San Leandro Focus

This Thursday, August 25th, at 7 pm in the City Council Chambers, the San Leandro Planning Commission will review and perhaps make recommendations to the City Council on the final San Leandro 2035 General Plan, final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and related Zoning Code and map changes (Zoning Update 2016). The City Council is set to review these documents on September 19th. The Planning Commission agenda packet including staff reports are available on the City website at https://sanleandro.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx. Of interest to residents on the north end of town: City planners originally proposed re-zoning of properties between the fire station on Estudillo and Bancroft Avenues as Downtown Area 2 (or DA-2) properties from their present designation as Professional Office Buildings (or P).   DA-2 zoning would have allowed 5-story mixed use multi-unit residential complexes (including one planned for the property on Bancroft Avenue opposite the middle school). The propos...

For those new to San Leandro, or voting for the first time this November, please vote on all city and school ballot measures. That way you will truly have an impact on our community. Races in San Leandro can be close - some seats and measures have been decided by 1 or less percent of the vote. As background, the City of San Leandro is run by a Mayor and six City Council members. Together, they   form the City Council. The Mayor is the presiding officer of City Council meetings and serves as the spokesperson for the City. However, the Mayor has no more authority than a City Council member when it comes to voting on matters - the Mayor has one vote as does each Council member. The Mayor and City Council members are limited two consecutive, four year terms. Unlike at the state level, the City's term limits are not a lifetime restriction. A person could serve two terms, leave the Council for four years, and then run again.  For the upcoming election, there are four candidates f...

I have sent all candidates running for City Council in San Leandro (including the ones without an opponent) a series of questions. I wish to make an informed choice in deciding whom to support. I have told them that their answers will guide my endorsement decisions. I believe their answers will also be of interest to the community.  Candidates for office regularly complete questionnaires from   labor, business and issue groups. Their answers, however, are kept confidential. The public has no knowledge as to what the candidates stated or promises they made. We are only told what the candidates want to tell us - often in the form of short, simple statements that border on slogans, not solutions to the issues we face. I want to change this process for our city. We, the voters, should also be able to ask candidates questions and receive answers as part of our due diligence in evaluating them and deciding whom to support.  I will post the answers to my questionnaire after I re...