Tom Wong

As an investigative reporter focusing on municipal governance and fiscal accountability in Hayward and the greater Bay Area, I delve into the stories that matter, holding officials accountable and shedding light on issues that impact our community.

San Leandro City Council Meeting April 21, 2025

Tom Wong April 30, 2025 0

ll sick of me already, but, yeah, we are not above the law. For years, the city has known that our at large voting violates the California Voting Rights Act. Rather than address it with the urgency that we required, the city sat sat on their hands. This is about representation and accountability. As I’ve said in previous interviews and chats with some of you on the city council, we can literally be sued for millions of dollars for committing this level of disenfranchisement. My goal is to elicit this change without costing us millions of taxpayer dollars. You all know that this is a million dollar gamble. And as as stewards of our taxpayers money, I find it upsetting that knowing the stakes, the city chose to wait until a lawsuit was filed rather than what was doing what was right. You know, what was smart? I disagree with some of this council’s sentiment that this effort is undemocratic. The law clearly states that this method of at large voting is what’s undemocratic, not the other way around. Although many have elected officials and hundreds of residents that I have talked to throughout the city, there have been less than a handful, that would prefer the current at large system, mostly those who are or have been elected through it. So you may harbor some resentment towards me for taking action when elected officials chose not to. But remember, that also means that you also harbor resentment for those that want this type of representation. And we can do better because I know we can. And, you know, we don’t gotta fight. We just gotta do what’s right for everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Leo West? Well, this is caused by somebody who lost the election that wants to redraw the system as if, the race or a person would determine how they vote. The way that people vote in a city council is accordingly to the interest that bankroll their campaigns. We see meeting after meeting, they consent calendar with the issue are cooked up behind the scene, and we all we see is a 7 years vault. We also see our meeting after meeting, less and less council member even bother to show up here. That was not happening before. A total of the respect for the people, San Leandro. And, so you are gonna change 1 way or the other. You don’t touch the internet behind them. They take time to go to other cities, to other states. And **** the citizens. That’s the reality. So, Asian representation was claiming. We had a Asian representative when I was living in the Manor District, Benny Lee, who was consistently in favor of landlords, voting against any proposal of rent control, even, the tenant relocation assistance. And now we have no agent who spends her time going to 1 city to other states and neglecting the district. Thank you. Mister mayor, there is no more public comment. Okay. So with that, I will close the public hearing. It is 07:42. Okay, so continuing on the item. Are there any council member questions at this point in time? Okay. Seeing none, we will move to our next agenda item. Again, reminding the public that we will be taking public comment for a number of additional meetings. ll sick of me already, but, yeah, we are not above the law. For years, the city has known that our at large voting violates the California Voting Rights Act. Rather than address it with the urgency that we required, the city sat sat on their hands. This is about representation and accountability. As I’ve said in previous interviews and chats with some of you on the city council, we can literally be sued for millions of dollars for committing this level of disenfranchisement. My goal is to elicit this change without costing us millions of taxpayer dollars. You all know that this is a million dollar gamble. And as as stewards of our taxpayers money, I find it upsetting that knowing the stakes, the city chose to wait until a lawsuit was filed rather than what was doing what was right. You know, what was smart? I disagree with some of this council’s sentiment that this effort is undemocratic. The law clearly states that this method of at large voting is what’s undemocratic, not the other way around. Although many have elected officials and hundreds of residents that I have talked to throughout the city, there have been less than a handful, that would prefer the current at large system, mostly those who are or have been elected through it. So you may harbor some resentment towards me for taking action when elected officials chose not to. But remember, that