ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL
The view of Alameda as a quiet, apolitical bedroom hamlet in the East Bay has changed rapidly in just the last year. A homegrown group of housing advocates stormed City Hall more than a year with tactics usually employed in progressive cities like nearby Oakland and Berkeley.

A community-based push for sanctuary city status last month and a nationally reported turnout of nearly 400 residents on short notice to protest President Trump’s Muslim travel ban, may represent a paradigm shift in how the East Bay views politics in Alameda.

A vast majority of Alamedans voted against
Donald Trump last November.

On Tuesday night, a new front is being open by Alameda’s nascent progressive movement. A local group plans Tuesday will urge the Alameda City Council to create a resolution calling for Trump’s impeachment.

“We, citizens of Alameda, are gravely concerned,” says the group’s Facebook page. “We have a new President whose temperament, behavior, leadership and policy directions may be a threat to our Democracy. We have reason to believe that his conflict of interest, political corruption and direct violation of the Constitution are sufficient grounds for impeachment.”

Also on Tuesday night, the Richmond City Council–possibly the most progressive government body in the entire East Bay–will vote on a similar resolution urging Congress to investigate Trump’s business ties and whether he has violated the emoluments clause in the U.S. Constitution. If approved by the City Council, the resolution is believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S.

Meanwhile, advocates in Alameda plan to read their proposed resolution during Tuesday night’s meeting. Whether the five-member City Council can be convinced is another question, despite a progressive majority.

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