Community Stabilization
Many in our community suffer from housing insecurity—they are not sure if they are going to be able to stay in their homes. Seniors and families are being displaced and forced to move further from the area or out of state and in some cases become homeless. I want to let everyone living in San Leandro know that I will fight to make sure that you can stay in San Leandro. That’s why I’m calling for the creation of the Department of Community Stabilization. The department staff and programs will be funded by a registration fee on rental units as part of a Community Stabilization and Homeowner Protection ordinance.
Rent Stabilization
Many cities around us have had rent control ordinance on the books for decades: San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. Richmond and Mountain View have added rent control ordinances in the last few years. These communities have proven that rent control works to keep families in their homes and is not a hindrance to new housing development. We can protect our tenants from displacement by tying allowed rent increase to the area Consumer Price Index and requiring landlords to register their rental units and rent increases.
Just Cause for Eviction
If you can get kicked out of your house for any reason, then it is hard to consider it home. We want our neighbors to feel at home. When a property owner puts their property in the rental housing market, they need to understand that what they are providing is a home. Evictions will not be allowed except for very specific reasons such as failure to pay the rent or breach of the lease terms. State laws protect property owners in case they want to move themselves or close family into the property, or if they want to remove the property from the rental market.
Foreclosure and Eviction Protection
We need legal advice and aid for homeowners facing foreclosure or tenants facing eviction. The city should aid in this process to keep our neighbors in their homes. We should investigate the feasibility of providing short term loans for our citizens in these situations. We should also look at first-time homeowners and renters to owners loan programs to help get people into homes.
Effectual Rent Board
A property owner has a right to a fair return and a tenant has a right to livable housing conditions. If these conditions are not being met by either party, they should be able to appeal to a body that can assist with binding arbitration. The Rent Board could arbitrate disputes and find mutually agreeable solutions or make a ruling on the dispute resolution. Unlike what we have now, this ruling or arbitration would be binding and enforceable.
Homeless Prevention & Support
We need to investigate additional ways and provide support to keep people in their homes. We should also be assisting the existing homeless population. They should not have to rely on police for support. We need to make day centers, that provide shelter and access to cheap meals, showers and restrooms, available to our homeless population. We should be working to get all our homeless population off the street at night and give them a place to go during the day.
Community Volunteer Program
By building a Community Volunteer support program we can pull together to address problems of concern for our citizens. The Community Volunteer Support Program could help organize and manage teams of volunteers in various areas including: neighborhood clean-up and beautification, neighborhood watch, emergency response teams, educational support, mentoring programs and much more. We are only limited by the time and skills our community is willing to contribute. The city can help to promote, recruit and organize these volunteer teams.
Better Education Experience
Creating a safer, and more stable and sustainable community will create a better education experience for all our students. When parents are secure in their housing and are being paid fair wages for local jobs they are better able to be actively engaged in their student's education, which leads to student success.
Crime Reduction
By reducing the stresses associated with housing instability and the potential for displacement, we can foster a more caring, engaged citizenry. We can reduce crime by drawing communities together to look out for one another and hold each other to account. Expanding local higher education, after school programs and labor market opportunities will help keep our young adults on the right path.
Integrity of Government
We need an inclusive, transparent government that is beholden to only the people of San Leandro. That is why I will not take campaign contributions from corporations, developers, apartment associations or special interest lobbyists. I am also limiting my campaign contributions to $99 per individual. We need reforms to our local election process and to make sure there is not impropriety in the way special interests lobby the City Council or staff. I’m calling for the creation of a Public Ethics Commission.
Public Ethics Commission
To keep our government accountable to the people I call for the creation of a Public Ethics Commission. This commission will consist of residents passionate about fair, open, honest governance. They will develop and monitor rules on campaign finance, government ethics, lobbyist rules and oversee public ethics complaints.
Campaign Contribution Limits
Setting limits on campaign contributions will help insure that we have a city government dedicated to the citizens of San Leandro and not beholden to individual contributors. We can look to other cities in the area to help determine caps that would allow for campaigns to get enough funding and make provisions to reduce the number of potential loopholes.
Publicly Funded Elections
We have had several uncontested races for City Council recently. Part of the problem is that ordinary citizens, that want to make a difference in their community, are daunted by the amount of money it takes to run a campaign. Considering we only have city elections every two years, funding or partially funding campaigns that adhere to certain restrictions would be a low-cost way to encourage more voices to be present in our city elections.
Interest Group Transparency
When a lobbyist or representative for an interest group meets with the City Manager, Staff, Council Members or Mayor, that information should be transparent and available to the public. By publishing meeting dates, times, subject matter and attendees we can insure that the public is aware of who is influencing their decisions. All meeting should be conducted in a responsible manner in an appropriate venue.
Community Development
I see a real opportunity in San Leandro to develop housing, commercial and public space that does not do it on the backs of the single-family neighborhoods or our renters.
Zoning and Industrial Use
About a quarter of our land is zoned Industrial. Some of it very near BART. A lot of that space is warehouses and not manufacturing that produces local jobs. Having one of our primary industries be storing stuff for distribution to the Bay Area is wasting a lot of opportunities. Let’s develop housing, commercial and live/work spaces that can help us build our tax base.
Housing for All
As we open areas to development or develop ourselves with for-profit or non-profit partners, we can bring in market-rate housing that will subsidize affordable housing. We need to make sure we’re creating opportunities for middle and middle-to-low income housing as well.
Growing San Leandro
We have an opportunity to develop an arts and tech community that helps support and enliven our community. We have a special opportunity in San Leandro because we don’t have to build in single-family neighborhoods or displace renters to do this. We can learn from the mistakes of how San Francisco and Oakland have developed and do better. Welcoming technology sector workers will help us to meet income criteria and workforce needs for businesses looking for a place to open.
Higher Education
I would like for us to bring in or create an Arts and Technology college and a robust Chabot College extension campus to support higher education locally and draw in the people that will help us build San Leandro as a city of innovation. If we are going to support the arts in San Leandro, we need more artists. If we’re going to support innovation, we need more innovators. And bonus, we’ll probably get some good restaurants too.
My First 100 Days as Mayor
During my first 100 days as Mayor, I pledge to:
Introduce a Rent Stabilization Ordinance
Hold several town halls and community forums
Resolve Short Term Rental Ordinance and other business if unfinished by last Council
Review staffing and budget with City Manager
Introduce creation of Department of Community Stabilization
Introduce creation of Public Ethics Commission