also means that you also harbor resentment for those that want this type of representation. And we can do better because I know we can. And, you know, we don’t gotta fight. We just gotta do what’s right for everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Leo West? Well, this is caused by somebody who lost the election that wants to redraw the system as if, the race or a person would determine how they vote. The way that people vote in a city council is accordingly to the interest that bankroll their campaigns. We see meeting after meeting, they consent calendar with the issue are cooked up behind the scene, and we all we see is a 7 years vault. We also see our meeting after meeting, less and less council member even bother to show up here. That was not happening before. A total of the respect for the people, San Leandro. And, so you are gonna change 1 way or the other. You don’t touch the internet behind them. They take time to go to other cities, to other states. And **** the citizens. That’s the reality. So, Asian representation was claiming. We had a Asian representative when I was living in the Manor District, Benny Lee, who was consistently in favor of landlords, voting against any proposal of rent control, even, the tenant relocation assistance. And now we have no agent who spends her time going to 1 city to other states and neglecting the district. Thank you. Mister mayor, there is no more public comment. Okay. So with that, I will close the public hearing. It is 07:42. Okay, so continuing on the item. Are there any council member questions at this point in time? Okay. Seeing none, we will move to our next agenda item. Again, reminding the public that we will be taking public comment for a number of additional meetings. Thank you very much, and have a great evening. Thank you. Douglas Spalding, may you may unmute yourself. Thank you very much. Well, you know, I loves me some, some good art when it’s good art. So thank you so much for, for for doing that work. I I I’m scratching my head a little bit because I keep going by the Hesperian Triangle. I’m trying to figure out what that circle piece of art is. If it’s a portal someplace, how do you get to it? Because it’s all fenced in. And and it’s not really facing in a way that that welcomes people to our city coming in off the freeway on a hundred and fiftieth. So so, you know, I don’t I don’t sure how we make sense of all that. I I just I love this program. I I thank you for all the the, the events that happened downtown. It really makes San Leandro a happening place. And there is no other more cost effective program than I I think than the safety ambassadors. I think we really have to see it as part of a whole providing for public safety. It is very effective. And, and I wanna I wanna piggyback on what Jenny just said. You know, I’m I’m also remembering that we’ve talked or there’s been discussion about extending it to the greenhouse. And I think other areas too, you know, the manor, the Bay Fair District, you know, there there probably are half dozen or more areas that could benefit from a similar program. And I’d I’d love to see us sink more money into this very, relatively low cost, highly effective program. It just is, it it it is the right approach. So thank you very much. Thank you. Mister mayor, there is no more public comment? Oh, close public comment on the side of it. Come back to council members for questions or commentary. Beginning with councilman, Resvedo. Thank you for your presentation and yeah you guys this past year. There’s been a lot of great events. I’ve gone to a lot of them with my families and friends and I really enjoy it. My question for you is, have you heard any, feedback about the sign ordinance with businesses in downtown? Because I’m hearing that in District 2, like, Guadalajara’s and all that. Has it been affecting the businesses in downtown? I think that, you know, the sign ordinances were not enforced for a very, very long time, and signage really got out of hand. So I was really appreciated to see that the community preservation. Group was starting to enforce it. I think that the there’s a lot of confusion because people didn’t know what the ordinance was before the hammer kinda came down. So on balance, I think it’s really helped the downtown, but there are some unfortunate incidences, particular incidences that it could have been communicated a little better. But in general, I think it’s important that we do have standards. Otherwise, we’ll have feather flags just all up and down East Fourteenth Street. And, but, yes, some of our downtown ones are are scratching their head. They just don’t understand it. Yeah. There has to be some kind of order, but yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Some more education, I think, is probably in order. Okay.

