Okay, at this point we're just gonna make a quick announcement. We do have a technical difficulty with the clerk's equipment
We do believe that we are transmitting online and we're getting a confirmation here that people online can hear us
And we're working on a work around
Because the primary constraint is a voting constraint because we don't have voting that will take place probably for the next three hours
We can continue with our meetings as long as we're transmitting
But we're trying to iron out those technical difficulties and so stay tuned. Oh
No, I was just calling to tell you that I'm in the meeting and I can't hear anything. Excuse me Janelle
Excuse me, okay. So we're working to double-check some connectivity
And so for the folks online we ask you to be patient for a few more minutes
Soundcheck soundcheck
Okay, it is five oh seven and we're gonna start this meeting of the San Leandro City Council today is a special meeting
It is Monday March 23rd 2026
I'll lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand if you're able to
The City of San Leonardo conducts work before doing that announcement. Would you please take roll madam clerk?
Vice Mayor Viviros Walton
present
Council member Aguilar present council member Simon present
Council member Bowen present
Council member bolt present and mayor Gonzalez present. Thank you
the City of San Leonard connects early meetings to fulfill its mandate discriminatory statements or conduct that would potentially violate a
Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 enter the California for Employment and Housing Act
California penal code sections for three or four fifteen are per se disruptive to a meeting and will not be tolerated
Please see the City Council handbook and City Council meeting rules of decorum for more information
Madam clerk your announcement
If you would like to make a public comment during the meeting, you can do so in person or via zoom
If you're present at the meeting, please complete a speaker card and submit it to the city clerk before the item is presented
If you wish to participate in public comment via zoom
You can use the raise your hand tool when the item is called during the public comment session
Speakers will be invited to speak and will have a set time to share their comments a countdown timer will appear for their
convenience and when the time is up the microphone will be muted. All raised
hands outside of public comment will be lowered to avoid confusion. Once public
comment is open hands may be raised to speak. At this point I move to agenda
item number three and Madam Clerk I do believe you will be introducing this
item. Yes Mayor thank you one moment while I pull up the presentation. All
Thank you Mayor again this is Sarah Bunting, City Clerk for the City of San
Leandro. The item before you tonight is the City Council's opportunity to
interview and potentially appoint a member of the community to fill the
existing District 2 vacancy on the City Council. We'll start with a very brief
overview of the charter requirements that mandate how the city fills
vacancies on the council. And then we'll briefly talk about tonight's interview
process, the process of voting for nominations and appointments, and
potential steps if the council does not make an appointment this evening. So by
means of background, the city charter is the enabling legislation that guides the
city's process for filling the vacancy and fundamentally requires that a
vacancy on the council be filled by appointment by the City Council within
60 days of the appointment or the vacancy existing on the council. If the
council does not make an appointment then the council does not make an
appointment by the deadline, the 60 days, then the City Council must call for a
special election for the vacancy to be filled by a vote of the people. The
Timeline for this evening's process began with the vacancy when former council member as a Vado vacated his position on December 10th
Which initiated that 60-day timeline?
council action on February 17th the directed staff to proceed with an application process and
applications were circulated available online in the city clerk's office and
12 applications were received seven of which met the eligibility requirements in the city charter which include
Residency in district two for this vacancy and being a registered district district to voter
again, the deadline to appoint would be April 11th and
If no appointment is made tonight the council can continue deliberations at another meeting
the next regular council meeting would be April 6th or the council could also
vote to call for a special election and fill the vacancy that way. If the
council does need to proceed to calling for a special election, the staff does
recommend that the special election be consolidated with the November election
this year. The reason for that is the date is one that can be operated by the
the registrar of voters and that election is already fully budgeted for in the existing
fiscal year budget. If a different election date were selected, the costs could be considerably
more ranging from the low almost $200,000 to over $1.2 million based on the per-registered
of voter costs from the Alameda County Register of Voters.
I mentioned that 12 applications were received and 7 of those were eligible.
The eligible applicants in the order of receipt are from Leo Sheridan, James Aguilar, Lewis
Mendoza, Emily Chandler, Robert Buletau, Edward Hernandez and Tiare Pena. For
interviews this evening, the interview order will be randomly selected by the
city clerk and the candidates will be asked to leave the council chambers at
that time to be sequestered in the sister city gallery right across the
hall. The candidates will be brought in in the order that's randomly selected
for them and the mayor will ask each candidate for a 92nd introductory
remarks. Then each member of the City Council and the mayor will have four
minutes for questions and answers of each candidate and we will run the
timer just to help everybody stay on track. And we do ask that the questions
that the council asks of the interview candidates reframed from touching on any of the protected
characteristics, some of which we have listed up here on the slide, but in general, things
about someone's gender, religious affiliation, age, things of that nature, shouldn't be factored
into your questions.
For the nomination portion, the mayor will ask for nominations from the council.
Any applicant who receives a nomination is then eligible for consideration, but if an
applicant did not receive a nomination, at that point they would be removed from consideration.
For applicants who received a nomination, the city clerk will create a random voting
order and the vote will be called in that order.
If a person receives four votes, they would be selected for appointment, and then Council
at that time could make a motion and a second to adopt the resolution to appoint.
And if we've gone through that process and we have not yet received a nomination with
four votes, we can repeat that process.
Council can continue deliberating, and we can do another vote.
again if there is no majority nominee at tonight's council meeting the City
Council may continue deliberations at the next regular City Council meeting
on April 6th or could proceed to adopting the resolution calling for the
special election to fill the vacancy. So again the recommendation from staff
tonight is to conduct the interviews and if possible potentially make an
appointment at tonight's City Council meeting, or continue the deliberations,
or adopt the resolution calling for the special election. And with that, staff is
available if there are any questions. So do we have any questions from Council
members on the process at this time? Councilmember Bolt. Yes, when we, when we're
talking about the nominations part, does it need a second or is it just, it does
is not okay. And in that scenario, you can nominate more than a singular council member
can nominate more than one person. Yes. Thank you. Vice Mayor, please.
Thank you. Just to clarify for the folks that are listening in, we could continue this process
up to the April 6th. However, there is a drop deadline. What is that date again?
The council's deadline to appoint is 60 days from the date the vacancy was created or April
11th. So that's April 11th. So April 11th is a drop
date, but we could continue this until April 6th meeting. Thank you.
I can just clarify that answer because I thought you were going to follow up and ask, we could
have a special meeting on the 10th of the 9th. Are we in agreement on that? We could, okay,
thank you. Thank you. And then just to,
not a question, but I would like to submit a consideration for my colleagues is to when you
are asking your questions to be upfront about the number of questions so that
the person who's answering them can allot their time. That was something that
during my appointment process was I had to take time to ask the question so I
think if we can just say I have three questions four minutes on the clock so
that the person who's answering the question can time themselves I think
would be appreciated. And that is those are all my questions and comments. Okay
Seeing no other questions, I have a question about access to electronics,
access to cell phones. My recollection wasn't in the prior process, no one in
the sister city's room had access to any electronics. The idea being that they
couldn't be texted by someone that's listening to the meeting about
the questions that are being heard. Thank you mayor. For tonight's interview
process we have the applicants sequestered in the sister city gallery
right across the way with member of the city clerk's office and I believe the
assistant city manager is there as well we've asked them in writing and I've
verbally reiterated tonight as well to refrain from watching the meeting
listening to the meeting or communicating with anyone regarding the
meeting to me I just want to be clear it is my preference that nobody have
access to any electronics during the meeting because I know as a matter of
fact that in meetings like this I'm not suggesting that it happened at your
particular situation vice mayor that people do send text messages to people
that are sequestered and so I am I am concerned that even though the draw is
random people that are later in the interview process have the advantage of
knowing what the questions are and so I've got a question from my colleagues
do people have concerns about the same risk councilmember bolt I don't and my
thing is if we can't get through this process without trusting we're screwed
so I mean to pull their phone now I mean I would personally if I was in their
issues sitting in that room, I'd want to be doing emails or something. So it's on
their merit and we get what we get, right? If we don't understand that now.
Councilmember Bowen. Yeah, I am supportive of that. When we were talking about this
process, I was under the impression that we were going to be consistent with the
process that we had the last time, which we absolutely did spend time deliberating
on but it had to do with trying to remove as much bias as possible and to
try to make it as even as possible and so the idea of sequestering the
candidates and then removing access to their cell phones as well as asking
council members to ask the same questions that they choose to ask to
every single candidate so that is fair that every candidate is able to provide
that same information. So that's what I would want to ensure fidelity and also just fairness
in this process. Councillor Simon? As far as the cell phones go, I would say
we expect all our candidates to have integrity. We ask them not to use their phones for communication
on this process and I expect him I would expect him to follow that I mean I think that I agree
with council member Boulte they understand that so I'm good with that the second is I
agree with council member Bowen on the questions we should ask the same questions to all the
candidates to be fair to each one vice mayor thank you um I'm it's my recollection and I
I don't know, 100% sure that no one took their phones out
when we were sequestered in the back.
I'm okay with just trusting y'all.
I don't have, I have specific questions
on people's applications, so I have some questions
that are for all the candidates,
but I have specific questions to each candidate
based on their application.
So my process would not fit with what y'all are recommending.
And I don't think we have to,
I mean, it's a consideration that it's a consideration,
but we don't have to do that, correct?
Councillor Meraged.
Thank you, Mayor Gonzalez.
I just have some concerns.
I mean, some of these folks that are applying
for the position have families.
So, if they have their phone with them and they're contacted,
I think that's just something that needs to be allowed.
But like my Councillor Colle-naudevant had mentioned
regards to merit. I think, you know, folks know whether or not to check their
phone but if there's an emergency where they need to absolutely look at their
phone to contact family that's something that I, you know, I support. Okay at this
point in time I do want to do a quick record clarification. Your slide was
correct regarding February 10th but you spoke and said December 10th from
Councilmember Azebedo's departure so just so we have a perfectly clear record
we will clean that up and then we will come to public comment on this item.
Mayor we have not received any comment cards from here in the room and there
are presently two hands raised online. Okay let's open up public comment online.
speak. Our first online speaker is Douglas Spaulding.
Thank you. Good evening, Council members. Sorry you're in the meeting room there and
not out enjoying the beautiful weather. But I think this is the final hour for San Leandro.
I believe that Athenix is about to rise from the loss of former Council Member Azevedo.
I just think it's, first of all, tremendous that we have so many people that applied for
this position, and I would include the five folks who ended up being not eligible.
I think there are many good choices here.
I, for example, I appreciate Mr. Mendoza, I've enjoyed hearing his comments as we talked
about the whole platform of housing protections.
I think it's an interesting idea to look at the makeup,
the gender balance in the council now and think,
well, what would it mean if we were to add another woman?
How might that shift the dynamics?
But I also think that we have an opportunity
to shift the dynamics in a different way,
which is to go younger and not to go older.
So I am calling in to support the candidacy of James Aguilar, whom I've known for quite some time
because we both originate from the San Lorenzo Unified School District. While he was never a
student of mine, he was over at San Lorenzo while I was heading up East Bay Arts. I've grown to
know him quite a bit through union organizing because we were both on the organizing committee
that successfully won raises for teachers and allowed me to retire.
but you know james has like a tremendous amount of energy he is a very um affable person very easy
to work with very um concerned about issues of equity very inclusive uh and so i think you know
it's kind of like the you know uh giant's opening day lineup who do you choose who do you choose i
I think this is the best person.
Thank you.
Your time has elapsed.
The next speaker is Sam Leandro, Chamber of Commerce.
Hello.
Can you hear me OK?
Yes.
Hey, everybody.
Good evening.
It's Emily Grago, President and CEO of the Sam Leandro
Chamber of Commerce.
I wanted to just make a couple of remarks tonight
as you guys start this process and just emphasize
the importance of this appointment
for the economic future of our community
here in San Leandro.
As you know, District 2 includes
key commercial corridors and employers.
It's essential that the appointee
is prepared to support business retention,
attract new investment and help foster a predictable
and supportive business environment.
This person needs to understand the critical role
of the local businesses driving economic vitality
may have to be committed to economic development,
and they have to understand what is needed
for the big picture,
and how they have to just stay the course
so that we can create a better economy here in San Leandro
by bringing in businesses and retaining those that are here.
We also think that there needs to be a willingness
to partner effectively with the business community,
a strong relationship between the city
and its employers is essential
to advancing thoughtful economic development
that benefits all community members.
So good luck tonight.
We hope you make a good decision and strong decision
and that it is reflective of what it is needed
to keep San Leandro viable, which is its local economy.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next speaker is Alvaro Ramos.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes.
Okay.
So what I wanted to say is that a healthy society
is one that grants a chance to those who have not served.
District two deserves new leadership.
I advise the mayor and council members
to vote for Robert Bouletau.
Robert Bouletau is the candidate
who courageously initiated a process
for local representation in our government.
Robert Bullettau gave the people of San Leandro
the opportunity to vote for a city of neighborhoods.
Robert Bullettau chose to improve democracy
in our constitutional republic.
District 2 needs a political representative
who is committed to the people of the district.
It is the people of this city who have to live with the consequences of all your decisions.
In 2020, District 2 experienced a once in a century series of crises from pollution
from wildfires, political crisis, economic crisis, and disease outbreak from the COVID-19 pandemic.
looking back. There was no recovery from any of our problems. Doing nothing about our present
crisis is not an option for our city. I'm asking you, please do not regress District 2 back to Ed
Hernandez. The people don't want to go back. This city deserves someone new so that we can move
forward together and comment. Thank you. The next online speaker is Jim Cola.
Hi City Council members. I asked with a task tonight that helped me get appointed to the
City Council. I would encourage you to appoint James Aguilar. He's been on the
school board for years. He's proficient in finance. He's brilliant, a young man who has
overcome many obstacles in his life. He's passionate about public safety. He wears all
three hats. I'm talking about labor, climate, environmentalism, and social justice. I absolutely
trust him the most to continue a strong rent stabilization ordinance. He might tweak it a
little, but I think that's really critical. He has some family members that have been on house,
and I think you need a person that builds bridges, and that's what James has done all his life.
He's a uniter, not a divider, a team builder.
And I don't think you can do any better.
I've read a lot of applications over the years
of people that are applying for jobs.
And I've never read one that was as good as James
in covering all the bases.
It hurts me to see the city council so divided
in a city that I love.
James is the one that can help heal
and move our city forward in a progressive direction.
Wow, I'd encourage you to reread his application
if you don't think that he's the best one.
It just is shocking how good it was.
And please vote for James.
He definitely has my support, thank you.
Thank you.
Mayor, that concludes the online comments
and we did end up receiving one card from the room.
to bring in our speaker up.
We will bring our speaker up.
When you are speaking into your
mic, can you make sure that your
mic is pointed at your mouth.
Sometimes you are speaking off
to the side, which makes it hard
for people online to hear you.
Be mindful of speaking straight
into the mic.
can you hear me now? good online people? yeah okay so I don't want to you know
take any make any suggestions for who to appoint but I did want to thank all the
people who applied I was reading their applications online and they look all
So, we are all serious and
qualified.
And I think it is very brave of
them to want to get involved
with the council after the last
year that the council has had.
It's been a rough year off of
the council.
I hope they realize how much
work for how modest pay council
members actually put in.
And I did want to just note one
Paul Atawa's contribution to democracy
that I don't think was named
was pushing for district elections.
So I did want to point out the irony
of someone being appointed to a position
after working so hard for pushing for district elections.
Of course, you'd have to face one if appointed very soon.
But again, thank you for everyone who applied.
Thank you for your interest and willingness to get involved.
Thank you.
Mayor, that concludes the comment cards we received.
Okay, so at this point in time,
we will proceed with our interview process.
As part of the interview process,
we have our city clerk using a random number generator.
I think you had used the state of California's
Secretary of State Generator, is that correct?
Mayor, we are using random.org.
Well, that's good enough for me.
One moment.
So I have the names pre-typed in alphabetical order
by last name.
And I am pasting them into our random generator.
And when I click randomize, that will be our order.
All right.
So the order of interviews will be James Aguilar, Emily
Chandler 3rd Edward Hernandez
4th Tiare Pina
5th Robert Boulatao
6th Leo Sheridan and 7th Lewis Mendoza
at this time
Candidates are now asked to join my staff in the sister cities gallery to wait for your term to be interviewed
All right James if you're ready
Mister angular welcome. Thank you. So we're doing this process
What we'll do is we'll give each council member four minutes, but you are welcome to start with a general
Background of yourself why you want the position etc for about a minute and a half. Sure. Thank you
Mayor Gonzalez vice mayor Viveros Walton council members. I appreciate you for your time this evening and your consideration
I respectfully ask for your appointment to the City Council district to seat
I have lived in San Leandro for over 13 years and this is the city where I became the person who I am today
I'm grateful to have been involved in the leadership of our city in many capacities notably on the school board
In local nonprofits such as San Leandro 2050 as an educator and more
I also bring lived experience as someone from a union family as a queer Latino young person with a breadth of experience
In and a drive for public service
I'm grateful to have known all of you for many years and have strong working relationships with each of you
I consider myself a big-picture systems thinker seeking out solutions at every corner to the issues that we have before us and
Someone that can bridge ideas and people together
Because that is the leadership that is needed especially now
if I am able to serve beside you I hope to work to bring the council to consensus leadership and
effective governance, address the budget deficit facing our city, including over $300 million
in unfunded capital improvement projects, work to build programs and policy that will
tackle the needs of San Leandro's children, youth, families, and work beside our community
partners as collaborators, hold ourselves to account in our commitment to San Leandro's
renters, and work authentically to build trust between our community and the people we represent.
