San Leandro Focus

  I know many in San Leandro have mixed feelings about Measure V V , but I hope you'll join me in supporting it. Here is a letter I sent to the San Leandro Times in favor of V V. Dear Editor - These are truly challenging times. Many of us have lost our jobs or had to take pay cuts, businesses have permanently closed, students, parents and teachers are adjusting to distant learning, more San Leandrans than ever are relying on local food pantries to feed their families, and many in the community want to see significant reforms undertaken in our police department. In that sense, it's a terrible time to ask voters to approve a tax measure. But it’s also a terrible time for San Leandro to go into a downward spiral. This is a real risk. Covid-19 has dealt a sudden, direct hit on city finances. It is critical that we maintain City services and programs that are helping San Leandrans stay safe and survive the pandemic. This is why I am supporting Measure V V. Measure V V is not an ongo...

I wrote the text below for today's Eden Health District COVID-19 Bulletin . I don't want anyone to be a victim of a financial fraud while we are all trying out best to stay home as much as possible.  Please share it with family and friends, particularly seniors. All the best, Stephen Cassidy ----- Scammers are using the pandemic as a means to obtain confidential and personal information from California seniors. Any unsolicited phone call or visit from someone claiming to work for or with Medicare and seeking your Medicare or social security number is a red alert that the person is engaged in a fraud. In one widespread scheme, the  Los Angeles Times reports , fraudsters call Medicare beneficiaries at home, knock on their doors or approach them in the parking lots of grocery stores and pharmacies, then offer them home-test kits for COVID-19 or packages of hand sanitizer, masks and other protective equipment. What they’re after, explains Timothy DeFrancesca, a sp...

I was proud to serve as chairperson of the Yes on Measure N campaign. Here is an update on the election results: On Saturday, March 7th, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters released a large amount of additional votes yesterday. The YES vote for Measure N now stands at 61% (55% is required for passage). At the end of election night the support for Measure N was at 59%. The additional votes were most likely mail ballots dropped off at the polling locations on election day and/or mail ballots received by the Registrar's office right before and after election day. Late mail ballot voters are supporting Measure N at level above 60%. How many more ballots remain to be counted? I don't know as the Secretary of State has not updated its document showing the number of unprocessed ballots statewide by county. Based upon what Alameda County reported on Friday (250,000 unprocessed ballots) and new ballots released yesterday (96,000 ballots), there may be 154,000 ballo...

In an editorial in opposition to Measure N, a school bond for the San Leandro Unified School District, the editor recognized that the school district had significant facility needs. The editor, however, opposed Measure N asserting that the size of the bond measure, $198 million, was too large. Combined with earlier debt approved by San Leandro voters, the total debt if Measure were adopted would equivalent to $58,000 per student. The $58,000 per student statistic is meaningless as school districts are limited by law as to how much bond debt they can issue based on the assessed value of all property in the district. The San Leandro Unified School District will be under the limit and in compliance with state law even with the passage of Measure N. The statistic is also highly misleading. It is based on the false assumption all bonds, past and present, adopted in San Leandro schools are just for the 9,000 students in the school district today. The classrooms and facilities tha...

New Jefferson Elementary School on date of its dedication, SanJune 2, 2005.  San Leandro is a safer and more prosperous city than it was 20 years ago because we have invested wisely in our local public schools. Some persons disagree and assert, without offering any evidence, that all money spent from the bond measures on San Leandro schools has been wasted. I want to show how baseless these claims are by focusing on the very first - or at least first contemporary - school bond measure passed in San Leandro. This was Measure A, a $53 million bond, approved by the voters in 1997. The bond was issued in a series of offerings starting in 1998 and into the early 2000s (totaling $53 million), with each offering lasting 25 years for repayment. That means the Measure A bond will be paid off entirely in a few years. Student safety was the focus of the Measure A bond. The majority of the money was dedicated to seismic upgrades of our schools - necessitated by the greater knowledge...

Measure N is a school construction bond to fund essential improvements in San Leandro public schools. Here are answers to common questions on Measure N. 1) When is the election? Election day is Tuesday, March 3, 2020. 2) Why is Measure N on the ballot? Four years ago, the San Leandro Unified School District conducted a comprehensive assessment of the facility needs of all public schools in the district. Thanks to the generous support of the community, significant improvements have been made. Measure N has been placed on the ballot by the San Leandro school board to finish the work identified in the original assessment. The amount of the bond is $198 million.  3) How will the Measure N funds be spent?  • Construct new science and engineering labs and career technical education facilities at San Leandro High School so that students are prepared for college or careers in fields like health sciences, engineering and skilled trades; • Replace aging ...