Alameda Councilmember Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft announced Tuesday her campaign for mayor. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL–ELECTION 2018–Touting years of public service along with a record of consensus-building, Alameda Councilmember Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft officially announced Tuesday that she will challenge incumbent Mayor Trish… Read More ›
Trish Spencer
Former Alameda city manager John Russo fired in Riverside
John Russo left the Alameda City Manager’s Office in February 2015. ALAMEDAWith Alameda’s city manager situation in a state of disarray, comes news its former top administrator, John Russo, was fired Wednesday from the same position in Riverside. Russo left… Read More ›
County supervisor lectured Alameda’s mayor after she did not support ballot measure that benefits her city’s interests
Alameda Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer ALAMEDA CTC The nine-county regional ballot measure this June to raise an estimated $4.5 billion for local transportation projects, includes significant funding for Bay Area ferries, which are immensely popularity in places like Alameda. But when… Read More ›
A five-hour Alameda City Council closed session with no explanation, only speculation
A special closed session Alameda City Council meeting started at 3:30 p.m. last Tuesday and ended at 8:25 p.m. What did they talk about? ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILFor nearly five hours last Tuesday the Alameda City Council sat in a special… Read More ›
2017 Year in East Bay Politics: The wild and wacky: Let’s Taco About It and Bill Quirk ‘Jumps Around’
2017 YEAR IN EAST BAY POLITICS>>>>The state legislature decides in January that a new portrait of Assemblymember Bill Quirk would be a good idea for his 20th District website. The resulting creation, though, inparts vampire-like features to Quirk’s face. Funny thing, according… Read More ›
Bereft of housing, Alameda City Council sinks 589-unit housing development for now
The Alameda City Council put on hold Tuesday a proposed 589-unit Encinal Terminals project on the Northern Waterfront. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILIn a city that has long resisted meeting minimum state standards for the creation of new housing, the Alameda Council Tuesday… Read More ›
5 MORE THINGS I THINK ABOUT EAST BAY POLITICS…
ELECTION 2018 By the looks of it, Alameda Mayor Trishmight be running for re-election againstthe entire City Council. ➤I think after what the East Bay Times and columnist Daniel Borenstein pulled with the Alameda City Council and city manager interference story, you… Read More ›
Alamedans will vote on landlord-backed rent measure in 2018
A petitioner on Park Street in Alameda last July seeking a signature for a landlords- backed ballot measure. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILOver the past 18 months, Alameda has seen a number of rent-related ballot measures come and go. Some, like two… Read More ›
Sandre Swanson, although courted by supporters, says he won’t run for Alameda mayor
Sandre Swanson during an endorsement meeting last year for the 9th state Senate. ALAMEDAAn unsuccessful run for the state Senate last year proved Sandre Swanson is not done with public service. Swanson confirmed Friday that he had strong interest for… Read More ›
Alameda councilman eyes run for mayor: ‘Don’t know if I can win.’
Alameda Councilmember Frank Matarrese ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILSeemingly from the day Trish Herrera Spencer was elected Alameda mayor in 2014, the line of challengers seeking to make her a one-termer began jockeying for position. Nearly three years later, Councilmember Marilyn Ezzy… Read More ›
Amid grumblings, Alameda will evaluate city manager’s performance in closed session
Alameda City Manager Jill Keimach ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL There’s a curious closed session item Tuesday night on the Alameda City Council’s agenda, an evaluation of City Manager Jill Keimach. Curious because her annual performance review isn’t until next March. Sources… Read More ›
In a surprise, Alameda repeals its just cause ordinance at the behest of local renters group
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILOver the past month, members of the Alameda Renters Coalition had been toying with a counterintuitive proposal. Instead of fighting a costly election campaign sometime next year to oppose a referendum offered by Alameda landlords to roll back… Read More ›
A potential Alameda City Charter crisis again flares over mayor’s latest planning board picks
Alameda Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer’s future planning board nominations might face indefinite uncertainty. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILAlameda may be in the midst of a City Charter crisis. Earlier this week, two of Alameda Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer‘s nominations to the influential Planning… Read More ›
City Council support for cannabis in Alameda is building
Alameda Mayor Tish Herrera Spencer ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILThe push for cannabis dispensaries and cultivation facilities in recent years in Oakland and San Leandro has long eluded Alameda where a moratorium has made the burgeoning industry a non-starter in local politics…. Read More ›
Alameda mayor takes heat from LGBTQ community; group gives back pride month proclamation
Some members of Alameda’s LGBTQ community protesting a photo-op with Mayor Trish Spencer in the background to celebrating Pride Month. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILEight years after Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer voted against allowing same-sex curriculum in Alameda schools, members of the… Read More ›
Cannabis industry coming to Alameda?