I thank you for your consideration this evening at this point in time we'll move to individual
council members just go ahead and buzz in and I will call you in turn councilmember
bold yes I have I'm going to have one question all night and it's going to be the same question
so what is the primary issue that drives you to want to serve for district two and then
in your opinion what is a viable solution to that problem and how would you work to
to accomplish that solution?
Sure.
I mean, the one single issue that'll hit the desk
of this council in April will be the budget.
We'll be discussing what do we do
with this budget deficit?
And so I'm really proud to have worked in nonprofits
where I've been a part of audit committees,
where I've been a part of budget.
And specifically right now,
I'm on the declining enrollment task force
in Santa Rosa Unified School District.
And so we're dealing with these issues of cuts
of what do we do with a budget in a world of budget crisis,
right?
And so I have three solutions actually,
the three things that can really mend
and bring our budget solution together,
which is first, we need to talk about revenue generation,
right?
In the midst of cuts, we need to discuss,
well, what's our plan?
And I believe that means we keep our young residents in mind
because they're gonna be our future.
Those are the people who are going to be here for years
and potentially create generations of families
like we already have, but we need to keep them here.
So centering our conversation around young people
and young families in San Leandro.
Working more directly with our city partners,
specifically leveraging their grant capabilities
because they have endless resources
that we need to either re-tap into or tap into completely.
And I'm speaking, of course, from the perspective
of someone who's worked for San Leandro 2050
where we worked with CARB and Aclima
and all kinds of different air quality organizations
that can provide the resources
that we as a city need and deserve.
And then of course, on the economic development end,
we also need to take a look at other top issues, right?
Specifically revenue generation
through recruitment of businesses, right?
And just as Ms. Griego in her public comments said,
we need to center our businesses in this conversation.
And so I find that to be important to me.
And so what does that look like?
That looks like authentically collaborating
instead of checking a box and saying,
hey, we included our businesses.
We need to have them at the table too.
And so those are just a few things to capture your question.
Councilman Burke, you'll add.
Thank you, Mayor Gonzalez and thank you, James.
My question is, we obviously get to nominate
who we would like to see in this position.
why shouldn't my colleagues and I support you?
Sure.
I think we are at a really important time
in San Leandro's history.
And we'd be naive to think that we haven't seen trauma
from all of San Leandro politics,
that we haven't seen things just go south.
And San Leandro residents, they see that.
And so, as was kind of mentioned in public comment,
we need a consensus builder.
we need someone who has had the years of relationships like I do with not only y'all but our school
board, our community partners, and I feel like I'm the person to do that. But in addition,
I think it's also been said and it was said well, young voice, because as I mentioned
answering Councilmember Bolt's question, the young perspective is important. Understanding
that we also balance the perspective of San Leandro's older population, which makes up
a huge amount of San Leandrons, but I'm looking at the future too, right? And so balancing
those is something that I'm very capable and willing of doing. And so I see that as being
a defining difference between myself and the other candidates.
Thank you. That's my question. Councilmember Bowen.
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, James, for stepping up and applying for this appointment. I have
I have two questions.
One, and I think you kind of spoke a little bit
to it earlier, but what specifically motivates you
to step into the role right now, given the challenges,
and what would success look like for you
if you were only in this role for a short period?
Sure, it's a really good and poignant question,
especially given the length of what would be the term
all the way up to December.
But let me start with the first part of that question.
I'm really motivated by children and families
as evidenced by working in education,
as a high school teacher and activities director,
evidenced by working with nonprofit organizations
in the education space.
But being on the school board really informed me
the importance of needing to keep children and families here.
And so if it's one very big issue
that I'm passionate about, it's getting on the council
and doing what I can to keep those families here
because that's San Leandro,
keeping that multi-generational feeling in San Leandro,
but also keeping them here because we need them.
So working toward programming with the library,
working toward programming with Parks and Recreation,
really important to me to attacking that one issue
of children and families.
And so that's kind of my primary motivation
other than obviously budget and all of the list of things.
Thank you, and then my second question,
District 2 residents have a wide range
of needs and perspectives
and not all voices are equally heard.
Can you share a specific example of how you've built trust
with the community that did initially feel represented
and how would that shape the way you advocate for district
too specifically on the council?
Sure, I'll take it to when I was 18 years old
and I was that one person who was like,
yeah, I'll run for school board.
Of course, when I first walked for the role,
I had doors shut in my face.
I had people tell me, oh, you're too young for that.
You need to go step down and learn something.
That's been a narrative all my adult life so far.
And so I'm not new to being pushed out of conversation
because of who I am.
In addition to being LGBTQ,
that's something I've experienced
in different kinds of settings,
walking in the classroom, believe it or not.
And so I've learned a little.
And what it takes is a listener,
is someone who's gonna authentically listen
and grow to understand issues through dialogue.
And that's just how I work.
That's always how I've worked with children.
That's how I've worked with my colleagues
is I wanna understand you.
I wanna be able to grow and build that rapport,
that relationship.
And so that's what I'll do in district two
is make a good faith effort to get out there
in the community, much like council member Acevedo
and a lot of you all do is go be there with people
and learn from people.
I'm a learner.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Welcome to Vice Mayor.
Thank you, James, for submitting your name
for our consideration.
I'll have three questions.
Two of them will be asked of everyone,
and the third one will be specific to your application.
What is your perception of your Spherian control
and influence as a member of the council,
and how would you talk about that?
Excellent question.
I would confidently say that I've known all of you
for quite a while, and I appreciate the times
that we've sat down.
we've had conversations and we've had dialogue,
whether or not it has been,
hey, we've met a couple of times here and there
over the years, nonetheless,
I have communicated with you all
and I've been with you all in various meetings
at some point within the last seven years,
seven odd years, or shorter, right?
And so I feel that I have a good rapport
and relationship with a lot of you
and that we can really utilize that
as a way to bridge the council.
Thank you.
What is your position on the city's rent stabilization ordinance that was just voted
on recently?
Yeah.
My position is we don't need to touch it.
We need to keep it as is and we need to make sure that we uphold our commitment and renew
when time is here.
Thank you, James.
Thank you.
Third question.
So feel free to elaborate as much as you want.
This is based on your application.
You mentioned in your application that Bayfair should be accessible to new businesses.
Can you expand a little bit on what your vision, how you would champion and leverage the existing
assets in the Bayfair area?
Sure.
Yeah, I would like a little bit more elaboration.
So your thoughts around that, meaning the Bayfair complex or the zoned areas around
Bayfair because I have answers for both.
Okay.
Yes, ma'am.
So one thing that I did when I was looking at this role was I took a look at ArcGIS and
zoned areas around Bayfair and there's so much underutilized property that I
would love to have conversations with you all about such as a zone right
behind the theater a couple of zones kind of in the north area of the Bayfair
property underutilized areas that I would love to work with you all to bring
in new housing new businesses which kind of gets to your question is what are we
doing with vacant lots? What are we doing with that property? And how can we bring those
businesses? And I'm learning to, right? This is definitely a learning process for me. And
I would love to be able to learn from you all who I consider mentors and experts in
a lot of different aspects and respects. And so how I would do that is I would look
at those specific areas is where can we build? Where can we attract? What can we do with
that is really where my mind goes.
Councilmember Simon, please. Thank you, James. I have one question. This is specific to District 2.
District 2, you have a lot of unique challenges.
Bayfair, as Vice Mayor has mentioned, is a challenge and lots of opportunities there.
It's prime for growth with the mall as well as the BART area with Housing for BART. There's abandoned rail line
that runs through your district, specifically behind Bayfares, lots of issues there.
They're unhoused. There are illegal dumping going on there. And adjacent to your district is the John George psychiatric facility right next door.
And many people that are released from John George still have mental health issues that come into your district.
How will you work to address these specific issues to improve our community and help those in need?
Totally. Well, that kind of speaks to a lot of lived experience.
I've had both family who have been unhoused, but also who have actually gone through John George. And so I
Get it. I've seen it and what I've seen is the best support are the people on the outside because
John George works under a very complicated, but also broken system
And so I would love to see our community partners come in
and provide the resources that we can't always give and so I would love to get to get in the
Nonprofit community get in with our business community and see what kind of resources they have and really leverage what they have
To do better right because we can do better and frankly we need to do better
So I would like to work with those people to make some magic happen give us our community some resources specifically the communities you say
That you know are exiting a system that are exiting these systems up on that hill. So I that's what I would do
Thank you. Thank you, sir
OK, so I've got four questions, so simpler answers.
First, tell me about an ethical challenge
that you faced and how it got resolved.
Ooh, an ethical challenge.
An ethical challenge I faced was leaving the school board.
And here's why.
I realized that I was in the middle of my service
on the board, and a lot of people
would say, why don't you just continue?
Why don't you just do it?
And I realized it just was not that easy.
So I had to balance this idea of leaving service
for also starting something new and, in a sense,
not staying there for the sake of staying there, right?
Because I think that a lot of politicians
in this era of politics stay just to stay as a career.
And so I felt I did what I wanted to do,
what I liked to do, and I built the relationships,
and I chose to step down.
And that was a hard, ethical decision to make.
Thank you.
You've gone certainly through unconscious bias training.
What have you learned about yourself in terms of your own biases?
That's a powerful question.
Well, I think it would be naive to thank anybody that nobody has.
If you're an individual and you say, oh, I don't have a bias,
it's not true.
Every human being has bias, whether it
be gender, whether it be sexual orientation bias,
whether it be any kind of bias, race bias.
And I do, as everyone else does, right?
And I think that we need to be clear in acknowledging that.
And that's really important when it comes to policy making
is at least as an individual confronting that
and understanding that.
And so yes, I've done bias training
as an AP psychology teacher, I even taught bias.
And so it's something I'm really familiar with.
Talk to me a little bit about
the infrastructure challenges that we have.
Sure.
And I'll lay the problem out this way
And you can reframe it if you want to.
You talked about your union background.
People advocate for laborers.
People advocate for workers.
No one really advocates for the buildings,
for the roofs of the buildings, for the streets.
No one's clamoring for the sidewalks.
I fight for the sidewalks.
Talk to me about how we're going to be
able to navigate this if we're only concerned about workers.
Totally.
I mean, my first response to that is
when you go to San Leandro residents
and you ask, what are your number one issues?
A lot of people think that it's some bigger grand issue,
but it's actually the pothole on the street.
It's the look of the street.
And so those issues may really matter to residents.
And so I appreciate that question,
but what to do and how to attract individuals
to work on these projects.
I mean, we need to treat our building trades partners
as our partners and as our equals,
especially in major projects.
And so I would be first to connect with them
and to make sure that they are a part of it.
But I also think that means we need to uphold commitments
in our project labor agreements, right?
That's really important to me as a union organizer,
but also generally for cost of living,
for making sure that our employees
or who we are asking on these projects
get what they deserve.
And then my last question
focuses on collaboration with the schools.
sure. How can we better collaborate with the schools? Yeah I mean first and
foremost I personally have really great relationships with most of the
principals in San Leandro Unified with the board itself with the superintendent
and so I can leverage that but I think it starts with the conversation with
district staff is where is the balance between the relationship between the
city of San Leandro and San Lorenzo San Leandro by district San Leandro Unified
school district what does that look like we've never defined it and so I would
like us to sit down and work on that definition of hey how do we collaborate
and so I think it starts with district staff and then of course inviting in the
Board of Education as partners over time. Thank you. Let's give you a minute to
wrap it up if you want to have a closing statement. Sure thank you mayor Gonzalez
Yes, I want to reiterate my appreciation for you all for your time this evening.
I have laid out to you a little bit of some vision for San Leandro and how we can work
together to make it happen.
I have the qualifications and experience that uniquely position me for effective leadership
on the council and in our city.
My story is reflective of our city's younger residents who deserve representation and a
voice in the issues. The decisions of which will affect their lives for decades. I have
the aptitude and spirit that of what it takes, I do my homework, I can help us push our city
forward and I thank you mayor, vice mayor, council members for your time and your consideration
this evening. Thank you. Thank you. So at this point in time you are welcome to stay
in the room if you like. You can leave. It will not affect in any way how you are perceived.
Sure, okay. Thank you all
Madam clerk if you could call her next person
Yes, mayor one moment. We will bring in Emily Chandler
momentarily
Alright, we've been joined by our next interviewee. Emily Chandler
So Miss Chandler what we'll do is we'll begin with about
92nd a minute and a half introduction each council member will ask you up to four minutes worth of Q&A
hopefully they will announce. Hey, I'm going to ask one question or three
questions so that you can mentally prepare, and then we'll let you close
with about a one-minute summary of what you'd like to tell us. So you may begin.
Hello, my name is Emily Chandler. Thank you for this time to apply for City
Council in District 2, and to address you directly. I want to bring my
unique perspective as a political outsider to the challenges that we face
and district 2 in San Leandro. I've experienced many of these challenges in
my daily life as a wife, mother and just a constituent that loves our city. I would
love to address traffic calming measures, bike safety, air quality, homelessness,
low-income housing, small businesses, and facilities and academics at SLUSD
schools. I have more written on those things. I didn't know we would be so
brief to be 90 seconds so I will give that fold to you in writing if you want
to see the details that I have. I think San Leandro's strength is in our racial
and ethnic diversity and I believe my experience as a therapist and as a woman
can bring some needed balance, understanding, and compassion that will
not only benefit our city but also benefit the council as well. My field,
mental health, my volunteerism at Jefferson Elementary, Bancroft, San
the Andrew 2050 gardens and my perspective on life have shaped my
attitude of service. Most days I'm at Alta Bates Hospital serving acute
patients during a full day of programming and in the evenings I enjoy
walking our dogs and supporting our children with their activities. By
bringing together government, business, schools, the community of faith and
ordinary residents like me, we can discover new ways to solve complex
problems. Thank you. So at this point in time we'll go to council members for your questions.
Council Member Bolt. Yes. Thank you, Emily. I have one question for you. What is a primary
issue that drives you to want to serve in District 2? And what is a viable solution
for that problem and how would you work to accomplish it? Okay, thank you for asking.
I would say safety, it's a broad umbrella.
I understand.
When I think about it in terms of my daily life
and the lives of the people that live in District 2,
I think of starting simple,
safe transit for seniors and for young people,
including public transit and bike safety.
I think in terms of larger scopes of safety,
I think of the fatality that happened
near my home recently in February
because of side shows and illegal driving.
So safety is an issue.
I think that could be approached in many ways,
but I think it's something that makes us really want to live
here and stay here and engage with the city.
Council member Aguilar.
Thank you, Mayor Cassells.
Thank you, Emily, for stepping up
and applying for this position.
So this is just a standard question.
Answer how you will.
Why should my colleagues and I support you for this DTC?
As I said in my opening statement, I feel like I could be like a young new voice, and
I think, you know, just being that person who lives in the city and is really curious
about what's going on, I don't have years of politics.
So if that's what you're looking for, that's not me, but I do think that's an advantage.
And I have a few people that wrote in on my behalf, and if you're able to read those,
especially Erin from Bethel community has said that our city is in need of people who are able to work together and
She believes that I can do that. And so do I
Thank you
We'll be going to councilmember Bowen
Thank You mayor and thank you Emily for being here. I have two questions
And you have the time up there for to answer it how you will
The first question is what specifically motivates you to step into the role right now given the challenges and what would success look?
Like you were only in this role for a short period. Yeah
I
feel more evaded because of the
Unfortunate events that happened in district two. I don't feel represented as a constituent and that I do feel some anger about
I think people in district who are paying attention should be angry because that
you know, it's
unfortunate and embarrassing situation for the city of San Leandro and
That motivates me to feel like there must be something that can be done
It's not just out of that unfortunate situation that I motivated
been interested in service and working with communities in many different ways and
I feel like a deeply political person and always have so this is just an outgrowth of that as many decades long
But that's like the unique experience that kind of makes it feel like who else is going to step up
And I think that I really want to do it because I want to be represented in a way
not just like another person on like the board which I understand a role is to play as
Someone who cares for the city of Leandro San Leandro collectively
But also specifically to represent district 2 and I haven't felt that it's been done recently
Thank you. And that actually dovetails into my second question about district 2 residents
They have a wide range of needs and perspectives and not all voices are equally heard
Can you share a specific example of how you've built trust with the with community that didn't initially feel represented?
