities put into it. Unfortunately, the city council decided on a five to two vote that it was not necessary, that we didn't have any problems, and I don't blame the city council because, believe me, when that proposal was put out in the press --before I made the proposal I had six votes, and when the people got through with the telephone calls I wound up with one besides my own.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Informally, then, your fellow councilmen agreed with your position, but when they had to indicate publicly what their position was they voted differently.

MAYOR MALTESTER. That is correct.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How many persons does your city employ?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Approximately 365.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. How many are Negroes?

MAYOR MALTESTER. One.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. And he is a--

MAYOR MALTESTER. Police officer. We did have two. We had a young lady that was a police assistant, but she decided she would rather work for the telephone company.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Does the city require its employees to be residents?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes and no. The rule is, the civil service rule is that all employees must be residents. The civil service board has the right to suspend that rule for all examinations. In checking our records we find it has suspended for all operations except three, they're always putting the rule to one side.
Those three operations that they have not suspended the rule for was a garbage collector, a maintenance man and the parks people, and in checking back and asking the Civil Service Commission why these three were not also allowed to not have to live in the community it is a fact that they class them in three emergency categories. I don't know, this is the answer that I got.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Those three categories have to live in the community?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Right, and the others have to--the examinations are open. In fact, the young Negro police officer we had lived in Berkeley. Now he lives in San Leandro with his family.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. He now lives in San Leandro?

MAYOR MAL TESTER. Right.

MR. GLICKSTEIN, Did he have any difficulty in finding a place to live?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I haven't talked to him. He hasn't said anything to me.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. But he did move into the city?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Does the city recruit employees outside the city?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes. This is what I was talking about on the recruitment. These are the only three that are supposed to live in the city, The rest of the recruitment comes from all over.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. And actually you make affirmative efforts to go outside of the city? You advertise outside the city?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes. It's advertised in all the journals, a notice is sent to the department of employment. We give it a broad advertising effect.

MR. GLICKSTEIN. Thank you. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. Mrs. Freeman?

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. Mayor Maltester, does your city attempt to recruit industry, large industry, to come in? Have you ever in the past attempted this?

MAYOR MALTESTER. The city as such hasn't. The Chamber of Commerce is always, of course, working to bring new industry into San Leandro, and this is where our growth assessed valuation wise has come from, new industry over the past years.

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. Do the majority of the persons who are employed by the industries that have come in in the past few years reside in San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I wouldn't know. I would have to say as a guess, no. It's a pretty educated guess.

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. Would a significant number of those that are white reside in San Leandro?

MAYOR MALTESTER. No. Again, I don't have any figures, but in my opinion no, because we have an awful lot of people that live in San Lorenzo, Hayward, Castro Valley.

I have had people tell me that even working for the city they can't live there because they can't afford it in their own city and they moved to Castro Valley.

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. And these houses range in price from $18,000 up. Is that right?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Yes.

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. Let me pose to you a hypothetical question that if a government agency or a government contractor indicated an interest in shelter for its employees and said to you as mayor, the leading official of the city, that, "We cannot come here because there is not a free and open housing market" what would then be your responsibility as the mayor?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Well, I would certainly want to sit down with the contractor or whoever he was and find out what the facts would be, and then sit down with our city council, so I would say that--

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. Do you think it would make any change with respect to the--and this of course is an estimate-would the council then care enough about having a white-only ghetto to change it?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I would say that as individuals they would, and then when it got out into the newspapers I don't know where they would stand when the heat went on.

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

MAYOR MALTESTER. I say that I am sure that as individuals the city council would be interested. I think that our city councilmen still are interested, but I would say that when the people themselves started to protest-

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. These people, then, are so racist that they would still keep the industry out?

MAYOR MALTESTER. In my opinion if this were the issue, yes,

COMMISSIONER FREEMAN. Thank you.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. Mr. Mayor, there are seven councilmen you say?

MAYOR MALTESTER. Six and the mayor.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. Are you elected as mayor or as a councilman and then the councilmen elect the mayor?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I'm elected as mayor.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. You are elected at large?

MAYOR MALTESTER. At large. Following through, we have the six councilmen who represent six districts. They have to live in the district, but they are also elected at large.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. In your testimony this morning you've indicated that your views with reference to the presence of Negroes in your community is at variance with the views of most of the people that live in the community. When you have run for re-election has this been a handicap to you?

MAYOR MALTESTER. I couldn't say that because in the last election I didn't have any opposition, which was last year.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. Mr. Taylor?

MR. TAYLOR. No questions.

CHAIRMAN HANNAH. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. We appreciate your enlightenment, and we hope that you may be able to prevail upon some of your colleagues. Having watched this development in the areas of civil rights all over the country it is as certain as anything can be that a city like San Leandro is going to move in the direction of an orderly acceptance of desirable Negroes and members of other minority groups or face, as you suspect, unhappiness and this myth that has been built up that when good citizens who happen to be black, or Mexicans or something else, move into communities, nothing really happens. There are fine people of all races and colors and religions, and somehow or other we have to get our citizens to recognize that what is important is the individual.
It is basically an educational process and if you and other enlightened leaders can follow along with the attitude that you have expressed here this morning Maybe you can make progress, although it gets discouraging at times.

MAYOR MALTESTER. I hope so. I would like to thank the Commission and would like to make, one statement, if I may, because I have read where the Commission has been criticized, and I would like to say that I think the most important thing that this Commission is doing is to allow the light of day to be put on some of these problems around the country, and I just hope that your job is accomplished along with the rest of us.

Judge Decides San Leandro Police Should Get Paid for Time Spent Dressing

In a ruling issued Friday, December 7, 2007, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel decided in favor of San Leandro Police in a lawsuit asking for 30 minutes of paid time for getting into and out of their uniforms.

In the lawsuit filed by Greg Lemmon, president of the San Leandro Police Officers Association, San Leandro police estimated that they needed 25 to 35 minutes each day to get in and out of their uniforms and gear.

Patel noted that the decision conflicts with rulings by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer against the Richmond Police and a federal judge against police in San Diego and would probably have to be taken up by an appeals court.

San Francisco Chronicle coverage

City Council Approves Updated List of Groups that can Receive Community Empowerment Funds

On Monday night, December 3, 2007, the San Leandro City Council approved a list of community empowerment fund recipients. Under Mayor Shelia Young, there was also a Mayor's Community Fund, which came from a separate City account that was funded by donations and fundraisers, including an annual golf tournament. Community empowerment funds come from the city's general fund and can be used by members of the City Council to support community projects. Each councilmember will have $2,500 each year at their discretion while the Mayor will have $5,000 each year at his discretion, for a total of $20,000 per year.

Councilmember Diana Souza ensured that the Washington Manor Swim Team was added to the list prior to its approval by the City Council.

The complete list of groups follows:

Alta Mira Club of San Leandro
American Cancer Society "Relay For Life" - San Leandro Annual Event
Arts Council of San Leandro
Boy Scouts of America - San Leandro Education and Training Center
Building Futures With Women And Children San Leandro
Calico Center of San Leandro
Community Resources for Independent Living
Davis Street Family Resource Center
Deaf Counseling Advocacy Referral Agency (DCARA), San Leandro
Floresta Baseball League
Friends of San Leandro Creek
George Mark Childrens House
Girls Inc
Homeowner and Neighborhood Associations within San Leandro which are registered with the City of San Leandro (limited to public benefit projects or programs)
Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, San Leandro
Leadership San Leandro
Monarch Bay Junior Golf
San Leandro Adult Day Care Center
San Leandro Art Association
San Leandro Boys and Girls Club
San Leandro Buccaneers
San Leandro Chamber of Commerce
San Leandro Crusaders
San Leandro Historical Society
San Leandro Kiwanis Club
San Leandro Lions Club
San Leandro Little League
San Leandro Players
San Leandro Police Explorer Program
San Leandro Police Officers Association
San Leandro Public Library Foundation
San Leandro Rotary Club
San Leandro Scholarship Foundation
San Leandro Swim Team
San Leandro Unified School District Schools and the Student Teacher and Parent Clubs affiliated with those schools
San Lorenzo Unified School District Schools and the Student Teacher and Parent Clubs affiliated with those schools
Senior Services Foundation - San Leandro Friendly Visiting Program
Spinnaker Yacht Club Junior Sailing Program
Stepping Stones Growth Center, San Leandro
Washington Manor Junior Baseball League
Washington Manor Swim Team

City Unveils Public Safety Monument

On Saturday, November 3, 2007, the City of San Leandro unveiled a Public Safety Monument in honor of public safety officers' sacrifice and service. The $83,500 monument by Monument Arts, Inc. was approved at the February 20, 2007, City Council meeting.

Speakers included California State Senator and former San Leandro Mayor Ellen Corbett, California State Assemblymember Mary Hayashi, Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker, Mayor Tony Santos, Alameda County Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert and San Leandro Police Chief Dale Attarian. All of the current City Council except Bill Stephens and many former City Council members attended the ceremony. Former Police Chief Joe Kitchen and former Fire Chief Bill McCammon were also on-hand.

The names of three police officers and one firefighter who died or were killed on-duty were engraved on the monument and all speakers expressed hope that no more names would be added to the monument.

The monument includes the engraved words:

To Serve

We serve the public for the good of the community, to uplift the fallen, to protect the defenseless, to comfort those in need, and to ensure the safety of all. We are the police and firefighters of San Leandro.

The tools of our trade are much more than the metal, plastic, and rubber from which they are made. These tools become an extension of the hearts and hands of the professionals who use them.

Touch them and you touch us.

The program for the event included the following information about the men memorialized on the monument:

Officer Frederick R. Haller
Dates of Service: July 25, 1955 to April 20, 1961
Officer Haller was on routine patrol when he was shot and killed in his patrol car by an unknown assailant.

Firefighter Lyle K. Gruggel
Dates of Service: January 1, 1958 to April 8, 1966
Firefighter Gruggel became ill while performing his firefighting duties. He was rushed to the hospital where he died three hours later of a heart attack.

Officer Donald F. Spingola
Dates of Service: August 1, 1969 to October 1, 1969
Reserve Officer Spingola was accidentally killed after being struck by a ricochet bullet that had been fired by another officer at an escaping burglary suspect.

Officer Nels Daniel Niemi
Dates of Service: February 4, 2002 to July 25, 2005
Officer Niemi was shot and killed while investigating a disturbance complaint.

A drawing of the proposed monument.

A photo of a portion of the actual monument.

The monument is located on the east wall of the San Leandro Police Department building just north of the entrance.

The Mayor's Trip to China

On October 16, 2007, San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos headed a delegation of local business leaders on a 10-day trip to Yangchun, China. In June 2007, the City of San Leandro established a "friendship city" relationship with the Chinese city of more than one million people.

The delegation includes District 5 Councilmember Bill Stephens and Assistant City Manager Steve Hollister. Members of the business community included Ken Pon, Charles Gilcrest, Benny Lee, president of the Asian Community Cultural Association, Arlene Lum, president of the city's Asian Business Council, and San Leandro Chamber of Commerce CEO Diana Gentry and President Robert Brannan.

The itinerary included dinners hosted by Yangchun government officials, Yangjiang government, Zhongshan government, Zhuhai government, and a dinner at a Portuguese restaurant in Macau. Other activities included tours of Macau, Zhuhai, and Hong Kong and visits to Yangchun's development area and tourist attractions, the China Import & Export Fair in Guangzhou, and the Macau Investment & Trade Fair. Councilmember Stephens and Assistant City Manager Hollister opted out of visiting Macau and Hong Kong.

According to San Leandro City Clerk Marian Handa, no City funds are being used to pay for the trip. Former San Leandro Mayor Shelia Young visited Israel in May 2004 and according to her financial disclosure form, $3,500 for the trip was a gift from the American Jewish Congress.

How Much do Elected City Officials in Alameda County Get Paid?

The San Leandro City Council approved monthly salaries of $1,260 for Councilmembers and $2,520 for the Mayor at its December 18, 2006, meeting. For San Leandro, as with most cities in Alameda County, being a Councilmember or a Mayor is considered a part-time position, with the city manager and city staff tasked with running things day-to-day. That difference is reflected in the monthly salary of $15,741 for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and $5,742 for Councilmembers in Oakland, which are substantially higher than for cities with a city manager.

San Leandro Bytes requested similar information from 11 Alameda County cities and received responses from nine cities. Monthly Councilmember salaries ranged from $100 in Alameda to $2,116.40 in Hayward. Mayors were paid $200 each month in Alameda and $3,386.93 in Hayward.

The monthly stipends for the Mayor and Coucilmembers in Alameda were established in the City Charter, which was last modified in the 1930s. The Alameda City Council has recently established a subcommittee to review the City Charter.

Councilmembers and Mayors also receive other forms of compensation, such as health insurance. All cities that responded provide health insurance for their elected officials. In San Leandro, health insurance provided by the City ranges from $421 to $1,077 per month. Livermore provides the most generous health insurance, with the City covering up to $1,428 per month.

As one might expect of the largest city in Alameda County, Oakland provides the Mayor with a generous monthly car allowance of $750 and Councilmembers with $550. Union City provides the Mayor with a $400 monthly car allowance and the San Leandro Mayor gets a $250 car allowance. Councilmembers in Union City get a $100 monthly car allowance while San Leandro Councilmembers get $125 each month. Alameda, Dublin, Fremont, Livermore, and Pleasanton do not provide car allowances for Mayors or Councilmembers.

In Alameda, Livermore, Oakland, and San Leandro, elected officials receive cell phones paid for by the city. Only the Mayor in Dublin gets a phone while Fremont and Union City don't provide any phones to elected officials.

San Leandro provides the most generous funds for travel and training with $6,964 for the Mayor and $5,232 for each Councilmember. Hayward provides $6,047 for the Mayor and $3,289 for each Councilmember. Livermore provides a total of $500 for training and $20,700 for travel for the City Council and Mayor.

In addition to compensation received from the city, Councilmembers and Mayors also receive compensation for intergovernmental agency meetings. For example, Mayor Tony Santos receives $234 for each meeting of the East Bay Dischargers Authority. Councilmember Joyce Starosciak receives $125 for each meeting of the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency and Councilmember receives $50 for each meeting of the Alameda County Housing Authority.

The cities of Berkeley and Newark did not respond for this article. Information was not requested from Albany, Emeryville, or Piedmont. Some cities may provide life insurance and retirement benefits, but San Leandro Bytes did not request information about them.

For comparison, an article in the July 31, 2007, San Mateo Daily Journal, reports that Brisbane, East Palo Alto and San Carlos pay Councilmembers $300 each month while San Mateo and Redwood City pay $750 per month. Rancho Mirage, with a population of 16,700, pays Councilmembers $2,500 per month. Palm Desert Councilmembers are paid $3,500 per month.