Man arrested in deadly Union City fire murder investigation

Tom Wong April 30, 2025 0

UNION CITY, Calif. — A 33-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a fire

Newark City Council Regular Meeting April 24, 2025

Tom Wong April 30, 2025 0

ed to let us know because we represent you. You are our community. We have a number of proclamations tonight. Let me get my notes. Shamsa, please join me. Nice to see you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is proclamation 19 43, American Muslim appreciation and awareness month. Whereas enriched by the unparalleled diversity of its residents, the city of Newark takes great pride in supporting individual religious freedoms and is strengthened by the contributions of its diverse populations, including those who practice Islam. And whereas over 90,000 Muslims live in Alameda County and and make immeasurable contributions to the cultural, political, economic fabric, and well-being of our communities. Whereas in 02/2024, the Council on American Islamic Relations received sick 8658 complaints nationwide, the highest number in its 30 years, reflecting a 7.4% increase from 2023. Whereas the city of Newark acknowledges the importance of peace and justice, understanding that Muslims deserve to live in peace and safety as to all residents of Newark, irrespective of your religion, irrespective of your culture, irrespective of your immigration status, if you’re a resident of Newark, you should be treated in that manner. Whereas the Al Medina Education Center established in 02/2009 in the city of Newark provides spiritual, educational, and social services to the Bay Area and beyond offering regular prayers and programming for all ages while promoting a purposeful life rooted in Islamic values and a commitment to unity, growth, and service whereas it is appropriate to acknowledge and promote awareness of this myriad of invaluable contributions of American Muslims and extend to them the respect and camaraderie every American deserves. Now, therefore, I Michael Hamm, the mayor of Newark, on behalf of my colleagues on the city council proclaim the month of April as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month in Newark and urge all Newark residents to take the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared experiences of American Muslims. So it’s with great honor I wanna present this, proclamation to you. Thank you. My pleasure. So good evening Mayor Mike and the city council. On behalf of Muslim residents of Newark, we sincerely thank you for the Arab American Heritage Month proclamation. This proclamation is a great example of fostering unity, inclusivity and appreciation for our diverse communities. We deeply appreciate your commitment to celebrating and honoring the rich cultural and religious traditions that make the city of Newark a welcoming home for all. Thank you again for your continued support and leadership in fostering an inclusive and harmonious community. I don’t know about you folks, but when I read those proclamations when it comes to, unity and cooperation and things of that nature, it seems so simple. You know, at the end of the day, it seems so simple. I just don’t understand why it becomes difficult. Next, I’d like to invite Dan to join me at the podium. Dan, you know I’m not gonna even try to pronounce your last name. I get it wrong every time. I know. Welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, this is proclamation 1941 to, recognizing Arbor Day. The first Arbor Day was established in 1872 to promote the reforestation of the Plains Of Nebraska. And by the year 1920, more than 45 states and territories observed Arbor Day, whereas Arbor Day will be observed in the city of Newark on 04/24/2025, whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, enhance the environment by providing habitat for animals, purify the air, and beautify our community, whereas Arbor Day promotes tree appreciation and conservation, tree planting, and tree care, whereas the city Of Newark has recognized the value of thousands of specimen trees within the city limits and has consistently supported the planting and maintenance of approximately 13,000 trees on public property. Now, therefore, I’m Michael Hanna, mayor of the City Of Newark on behalf of my council, declare April 24 as Arbor Day in Newark and urge all residents to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands and to support our city urban forest program. Dan, I present this to you and, thank you for all your contributions to the city on Arbor Day. Thank you. My pleasure, my friend. I I just want to say we are planting trees next Saturday at Sportsfield Park off the Cherry Street parking lot. So if you want to come volunteer and get dirty and plant some tree, learn how to plant a tree properly, come on out. We start at 08:30 till noon. Beautiful. Hey, Dan. I know you are actively out there, you know, working in partnership with other volunteer organizations to plant trees in our city maybe next year. Let me know just how many trees we’re planting this year because the number will surprise many. We are out there planting trees all the time. I’d like to invite my good friend Matthew Farrell, our chief building official, to join me. Hi Matthew. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re issuing proclamation 1935, Building Safety Month. Whereas the City of Newark is committed to recognizing that our growth and strength depends on the safety and essential role of our homes, buildings, and infrastructure play both in everyday life and when disasters strike. Whereas our confidence in the resilience of buildings that make up our community is achieved through the implementation of modern building codes and the dedication of building safety and fire prevention officials, architects, engineers, builders, and others in the construction industry who work year round to ensure the safe construction of buildings. Whereas these modern building codes include safeguards to protect the public from hazards such as hurricanes, snowstorms, tornadoes, wildfires, floods, and earthquakes. I might have put earthquakes first. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m gonna digress for a moment. I was in San Jose back in ’89 when we had the, earthquake and, working in government at that time, we must have received tens of thousands of calls after the earthquake from concerned citizens worried that their homes were either off their foundations, their brick chimneys had collapsed, there was a lot of concern out in the community. And even in San Jose where we probably had 40 or 50 building inspectors, there was no way that they were gonna be able to respond to all those calls in a timely manner. So we basically utilized a lot of city staff who were quickly trained on recognizing immediate health and safety issues to really go out and calm the nerves of residents to assure them that their home was safe and it was not going to fall down. But you can imagine in an earthquake, which I would put first, this city is going to receive lots of calls from concerned residents and we need as a community to be able to respond in a timely manner. Whereas Building Safety Month is sponsored by the International Code Council to remind the public about the critical role of our community’s local code officials and assure us on safe, sustainable, and affordable buildings that are essential to our property, whereas game on, that’s the theme, game on. The draft is today, too. Game on. The theme for Building Safety Month 20 25 encourages people to get involved in all aspects of building safety. Now, therefore, I, Michael Hammond, mayor of the city of Newark, on behalf of my council, declare May 2025 as Building Safety Month in Newark and urge all Newark residents to consider the commitment to improve building safety, resilience, and economic investment at home and in the community and to acknowledge the essential service provided to all of us by local and state building departments, fire prevention bureaus and federal agencies in protecting lives and property. It was only a few years ago, folks, we saw what happened at the Ghost Ship Fire situation up in Oakland where a lot of people lost lives on a condition that the government knew about, but in my estimation failed to respond. That doesn’t happen in Newark. If we come across an emergency or an immediate situation, we’re going to take whatever steps necessary, not because we want to be hard on residents. We just want to make sure people are living in safe homes, and that’s really the commitment of our building department and our city. So it’s with great pleasure that I present this to you, Matthew, and certainly feel free to say a few words, my friend. Oh, I’m okay. Thank you. Okay. You you say it so much better. Matthew just wants you to hold to watch the completion of the draft. I get it. The, next proclamation is where did I put my notes? Bridal Storms. You never really need to do RayStorms, are you? That’s the father. Are you kidding me? You worked with him in San Jose? I I thought I no. No. I I didn’t set Ryan up on that. I did not set Ryan up on that. It’s not a common name. Ray Storms worked in the fire department. He was in fire protection services. And it wasn’t uncommon for me to look to Ray to help me industrial building that was being used for a variety of uses not intended for industrial buildings, and your dad was outstanding. So please make sure you share that with him. I had a great pleasure working with him. Small world. He called me the, the night you first announced me getting hired here. Oh, did he? Yes. He’s a good man. So this is National Water Safety Month, proclamation 1936, whereas individual and organized forms of recreation and the creative use of free time are vital to the happy lives of all of our residents. Whereas residents of the city of Newark recognize the vital role of swimming and aquatic related activities playing good physical and mental health and enhance the quality of life for all people, whereas the community understands the essential role that education regarding the topic of water safety plays in preventing drowning and recreational