And how would that shape how you advocate for district to on the council?
Yeah
Thank you, no good things to say
So there is a project that's undergoing
underway in
The housing project that's on Bancroft Avenue
So currently there's a garden and a proposal for there to be housing units for five
Single units that haven't been established yet. And so it's a lot of boring paperwork
But that's something that I feel like
Just serving the people who are houseless in my district who need a place
You could say five units that haven't yet been made is nothing
But that is definitely something that I feel like is a start
And I would love to do more things like that including seeing that come to pass as well.
Thank you.
Vice Mayor, please.
Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for submitting your name for our consideration. I appreciate your time.
I have four questions. Two of them I've asked, I will ask of everyone, and the other two are specific to your application.
What is your perception of your fear and control and influence as a member of this body?
well I've seen the the proceedings so I think to be fair and to be strong as
much as I can say there so to listen to others who are on the council while
we're working together and I know that one vote is one vote I appreciate that
Sometimes things do not go every council person's way.
Thank you.
What is your position on the city's rent stabilization
ordinance that was just passed?
I've been a recipient of low rent,
and that's when I was in the city of Oakland.
For 11 years I lived in a rent stabilized unit
that I am still very close with people who live there
benefit very much from it. It feels very personal to me that it's a Bay Area wide
problem and that is one thing, not the only thing that can be used as a way to
make housing available for all and affordable for all. But I think that it's
something that we need to take really seriously in the City of San Leandro.
Thank you. How would you approach the upcoming budget decisions that this body
would make? If you were to be appointed, what would be your approach to the
upcoming budget decisions? I understand that San Leandro is at a deficit and
that there's really difficult decisions to make. I think by being the newest
council person by listening first. I don't think that any quick solution is
going to work but I would like to be thoughtful about what real solutions
could be. Thank you and this is your last question. You are one of the few
applicants that explicitly mentioned sustainability in your application. You
addressed it in the 3-5 year horizon and the 10-20 year horizon. Can you expand a little
bit about, you talk a little bit about infrastructure investment, but based on where we are fiscally,
what would your approach be in terms of championing sustainability in your role as council member
if you were to be appointed?
I've been in the field of marriage and family therapy for 15-20 years, depending on how
you count. And about five years ago, I embarked on a doctorate specifically around climate
related issues that people are not getting addressed in the mental health field. So to
support people who are serving very distressed families who are losing housing because of
fires and that sort of thing. So it feels very much like something that one could help
on the individual level from a one to one therapy session. But it's not going to improve
lives of people if we're not thinking about it more broadly. So I feel very
passionate about it and I actually think that there are some very difficult
long-term decisions but there are other things just like having information
easily accessible for all residents to know where to find that so that they can
protect themselves from low air quality and other things like that. We do some of
that in the state of California but I think that we could do more in the city
of San Leandro. Thank you for your time. Councilmember Simon please. Thank you for applying and
thank you for your presentation. I have specific questions that relate to unique challenges
for District 2. Bayfair is prime growth for a mall or for some business growth as well as the
BART and the housing for BART area for housing. There's an abandoned rail line that runs through
your district specifically behind Bayfair. There's unhoused that live there, illegal dumping. The John
George psychiatric facility is right next door and unincorporated and many are let go are still in
need of mental health and come into district two and to the Bayfair area. How will you work to
address these specific issues to improve the community and to help those in need? I've noticed
this because I live very close to 150th and 14th so this is something that you see every day when
you live there. And I don't think that it can be solved just within district 2. I
think it's something that district 2, whoever will be appointed, will need to
speak intimately with the City Council and the mayor to work towards those
things. It's quite a big thing to untangle, but at a very human level I do
think that transportation and just better communication and access to
basic resources is a place to start. So something that I've been curious about
as a constituent and would love to move forward with as City Council member is
being able to work on where people are going from mental health institutions
and if they need support in that just even if we are tracking that and not
necessarily providing a service. Okay so I've got the remaining questions I've
got four questions for you so keep that in mind first question tell me about an
ethical challenge that you faced and how you resolve that how you addressed it.
Ooh, there's lots of good ones when you work in mental health.
They happen every day.
Yeah, the one that comes first in mind is my entry,
my new entry into the field of marriage and family therapy.
Oh yeah, to start the time at four minutes.
And working with a supervisor who's licensed
that I worked under, so legally I could not practice
unless I was using her license to do so and having an ethical violation with a client
that I had to stick to my guidelines in my field, but also discuss with her which she
disagreed with me, so I ended up losing that position and it was a low pay position, but
I would say that the moral of the story is a big one for my life and my career, is that
that some things are not able to continue that are unethical.
So I did find another role and it was great,
but it was a very difficult thing
in that moment to stand up to.
Thank you.
So second question, we've got a lot of deferred maintenance
and the situation will have workers that need to be paid.
Our situation can be characterized
as a trade-off between workers and buildings,
workers and roofs, workers and roads.
How do you navigate that?
Because we've got unions advocating for workers,
but no one's really advocating for the roads
or for the sidewalks or for the roof of the building.
Yeah.
Can you say the first part of the question again?
Yeah.
How do we navigate this situation
where we've got advocates for one,
but not advocates for the other?
Yeah.
I am a union member at my current role as a therapist.
And it is tricky.
There are a lot of parties that need to talk together.
My thought in terms of this in particular
is that I might need to know about
more details from both parties.
I know in the end that the basic things
that the residents of San Leandro see
as simple as sidewalks, it can seem really small,
but that's such a quality of life issue.
So I would very much want to work as much as I could
to get those basic quality of life issues addressed.
I know it's complicated.
A lot of us have done some type of unconscious bias training.
I'm assuming you've done that as well.
Tell me a little bit about what you've learned
about yourself through that training.
Oh, this is a distillation of too many years of therapy.
Yeah, I think the first thing you learn
when you sit down with a patient,
is that not to assume anything
and be curious and take good history with them.
So I think that's why to a previous question
I said listening as the beginning.
I think that is how I would approach being on the board.
And I think it's an ongoing process
as the other thing I would say to that.
And then last, tell me a little bit about collaboration
with the schools.
how can the city do a better job of collaborating
with the schools?
Yeah, I've seen some really wonderful things happening
at Bancroft Middle School this year and last.
I have a student at San Leandro High,
a student at Bancroft.
Something that is really small at San Leandro High
that I think would be lovely to grow more
is just more people being exposed to the trades.
We have really outstanding classes
and we have a small cohort of people
that are getting access to various businesses,
which is so lovely.
I'd just like to do more of that.
I think it would be really wonderful.
San Leona has these amazing places around at field work
and we have Ghirardelli and Toriani and other places too.
So I feel like just encouraging students to do that more
would be wonderful.
And so now having gone through all of the questions,
Why don't you take a minute to summarize
for us whatever you'd like to highlight.
Yeah, I moved to San Leandro in 2021.
And I think it's quite a lovely place to be
with weather and a diverse community.
And I do think it would be quite an honor
to be on city council.
I know that I've just attended many online meetings
and seeing like how our city works,
but I know there's plenty more to learn
and I'd love to work with you all moving forward
in the future, so thank you for your time.
Thank you.
At this point in time, you are welcome to stay in the room.
You can leave if you want to.
You can leave for a while and come back.
You will not be perceived in any way, any differently
for what you do next.
OK, thank you.
So if you can call our next person.
Yes, Mayor, just one moment.
And our next interviewee will be Edward Hernandez.
and staff is bringing him in momentarily.
Thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, this is some after, I'm gonna give you something.
Mayor and Council, our next interviewee is Ed Hernandez.
Thank you, Mayor and Council Members,
for the opportunity to work and talk with you this year.
I appreciate it.
So I'm gonna just make sure that we understand
that you will get 90 seconds.
It's not clear that everyone understood that.
So just be aware of your opening remarks
be limited to about 90 seconds a minute and a half and then at the very end you're gonna
get a minute to wrap up I don't think that was on our slide so just keep that in mind
and then the council members have been very good about announcing the number of questions
okay it's all yours thank you well thank you mayor and council members
city manager city attorney and clerk I really appreciate the opportunity to be here in front of
you many of you know the work my work in San Diego and I appreciate the opportunity to continue
serving our community at a time when steady community-centered leadership is required
and is essential. Over the past two decades, I've served on the Planning Commission, the City Council,
and now the Eden Health District, where we deliver more than $2 million in grants to support our
most vulnerable residents. In the last election, more than 14,000 people, voters, placed their
trust in my leadership, and I carry that trust with humility. During my 2016-2020 term on the
On the city council, I served through some of the most
difficult moments in our recent history,
including early months of COVID-19,
periods of social unrest,
and the tragic shooting of a young man in our community.
Those experiences taught me the importance of calm judgment,
confidentiality, and collaborative problem solving
under pressure.
More recently, on the Eden Health District Board,
I helped secure $1 million for St. Rose Hospital,
our safety net hospital.
I also act as an educator, a Chabot and community colleges.
I've served as a substitute teacher
in the San Lorenzo Unified School District,
which keeps me grounded in the day-to-day responsibilities
our and realities our residents face.
What I offer is a steady hand,
steady hand, governance experience,
public health leadership and the commitment
to ethical, transparent decision-making.
If appointed, my focus will be on rebuilding trust,
sharing partnerships and ensuring
that every resident feels heard,
represented and safe.
Thank you for your consideration.
Okay, we will now go to council questions.
We will begin with council member Bolt.
Thank you, thank you Ed.
I have one question for you for the forum is
what is the primary issue that drives you to want to serve?
In your opinion, what is a viable solution to that problem?
And how would you work to accomplish this solution?
Thank you council member. I think one of the most important things is still about helping people get
safe and affordable housing in our community. You see a lot of affordability concerns around
taking care of themselves mentally and through their own health being able to put food on their
tables and find every which way to make ends meet. I've had to do that experience myself
after my 2024 election. It's like all right, I spent most of the year just trying to run this
campaign, bring our community back in focus,
focusing on public safety.
And I focused on, like, all right, I need to do work.
I put off like half a year in that working.
Me and Stephen worked together throughout the whole time,
really campaigning to move our city forward.
And so I took on the role as an Amazon Flex driver,
which was interesting, very eye opening.
So seeing like, this is what I'm doing now.
I went through the whole Bay Area,
spent tons of miles out there,
really learned and really saw that people
were doing what they need to do.
And I enjoyed it because it was like interesting
to get 50 packages and try and deliver in three hours.
Like, all right, it's a game.
It's not my full-ever reality, but it's my reality right now.
And so it brings a few dollars.
It was good.
Started substitute teaching.
I enjoyed that work as well because I've
been teaching in the past.
And now I'm teaching at Chabot.
It's an opportunity to really work out with our youth
and really focusing on the mental health of our youth
through the Eden Health District.
We're having the Mental Health Youth Summit.
So I'm excited about that on April 11th,
really having a safe space for the youth to come together,
address concerns, and have resources for them.
And that's more critical than ever.
really focusing on youth, especially some foster youth who might be aging out of housing, providing
a safe place for them to grow and contribute to our society. So my focus is not only on the youth,
but also senior. So there's a lot of stuff we can see and we need to do. We just didn't be able to
come together and keep everybody safe. Hopefully that's responsive to your question. It does. Thank
you. Thank you, sir. Councilmember Aguilar. Thank you, Mary Gonzalez, and thank you Ed for applying
I understand that you're
I think we need to step back
and to be able to move
forward.
I have the experience
commitment to be able to
get the job done.
I have done it before.
I've served with you.
I think there's a challenge
that's out there for real
with our budget deficit.
So you know we have $11
million and beyond that.
But you've been able to
creative solutions in the past.
And I think the city needs creative solutions
and for us to come together to find those creative solutions
so we can continue providing those vulnerable resources
our residents depend on, you know,
through that 2020 tax measure,
we were able to bring another $68 million
according to the current annual budget.
It's about $5 million of additional revenue.
We helped build forward through the pandemic
because we were gonna have a lot of cuts
and revenue reductions that helped us stay whole.
We need to be able to do that again.
My creative solution is really focusing
with Alameda County Fire,
see how they can become an independent special taxing authority so that way
they can bring in our revenue and that money would bring us no 25% to reinvest
in our community, our infrastructure, our programs, be able to really have the
economic vibrancy that we need to move our community forward. Thank you, that's
my question. Thank you. Thank you. Coming to Councilman Bowen. Thank you mayor and
thank you Ed for being here. I have two questions for you. The first is what
What specifically motivates you to step up into this role right now, given the challenges
and what would success look like for you if you were only in the role for a short period?
It's like the analogy that you want to, some people want to run away from the burning building
but I'm running towards it.
I've seen it throughout the last year or two, like there's been chaos and concerns and some
issues that we need to be able to bridge back together and I really want to lead by example.
I've done the work, I want to be able to show my daughters and the rest of our community
that we can work well together.
There might be different reasons why sometimes we have conflict, but conflict is not bad.
It just means we have to have more communication and find ways to work well together, collaborate
and really focus on what's best in our community, focus on our interests and not our positions.
So that's really what I focus on.
I really want to make sure that I can lead by example, leave it better than I found it
and be proud of the legacy I'm leaving in San Leandro.
For the last 20 years, being able to be a public servant in some capacity in Planning
Commission, City Council and the Eden Health District and just being the service and I'm
here to serve. I'm happy to be appointed either in the short term or long term. I'm flexible,
I ran races, I ran campaigns, and I've got a lot of support. I can do it again, but I'm happy to
collaborate, see how this year goes, and move forward together. Thank you. And District 2 residents
have a wide range of needs and perspectives and that all voices are equally heard. Can you share
a specific example of how you built trust with the community that didn't initially feel represented
And how that would shape how you advocate
for District 2 on the council.
Yeah, and the first thing that makes me think about,
and thank you for the question,
is having served on Stanley and our community food pantry,
serving on that board after my 2020 term,
and being able to just really understand
the population that's needing food,
how they have food insecurity,
a lot of diverse people there,
older, senior, in some cases Asian,
that are looking to have the resources they receive that
on a weekly basis, about $100 worth of food groceries,
continue working my, being able to be of service there.
When Garadelli calls, they have a pallet of chocolate
to donate, I bring my truck and back it in there,
and they love it, because you gotta bring something smile,
especially for Valentine's.
They gave me a pallet load, and they're like,
all right, bring it in and drop it off,
and people get some cool sweets and treats,
because it's great.
I mean, there's the basic needs,
but that just helps people feel better, brings a smile,
and I think that's most important,
and just having them be able to be out there
in the community, and be able to serve,
and figure out what the resources are needed,
That's just one example I've been able to be involved
and elements are also serving rotary
that helps me be able to give back.
And right now supported the project
to bring in the fitness equipment there at the marina.
I think there's gonna be a 300th off on a project
and for the rotary is 100th year,
we contribute $100,000 for that project.
So really inviting fitness more into our community,
that little loop that I've been able to do
with whatever council members.
So hopefully that answers the questions.
I'm passionate, I'm here to serve, not go anywhere.
Whatever y'all decide, I'm happy to contribute,
adding value and being a service.
Thank you.
Vice Mayor, please.
Thank you for submitting your name for our consideration.
I have four questions.
Two of them I've asked of all the participants
and then two are specific to your application.
What is your perception of your sphere of control
and influence as a member of this body?
It's whatever you can do together.
I mean, I think together you can do a lot more individually.
You need a couple of votes, at least two or three votes
to move something forward,
but it's a lot about conversation.
But the transfer tax measure is something that I thought
about in 2016 and working with my council members,
like Council Member Aguilar,
Council Member Deborah Cox, the mayors,
everybody coming together and working together
to understand there was a budget deficit
and really advocating with city manager.
City manager, I think we need to do this.
This is one way we can maybe bring up additional revenue
and do in the polling, say it's a 50-50 pass.
We're not sure if it's gonna pass,
but the pandemic flipped it as needed.
So a lot of it about communication
making it somewhat of a no-brainer really working well with each of you to
move something forward making sure something that we can all do together
because ultimately at the end of the day it might be your idea but the difference
between the idea that works and then good idea is the work so I've always been
committed to the work and I'm proud of the work I've done and I think that's
quite important to keep doing the work together. Thank you. What is your
position on the city's rent stabilization ordinance that was
recently voted on by this council? I am supportive and help you to continue that
they make sure we really focus on the short term,
how we strengthen the rental protections,
focus mid-term to really ensure
that we have more resources to build,
better housing in our community that's affordable
and long-term, making sure we can fund more development
to the community to have mixed income housing.