See below for a table summarizing City Council/Mayor compensation in Alameda County.

LINKS 2007 Rider Survey

In response to Councilmember Diana Souza's questions at the June 18, 2007, City Council meeting, San Leandro LINKS Executive Director Gordon Galvan and Valerie Brock presented the results of the 2007 ridership survey at the September 17, 2007, City Council meeting. Galvan noted that December 2007 would mark the sixth year of the LINKS shuttle, which provides free transportation to and from BART and west San Leandro businesses during the morning and afternoon commutes. Galvan noted that LINKS provides service for less money per passenger than any other Bay Area transit agency (based on 2005-2006 fiscal year data).

In fiscal year 2005-2006, the total program cost for LINKS was $374,884 and 173,509 passengers used the service. That comes to a cost of $2.16 per passenger, and according to a table that compares these numbers to agencies like BART and AC Transit, LINKS is the most cost-effective.

According to the survey, two-thirds (67%) of LINKS passengers work for businesses in the business improvement district. The LINKS shuttle is funded by taxes paid by businesses in the business improvement district and by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Galvan previously served on the San Leandro City Council from 1994 to 2001.

The table and executive summary of the survey are included below.

• The population surveyed is different from last year. In 2007, both morning and afternoon riders were surveyed. In 2006, only morning riders were surveyed.
• Two-thirds of shuttle riders work for employers in the BID and another 11 % work locally, presumably for small employers in West San Leandro.
• 78% of riders use the shuttle to commute to work.
• 52% of shuttle riders live in San Leandro or Oakland.
• 84% ride the shuttle every day.
• Six out of ten ride the shuttle in the morning and the afternoon.
• Most ride BART or AC Transit before using LINKS; 12% walk from home.
• If LINKS were unavailable, most would switch to AC Transit, but 11 % would start driving alone.
• 84% say that losing LINKS would present a financial hardship for them.
• For the fifth consecutive year, riders are well-satisfied with the service; 87% rated the LINKS shuttle good or excellent.
• Driver courtesy is the strongest element of the service; the schedule is the weakest element.
• The fact that the shuttle is free is most important to riders, followed by the schedule and frequency.
• The best way to improve the LINKS service is to run the shuttle more frequently.
• BART riders live throughout the Bay Area, but are concentrated in the East Bay.
• One-third of BAR T riders live within 3 miles of their station of origin. They are most likely to take the bus to get to the BART station.
• Most BART riders have been using the shuttle for an average of one and a half years.

City Council Finalizes TOD, Nominates New Commissioners, Passes on Iraq Resolution

The September 17, 2007, meeting of the San Leandro City Council began by honoring Pat Loomes on her retirement after 30 years as Executive Director of Girls, Inc. and Bancroft P.E. teacher Jim Sorensen for his remarkable track and field accomplishments. Loomes noted that Girls, Inc. would not exist without assistance from the City of San Leandro, such as when former San Leandro Mayor Jack Maltester rented a house to Girls, Inc. in 1958 for $1 a month, including utilities.

Gordon Galvan and Valerie Brock presented information from a survey conducted of LINKS users.

During public comments, Craig Williams, Rev Kathy Huff, Brenda Salgado and others encouraged the City Council to pass a resolution seeking a diplomatic solution to the war in Iraq. Similar resolutions have been passed by City Councils in Alameda, Emeryville, and, of course, Berkeley.

San Leandro High School track coach Dave Ellington was one of two coaches that encouraged the City Council to work together with the school district to make invest in Burrell Field and make it a state-of-the-art facility.

The City Council unanimously approved ordinances implementing the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and approved a resolution supporting efforts by Senator Dianne Feinstein and Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi to obtain permanent resident status for Jacqueline Coats, whose husband died helping to save two boys from drowning. The Daily Review article is here.

Debra Vandiver was nominated to replace Kimberly Wilson as the District 3 representative to the Recreation and Parks Commission. Wilson had been appointed less than six months ago. Wilson also served on the San Leandro School Board until November 2004 when she was removed from office. Vandiver was appointed to the Human Services Commission six months ago.

Kati Knox was nominated to replace Vandiver as the District 3 representative on the Human Services Commission. Knox is the owner of KMJ Associates, which operates the Rose Gate and Mori Manor assisted living facilities. Knox is a former member of The Sentinels and contributed $250 to Marcene Nardine's mayoral campaign in 2006. Rose Gate and Mori Manor contributed $250 to Mayor Tony Santos' campaign in April 2007.

During Councilmember comments, Vice Mayor Surlene Grant, Councilmember Joyce Starosciak, and Councilmember Bill Stephens noted that Burrell Field was the responsibility of the School District. Councilmember Jim Prola tried and failed to get consensus to refer an Iraq resolution to committee.

City Council Approves Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy

At the September 4, 2007, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy was unanimously approved. Despite a recommendation by the Planning Commission to omit the former Albertsons property at 1550 E. 14th St., the property was included as one of the "opportunity sites."

Click here for Daily Review coverage.

City Council Set to Approve Changes to Implement TOD

Back from its August break, the San Leandro City Council will vote on whether to implement zoning and code changes to enact the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy at its next meeting on September 4, 2007.

The City Council will vote on the certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report, adopting the downtown TOD Strategy, zoning changes, and special review criteria for specific properties within the TOD Strategy area.

The City Council meets at 7pm in the City Council Chambers at 835 E. 14th Street.

Click here for coverage in the Daily Review.

Public Hearing on Downtown Transit-Oriented Development August 23, 2007

On Thursday, August 23, 2007, the San Leandro Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on whether to "make a recommendation to the City Council on certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), adoption of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and related changes to the San Leandro Zoning Code and Zoning Maps that will introduce new land use regulations and design guidelines that will affect new development in the Downtown Area and will introduce Special Review Overlay Criteria for the development of certain properties within the ½ mile radius of the intersectIon of East 14th and Davis Streets."

The full text of the public notice is available below:

NAME OF PROJECT: Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy (SCH#2006052102)

LOCATION OF PROJECT: The Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy Area is the ½ mile radius around the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets, representing 502 acres. The Study Area is located in the northern portion of the city and encompasses the downtown core, the downtown BART station area, and the Creekside and Best Manor neighborhoods. The TOD Strategy Area is roughly bounded by East 14th and Georgia Way to the north, Castro Street to the south, Bancroft Avenue to the east, and Orchard Avenue and Davis Street to the west.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: The City of San Leandro was awarded a $450,000 pilot planning grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and a $51,750 grant from Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA) to study the potential for transit-oriented development (TOD) in the greater downtown area. The study area, hereby referred to as TOD Strategy Area is the ½ mile radius around the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets, representing 502 acres. This grant recognizes the TOD opportunities offered by both enhanced AC Transit bus service and the existing BART station in the downtown area. The proposed Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development Strategy (TOD Strategy) establishes a land use framework, a comprehensive circulation system, design and development guidelines, and a series of implementation actions that will guide new development in TOD Strategy Area San Leandro for the next 25 years. The Strategy establishes the policies that developers and the City's Planning and Community Development staff will follow for new projects in the TOD Strategy area, informing them of required or allowable uses, building heights and various elements of building design. Therefore, the TOD Strategy does not represent an actual project involving physical development or improvements. Rather, it proposes regulatory changes to encourage future development within the Strategy Area.

The TOD Strategy Area is substantially developed; however, the Strategy identifies 39 opportunity sites, representing approximately 88 acres, where development could occur over the next 25 or so years (to 2030). An adjustment of an additional 15 percent was used to establish potential maximum development in the Strategy Area of 3,411 residential units, 718,240 square feet of office development and 120,870 square feet of retail development by 2030. Fifteen percent of this development activity is expected to occur by 2015 and 90 percent of development is expected to occur by 2030. The City's existing General Plan, with a horizon year of 2015, anticipated 590 residential units, 781,200 square feet of office development, and 195,300 square feet of retail development. The TOD Strategy "Project" is therefore the amount of potential development for the TOD Strategy Area above and beyond what was envisioned in the General Plan and examined in the General Plan EIR; namely construction of 2,841 residential units.

REPORT AVAILABILITY: This is to certify that a Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the project listed above has been prepared by the City of San Leandro, Community Development Department. The report may be found on the City of San Leandro website at: http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/CDTODOview.asp and at the San Leandro Main Library. The Final EIR, Draft EIR, the Public Draft TOD Strategy and other material related to the Downtown TOD Strategy is available for public review on the City website, at the City's Community Development Department at 835 E. 14th Street or at the Main Library. Copies of the FEIR and DEIR may be obtained at the Community Development Department for the cost of reproduction.

PUBLIC REVIEW: The 45-day public review period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) started on June 5 and concluded on July 19, 2007.

PUBLIC HEARING: A public hearing will be held at the Planning Commission's August 23, 2007 meeting. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council on certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), adoption of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and related changes to the San Leandro Zoning Code and Zoning Maps that will introduce new land use regulations and design guidelines that will affect new development in the Downtown Area and will introduce Special Review Overlay Criteria for the development of certain properties within the ½ mile radius of the intersectIon of East 14th and Davis Streets.

A public hearing will be held at the September 4, 2007 City Council meeting. The City Council will consider certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), adoption of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and related changes to the San Leandro Zoning Code and Zoning Maps that will introduce new land use regulations and design guidelines that will affect new development in the Downtown Area and will introduce Special Review Overlay Criteria for the development of certain properties within the ½ mile radius of the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets.

The hearings will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers located at 835 E. 14th Street, San Leandro. Anyone challenging the item noted above may be limited to addressing only those issues raised in the notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City prior to the close of the comment period.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information on the Final EIR, Draft EIR or on the public hearing process, please contact the following planning staff at the City of San Leandro Community Development Department: Kathleen Livermore at (510) 577-3350 or by e-mail at klivermore@ci.san-leandro.ca.us.

Date: August 17,2007

Meetings to Finalize the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy

Notices were sent out recently for public hearings on the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy before the Planning Commission on August 23, 2007, and before the San Leandro City Council on September 4, 2007. The Planning Commission will decide whether to recommend certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report, adoption of the Downtown TOD Strategy and zoning and land use regulation changes to implement the TOD. The City Council will then vote on whether to accept the Planning Commission's recommendations.

The Planning Commission meeting will be held at 7:00pm on August 24, 2007, in the City Council Chambers at 835 E. 14th Street. The City Council meeting will be held at 7:00pm on September 4, 2007, in the City Council Chambers at 835 E. 14th Street.

The complete text of the notice of public hearings is included below:

MATTER OF CERTIFICATION OF THE PROPOSED FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT (FEIR) AND ADOPTION OF THE DOWNTOWN TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) STRATEGY. MATTER OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTIES WITHIN THE DOWNTOWN TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT STUDY AREA GENERALLY WITHIN A 1/2 MILE RADIUS OF THE INTERSECTION OF EAST 14TH AND DAVIS STREETS FROM RS, RD, RM-1800, RM-2500, RM-3000,CN, CC, CD, NA-1, NA-2, P, PHD, IL, IP AND PS TO PROPOSED NEW DOWNTOWN AREA (DA) DISTRICTS: DA-1, DA-2, DA-3, DA-4, DA-5 AND DA-6. ALSO TO REZONE CERTAIN PROPERTIES WITHIN THE ½ MILE RADIUS TO S-OVERLAY, INCLUDING DA-1 (S), DA-4 (S), DA-5 (S), DA-6 (S), PS (S) AND OS (S); MATTER OF PROPOSED ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CITY OF SAN LEANDRO ZONING CODE: ARTICLE 6: COMMERCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL DISTRICTS; ARTICLE 16: DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS; ARTICLE 17: OFF-STREET PARKING AND LOADING REGULATIONS; ARTICLE 25: SITE PLAN APPROVAL.

The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council on certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), adoption of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and related changes to the San Leandro Zoning Code and Zoning Maps that will introduce new land use regulations and design guidelines that will affect new development in the Downtown Area and will introduce Special Review Overlay Criteria for the development of certain properties within the ½ mile radius of the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets.

The City Council will consider certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), adoption of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy and related changes to the San Leandro Zoning Code and Zoning Maps that will introduce new land use regulations and design guidelines that will affect new development in the Downtown Area and will introduce Special Review Overlay Criteria for the development of certain properties within the ½ mile radius of the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets.

Specifically, the changes to the Zoning Code affect the Zoning Maps to create new "Downtown Area" zoning districts and other map changes that will adjust the zoning district boundary affecting the Residential Single-Family (RS), Residential Duplex (RD), Residential Multi-Family (RM), Commercial Neighborhood (CN), Commercial Community (CC), Commercial Downtown (CD), North Area-1 (NA-1), North Area-2 (NA-2), Professional Office (P), Professional High Density Office (PHD), Industrial Limited (IL) and Industrial General (IG) zoning districts within the Downtown TOD Development Strategy study area. Other map changes include establishment of a Special Review Overlay District on certain properties within the study area.

Environmental Status: A Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) was circulated for a 45-day public review period from June 5 to July 19, 2007 under the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act. A Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR), which responds to comments received on the EIR, was prepared. Copies of the DEIR and FEIR are available at Community Development Department in City Hall for public review.

Any interested party or agent may appear and be heard. Anyone instituting a legal challenge to the Public Hearing items noted above may be limited to addressing only those issues raised at the Public Hearings described in this Notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City of San Leandro, Community Development Department, 835 East 14th Street, San Leandro, CA 94577, at or prior to the Public Hearing.

For further information, contact Kathleen Livermore, Interim Planning Manager at (510) 577-3350, between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

KATHLEEN LIVERMORE
Interim Planning Manager

Financial Disclosures from City Council and Staff for 2006

Members of the City Council are required to file a Statement of Economic Interest (Form 700) upon election or appointment, annually, and upon leaving office. Certain city staff, including the City Manager, City Attorney, Police Chief and police captains are also required to file these documents. These are public documents on file at the City Clerk's office at City Hall and are available to anyone who requests them for $0.10 per page.

The following disclosures are for the San Leandro City Council for 2006 or assuming office:

• Surlene Grant
• Michael Gregory
• Jim Prola
• Tony Santos
• Diana Souza
• Joyce Starosciak
• Bill Stephens - Filed, but not available at this time

The following financial disclosures are for members of the City staff:

• City Manager John Jermanis
• City Attorney Jayne Williams
• Finance Director Jesse Baloca
• Police Chief Dale Attarian

Annual Economic Interests Disclosures for Planning Commission and BZA

Members of the Planning Commission are required by the state to complete a Statement of Economic Interests (Fair Political Practices Commission Form 700), to disclose financial interests that could lead to a conflict-of-interest. In San Leandro, the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) is also required to complete Form 700. Members are required to complete the disclosures annually and within 30 days of assuming office.