water related safety. Whereas the city of Newark is extremely proud of the George M. Silliman activity in a family aquatic center and its contributions to provide critical life skills, a safe and healthy place to recreate, a place to learn and grow, to swim, build self esteem, confidence and sense of self worth which contributes to the quality of life in our community. Now therefore, I’m Mark O’Hannon on behalf of my colleagues on the Newark City Council, declared National Water Safety Month for the month of May in Newark and urge all Newark residents to enjoy, recognize, and help promote the benefits derived from quality water safety programs and recreational services which provide something to value for everyone. So line, I present this to you, and, I don’t know if you wanna say a few words, but you’re certainly entitled to do so with that, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Hannan, City Council members and the City of Newark, for this proclamation. Drowning is still the leading cause of death in children from ages 1 through 4. The second leading cause for children from 4 to 14, and a top 4 cause for adults 54 and above. There is an average over 4000 unintentional drownings every year in this country, with over 8 times that non fatal drownings that require emergency medical care. Drowning can happen in as little as 20 seconds and is often silent. But it can be prevented. The city of Newark’s recreation department is deeply committed to preventing drowning through a comprehensive approach that includes awareness, education, supervision, and training. We provide American Red Cross based swim lessons to thousands of students annually, ensuring foundational water safety skills from an early age. In 2024 alone, we’ve reached over 3,300 students. 2 40 3 participants were in our new Make a Splash campaign, which offered free swim lessons to increase access and equity in water safety education. Our staff are highly trained through regular in service sessions and a robust, robust certification program. In 2024, we certified 5 new lifeguard instructors, 37 new lifeguards, 9 junior lifeguards, 42 individuals in advanced public, or advanced first aid for public safety personnel. Additionally, we offer certifications in lifeguarding, water park lifeguarding, CPR, AD, first aid, emergency oxygen, water safety instruction, and Title 22 Advanced First Aid for public safety personnel. We also extend our outreach into the community. For example, we introduced the Whales Tales Water Safety Program in local classrooms, beginning with a kindergarten presentation and aiming to expand to all elementary schools. To further support safe recreation, we’ve provided over 4,300 life jacket rentals during our public swim hours, reinforcing our belief that safety should be accessible to all. As I close, I’d like to leave you with a few important reminders, simple yet powerful steps we can all take to promote water safety. Non swimmers should always wear a properly fitted life jacket and stay within arm’s reach of a responsible adult in the water. Always actively supervise children by being in the water with them. Remember that 88 percent of drownings occur with a distracted adult in, the nearby vicinity, so always assign a designated water watcher. Never swim alone. Always swim with a buddy and in areas where lifeguards are present. Know and follow all safety rules and facility rules. Or, be aware of water depths before entering any body of water. By keeping these tips in mind, we can all do our part to ensure a safer and more enjoyable experience in and around the water. Through this, the City of Newark is building safer communities, 1 splash at a time. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the public comment section of our agenda. This is an opportunity for anyone, any member of the public to speak on an item that is not on the agenda this evening. Is Is there anybody in the audience who would like to speak to an item not on the agenda tonight? Yes, please come forward. If you don’t mind state your name please. Sure. Hello, thank you for having me. Our pleasure. My name is Norbil Bizzi. I’m a Fremont Business Owner but Newark resident. I’d like to tell you about a intersection that I feel is a little dangerous. I live in the Bridgeway neighborhood and I constantly drive down, Central. As you’re going down Central, when you’re crossing Cherry, Cherry, the right turn from Cherry onto Central is kind of a yield and then there’s this corner where there’s a whole bunch of trees. The people who are driving down Central have to switch to the right lane after the intersection. Because it’s a 1 lane intersection and then it becomes 2. So they are turning into the right lane as the person turning right is yielding. And the person turning right can’t really see because there’s a whole bunch of trees and bushes there. And I used to live in that area and I’d always hear in the middle of the night screeching and I knew it was that intersection. So I was hoping those trees could be cut down or something could be done about that.