So it's not just the affordable corner,
but it's a mixed income opportunity
to bring housing income of all types in our community,
and then work with housing providers where they need to,
to make sure they can afford to continue
being able to do that.
So finding the right balance in the long-term,
or making sure we have the renters
who are right now suffering the most,
helping them stay in their homes,
helping young families and other individuals stay
where they need to go so they can finish their education
and be able to move forward with having to stress
and have those concerns first and foremost.
Thank you.
Where are you on my list?
Here you are.
You currently serve another elected and appointed boards
as you stated in your application.
If appointed, what would be your,
what would your participation look like on this council
for you being that my assumption is
that you would continue serving on those boards.
So I'm wrapping up Ava community energy
where I've been the community advisory chair.
So that ends I believe in May,
the Alameda County Fair Board.
I'm already finishing that up, I think in June.
I think I'm not going to get reappointed for that.
And the Eden Health District, if I take on this road,
automatically be off that board.
So I'd be able to focus on the city council work.
And that would be my true focus
because we also have committees of responsibility
like finance in the past
other committees need to be able to be really focused on and we make sure you have the phone
ready to take the phone calls in the middle of the night with as the customer care reference
district too. Thank you. My last question. We are approaching a very difficult decisions
regarding the budget. What would be your approach to your decision making process on the budget?
Of course and thank you for that question. I think really working with the city manager to understand
city's priorities, what are the low-hanging fruits, what are the challenges and really
focusing and enlarging the pie, figure out what are the cuts that we need to make in
the short term, but we will have strategies to move forward and bring those things back
in the next three to five years, but really focusing like I did in 2020 to really enlarge
the pie, which in this annual budget says it's $4.9 million of revenue that that transfer
tax measure is bringing. So being able to find some creative solutions to not only just
cut, but hopefully recover and advocate through the county, the state, and federal level where
done that in the past lobbying former councilmember Congresswoman Barbara Lee to bring railroad
improvements to our community to make us safer and better which I did and we did right before
the pandemic but those things got done thank you my pleasure council member Simon please
thank you Ed for your presentation and thank you for applying my question relates to unique
challenges at district two bay fair is prime for growth with businesses and shops as well
as BART with housing. There's an abandoned rail line that runs through district 2, many unhoused
are there, as well as illegal dumping and runs behind Bayfair. The John George psychiatric
facility is right next door in the unincorporated area with those still in mental health needs
who are being let go. Many come down into district 2 in the Bayfair area. How will you work to
address these specific issues to improve the community as well as to help those in need?
Good thing I have about three and a half minutes so I should be able to cover that all.
So I think part of the focus is maybe looking at how we can expand mental health resources,
navigation center, working with county. It's really addressed the John George
psychiatric releases. Looking at working with Bayford to see how we can move that project forward,
either how it becomes a public-private partnership or public-public with BART,
ensuring that we understand what the environment looks like. Working with the developer that has a
portable housing parcel there that I've already connected him with some tribal resources,
specifically a lonely property people who can actually maybe help develop that property because
he has a 10 million dollar gap on that redevelopment of that parcel to build affordable housing so
I'm pretty much plugged in so I don't I have ideas and solutions that I'm not stopped because I
haven't been on council but I've been working ever since then and beyond that to make sure we move
our city forward I don't have to be in the formal role I am still getting the work done and so if
we look at the Bay Fair we look at safe parking spaces safe parking spaces that people can be in
and you know have the resources that we can help them out of that condition they have better more
secure permanent housing understanding that unhoused individuals may not want our support
but we know that they need at least 12 touch points before they start trusting us
trusting the community trusting government trusting individuals with gun or without guns
that's something I've known to know and we have to build that relationship they have the resources
here with human resources that county and the state to pull down and advocate for what we need
our community and not say, may we please, but we must, and really come with a firm
tone that we're going to represent our community and know what we need most, and
we got to keep fighting for it, fight for that, and many other things for
community. So we are fighters and champions for our community and I'm
still doing that and we keep doing that. I hope that I can get support to get
pointed back on so we can do it together. Thank you. My pleasure. So I've got four
questions for you. Yes, Mayor. First one, tell me a little bit about an ethical
challenge that you faced and how it got resolved?
The first time I think it was with the planning commission, I think our City Attorney Rich
says you can't be inviting people to tour these kind of dispensaries when you're on the
planning commission and then they may consider you hiring as a financial consultant.
There's a conflict there.
So let's make sure we don't do that again.
Like, all right, cool.
I didn't know that.
First kind of like, all right, cool.
Let's not do that.
So I've learned, like, there's an element of the rules and what you do, you don't do.
to try to influence people when you have a financial benefit.
And we know that how that ended recently.
And here in our communities, you have to make sure you understand what are the rules and
regulations and processes and take wise advice from staff, our city manager or city attorney
and others in the community.
So that is something that you learn, that you don't do that.
You don't have any financial benefits, you focus.
But that was just me being ignorant.
I didn't know better.
So once I had good counsel, which you guys have great counsel, I think we'd be able to
make better decisions.
So that was one challenge early on that I learned.
I'm like, all right, cool.
This is what I do.
I'm a public servant.
I'm here just for the community, nothing
for my personal benefit.
We have roofs and sidewalks and roads that need to be addressed.
On the other hand, we have laborers
who want to be paid more.
The unions advocate for the laborers.
I don't know that anyone necessarily advocates
for the roofs and sidewalks.
How do we address that situation?
We've got people clamoring.
No, of course.
And there's that balance in the thread of the nail
that you want people who are doing the work in the community
to have good paying jobs locally.
And we have to balance needs in the community
and then be able to negotiate.
How do we bring that together?
If there isn't enough money here locally,
we have to bring in additional resources
from the county and the state or the feds.
And they might have their own challenges,
but we have to be able to negotiate contracts,
have the highest and best work for the community.
Is it union labor?
Hopefully.
But sometimes we have to figure out and make decisions.
Like when you are doing the rehab in your roof,
are you also always using your labor?
Maybe not all the time.
But I think in this morning to find out the right balancing
that we are using public monies
and that we should have a public benefit
over not only the work we're doing,
but also where people were employing.
So I think it's quite critical to make sure
we have the right balancing act
that the contracts where we pay people
who are doing the jobs locally are fair
so they can have a good living
and be able to provide their family
while they're also doing the work in their community.
Cause at the end of the day,
they're going to care more about the work
they're doing in San Leandro
versus somebody else out of the area.
So yeah, I think it's really focused
on finding the right balance,
being able to meet those needs, those budgets,
and build out the plan for the next 10 years
to help manage us more effectively,
and maybe even the next 100 years.
Many of us have done unconscious bias training.
I don't know if you have or have not,
but if you have, what have you learned
from that training about yourself?
Yeah, everybody has biases.
It depends what levels you are aware of or not.
I mean, in my previous term, I had my ongoing therapy.
Of course, there's a lot that puts on your shoulder,
and you have to be able to put it out there
and learn from others in the community
to really focus what are the biases you have,
what were the intentions, what you said,
how they came across, what are your inhabits,
where you're beliefs, where are your biases.
Even in corporate America,
I spend a good amount of time doing that too.
So I've been around understanding
what are the biases in training.
That's one of the things that you earn and learn
as you become more mature.
And almost gonna be turning 50 this year,
I started this process when I was 40,
running for city office.
Been doing this for almost 10 years now.
And it's been amazing, the work, the travels,
learnings and be able to connect with so many people and the capacity. So the fact
that you're up there it's still an honor and privilege. I'm happy to rejoin you.
That'd be an honor and privilege for me. It'd be a service again. It's going to be amazing
regardless whatever you choose. I'm there to support the community and help us
move forward in whatever capacity. Makes sense for the community.
In the limited time that we have left, tell me about what you stressed about how we
collaborate with the schools.
The school's quite important. I mean having to understand what is the
concerns in the classroom, what do the students need, and how the teachers have
different resources they need, especially teaching in special needs classes. There there is students
who might need some special programming, sometimes the parents are not aware or do not want to be
labeled. So really focusing on the resources for not only special needs students but also the
mainstream, so that way they can move forward and provide the resources, the technology, education,
and the parental support so they can actually help the students grow and learn. So if you
could then take this last minute to summarize whatever it is that you want us to walk away with.
Yeah, I think experience matters and I've had it, I've done it, and right now, day one,
we need to be able to move forward and bring our community back together.
There is a lack of trust, maybe consistency transparency, what's happened in the last
18 months.
I think really focusing what we can do better together, maintain the progress that you've
done and been able to do, and making sure there's any kind of restorative justice issues
or concerns that we may have here, and I can work individually with each and every one
of you.
So I have those relationships with all of you, and I think we've been able to have conflicts
or dialogues in the past. And that's okay. And like I said, it's not a bad thing. I'm
here to help, not hurt, and that's my commitment. I really focus on making sure how we can move
forward together. Not everybody's got to support me. Not everybody's got to say, oh, yeah,
it's the guy. But I've been able to do good work and I'm just here to serve nothing more.
No big eagle. I don't get it. That's fine. I continue serving in the Utah Health District,
giving away more money. And maybe build some senior housing and help our nonprofits who
We really need it the most and then being able to do that with the boys and girls club
Tags even through rotary doing some work there
Also having a use speech contest to really help one of the kids from a royal high school
Get confidence and get his way through getting more visibility and exposure and confidence
I think I'm gonna still do that either through the Shippo College and then my business classes and helping dually enrolled
High school students who are first generation want to make it out to college and being able to give them chances and challenge them
To make it out there and have a voice
So, thank you at this point in time you are welcome to stay
You can go you can go and then come back whatever you want to do
Just know that whatever you choose to do next will not impact how you are perceived. No worries. I'll be here. Thank you. Thank you
Mayor our next interviewee is Thierry Pena and she is on her way in
Mayor and council our next interviewee is ready. We have Thierry Pena
Miss Pena, so let me just to welcome let me tell you a little bit about what will happen next
I'll give you about 90 seconds a minute and a half to give us an introduction about you
Then each council member will get a chance to ask questions for up to four minutes
They will hopefully they've been good about announcing how many questions that they're going to ask you so that you can plan your time
In your answers and then at the very end we'll wrap up by giving you about a minute to summarize
Whatever it is that you want us to really walk away with
Okay, so you're free to begin at your convenience. Okay. Hi
Nice to see all of you here. My name is Terry Pena. I have lived in Stanley, Andrew since 1989. I
I
Have raised four children. I like to say I raised two different sets of children
I have my older set and my younger set. I have my 40 year old set and my 20 year old set
I bought a home in San Leandro in 1992, which I still reside in.
I love San Leandro.
I actually have most of my experience and work has been in San Mateo County in Planning
Commission and part of my time working for an elected official, which I would bring a
lot of that experience to this board.
I do want to make a quick correction on my application.
I was actually appointed to the Human Services Commission
in 2021 with COVID.
I think I've lost a few years.
And then I am currently serving on the Senior Commission.
So it wasn't 2023, so I want to make that correction.
And I appreciate this opportunity to be here
and share some of my experiences, some of my ideas.
And I'm just looking forward to this interview with y'all. So thank you
Okay, so we will begin with the questions
councilmember bolt
What happened try that again, please
There you go. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for being here with us. I have one question for you
What is the primary issue that drives you to want to serve?
What is what is a viable solution to this problem, and how would you work to accomplish this?
you know
in a long time
right at the number Stanley Andrew I
Have seen a lot of real positive changes, and I also see some places where we could make some better better changes
One of the places I see is our homelessness homeless population
it's an aging community and it really concerns me. As I drive around, certainly in the south
section of San Leandro, it's really a concern and I think we have to think big picture.
I believe we are trying the best that we can to address it but it needs to be a collaborative
effort between our departments, our fire police departments, our home, our
housing community, our nonprofits. We have crisis on our on our streets. We
have homeless encampments. We have anytime you drive down East 14th behind
the Bay Fair area, it's a crisis. And to me, I think we need to really look at how we can
come together with our state agencies, federal monies. We have to really look at that because
that can easily get completely out of control here in San Leandro. And it bothers me that
that community is aging. And I see them and it breaks my heart. And not just in District 2,
but all around San Leandro. And it affects all of us. And as we look around and we see this,
it's not something you can just close your eyes to. Councilman Bragi, later please.
Is my mic working? There we go. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you Tiare for applying for this
D2C. My question is, why should my colleagues and I support you for this position?
What I would bring to this council, I think, is my ability to work as a team member.
I think every person on this council brings a gift, a skill, a certain knowledge and a
skill set that we could all work together and not work in silos.
And I think with my experience, my history, certainly with working collaboratively with
certainly bringing my experience working with an elected official.
Certainly I understand I'm an outsider looking in because I come from a county perspective
working with different agencies, department heads and different types of bodies.
I bring that experience I would bring that experience to the city and I think each one
of you as I said has a skill set a gift and working together unites us all instead of
each person working in a silo.
So working together united we stand and I think Stan Leandro is a phenomenal city and
and I think working together, we can get so much done.
And that's what I think I could bring to you all.
Thank you.
Thank you, that's my question, Mayor.
Thank you, Council Member Bowen, please.
Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Chair, for being here
and applying for this role.
I have two questions.
One is what specifically motivates you
to step into this role right now, given the challenges?
And what would success look like for you
if you were only in this role for the short period?
You know, I'm gonna, actually I'm gonna tell you something
from my personal life, what would bring me here today.
And it's actually my great-grandmother.
Now somebody called in earlier and said,
you know, we need young people.
Yes, we do, we do, we do need young people here.
But I'm gonna piggyback on my great-grandmother.
When she was in her 60s, she ran for the mayor of Alejo.
She was elected the first female woman to hold that seat.
And she held it for 16 years.
And I said, you know, bye, Golly.
I'm not gonna tell you my age, but I'm gonna try this.
I wanna do this.
I've always wanted to be in a position
where I can really help.
And that's why I worked for the elected official
I worked for, because you can really make difference
in people's lives.
And I know that it's not an easy position to be in.
You're gonna make difficult decisions
and you're not always gonna please everyone.
But if you really are thoughtful
and if you really look at the issues, you analyze them,
and you really listen to everyone,
and you work together, as I said, as a team,
you come up with the best decisions, the best that you can,
and you work for the city, the constituents,
the communities, and I love this community,
and that's why I want to do this in the short term.
Thank you.
And for District 2 residents, there's
a wide range of needs and perspectives,
and not all voices are equally heard.
Can you share a specific example of how
you've built trust with the community that didn't initially
feel represented, and how would that
shape how you advocate for District 2?
I am a person that reaches out to everyone.
I go everywhere.
I talk to all of my neighbors.
All of my neighbors have changed.
In the 30 some odd years I've lived in my neighborhood,
it has definitely changed.
I think I only have one neighbor on my street now,
this is original.
She's over 100 years old.
My community has changed.
I think that there's a lot of needs, certainly citywide,
but certainly district too.
We're a very high immigrant community, certainly there.
I reach out, I walk, I talk.
I'm not shy, I think that you have to be open,
you have to listen, you have to hear,
and you have to converse,
And you have to have people feel like they could trust you.
And I think that's what I bring, is I'm approachable.
I really feel that you have to build and instill trust
in the people you talk with, the people you eat with,
people you walk in the parks with,
on the senior commission.
I'm out there with folks.
I walk and talk, and that's the best part of it.
You just have to instill trust.
Because once you do that,
the communication levels are open,
the lines are open,
and people feel that they can trust the people who lead.
And that's what you need.
Thank you.
Vice Mayor, please.
Thank you for submitting your name for us to consider
to join us on the dais.
Appreciate your time and thoughtfulness in your application.
I have four questions, two of them I've asked
all of the folks that submitted their name
and then the rest are specific to your application.
What is your perception of your sphere of control
and influence as a member of this body?
Sphere and control.
I don't think we all have a lot of control.
Control is a, that's a pretty authoritative word.
I think we can only control ourselves.
think working together we control only what you know control is that's that's
that's one of those words that you know it's one of those red words you know
control like I say you can control yourself you can't control others you
can maybe change the narrative. So I'm not quite sure when you say the word
control. I think the sphere of influence is great. You have a great sphere of
influence and that comes by teamwork and talking together. But as far as control
you can only control yourself. Thank you. What is your position on the city's
rent stabilization ordinance that was just voted on by this body? Well you know
I think in these days with rent control it's an important topic. We have new
generations of people that are unable to rent and so I believe it's an important
topic. I know that the people who own homes and own you know properties not so
happy about it but when kids cannot get their own places and and people can't
afford to live in their homes anymore or rent their homes I believe that it was a
a good process and I think we did it fairly. Thank you. We have some difficult decisions
coming up regarding our city budget. Can you tell me a little bit about what your approach
would be if you were to be a part of this council? Well, I did sit in on some of the
meetings and I think what I've seen so far is a fair approach to the thoughts that have
have gone into how to try to manage the budget to keep the 20% reserves. I think there are
some concerns that I have with some of the cuts. But I think right now the fact that
just staffing is at such a low level that it has been in so many years, I believe that
the council right now is approaching it in a good way. I think there's going to be more
cuts that will have to come, and I think we have to do a more diligent job of looking
probably department to department at this time.