These disclosures are public documents and any member of the public can inspect and obtain copies ($0.10 each) of these disclosures. However, obtaining these documents usually involves making a trip to City Hall.

Below are the disclosures for 2006 for current members of the San Leandro Planning Commission and San Leandro Board of Zoning Adjustments:

Board of Zoning Adjustments

• Philip Daly
• Charles Gilcrest
• Amanda Goldt
• Melody Marr
• Neal Pearson
• Daryl J. Shields
• Frank Sidari

Former BZA Members

• Alice Chin
• Cynthia Eliason
• Gil Raposo

Planning Commission

• Denise Abero
• Esther Collier
• Thomas C. Dlugosh
• Heidi Finberg - Assuming Office statement not yet filed.
• Marcene Nardine - Assuming Office statement not yet filed.
• Rene Ponder
• Dale Reed

Former Planning Commissioners

• Susan Kleebauer
• William Perras
• James R. Wohltmann

For last year's disclosures, click here.

Update: The City Clerk received Marcene Nardine's Assuming Office Statement on August 17, 2007.

City Council Approves Living Wage

At a special meeting on Monday, July 30, 2007, the San Leandro City Council unanimously approved a living wage ordinance. Councilmember Diana Souza removed the living wage ordinance from the consent calendar and expressed disappointment that the final language of the ordinance had not gone through the Finance Committee. She also expressed concern about section 11b of the ordinance because some companies may not be familiar with or use seniority within their organization.

Three speakers spoke in favor of the living wage ordinance, including Sharon Cornu, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda County Central Labor Council. Robert Brannan, President of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce and Martin Babinec, President and CEO of TriNet, spoke against the living wage ordinance.

In the end, the living wage ordinance passed unanimously. A truancy ordinance also passed unanimously as part of the consent calendar.

The City Council approved a total of $4 million in loans to Estabrook Senior Housing to buy the property at the intersection of E. 14 Street and Estabrook Street. The property is slated for development as a 51-unit affordable senior housing project.

Participation in the East Bay Regional Communications System (EBRCS) was approved. The EBRCS would establish a regional interoperable radio communications system throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Finally, the Marina Committee is now the Shoreline-Marina Committee.

No City Council meetings are scheduled for August.

Joint BZA/Planning Meeting August 9 on Changes to Implement the TOD

In a letter sent July 27, 2007, Interim Planning Manager Kathleen Livermore announced a joint meeting of the Board of Zoning Adjustments and Planning Commission on August 9, 2007. The subject of the meeting will be proposed changes to the Zoning Code and General Plan to implement the Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy.

The meeting is scheduled for 7pm and will take place in the Sister Cities Gallery at City Hall at 835 E. 14th Street in San Leandro. The Sister Cities Gallery is to your left as you enter City Hall from E. 14th Street.

The complete text of the letter from the city is below:

Dear Interested Parties:

On August 9, 2007, the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments will hold a Joint Work Session to discuss proposed Zoning Code and General Plan Amendments to implement the Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development Strategy.

BACKGROUND

In 2005, the City of San Leandro received a $450,000 pilot planning grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to assist local governments in developing land use plans and policies for areas immediately surrounding bus, ferry, and train stations. The City of San Leandro also received a supplemental planning grant of $51,750 from the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTIA) for the City's matching requirement. The product of both grants is a Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy ("Strategy") to foster transit-oriented development and to revitalize downtown San Leandro.

Over a fifteen month period, the City Council-appointed Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) met to guide the planning process and to assist in the development of the Downtown San Leandro TOD Strategy.

Comprehensive land use policies have been developed along with a detailed land use map that reflect the benefits of enhanced bus service through downtown and improved connectivity to the BART system. Selected opportunity sites have been studied to provide more specific guidance for future development.

The purpose of the work session is to receive input from the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments on proposed Zoning Code and General Plan Amendments that would implement the Downtown TOD Strategy.

The Public Review Draft Strategy is available for review at City Hall or in the San Leandro Main Library. A Draft Environmental Impact Report had a 45-day review period from June 5 to July 19, 2007. The Planning Commission public hearing on the DEIR was held on July 12, 2007. A Final Environmental Impact Report, which responds to comments on the Draft EIR, is now being prepared. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to make a recommendatIon to the City Council on the Final Environmental Impact Report(FEIR), the TOD Strategy and the implementing Zoning Code and General Plan Amendments on August 23, 2007. To hear the discussion regarding the Zoning Code and General Plan Amendments to implement the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy, we encourage you to attend the joint Planning Commission/Board of Zoning Adjustments Work Session at 7:00 p.m., on August 9, 2007, in the Sister Cities Gallery in City Hall, at 835 East 14th Street, San Leandro.

For further information concerning the Strategy, please visit our website at http://www.ci.sanleandro.ca.us/CDTODOview.asp. For specific questions, please contact Kathleen Livermore, Interim Planning Manager at (510) 577-3350 between the hours or 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM or via email at klivermore@ci.san-leandro.ca.us. For general questions, please contact Nina Hinton, Administrative Assistant at (510) 577- 3415 or email at nhinton@ci.san-leandro.ca.us.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Livermore, Interim Planning Manager
Community Development Department

City Council to Vote on Truancy and Living Wage Ordinances in Special Meeting Monday

At a special meeting on Monday, July 30, 2007, the City Council will vote on adopting ordinances for truancy and a living wage.

The San Leandro Chamber of Commerce is asking for changes to sections of the Living Wage Ordinance that require worker retention, require time off for part time workers, and exemptions that aren't clear about gratuities being included when calculating compensation.

The City Council will also vote on issuing a total of $4 million in loans for an affordable senior housing project at the intersection of E. 14th Street and Estabrook Street.

Immediately following the City Council meeting, there will be a work session discussing the San Leandro Marina.

The meeting will be held at the City Council Chambers at 835 E. 14th Street beginning at 7:00pm.

Living Wage Passes Unanimously

The City Council unanimously passed a living wage ordinance at its Monday, July 16, 2007, meeting. A minor change was made in section 9 of the ordinance from "Every City contract, lease, license..." to Every City contract, lease, license agreement..."

Living wage ordinances are already in effect in Hayward, Oakland, and Richmond. In September 2005, Superior Court Judge Steven Brick upheld Hayward's 1999 living wage law against Cintas Corp.

Click here for the City's press release or here for Daily Review coverage.

Two Wal-Marts, In-N-Out Burger, Living Wage Ordinance, Senior Center and More

At the monthly San Leandro Chamber of Commerce luncheon, City Manager John Jermanis stated that San Leandro will be getting a second Wal-Mart store. The owners of the property at 15555 Hesperian Blvd, which was recently vacated by Target, have leased the site to Wal-Mart and building permits are expected soon. Since the property is currently zoned for "big-box retail," Wal-Mart doesn't need any approvals by the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA), the Planning Commission, or the City Council. In-N-Out Burger received a conditional use permit in March 2006 for a drive-up facility at 15559 Hesperian Blvd, at the corner of Lewelling and Hesperian and will be opening in the near future.

Jermanis also addressed the recent articles about Grocery Outlet and Faith Fellowship Church and said that the City hopes to work with each to find a suitable location for them.

The City Council has decided it wants a conference center, another hotel, and more restaurants at the Marina. Restaurants have expressed interest previously, but only if there is an existing restaurant shell - the restaurants didn't want to pay for the construction of a new building. Now the City will be reconsidering its refusal to construct a building shell.

A living wage ordinance will come before the City Council at its July 16, 2007, meeting. Mayor Santos has been a longtime advocate of a living wage ordinance and the issue has received greater attention since he began his term as Mayor.

The City now owns the property on which a Senior Center will be built. Construction is expected to begin this year on a parking lot that will be used jointly with San Leandro Hospital and on construction of a traffic light at the intersection of E. 14th Street and 138th Avenue.

Jermanis noted that the City Council recently extended his contract for another year. Jermanis has been City Manager for 10 years and has been on the City staff for 36 years.

City Council Unanimously Denies Grocery Outlet Appeal

At a public hearing on July 9, 2007, the City Council unanimously denied an appeal by Grocery Outlet and Norcal AI, LLC, of the city's classification of Grocery Outlet as a supermarket and not a neighborhood grocery store. More than 50 people attended the meeting and more than 20 people spoke during public comments with about half supporting Grocery Outlet and half opposing it.

The first speaker noted that Grocery Outlet describes itself as a supermarket on its own web site: "Grocery Outlet is the shopping experience you expect from supermarkets..." and "We compete with conventional and discount supermarkets, supercenters, club stores, Dollar and 99 Cent Only! stores, closeout retailers..." Other commenters opposed to the store noted that the store didn't fit in to the City's Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy. Those in support of the store appreciated the bargains offered by the "extreme-value retailer."

City Councilmembers reported receiving overwhelming email opposed to Grocery Outlet.

Eric Nelson, entitlement director of Red Mountain Retail Group, made his case for Grocery Outlet as a tenant, claiming that most of the shoppers that would go to the store would come from within two miles.

Eric Nelson of Red Mountain Retail Group

Click here for Daily Review coverage.

Grocery Outlet and Red Mountain Hold Neighborhood Picnic for Community Support July 7, 2007

In a message sent to a local mailing list on Juy 5, 2007, and post card invitations sent to local residents, Red Mountain entitlement director Eric Nelson announced a neighborhood picnic at the former Albertson's site at 1550 E. 14th Street (at the intersection with Juana Avenue).

The announcement stated that a "BBQ Will benefit the San Leandro Boy Scouts of America and San Leandro Boys & Girls Club" and will feature prizes, giveaways, and an "appearance by drag racer Chuck Moore and his blown alcohol-fueled Corvette."

Although the email message didn't mention Grocery Outlet or Red Mountain Retail Group, the post card's return address was Red Mountain and the event was listed as being sponsored by Grocery Outlet.

The event is scheduled just two days before a public hearing of Grocery Outlet's appeal before the San Leandro City Council scheduled for 8pm on July 9, 2007. In addition to the free prizes and giveaways, attendees can expect to have plenty of propaganda supporting Grocery Outlet's attempt to open a store at the former Albertson's site.

The event is scheduled for 10am to 3pm.

The Daily Review's blog has more on the postcards sent to some local residents.

Grocery Outlet Appeals Again

The City Council is scheduled to hear Grocery Outlet's appeal of the previous decisions of the Zoning Enforcement Official and Board of Zoning Adjustments to classify it as a supermarket and not a neighborhood grocery store.

Grocery Outlet has a pending application to open a store at the former Albertsons location at 1550 E. 14th Street. The current classification as a supermarket means that it needs a Conditional Use Permit. Since the site was identified as an opportunity site as part of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy, a Conditional Use Permit cannot be issued until a current moratorium expires on November 6, 2007, or when the Downtown TOD Strategy is finalized.

The official notice from the City of San Leandro follows.

Project Address: 1550 E. 14th Street
(Corner of Juana and Dolores Avenues,
Council District 1 - see area map on back)

Meeting Date/Time: Monday. July 9, 2007
8:00 P.M.

Meeting Place: City Council Chambers of City Hall
835 E, 14th Street, San Leandro, CA

Project Description: The applicants (Grocery Outlet, Inc. and Norcal AI, LLC) are requesting an Appeal of the Board of Zoning Adjustments upholding the administrative decision of the Zoning Enforcement Official with regard to the determination that the proposed Grocery Outlet is a supermarket, not a neighborhood grocery store. The applicants are proposing that their application for a Grocery Outlet at 1550 E. 14th Street is a neighborhood grocery store and a permitted use in the CD Commercial Downtown District. The Planning Manager and then the Zoning Enforcement Official have both determined that the proposed Grocery Outlet would be considered a supermarket, which requires a Conditional Use Permit in the Commercial Downtown (CD) District. A Conditional Use Permit, identified as an Opportunity Site in the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy, would be subject to the existing moratorium related to discretionary action on any opportunity site. The moratorium extends until November 6, 2007, or finalization of the Downtown TOD Strategy, whichever comes first. The Board of Zoning Adjustments upheld the Zoning Enforcement Official's determination at their June 7, 2007 meeting. Assessor's Parcel Number 77-540-9; Grocery Outlet, Inc. and Norcal AI, LLC (applicants and property owner); CD Commercial Downtown District.

For further information, contact Kathleen Livermore, Planner III, City of San Leandro, Community Development Department at 577-3350

Environmental Review: This project (PLN2007-00029) is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines, Article 19, Section 15301 Existing Facilities.

City Contact/Information: Kathleen Livermore, Interim Planning Manager (510) 577-3350
klivermore@ci.san-leandro.ca.us

Any interested party or agent may appear and be heard. Anyone instituting a legal challenge to the Public Hearing item noted above may be limited to addressing only those issues raised at the Public Hearing described in this Notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City of San Leandro, Community Development Department, 835 East 14th Street, San Leandro, CA, 94577 at or prior to the Public Hearing.

Si quiere una traducción de este mensaje al español, por favor contáctese con Sally Barros al 510-577-3458.

Senior Housing Project Gets BZA Approval

The Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) granted a parking exception and site plan review for a senior affordable housing project at its June 21, 2007, meeting. By a vote of four to zero, with Melody Marr abstaining, the BZA gave the go-ahead to the 51-unit project at 2121 East 14th Street, at the intersection with Estabrook Street.

According to analysis of previous BZA decisions, during the past three years, the BZA has approved all eight parking exceptions that have been presented to it. The only vote cast against a parking exception was by BZA member Amanda Goldt in May 2006 for the Cleaire Advance Emission Controls facility at 1950 Burroughs/14333 Wicks Blvd.

Council Adopts Balanced Budget

The City Council unanimously adopted its 2007-2008 budget at its June 18, 2007, meeting. The budget included a surplus of nearly $1 million, which will be used to replenish a 20% reserve that has been used in previous years to dampen budget cuts. The budget represents the first structurally balanced budget in four years.

Changes include the addition of 27 full-time equivalents (FTEs) to the city's current 481. This includes an increase of three sworn and three non-sworn police personnel, additional personnel for the After School Education & Safety Program (ASES) and Washington Aquatic Center, one person for the library, an additional housing specialist, 1.5 FTEs in Public Works and two more general government employees.

As previously reported, the budget includes the revived Cherry Festival, holiday lighting, and Sunday hours at the library.

Revenues to the general fund were estimated at $78.4 million, a 2.1 % increase over last year's budget. Sales taxes generate the greatest revenues (32%) , followed by property taxes (21%), and utility users taxes (14%).

Expenditures were estimated at $77.5 million, a 4.5% increase over last year's budget. The greatest expenditures are for police (33%) and fire (22%). Community development and general government account for 9% each and the library, public works, and recreation and human services account for 7% each.

