District-based elections threaten Hayward's status quo

Off to a bad start: Alameda County Supes screwed up DA Price recall election vote; Alameda files criminal charges against sideshow promoter; Updates on Sunol USD and Wahab recalls. Plus, more!

CITY NEWS

HAYWARD

—THREAT ASSESSMENT—Over the years, several cities in Alameda County have responded to the dreaded demand letter calling for district-based elections with utter submission.

—That’s because city attorneys across the county and state know it’s simply not worth the effort to fight complaints like the one Hayward received earlier this year that its at-large council elections violate the California Voters Rights Act.

—A recent census revealed a majority Asian American district would exist in Hayward, Walnut Creek Attorney Scott Rafferty notified the city. No Asian Americans sit on the Hayward City Council.

—Rafferty, like other attorneys across the state, benefit monetarily from the Voters Rights Act demand letter, as some Hayward councilmembers angrily noted on Tuesday night.

—So what? The city’s at-large elections violate the law.

—But what makes Hayward’s response different than other cities that have been forced into districting is their defiance toward district-based elections.

—Hayward did not respond to Rafferty’s demand letter in 2021 and earlier this year. When it became clear that districting was inevitable, they pushed its first use to 2026, instead of this November.

—On Tuesday night, during the first of four required public meeting on districting, Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas and other councilmembers took offense with the notion that an outsider like Rafferty was dictating demands to native Haywardian officials about how to run their own city.

—Hayward politics is incestuous and the fear is district-based elections will shift the council to the left.

—It was notable on Tuesday night that two members of the Hayward Chamber of Commerce, a stalwart defender of the establishment’s status quo, voiced opposition to district-based elections.

—This November, two incumbents and two appointed councilmembers will seek four at-large council seats. With district-based elections, the chamber would have to spend to win four races, instead of merely getting their candidates in the top four.

—More worrisome for the chamber is that district-based elections could boost progressives onto the city council.

—During state Sen. Aisha Wahab’s tenure on the Hayward City Council the establishment councilmembers and city manager relentlessly undermined her progressive policies. To some extent, they do the same today to the heir to Wahab, Councilmember George Syrop.

—Worst of all, the council’s resistance to district-based elections are entirely self-serving.

—Three current members of the city council could potentially live within the same district—Councilmembers Julie Roche, Angela Andrews, and Dan Goldstein.

—“It’s going to be painful for some of the incumbents just because you are concentrated and I don’t have any delight in that,” Rafferty told the council on Tuesday.

MORE INSIDE:

• CITY/COUNTY NEWS: Hayward school boardmember wants to emulate San Leandro’s weird district-based system

• Alameda’s city prosecution unit takes on illegal sideshows

• Board of Supes vote to set Price recall for Nov. 5 was nullified

• Teacher union contribute to recall of Sunol school boardmembers

• Wahab recall campaign has six days to submit 42,802 signatures

• ELECTION 2024: New Berkeley councilmember makes mayoral pick

• AG Bonta attends San Leandro council campaign kickoff

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