Working To Create A Better San Leandro

-

I care deeply for San Leandro. I have decided to run for mayor to work with the community to create a better San Leandro.


To achieve this, the city budget crisis first must be solved. Even though crime is widespread, the mayor and city council eliminated six police officer positions. Funding for senior services, school crossing guards, libraries and pools was also cut.


Despite these cuts, the city is actually spending more this fiscal year than last year, including millions in deficit spending. The city is rapidly burning through its reserves. Finance officials project $36.5 million in red ink over the next six years. If significant action is not taken, the city could be forced to declare bankruptcy.


In response, the mayor and city council are actively considering an increase in the sales tax, raising it a quarter cent to 10%. If approved, San Leandro would have the highest sales tax of any city in Northern California.


I have a better plan. I will restore San Leandro to fiscal health without raising taxes. I will stop the deficit spending by bringing expenses under control and operating city hall efficiently. As mayor, I will not take a salary until the city budget deficit is eliminated.


I will apply my knowledge and skills as an attorney and former small business owner to support small and large businesses in San Leandro, and bring new companies to our city, including ones in the rapidly growing green economy. This will provide quality jobs and generate revenue to rehire police officers, fully fund senior services, libraries and pools, fix our streets, and support our schools.


I will listen to the community and bring it into the process of finding constructive solutions to the challenges facing San Leandro. I will take a collaborative approach to governing. I will work with all council members to create a new culture of open and honest dialogue between city hall and the community.


As a parent and former school board trustee, I know strong schools make a strong city. I was at the forefront of the campaign to build the new 9th grade campus and performing arts center. I will form a real partnership between the city and both school districts.


I am an active member of the coalition to Save San Leandro Hospital. I am committed to keeping acute and emergency care at the hospital.


I pledge to always put the interests of the people of San Leandro first. Together, let's make San Leandro a clean and vibrant community with safe neighborhoods and high performing schools.


Very truly yours,

Stephen Cassidy


P.S. Please visit www.cassidyforsanleandro.com to learn more about my plans to improve San Leandro. There is a link to a community survey. Please share your views on the key issues facing our city.


For those on Facebook, please also join the group Stephen Cassidy for San Leandro Mayor at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=149957097021

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking Back: Measure B Transformed San Leandro Public Schools

-
Image
Our tax dollars can make a real difference in the lives of our children and prosperity of a community. Twelve years ago San Leandro High School was grossly overcrowded leading to discipline problems and undermining academic performance, no theater in the school district existed for student performances, and many restrooms at schools were in such poor condition that the students would not use them. That all changed in August 2006 when the School Board voted to place Measure  B on the ballot. The largest school construction bond in San Leandro’s history, Measure B received overwhelming support and led to the physical transformation of San Leandro public school (combined with the passage of two subsequent bond measures and one earlier measure). With better public schools, San Leandro has become a more desirable city to live, helping attract and retain families who previously would have never moved to San Leandro or moved away when the children were in middle school. Here ...
Read more

San Leandro's Unsustainable City Budget

-
Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the San Leandro City Council Finance Committee. The committee consists of Mayor Santos and Councilmembers Prola and Gregory. Gregory was absent. In short, if significant action is not taken, the city will burn through all of its reserves, including eventually reserves for natural disasters and other emergencies. By 2015, San Leandro could join the City of Vallejo in declaring bankruptcy. Summary of Finance Committee Presentation Perry Carter, the Interim Finance Director, gave an update on the budget. In analyzing a budget, you need to examine at least three years of data - the previous, current and next fiscal years. Carter first reported on the "preliminary actual" numbers for the fiscal year which just ended on June 30, 2009. Illustrating how quickly the city finances collapsed last year, the original city budget for fiscal year 2008-09 assumed $76.2 million (hereafter simply "M") in revenues and $81.6 M in expenditures. ...
Read more

How Juan Gonzalez won the San Leandro Mayor's office at the end of the counting of votes

-
Image
On November 18, 2022, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters released the vote count for nearly all votes cast in the November 2022 general election. After being behind for the entire vote count, Juan Gonzalez effectively won the race.  How did this happen? First, from election night through 11/17, the Registrar had reported a total of 13,746 first choice ballots in the Mayor's race. On 11/18, the number of votes reported increased by 6,436 to 20,185 total votes. That was a nearly 47% jump in the reported votes. Another way of looking at the data is that prior to 11/18, all previous vote counts released by the Registrar did not include roughly one-third of the votes that were cast in the race. Second, Gonzalez  decisively took the lead in the the first choice ballots that were released by the Registrar on 11/18. Gonzalez took these votes by 39% to 33% margin. With the exception of the first vote count released by the Registrar on election night right after the polls closed wh...
Read more