San Leandro Focus

I support the effort first proposed by community leader Bernard Ashcraft and advocated by former City Council member Ursula Reed to name a public plaza or other location in honor of former City Council member Surlene Grant, the first African American elected to the San Leandro City Council. On Monday, September 25th, at 6 p.m. at San Leandro City Hall in the Sister Cities Room (right next to City Council Chambers) the Mayor and two Council members will review the proposal. Please come and share your views with the City Council. For the reasons why I support honoring Surlene, please read my blog post at https://sanleandrofocus.blogspot.com/2017/08/san-leandro-should-honor-former-city.html

In 1911, California passed Amendment 8, granting women the right to vote in state elections almost a decade before the 19th Amendment provided women's suffrage throughout the U.S. On August 26, 2017, in San Leandro, noted author Elaine Elinson spoke on How California Women Won The Right To Vote as part of the Women's Equality Day Celebration at the San Leandro Museum and Casa Peralta. Elinson is the co-author of "Wherever There's a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California." The book tells the story of how freedom and equality have grown in California, from the gold rush right up to the precarious post-9/11 era. You can learn more about the book and Elinson's other writings at http://members.authorsguild.net/eelinson The event was co-sponsored by the San Leandro Public Library, Community Impact Lab and OSIsoft. I recorded the video.