Thank you.
Your executive profile talks about, you know, managing policy initiatives, stakeholder engagement
and supporting community initiatives.
Can you give us an example?
Oh, my favorite one is the Caron project over in North Faroqux, which is a large unincorporated
area in Redwood City. It was our committee alliance to revitalize our neighborhood.
Now that area of North York is a very—was a very—is a very neglected area and so this is
that area what we did is we wrote a great policy. We brought in the sheriff's office and all of
these organizations to provide programs and resources to the young people of that community
And that organization is still alive and well.
You could drive down to North Far Oaks
and you'll see resources for the kids,
places they can go after school,
with a chair's office.
And it's just a wonderful program
and it took us a long time to prepare it.
It took about three years and it's phenomenal.
Thank you.
Yes.
Council member Simon.
Good evening.
Hi.
Hi, thank you for your presentation.
And I have a question that's specific to District 2.
And in District 2, you face unique challenges.
One is Bayfair is prime for growth
for new businesses and shops,
as well as the bar area for housing.
And you touched on a bit of this.
There's abandoned rail line that runs through your district
with many unhoused there, illegal dumping,
and which runs right behind Bayfair.
The John George psychiatric facility
right next door in unincorporated Alameda county and people are released
still with mental health needs who come down to District 2 into the
Bayfair area. How will you work to address these specific
issues to improve the community as well as to help those in need?
That is one of my main concerns. I live right by there
and I see it every day. I will say that the response team that goes out there
I see them all the time. I see Caltrans out there. I see our fire, our police out there.
Encampments come as quick as they take them out. They come back. John George, when they release
people, and they're not just San Leandro folks, they come from all over. When they release them,
they come down. That was one of the concerns I had about one of the places that you were looking,
we were looking or you're looking to possibly decrease in the budget the four beds to two.
And that was one of my concerns. But I dressing that I think we need to have more
folks in the field that are able to deal with the crisis of the unhoused.
There's a lot of drugs out there. And these folks when they're released from John George,
you know after a hold and then they release off to the street they just come down to the
Bay Fair area a lot of people come into the Bay Fair area and that's where they congregate
I see a lot of children I see a lot of families and it's a sad situation and on you know Saturday
night there's trailers cars I think we need more social workers out there we just need the city
the county and federal monies to come in and figure out what we can do. It's not a one person
problem. It's everybody's issue. Not just the city of San Leandro. It's everybody's problem.
They're people. They are people. They're not just trash. They're people.
And how they got there, we don't know. But we have to look at them as people.
children. And how to solve that, that's not an easy question. That's not an easy question.
That is a systemic issue. And we have to think of out of the box ways to look at it. So like
I say, we have to get that from other opportunities, resources, get the county involved more, have
John George figure out where these people are gonna go just releasing them
they just come down the way they have nowhere else to go so there's just
really not a easy simple question answer to that question okay at this point in
time I will ask you four questions the first one tell me about an ethical
challenge that you faced and how you resolved it I've had a lot of challenges
in my life. I don't know where to start. I could start with I was adopted when I
was 3, put in I was born in Hawaii adopted when I was 3, put into a
terrible situation until I was 11, moved to California, put in foster care, moved
to a family finally in high school went through high school got married young
had children had to put myself through school you know college started working
at the County of San Mateo started off as a receptionist worked my way up and up
and up ended up as a zoning hearing officer secretary planning commission
secretary, executive aide, the board of supervisors, then legislative aide to the
board of supervisors, senior legislative aide to the board of supervisors, and then
back to the planning commission with my finally as a planner, planner one, planner
two, planner three, and then planning manager. So I would say I have the
ability to over to just get in there, learn, work hard. So the challenges I can
and I can overcome them.
And I've done them pretty well, I would say.
Next question deals with bias.
Presumably you've taken unconscious bias training,
as most of us.
What are some of your biases?
What have you learned about yourself?
Biases, you know, I honestly, I would
like to say that I am probably one of the most unbiased people
you'll find in this world, because I've
been through so much.
I don't like broccoli.
But as far as biases, I will honestly say you'll, honestly,
I've been through living with so many different people,
so many families.
I truly do not believe I'm a bias.
I just don't think I have any.
One of the challenges that we face
is a lot of deferred maintenance on infrastructure roads
and the like.
We also have employees that want to be paid more,
be paid fairly.
And so we've got people that advocate for the employees
and no one advocates for the roof or for the sidewalk.
Help me understand how you reconcile that,
the advocacy of a union and the lack of advocacy
for a road or for a sidewalk, et cetera.
Well, San Leandro is an old city
and our infrastructure is failing.
I understand that, but you know,
I think San Leandro has done a lot
to decrease the number of staff that we have in the years.
And I understand a fair wage, I get that.
But I understand that you have to put money
into the infrastructure.
And a fair wage is a fair wage, I understand that too.
So you have to balance it.
And that's where it gets difficult
because you wanna retain the best of the best,
you wanna attract the best of the best.
But you also have to fix the roof
and you have to paint the buildings
and you have to do that.
So you have to balance it.
And there's a fine teeter-totter balancing act,
but through fairness and, you know, it happens.
It always happens.
You always manage to work it out.
But it's a difficult balancing act.
And in the last few seconds,
I'll ask how can we better work with our schools?
I'm sorry.
How can we better work with our schools as a city?
think to work better with the schools is to actually open communication with our
schools. I've been through the school districts, like I said, two different
generations of kids. I think the first generation of kids was easier, the second
generation not so easy. And okay, do you want me to keep going? That's probably good, in
fairness to the other respondents. But let's take a minute so you can kind of
highlight whatever it is that you want to highlight as you wrap up your
presentation. Well, as I was saying I'm kind of the outsider looking in because
most of my experience politically and and you know as far as my my work
experience has been on a county level. So are you hearing me? Oh, oh, I've been on a
county level level so I would have a steep learning curve but as I told you I
am not shy of working and learning and jumping in and I might be a little
bit on that part of the age thing, but you know, obviously I have energy. So if
you are interested, I am available. So that's all I got to say. Thank you so
much for accepting my application and listening to me tonight. Thank you. Thank
you. Madam Clerk, our next interviewee. Oh, and by the way, the same thing that I
tell everybody else, you're welcome to stay, you're welcome to go, you're welcome
to go and then come back, whatever you want to do, just know that it will not
affect how you are judged. Thank you mayor. The next interviewee is Robert
Buletau and we are bringing him in momentarily. Hello, hello, check, check. Mayor, we have Robert Buletau.
Thank you Mr. Buletau. So just a brief summary of what we'll do. We'll begin
with an opening statement. You've got about 90 seconds, a minute and a half to
tell us whatever you want to tell us to introduce yourself and each council
will ask questions. They've been very good about announcing the number of
questions so that you can pace your answers. And then we will wrap up with
one minute to you, given to you to close and highlight whatever it is that you'd
like to highlight. Okay. Please begin. So hello. My name is Robert Bulatau. I am a
resident of District 2 now. I really wasn't planning on running but people
asked me to not knowing that I was in District 2. So I said okay let's go ahead
ahead and try to see what happens. I am an activist. I am a delegate with the
California Democrats. I've been politically active still since the end
of my campaign in District 6. One of the recent accomplishments I do have is
helping the the Winter Guard at San Landro High School obtain $2,000
worth of donation money so that they can buy a floor for their program, because I
was volunteering there and just recently at a competition they are very
underfunded. One of the children actually got injured because they didn't have the
proper equipment. I didn't really have City Council on my head at the time, but
But as the opportunity arose, I figured this is a good time to just throw my hand in the
ring, see what happens.
It will cost a lot less than last time.
So if I win, cool.
I really want to make some changes.
I want to get our brain fart.
So what we'll do is we'll go to council members for their questions and we'll begin with council
member of BOLT. Hello Robert, thank you. I have one question for you tonight, is
what is the primary issue that drives you to want to serve and what is a
viable solution to that problem and how would you work to accomplish the
solution? Okay so we had the with my previous council run my agenda points
we're getting the district side elections,
getting rent control, and also police accountability.
Now that we have rent control or rent stabilization,
and we have the district elections
on our ballots in June, I believe,
I also want to push to get the effects
of big money out of our local politics.
I want to lower our campaign contribution amounts
from a maximum of $5,500 per entity down to 500.
So this way, you're forced to actually go out there
and talk to people, get to know them,
get to know what their issues are within your community.
And I know it sounds kind of silly
because I just moved down to district two,
but I did do a lot while campaigning,
while talking to people out there.
And what was the other part of your question,
Council Member Bolt?
would you yes pushing for ordinances in order to do that other ordinances that
I would like to put a push for would be to protect our community even more
we've seen a lot of ice activity and we are a sanctuary city but I want to take
that one step further I want to I'm not sure if it's completely legal or not but
push for an ordinance or a resolution to not allow former ICE employees to work for our
city, work for our schools, work for our local government.
There is a lot of fear out there with a lot of these families and pretty much the rise
of fascism.
I work at a nonprofit music school and a lot of, not really a lot, but a couple of our
families had just stopped coming to school. They stopped responding to phone
calls because a lot of these people are scared and rightfully so. So how do we
protect them? Yes we can have our sanctuary city status but why stop there
when we can do more? When we can make them feel secure? Make them feel like we
are not going to allow these entities to set up shop out here. But addressing a
lot of that racism and a lot of that fear is what I want to do. Push the
resolution like what Big Tent wants which is getting the city to apologize
for their their their states or their part in redlining because we can't heal
these wounds unless we address them and we can't get the proper representation
representation for these people unless we're out here making sure that it's their money that we are
using to represent them and we can't
We can't move forward unless we can make sure that they're safe. Make sure they're secure. Make sure that
We will have that backbone
and
Yeah
You're welcome
Okay, at this point. We got a councilmember Aguilar
Thank you Mayor Gonzalez, and thank you Robert for applying for this for this position
My question is probably pretty simple you can take as much result as you want to answer
Why should my colleagues and I support you for the DTC?
Because I'm not as hotheaded as I used to be I
When I first got involved with a lot of the local politics within San Leandro
I had more of an activist mindset. You know I was very off the cuff
not realizing how hard a lot of you guys work,
a lot of the stress that you already are going under,
because you see a lot of the people that once supported you
are now hating you, and the people that hate you,
hate you even more.
So, I decided I don't want to be like that.
I want to build with our community to,
I mean, that's one of the reasons why I got so involved
with the PTOs at Garfield, with LCAP, with canvassing,
We're just talking to people getting involved
with community cleanups and such.
I want to be boots on the ground,
but also give them a megaphone to speak through.
And I wanna do it in a way that is respectable,
not like how I used to be,
more to get to the point without starting fights,
without trying to put people down.
Because that's not functioning.
We've seen a lot of fighting and it helps no one and it just makes us waste time, money,
and if we can do better than we should.
That's what I want to bring.
I want to bring that personal touch, the community touch as best as I can.
Thank you. That's my question here. Thank you. At this point, we can Councilmember
Bowen. Thank you Mayor and thank you Robert for being here. I have two
questions for you. The first is what specifically motivates you to step into
this role right now given the challenges and what would success look like for you
if you were only in this role for a short period? Let's see. What specifically
motivates me is I've seen so much like just pain and anger and fighting and I
feel like we can do better. I feel if we can bring some more calmer heads on in
order to help mediate hopefully that will help. I want to get us functioning. I
I want to get us to the point where we can make our constituents happy.
You're never going to make everyone happy, you're just going to do your best, but there
will always be room for improvement, and we need to be able to hear it out.
And what was the second part of your question?
What would success look like if you were only in this role for a short period?
to me would look like getting those resolutions passed that I want to push
in order to protect our very diverse city. You know, if we're able to acknowledge
that racism happened and that we're gonna do better, that's gonna make us
stronger. If we're able to say that we are not going to let fascists come in
here the same ones that murder innocent people and separate families. Look what
happened in San Francisco yesterday. We had a mother ripped away from her child
and the mother was detained by ICE at the airport. We need to let our
population know that we are here to fight for them and fight with them. Well
scratch that part, not fight with them, but side by side if we're able to reduce
reduce the campaign contribution amounts to $500, that would look like a win to me.
My end goal is proper representation for our people, making sure that every district's
voices are heard, every citizen that is in district one, two, three, four, five, or six
has someone that they can talk to and someone that will address their needs.
actually a perfect segue into my next question. District 2 residents have a wide range of
needs and perspectives and not all voices are equally heard. Can you share a specific
example of how you built trust with the community that didn't initially feel represented? And
how would that shape how you advocate for District 2 on the council?
Let's see. I would say it would be when I was helping a former council member as of
with reaching out to the homeless people within District Two.
We had gone to, down the railroad tracks
and to different encampments handing out flyers
when they, I believe it was a heat wave
that was coming through.
And the city had posted stuff on social media,
but a lot of these people don't have access to that.
So we went out there with papers in hand
order to make sure that they knew that there was somewhere they could go so that they wouldn't
be subjected to the elements and possibly end up hospitalized. And that was my contribution
to District 2. Thank you. Thank you. Vice Mayor please. Thank you for taking the time to submit
an application for us to consider. I really appreciate your willingness to serve. I have
four questions to them. I've asked of all the candidates and then the rest are specific to
your application. What is your perception of your sphere of control and influence as a member of
this city council? Being able to push for resolutions and ordinances, that's how one part
of the sphere of influence. Being someone that the the population feels comfortable with going to,
that's another part of the influence I guess. Thank you. What is your position
on the city's rent stabilization ordinance that was just voted on by the City Council?
Oh I love it. I'm a renter now. So having it at 0.65 percent of CPI or lower of 3 percent,
that's great because as I had advocated before, 80 percent of our San Leandro Unified families
are low-income families, and a lot of them were getting just displaced because rents
were going up 10%, 10%, 10%. And I remember during my time as PTO president at Garfield,
we even had 10 homeless families. So being able to knock down that that heightening rent,
and you guys have heard me say that before, you know, and I appreciate you guys for taking
it seriously and pushing for that, and making it happen. That's what fills my heart with
joy and I kind of lost track of the question, I just went up on a tangent.
Sorry, you answered it. The city council will be dealing with some very difficult budget
decisions in the coming months. Can you tell me a little bit about what would your approach
be to making decisions around the city budget transparency and accountability
especially with SLPD like how much millions of dollars have we lost with
these lawsuits like that Sorel Shifflett I believe he just sued us for 3.8
million mr. Sykes I can't remember his first name is type Sykes suit us for
nearly a million of getting beaten just walking home you know that's that's
already almost five million and we're trying to reduce the budget by eleven
million over the next several years correct and so you take that into
account you take into account the the incoming lawsuit by Chief Bridget and
I'm not sure how much our former police chief, Bridget, who was terminated without a reason,
well, without a reason given, I should say, how much is that all going to cost us?
And if we're not being more accountable with the way that we use our force, our police
force, that's going to cost us a lot more and we're not going to be able to afford any
these repairs that we need. Thank you. This is your last question. You
recently moved to the district as you just shared. How would you create and
nurture a place-based relationships in district two being that you're new to
the district? Well part of it is I'm involved with helping out the color guard
and the band. I'm a former band geek. I played flute and all that. But doing that
and when campaign season comes around going knocking on doors and actually
talking to people because I love grassroots movements you know I love
going talking door to door to listen to folks listen to their needs listen to
their concerns and I had done a little bit of that when I was originally running
at large. Thank you for your time. You're welcome. Councilmember Simon please.
Thank you for presenting today and my question is specific to district two and your unique
challenges there.
One of them at least or a few of them.
Bayfair is a prime growth opportunity for businesses and shops as well as the barbed
area for housing.
There's an abandoned rail line that you talked about earlier with me unhoused there as well
as illegal dumping going on and it runs right behind Bayfair.
The John George psychiatric facility is right next door
in unincorporated Alameda County,
and those still with mental health issues are being let go
and come down into district two in the Bayfair area.
How will you work to address these specific issues
to improve the community,
to improve the community and help those in need?
And that's near and dear to me
because that's along my route to work.
I'm pretty much driving down Bancroft through his barium
and seeing all that on my way to my music studio.
