CITY COUNCIL
APRIL 16, 2024
DOCUMENTS RECEIVED AFTER
PUBLISHED AGENDA
ITEM #1
MIN 24-047
Approve the Minutes of the City Council
Meeting on March 26, 2024
1 Lilia Corral
From:
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 3:00 PM
To: Miriam Lens
Cc: List-Mayor-Council
Subject: *Public Comment: CONSENT: Item 1: Min 24-047 Approve the Minutes of City Council on 3/26/2024
CAUTION:This is an external email. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe.
Greetings Honorable Mayor Salinas et al.:
I would first like to express my sincere appreciation for your unaminous approval of the 26 Recommendations presented on March 26 by the RCRJP Steering Committee.
Secondly, I would like to reiterate that in the coming months or years that it may take to finalize the Recommendations or the deriatives thereof, that we do not lose site of the included Recommendation of the Russell City Community Center.
To stress the importance of this Recommendation is to highlight the fact that what was LOST through the Russell City travesty was the COMMUNITY.
And while the parcels that were initially purchased through the blood, sweat and tears of the Russell City inhabitants in an era that was hostile to them, and while they were forcibly evicted from those parcels and the governance RESOLD them for profit which continues to this day, including taxes, fees and permits, this COMMUNITY needs to be restored with a PERMANENT PLACE in Russell City to meet, create income streams and re-establish the Russell City Community to administer and implement the coming recommendations on and in their own turf - Russell City.
RUSSELL CITY COMMUNITY CENTER:
•Establish a Russell City Community Center (RCCC): within the boundaries of Russell City - wholly owned and debt-free by the Resident-led non-profit to be formed to manage and maintain it via a Community fund to be earmarked
for that purpose; in perpetuity.
The RCCC is to be a Multi-purpose venue in good repair to have a minimum occupancy and parking for 500 persons with amenities to include:
• Administrative Offices
• RCCC Theater with the following amenities:
Box Office
Stage
Dance Floor
AV capabilities
Dressing Areas
Bathrooms
2 a Bar and
adjunct Commissary.
These amenities will have the intent to create an on-going stream of income to continually bolster the RCCC Fund and to also be available for lease by the Hayward Community at large for that purpose. • (3) Conference/Multi-Purpose Rooms for use as: training centers, conferences and Community and Non-profit rental spaces
• Computer/Tech Center for training and use with a large screen Projection Room,10 CPU Stations with printers, scanners and the current technology for transferring, creating and modifying data • RCCC Child-care Center
•RC Healthcare Clinic - with a primary focus on the identification and treatment of physical and mental maladies that were imparted by the physically and psychologically toxic environments former RC Residents were exposed to.
Sincerely,
Velda Goe
Russell City Descendant
ITEM #6
WS 24-006
Council Appointed Officials: Review of
Roles of Commissions and Task Forces
(Report from Assistant City Manager
Youngblood)
1 Lilia Corral
From:
Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2024 2:15 PM
To: List-Mayor-Council
Subject: WS 24-006 Changes to Commissions and Task Forces CAUTION:This is an external email. Do not click on links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe.
Dear Mayor Salinas and City Council Members,
My name is Collin Thormoto and I’ve served on the Community Services Commission (CSC) since 2021. I’m writing in regards to WS 24-006 to encourage the City Council to carefully consider the proposed actions brought forward by City Staff. Many of the proposed actions will result in limiting the role of the CSC to the point where it ceases to provide valuable input to the City Council on social services and the broader Hayward community.
The first proposed action suggests that the Council “Limit activities [of the CSC] to solely cover the Community Agency Funding [CAF] Process.” While this is, and continues to be, a 3-month long process that is central to the CSC, it is far from the only benefit that the CSC provides to Council.
As was pointed out during the March 26th Council Meeting, the CSC was the primary driver of the historic apology that the City issued to the former residents and descendants of Russell City. It was a pivotal moment in racial justice and has brought our community justifiable attention from around the Country. This would not have been possible if the role of the CSC was limited solely to the CAF process. If you truly believe that this was a positive development for the City, then you should ensure that any changes to the CSC would not prevent this from happening again.
Of the current City Council, at least 3 members have served on the CSC at one point, demonstrating that it is a vehicle for developing local leadership. Beyond an introduction to the nuts and bolts of government, the ability to ask questions, learn about the City, and recommend changes demonstrates to Commissioners that they can make a difference. Reducing the CSC to a simple mechanism to deliver funds would reduce its power to develop local leadership.
Thanks largely to recent CSC leadership, community engagement with the CSC has never been higher.
Packets of letters and multiple public speakers accompanied this funding cycle, prompting Staff to comment that they had never seen that kind of public engagement before. It would benefit the whole community to grow that engagement by continuing to allow the CSC to engage the community and elevate their needs and concerns. It makes sense for the CSC to be a point of engagement for the community, the City, and service providers.
While I disagree with many of the proposed changes to the CSC, some of them do make sense. Aligning the CSC funding priorities with Council’s strategic goals makes sense, so long as they are similar to the funding cap system which was used this funding cycle.
A prior idea of having specific themes, for example
homelessness, could have the unintended consequences of depriving non-aligned service providers from receiving funding and encouraging larger nonprofits, like Eden Youth and Family Center, to spin up short-term programs to chase thematic funding--putting smaller nonprofits at a huge disadvantage.
If there is evidence that there is a need for the CSC to focus its efforts on CDBG eligible programs and services, that should be demonstrated and explained. As it stands, the CSC has been able to successfully
2 make funding recommendations for all ARCs--even with the attendance issues in early 2023, the recommendations were made, just not approved. If the issue is instead with staff capacity in the Community Services department, it should be framed that way.
Finally, lowering the membership of the CSC makes sense. As currently written, the CSC could exist with only 10 members and still meet all of its obligations. Being able to have productive meetings where everyone is able to engage is important and should be taken into consideration when forming Commissions. However, the necessity to represent the diverse community of Hayward--especially on the CSC--should continue to be at the forefront of any appointments.
Despite the friction that Council has recently experienced with the CSC over the CAP, one incident shouldn’t be reason enough to hobble the Commission. There has been no evidence that the CSC hasn’t been able to meet its obligation to recommend funding allocations and there is so much that the CSC can do for the City if it is allowed to. You have the ultimate power to decide, but I encourage you to choose empowering commissioners over punishing them, developing leaders instead of restricting them, and guiding the CSC in a productive direction that serves the City, the Community, and the Commissioners.
Regards,
Collin Thormoto
Parliamentarian
Community Services Commission