Facing a hard deadline to put forth a balanced city budget by the end of the month, the San Leandro City Council closed a $7 million budget shortfall that includes the potential for later shifting more than $1.7 million from… Read More ›
Pauline Cutter
San Leandro: Mayor takes heat for saying man killed by police ‘passed away’
As San Leandro remains stunned by the shooting of 33-year-old Steven Taylor by police inside a Walmart store last Saturday afternoon, a statement by the mayor on Monday night, is attracting additional criticism after it failed to mention the decedent’s… Read More ›
San Leandro mayor to lead regional transportation commission
San Leandro is about to take a higher profile in the East Bay’s issues with traffic and transportation. The Alameda County Transportation Commission named San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter as it next chairperson on Thursday. Cutter served as vice… Read More ›
How he became San Leandro’s Vice Mayor Pete
Like vice-president and lieutenant governor, the honorific of vice mayor sounds important. But it’s not. The ceremonial title’s job prescription is solely to be a stand-in for the mayor at ribbon-cuttings and sometimes preside over a council meeting when the… Read More ›
San Leandro mayor is asking for a pay raise
San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter wants a pay increase equal to three times that of her council colleagues. Cutter, who is in her second term as mayor, wrote a letter to the city highlighting in great detail why the… Read More ›
San Leandro: Incumbents up for re-election help vote down restrictions for becoming vice-mayor
Last fall, San Leandro Councilmember Deborah Cox sailed to re-election. The result was expected in a race that again displayed the power of the incumbency. But some believed Cox had another notable advantage during last year’s election cycle after being… Read More ›
San Leandro: Cannabis tax rate may stay put for another year
San Leandro’s cannabis industry has failed to gain a foothold nearly four years after approving its first medical cannabis dispensary. The first dispensary to open, actually the third permit given by the city, only opened earlier this year. Three years… Read More ›
San Leandro to finalize new regulations on mobile home rents, short-term AirBNBs
A pair of consequential ordinances bringing new housing protections to San Leandro will be finalized Monday night. Both navigated a lengthy vetting process to get to this point and each was approved by the San Leandro City Council on May… Read More ›
San Leandro accepts federal grant for drone without specific policy for its use
San Leandro accepted a nearly $32,000 federal grant that will allow its police department to purchase a drone. The San Leandro City Council, however, did so despite the city not having a specific drone policy. The lack of a policy… Read More ›
San Leandro may reset cannabis tax schedule
In early 2017, the San Leandro City Council approved a tiered schedule for taxing cannabis sales that gradually increases to eight percent by 2021. But as San Leandro’s tax rate is set to increase from six percent to seven percent… Read More ›
San Leandro: Council committee paralyzed over Wells Fargo contract
San Leandro city leaders are caught firmly between the desire of some councilmembers and progressive activists to completely divest from Wells Fargo, and a lack of viable options to replace the troubled institution as the city’s banking services provider.. Nearly… Read More ›
San Leandro questions whether its red-light camera contract is a good deal
In the run up to the San Leandro City Council’s decision Monday night to renew a 14-year-old contract for red-light camera services, a few elected officials were alerted to the website HighwayRobbery.net. The no-frills site created by an activist who opposes… Read More ›
San Leandro mobile home ordinance put on hold; park owners offer moratorium on rent increases
After San Leandro mobile home owners, many seniors with limited means, spoke Monday night of suffering harassment by their mobile home park owners, along with fears of retaliation, the San Leandro City Council voted to continue an agenda item that… Read More ›
San Leandro moves to reduce density on proposed 45-unit green building near transit
At the same time acknowledging the need to diversify its mix of new housing, the San Leandro City Council, nonetheless, told the developer of a 45-unit green, multi-family apartment building on Bancroft Avenue that the project would not be approved… Read More ›
San Leandro mobile home park rep says evicted elderly renter who was arrested wants to be a martyr
John Busch, the 82-year-old San Leandran who was evicted last year from his space at the Bayshore Commons mobile home park following his refusal to pay a large rent increase, has been a cause celebre for renters’ rights advocates in… Read More ›
San Leandro’s first dispensary is set to finally open
Ribbon-cutting ceremony set for Jan. 11.
San Leandro mayor voices displeasure with Harborside, accuses them of sitting on cannabis permit
When a report by a San Leandro oversight committee on new revenues from three recent tax-generating measures was released last week, there was a glaring zero next to Measure NN, the cannabis business tax approved by voters in 2016. A… Read More ›
Funding for homeless evokes historical rift between Alameda County cities and Oakland
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf earlier this month made surprisingly candid comments disparaging a plan by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors for divvying up $16.2 million in new, one-time-only, state funding to combat homelessness. Last week, a number of Alameda… Read More ›
A year later, San Leandro seeks to cut all ties to Wells Fargo
San Leandro voted to sell a $700,000 investment note with Wells Fargo in Nov. 2017, but totally untangling itself from the bank has proven more difficult.
SAN LEANDRO: Fresh, Clean Slate push back; targets landlord with scathing ad
Slate responds to FPPC complaint with flyer depicting San Leandro landlord as Pinocchio’s puppet master.
STEVE TAVARES IS ANGRY: Ep 18–Chronicle’s incorrect assembly takes; Interview with San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter
The lack of campaign coverage from the Bay Area’s corporate media has been especially sparse this election season. But even when they bother, like two recent articles on two East Bay assembly races, they get it wrong. I act as… Read More ›
In a city content with its politics, San Leandro mayoral opponents call for change
SAN LEANDRO MAYOR PREVIEW
SAN LEANDRO: Benny Lee holds large early fundraising advantage over incumbent Mayor Cutter
San Leandro Councilmember Benny Lee’s ever-growing city council campaign coffers is coming in handy for his mayoral campaign this fall against first-term Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter. Lee transferred $50,000 from his council committee to his mayoral campaign last March—an already… Read More ›
SAN LEANDRO: Dan Dillman, with Aristotle as guide, enters mayor’s race
The Most Interesting Man in San Leandro readies another run for mayor
ELECTIONLINE: Buffy Wicks-managed biz didn’t pay taxes; Pamela Price’s Oakland treasure map
Cannabis interests upset with San Leandro Mayor Cutter may have a Plan B candidate
ELECTIONLINE: Cassidy watch in San Leandro; Beckles endorsement; AD18 candidate wants to shrink Alameda Fire
SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL D1 For the better part of the last year, San Leandro political parlor talk has been constantly included speculation over whether San Leandro Mayor Stephen Cassidy is interested in running for office this November. Any office,… Read More ›
San Leandro is directing appointed officials to sign agreement pledging not to disparage departed city manager
City may be worried about potential legal liabilities, but the agreement could also hamper some commissioners who are running for the City Council this fall.
Hinting at San Leandro scandal, council calls for ordinance to track lobbyists
Proposed ordinance would track interactions between paid lobbyists and city officials, but there were many hints as to why it’s needed.