Traffic improvements planned for this year include the replacement of traffic lights and the pedestrian island at the intersection of Estabrook Street and Washington Avenue. This intersection was listed as the third most dangerous intersection in a 2005 study entitled "Analysis of High Collision Locations in San Leandro."

The intersection of San Leandro Boulevard, Broadmoor Boulevard, and Park Street will have a semi-round-about installed to help reduce driver confusion.

Lighted crosswalks are planned at both libraries.

Councilmember Diana Souza objected to approving the budget for the Redevelopment Agency because she had not been provided with an accounting of where the agency spends its money. She also opposed the increase of $100,000 in funding for the LINKS shuttle, stating, "I oppose increasing the LINKS redevelopment funding with the BID [Business Improvement District] in place." Souza was the sole councilmember opposing approval of the Redevelopment Agency budget.

During public comments, Benny Lee, President of the Heron Bay Homeowners Association and a Parks and Recreation Commissioner, Steven Leung, Chair of the Asian Business Council of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce, Hendy Huang, and Arlene Lum, a Library-Historical Commissioner, all encouraged the City Council to support the establishment of a friendship city relationship with Yangchun, in Guangdong Province, China. Lee noted that Asians constitute about 26% of San Leandro's population and Lum pointed out the increasing numbers of Asian businesses, with 614 added between 2001 and 2007. San Leandro currently has sister city relationships with Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, Ponta Delgada in the Azores Islands, and Naga City, Republic of the Philippines.

Transit-Oriented Development Strategy Draft Environmental Impact Report Available

According to a notice from the City of San Leandro, the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development Strategy is available for review at the Main Library and directly from the city's website.

The report is a sizable download at 32 MB and 566 pages (338 pages without the appendices). Comments are due by July 19, 2007, and a Planning Commission hearing on the draft EIR is tentatively scheduled for July 12, 2007.

NAME OF PROJECT: Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy (SCH#2006052102)

LOCATION OF PROJECT: The Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy Area is the ½ mile radius around the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets, representing 502 acres. The Study Area is located in the northern portion of the city and encompasses the downtown core, the downtown BART station area, and the Creekside and Best Manor neighborhoods. The TOD Strategy Area is roughly bounded by East 14th and Georgia Way to the north, Castro Street to the south, Bancroft Avenue to the east, and Orchard Avenue and Davis Street to the west.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: The City of San Leandro was awarded a $450,000 pilot planning grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and a $51,750 grant from Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority (ACTlA) to study the potential for transit-oriented development (TOD) in the greater downtown area. The study area, hereby referred to as TOD Strategy Area is the ½ mile radius around the intersection of East 14th and Davis Streets, representing 502 acres. This grant recognizes the TOD opportunities offered by both enhanced AC Transit bus service and the existing BART station in the downtown area, The proposed Downtown San Leandro Transit-Oriented Development Strategy (TOD Strategy) establishes a land use framework, a comprehensive circulation system, design and development guidelines, and a series of implementation actions that will guide new development in TOD Strategy Area San Leandro [sic] for the next 25 years, The Strategy establishes the policies that developers and the City's Planning and Community Development staff will follow for new projects in the TOD Strategy area, informing them of required or allowable uses, building heights and various elements of building design. Therefore, the TOD Strategy does not represent an actual project involving physical development or improvements. Rather, it proposes regulatory changes to encourage future development within the Strategy Area.

The TOD Strategy Area is substantially developed; however, the Strategy identifies 39 opportunity sites, representing approximately 88 acres, where development could occur over the next 25 or so years (to 2030). An adjustment of an additional 15 percent was used to establish potential maximum development in the Strategy Area of 3,431 residential units, 718,240 square feet of office development and 120,870 square feet of retail development by 2030. Fifteen percent of this development activity is expected to occur by 2015 and 90 percent of development is expected to occur by 2030. The City's existing General Plan, with a horizon year of 2015, anticipated 590 residential units, 781,200 square feet of office development, and 195,300 square feet of retail development. The TOD Strategy "Project" is therefore the amount of potential development for the TOD Strategy Area above and beyond what was envisioned in the General Plan and examined in the General Plan EIR; namely construction of 2,841 residential units.

REPORT AVAILABILITY: This is to certify that a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the project listed above has been prepared by the City of San Leandro, Community Development Department. Please find attached a CD-ROM of the DEIR. The report may also be found on the City of San Leandro website at: http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/CDTODOview.asp and at the San Leandro Main Library. The draft EIR, the Public Draft TOD Strategy and other material related to the Downtown TOO Strategy is available for public review on the city website, at the City's Community Development Department at 835 14th Street or at the Main library. Copies of the DElR may be obtained at the Community Development Department for the cost of reproduction.

PUBLIC REVIEW: The 45-day public review period for the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) is June 5 to July 19, 2007. Comments related to the DEIR should be directed to Kathleen Livermore, Interim Planning Manager, 835 E. 14th Street, San Leandro, CA 94577 (fax (510) 577-6007). All written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. on July 19, 2007. Oral and written testimony may also be given at the Planning Commission meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for July 12 2007 at 7:00 p.m, in the City Council Chambers.

PUBLIC HEARING: A Planning Commission public hearing on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy is tentatively scheduled for July 12, 2007. The hearing will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers located at 835 E. 14th Street, San Leandro, Anyone challenging the item noted above may be limited to addressing only those issues raised in the notice, or in written correspondence delivered to the City prior to the close of the comment period.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information Draft EIR [sic] or on the public hearing process, please contact the following planning staff at the City of San Leandro Community Development Department: Kathleen Livermore at (510) 577-3350 or by e-mail at klivermore@ci.san-leandro.ca.us.

Date: June 5, 2007

BZA Denies Grocery Outlet Appeal

At its June 7, 2007, meeting the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) denied Grocery Outlet's appeal of the city's decision to to classify Grocery Outlet as a supermarket instead of a neighborhood supermarket. The decision was unanimous (6-0) with BZA member Melody Marr absent.

Daily Review coverage.

City Settles Taser Death Lawsuit for $395,000

At the June 4, 2007, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, City Attorney Jayne Williams announced that the City agreed to settle a $10 million federal civil rights lawsuit for the death of Maravilla Perez Jr.

On October 20, 2005, police were called to an apartment at 540 Callan Ave. where Perez was allegedly violating a restraining order at his ex-girlfriend's apartment. Perez fled on foot, was caught, and Officer Tim Degrano applied a chokehold and used his Taser on Perez. After he was released from a restraining device at the jail, Perez struggled with police and Officer Mike Nemeth and Sgt. Bob McManus both used their Tasers and Perez became unconscious.

Perez was taken to Eden Medical Center, where he later died. According to an autopsy, Perez suffered a fractured neck and 21 Taser applications.

In the settlement, the City of San Leandro does not admit any wrongdoing in the case.

San Francisco Chronicle and Daily Review coverage.

Additional coverage about problems with Tasers in Wired.

History Walk Marks Historic San Leandro Sites

At a dedication at Casa Peralta on June 2, 2007, Library-Historical Commissioner Frederick A. Reicker, Mayor Tony Santos, and City Manager John Jermanis dedicated the recently completed History Walk (West Estudillo Pedestrian Improvement Project and San Leandro History Walk). The History Walk includes a designated path and street improvements from the San Leandro BART Station to downtown San Leandro via West Estudillo Avenue. The History Walk also includes signs at 12 historic sites around the downtown area and four other signs that discuss the Ohlone people, Spanish ranchos, agriculture, industry, transportation, and Cherry Festivals.

Mayor Tony Santos completes his remarks at the dedication.

Guests at the dedication included Councilmembers Diana Souza, Joyce Starosciak, Michael Gregory and Jim Prola, former Mayor Shelia Young, former City Councilmember Bill Jardin, State Senator Ellen Corbett, San Leandro Chamber CEO Diana Gentry, City Commissioners Charlie Gilcrest, Dale Reed, Donna Reed, Shirley McManus, AC Transit Directors Elsa Ortiz and Rocky Fernandez, Jo Cazenave from Representative Pete Stark's office, and San Leandro School Board Trustees Linda Perry, Stephen Cassidy and Mike Katz-Lacabe.

Guests were entertained by the St. Felicitas School Children's Choir performing San Leandro is Where the Heart is (San Leandro's Centennial Song) and Consider Yourself from the musical Oliver.

Grocery Outlet Tries Again for Former Downtown Albertson's Site

Grocery Outlet and Norcal AI LLC are appealing the decision by the planning manager and a zoning enforcement official to classify Grocery Outlet as a supermarket and not a neighborhood grocery store.

That determination is important because a supermarket requires a conditional use permit and the City Council imposed a moratorium on conditional use permits at 39 "opportunity" sites in the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy study area. The former Albertson's site (1550 E. 14th Street) was identified as one of those "opportunity" sites. The moratorium expires in July 2007.

At the August 22, 2006, meeting of the Citizen Advisory Committee for the TOD, it was said that "A Grocery Outlet did not seem to have the right aura for a downtown trying to attract higher end retail." When the Grocery Outlet was mentioned at a TOD Community Meeting on September 30, 2006, the crowd responded with a boisterous "No."

Kathleen Livermore, Senior Planner and TOD Project Manager for the City of San Leandro is the contact person for the proposed project. She can be reached at (510) 577-3350 or klivermore@ci.san-leandro.ca.us.

The appeal will be heard at the Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) meeting at 7pm on June 7, 2007. BZA meetings are held at the City Council Chambers at 835 E. 14th Street.

Fate of the Marina

The City Council discussed the future of boating at the Marina at a special work session held Monday, March 26, 2007. At the meeting, Assistant City Manager Steve Hollister summarized the history of the Marina, information about other marinas in Benicia, Martinez, Emeryville, Tiburon, Richmond and Vallejo, harbor revenues and expenses, and the next steps for the Marina. Click here for the presentation.

The harbor was last dredged in 2001 at a cost of $3 million. In 2006, the estimated cost for dredging was $5.7 million. The cost includes dredging a length of two miles between the harbor and deeper water and disposal of the dredge spoils. Total harbor debt from dredging in 1997 and 2001, along with CalBoat loans is currently $6.8 million.

The City can no longer guarantee that boats can safely navigate to and from the harbor and there are no immediate plans to dredge the harbor to change that. The occupancy rate for the 450 berths is 54% (252) and less than 20% (50) of those are San Leandro residents.

The presentation concluded with the recommended next steps:

• Develop a transition plan to phase out harbor operations
• Complete Environmental Assessment
• Continue efforts to obtain Federal dredging funds, including partial funding
• Explore other options for harbor development
• Develop a RFQ and secure a master developer to work with the community to develop a Shoreline Master Plan

Councilmember Michael Gregory noted that federal funding for dredging seemed unlikely based on responses from legislators during a recent trip by the City Council to Washington, DC.

Councilmember Surlene Grant's self-described "radical thought" for the meeting was the concept of having residential houseboats at the Marina. Grant also expressed concerns about the "Master Developer" for the Marina having an exclusive right to negotiate, noting that the City had been burned before.

Councilmember Jim Prola asked whether the City had asked the Port of Oakland for financial support or whether Senator Ellen Corbett and Assemblymember Mary Hayashi had been contacted. Hollister and City Manager John Jermanis responded that the City had not directly asked the Port of Oakland for money and that Hayashi and Corbett had not been contacted. However, Jermanis stated that there was unlikely to be any money available from the state for dredging.

Jermanis noted that the Alameda County Fire Department maintains a rescue boat at the Marina and another boat on a trailer at the Williams Street fire station.

Mayor Tony Santos noted that one element common to the other Marinas was residential housing, which has not been present in discussions of the Marina's future.

Seven people, most of whom supported maintaining harbor operations at the Marina, spoke during the public comment period.

Councilmember Diana Souza suggested that a town hall be held to gather more community input and Santos concurred. Santos said that two town halls would be held: one at the San Leandro Library and the other at Garfield Elementary.

There will be a meeting about the Marina on Wednesday, March 28, 2007, from 6pm to 7:30pm at the Spinnaker Yacht Club. The flyer for the meeting states, "If we want to keep the Marina and have the Channel dredged, it looks like we will have to fight for it." Spinnaker Yacht Club is located at 75 Pescadero Point Drive in San Leandro.

Daily Review coverage

For Sunshine Week, City Council Financial Disclosures

The American Society of Newspaper Editors has declared Sunshine Week for the week of March 11 to 17, 2007. Sunshine Week celebrates open government records made possible by the Freedom of Information Act and the California Public Records Act. Californians Aware is offering free online panel discussions and a Public Records Act training session for law enforcement agencies.

In honor of Sunshine Week, here are the Statements of Economic Interests (California Form 700) that all City Councilmembers are required to file upon being elected, each year thereafter, and upon leaving office. Certain city staff, including the City Manager, City Attorney, Police Chief and police captains are also required to file these documents. These are public documents on file at the City Clerk's office at City Hall and are available to anyone who requests them for $0.10 per page.

City Council:

Surlene Grant
Michael Gregory
Tony Santos
Diana Souza
Joyce Starosciak
Bill Stephens

Recent City Councilmembers:

Orval 'OB' Badger
Glenda Nardine
Shelia Young

City Staff:

City Manager John Jermanis
City Attorney Jayne Williams
Police Chief Dale Attarian

Mayor's State of the City Address

At a February 26, 2007, special meeting of the City Council, Mayor Tony Santos gave his first State of the City address, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation. Santos tied San Leandro's past to its future using information from the books A Garden Grows in Eden by Harry Shaffer and San Leandro, a history, by Reginald Stuart. Santos said that these books are worth a trip to the library and also recommended Not a Genuine Black Man, by Brian Copeland.

Santos then launched into a history of San Leandro that even longtime resident Councilmember Joyce Starosciak said that she learned new things about San Leandro. The Mayor pointed out that the Pelton Center was the first shopping center in San Leandro and the second shopping center in Northern California. In the 1930s and 1940s, the Works Progress Administration built 40 miles of gutters, curbs and sidewalks in San Leandro. Santos pointed out that former Mayor Jack Maltester still lived in the house where he was born.

As he progressed through San Leandro's history, Santos listed well-known businesses such as TriNet, Otis Spunkmeyer, Betts Spring Company, Peterson Tractor, North Face, and OSIsoft, that were located in San Leandro. Santos stated that San Leandro needs big box stores and pointed out that while there were 2100 businesses generating sales tax revenue in the city, the 100 largest businesses generate 71% of the sales tax revenue.

Santos gave kudos to Madison Marquette for revitalizing Bayfair Center with a $91 million investment in renovations and to Macy's, the oldest Bayfair tenant, about to celebrate its 50th anniversary. As part of the City's effort to revitalize downtown, the City is contracting with Main Street Property Services to create and implement a downtown retail strategy.

