Volunteer Joel Ellioff and HARD trustee Louis Andrade at the honarary brunch on Jan. 28.

Joel Ellioff was honored with Hayward Area Recreation and Park District’s volunteer of the year award. He works at the senior centers, and is a volunteer driver for day trips, bringing seniors co museums and other cultural attractions. He also volunteers in the woodshop program and spends his lunch  break in the kitchen, serving up hot meals.

HARD has a honors a volunteer each month and then picks one from the 12 for this honor. Find a list of all volunteers of the month and more on Joel in the press release after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

The public’s input is being sought at a meeting tomorrow as the city aims to update its plan for downtown Hayward. Here’s today’s story, here’s the flier for the event and here’s the staff report from the Oct. 25 meeting when the idea was brought up to council.

One point that was omitted from the story because of space constraints is the downtown’s absentee landlords. Both the mayor and Councilman Marvin Peixoto said the city needs to do something to address the owners of buildings who seem to be uninterested in finding tenants.

“The worst gateway is the west side of Foothill, from Hazel on up,” Peixoto said. “Those people need to be contacted. They live outside the city and are not looking to put capital improvements into their projects.”

Mayor Mike Sweeney said some property owners “seem clueless about their business.”

“I don’t understand the strategy of why keeping buildings vacant for years on end, asking unreasonable rates from tenants, how that’s good for business,” he said. “Maybe we need to do mental health clinics for the owners there to bring them into the real financial world.”

Sweeney also cautioned that the loop of one way streets currently under construction in the area could prove to be a pitfall for some downtown ideas.

“If part of the vision for downtown is to make it walkable, I don’t see how it will help,” he said. “Especially Mission Boulevard, how is having five lanes of traffic going to help make downtown more walkable?”

Sweeney,  Olden Henson and then-councilwoman Anna May opposed the loop the last time it came up, in early 2009, when they wanted to revisit the idea. They were outvoted by the rest of the council.

The man and his magical musical machine

Final note: While lauding Buffalo Bill’s, Peixoto talked about how such family-friendly venues make great tenants and pointed at the late great Ye Olde Pizza Joynt (which technically sat on county property) as another example of such a venue. Brought back fond memories — I loved that place when I was a kid, especially when organist Don Thompson would bring the house down with the theme from Star Wars. Good pizza, too.  Place closed years ago after a fire, but there appears to be something in the works there these days and a source who inquired a crew there told me they’re putting in some kind of chicken restaurant.

Anyway, if you have some thoughts on downtown, would love to read them in the comments.

By now you’ve probably heard about the various “Occupy Wall Street” protests that started on the East Coast and are now taking root in cities across the nation. They’ve garnered support from a lot of our local U.S. reps, saw an Oakland councilwoman join them in their tent city and are starting to pop up in places that usually don’t see very many demonstrations: San Ramon on Tuesday, Walnut Creek on Wednesday and on Friday, MoveOn.org will bring it to the Bank of America near Bayfair Mall in San Leandro. Find the press release after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s some news from the Hayward Area Historical Society. Each year, they honor local residents, organizations and businesses that are history minded, and for 2011 they’re seeking the public’s help in coming up with some candidates. They’d like to hear from you by the end of the mo nth.

Click on the link at left to cue the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey."

The Daily Review received one in 2006, a few years before I landed at the paper. I took a photo of the black obelisk award, attempting for some kind of dramatic perspective.

Submissions can be made by mail:

ATTN: History Award Nominees

Hayward Area Historical Society

22392 Foothill Blvd.

Hayward, CA 94541-2710

By phone: (510) 581-0223 ask for Alison

By email: alison@haywardareahistory.org

Find press release after the jump, but feel free to also bounce some ideas around in the HayWord comments, too, it could be fun!  Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE, 9/6: Here’s the story that came out yesterday. 

We had an overview story about the API scores coming out, with emphasis on No Child Left Behind. Oakland education reporter Katy Murphy also blogged about it, asking readers what they think of NCLB and whether it should be revamped.

There was a full chart on all schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties in today’s paper. You can find a link to the results in the above story, or find the state’s API report for Hayward here.

I spoke with the principal at Longwood for a while yesterday, will be talking with district regarding HUSD results for a Hayward-specific story slated to run over the weekend. Notables: Longwood, Burbank and Harder, which all underwent a transformation, made significant improvements, with Burbank being the biggest gainer at 79 points. Longwood rose by 75, Harder by 50. New to the Program Improvement list this year are Fairview and Strobridge Elementary and Ochoa Middle schools, although all made their API improvement goals, Strobridge and Ochoa for all subgroups. Ochoa, in fact, saw a gain of 46 API points. Compare that to the district as a whole, which rose by 8 (still making target). Faith Ringgold has the highest score in the district, while Leadership Public Schools – Hayward is tops for all schools within the city, including charters.

Dept. of Ed press release is after the jump, with more links to data.  Read the rest of this entry »

Jared Gochuico, a senior at Mt. Eden High School, earned high honors over the summer when his mixed-media work titled “Examination” was selected as winner of the 30th Annual Congressional Arts Competition. The piece is on display at the Capitol, along with other winners from across the nation.

