-Coronavirus news briefs from Hayward
Hayward
Amid COVID-19 crisis, Hayward may delay recently passed minimum wage increases
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 ›
Hayward: Wahab will propose eviction relief for renters affected by COVID-19
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 ›
Hayward: Mendall will not seek re-election to city council
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 is making it easier for parents to attend council meetings
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 ›
Hayward is getting to $15 quicker than expected
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 talking to, Hayward council members rescind support for charter school candidate
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 ›
It’s 2020. Hayward is just now getting to raising its minimum wage
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 ›
Hayward considers policy asking state AG to probe police deadly use-of-force cases
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 ›
Miley is not opposed to Hayward annexing Cherryland, but wants no ‘cherry-picking’ of land
Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley told a neighborhood group in Cherryland earlier this month that they should consider a proposal, in its early stages, for Hayward city officials to study the feasibility of annexing their incorporated area. “I’m not opposed… Read More ›
Hayward moves toward $15 an hr minimum wage by 2022
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 ›
Why Hayward’s most fervent anti-smoking official was cut out of council’s vaping referral?
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 is spending $75,000 for Robocop that yielded zero citations during one-year pilot program
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 ›
Hayward is preparing to join the list of cities snuffing out teen vaping
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 ›
Hayward’s much-delayed $60 million downtown library to open in September
Hayward’s much-anticipated, much-delayed downtown library will officially open on Sept. 14, the city announced. The $60 million project, funded through a voter-approved half-cent sales tax increase, had suffered a series of construction delays that bedeviled its completion over nearly two… Read More ›
Hayward: After Title IX complaint over girls’ sports facilities at Tennyson High, shenanigans follow
Uniforms and equipment belonging to Hayward’s Tennnyson High School softball team were removed from a locked storage locker on campus and thrown into a dumpster this week. Exactly who discarded the contents remains a mystery. Tennyson’s softball coach Steve Griggs… Read More ›
As housing crisis rages, Hayward aims to build only 74 homes on 37 acres of prime land
A 37-acre parcel of hillside land near Cal State East Bay in Hayward, long ago envisioned by CalTrans as part of a freeway extension, moved closer to development on Tuesday, but not without concerns the future neighborhood will cater to… Read More ›
Hayward approves short-term moratorium on rent increases above 5%
A new rent stabilization ordinance in Hayward was formally approved Tuesday night. But the ordinance does not come into effect until July 25. In order to prevent potential rent gouging in the interim by Hayward landlords, the Hayward City Council… Read More ›
‘Bertie’ Cooper, three-term Hayward mayor, dies
Roberta “Bertie” Cooper, a three-term mayor of Hayward, who led the city through a period of increased development, died Monday. She was 82. The cause of death was cancer. Cooper served 18 years as an elected official in Hayward, 12… Read More ›
‘It’s more than what we have’: New rent protections coming to Hayward
After decades of landlords slowly whittling away the number of units protected by a city rent ordinance to as low as 1,000 through vacancy decontrol, the Hayward City Council voted late Tuesday night to repeal and replace the ordinance with… Read More ›
Hayward: Council moves along Wahab’s referral for third-party oversight of fatal police shootings
With frustrations from the family of the man slain by Hayward Police last November running high, the Hayward City Council unanimously, but cautiously, approved a referral asking city staff to prepare an independent investigation policy for instances when deadly force… Read More ›
Potentially explosive meeting in Hayward as police chief appears with Gonsalez family
For six months, Agustin Gonsalez’s family has made impassioned pleas for Hayward elected officials to, at minimum, express words of sorrow for the loss of their son, who was shot and killed by Hayward Police last November. At most, the… Read More ›
HAYWARD: Wahab calls for independent investigation of fatal police shooting
Hayward Councilmember Aisha Wahab said Tuesday night that she will ask for an independent investigation of deadly force used by Hayward police officers in the Nov. 15 death of Agustin Gonsalez. Wahab made the announcement prior to a Hayward City… Read More ›
Hayward to add 8 new cannabis permits and rescind one this week
Hayward is set to approve eight more cannabis permits on Tuesday night and may rid itself of one previously approved commercial distribution permit. Three of the eight proposed permits also received permits from the city during a previous round of… Read More ›
Hayward may rescind cannabis permit after learning of associate’s arrest for illegal pot
A cannabis business previously approved for a commercial distribution permit in Hayward could have the license rescinded next week after city officials learned of the applicant’s alleged connections to a man arrested by Hayward Police earlier this year for running… Read More ›
Hayward to study referral giving housing preferences to city residents
Some Hayward councilmembers showed growing pains with new council rules for offering and debating referrals.
HAYWARD: Wahab wants residents to have first dibs on city-backed housing, home ownership
With an eye toward limiting the displacement of Hayward residents, Councilmember Aisha Wahab wants Hayward residents to have the first crack at housing and home ownership opportunities that are backed by the city. Wahab plans to offer a referral on… Read More ›
Hayward mayor says she failed to control raucous meeting last month, offers new rules
The atmosphere inside the Hayward City Council chambers last Mar. 19 was unlike any public meeting in recent memory, Mayor Barbara Halliday said last week. Since last December, family and throngs of police accountability advocates have spoken out vociferously against… Read More ›
Hayward City Council referral debate got really personal
The tension at Hayward City Hall has been building for months between some elected officials and the insurgent councilmember appearing to set a new paradigm in the city’s politics. The mean-spirited comments and backbiting that have been evident in the… Read More ›