Livermore Council Meeting February 10, 2025

Tom Wong April 30, 2025 0

Good evening and welcome to this, the February 10 meeting of Livermore City Council. I call the meeting to order. Roll call, please. Council member, Barry Antos. Right. Council member Dunbar. Here. Council member Wong. Here. Vice Mayor Branning. Here. Mayor Marchand. Here. To join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Okay, I’m going to reorder the agenda. We’re going to move 4, which is the open forum to, after 7.1, and they will now move on to the consent calendar. Do we have any public comments for consent? Yes, mayor. We do. The first speaker is David McQuiggan. Johnny the ****** martial arts. Excuse me. Excuse me. You or miss David Nougogin, you have to speak to the minutes. You are not speaking to the minutes. You are forfeiting your time. You can be going back back to the end. I gave you I’m sorry. I’m sorry. No. No. I’m sorry. You’re done. You you are done. You have forfeited your time. We will move you to the end, and you can complete your comments. We will move you to the end. Next speaker, please. The next speaker is Greg Scott. Good evening. Greg Scott. I’m speaking on the water rates. The water rate for our household is we have a service fee of $37, I think, and 1 billing. Wait. Excuse me. We’re speaking on 0.25 0.2. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Excuse me. On water rates. We and our our household, we pay. We have a service fee of $37 a month that’s with consuming no water. A unit of water is about $4. The unit of water is a hundred cubic feet. That’s about, 748 gallons. So we used in a billing cycle 1,500 gallons or less, and we paid $48 in there, $47. It’s a lot of money for that kind of water. In a month, that would be about 50 gallons a day. That isn’t that much water usage. I don’t know how people are paying their water bills, but this is getting outrageous, especially if you do any kind of landscaping. But we really shouldn’t be watering lawns. We’re wasting water greatly. And, you know, we’re gonna have to rethink water and water rates. What’s come out especially by president Trump and and the shipping. We ship 5,000,000 acre feet water south to Southern California in this in this water deal too. You know, it’s a gallon of almond for mister Resnick and the Resnick family. You know, it’s it’s the people on fixed incomes and people on lower incomes, this isn’t fair. The whole water thing isn’t fair. For the public, you know, 5,000,000 acre feet is about 12 something trillion gallons of water. We’re supposed to ship even more, and then president Trump comes out about the Delta smelt, smelt. You know, in the in the recovery program for Delta smelt in the last sampling period, they didn’t find any of that fish. We’re collapsing the delta. So we have to rethink our water, our water rates, and thank you. Mayor, that was the last speaker. Would you like to invite mister McWiggan back in? If you can if you can stay on the topic, perhaps. Otherwise, he’ll forward for this time again. You will speak to the minutes. I will, Johnny the Repus Marchant. Okay. Thank you very much. That is your salutation. Thank you very much. You are done. That’s your salutation. Please really keep both of them. No. We are moving on to the next. Agenda to be We are moving on to the next item. We’re moving on to the consent. Person is going to be placed at the end. You will relinquish the podium. Act targeting a specific individual that is contrary to your stated policies. I do do believe mister Ocala will tell you that you are not an optimum position for minimizing your legal exposure by doing that. But you’re deliberately good to act Cut the mic. Part of the official record. Thank you, Johnny, the ring to start. This. We are done. Next speaker. That concludes public comment for the consent. Consent calendar. Okay. Do we have anyone that wishes to pull an item for consent? Okay. Seeing none, I’ll entertain a motion. I’ll move consent. Is there a second? I’ll second. Okay. Motion made by Vice Mayor, Branning, seconded by, Councilman Dunbar. Any discussion on the motion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Attentions? Pass unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to 6.1. This is a public hearing on renewable energy. This is an ADA community energy contract. Honorable mayor Marchand and members of the city council. This is your city manager, Mariana Monishma. And item 6.1 is going to be presented by the city’s sustainability program manager, Tricia Mento. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. All right. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. The item before you tonight is consideration of a 25 year power purchase agreement with Ava Community Energy. The project involves installing solar and battery storage system at 5 city facilities. That includes city hall, civic center meeting hall, maintenance service center, the police department, and the water reclamation plant. The systems will provide several benefits to the city, including improving energy resilience by providing back backup power during emergencies consistent with our climate action plan and emergency operations goals. We’ll reduce energy cost by allowing us to use energy from the batteries during times when grid electricity is more expensive. It lowers our reliance on diesel generators, and several of the sites will also include solar carports that provide additional shade in our parking lots. There will be approximately 36 spaces at City Hall, 20 spaces at the police department, and 4 at the Civic Center Meeting Hall that will be covered with solar canopies. The financial terms outlined in the contract include no upfront capital cost to the city. Ava Community Energy has selected 2 companies, Greenbridge and Gridscape, as a project financer and developer, and this team will install, own, operate, and maintain the systems. The city will make monthly payments to AVA for the electricity generated by the the panels and a flat rate for the storage capacity, and these payments will be less than what the city would otherwise pay for grid electricity without the project. And a crucial crucial reason we’re able to achieve these savings is because we’ve been able to grandfather the facilities under the state’s previous net energy metering laws, which provide higher compensation rates for excess solar energy that is sold back to the grid. And we’re able to maintain the status if we have assistance install installed by about April of 20 26. And despite that being over a year away, there are some concerns from the project development partners about supply chains and the potential for tariffs to negatively impact product pricing. But if approved tonight, the city manager will have authorization to approve the final agreement providing the project pricing and feasibility issues are resolved and the agreement remains in substantially the same form as the item being reviewed by council this evening. Staff is recommending that the city council adopt 2 resolutions tonight. The first is finding that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, and the second is authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement in substantially the same form as the 1 included in the agenda tonight and determining that doing so is in the best interest for the city. So that concludes staff’s presentation, and we’re available for questions. We also have JP Ross from Ava Community Energy here tonight who will help answer questions as well. Okay.

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Senior Trump Advisor Strongly Criticizes the Media in Recent Remarks

Tom Wong April 29, 2025 0

The media has often clashed with President Donald Trump, but some of his top aides

President Trump Signs Executive Order on Auto Tariffs Amid Economic Turmoil

Tom Wong April 29, 2025 0

President Donald Trump signed a new executive order on Tuesday imposing additional tariffs on imported

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Democratic Rep. Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against Trump

Tom Wong April 29, 2025 0

Democrats have been continuously bringing up plans to impeach President Donald Trump. We can’t forget

