A gathering storm at the Oakland mayor’s office

Thao's former chief of staff abruptly resigned; 45 applicants emerge for Hayward's city council appointment; Castro takes over at ALCO Board of Ed

CITY NEWS

OAKLAND

—THAO STAFFER ABRUPTLY RESIGNS—Yesterday, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao warned residents about the massive rainstorm poised to hit the city and region. But another type of storm is already brewing in her own office.

—Renia Webb, who served as chief of staff for Thao’s city council office and who lead the mayoral transition team, resigned on New Year’s Eve.  Webb claims she experienced abuse from another member of Thao’s staff.

—In an email rapidly circulating among Oakland insiders, Webb wrote that she resigned over the weekend “due to unfair practices in [Thao’s] office.”

—“The environment I was working in became abusive, radical, threatening among other things. I will be filing an official complaint as well as suing for damages, pain and suffering, etc.”

—Webb’s description of a hostile workplace environment echoes comments made last October by LeAnna Powell, another former staffer in Thao’s city council office.

—In addition, Powell alleged that Thao forced her to work concurrently as a council staffer and on the mayoral campaign. The commingling of these duties is illegal. The Oakland Public Ethics Commission is reportedly investigating the allegation.

—Powell’s comments during the home stretch of the election threatened to derail Thao’s mayoral campaign and could still figure problematic, pending the ethics investigation. Webb’s additional allegation only adds to a very inauspicious beginning to the nascent Thao administration.

—HARD HABIT TO BREAK, PART II—While addressing the crowd at Pamela Price’s swearing-in ceremony on Monday night, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao inadvertently referred to the new district attorney as Nancy O’Malley, the former DA and a longtime rival to Price.

—The flub highlights a glitch in Thao’s rebranding as a progressive. Four years ago, Thao heartily trumpeted O’Malley’s endorsement of her District 4 council campaign.

—People make mistakes. As you read here yesterday, the longtime Alameda County undersheriff nearly referred to his new boss, Yesenia Sanchez, as “Sheriff A…,” which was a syllable away from “Sheriff Ahern,” the man Sanchez defeated in last June’s primary.

SAN LEANDRO

—PUSH TO EXTEND EVICTION MORATORIUM—San Leandro’s newly-minted progressive majority was not bluffing about moving quickly with new renters protections.

—Councilmember Celina Reynes wants the city council to approve an extension of its eviction moratorium sometime before the California state of emergency is due to expire on Feb. 28.

—Reynes said she hopes to extend the moratorium a full year. Alameda County’s overriding eviction moratorium is set to expire in late April. This means San Leandro renters would be afforded another 10 months of protection from evictions, if the extension is approved.

—CONSOLATION PRIZE—After narrowly losing last November’s mayoral race, San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo will have to settle for being vice mayor. Azevedo’s colleagues unanimously appointed him to the ceremonial post on Tuesday night. The motion to nominate Azevedo was made by Councilmember Pete Ballew. A magnanimous gesture since it was Ballew who Azevedo called a hypocrite last year for blocking his election year bid to be vice mayor.

HAYWARD

—POPULAR APPOINTMENT—A whopping 45 candidates applied for the Hayward City Council’s two-year appointment, the city reported on Tuesday.

—Hayward City Clerk Miriam Lens said the outpouring of interest for serving the remaining two years of new Mayor Mark Salinas’ council term was unexpected.

—The Hayward City Council hopes to make the appointment at a special meeting next Monday night. In the meantime, each councilmember will select five candidates by tomorrow morning. The most common names among this group will be interviewed on Monday night.

—It remains unclear just how many applicants will advance, but it’s likely between three to five candidates, based on last night’s council discussion.

—Among the notable names is Hayward Planning Commissioner Dan Goldstein, who finished a close third in last November’s council race for two at-large seats. Two other Hayward planning commissioners also applied—Aidan Ali-Sullivan and Ray Bonilla. Traditionally, the Hayward Planning Commission has served as the city council’s farm team.

—Others on the list of applicants is Austin Bruckner, an aide to Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, and Tom Wong, who ran unsuccessfully last fall for the Hayward school board. Here’s the full list of applicants.

COUNTY NEWS

ALAMEDA COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS

—CASTRO TAKES OATH—Last June’s other big election winner—new Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Alysse Castro—received the oath of office at a ceremony yesterday at the Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro. [PHOTO/Courtesy of Alameda County BOE]

—“I chose to hold today’s event at the Juvenile Justice Center to make visible the often invisible work of teaching and learning behind locked doors,” Castro said.

—“The County Superintendent holds a powerful lever to tilt public schools towards quality, equality and justice - yet few people have even heard of this tool,” she added. “Our students—especially those furthest from opportunity—need us to use every tool to break the school-to-prison pipeline, embed systems of care in schools, and guarantee an excellent teacher and an excellent school for every student in every community.”

—Castro upset incumbent Superintendent L.K. Monroe in the June primary by a decisive margin that was somewhat overshadowed by Yesenia Sanchez’s drubbing of Sheriff Greg Ahern during the same election.

UNINCORPORATED ALAMEDA COUNTY

—UNINC ALCO RENTERS CROSS FINGERS—Tenant advocates in unincorporated Alameda County are cautiously optimistic about the fate of three renters protection ordinances recently approved by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

—My Eden Voice, a group that advocates for residents in unincorporated county, hopes to avoid a sense of complacency following last December’s successful first reading of ordinances, which include just cause protections, a ban on landlords asking prospective tenants about their criminal history, and the creation of a rent registry.

—“Second readings of County legislation are often regarded as a formality,” they noted in email this week. “Residents hope the new Board of Supervisors will not only affirm their support for unincorporated tenants on January 10, but that the Board and County, in partnership with community groups like My Eden Voice, will work to strengthen tenant protections.”

—The ascension of Lena Tam to the Board of Supervisors next week could scramble the current makeup of the three ordinances when they come back for a second reading on Jan. 10.

ALAMEDA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY

—ALCO DEMS HEART IGOR—There’s not likely to be any insurgent candidates when the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee meets on Wednesday night to elect its leadership team for 2023.

—Rumblings of a challenge to current Alameda County Democratic Party Chair Igor Tregub never materialized. He is expected to continue what was a successful first year at the helm in which the local party went back to basics.

—Fundraising during the 2022 election cycle was strong and a large number of the party’s endorsed candidates posted big wins at the ballot box in June and November.

Stay dry!