Alameda County wants to help landlords recoup unpaid Covid-19 rents in small claims court
FREE FRIDAY! San Leandro mayor gave a very long state of the city speech; Richard Valle's replacement at Tri-CED is named; Lateefah Simon grabs another big endorsement
COUNTY NEWS
ALAMEDA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
—BIG CLAIMS—Alameda County’s housing director said on Tuesday that about half of all rental debt amassed during the pandemic belongs to renters who earned too much to qualify for rent relief.
—“Folks who are over-income participated in a rent strike,” Alameda County Housing Director Michelle Starratt said, “and our eviction moratorium did not allowed them to do that.”
—To help make landlords whole, the county wants to help them in small claims court. It’s a win-win for the county. If a landlord wins in small claims court, then the county will receive the windfall, Starratt told the Alameda County Board of Supervisors at a special budget hearing.
—Across Alameda County, tenants are around $9,000 behind in rent, Starratt added. Meanwhile, landlords are holding an average of about $35,000 in mortgage debt.
—The total rental debt countywide is estimated to between $125 million and $369 million, although Starratt cautioned finding exact numbers has been difficult.
—To hasten a greater number of small claims cases, the county is working with the Alameda County Superior Court to expand the number of eviction courtrooms from one to four, starting in early May. Not coincidentally, the county’s eviction moratorium ends on May 1.
—Overall in Alameda County, between 33,000 and 72,000 households are estimated to be in arrears. Just in unincorporated Alameda County, the estimate is between 3,000 and 7,000 households holding rent debt.
—SIDESHOW ACT—Alameda County’s proposed ordinance to quell rising numbers of sideshows in the unincorporated areas by going after its spectators will get a second vetting on Monday morning at the Board of Supervisors Transportation Committee.
—The ordinance would make it a misdemeanor punishable to up to six months in jail, and a $1,000 fine if caught attending a sideshow in unincorporated Alameda County.
—At Wednesday evening’s Unincorporated Services Committee meeting, Alameda County Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez blessed the proposed ordinance.
—“This will be an excellent tool for us to be able to utilize for enforcement and have more accountability for those actually attending these events,” Sanchez said. “That’s what these promoters are looking for—spectators—because they get money behind it.”
CITY NEWS
SAN LEANDRO
—TAKING STOCK OF THE CITY—San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez’s first state of the city was a stockholders address, civic call to arms, and spiritual revival all-in-one. Oh, and it lasted exactly one hour and 40 minutes!
—Many at the well-attended address at the San Leandro Senior Community Center stuck around for the whole speech, which was frank, if not, heavily professorial.
—Gonzalez, though, detailed an aspirational budgetary wish-list at a time when cities like San Leandro are buckling up for a potentially bumpy economic ride later this year.
—San Leandro’s city government has too long neglecting its crumbling infrastructure and investment in city employees and the services they provide residents.
—“Unfortunately, the city historically did not properly prepare for regular maintenance,” Gonzalez said.
—“The city had not systemically mapped out that maintenance and replacement schedule. As a result, in summary, today, we have $265 million in backlog of work that needs to be done.” The amount is likely higher because of recent rains, he added.
—Despite several successful ballot measures for road maintenance, a backlog of $170 million in deferred repairs exists. “We’ve been treading water as hard as we can tread to keep up,” Gonzalez said.
—“We will talk about these challenges. We will face these challenges. And we will overcome these challenges,” he said.
—SEEN AT SOTC—Former San Leandro mayor and state Senate majority leader Ellen Corbett; former San Leandro Mayor Stephen Cassidy; former San Leandro Councilmembers Ed Hernandez, Gordon Galvan, Lee Thomas, and Jim Prola; SLUSD Trustee Diana Prola; Alameda County Supervisor Lena Tan; EBMUD Boardmember April Chan; former Assemblymember Guy Houston; state Senate candidate Uche Iwahemu; San Leandro Planning Commissioner Ken Pon.
UNION CITY
—UNION TIES—Richard Valle held two big jobs before his passing earlier this year. He juggled full-time gigs as an Alameda County supervisor, while also serving as CEO of Tri-CED, his Union City-based non-profit recycling company.
—Elisa Marquez was appointed to replace him this month at the District 2 supervisorial seat, and now Jason Toro, the husband of 20th District Assemblymember Liz Ortega, will become Tri-CED’s executive director. Toro once served as a San Leandro Unified School District trustee.
—On Tuesday night, the Union City Council directed staff to schedule a public hearing for proposed rate increases this summer that includes Tri-CED, which is asking for a 5.6 percent rate hike.
—However, there is speculation in the UC about the long-term viability of Tri-CED, which also services Hayward. There’s even a chance, according to an insider, that the city could put the contract up for bid later this year.
ELECTION 2024
12TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
—BUILDING MOMENTUM—Lateefah Simon locked up the Building and Construction Trades Council of Alameda County endorsement on Wednesday. Simon is seeking Rep. Barbara Lee’s seat in the 12th Congressional District. Lee is running for U.S. Senate in 2024.
—“Lateefah Simon has demonstrated her commitment to working families time and again, especially when she fought to protect union jobs while serving on the BART Board,” said Andreas Cluver, secretary-treasurer of the Building Trades.
—The Building Trades support is a major get for any candidate in the East Bay and further limits the likelihood that, coupled with Simon’s strong early fundraising, that anybody of note will enter this race. However, there remains questions about the legitimacy of Lee’s senate campaign, and whether see may ultimately run for re-election in CA12.
—UC AHEAD TO ‘24—Union City Councilmember Gary Singh filed a statement of organization in advance of a potential run for the city’s open mayoral seat in November 2024. The step allows Singh to begin fundraising. Union City Mayor Carol Dutra-Vernacci is termed out of office next year.
—Among those rumored to be eyeing the mayor’s office next year is Union City Councilmember Emily Duncan and New Haven Unified School District Trustee Sarabjit Cheema. Union City Councilmember Jaime Patino challenged Dutra-Vernacci in 2020.