Jared Gochuico said his work, "Examination," represents adolescence (done in grayscale) combined with the "childish, playful" colors of a Rubik's cube.

“As you can imagine, winning this award was no small accomplishment,” wrote his art teacher, Carrie King, in an email. “The competition was intense with only the very best work from the students from all over the East Bay on display. I’ve taught art at Mt. Eden for the past 19 years and I know that in that time no student from Mt. Eden has won this award. I am unaware of the last time (if ever) a student from HUSD has won. I’m very proud to be his teacher.”

She said on Tuesday that Jared is extremely talented but is also very disciplined and doesn’t coast on his skills. “He absolutely works harder than any other student I have had,” she said. “He won’t just put in partial effort and still get an A. So much of it is sweat.”

Jared and his family were flown to Washington DC courtesy of Southwest airlines in late June to view his artwork, which will remain on display in the Cannon Tunnel in the capitol building for the next year. Jared and over 430 winners from other districts, about 50 from CA, were in Washington DC to celebrate this national competition.

Read Rep. Pete Stark’s release after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

We’re being rebranded. Here’s the story, feel free to discuss. The Hayward Review first published on Nov. 5, 1891. The name change to the East Bay Tribune takes effect Nov. 2.

Hayward Unified is asking parents, guardians and just about anyone involved in a child’s life to accompany them to class on the first day of school, which is Tuesday for those not on the year round schedule. It’s part of the Million Father March, which organizer Black Star Project expects will see that number of people take place this year in 700 cities across the nation. According to Trustee William McGee, Hayward is the only city in the area he knows of that is taking part in the effort this year, although he said they plan to do some brainstorming and hopefully get Alameda County and the Tri-City area involved next year.

The Standardized Testing and Reporting results came out today, find our overview story here with links to data. While Hayward as a district remains considerably below both the state and Alameda County averages for proficiency in math and reading, both areas did see some progress. For English, 40.7 percent of kids tested proficient, compared with 39 percent in 2010 and 36.4 percent in 2009. In math, 37.3 percent tested proficient this year, compared with 35 percent last year and 32 percent in 2009.

Quick comparisons: San Leandro came in at 46 percent proficient in English, 36.4 percent in math, with about a 1.5 percentage point gain in each. San Lorenzo had 42.9 percent proficient in English, 36.9 percent in math, both down by a fraction of a percent from last year. Castro Valley had 73.6 percent proficient in English, up from 70.6 percent, and 65.5 percent proficient in math, up one percentage point.

Some individual Hayward schools had impressive results, as you can see on this chart.

“We are particularly pleased with the results at Longwood, Harder and Burbank,” wrote Leticia Salinas, a director of academic affairs with the district, in an email.  ”Under state and HUSD board guidelines, these schools put in reform efforts that had phenomenal gains.  We are so pleased with the work that Longwood, Burbank, and Harder have accomplished.  These schools  worked  with a focus on collaboration as a school community and targeted professional development in the areas of standards and assessment.   For example, in English Language Arts at grade 2, the percent proficient/advanced increased 23%  at Burbank , 16% at Harder and 15% at Longwood at 2^nd grade.  The teachers, students, principals, and parents accomplished so much!”

Here’s a list of Hayward schools and the change in the proficiency score from last year, double-digit gains bolded, declines in red:

Bowman Elementary -3.51%
Brenkwitz High -0.10%
Bret Harte Middle -1.96%
Burbank Elementary +13.75%
Chavez (Cesar) Middle +1.40%
Cherryland Elementary -1.61%
East Avenue Elementary -6.37%
Eden Gardens Elementary +2.22%
ldridge Elementary +4.19%
Fairview Elementary +2.66%
Faith Ringgold School of Arts +17.95%
Glassbrook Elementary -6.48%
Golden Oak Montessori of Haywa +5.15%
Harder Elementary +8.30%
Hayward High +1.22%
Impact Academy of Arts & Techn +17.96%
Leadership Public Schools +11.80%
Longwood Elementary +13.12%
Lorin A. Eden Elementary +4.74%
Martin Luther King, Jr. Midd +3.31%
Mt. Eden High +0.97%
Ochoa (Anthony W.) Middle +7.71%
Palma Ceia Elementary -4.75%
Park Elementary -1.10%
Ruus Elementary -1.35%
Schafer Park Elementary +4.11%
Southgate Elementary +2.58%
Stonebrae Elementary +1.34%
Strobridge Elementary +7.83%
Tennyson High +4.67%
Treeview Elementary +2.26%
Tyrrell Elementary -4.25%
Winton Middle -0.22%

Find the lengthy press release from the state after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

Mayor Sweeney and volunteers get ready to get the word out about energy conservation.

Volunteers, city officials and the Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force hit the streets last week to do some door-to-door tutoring on ways residents can save money and help the environment by using some energy-saving tips. It was organized by Engage 360, a  group with a goal of spreading the word about energy conservation in various communities throughout the state, including Hayward, a city that prides itself on promoting sustainable practices. Here’s a flier for a contest the city is holding that could win homeowners free energy efficiency improvements.

Here’s the press release on the event, as well as some tips, from Engage 360: Read the rest of this entry »