Protesters march demanding permanent cease-fire in Gaza

Tom Wong April 29, 2025 0

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. (KGO) — On Wednesday, pro-Palestinian protesters affiliated with the group Council on

lanetary environment. The goal is to address inequities in energy access and prioritize the health of people and the environment. And now, therefore, it be resolved by the city council of the city of Emeryville that 04/22/2025 is hereby proclaimed as Earth Day in the city of Emeryville, and all residents, businesses, and institutions are urged to advocate for policy changes, adopt renewable energy solutions, and work towards a cleaner and more sustainable future for our planet as proclaimed by the mayor of the city council of the city of Emeryville at a regular meeting held Tuesday, 04/15/2025. We now have item 4.2, a presentation from the police department for the annual report. Chief Jennings. Alrighty. Good evening, vice mayor Carr, mayor Moore, and our former first mayor, Courtney Welch. So this is gonna be a brief, overview of our annual report. Normally, luckily, I have the 3 people who’ve been on my public safety committee who’ve seen this or a version of this before. Car just saw it a couple months ago. So, you know, what it normally looks like, but it’s also for, community members who did not have an opportunity to see it. They can see it through on, the webpage or the large gallery we have here today. So, with that, you see our annual picture we got right here behind us. You see a very eclectic, happy group. Next slide. Basically, my message, and my message is always the same. I appreciate the fact that I have a council that has given us the tools and the support to do what we’ve done, and I definitely appreciate my officers who have gotten the job done, bringing more trust in, community engagement, with the city. So I can’t I can’t do it without the officers that we have. Next slide. This is my former command staff. Everyone here is gone besides acting Lieutenant Dauer and PSM, Buze, but they’ll both be leaving shortly also, so that that’ll be different next year. Next slide. You’ll see my my main sergeants here. 3 of these people will be gone, in the next future. And, special thanks to Sergeant Pablo Roxas, who actually put the PowerPoint together and is our community engagement liaison, and also my, recruiting and training officer, which is critical to the growth of our organization. Next slide, please. Again, about staffing. You see some pictures, lovely folks, that we just hired. 1 of the highest, honors to bring new people into their organization. It’s important to hire good folks. That’s the beginning of having a good organization. At 1.1 glorious moment, we were totally staffed in October, but that has changed, with attrition and injuries and some people moved on. So you see the numbers right there. And at any point in time, feel free to ask me any questions. We can engage in this. We’re gonna keep it going. But again, you’ve seen this before. Next slide, please. Another thing that I’m proud of in our organization is the demographics. You see, we’re a very, diverse organization, by our numbers and by the photos that you saw. We definitely represent the community that we serve. 1 of the things I’m most proud of is the fact that I’ve made it intentional to hire, great qualified female officers. The national average for female officers is less than 10%. We’re up to 19% and, we’re on our way to get to 30%. That’s the national 30 on 30, initiative that’s been put on by the National Chiefs of Police. And, I’m informally a part of that. I’m going to, I’m going to get there. So we’re going to get there. Next slide, please. Again, our female, statistics, demographics are sworn. Again, seem very diverse. Nice. Next slide, please. Again, so what we hear about, our primary focus is to thwart crime, drive down crime, driving down the fear of crime. We’ve done an excellent job of doing that, and this is a for how you wanna get into it, a very layered, nuanced way of driving down crime that, with me and my 34 years of experience and my officers with a lot of experience have focused on with a with a vision of making sure that we’re integrated with the growth of the city and also the, the feeling of, togetherness in the city. So most of our crime is property crime. 85% of our crime is property crime. We have a rich, diverse, commercial, area. We have a lot of apartment complexes and most of our crimes are petty theft, based on opportunity to commit those thefts. Next slide, please. Or violent crime. Any crime of violence is also, you know, is a threat to our society, the fabric of our society. But our crime rate, again, is low, especially compared to our regional partners. 