The plan would be, even though you guys kind of did cuts to the alternate response units,
find some way to make the most of what we have with them in order to cut back on the
cost of labor to police in order to address those issues as best we can.
that people that get with 5150 and sent to John George just get, you know, from
they're coming in from all over the city just being bused in, you know, as they
are having their mental health prices and then just thrown out to the street
right there. As a city, we should have some sort of safety net or some sort of
mechanic to get them back to where they need to be or where they were originally
picked up or to wherever is safe for them. Safe and out of harm's way where they're
not going to have a chance of relapsing. And what was the second part of your question,
councilmember Simon? Bayfair and what growth opportunities do
you see there for businesses, shops, as well as the BART area housing?
with Bayfair, I do believe we're creating more R&D out there, was it? I haven't been
keeping up. But ideally, I would just continue using that space for more family-oriented
stuff. When my kids were, prior to the pandemic, when my kids were still pre-K and kindergarten,
we used to take them to Bayfair all the time, because that was one of the fun places for
them to go, they had that little playground on the inside and we actually got to meet
more of their friends that way through accident. It's like, hey, my kid goes to Garfield too.
Cool, let's exchange numbers. San Leandro blacks a lot in the child fund spaces. Thankfully,
we have Juniper's Corner popping up, but we can do more. More family-friendly things,
because we have a lot of bars.
But I don't feel comfortable taking my kids to there.
So making things that draw people in,
bringing in that type of development.
I don't know if you guys have tried to go
to a kid's birthday party,
but you're either going all the way out
to Dublin nowadays for those bouncy houses
or all the way down to Fremont.
We can go ahead and fill that need.
We can fill that void.
and bring people in and let them see what we have to offer.
Because once you bring them in, that's a game plan.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
So I've got four questions.
The first one, ethical dilemma.
Tell me about, is it an ethical dilemma that you had
and how it got resolved?
An ethical dilemma.
That's a hard one.
One time I lied to my kid and told him
that fruits were candy that got resolved pretty easily
because they ended up liking the fruit.
Another ethical dilemma would be,
okay, Lake Chippewa Road.
Not many people know this, but how I got my money
for my campaign originally was my ex and I,
well, my ex's family owned a house in Lahaina
that burnt down.
And we used some of that campaign money to fund my campaign,
some of that money to fund my campaign.
And people on Lake Shable Road are really scared
because if a fire is coming up from 580
and they don't have any other exit routes
other than going down Benedict
or all the way up through Lake Shable Road,
in a scenario like that, you never know what's gonna happen.
You want all points open.
It's expensive, but I understand the fear.
I understand the need for that
even though it's not environmentally the best option.
Okay, tell me a little bit
because we've got a lot of deferred maintenance on assets,
deferred roofs, roads, sidewalks.
We also have employees from labor unions
that want to be paid well.
And they're to some degree in contrast and in conflict
because money that we give here
can be used to the other side.
Tell me how you reconcile that or how you address that.
I would probably defer to people like Council Member Bolt, who have that union knowledge,
that have that real world experience with it.
Me, of course, I'm just a guy.
I'm just trying to be a voice for people.
The way that I address my ignorance is learning from people that know more than me.
Up until then, that would be my answer.
Thank you.
Biases.
We've all taken some kind of unconscious bias training.
What have you learned about yourself through that training?
Oh, that I got to be less of a hothead, of course.
And like I had said earlier, you guys are all going through it.
And I realize that being so negative and pushing
and being angry is not helping you guys.
It's not helping our cause.
Coming to the table and talking and just being human,
that was one of the biases that I had to come to terms with.
You guys aren't some infallible beast.
You guys are just people doing your best.
And so, yes.
perfect. Tell me a little bit about schools. How can we as a city better collaborate with
our schools? Well, we also have to look at the inequities
within our school district. 10 of our 12 schools are Title I schools. Majority of these are
low income BIPOC communities. And the superintendent is getting paid half a million dollars a year,
highest super highest paid superintendent in the Bay Area you know being able to
say hey that's you're getting a five percent COLA while your teachers are
out here picketing like almost every year so at this point in time we give
you a minute to wrap it up and highlight whatever you'd like to highlight okay so
I'm just a normal guy you know I got diagnosed with leukemia in 2011 and I've
been a stay-at-home dad ever since I was supposed to be a physical therapist
but thanks to that diagnosis it didn't really happen. I want to be able to
represent people that are in my situation living on Social Security.
People that are making less than a hundred k a year. People that are you
know that are just trying to survive and trying to raise their kids in a world
that is just scary and mean.
And yeah, people laugh reacting when they see posts
of the pain that families are going through
and the fear that they're living through.
I want to be a part of the solution
and I want to be on your side to help you guys with that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
So at this point in time,
I'll tell you something they tell everybody you're welcome to stay. You're welcome to go. You're welcome to go and come back
Whatever you choose to do will not affect how your candidacy is perceived. Thank you very much
And at this point in time given that we've been running for about two and a half hours
Let's go ahead and take our break and come back in ten minutes, please
So we are in recess
Okay, just really quickly. This is mayor Gonzalez for those online
We are going to wait one more minute for councilmember Simon if he's not here within a minute. We will go ahead and get started
Okay, and also, thank you
For the extended break because we did have a technical issue that we also had to address
But now that we've resolved our technical issue and we have all of our counsel here
If we could present if we could proceed with our next candidate
Thank you mayor our next candidate is
Mister Leo Sheridan okay mr. Sheridan I'll give you the same description that
I give everybody else we'll give you about 90 seconds to start to give us
some sort of intro whatever it is that you'd like to cover well then to go by
each council member will have four minutes for Q&A they've been very good
about announcing the number of questions so that you can then pace your answers
and then at the end we'll give you a minute to just wrap up and highlight
whatever it is that you want to highlight for us great thank you mayor
please begin good evening mayor City Council staff my name is Leo Sheridan I
am a 48 year resident of San Leandro a resident a parent homeowner business
owner I've seen this city go from you know all of these businesses
opportunities the marina everything that you could want to offer in this city to
the current state, you know, due to the economy, crime,
things like that.
I currently serve on the San Leandro School Board.
I'm in my 11th year as a school board trustee.
I'm also president of the San Leandro Democratic Club.
I believe that this experience on the school board,
the 11 years of governance, some of the training,
you know, I've spent 11 years in this same room
at the same diocese when we shared
with the school district and the city.
And I think that my experience could help lend
to the current council and some of the challenges,
especially the budget.
You know, we look at the budget over the school district.
We run about 180 to $190 million annual budget
versus a 220 and some change biennial budget.
You know, so budget, attacking budgets, making changes,
staying fiscally solvent is nothing new to me.
Thank you.
At this point, I will proceed with questions,
beginning with Councilmember Bolt.
Okay, Leo, thank you for being here.
I have one question for you.
What is the primary issue that drives you to want to serve?
And what is the viable solution to that problem?
How do you work to accomplish it?
Okay, the primary issue that drives me to serve
is actually the passion and commitment I have for this city.
Same reason I ran for school board.
It wasn't for political aspirations.
I wasn't seeking higher office.
I sat there for three terms.
It was the city that I live in,
the city that my daughter lives in,
the city that I choose to own a home in,
and the city that I have businesses in
that I feel that my skill set can help contribute
to making the changes and addressing some of the large issues
that this city has before it's a tackle.
Thank you.
I shall come next to Councilman Burgulad.
Thank you, Mayor Gonzalez.
Thank you, Leo, for applying for this position.
My question is fairly simple.
You can take as much or as little time as you want.
Why should my colleagues and I support you for the DTC?
Well I will tell you that I'm committed I'm passionate but I would say
ultimately the experience yourself serving on school board you understand
governance and when you made that transition you know I've got 11 years of
governance experience under my belt I've served as chair of facilities and
technology for nine out of those 11 years served as president multiple times
I believe that the Masters in governance program that we go through on the school board that helps train you for
Dealing with policy helps you deal with communication with budgets
I think that I am just
Suited to assist in guiding and working with the rest of you up there in guiding the city
To start tackling some of them. I feel that
My job allows for the freedom and flexibility
For these meetings for meetings during the day and my commute for those of you who know
I work at San Leandro color, which is a 73 year old business and about two blocks away
So my commute would be by foot
Perfect. Thank you. That's that. That's my question. Thank you. Thank you coming to council member Bowen
Thank you mayor and thank you Leo for being here and thank you for putting your name in the hat
at. I have two questions. The first is what specifically motivates you to step
into this role right now given the challenges and what would success look
like for you if you were only in this role for a short period? So the main
thing that that probably drove me to consider this role and put my name in
the hat was the last year and a half I feel that District 2 has been
unrepresented. There have been a lot of distractions going on with City Council.
when we have business that needs to be addressed.
And I feel that we need, you know,
while I understand the thinking of someone new,
someone young, fresh thoughts,
maybe even someone who does not have any political experience,
I believe that right now is the time
when this council needs someone
who can hit the ground running
and start addressing some of the large concerns
that we have, specifically the budget.
If we can't get this budget straightened out,
you know, that's gonna affect programs,
that's gonna affect employment,
it's gonna affect the city in a great way.
And I think that having served on the budget task force
approximately five years ago,
I have that experience to look at budgets
and help make changes and advocate as well.
Thank you, and then second question,
district two residents have a wide range
of needs and perspectives,
and not all voices are equally heard.
Can you share a specific example
of how you've built trust with a community
that didn't initially feel represented?
And how would that shape how you advocate
for District 2 on the council?
You're right.
District 2, you know, is similar to District 4
or my trustee area 4 on school board.
So we see a wide range of socioeconomic families.
We see a wide range of businesses.
I see disparity, I see crime.
But you need to build trust.
You need to be there to listen to people.
One of the things that I did about 10 years ago,
I brought youth softball, a nonprofit, to San Leandro.
Prior to that, we did not have organized softball for girls.
That ended in 1991.
But I heard the concerns for it, and there was
boys baseball everywhere.
Even when I went looking for fields for these girls,
I was told, sorry, boys baseball has,
practically every field in San Leandro locked up.
And we didn't stop.
We pursued to bring equality
and to bring a sport for girls here in our city,
which resides in District Two is our home fields.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
We proceed to Vice Mayor, please.
Thank you for submitting an application for our consideration
for the position.
Appreciate your willingness to serve.
I have four questions, and two of them
I've asked of everybody, and the rest
are specific to your application.
What is your perception of your sphere of control
and influence as a member of the city council?
That's an easy one for me.
Coming from school board where it's the same.
I'm a single voice, a single vote,
but part of a team, right? No one person has power or authority whether it's school board or city
council is my belief. Thank you. What is your position on the city's rent stabilization ordinance
that was just voted on by my colleagues here on the dais? Overall my position is in support
of rent stabilization, rent control.
While I may not ultimately agree
with the factors associated to what landlords
can raise their rent by what amount,
whether it's 3% plus CPI, whatever the number is,
I may not agree with that number,
but I'm willing to have those discussions.
But ultimately, my mom is a renter,
so I am in support of it.
Thank you. Um, we, you mentioned this a little bit in your opening talking points and other
questions, but I'd like to kind of zero in on it. How would you approach we are, where you have
some very difficult decisions coming up regarding our city budget? Can you tell me a little bit
about, or can you tell us a little bit about your approach and how you would approach, um,
one the conversation around the budget, but also your decision making around the city's budget?
So my approach, you know, I'm going to tell you that it's going to be painful. There's not a quick answer.
It's going to have to be multi-pronged, multi-faceted. You know, I attended the budget meeting a week ago,
and I'm going to tell you that I was quite honestly disappointed. There was five people in attendance, right?
We need to have and hear from more people. We need to hear those voices because we're not going to be able to tax our way out of the issues.
issues. We're not going to be able to make cuts to balance the budget. It is going to
take a number of things to balance this budget, not only for this current biennial budget,
but for the years coming. Otherwise, we're going to run into some big issues. So I think
having more input from the community, whether it's surveys or trying to really drive attendance
to these meetings, I know in my position in the school board, we've had struggles as well
had to look at certain strategies to get more people in attendance but I think it's gonna be
important because balancing this budget could be painful to people and without their input
it's going to be hard for me to to form an opinion and to get behind to share with my
colleagues on our approach for balancing the budget. Thank you. You are one of two
self-identified business owners in terms of the slate of candidates. Can you
elaborate on what your approach would be to economic development specifically
related to the Bayfair area? So I'm gonna tell you my opinion is you know you need
to or I would want to approach the blight right first thing you got to do
is approach the blight second is you got to work with these landlords on even if
if it's just the facades, right?
Making it look pretty from the outside
to want to make new businesses come and join us
and attract new businesses and definitely crime.
Crime's got to be addressed.
You know, it's not just one thing,
we've got a number of things.
Thank you.
We'll go to Councilmember Simon next.
Thank you for your presentation, Leo.
Thank you.
My question focuses on some of the unique challenges
you have in district two.
Bay Fair is a prime growth opportunity
for businesses and shops,
as well as the BART property for housing.
There's an abandoned rail line
that runs through your district
with unhoused living there, illegal dumping.
It runs right behind the Bay Fair.
The John George Psychiatric Facility
is right next door on the unincorporated area,
and people still with mental health issues are released
right down into District 2, Bay Fair area.
How will you work to address these specific issues
and to improve the community
as well as to help those in need?
Okay, so you're right.
And that's a lot going on in District 2.
I'm not gonna sugar coat it.
District 2 has its challenges.
You start with the railroad tracks that defunct line
and the dumping and the unhoused there.
I think that's gonna take a multi-pronged effort
working with other agencies.
During, well shortly after COVID, it was an issue
with a lot of dumping, a lot of unhoused fires
going on back there.
And when we contacted Union Pacific, Union Pacific Sam,
we don't really have the time to go out there,
contact the city.
City would say, we don't have the permission
to go back there, we can't do anything.
and then you contact Bart. Bart would tell you only one half of it is our issue on the east side
of the tracks is our issue. Thankfully someone within the city we spoke and we kept in communications
and he put together contacts from all these different agencies to create an MOU to where
now the city can go down those railroad tracks and do the cleaning or to reach out to the homeless
or the unhoused and offer services and do relocation.
I think some of these areas, including the BART station
and housing there is going to require reaching out
to multiple agencies.
John George, to me, I still have an issue with someone in need
being picked up maybe in Hayward and transported to John George.
And once John George evaluates and after 48 hours
opening the front doors and saying there you go right rather rather than
returning someone back to the city they were at for many reasons they may be
just be familiar with that area or have their belongings somewhere close in that
area but that's not what's going on they're opening up the front doors and
now they become a person wandering around in district 2 that could require
services rather than going back to the city where they were at so I think to
address all of these large concerns and issues, it's going to take multiple
agencies, it's going to take creative thinking, it could also take input from
residents. You know sometimes these some of these residents come up with some of
the greatest ideas, things that you or I may have not thought of, and I don't have
a problem with that. If it's a great idea for someone, it's a great idea. Doesn't
have to be something I'm not willing to do with just because I didn't come up
with it. Thank you. Okay. So I've got four questions. First
question. Tell me about an ethical challenge that you
encountered and how you resolved it. Well, ethical
challenges, as you know, can come up. Sometimes you may have
a member of the community, you know, who may be looking for
special favor, special treatment, looking for an
advantage. And I need to remember, at least in my current
role as a school board trustee that's not what I'm there for you know I'm
there to help address concerns I'm there to represent the community and the way I
address it is just saying look you need to reach out to the school district and
go through the proper channels I can't help you with that if there's any other
concern let me know but you need to go through proper channels second second
question so we've got a lot of deferred maintenance on roads roofs we've got
workers so would like to get paid more they're represented by a union no one
represents the roofs or the roads how do you reconcile this tension and when it
comes to allocating money well I think you're in the fortunate position at
least partially that Union 20 local 21 their salaries have been negotiated
through 2029. The issue with the roads I feel like you know the costs are not
getting any cheaper and if we don't address these roads and get ahead of the
game we're just going to continually fall behind so we need to you know again
reach out and deal with the other age state agencies for these state highways
we have within the city to hopefully get our allocation of funding or get them to
repair those roads, and then we need to identify sources, whether it's through
shifting funds and budgets that we can, or through future bond measures or
parcel taxes, and specifically call out what that money is for to maintain roads
and roofs and other buildings. Thank you. Talk to me a little bit about the
unconscious bias training that you've done, and I really don't care so much
about the training as much as the results.
What did you learn about yourself?
For me, I learned about myself that the biggest thing I took out of it is that I'm a public
servant and I represent all sorts of people.
And you've got to remember that every single person has a right, at least when I apply
it to school, every single person, every single child has a right to education.
Every single person has a right to be protected and have their rights protected.
And that's what we do is we stand up for those individuals who sometimes aren't strong enough
to stand up for themselves.
Talk to me a little bit about how the city can work more effectively with the schools.
I think that having this strong relationships between schools and the district offices is vital.
I know that over the years it has improved. I know part of it was due to a shared location
of the school district leasing space and having access to City Hall right across the hallway,
but I think it's important because these school districts are important for the city,
but also having a strong city is important to the schools. I think it's symbiotic and we need to
not only maintain but build it. There's many opportunities to where the school districts may
be stronger suited to where they can assist the city and there's also opportunities that are vice
versa where the city has either the means or the strength to work with us and offer programming.
