Earlier this month, Hayward Councilmember Elisa Marquez and Mark Salinas – two of three incumbents seeking re-election this November – flashed moments of anger and disdain toward their more progressive opponents when challenged about their respective records. In one exchange,… Read More ›
Hayward renters could see their annual rent increases lowered from a current five percent cap to as low as two percent, according to a proposed revision to the city’s Residential Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The three-member Hayward Housing-Homelessness Task Force moved… Read More ›
The field of 13 candidates this November, includes three incumbents, and a field of newcomers baptized by Hayward’s dramatic push to the left stoked over the past two years by progressive Councilmember Aisha Wahab and an energized coalition of young… Read More ›
Hayward Police Chief Toney Chaplin apologized last week for saying Hayward City Council members were ignorant of the department’s day-to-day activities. Chaplin, a former San Francisco interim police chief, who was tapped to lead the Hayward Police Department in July… Read More ›
During a somewhat routine update to Hayward’s rent stabilization ordinance last week in which certain tweaks and language intended to align the ordinance with changes in state law were offered by city staff, Hayward Councilmember Aisha Wahab sought a significant… Read More ›
Hayward voters will be asked this November to increase its current hotel tax up to 14 percent. A charter amendment to allow non-citizens to serve on city boards and commissions will also appear on the fall ballot, the Hayward City… Read More ›
Hayward councilmembers approved a $169 million budget for the next fiscal year that includes a $4.1 million cut to the Hayward Police Department. The move comes following several weeks of advocacy by Hayward residents for the City Council to incorporate… Read More ›
Hayward voters may be asked this November to amend its City Charter and allow non-citizens to serve on city boards and commissions. The Hayward City Council unanimously voted to move forward the proposal on Tuesday night by directing staff to… Read More ›
Hayward Councilmember Francisco Zermeño apologized for diminishing the Black Lives Matter movement by previously using derivatives of the phrase, such as Latino Lives Matter and Police Lives Matter. The statement was made through social media accounts connected with Zermeño’s re-election… Read More ›
NEW! City Council meeting notes included.
As Hayward councilmembers thanked its executive team and firefighters on Tuesday night for foregoing two percent cost-of-living increases to help lower the city’s ballooning covid-related deficit, in addition, to their own two percent cut in council pay, Hayward Councilmember Aisha… Read More ›
The belt-tightening at Hayward City Hall due to covid-19 is becoming more evident as the city faces a potential $17 million loss of revenues this year. In order to limit the toll on the city’s finances, Hayward firefighters unions are… Read More ›
Hayward residents who are not able to access unemployment benefits can apply for a $500 grant from the city’s relief fund. The Hayward City Council approved the grants Tuesday night as part of a $400,000 total allocation to the Hayward… Read More ›
Workers earning a minimum wage in Hayward will not receive a previously promised $2 an hour raise for, at least, another six months, the Hayward City Council decided on Tuesday. A majority of the council, some voicing regret for delaying… Read More ›
At a time when the federal government is putting cash in the hands of Americans in order to prop up a national economy wrecked by covid-19, the Hayward City Council is poised on Tuesday night to take some out of… Read More ›
Hayward Mayor Barbara Halliday told fellow councilmembers that they should “stand aside” and allow the city’s administrative staff to lead its response to the covid-19 outbreak. Halliday further suggested city staff, not the city’s elected leaders, have the experience and… Read More ›
-Coronavirus news briefs from Hayward
Since the coronavirus outbreak took full force last week, Hayward Councilmember Mark Salinas said he’s received numerous phone calls from small business owners in Hayward who are extremely worried about the dramatic loss in revenue due to the coronavirus, and… Read More ›
UPDATE: Tonight in Hayward: City Council will not hear three agenda items tonight due to the #covid19 outbreak. Among them referrals for a moratorium on evictions due to the outbreak and possible direction of a plan to annex unincorporated Cherryland…. Read More ›
In a surprise move, Hayward Councilmember Al Mendall announced he will not seek re-election to his seat on the City Council in November. Mendall, who was first elected to the city council in 2012, notified the public of his decision… Read More ›
Hayward residents unable to attend the city’s weeknight council meetings because they have children to care for now have a solution. Hayward announced it will begin offering free child care services during city council meetings, starting this week. Residents only… Read More ›
A push for Hayward to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour quicker than the state had languished for several years before it was resuscitated last fall. Whatever difficulties city officials faced in the past with approving the wage… Read More ›
After receiving push back from some local labor unions, Hayward Councilmembers Elisa Marquez and Francisco Zermeno pulled their endorsement of Janevette Cole, a candidate for the Alameda County Board of Education whose campaign is supported by charter schools. Marquez told… Read More ›
In two years, the statewide minimum wage is due to increase to $15 an hour for businesses with more than 25 employees. But after acknowledging the high cost of living in the East Bay, a number of Alameda County cities… Read More ›
Earlier this year, police accountability advocates and the family of Agustin Gonsalez, the 29-year-old who was fatally shot by Hayward police officers in November 2018, forcefully urged Hayward city officials to seek an independent investigation of his death. The on-going… Read More ›
Hayward is nearing an increase in the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022, one year earlier than the state-mandated increase set for January 2023. The direction made by the Hayward City Council Tuesday night during a work… Read More ›
The three Hayward councilmembers who proposed regulations on flavored tobacco and vaping products last month are each up for re-election next year. Hayward Councilmembers Al Mendall, Francisco Zermeño, and Elisa Márquez will undoubtedly use any new restrictions on teenage vaping… Read More ›
Hayward officials extended a $75,000 pilot program for a surveillance robot that has roamed a parking garage across the street from City Hall for the past year. But while Hayward city staff argued the white, bullet-shaped robot had successfully decreased… Read More ›
Over the past year, East Bay cities such as Oakland, Richmond, Livermore, Alameda, and San Leandro have moved toward some type of restriction on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including those used for vaping. “We have all seen it… Read More ›