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILAlameda is surrounded now by municipalities in Oakland and San Leandro that are taking full advantage of the highly-profitable cannabis industry in their cities, not to mention the potential windfall of new tax revenues that may follow. Based on a council referral… Read More ›
Alameda mayor trolls for votes from parents disgruntled over school closing
ALAMEDAElected officials don’t usually weigh-in on controversial subject matter under the purview of another group of officials within the same city. It’s uncommon and almost verboten in local politics. Yet, Alameda’s unconventional Mayor Trish Herrera Spencer did so last week during a highly-charged Alameda school… Read More ›
Alameda City Council approves Just Cause tenant protections; targets actions by rogue landlord
Supporters for Just Cause at an Alameda City Council meeting on Tuesday night. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILAlameda is the latest Bay Area city to add Just Cause protections that restrict landlords from evicting renters without a specific reason. The Alameda City… Read More ›
Alameda may look into restrictions on bars, restaurants providing drinking straws
The proposal “straws on request” ordinance is similar to the “water on request” restrictions employed during the last drought. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILDuring the depths of the most recent drought, many municipalities enacted restrictions on water use, including one somewhat symbolic… Read More ›
With a backlog of uninspected buildings, Alameda reinstates dormant Fire Prevention Bureau
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILAgainst the backdrop of two tragic and potentially avoidable building fires in Oakland, the Alameda City Council approved funding to reinstate a Fire Prevention Bureau that was gutted seven years ago due to budget constraints due to the… Read More ›
‘Just Cause’ eviction protections back on the table in Alameda
Various tenants’ groups rally for changes to Alameda’s rent ordinance at City Hall last Tuesday. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILJust over 48 hours since failing to gain a majority vote in favor of prohibiting Alameda landlords from evicting tenants without cause, a… Read More ›
[VIDEO] You’ve Got Blackmail: Alameda councilman calls out tenant advocate for sending him terse email during meeting
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILhttps://alameda.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=6&clip_id=1954&starttime=20928&stoptime=21224&autostart=0&embed=1 Any parent or police officer will tell you nothing good ever happens after midnight. In Alameda, council meetings like last Tuesday’s, which bled into the early morning hours, went seriously haywire. In this case, when Councilmember Jim… Read More ›
No cause evictions nearly banned by Alameda City Council
Alameda renters groups at a rally before Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILAlameda’s new progressive city council majority fell a vote short early Wednesday morning of banning evictions without cause, an issue hotly-debated by island voters during last… Read More ›
Alameda approves resolution urging investigation of Trump, possible impeachment
A resident offers support Tuesday night for the Alameda City Council’s resolution to impeach President Trump. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCILAlameda’s sharp left turn on the political spectrum continued late Tuesday night with a resolution giving support to Rep. Barbara Lee for… Read More ›
Since when did Alameda become an island of progressive activism?
WHEN A FEW DROPS OF BLOOD from a protesting renter hit the floor at City Hall in November 2015, something seemed to have changed in Alameda’s politics. A grassroots renters group flooded City Hall that night urging the council to… Read More ›
Alameda rent review member resigned after city disclosed his ties to landlord political group
Former Alameda RRAC member Robert Schrader during a hearing on Jan. 11. ALAMEDAMonths after Robert Schrader was appointed to the Alameda Rent Review Committee in March of last year, he was asked to provide an analysis of the city’s rent stabilization ordinance… Read More ›
‘We have your back’: Alameda becomes a sanctuary city
A rally outside Alameda City Hall Tuesday in support of sanctuary city status attracted one protester displaying the photo of Kate Steinle, who was murdered by an undocumented immigrant last year in San Francisco. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL |Alameda is now a sanctuary city after… Read More ›
2016 EAST BAY POLITICAL YEAR-IN-REVIEW, PART 2 – Oakland police scandal erupts, coal shipments banned; June elections brings few surprises
MAY>>>A major police scandal breaks in Oakland after a then-underage sex worker says she was involved sexually with numerous Oakland police officers. Officers from other local jurisdictions were also involved with the woman known as “Celeste Guap.” Police Chief Sean… Read More ›
Alameda to study becoming a sanctuary city, hopefully before Trump inauguration
ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL | With some sense of urgency, the Alameda City Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to move forward an early proposal to become a sanctuary city. Included in the council instruction is for city staff to prepare a… Read More ›
Alameda council files FPPC complaint over mystery campaign mailers
Alameda Councilmember Tony Daysog during the Dec. 6 council meeting. ALAMEDA CITY COUNCIL |Just weeks before Election Day, some Alameda voters received highly negative mailers against Councilmember Tony Daysog. However, the mailers equating Daysog to Donald Trump and accusing him… Read More ›