OK, so now we've reached the end of our time together.
But we do give you one final minute
to highlight whatever it is you'd like to highlight.
Well, I'd like to really just highlight
my 11 years of experience and my community service.
When I got involved in school board,
it wasn't for political aspirations.
It was because my daughter was going
to the same elementary school that I went to as a child,
and the school libraries were closed.
and I was appalled that all the elementary school libraries
were closed.
And that was the reason why I ran,
was to help open up the school libraries, which all of them
are open.
They've all been remodeled.
They all have technology in them.
They all provide nice, clean spaces for the students.
And I just, you know, I'm passionate and love our city.
That's why I chose to stay here, purchase a home here,
raise my daughter here.
And I'm gonna, you know, even though I have opportunities,
it could go elsewhere.
I'm choosing to stay in San Leandro because it's my home.
So thank you.
So I will let you know that, like I've told everybody else,
you're welcome to stay.
You're welcome to leave.
You're welcome to leave and come back.
Whatever you do does not influence
how we perceive your candidacy.
Okay, thank you.
Mayor and Council, our next interviewee will be
Louis Mendoza and staff will bring Louis in momentarily.
We're ready. Okay so welcome. I'll kind of give you the same summary that I give
everybody. So we'll give you 90 seconds, a minute and a half to introduce
yourself and provide whatever structure you want to use with that time. We'll
then come to each council member who will ask one or more questions and
they've been very good about announcing the number of questions so that you can
pace your answers accordingly. And then when we're done with all of that, we'll
And so we'll give you one minute to wrap up and highlight whatever you want to highlight for us. Okay, thank you. You're free to begin. Okay. So, I agree the mayor, members of the City Council.
My name is Luis Mendoza as you know, I have been arrested in Los Angeles since 2012.
And I currently serve on the Planning Commission, where I were in my second term, and I was recently elected as vice chair.
In that role, I've been directly involved
in language decisions, development projects,
and policy discussions that shape the city's future.
Professionally, I bring over 20 years
experience in technology, business development,
and project management, along with my work
as a small business in San Leandro.
I believe I can step into the role immediately
and contribute in a thoughtful, practical,
and collaborative way.
I will welcome the opportunity to continue serving
the residents of district two and in a broader
and the other community.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Okay, so we will begin with council member Bolt.
Thank you, mayor.
Thank you, Luis, for being here with us tonight.
I have one question for you.
It is, what is the primary issue
that drives you to want to serve?
And what is a viable solution to that problem?
and how would you work to accomplish this solution?
I'd say that the issue of homelessness
is a very important issue because I see that affects
the quality of life in San Leandro.
It's also an issue that deals with fairness and justice.
And the way I will address that issue is through
what people call housing first,
they have the housing first, but also,
I thought about this very carefully.
So, and I know there's a lot of debate
about the homelessness issue.
So one thing that I think is that
you have different tiers that cause the problem, right?
So sometimes you have somebody that loses a job, right?
and they've been stable for a long time.
Also, you might have somebody that has mental health issues.
So I will address those issues by addressing each tier,
providing them with the right resources
to address each of those tiers.
And I think that will actually be a cost effective way
of addressing the issue and will improve the quality
of life for the community in general.
Welcome, Council Member Aguilar next. Thank you, Mayor Gonzalez, and thank you,
Luis, for applying for this position. My question is pretty simple. Just you can
take as much or as little time as you want. Why should my council colleagues
and I support you for the D2C? I'm sorry, why should my council colleagues and I
support you for the D2C? My, you know, first of all, I'm already serving in the
community as planning commissioner so I have a very strong sense of public
service. I also have a lot of ideas when it comes to economic development, safety,
bringing you know attracting investment to San Leandro and and so based on that
and based on the fact that I'm already serving in the city and giving my
background and my intention of you know serving in a collaborative way it's you
know the reason that I you know encourage you to to go for me thank you
that's my question thank you mayor councilmember Bowen please thank you
mayor and thank you Luis for being here and I have two questions for you the
first question is what specifically motivates you to step into this role
right now given the challenges and what would success look like to you if you
were only on the in this role for a short period well I've always I've
always been interested in in you know issues related to public you know public
service serving the community I've actually work on different different
programs that I work when it comes to community activism and bringing people together. A couple
of things that really motivate me, it has to do with business, you know, helping locally owned
small businesses. I believe that, you know, that is very important. And being able to share those
ideas with the rest of the council members. I think I'm also learning what motivates you
and learning everybody's angle on looking at different aspects. I do believe that I can bring
something to that mix that will contribute to the success of the city. And I actually see the
challenges that the city's been through recently and I know there's a budget
issue that's gonna affect you in the future. I see that as something to
scare me but actually something to motivate me to try to contribute to it
in a positive way. Thank you and my second question is district two
residents have a wide range of needs and perspectives and that all voices are
equally heard. Can you share a specific example of how you've built trust with
the community that did initially feel represented, and how would you shape, and how would that
shape how you advocate for District 2?
Can you give everybody a question and answer it?
Yeah, District 2 residents have a wide range of needs and perspectives, and they're not
always equally heard.
Can you share a specific example of how you've built trust with a community that did initially
feel represented, and how would that shape how you advocate on the Council?
So one specific example is, so in years back, I actually started a program myself, it's
like a community outreach, I call it my city market.
So what I did is I reached out to the community and with the idea of promoting locally owned
businesses and so I brought people together and during those times there was a debate
between just the city support or encourages the investment
from large companies like Amazon and that sort of thing.
So I tried to bring the two perspectives together.
And I know that when it goes to big businesses,
there is a tax component that's very important, right?
But then when it goes to small, locally owned businesses,
it's also extremely important that you might know this.
Every dollar spent on a local business
turns into four dollars versus, you know,
sometimes when you work with, you know,
out-of-town companies,
that dollar goes, you know, leads the community.
So I was trying to educate the public
about that, I will bring people together and...
Thank you.
Council member, or vice mayor, Rivera-Swalton.
Thank you so much for submitting all your materials for our consideration and really
appreciate your willingness to serve. I have four questions. Two of them will be what I
asked everybody and then the rest will be specific to your application. What is your
perception of your sphere of control and influence as a member of this council?
My position will be collaborative, learning,
bringing my experience to contribute to the board
in a, I would say, humble learning way,
but also thinking that I have something to contribute.
So that will be my approach.
Thank you.
What is your position on the city's
I agree with it.
Okay, you touched upon this a little bit in your comments, you mentioned the city budget
and the challenging times that are ahead of us in terms of decision-making.
Can you tell us a little bit about what your approach would be on your decision-making
process and how you look at the budget?
Okay, so my understanding is that I believe that there's like 11 million projected
budget shortfall for the next few years, so and I know the mayor has been working on that here
at one point has had a committee to look into this issue. So obviously there's the issue of taxation
bringing businesses to invest in the community
and then finding new revenue sources
to address that issue.
But also you have to be cognizant
of how you spend the money so that will be priorities.
It's very important.
So those basic meat and potato issues
or how to deal with boy here is important.
But also I believe that vision is also very important.
So what I envision is what I think about
when I get inspired, right?
It's like here in San Leandro, right?
What all of these sources do we have?
We have the marina, we have people,
we have the location where we are, center location, right?
So drawing a little bit of my marketing
and sales perspective and also entertainment is how do we make this, you know, how do we
make San Leandro attractive to businesses and to local tourism, right? So that could
be, you know, attracting small businesses, attracting people to come to our restaurants.
So we can talk about entertainment, our natural resources, the parks, things like that. So
you leverage or that in a way that you know brings up you know arises the
profiles on the Andrew so that that would be my thinking thank you you are
one of two self-identified small business owners who apply to the council
according to your application how do you see and you have a very diverse
experience but can you tell me about how all of your experiences can be additive
to this Council? I think that okay so drawing one thing that came to mind when
you asked me that is project management so drawing a bed on what what are you
yeah we're done with project management I got it thank you. Coming to council
members Simon next. Good evening hi here this question is specific to District 2
You have unique challenges there, one of which is Bayfair, which is prime for growth with businesses and shops, as well as the BART area for housing, and there's an abandoned rail line, you know, that runs through your district with unhoused that live there, as well as illegal dumping.
The John George psychiatric facility is right next door in the unincorporated area, and people with mental health issues are still released from there.
they come into District 2 and into the Bay Fair area. How will you work to
address these specific issues to improve the community as well as to help those
that are in need? So I will advocate for providing, as mentioned before,
providing more services for people with mental health issues. What you
You mentioned it really hit home because I drive by John George almost every day because
my wife works at juvenile court, she's a court reporter.
So I see sometimes people coming down that obviously there's something, it's like they're
being released from there.
So one of the things, why are they being released on their own?
And you're right, they just come down to the Bay Fair area.
So how could we address that issue and provide better services for people that need it?
So that would be my approach.
So I've got four questions for you.
Okay.
The first question, tell me about an ethical challenge that you faced and how it got resolved.
Well, I don't know if this is an ethical challenge, but when I first started my role as the Planning
Commission, initially I would get contacted by people that are going to bring projects
to the commission.
And so probably the first three meetings
that I had, not to, you know,
I made a decision that it would be better to,
as a policy, not meet with applicants.
I was telling that they already sent the information,
the council is gonna be, you know,
I mean, the commission is gonna be reviewing it.
And the reason I did that is because I decided at a point
that it wasn't a good idea to have
ex parte communications with people
that are going to the Commission.
And so my policy now is, which I know not everybody agrees
with it, but I just addressed the word,
don't meet with anybody.
But I made sure to tell them that I will be reviewing
all the documentation they send very carefully.
I'm going to be making decisions on very unfairly.
And so that's, I believe, how I handle that ethical situation.
Thank you.
Second question deals with biases.
We all do unconscious bias training.
It was very trended for a number of years.
What have you learned about yourself
as a result of that type of training?
Let me preface this by saying that usually that's
for all the people to judge.
But I like to think that because of my background,
I am very conscious about avoiding any kind of bias
against gender, race.
And so it's something that I see as very important
to be aware of that.
Thank you.
One of the challenges that we face
is we've got deferred maintenance, roofs, roads,
sidewalks, and the like.
And we've got labor groups who are very interested in getting
paid a fair wage.
And so to some degree, they're in tension.
So how do you reconcile that tension between the two,
especially when it comes to the challenge
that we face with our budget?
So right off the bat, I'm definitely pro-labor.
and pro-union, that's something that I've always been.
But at the same time, when it comes to decision-making
from a body like a city, you have
to look at every possible way of addressing the budget
in a responsible manner.
However, I will always believe that there
ways to address the interest of the local community, local workers, and local unions,
while at the same time trying to, you know, balance the budget, and there is,
you know, very many creative ways of doing that as well.
I'd ask a question. How can the schools work better with the city, or the city work better with the
schools? Well, you know, come up. So what we're gonna do right now is give you a
minute to wrap up and highlight whatever you'd like to highlight. Okay thank you
mayor and City Council members. Thank you for the opportunity again. I do
believe that I can step into this role immediately. My experience in the City
Council has given me a lot of insight into how the city works. My experience in
in the business, technology, also I believe you know brings in another you
know set of resources for the city and I will welcome the opportunity to continue
serving the Ciro San Leandro and if I'm not selected I will always you know
continue supporting the city and the last thing I want to say too is to thank
the rest of the people that you know put this forward to to apply for the
position this is a really being an honor and I will continue as planning
commissioners thank you thank you and so I'll just tell you the same thing that
I've told all the other candidates, you're welcome to stay, you're welcome to go, you're
welcome to go for a while and then come back. Whatever you choose to do will not influence
how you are evaluated as a candidate. Thank you.
So having heard seven different presentations, we did have a little break in there, I'd like
to take a short break to kind of clear our brains a little bit, maybe look back through
our notes for about seven to ten minutes. I'll pick either number but I'm
looking to my council but I do feel like we probably need a little bit of just
fresh air. So what are you thinking? Are we fine with ten minutes? Okay let's take ten
minutes. Let's take seven. I see some fives and I see some tens so we're gonna do
we're gonna go with seven because we compromise on this council. So seven
minutes if you could please set the timer and folks we will be back if you're
online, we are in recess. Okay, we are reassembling here in chambers. The time
is 8.35 and we're back in session. So I'd like to begin by thanking everyone who
has applied. It is obvious from your applications and from your statements,
each of you has contributed to the community already and I fully anticipate
that you will continue contributing to the community, each in your own way. And
And that's pretty amazing stuff, from this part of what makes Sandlander special, that
we've got so many people that want to contribute.
This now is the difficult process, because we have to say one of seven people gets to
take the role at this point in time.
And hopefully, from this message, what you're hearing is that we encourage all of you to
consider running in the fall, consider running in two years after that, in six years after
that.
This is not a one-and-done opportunity.
So thank you very much for what you have done
and how you have presented yourselves here today.
So what we're going to do now at this point in time
is ask council members if they are interested in nominating
someone that they have heard from.
We will take all the nominations.
We will then create a random order of those nominations.
And we will essentially consider the nominees in that random order.
When we take that random order, if a nominee receives four votes, then we will move to
a resolution to appoint that person.
That would be another step in the process.
Do we have any questions about what I've described?
So I'll begin with a question from Councilmember Bolt.
Yes, my question is if will we say there's four people that are nominated and move on
and then we go to the votes, if the very first one gets four, are we done or are we going
to vote on all four?
According to the current process, we would be done at the point that someone has support
from four council members.
That's the way we've laid it out.
you have concerns about that you can express them and that would you know we
can modify our process but the current process we nominate everybody we
randomly assigned who gets considered first and then we move on to the next
person if someone does not have four votes okay I mean I'm I'm okay I just
get nervous because then if there was someone else below that you also liked
and you wanted to see where they were at you won't ever see that so that just
Tells me how to proceed. Okay
councilman that
Come to you
Thank you, Mary. There's also where are we moving forward with nominations?
Seeing no other questions. Yes, please. I would like to nominate James a glove
Okay, so we have a nomination for James. I give that
Next nomination councilman Bowen. Yes, I would like to nominate Emily Chandler
Chandler nominated
Vice Mayor. I'd like to nominate Luis Mendoza. Okay. Any other nominations?
Councilmember Bolt. I would like to nominate Leo Sheridan. Okay. Any other
nominations? I will list them in a second. So I've got Aguilar, Chandler, Mendoza and
in Sheridan. You were in queue, Vice Mayor? If we don't nominate at this stage, I'm answering
my own question, I'd like to nominate Tiara Pena please. Okay, coming to Councilmember
Simon. Ed Hernandez. Okay, so just to be clear, the nominees thus far are Aguilar, Chandler,
Hernandez Mendoza Pena and Sheridan. Okay at this point in time seeing no
others I will close nominations and then I do want to then proceed with
Madam Clerk you have the names you will put them into our random number
generator from random.org. Yes mayor one moment and I will break up our
randomizer. So we're at random.org and I have the six nominee names in the order
that they were called and I've pasted those here. We have Aguilar, Chandler,
Mendoza, Sheridan, Pena, and Hernandez. I'm going to click randomize and that will
be the order. The vote order will be first Louis Mendoza, second Edward Hernandez,
third Emily Chandler, fourth Tyari Pena, fifth Leo Sheridan, and sixth James
Aguilar. Okay at this point in time the way that we're going to proceed is if
there's interest in discussion about our first candidate Luis Mendoza now would
be the time to offer your thoughts we did have a nomination we have no sense
of the depth of interest so if the nominator would like to offer some words
thank you one of the had a cough drop also known as candy one of the reasons
that I nominated Mr. Mendoza was one,
I really appreciated the diversity of his background
and both professional and academic.
To me, it spoke about, or how that landed for me
specifically was taking risk, but also sticking with it.
He has long tenure in his business ownership.
I also in terms of my question around sphere of influence,
he talked about contributing and being collaborative,
which I think is something that we need on the council.
He also had a good understanding of the budget
and what we were looking at,
11 million over three years,
talked about taxation, but also income.
And so that's one of the reasons that I nominated him
was I thought he gave really good concise answers
and yeah, that's why.
Are there any other thoughts
that people would like to offer on Mr. Mendoza?
Council Member Bolton.
Yes, having worked with Mr. Mendoza
on the Planning Commission,
always felt his contribution was heartfelt,
and he always chose to work in a way
that uplifted the people,
and that's something I'll never get past.
I really appreciate that in you, brother.
Okay, seeing no other comments,
I will offer one comment.
I was particularly impressed with this answer
about expartheid communication,
sometimes it's just easier to make sure that everything's happening in the
public that needs to happen in the public eye I think that demonstrates
very high integrity and that's something that's very valuable on our Council
Councilman regular thank you Americans also I think you know with regards to
his experience on the county on the planning Commission with regards to his
his smart business years of involvement with technology
and his answers supporting economic development
and public safety and also with regards
to supporting the local rent stabilization.