1 of the things also I pride myself on is I did a, longitudinal study of our crime from 2010 till now, where you’ll see across the region that most people most agencies’ crime is down 15% to 20%, if not higher. But a lot of those crimes are, are down from, a high point that they’ve had. We’ve never reached our high point in the last, 15 years. Our higher point of crime was 2019, and we’ve never gotten to that number back yet. So I’m pretty pleased with that number. The numbers went up during, went down during COVID, and then they shot up exponentially, 21, 22, 23. And we’re seeing, we’ve, ours was going up, but we’ve kept it below that high point number, which is really pleasing for us. Next slide. Again, showing that a crime is down 20%. The number is up to right now. We’re down another 10 to 15% on most crimes compared to last year. So, again, this is due to several factors in my opinion, 1 being a change in, public policy, that’s going across our region. Another is the fact that we’ve gotten the flock camera system. Another factor is that we had a significant increase in our staffing. So instead of running overtime to run the day to day operations of the police department, we’re using the overtime to thwart crime by using some of the graph, the grant money that you’ll see there on that we’ve used to put those strategically in areas that were crime was occurring to actually drive down crime further. So multi layered and everyone buying in on my vision And, the new hires are very enthused. Next slide, please. Again, breaking down the crime numbers. Again, petty theft being the highest. Our our, our crimes of violence are being the lowest, which is great. But, you know, any crime. We’re trying to get to a utopia where there is no scribe, and you don’t need police officers. And then our breakdown by demographics, and their rest. Next slide. Our juvenile rest remain consistently low. We consistently return juveniles to their homes, 79, 80 percent. The 1 the juveniles that end up going to juvenile hall usually have a warrant for the arrest for some other, reason. Possession of a firearm is automatic, take to juvenile hall. Usually, the robberies are depending how the robbery was committed. Was it force or fear? Was there actual violence used? They they automatically go to juvenile hall. So those numbers remain low, which is good for us at the win. Next slide, please. To me, this is important. And it really would be more important for the members who have not been on the, public safety committee. But this really explains how our use of force is used. Try to give an explanation. So if if you were to arrest me and then, Mayor Moore put me in a twist lock and Vice Mayor Moore put me in another twist lock is 1 victim or 1 suspect, but 2 incidents. So the numbers can be skewed in that sense, but every use of force is counted in our, in our matrix, and you can see less than 0.4% of our, our calls for service involve force, which is different from what you see in the news, it’s different from what you see, what you read in the paper. But that’s how, California counts our, our incidents of uses of force. Vast majority of our, contacts are traffic and a lot of talking. Next slide, please. Usually, we use the forces that will come complaints. Those are definitions of our dispositions of uses of, complaints. Not really nuanced. Either you, you know, we have very you’ll see the next we’ll just go to the next slide. Unless you have any questions. So you’ll see our numbers. Very part of our trans our transparency portal. All this is on our web page. You can find all this information. It’s on there. You’ll see that most of our sustainer for policy violations. And, essentially, every day, there’s somebody who’s doing a policy violation. It could be as as minor as not having your, your correct uniform on. So there’s policy violations day to day. But every time that we do a, internal affairs complaint, we look at it from top to bottom. If we find policy violations, you see those are sustained, but you don’t see any sustained for any, force, violence, rudeness. Well, there’s some rudeness in the sustained policy violation. But the ones that really get us in trouble of, the ones we don’t like, the mistake of the mind, where or the specific mistake of the heart. Whereas the heart where you’re you’re you’re malicy by malice committing, you know, hurting someone, believing in someone, we don’t have that in our organization. And those are born out in our internal affairs investigations, which are, which are low. Next slide. 1 of the reasons why I think that our crimes are down again, nuanced approach is the flock cameras. Thank you, council for approving that. Some of the numbers that come with that, 2,000,000 license plates are scanned monthly. Same license plate can run through the town 16 time. You count 16, 16 other times. But you’ll see some of the things. And these are numbers are just from, October when the cameras were fully off automated to December. So this is a short, snapshot of how the cameras have affected us. But the most important number to me, besides the ones we’ve arrested, is the 3 96 to 1 vehicles alerted and the 20 felony vehicles alerted. When officers are alerted, they see it. They go. They drive the car out of town. That anecdotally would be the reason why crime could be done also. So there’s several things that go involved with, fighting crime. This is a very good tool. City, manager Bellos just had me talk to our state senator regarding giving another federal grant, to maybe possibly or asking for, the rest of the cameras, to be paid for through a grant. So we’ll see how that that goes. So, I talked to Luca for quite a bit. I sent her our our staff report. So we’ll see what comes out of that. Next, slide, please. My staff, again, my my beautiful communication staff with part of my, parking enforcement staff, you see the amount of calls. A lot of calls for service.