The Mayor noted that he is reading a book on eco-cities and encouraged people to get out of their cars and take public transportation, carpool, bicycle or walk at least one day a week.

While mentioning the redevelopment project areas throughout the city, Santos thanked the Estudillo Estates Homeowner Association for its support of the MacArthur Boulevard redevelopment and noted that the group was paying to place a neighborhood monument on MacArthur Boulevard.

Calling the Marina “one of our biggest challenges,” Santos noted that the first boat launch was built in 1959 for $1.5 million and now the Marina needs $8 million to repair the existing infrastructure and $5.9 million to dredge the channel and harbor. Santos said that only 256 of the 455 berths are currently being used.

The Mayor said that he and other members of the City Council will include the Marina when they travel to Washington DC to lobby on behalf of the city, but that the main goal would be to obtain the $12 million was needed to build the Senior Center on E.14th Street near San Leandro Hospital.

Santos concluded his address with his top three goals:

1.Increase police officer staffing to 100
2.Work with the San Leandro Unified School District to implement Measure B
3.Work with the City Council to restore recreation opportunities

During Councilmember comments, Councilmembers congratulated the Mayor on his presentation and expressed support for his goals.

Daily Review also covered the speech.

Mayor to Present "State of the City" Address on Monday, February 26, 2007

At a special City Council meeting scheduled for 7pm on Monday, February 26, 2007, Mayor Tony Santos will give the annual "State of the City" address at City Hall in the City Council Chambers.

Mayor Santos will also be the featured speaker at the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce's "State of the City" luncheon on Thursday, March 1, 2007. The luncheon will be held from 11:15am to 1:15pm in the Karp Room of the San Leandro Library, located at 300 Estudillo Avenue.

City Council Approves New Ordinances for Commercial and Over-sized Vehicles

Despite concerns voiced by members of the public and Councilmembers Diana Souza and Joyce Starosciak, the City Council unanimously approved two new ordinances regulating the parking of commercial and over-sized vehicles on the street and private property at its February 20, 2007, meeting.

Souza initially said that she "thinks we need to spend more time looking at these ordinances" and called for approval of the ordinances to be considered at a future meeting to give the public more time to learn about and comment on them. Starosciak expressed concern that the impact of the ordinances may be wider than originally expected. Mayor Tony Santos stressed that the ordinances were the results of years of complaints by residents and were not a recent development. Councilmember Bill Stephens agreed and when Vice Mayor Surlene Grant suggested that the implementation of the ordinances be delayed, Stephens objected. Grant also noted that it was the first she had heard of privacy concerns when a person speaking during the public comment period expressed those concerns.

In the end, the City Council unanimously approved the new ordinances, although newly appointed Councilmember Jim Prola found himself outside with a group of residents concerned about the new ordinances after the meeting ended.

The City Council approved a monument to the police and fire personnel who serve the City of San Leandro that will be placed on the wall of the Police Department facing the street. After sending a Request for Qualifications to 200 artists and firms, the vendor selected was Monument Arts, Inc. of Sandy, Utah. The cost of the monument is $83,500. Monument Arts agreed to sub-contract with Suzanne Jacobs-Pershing, Chair of the San Leandro Arts Council, Bay Signs, Inc. of San Leandro for the installation and electrical work, and Guerrero Mortuary for engraving. Grant asked if the monument would be protected by plexiglass and Community Relations Representative Kathy Ornelas said that it would be protected by an anti-graffiti covering. Here is the proposed monument as presented at the meeting:

At the beginning of the meeting, the City Council approved new nominations to city commissions and boards and new appointees were sworn in by City Clerk Marian Handa.

During public comments, three of the applicants for the District 6 City Council seat, Esther Collier, Adan Alonzo, and Wafaa Aborashed, congratulated Jim Prola on his appointment. Doug Percival from the Bay-O-Vista neighborhood complained about a six-foot-high fence built by his neighbor that ruined the view of the San Francisco Bay from his home on Harbor View Drive. He noted that there was no law regarding fences and blocked views and asked the City Council to impose a moratorium on fences until this issue had been addressed. Lou Filipovich read portions of letters from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters and the California Attorney General regarding San Leandro's status as a Charter City and complained that San Leandro "can do what you want." Aborashed complained about the appointment process for the District 6 City Council seat and was disappointed with the questions that were asked. She also expressed concern that the "commissioners seem to be recycled" and asked that more be done to have the commissioners represent the diversity of the city.

During City Council comments, Gregory pointed out an article that appeared in the February 17, 2007, edition of the Daily Review about Matt Jessee, a former San Leandro High School student that now owns a painting company in Oakland. The article focused on a volunteer painting project that Jessee's company completed for Claremont School in Oakland. Gregory called up Jessee about doing something for our schools locally and Jessee said that the schools should submit an application to his company.

Prola thanked his supporters and his wife Diana and said that he had a lot to learn. He also expressed a desire to listen to the concerns of District 6 residents.

Santos noted that he completed an interview for City Limits with Police Chief Dale Attarian and Fire Chief Sheldon Gilbert that will air soon. The meeting was adjourned in memory of Tim Holcomb and Robert Taylor.

Financial disclosures from City Commissioners

Certain public officials are required to complete a Statement of Economic Interests (Fair Political Practices Commission Form 700), to disclose financial interests that could lead to a conflict-of-interest. Mayors, City Councilmembers, city attorneys, city managers, and planning commissioners are among the people who must file these disclosures on an annual basis.

These disclosures are public documents and any member of the public can inspect and obtain copies of these disclosures. However, obtaining these documents usually involves making a trip to City Hall.

Below are these disclosures for the current members of the San Leandro Planning Commission and San Leandro Board of Zoning Adjustments:

Board of Zoning Adjustments

• Alice Chin
• Cynthia Eliason
• Amanda Goldt
• Melody Marr
• Neal Pearson
• Gil Raposo
• Frank Sidari

Planning Commission

• Esther Collier
• Thomas C. Dlugosh
• Susan Kleebauer
• William Perras
• Rene Ponder
• Dale Reed
• James R. Wohltmann

City Council Appoints Jim Prola to District 6 Council Seat

At a special meeting held on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, the San Leandro City Council voted to appoint Jim Prola to the District 6 City Council seat vacated when Tony Santos was elected Mayor in November 2006.

With Councilmember Bill Stephens absent, Mayor Santos started the meeting by noting that the questions to be asked of the candidates were developed by Vice Mayor Surlene Grant and Santos and the City Council were seeing them for the first time. Each candidates would be given 30 minutes to answer the eight questions. Public comments were limited to 30 minutes total and each speaker was limited to about a minute of speaking on behalf of a candidate.

Six people spoke on behalf of Jim Prola, including Andy Kopp of the San Leandro Community Action Network, Robin Torello of the Alameda County Democratic Party, and Obray Van Buren of the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. Recreation and Parks Commissioner Barbara Sidari, Joe Collier, and former Councilmember Howard Kerr spoke on behalf of Esther Collier. James McGee spoke on behalf of Adan Alonzo. Human Services Commissioner Amada Robles and Paul Elizondo spoke on behalf of Carmen Fewless, who also serves as a Human Resources Commissioner. Dr. Paul Dancy, chairman of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce's African-American Business Council, spoke on behalf of Estelle Clemons. John Manuel and Tom Silva also spoke, but not on behalf of individual candidates.

Most of the candidates moved through the eight questions quickly and well within the 30-minute time limit. Candidates largely agreed that the main issues facing District 6 are related to the airport, traffic, and the Marina. Observers noted that Clemons appeared to perform better than the other candidates during the interviews.

After the interviews, the first vote was taken and the results are shown in the following table:

Based on the results, Collier was eliminated from further consideration for the Council seat.

A second vote had the following results:

Based on the results, Alonzo was eliminated from further consideration for the Council seat.

After arguments were made by Councilmembers in support of those they had voted for, Mayor Santos expressed dissatisfaction with all of the candidates' answers to the top issues facing District 6. At first, he said that nobody mentioned the transfer station, but other Councilmembers and the audience noted that Clemons had brought up the transfer station in her answer. Santos went on to note some issues facing District 6, including what is to be done to Doolittle Drive and the pollution that has resulted in elevated asthma rates. Santos expressed concern about appointing a former city employee, a reference to Ray Davis, who previously served in the City of San Leandro Transportation Department. Noting that Alonzo may not have adequately expressed the magnitude of his accomplishments while answering the interview questions, Santos stated that Alonza knocked on 4,000 doors in his effort to mobilize residents against a plan to construct a bridge in the Sobrante Park/Brookside area.

Councilmember Souza asked Santos to explain why he had concerns about a former employee being appointed, but Santos said that it was a personal matter.

After Santos asked if the Council was ready to vote, the consensus was no and Vice Mayor Grant said that more discussion was needed. Grant noted that "on the average, everyone [the candidates] were good." Grant said that she stood for inclusion and she didn't want to go back to the past. She said that some people with SLCAN had said that they wanted someone of color on the City Council but backed Prola instead. When Grant said that she would give up her vote for Clemons, some in the audience shouted "No!"

Then former Republican candidate for State Senator Lou Filipovich asked if he could raise a point of order and Mayor Santos politely but steadfastly declined.

Starosciak said that she was in a "difficult position" and that "any one [of the candidates] would be good." Souza supported Grant and said that people lobbying for diversity supported Prola instead. Souza also wondered aloud which of the candidates would win in an election. Santos noted that he supported Larry Taft, one of the first black candidates for office in San Leandro.

The results of the third vote by the City Council:

Based on the results, Davis and Clemons were eliminated from further consideration for the Council seat.

After a ten-minute break, a fourth vote was taken:

After the fourth vote, Mayor Santos said that he would switch his vote to Prola and on a motion by Mayor Santos and seconded by Starosciak, the City Council unanimously appointed Jim Prola to the District 6 City Council seat. Prola was sworn in by City Clerk Marian Handa and the meeting was adjourned.

Council Narrows Down Candidates for District 6

At the February 5, 2007, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, the field of candidates was narrowed from twelve down to six candidates: Adan Alonzo, Estelle Clemons, Esther Collier, Ray Davis, Carmen Fewless, and Jim Prola.

One of the candidates, Luster Knight, was disqualified because he had failed to obtain 20 valid nominating signatures,

Nine people spoke in favor of Prola, including Margaret Hanlon-Gradie, the Political Director for the Alameda County Labor Council and Barry Luboviski with the Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County.

Mark Tichy stated that he deserved the appointment since he was second in the last election for the District 6 City Council seat and had been running for City Council for ten years. Tichy said he was "here to claim this seat as is my right."

Dr. Paul Dancy, chairman of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce's African-American Business Council, said that while he didn't have any candidate to present to the council, he intended to interview all five final candidates and make a recommendation to the City Council.

Mayor Tony Santos noted that he had received a petition signed by 25 members of the Asian American community requesting that either Hermy Almonte or Bo Panoringan be appointed to the vacant District 6 seat.

The City Council voted as follows:

Originally, the City Council had decided to narrow the field down to five candidates. However, since there was a tie between Alonzo and Davis, the City Council decided to interview six candidates instead of five.

During public comments, Tom Saunders , Shirley Rocha, Merv Rocha, and a group of residents from Mulford Gardens complained about people parking on sidewalks and property nuisances such as people living in garages and vehicle storage. Randall Pierce asked why the Police Department isn't permitted to tell people whether they live in a high-crime area. Harold Perez complained about the paving on Marina Boulevard, asked for left turn land onto Eden from Davis Street, and thanked Starosciak for her review of the Fire Department contract.

The City Council voted unanimously to strengthen prohibitions on parking of commercial vehicles such as trailers and large trucks on public streets and on private property. The amendments to the San Leandro Municipal Code were in response to complaints from residents about properties with large vehicles such as school buses and ambulances and large tractors being parked on the street or in driveways.

In another unanimous vote, the City Council voted to establish a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below what they were in 2005.

Finally, before Mayor Santos, Vice Mayor Grant and Councilmembers Starosciak and Gregory travel to Washington DC, the City Council voted unanimously to focus their lobbying on obtaining funding for the senior center, improvements on E. 14th Street, and a re-design of the Davis Street-Interstate 880 interchange. Other items under consideration were dredging at the Marina, a competitive swimming pool, and improvements to the Bay Trail.

In closing City Council comments, Stephens asked for the Rules Committee to consider some election changes, noting that it was likely that the date of the California primary would likely be changed, San Leandro's recent history of long elections, and the need to look at the long-term stability of officials, citing another city where there were no term limits. Stephens made the following suggestions:

1. move City Council elections to November
2. implement instant run-off or change elections so that a simple majority is enough to win an election
3. eliminate term limits (Stephens noted that he used to be in favor of term limits but has changed his mind)
4. any member that declares their intent to run for another office should resign their current office so that their replacement can be elected by the voters and avoid having the City Council appoint a replacement.

Stephens' suggestions were referred to the Rules Committee by consent of the Council.

Stephens also said that he would be unable attend the February 13, 2007, meeting when the District 6 City Council candidates would be interviewed. He said he would listen to the interviews in order to be prepared to vote on February 20. However, Mayor Santos informed him that the voting would take place at the February 13th meeting after the interviews were completed since there would still be a quorum. However, four votes would still be required to appoint the new District 6 Councilmember and if there was a deadlock, voting would take place again at the February 20 meeting.

Transit-Oriented Development Strategy Meeting Tonight at 6:30pm

The ninth meeting of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Citizen Advisory Committee will take place at 6:30pm on January 23, 2007, at the Sister Cities Gallery at San Leandro City Hall.

The committee is in the process of assisting in the development of a strategy for developing land use plans and policies for areas immediately surrounding bus, ferry and train stations.

Click here for an agenda.

San Leandro Police Department Fails to Obey Public Records Law

According to a newly issued report entitled "Audit Report 2007: Public Access to Law Enforcement Information" by Californians Aware, the San Leandro Police Department failed to respond to a written request as required by the California Public Records Act (CPRA).

Californians Aware is a non-profit organization devoted to protecting open government laws and First Amendment rights. In December 2006, Californians Aware conducted a state-wide audit of how well California’s law enforcement agencies comply with the CPRA. The CPRA was enacted in 1968 to ensure public access to information on how state and local governments conduct business.

According to Richard P. McKee, president of Californians Aware, the requests were for "information expressly identified by law as available to the public (e.g., the police chief’s employment contract and Form 700; the officers’ salary schedule; the most recent death in custody report; and the name, occupation, birth date, and sex of all persons arrested for robbery, burglary, or sexual assault during a two-week period, along with the date, time, and location of the arrest)."

Homeowners associations have frequently requested information about crime in their areas from the San Leandro Police Department, with limited success.

