Wilma Chan's children want greater pedestrian improvements in Alameda
Chans acknowledge demand letter to city; Rent control in San Leandro is going to have a tough road ahead without a grassroots tenants group behind the effort
CITY NEWS
ALAMEDA
—DEMAND LETTER—Late Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan’s children made light on Tuesday of a demand letter they sent last January to the Alameda City Council.
—Chan, one of the East Bay’s most admired elected officials, was killed tragically in November 2021 by a motorist as she was crossing the street near her home in Alameda.
—The Alameda City Council has discussed the demand letter, which can be a precursor to a legal complaint, during several closed session meetings this year.
—Jennifer and Darren Chan, the late supervisor’s children, addressed the Alameda City Council during an agenda item regarding proposed street improvements to Grand Street.
—Jennifer Chan acknowledged the demand letter and the city’s response.
—“We did so because we did not want her death to go in vain and felt it was our only recourse in trying to improve public safety and doing our part to try to prevent another similar tragedy,” Jennifer Chan said.
—“Our hope was that the city council would be receptive to meeting with us. Instead, we were extremely disappointed to hear our intentions for filing the letter have been called into question by some.”
—She continued, “Our mom, who many of you knew and work with, was a fighter. She taught us to act with integrity and to do what’s right.”
—“Channeling our mother’s fight,” she said, they urged on Tuesday night for further safety measures at Grand and Shore Line Drive, near the location where their mother died.
—Darren Chan told the council that additional accidents have occurred at the same intersection since his mother’s death. He added that his then-two-year old son was almost hit by a car at the same intersection of the Grand Avenue and Shore Line Drive.
—“Until this project gets underway, the community will continue to be at higher risk of injury and death,” Darren Chan said.
—The Chans want the city to include a high-visibility crosswalk at Grand Street and Shore Line Drive, in addition to flashing beacons, bulb-outs, and an engineering study for a traffic signal.
—“There is still not a day that we don’t think about our mom and how her tragic death could have been avoided,” Darren Chan said. “Her name and her legacy as a fierce public servant for over 30 years, we want to do anything we can to assure she didn’t die in vain.”
SAN LEANDRO
—GRASSROOTS WANTED—As San Leandro’s electorate has shifted to the left in recent years, its city leaders have mostly followed suit with progressive causes and ordinances, except one. Rent stabilization, also known as rent control.
—Oakland and Berkeley have long had strong renters’ protections on their books. Hayward to the south has various levels of rent stabilization, and Alameda to the south, pushed through strong protections over the last seven years.
—Alameda’s arduous path to rent stabilization is a good guide for what San Leandro may face over the next few years.
—I was the poet who chronicled Alameda’s efforts toward rent stabilization for the East Bay Express and Alameda Magazine, in addition to the mighty East Bay Citizen.
—A decade ago or more, both Alameda and San Leandro were somewhat unlikely candidates to follow progressive bastions like Oakland and Berkeley. But things change and, more importantly, demographics change quickly.
—While both cities have much in common (except that Alameda has a Trader Joe’s and San Leandro, doesn’t. San Leandro you burnt!), when it comes to renters, there’s one big difference that could hinder San Leandro’s bid for strong rent stabilization: the lack of a grassroots renters’ group in San Leandro.
—Last Monday, the absence of a clear renters’ group was mentioned by a long-time San Leandro organizer during public comment and referenced by Councilmember Celina Reynes, who ticked off a number of local and regional groups that could serve renters’ interests as discussion for rent stabilization begin between landlords, tenants, and city officials.
—As we’ve seen recently at the county level where rent stabilization discussions for the unincorporated areas have been stymied by an unwillingness by landlords and tenants to budge on their demands, having a potentially large and discordant mix of tenants’ groups speaking in one unified voice will be difficult.
—Conversely, the same could be said for landlords, but many of these groups have fought together in other cities, and as local landlord Tom Silva said recently, the various eviction moratoriums in the East Bay forced landlords to foster partnerships with each other that did not exist prior to the pandemic.
—The San Leandro City Council, theoretically has a pro-renter majority of at least four councilmembers, but it’s tenuous and could crumbled after landlords begin their lobbying efforts.
—Sometime in early 2024, the city council pups approves a cap on annual rent increases below the state’s five percent threshold, along with a just cause ordinance. Right now, this scenario has a good chance of passing.
—But without a grassroots renters group in San Leandro, the ordinances could be targeted by landlords for a repeal at the ballot box.
—This is what happened in Alameda even with a strong grassroots group named the Alameda Renters Coalition standing in their way.
—It’s unclear whether landlords’ groups would attempt a costly ballot measure to repeal future rent stabilization in San Leandro.
—The amount of money potentially lost to landlords in San Leandro may not be as large as it was in Alameda, but it’s strategy that San Leandro renters may not have the money or expertise to fight off.
—In the end, the Alameda Renters Coalition, along with a strong progressive city council, was able to regain and bolster the rent stabilization protections that they briefly lost at the polls.