I think, you know, his experience is something
that we are, I am looking for.
Council Member Simon.
Yes, I just want to thank Luis for coming out
applying and I too like your answers more services to help the unhoused and
how to address that issue I think is really important so just appreciate you
coming out okay seeing another commentary on at this time we will use
our voting system if you would like to support his nomination for this position
you vote yes if you'd like to defer at this time you can abstain or vote no and
then what will happen is if he gets four votes, then we'll move to a motion. If he
does not receive the four votes, then we move to the next candidate for
discussion. So we're not bouncing back and forth between candidates, this is a
linear process. Yeah, so this is your opportunity to support this candidate. If
you would like to support this candidate, we'll take a vote. If he gets four votes,
that will move to adopt a resolution to appoint him. If he does not get four
votes at this time then we will move to the next candidate and then we'll keep
proceeding through candidates until somebody gets four votes so it's not as
if we'll go to the next person and then come back to him or two people down then
come back so this is kind of a this is your chance if you support him and then
of course if at the very end nobody gets four votes we'll cross that bridge when
get there. Okay so at this time please vote if you support his candidacy. The
votes are in for this nominee and there are three yes votes, two no votes and one
abstention. Okay so at this point in time we're going to move to our next
candidate. Our next candidate on your randomized list was... The next candidate
is Edward Hernandez. Okay so let us begin the discussion on Mr. Hernandez.
Councilmember Simon. Yes I've nominated Ed. Ed has been in our community for quite a
while we we heard his presentation um volunteered on many different avenues um and with his daughters
here raising his daughters in our community his passion for helping the youth and i did
hear what he said about stepping back and then moving forward and us having some history having
make some experience here in the city I think can be beneficial to us. I do think there's many
good candidates and I'm glad that we have several nominations here and this is we're fortunate to
have so many viable candidates so I do want to thank everyone. I think there's lots of good
opportunities here that we have to us but I am nominating Ed because he has provided a lot of
good service to our community and I think that his experience can be very beneficial towards us.
Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, I would
like to hear from you.
Thank you for your
nomination.
Other councilmembers would like
to weigh in at this time.
Seeing no other comments,
please vote.
All votes are in.
And with four abstentions, one
yes and one no, the nomination
fails.
At this point in time, we will
move to our next candidate.
Okay councilmember Bowen. Thank You mayor I just want to share a little bit about why I
and I made Emily Chandler when I was really impressed by the comprehensiveness
of her answers to the questions on the application including the entirety of
the supplemental questions before the last time that we had worked on these
questions I made sure to add multi-part questions just to see if people were
paying attention. I really appreciate that a lot of details matter. One of the
things that really strikes me for the person to join the council during this
moment over the next nine months is really to be able to represent district
two and understand what's happening on the ground. I really appreciated the
answers that Emily gave around community and having children in schools and
volunteering at Bethel community and with SL 2050, really understanding what
is happening in the community on the day-to-day. I really appreciated the very
specific raising of issues to do with traffic, bike safety, transit, issues that
are happening in the community right now. A lot of quality of life issues which is
what we're constantly hearing about and I think something that district two
residents are really excited to be able to have uplifted at the council and to
have that representation. I really appreciated the answer around not
knowing necessarily all of the information to I believe it was the
mayor's question to do with balancing negotiations between different
stakeholders but the idea of being a learner to understand more get that
information before making a decision.
She spoke about short-term and long-term goals
and then the final thing that unfortunately
we've not been able to talk about much on the council
because of other priorities is really around sustainability.
So I appreciate the question asked by vice mayor
but really appreciate how her answer really spoke
to root causes and changes that need to happen
at a systems-wide level and how we can move from that
to be able to affect the one to one
experience of the everyday person.
Okay, and thank you for that.
I will now come to Vice Mayor.
Thank you, I was equally,
I really enjoyed reading the very comprehensive application,
really appreciate the time and thoughtfulness
you put into it.
I could tell that you thought about long-term
and short-term goals.
And I uplifted sustainability because you are one of the few
that actually named it as a medium and long-term priority.
So I felt like that really rounded out
just in terms of looking at some of the issues
that we work on really felt like that really rounded
that priorities out.
some of the things were already said by my colleague but I was really impressed
with the knowledge of the local District 2 issues that you uplifted and I would
think that you would be a fantastic addition to our council and I'm
supportive. Seeing no other comments the one thing that I will highlight we
received a number of positive recommendations and so I'm very grateful
for that and certainly to have Irina and Bethel reach out is that a positive
is a positive indicator. Okay, seeing no other commentary please vote. All votes
are in and this nominee received three abstentions two yes votes and one no
vote meaning the nomination failed. Okay let us proceed to our next nominee. The
next nominee is Thierry Pena. We will begin with Vice Mayor. Miss Pena, thank
you so much for submitting your application. I enjoyed reading it and
kind of taking some time to reflect on it. In terms of your time with us today,
And some of the things that you highlighted,
there was a couple of highlights for me
that I'd like to elevate to my colleagues.
One was around, and the answer around the sphere
of control and influence wasn't around like control,
but it was mostly what I was,
the answer I was looking for was,
I see myself work being part of a team, right?
Vote one, but really we have to work as a team,
and you did kind of elevate that in terms of influence.
So I appreciate you wanting to be kind of part of a team,
but also kind of understanding the role that we all play.
I also really responded to grounding yourself
in community and kind of your lived experience
and how that has impacted the work that you are doing,
but also the work that you hope to do
if you were to be selected
as one of the appointed members of this council.
Let me see through my notes.
Talked about kind of a larger issue
that threads amongst our districts
And that's around homelessness.
Really enjoyed listening to your take on that.
I think it's, like you mentioned,
it's a really complicated and nuanced issue.
And it takes a lot of different levels of actors
to come together.
And the other thing that really resonated with me
was your empathy, how to tackle these problems,
that I think you show up with empathy first.
And I just really responded to that.
thank you. Again, thank you for your time and for submitting your application materials.
Councilmember Aguilar. Thank you Mayor Gonzalez. Tiare, I just, you know, I think I'd like
to harp on what my vice mayor had mentioned with regards to working together. You know,
you mentioned that you started as a secretary that moved your way up the county to become
legislative aid and name the various titles that you that you've held that's
you know that's moving upward obviously we've done a lot of great work with the
county and you know you you mentioned regarding homelessness there is and we
do have a crisis in San Leandro we did put together the navigation center you
mentioned working with state agencies and federal agencies we just came back
from Washington DC advocating for federal funding and we work together
with our lobbyists to advocate for state funding you know you have that
experience working as a staffer and you you mentioned being an outsider looking
in I think you have been on the inside which is the experience that we're
looking for to fill this role and I think you know you also mentioned that
that you've had a role model who was your grandma,
who was mayor of Vallejo for many years.
So I think all that experience combined.
You know, I support Tiare.
Council Member Simon, please.
Yeah, I wanted to show my appreciation for you coming out
and putting in your application.
And as the mayor said, if this doesn't work,
maybe it will, maybe you won't,
but there's many more opportunities ahead.
And I was very impressed with your answers,
and I heard the empathy and the care in your voice,
in your words, and I felt it.
And there is a crisis on our streets.
It's there, and we see it every day.
And I appreciate you picking up on the detail
from our council workshop.
You picked up that we've moved from four beds to two beds
in our alternate response unit.
That's huge.
That's huge that we have made that reduction.
It's a huge impact to our unhoused.
So I appreciate you getting into those details
and just wanna thank you.
Seeing no other commentary at this time,
I'll add my thoughts.
I really liked your answer around control.
Control is a bad word
because what we do is influence.
We really don't have a lot of control here.
And the power of influence,
I think you've probably picked that up
from being an outsider-insider,
because you're an outsider, so to speak, to this council,
maybe to San Leonardo politics,
but you're an insider because you've been inside baseball.
You know what politics is like at the county level.
You've seen it, you understand the dynamics that folks face.
So you bring this interesting duality.
I find that your word choice, I think, speaks volumes
when you talk about people's gifts.
I think that's a very powerful because people do bring gifts
and how you put those gifts together
to create a great outcome, I think, is very powerful.
I love that you're plain spoken.
When you said that people are not trash,
that just resonated very powerfully
because people are not trash.
And so being able to cut to the chase
with simple words, not blindly, but earnestly.
I think it's powerful, and for me,
you got a positive vote from your grandmother's story.
You know, this is the one we talk about.
If you see it, you can be it.
I mean, that's exactly what you have lived,
and maybe you can be that role model for somebody else.
Seeing no other commentary, let's vote.
votes are in and the nominee received three yes votes and three abstentions
meaning the nomination failed if we can continue with our next nominee and the
next nominee is Leo Sheridan we will begin with councilmember bolt yes thank
Thank you.
I do agree that we're in a good position
with all these candidates.
I nominated Leo.
You can tell by my votes, I want to abstain on ones
that I think I could vote yes for,
but I want to see everybody's viability.
And I couldn't, with Leo, I couldn't not nominate you
with all your experience and your time in this community
and all the work you put in, not just from a dais,
but also out there in the field.
And I truly appreciate that work that you do, brother.
So I had to make sure that you made it through to this side
to see where the votes are at.
So thank you.
Seeing no other comments, I will offer my comments.
I am particularly grateful for your experience
the school board and on facilities in particular because I think one of the
biggest challenges that we face in the City of San Leandro is facilities
related issues. It's hundreds of millions of dollars and it's going to take that
insight, that dedication, that recognition, all of that together to help get us out
of the challenge that we're in right now. So I am particularly grateful for that. I
I think also the experience of governance is a big plus for me, and I think that we
cannot sufficiently highlight the importance of governance and good governance.
It's something that I've been working to promote since I arrived here, and I think
that you'll help further promote that.
Seeing no other commentary, please vote.
All votes are in and the
Nominee received one. Yes vote and five
Abstentions meaning the nomination failed
Okay, at this point in time. We will go to our next nominee, which I believe is mr. Aguilar
Yes, that's correct James Aguilar
so we'll begin with
Councilmember Aguilar
Thank you Mayor Gonzalez. I think with nominating James, I remember being at a conference in San Diego and
former trustee Janet Zamudio had asked. I have a
student trustee who would like to be on the school board and I asked where this
where James had lived and I said, oh you're in my district. You'd like to run for the seat that I'm currently in and
And being 17 years old, and I think running for that seat
at 18, being the youngest, shows a lot of leadership,
enthusiasm, and working together with the school board
to pass successful bond measures.
Being a president from clerk to vice president to president
to going through the Masters in Governance training,
I think James is a consensus builder.
He works with everyone that we all advocate for,
especially families and children.
He is a product of San Lorenzo Unified School Districts
and San Leandro has two school districts,
San Leandro and San Lorenzo.
James has put in the work,
he is a product of the school system.
He is in San Leandro and I think with regards
to the question that the mayor had asked
with regards to ethics, James had some tough decisions
to make and decided that his time was up with the school board
and decided to do other things.
And as somebody who was working on their doctorate,
I think this person is best suited who understands finance,
who has been involved in various committees
with the school district and someone that I have worked
alongside with I think James is the person to fit this position and who is ready to plug
and play and I think there may be a slight learning curve but I think this is someone
that we can all work with and move forward to serve out the rest of this term. So that's
why I nominated James Iglod.
Thank you coming to council more bold
Yes, thank you
With with regards to the one question that I asked you all I think the biggest
This is a personal opinion where I'm coming from and James you you
Hit it with the budget. I think it's the toughest thing we have to deal with and I
Do feel like you are the strongest candidate in the pool
Just by the way you present yourself and your answers to the questions and and everything you sent in reading all the the different
Applications everybody here, I think would do a good job, but I personally feel that
What you have shown in this early stage of your life and going through these things
Is a is such a positive that I I would hate to turn my back on it
I don't want to turn my back on anybody because I think district 2 is in a good place with all of you here
but James, I really appreciate all the work you put in I
Know you've reached out to a lot of the council members and also staff members from what I heard and that is just like
Above and B. I know Ed you did that too as well, and I appreciate that
but
That shows another level of what we need to get to so I appreciate that you thank you
Seeing no other comments. I'll offer my thoughts at this time
Your presentation was highly polished
highly professional
Highly well prepared. I don't think I've seen a presentation that well prepared
And a long time might have been back to the vice mayor
When she did her presentation
You've clearly worked hard, you've hustled.
And that in itself is impressive.
I really, when you talked about what people care about
is the potholes that really struck a chord as me,
because I think it's the truth.
When you ask people who had this saying, what
is the 89.5, 89.8, 87, whatever his statement was,
what do they care about?
The vast majority of San Landerans care about the basics.
And are we helping meet their needs with the basics?
At this point in time, I'm gonna vote abstain
because I'd like to reconsider one of the candidates,
but if you get the four votes, you will have my support
when it comes to the resolution.
At this time, please vote.
Council Member Simon.
Yeah, James, I just wanted to say
I was very impressed with your presentation.
You have answers to your questions
and your application, just one of the points you hit on
was a homeless issue and helping those that are unhoused
and you have family members that are in that position.
Your answers to the John George
and we're not just working within our city limits.
We have influences and neighbors
that we have to coordinate with and that's huge.
And your approach to criticism,
I thought I would just focus in here this or see this.
think this is really important for us on council to be able to work together and
grow together and build together and this is what you say approach your
criticism how do you grow if you don't take criticism I believe in growth
through feedback criticism is not only part of the job it's welcome in my book
hands down you need a thick skin serving in elected appointed politics but at the
core of any role in government always assuming best intent hearing and taking
criticism is what allows me to be better understand where my focus needs to be and how I need
to adjust change based on my constituents wants and needs. I think that's really important
to our role here and for us all to work together as a council and with our staff. Thank you.
Vice Mayor. Really appreciated your Bay Fair answer in
in terms of looking at visual data
to kind of understand what the physical space
and the built space look like
and to think about opportunities.
I'm supportive, but I'm going to abstain
because I do want to give another,
I wanna do one more round of voting,
but I'm supportive, and thank you.
Okay, seeing no other people win, let's go ahead and vote.
All votes are in.
And with three yeses and three abstentions,
the nomination fails.
Okay, so at this point in time,
I think that there are probably certain candidates
that are more likely to be what I'd call on the cusp.
So what I'd like to do is,
given all the voting that you saw,
given all the discussion that you saw,
it would be nice if we could at this time
identify two or three people to narrow our discussion
and focus that.
So let's see if we can get there.
Beginning with the Vice Mayor.
have two that I would like to elevate and that would be Ms. Chandler and Mr.
Aguilar. Councilmember Aguilar. I think with with the current and voting around I
would like to elevate three candidates who've received three yeses that is
Luis Mendoza, Tiare Pena and James Aguilar. Are there any others? Okay so at
this point in time, I will just say that I'd like to also elevate Mr. Aguilar,
Mr. Mendoza, and Ms. Pena. Anybody else want to express a preference?
Want to come back? I'm gonna ask Vice Mayor, would you be willing to limit one
viewers in light of the votes prior votes no I would like to continue with
miss Chandler in the running very well so let's let's have a discussion on the
four the four that I have our Aguilar Aguilar Chandler Mendoza and Pena I'm
sorry can you repeat the names again please Aguilar Chandler Mendoza and
Pena I'm sorry I should offer direction if you could put the four of those
names into the randomizer please. Yes mayor one moment. So here on this
screen we're back at random.org and I am pasting the names of the four nominees
in the order that they were called out just now. Emily Chandler, James Aguilar,
Luis Mendoza, and Thierry Pena. And I am now pressing the randomize button and
that will be the order in which the votes will be called. So the randomized
order is first Louis Mendoza, second James Aguilar, third Emily Chandler and
fourth Thierry Pinha. Okay, so let us proceed with discussion on Mr. Mendoza.
Okay, let's vote. All votes are in and the motion the nomination fails with
four abstentions and two no votes. Let us proceed to Mr. Aguilar please.
So while the city clerk is doing that I just want to know for Mr. Aguilar is
there are there any words that people would like to add to the discussion? Okay
seeing none please vote. All votes are in and we have four yes votes and two
abstentions. Okay our next step in this process is to have a motion to adopt the
resolution appointing James Aguilar to the district to seat for then subject
election in this fall. Who would like to make that motion? Councilmember Aguilar?
So moved. And do I have a second? Councilmember Wolt? Second. Okay so at this point in time if
there's no further discussion please vote. All votes are in and the motion
carries unanimously. So my question to you Mr. Aguilar would you prefer to be
sworn in today or when others can be here to celebrate with you. We are
indifferent. It is your choice. Okay so we shall plan on swearing you in at the
April 5th 6th 6th meeting. So we look ready to have you fill the seat right
over there. Okay at this point in time let's see let's look at the agenda to
have any remaining business. We've passed our motion. Okay this is perfect so at
this point in time it is 9 25 and we are adjourned.