Police departments in Fremont, Santa Clara, Pleasanton, and St. Helena also failed to respond to written requests. Police departments in Oakland, San Jose, Los Gatos, American Canyon, Berkeley, Redwood City and San Mateo wouldn't accept written requests at all. The Sacramento County Sheriffs Office asked for the Social Security number of the requestor, which is against the law, while the San Mateo Police Department asked for $50 to lookup each arrest and crime record. The law only permits charges for photocopies.

Other links:
Californians Aware press release
Op-ed by Californians Aware president Richard McKee
Daily Review coverage

Coffee with the Mayor Begins on Thursday

Newly elected San Leandro Mayor Tony Santos will begin his "Coffee with the Mayor" open door meetings beginning on Thursday, January 11, 2006, from 10am to noon.

Following up on one of his campaign promises, anybody who wants to discuss issues or concerns related to the City can meet with Santos in the Sister Cities Gallery at the San Leandro City Hall.

Santos plans to hold these sessions on the second Thursday of every month with the next "Coffee with the Mayor" scheduled for February 8, 2006.

The Sister Cities Gallery is located on the first floor of City Hall at 835 E. 14th Street, to the left, if you're looking at the City Council Chambers.

Souza Promises More Communication to District 3 Constituents

In an article in the January 8, 2006, edition of the Daily Review, some District 3 residents complain that former City Councilmember Glenda Nardine was unresponsive. Bonaire Civic League President Virginia Boepple is quoted as saying, "We could place phone calls to her and they were never returned, so we looked to someone else for information. ... We just never had any contact with her." In her defense, Nardine writes, "To state that I wasn't that visible is truly an insult." Joan Maramonte, president of the Floresta Homeowners Association, also disagreed and said that Nardine "always gave me an answer." Diana Souza, who replaces Nardine in the District 3 City Council seat, made communication one of her campaign platforms.

Nardine was subject to term limits after serving two terms on the City Council, ran for County Supervisor in the June primary and came in fourth behind winner Alice Lai-Bitker, former San Leandro Mayor Shelia Young and Jim Price.

Official Response of Alameda County Fire Chief to Councilmember Joyce Starosciak

On December 12, 2006, Alameda County Fire Chief William McCammon sent his official response to concerns raised by San Leandro Councilmember Joyce Starosciak at the November 20, 2006, City Council meeting.

At the meeting, Starosciak raised concerns about the terms and the costs of the City's contract with the Alameda County Fire Department.

The official letter and attachment are belatedly published here with the permission of William McCammon.

City Council Approves Committee Assignments; Finishes in 18 Minutes

The San Leandro City Council began the year with what may have been its shortest meeting ever: 18 minutes. The January 2, 2007, meeting was presided over by new Mayor Tony Santos and included new Councilmembers Michael Gregory and Diana Souza.

During public comments, Joe Collier, a former Planning Commissioner, invited Councilmember Diana Souza to attend a meeting of his homeowners association.

The consent calendar consisted largely of administrative tasks related to establishing speed limits, approving amendments to the bylaws of San Leandro's Parking Authority, Public Financing Authority, and Redevelopment Agency.

The main order of business was to approve the assignments to internal committees and intergovernmental agencies. Mayor Santos and Vice Mayor Surlene Grant were appointed to an ad-hoc committee to develop interview questions for the District 6 City Council applicants. The full committee assignments are listed below.

Vice Mayor Grant asked that the meeting be adjourned in memory of Carter Gilmore, who was a member of the Oakland City Council and was active in the NAACP. Mayor Santos noted that he had served with Gilmore during his first term on the City Council.

Councilmember Joyce Starosciak said she felt that there were more houses displaying holiday lights and specifically noted Chapel Ct. and Elko Ct.

Mayor Santos adjourned the meeting in the memory of former President Gerald Ford, Rosetta Rosinga, and Carter Gilmore.

Internal Committees:

Airport Committee
Mayor Santos
Councilmember Starosciak
Councilmember, District 6

Business and Housing Development Committee (formerly Business
Development Committee)
Vice Mayor Grant
Councilmember Souza
Councilmember Stephens

City and San Leandro Unified School District Liaison Committee
Mayor Santos
Vice Mayor Grant
Councilmember Gregory

City and San Lorenzo Unified School District Liaison Committee
Councilmember Souza
Councilmember Starosciak
Councilmember, District 6

Disaster Council
Mayor Santos
Vice Mayor Grant

Facilities and Transportation Committee (formerly Facilities Committee)
Mayor Santos
Councilmember Gregory
Councilmember Souza

Finance Committee
Vice Mayor Grant January 2007 to January 2009
Councilmember Starosciak January 2006 to January 2008
Councilmember Stephens January 2007 to January 2008

Human Relations Committee
Mayor Santos
Councilmember Gregory
Councilmember Souza

Joint Oakland/San Leandro City Council Committee
Mayor Santos
Vice Mayor Grant
Councilmember, District 6

Marina Committee (formerly Marina Ad Hoc Committee)
Mayor Santos
Councilmember Starosciak
Councilmember, District 6

Rules and Communications Committee
Mayor Santos
Councilmember Gregory
Councilmember Starosciak

Intergovermental Agencies:

Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; term of office is indefinite)
Representative: Councilmember Starosciak
Alternate: Vice Mayor Grant

Alameda County Fire Commission – Representative Trustees (appointment of two Representatives; staggered, four-year terms of office)
Representative: Councilmember Souza
January 2, 2007 to June 30, 2009
Representative: Councilmember Gregory
January 2, 2007 to June 30, 2011

Alameda County Housing Authority, Board of Commissioners (appointment of one Representative; four-year term of office – January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010)
Representative: Vice Mayor Grant

Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District, Board of Directors
(appointment of one Trustee; two-year term of office – January 2, 2006 to January
1, 2008)
Trustee: Glenda Nardine

Alameda County Waste Management Authority (appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; term of office is indefinite)
Representative: Vice Mayor Grant
Alternate: Councilmember Santos

Associated Community Action Program (ACAP), Governing Board
(appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; term of office is indefinite)
Representative: Councilmember Souza
Alternate: Councilmember Gregory

Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), General Assembly and Regional Planning Commission (appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; both are two-year terms of office expiring on June 30, 2008)
Representative: Vice Mayor Grant
Alternate: Councilmember Gregory

East Bay Dischargers Authority (EBDA) (appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; term of office is indefinite)
Representative: Mayor Santos
Alternate: Councilmember, District 6

League of California Cities, East Bay Division, Board of Directors (appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; term of office is indefinite)
Representative: Councilmember Starosciak
Alternate: Councilmember Stephens

Oakland Airport-Community Noise Management Forum (appointment of one Representative and one Alternate; two-year terms of office – January 17, 2006 to July 31, 2007)
Representative: Mayor Santos
Alternate: Councilmember, District 6
Community Representative: Will Fernandez
October 2, 2005 to July 31, 2007

San Leandro Collaborative Executive Committee (appointment of two Representatives; term of office is indefinite)
Representative: Mayor Santos
Representative: Councilmember Starosciak

Choosing the Next Member of the City Council

The next member of the San Leandro City Council will be appointed by the City Council because District 6 City Councilmember Tony Santos was elected Mayor before he completed his four-year term of office.

At recent City Council meetings, the procedures and timelines were decided and have been posted at the city's web site.

Applications for residents of District 6 will be made available beginning on January 2, 2006. The application form and 20 signatures from residents of District 6 must be submitted by January 27, 2006.

The field of applicants will be narrowed, if needed, at the February 5, 2006, City Council meeting and interviews of the candidates will be conducted at a February 13, 2006, meeting and the City Councilmember will be chosen at this meeting or the February 20, 2006, meeting.

Possible candidates being mentioned include former City Councilmembers, a former and a current member of the San Leandro School Board, current commissioners, and a local campaign consulant and political staffer.

The last City Councilmembers appointed were Orval 'OB' Badger in 2001 (to replace Gordon Galvan), Surlene Grant in 1998 (to replace Shelia Young), and Paul Nahm in 1993 (to replace John Faria).

New Council Sworn In and ACI Rate Increase Approved

Councilmembers Surlene Grant and Glenda Nardine missed the last San Leandro City Council meeting of 2006 held on December 18. The City Council Chambers were filled to capacity with friends and family of the newly elected Mayor and City Councilmembers who were sworn in tonight.

During public comments, Wafaa Aborashed said that she provided a copy of the report "Paying with our Health, The Real Cost of Freight Transport in California" to all the members of the City Council. The report was prepared by the Pacific Institute and released in November 2006. Aborashed asked that the subject of pollution caused by freight transport be placed on a future agenda.

Richard Sequeira asked that the minutes from the December 4, 2006, City Council meeting include the full text of the speeches and comments from people who had spoken against the Site Plan Review and Height Exception for the "Monster House" at 2888 Darius Way. Sequeira was one of the neighbors who spoke out against the house at the December 4 meeting, which was unanimously approved by the City Council.

The City Council unanimously approved a rate increase for Alameda County Industries of 2% on July 1, 2007, and another 2% increase on July 1, 2008. The increase was requested in March 1, 2006, and Public Works Director Mike Bakaldin had presented information about the rate increase at the November 6, 2006, City Council meeting. According to that presentation, the rate increase would fund the collection of recyclable materials (paper, cans, glass and plastic) for single family homes to every week instead of every other week. In addition, ACI would begin pickup of recyclable and food wastes from commercial users.

The City Council also unanimously approved the subdivision of the 13-acre parcel for 15555 Hesperian Boulevard into three parcels. The site is the former location of Target and has been rumored to be a future location of a Wal-Mart or Sam's Club. In-N-Out has applied for a conditional use permit for a drive-through fast food restaurant at this location as well.

When it came time to approve ordinances establishing monthly salaries of $1,260 per month ($15,120 per year) for City Council members and $2,520 per month ($30,240 per year) for the Mayor, Councilmember Bill Stephens was the sole vote against the ordinances. Stephens noted that there was currently a $900,000 budget deficit and that any salary increases should wait until the city has a balanced budget.

Since District 6 City Councilmember Tony Santos was elected Mayor, the City Council will appoint someone to fill out the remainder of his term. Candidates will be required to obtain 20 nominating signatures from registered voters in District 6 and applications will be available beginning on January 2, 2007. Santos expressed concern that some potential candidates were already gathering signatures, but City Clerk Marian Handa said that the nominating signatures would be required to be on forms that are not yet available and Mayor Shelia Young assured Santos that it was not a concern.

During closing remarks, Stephens and Councilmember Joyce Starosciak thanked Councilmember OB Badger and Mayor Young for their years of service. Badger remarked that it had "been a pleasure to serve on this council" and thanked all those with whom he had served. Mayor Young thanked her husband and called the position of Mayor the "best job in the universe."

The City Council meeting concluded with the swearing-in of its newly-elected members, which is what brought most of the crowd to the meeting. District 1 City Councilmember Michael Gregory was sworn in first by former San Leandro City Councilmember, former San Leandro Mayor and newly-elected California State Senator Ellen Corbett. Gregory said that his priorities were 1) education, 2) education, 3) education 4) housing and transportation, 5) balancing the budget and dealing with the Marina, 6) public safety, and 7) seniors and youth.

District 3 City Councilmember Diana Souza was sworn in by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Northridge. Souza reiterated her three campaign goals of keeping seniors engaged, communication and increasing recreational opportunities.

District 5 City Councilmember Bill Stephens was sworn in by California Senator Corbett. Stephens kept his comments brief, stating that he was "humbled by the opportunity to serve all of you."

Mayor Tony Santos was sworn in by California Senator Corbett and promised to add more police officers, look at additional branch libraries, focus on education, address the dredging issue for the Marina, and keep working on "quieting our skies from airport noise." He also promised to hold "Coffee with the Mayor" with the first one scheduled for January 11, 2007, from 10am to 12.

Response to Councilmember Starosciak's Fire Department Report

In response to San Leandro Councilmember Joyce Starosciak's report on the Alameda County Fire Department at the November 20, 2006, meeting of the San Leandro City Council, Brian McKenna, President of the Alameda County Firefighters Association, wrote an op-ed in the December 15 edition of the Daily Review.

In his op-ed, McKenna argues, "Our services have resulted in a yearly cost savings to the city of San Leandro of over $1.1 million beginning in 1995 and the savings continue to increase annually." He goes on to compare the annual cost increase to the San Leandro Police Department over the last 11 years, which "has had an average annual budget increase of over 9.19 percent and was forced to eliminate positions." In February 2005, the Alameda County Firefighters Association contributed $2,500 to Starosciak's City Council campaign.

In a December 13, 2006, letter to the editor of the Daily Review, San Leandro resident Paul G. Vargas, applauded Starosciak, stating, "Thank goodness for Councilwoman Starociak's efforts to expose the wanton waste and mismanagement of the Alameda County Fire Department." Vargas ran for the District 3 City Council seat in 2002 and lost to Glenda Nardine.

This was covered in a December 11, 2006, Daily Review article and in a December 14, 2006, San Leandro Times article.

The Best Kept Secret in San Leandro

Councilmember Joyce Starosciak presented the report below at the November 20, 2006, meeting of the San Leandro City Council:

Mayor Young and members of the City Council,

You have been aware of the concerns I’ve expressed about the negative financial situation due to our contract with the Alameda County Fire Department. In the Finance Committee and in session with the entire Council I have asked questions and given opinions that express my frustration with our existing contract terms and yearly budget increases. Earlier this month I spent time with the management of the Alameda County Fire Department to better understand our mutual responsibilities. The conclusion of that meeting clarified my frustration. The Alameda County Fire Department has become a public agency operating as a private monopoly with no accountability. Cost increases are unchecked and will continue to grow out of control to the detriment of the City of San Leandro.

It is time for us to do something. Until I spent the time researching this, I did not see the extent of this problem. It is likely you are not aware of all of the contract terms that put San Leandro in an egregious financial position. Here are some of the facts.

In the last 6 years, our fire contract has increased $5 M [million] dollars, going from $10 M in 2000 to $15M this year. That is almost $1M increase per year and a 50% increase over 6 years.

Each year the City Council is approached with an increase, but we are given no choice but to approve it.

Last fiscal year 05-06, in order to balance our budget, the Police department cut 8 police officers to save over $1 M . In the same year the County Fire Department asked for an $800k increase to their contract. The City Council pushed back resulting in authorization of a $600k increase. But by the end of the year, the actual overtime budget was predicted to come in at $200k over budget, which is why this fiscal year 06-07 they received more than $900k as an increase to their contract.

No matter what budget number is approved, the Alameda County Fire Department can invoice and will receive more money.

Over the last 5 years, the Year End actuals have exceeded the budget amount on average of $162k per year. The way our contract is written, we have to pay and then we have to go on to approve an increase to the contract for the next year.

