A little late, didn’t have a chance to post yesterday. Note that tonight the Hayward City Council will be talking about proposed amendments to the city’s noise ordinance, as we discussed late last year here on the HayWord. Read the rest of this entry »

The split will remain in place for the time being, according to Caltrans, but the configuration will allow for access to Jackson sometime before the project is completed in late summer or fall.

Motorists are advised to take Hesperian to either Winton Avenue or Tennyson Road to travel east into Hayward.

Illuminated message signs will advise drivers of the changes.

For more information about the project, go to www.i880corridor.com and click on the SR-92/I-880 link. There’s a map of what’s going on to help clarify things.

Design engineer Stephen Grider talks about the new solar units at the Hayward Water Pollution Control Facility on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 in Hayward, Calif. The eight-acre solar site will produce energy for the water treament plant.

Had a story on the 1MW solar installation at the shoreline. Unfortunately, the photos didn’t make it in the paper because of a lack of space, so here’s one of them. It’s a pretty impressive-looking deal, and if you want to learn more about it, find the REC Solar press release after the jump.

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I’m working on a bunch of stuff today but wanted to provide a spot for comments on last night’s meeting.

Faith Ringgold supporters turned out in force after learning that their school is one of the things that is being looked at as a possible cut. It wasn’t on the agenda, but apparently the FITAG financial panel discussed it the night before.

Budget update: Positive variance of nearly $2.8 million that was found since the first interim report means that as long as the state passes tax extensions that provide school funding, HUSD will have a qualified certification. It’s not positive because a structural deficit still exists that will whittle the district back into the red by the end of FY13.

There was an odd reconvening of the closed session on personnel matters when Trustee Heredia wanted clarification on a reelection of certain teachers. Closed sessions can’t be just called on a whim — they need to be noticed just like any meeting. But I spoke with the board president and she said it was a continuance of an item that had been noticed, so technically wasn’t a violation of the Brown Act, just kind of weird.

I understand that Trustee Armas did not recuse himself from the item involving administrative staff furloughs/workday reductions, a concern that was bubbling in the comment section. There was an explanation of why it wasn’t a conflict of interest by Donna Becnel, but I had left the meeting by then. I have a request out for a recap of said explanation, will let you know.

UPDATE: Becnel said “If the spouse is part of a larger group that is affected by a decision, then it is fine for him to vote. It is the difference between of a group of positions vs. an individual employee.” She said that if Armas’ spouse was in line for an individual promotion, he would “absolutely be conflicted out.”

Ok, I gotta run, hope this is enough to chew on for now!

UPDATE 2: Here’s another map showing a broader view of what areas grew and shrank in population.

UPDATE: This map really breaks it down, zoom in and you’ll get to the neighborhood level.

Results of the 2010 Census were released today. Here’s a story about Bay Area growth slowing, and here’s one about surging Latino and Asian populations fueling growth statewide.

Hayward’s total population went from 140,030 to 144,186, a climb of 4,156 or 3 percent since 2000. Previous results show that 1990 to 2000 had much more growth, from 111,498 to 140,030, that’s 28,532 or 25.6 percent.

Here’s the breakdown of main demographic shifts in Hayward:

White: 40,896 to 27,178. From 29.2 percent to 18.8 percent of population.

Black: 14,846 to 16,297. From 10.6 percent to 11.3 percent of population.

American Indian: 570 to 492. .4 percent to .3 percent of population.

Asian: 26,189 to 31,090. From 18.7 percent to 21.6 percent of population.

Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 2,511 to 4,290. From 1.8 percent to 3 percent of population.

Two or more races, not Hispanic: 6,476 to 5,757. From 4.6 percent to 4 percent of population.

Latino: 47,850 to 58,730. From 34.2 percent to 40.7 percent of population.

You can expect to see a lot of stories coming out of the Census data — it’s sort of a once-a-decade field day for data-driven journalists. But if you want to poke around for yourself, find the most accessible tables here on this page from the state finance department.

There was a “Most Fabulous Event” contest from the party company that rents the big white tent that goes up for a week every year at St. Rose Hospital. The winner of the $10,000 prize  was determined by a tally of Facebook votes.

If you’re on Facebook and follow Hayward folks, you’d know all about this — it was hard to avoid being hit up to vote for St. Rose’s “The Spectacular” event, pictured at right. Competition was tough, and included some heavy hitters, but late last week St. Rose was informed that they prevailed. Here’s their press release. Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to a budget revision and report, various items related to employee reduction and a public hearing on HUSD’s contract proposal to the teacher’s union, there will be an update on the progress of school construction related to Measure I funds at Wednesday’s meeting. Still on schedule and under budget, as it was in the January update story. But the packet included some interesting aerial shots of the current state of the sites, here they are. Read the rest of this entry »

While Sustainability Committee members all like the idea of people greening up their homes, making them more energy efficient through added insulation, air leak studies and the like, they didn’t want to impose a Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance on homeowners at this time.

The matter will go before the City Council in May with a recommendation to make it a voluntary thing, coupling it to an education campaign to let people know what options and incentives are out there to help them retrofit their homes.

Note that the decision was not without a warning, from Commissioner Mendall and Mayor Sweeney, that residents should take advantage of those incentives and take it upon themselves to improve their homes before they are told they have to do it.

Sweeney said he “missed where if ducts are leaking, how if people are paying double their energy bill, how that’s good for a homeowner. I missed the explanation of how a green home hurts property values, and I heard a little bit of that philosophy out there in the room tonight.”

Meeting is available on video, which is unusual for Sustainability Committee meetings.

There’s a meeting tonight that I just found out about, regarding the disposal of Bunker Hill properties currently owned by Caltrans. A Bunker Hill resident faxed me a city document that she’d gotten hold of through a public records request. It outlines potential troubles, such as “limited ingress and egress” and “unsafe nature of the existing roadway,” and the need for road and infrastructure improvements. It also points out that Caltrans wants to get a fair deal for the land, money which will then be used to fund transportation projects in Alameda County.

Bottom line: “Caltrans has made a preliminary finding that it would be preferable to market the property as one large piece, which would maximize return on the entire parcel and allow flexibility in ultimately configuring development so as to make development more economically feasible, while meeting the zoning and health and safety requirements of the city. It is this preliminary finding that we will be discussing with attendees at the upcoming meeting at Hayward City Hall Council Chambers on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.” Read the rest of this entry »

There were three nightclub related incidents last weekend: a shooting at a Mission Boulevard karaoke joint, shots fired and fights in the downtown area. There have been a couple other incidents on B Street in the past month, including a Pizza House employee being punched in the face and shots fired in the alley next to the building.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Mike Sweeney asked the city manager to prepare a report on what’s going on. Fran David said she’s already talked with police as well as nightclub owners and will have that report for them by the end of the week, I’ll watch for it. Read the rest of this entry »