For each of these overages, while the City is informed, there is no process to review and no process to refuse or reduce payments to overages of the contract. These amounts are regularly in excess of our City Manager’s signing authority, yet the Council never reviews nor approves these contract changes.

As a regular process, the County Fire Department invoices in advance for services. For example, we pay in February for services rendered in March. This creates an ongoing $1M in negative cash flow to the City Reserves.

The bargaining teams between the Firefighters and the County receive no input from any of the member agencies. San Leandro, Dublin, and Lawrence Berkeley Labs do not have a seat at the table and their Governing Bodies have no input or say in the final contract negotiations.

The most recent contract with the Firefighters was a 7 year Memorandum of Understanding with raises guaranteed each year. In the years that our own City Employees sacrificed their raises to help keep the Budget balanced, the Firefighters were not given the opportunity to help us with that sacrifice. The County held them bound to their contract.

This year we will pay $12.4M in salaries and benefits. And we will pay $1.5 M in overtime which is 10% of the total contract.

While our salary calculation is based upon the number field staff we employ, our overtime calculation is based upon the total overtime of the county. We pay about $24,000 per employee just in overtime.

In the last 3 years, the City of San Leandro has sacrificed our Planning Fire Inspector services to offset some of the increased costs. In fact, we are paying more money now for less front line staff than we have ever had.

In the last two years the Alameda County Fire Department has added a full time Public Information officer and a full time Emergency Services Manager. The County Fire Department has required us to increase our payment for these overhead services while back here in the City we still do not have our full time fire inspector and are struggling to find money to put more cops on the street.

This past year, we paid the County Fire Department over $90,000 for truck maintenance, a cost that used to be handled in-house with our own vehicle maintenance crew.

The County Fire Department intends to build and operate a Maintenance Facility using a lease/purchase program to pay for the capital improvements. They cannot guarantee that they won’t pass the capital costs on to us through their maintenance charge-out rates.

Our fire trucks and engine equipment have been sacrificed year after year to pay for the County overhead increases. We have equipment well past its useful life and the capital program reserves have been diverted to pay the additional operation expenses.

There is no expiration date for our contract. These terms will continue forever unless we, the San Leandro City Council, do something about it. The management of the County Fire Department has already told me to expect a $400 - $600k increase to their contract for next year. Half of this year’s Measure I Business License Fee revenue has already been absorbed by the County Fire Department $1M Contract increase. The rest of Measure I will be gone within two years, completely absorbed by the Alameda County Fire Department.

This is the Best Kept Secret in San Leandro. The Alameda County Fire Department is a publicly funded monopoly with no accountability. The costs for this program are growing unchecked and the impact to San Leandro’s structural deficit is detrimental.

I have spoken with Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker about our respective roles in overseeing the County Fire Department Budget. She cannot make any decisions regarding the expansion of the Alameda County Fire Department because their budget is not part of the General Fund. It is a separate entity with their income and expenses independently managed. So if the County Supervisors and the City of San Leandro have no controls, then who does? There is no elected or appointed agency willing or able to provide control to this budget. The County Fire Department has become a privately managed monopoly off of public funds. And San Leandro has suffered long enough.

We receive services from the highest quality fire department in the area, there is no doubt about that. For our dollars, it had better be that good. However, it has come time to be much more vigilant in how we spend our money. This sounds odd, coming from me, since I’ve been pushing to spend more money for Cops and the Cherry Festival as quality-of-life issues ever since the day I was elected. However, this is very different. The Alameda County Fire Department is an agency that acts like a Contractor when budgeting time comes and they need more money. Then they act like a City Department when their costs come in higher and they need more money. They cannot and should not have it both ways.

Either they are part of our family and they celebrate with us and sacrifice with us. Or they are a contractor and will be treated as outsiders.

San Leandro has always been proud to be called a full-service City. Our employees go above and beyond the usual service expectations to make San Leandro the great City that it is. Our Firefighters have always been part of our family. They are heroes and they deserve the best equipment, training and support our City can give. All of our employees deserve the best resources we can give. None of them should be a pawn in the game of monopoly. We need to focus our resources to give them ALL the best. We need to bring the Fire Department back to the City of San Leandro.

Mayor Young, I would like to ask you to follow-up on my discussions during our Finance Committee meetings to research this further. I would like you to create a committee of the Council to quickly review this matter and consider bringing the Fire Department back into the City Family. At a minimum we should review the contract for this year’s budget cycle to create terms that are much more favorable to the City of San Leandro. I have a list of 7 items for a committee to consider in that regard.

1) Our contract with this vendor should be reviewed for renewal every 5 years.
2) Our contract increases should be capped at a limit not to exceed CPI [consumer price index] or other inflation factor.
3) The maintenance of our Fire Equipment should be brought back in house.
4) Invoicing for services should be after services are rendered by the contractor.
5) The City Council should have line item veto power of budget items we feel are not required for basic fire services.
6) Our City Manager should have a seat at the bargaining table.
7) There should be Formal Council approval when invoicing exceeds the annual contract amount by more than the City Manager’s signing authority.

These terms would create a much more favorable condition for the City of San Leandro. However, these terms treat the Fire Department as a Vendor. I want to have them back as part of our Family. A committee can better discuss all of our options.

The Firefighters that serve San Leandro deserve to be part of a family, the San Leandro Family. I ask for the City Council to help find ways to bring it back.

Thank you for your consideration.

Councilmember Joyce Starosciak
November 20, 2006

City Council Unanimously Adopts Homeless Plan

At its November 20, 2006, meeting, the San Leandro San Leandro City Council unanimously adopted the EveryOne Home, Alameda Countywide Homeless and Special Needs Housing Plan. The county-wide plans seeks to end homelessness in 15 years. The stated goals of the plan are:

• Prevent homelessness and other housing crises


• Increase housing for homeless, mentally ill, and HIV/AIDS


• Provide support services to support independence


• Measure success and report outcomes


• Develop long-term leadership and community support

Councilmember Glenda Nardine asked about monitoring and staffing and staff responded that monitoring was part of the plan, but there wouldn't be any extra staff necessary. Councilmember Tony Santos expressed concern about reports that companies in Silicon Valley were laying off employees without paying their fair share for the extra burdens for the employees and support services. Councilmember Surlene Grant asked about funding and staffing, expressing skepticism that the plan would not require extra staff or funding, but was assured that they would not be needed. Grant also asked how the County would staff and fund the program and Alameda County Housing Director Linda Gardner responded that staff would consist of a combination of consultants and county staff. Councilmember Bill Stephens noted that the program was ambitious and long-term and express concern that the program be able to adapt over time. Councilmember OB Badger asked whether the City could exit the program if it wasn't working. Gardner responded that the program was flexible and that cities were free to withdraw from the program.

Speaking out in favor of the plan were Mike Katz, Elaine de Coligny, the Executive Director of Building Futures with Women and Children, Father Rob Droste of All Saints Episcopal Church, Tom Breckenridge, an officer with the Interfaith Homelessness Network, and Peggy Combs, also of Building Futures with Women and Children.

Mayor Shelia Young said that she thought that Alameda County may be the only county in California or the country that is working together on homelessness and that San Leandro has a "chance to show the rest of the county that we can do our part" in solving homelessness.

In a presentation by Matt Todd, a Senior Transportation Engineer at the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency, reported on the progress on a sound wall along Interstate 580 that has been in the works for neary 20 years. The wall would extend from 141st Avenue to Marlowe Avenue in Oakland. The estimated cost is $5.5 million. The wall would be 12-feet tall and up to 15- to 16-feet tall in places and 8,090 feet long.

Project studies for the wall are expected to be completed in May 2007, project design should be complete by September 2007, and construction should start in December 2007 and be completed by Summer 2009.

Todd noted that CYRO Paraglas Soundstop would be used on freeway bridges to reduce the weight of the sound wall and prevent extra costs from reinforcing the freeway supports. Although it's four times as expensive as masonry, using it on the freeway bridges would actually reduce total costs. A CalTrans engineer noted that sound walls are only considered in areas where they will reduce sound by 5 decibels.

Councilmember Grant noted that this was the first time in all of the meetings she's attended that she had heard of the Paraglas Soundstop material being used. Councilmember Joyce Starosciak expressed concern about whether the wall would block any residents' views. Todd noted that some people along Benedict Drive didnt want the wall to block their view and that is why there is no wall planned for the east side of I-580 in that area. Grant also asked about whether property owners had changed and whether CalTrans had been in contact with them. Todd responded that there will be more meetings and workshops for affected residents. Badger also asked about the problem of reflected noise into the Bay-O-Vista area but was assured that the problem was minimal.

Fred Reicker of the Bay-O-Vista Improvement Association expressed concern that the wall will aggravate sound since it will only be on the west side of I-580 in some areas. Reicker cited a CalTrans study in which an unopposed wall resulted in a small but measurable increase in sound. Reicker asked to meet with the City on an expedited basis and to consider the use of a new material. Former City Council member Linda Perry thanked the Mayor for the update and wanted to know when was the last time that sound readings were made and the process for community notification and input.

In closing comments, Starosciak reported about her research into the City's contract with the Alameda County Fire Department, which she described as a "public agency acting as a private monopoly." She said that the contract terms put the City in an egregious financial situation and noted that the contract has increased by $5 million or 50% in the last six years. Over the last six years, the contract has exceeded the budgeted amount by $162,000, which the contract requires the City to pay. She said that neither the City nor the County Supervisors have any oversight of the Alameda County Fire Department and there is no process to reduce or refuse the contract amounts. According to her estimates, the Alameda County Fire Department contract will absorb all of the funds provided by Measure I (the business license tax) in two years.

Councilmember Stephens said that he shared Starosciak's concerns about the City's contract with the Alameda County Fire Department. Stephens also said that the City should contact the two school boards and consider a truancy ordinance like the one introduced in Fremont to improve the Average Daily Attendance (ADA).

Mayor Young noted that the Alameda County Mayors Conference would be hosted at the Aquatics Center on December 13, 2006. Young also appointed Stephens and Starosciak to an ad-hoc committee to investigate and report on the City's contract with the Alameda County Fire Department.

The meeting was adjourned in the memory of Edward Jack Graves and Gladys Mary Tucknot.

Council Votes to Extend Downtown Moratorium and ACI Asks for Rate Increase for More Pickups

The San Leandro City Council voted unanimously in its November 6, 2006, meeting to extend the moratorium on downtown development for another year or until the Transit-Oriented Development Strategy is completed, which is expected in July 2007. Council-member Bill Stephens was not present.

The moratorium affects 39 sites ranging in size from .2 to 11.6 acres and totaling 125 parcels and 73 acres. The moratorium does not change zoning or existing uses and does not preclude the issuance of building permits or business licenses. Applications for planning entitlements will be allowed to proceed, but the application will not allowed to become final.

Community Development Director Hanson Hom noted that the Executive Director of Building Futures with Women and Children sent a letter in support of the moratorium and other letters expressed opposition to the moratorium.

Priscilla Coluga of the Woodcreek Homeowners Association expressed support for the moratorium while Robert Fox asked the council to delay its vote until after the new City Council was seated.

Council-member Joyce Starosciak asked if the vote could be delayed. Hom replied that it could but City Attorney Jayne Williams quickly corrected him and stated that California code does not permit an additional 45-day extension.

During public comments, Harold Perez complained about the condition of streets in San Leandro and said that money should be spent on streets instead of being wasted on the Cherry Festival and the holiday lighting and banners.

In a presentation entitled "Special Rate Review for Alameda County Industries" Public Works Director Mike Bakaldin reported that Alameda County Industries (ACI) requested a special rate review on March 1, 2006. ACI has a contract with San Leandro through 2010 and serves about 60% of San Leandro's population. ACI proposes to increase collection of recyclable materials (paper, cans, glass and plastic) for single family homes to every week instead of every other week. In addition, ACI would begin pickup of recyclable and food wastes from commercial users. To pay for the increased service, ACI proposes a 2% rate increase in July 2007 and another 2% rate increase in July 2008, in addition to the normal annual rate adjustment.

Council-member OB Badger asked if the changes were need to meet the City's requirements for diverting waste from landfills and City Manager John Jermanis replied that it was, noting that nearby cities have gone to weekly service. Mayor Shelia Young asked if ACI had perfected a compost facility as she knew that Alameda County has been trying to find a suitable facility location.

Alexis Strauss, the director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Water Division for the Pacific Southwest region, presented the City of San Leandro with its second-place award for "outstanding and innovative achievements in wastewater treatment and pollution prevention." Click here for the US EPA press release. In March 2006, the City of San Leandro received a Water Quality Excellence Award from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Vice Mayor Surlene Grant made a plea for people to support Proposition 1C, noting that it would help programs such as one which recently lost funding that helps foster children after they are too old for the foster care program.

Mayor Young reported that a new map was presented at each monthly meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission over the past year. The most recent meeting produced a map showing the condition of street in the nine Bay-Area counties. Currently, San Leandro is shown in green, indicating that the streets are in good condition.

The meeting was adjourned in the memory of Wayne Glaze, the brother of former Council-member Bob Glaze, Alvin Mertz, Floyd Dade, Jr., a member of the 761st tank battalion in World War II known as the Black Panthers, and Margarita Tapia, the mother of John Tapia, who works in the City's Information Services Department.

Click here for Daily Review coverage.

City Council Votes for Development Moratorium and to Fund the Cherry Festival and Sunday Library Hours

With Council Member Glenda Nardine absent, the San Leandro City Council unanimously approved a 45-day moratorium on development at 39 downtown "opportunity" sites at its October 2, 2006, meeting.

The moratorium can be extended for up to two years and the Council is tentatively scheduled to review a possible extension of the moratorium at its November 6, 2006, meeting. The moratorim could be extended until July 2007, when the work of the Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy is expected to be completed. The 39 sites include the Red Mountain property on E. 14th Street where an Albertsons supermarket was previously located. Grocery Outlet currently has an incomplete application on file for use of the former Albertsons site. The moratorium will not affect existing businesses or building permits that have already been approved.

The City Council also approved a $390,500 amendment to the 2006-2007 budget to fund the Cherry Festival ($90K), restore Sunday library hours ($63K), hire a police officer for the schools ($160K), put up holiday lighting and signs ($36K), and restore full funding to community groups ($41.5K). Council Member Bill Stephens made a passionate argument against the budget amendment, noting that there is still a $4.5 million shortfall for capitol improvements, no money has been put in reserve for the past three years, and the budget is still not balanced. Council Member Surlene Grant said she felt the Council was "robbing Peter to pay Paul." Council Member Joyce Starosciak noted that her runoff election cost as much as the Cherry Festival and Sunday library hours combined. She described the budget amendment as having "minimal costs and huge benefits to our community." Council Member Santos express support for the amendment and reported that the San Leandro Police Officers Association says that, based on its size, San Leandro should have 100 police officers. Stephens said that as an Assistant Superintendent for Business with the Fremont Unified School District, he understands that police officers for the schools are important but suggested that the School District should be paying for them since the School District's budget is in better shape. Council Member OB Badger said that while he would like to have the Cherry Festival, he was concerned about the lack of funding for the pavement management program. When it came time to vote, only Stephens voted against the budget amendment.

Kathleen Livermore, Senior Planner and TOD Project Manager for the City of San Leandro, summarized the results of the September 30, 2006, TOD meeting, noting that 98 people attended. Initial results showed that participants favored a creek-side civic park/plaza that could close down Hays Street, improved lighting, mixed-use, smaller scale office, retail, and residential development.

City Council Member-Elect Michael Gregory was present at the City Council meeting and spoke in favor of the moratorium, noting that he had visited two other cities to look at their developments. Toni Mobley, a member of the TOD Citizen Advisory Committee, also spoke in favor of the moratorium.

Find out about medians going up on E. 14th Street from San Leandro Blvd. to 150th Avenue

From the City of San Leandro web site:

A neighborhood meeting concerning median improvements for the southern portion of East 14th Street will be held on Wednesday, September 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the San Leandro Public Library, located at 300 Estudillo Avenue. Area residents, property owners, businesses and community groups are invited to attend. The medians are being developed to reduce the likelihood of vehicle collisions and to provide a safe refuge for pedestrians crossing East 14th Street. To learn more, contact Nick Thom at (510) 577-3431.

The median will run from San Leandro Boulevard to 150th Avenue and will include raised concrete with landscaping and trees.

More information, including presentations and renderings of what the improvments might look like, is also available from the City of San Leandro East 14th Street South Area Development Strategy web site.

City Finance Committee Gives Go-Ahead to Cherry Festival and Sunday Library Hours

In its September 5, 2006, meeting the Finance Committee voted two to one to approve bringing back the Cherry Festival, bringing back Sunday library hours (4 hours), adding a school resource officer, restoring full funding to community groups, and putting up holiday lights. Mayor Shelia Young and Council Member Joyce Starosciak voted to approve the items totaling an estimated $400,000 while Council Memebr Bill Stephens voted against approval.

Council Approves Hays Street Project WIth Conditions; Decision on Monster House Delayed

All members of the City Council were present for the first meeting after the August recess on September 5, 2006. Mayor Shelia Young started the meeting by changing the order of the public hearings. The two public hearings were to discuss a development at 1537 Hays Street and construction of a 10,679 square-foot house at 2888 Darius Way.

The Board of Zoning Adjustments (BZA) approved PLN2005-00063, a Major View Preservation/Site Plan Review and Height Exception on July 20, 2006, by a vote of five to 2. The exception was for a planned house at property owned by M. Luong at 2888 Darius Way. The proposed house would have seven bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms plus a carriage house with a bedroom and bathroom. Wayland Lew has appealed the decision of the BZA and it was on the agenda for the meeting. However, the applicant (Luong) and appellant (Lew) asked for the City Council to delay hearing the appeal until October 16, 2006.

The second item began with a presentation by city staff about a plan by David Langon of Langon Homes to construct six single-family homes at 1537 Hays Street, where currently there is one house. The presentation noted that the project was actually for fewer houses (6) than is permitted by its current zoning (8). As a result of objections by neighbors residing at the Garden Terrace condominiums adjacent to the property, the the developer agreed to increase the setback from the property from 10 to 12.5 feet, install trellises to screen the view of a portion of the backyards of the houses, install frosted glass on the bedroom windows, install an arbor at the entrance to the development, and reimburse Garden Terrace for cleaning of the north wall and windows after construction is completed. The staff recommended that the project be approved.

David Langon, the developer, said that he was "surprised by the opposition" and that he "had many meetings with" residents of the Garden Terrace Condominiums. He told the City Council that he was trying to get the house certified as "green" and would recycle and re-use as much of the existing home as possible.

During public comments on the public hearing for the Hays Street project, numerous residents of Garden Terrace Condominiums spoke out against the proposed development. Virginia Eldridge claimed that city codes were violated because the sunlight and view of the Garden Terrace owners was not being respected and because the city did not work closely with the neighboring residents. Kathy Goodall asked for the setback to increased to 15 feet, a review of the landscape design, and an extension so that these concerns can be addressed. Lester Williams was visibly upset as he complained that it was wrong that he had to come to the City Council to defend his property. Garden Terrace Condominium Association President Melinda Jackson echoed the concerns of the other residents.

Bob and Kathy Sosa, residents of a house on Juana Avenue, expressed concern that the entire block might end up as multi-residential housing, stating that "this project will not be the end of it." Toni Mobley, a member of the San Leandro Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy Citizen Advisory Committee, asked the City Council whether any of the units would be designated as affordable housing and expressed compassion for those residents facing a loss of sunlight because of the new development.

In his rebuttal to the opponents of the project, Langon noted that the opponents were living in higher density housing and that the project is a "compromise from what could be built there."

Vice Mayor Surlene Grant requested that construction be prohibited on Saturday and Sunday, that rodent control is adequate during construction, and that the requirement for frosted glass be part of a CCNR or deed restriction to ensure that residents cannot replace the windows with non-frosted glass.

Council Member Glenda Nardine expressed concern about the loss of sunlight and said that she wanted a homeowner association to be a condition for the project.

Council Member Joyce Starosciak also asked about whether the project included affordable housing and Hansom Hom, the Community Development Director for San Leandro, responded that the property was subject to inclusionary zoning and affordable housing units were not required. However, the development would be subject to an inclusionary housing fee that would go into a fund to assist affordable housing projects. Starosciak was concerned about how maintenance of the arbor and other common areas would be enforced. When city staff pointed out that the owners would be responsible for enforcing their maintenance of the property, Starosciak called for a homeowners association or some other method of enforcement that did not rely upon the city to enforce maintenance and upkeep of the common areas of the development.

Council Member OB Badger subsequently motioned to approve the project subject to restrictions that prohibited construction on Sunday, and after a brief discussion, limited construction to between the hours of 10am and 4pm on Saturday. Other restrictions included the maintenance of the common areas by a homeowner association or equivalent, further review of landscaping plans, and the use of only frosted glass on bedroom windows. After unanimous approval of the motion, Mayor Young thanked developer Dave Langon for attempting to build housing that is certified "green."

During the open public comments, Ray Diaz expressed dismay that howeowners that rent their houses are required to have a city business license and that he could be subject to paying the business license retroactively for up to three years.

Former San Leandro Mayor John Faria expressed dismay at the recent article in the Daily Review, which caused him to call City Manager John Jermanis and City Council Members Tony Santos and OB Badger. He asked why the Jane McCrea, the city's Public Information Officer, wasn't aware of the work that was done in the 1980s about the potential for flooding caused by a failure of the earthen dam at Lake Chabot. He recalled that they knew that a failure of the dam would result in four feet of water at City Hall within 30 minutes and 15 feet of water at Bancroft within 15 minutes.

Harold Perez thanked City Council member Santos for helping to get rid of some junk cars on his street and then moved on to complain about the pit bulls at his neighbor's house. He also complained that Anthony Batarse, Jr. [President and Chief Executive Officer of Lloyd A. Wise Inc.] had claimed that his family needed to move into some houses he owned and then turned around and sold the houses.

Lester Williams took the opportunity to again oppose the Hays Street development and said that the owners of condos adversely impacted by the project should be compensated.

City Manager Jermanis responded that blanket notifications were sent out about the business license requirement, but indicated that there could be some flexibility in whether business license fees would be collected retroactively. He also noted that the business licensee fee for homeowners that rented their home was $42 per year. He also stated that the City should do more to get out the word about its emergency plan and information about the potential for flooding caused by the failure of the Lake Chabot Dam. He said that the city has talked to EBMUD, which has assured the City that the earthen dam is in little danger of collapse during an earthquake. As he has done in the past, Jermanis encouraged Mr. Diaz to continue contacting the police and animal control about his neighbor's pit bulls and noted that every time the police respond, the dogs appear to be back in the owner's yard.

Council members Starosciak and Nardine and Mayor Young reported that they attended the California Association of Sanitation Agencies conference held in Monterey August 9-12, 2006.

Council member Nardine also reported that she attended the August transit-oriented development meeting at Bayfair, but provided no details of the meeting. She also stated that businesses seem to be disappearing in the Alvarado and Teagarden area and would like the Business Development Committee to report back to the Council on this.

After Nardine mentioned a fallen fence on Alvarado, Starosciak also noted a fallen fence on Lewelling. City staff reported that they were aware of it and were working on it.

Santos said that Charles Lott had written a letter to the editor of the Daily Review asking about the 580 sound wall project. Young said that she knew about it and said that after some funding issues and delays, the project was going forward and construction would start in 2007.

Young also reported that she signed a proclamation for the anniversary of the 219th anniversary of the signing of the US Constitution. The meeting was adjourned in the memory of numerous people who had recently passed away.

San Leandro Has Highest Costs for Installing Solar Panels

The Contra Costa Times reports that costs for installing typical solar panels is highest in San Leandro, according to a survey by the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club. San Leandro topped the list with permit fees and inspection costs of $1,100 compared to lows of $3 in Mill Valley and $65 in Walnut Creek. The Sierra Club survey of 48 municipalities found that the average cost was $445.

A similar survey one year ago that found similar variations in other municipalities led to 14 cities lowering their fees.

City Council Adopts Reimbursement Policy, Goes After Spartina

San Leandro Vice Mayor Surlene once again presided over the City Council on July 10, 2006, as Mayor Shelia Young was reported to be on city business and did not attend the meeting.

During the public comment period, Don Enriquez, who stated that he was raised in San Leandro and was here during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, lamented the frequent use of foul language and suggested that it was linked to violence. He asked the City Council to take actions to prohibit the use of foul language, especially in public, where it may be heard by children.

Republican nominee for State Senate Lou Filipovich turned the tables on the City Council when he said that he would "not make any statements" and instead gave the City Council the opportunity to ask questions of him. When his offer was greeted with silence, Filipovich repeated his offer and eventually gave up, stating, "let the record show" that none of the City Council took him up on his offer.

Harold Perez asked the City Council to refrain from planting a certain type of tree because one near his house was raising the sidewalk and had forced a neighbor to spend $6,000 in sewer repairs. Perez again complained about his neighbors with the pit bulls, noting that his drug-dealing neighbor was leaving the lights on all night long.

Vice Mayor Grant and Council Member Glenda Nardine both had questions about the approval of a contract with Neighborhood Solutions and it was removed from the consent calendar.

On a vote of 6 to 0, the City Council approved the remainder of the consent calendar, which included minutes of the June 5, 2006, meeting, the August recess for the City Council, the city's participation in the Alameda County Climate Protection Project, membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, and two resolutions approving non-competitive procurement of chemicals and aerial treatment of spartina.

Charles Gilcrest asked the City Council to open up bidding on the contract awarded to Neighborhood Solution to organizations like the Davis Street Family Resource Center. In response to a question from Vice Mayor Grant, City Finance Director Jesse Baloca observed that $25,000 is the informal threshold for putting city contracts out to bid and $50,000 is the formal threshold. City Manager John Jermanis noted that there are exceptions to the threshold as in the case where a qualified company has successfully fulfilled similar contacts in the past. Council Member Bill Stephens stated that the California Contract Code has a threshold of $65,000. Council Member Tony Santos also expressed support for putting the contract out to bid so local organizations such as Davis Street could bid. Jermanis said that he would get a statement of qualifications from Davis Street and similar organizations, but it was too late for this year.

The resolution approving the $92,000 contract with Neighborhood Solutions was subsequently approved on a vote of 6 to 0.

The last item was a resolution establishing a policy regarding the reimbursement of expenses for city council members, members of boards and commissions, and city employees. As summarized by Assistant City Attorney Stephanie Stuart, this policy was required by AB 1234 the "Local Government Sunshine Bill," which went into effect on January 1, 2006. It requires greater transparency in local government and covers ethics, expenditure reporting, and formal training requirements. Jermanis noted that Meyers Nave, the law firm of the City Attorney and Assistant City Attorney is certified to provide the AB1234 training. Council Member Joyce Starosciak noted that she attended training at the League of California Cities conference in January while Council Member Nardine said that all members of the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District Board, except her, had already received training. Council Member Santos stated that he was interested in the policies for conflict of interest and and gift and travel restrictions, because "we are not following" the code of ethics. Vice Mayor Grant agreed with Santos' sentiments.

During City Council Comments, Council Member OB Badger asked that the meeting be adjourned in the memory of Yvonne Miranda, who recently passed away from cancer. Council Member Nardine spoke at length about fireworks issues, suggesting that the city provide more information about how much enforcement costs the city each 4th of July. Jermanis said that despite the 115 fireworks-related calls, the police and fire chiefs said that it was better than last year and credited proactive notifications about the city's zero-tolerance policy for fireworks.

Vice Mayor Grant wanted the city to consider specific regulations that would prohibit the parking of cars on the street that were there for the sole purpose of being sold. She asked that the minutes be published in a more timely manner, but acknowledged that the staff was already working very hard. Grant mentioned that she attended an event at the Chinese Art Gallery and reported that an elderly calligrapher will create a piece of art for the city.

The meeting was adjourned in the memory of Patty Price, Hayward City Council Member Matt Jimenez, who died on July 3, 2006, and Yvonne Miranda.

A "Sweatshop Free" San Leandro

The following is the text of a letter I sent to all San Leandro city council members in support of a "Sweatfree Ordinance" for San Leandro. You can call them and e-mail them to show your support as well. Their contact information is available at http://www.ci.san-leandro.ca.us/slcitycouncil.html. For more information on the issue visit http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/

Dear City Council Members:

Last Tuesday night, Berkeley became the third city in the United States (after San Francisco and LA) to allocate funding for a �Sweatfree Ordinance� that would prohibit the city government from purchasing any and all goods produced in sweatshops. The Berkeley City Council approved $25,000 for initial funding and vowed to revisit the issue again in December during the mid-year budget review.

Earlier this year, Council member Tony Santos committed himself to introduce an ordinance that would provide a living wage to all city employees and employees of large companies doing business with the city. Legislation that would prohibit the San Leandro city government from purchasing goods produced in sweatshops would not only compliment the living wage ordinance, but assure that it was meaningful. It would also assure that the city government is not unwittingly exploiting workers, in particular immigrant workers, by buying products from companies that do not adhere to fair labor practices.

I urge you to consider introducing and passing an ordinance similar to the one passed by the city of Berkeley and to allocate sufficient funding to support it.

Sincerely,

Margarita Lacabe