Hayward is holding a community meeting Thursday to discuss amending the city’s noise ordinance to bring it into the modern age. The current ordinance was drafted in the 1950s, and is vague. The city hopes to include language that will give it more teeth.

There’s concern over enforcement — it’s one thing to have an ordinance on the books, another to have the resources to go after what many consider a low-level concern.

“It’s probably going to be a work in progress,” said Assistant City Attorney Maureen Conneely, who prepared the draft ordinance brought before a council work session in October . “We’re going to have to see how to implement it, and it may need some adjustments depending on whether it is easy or difficult to enforce.”

At the Oct. 26 work session, the noise ordinance drew support from the council, although members spoke about how they or family members could well be current or past violators. Read about it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Couple of holiday events coming up in the next few days, what with the Light Up the Season street party Thursday followed by the Santa Paws pet parade on Saturday.

We had a story on the events; organizers are excited to have Deuce the Alameda Dognap Victim as a guest of honor in the pet parade, which was 100 dogs strong as of Wednesday afternoon.

Also got a call from Jim Wieder, owner of the downtown Ace Hardware and former president of the Chamber of Commerce. He said there’s a sense of disappointment among some merchants because of the lack of promotion of the Light Up the Season event.

“The city gives $10,000 to light up B Street, but it hasn’t been advertised,” he said. “Why light it up if it hasn’t been advertised? The lights aren’t up, the posters aren’t up, the skating rink isn’t there. It all makes the area more festive and shoppers kind of enjoy that feeling.”

Wieder, who was dismissed as Chamber president earlier this year, said it’s “not a case of sour grapes” on his part.

“All kinds of things are supposed to be happening. There’s concern among merchants about where that (city) money is going.”

A quick stroll down B Street revealed that there didn’t appear to be nearly as many lights strung up as in previous  years. Current chamber President Kim Huggett said they didn’t light all the trees because it’s more difficult than the streetlights, which have an outlet at the top and the lights can be wrapped downward. Trees need to be wrapped upward and there’s more breakage involved and the lights don’t last as long, he said.

But he said they’ve done plenty of promoting, including sending 20,000 postcards out to elementary school students, and there has been considerable interest in the events.

“A lot of businesses will be open later, and a number will be serving refreshments and Christmas treats,” Huggett said. “It’s hard to say how many people will be coming out, but it was well advertised. … We’ll know tomorrow.”

Let’s all find out tomorrow! See you there!

It’s been nearly a year to the day since intrepid reporter Kris Noceda announced he joined the world of Twitter.

That was a good call. After waiting and watching to see if Twitter wasn’t some kind of online flash-in-the-pan, the other Review reporters have joined him. Follow Eric Kurhi at www.twitter.com/erickurhi and Jason Sweeney at www.twitter.com/Jason_Sweeney .

Twitter serves a different function than either stories or this blog. It’s an instant-information mechanism, good for short bursts. For example, when someone’s out in the field chasing down fire or crime information, or as-it-happens reports from school board or City Council meetings. Expect information to be in very short form and more informal than you’d see in a story or even on a blog.

You can also find links to other Tweeters, such as the City of Hayward or the Hayward Public Library.

You don’t have to be on Twitter to read the entries — just visit the sites to see what’s been posted.

Ok, so maybe it’s not suitable for Olympic-style competition (don’t even think about bringing a curling stone) but there will be a 1,200-square-foot synthetic ice rink set up at Hayward City Hall from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday. If watching Vancouver footage has you all riled up and eager to lace-up, it could be fun for only $2 per 25-minute session, skates included.

BH Skating Parks International is bringing the faux ice. It’s a Canadian company, so if you want to rub in Sunday’s upset hockey win, feel free to chant “U-S-A!” ad infinitum as you slide around. But keep the cross-checking in check — this is a family affair.

While the synthetic ice provided  supposedly not as slick as the real deal, this guy makes it look pretty fun:

Synthetic ice demontration

A permit that would have allowed live music and a cover charge at the Funky Monkey bar in downtown Hayward was denied by the Planning Commission at its Thursday meeting, on the grounds that the venue is already taxing to police services and doesn’t seem to be interested in doing anything to change that.

 The applicant stated that the cover charge would help keep troublemakers out of the bar. Police didn’t think it would make a difference. An attorney for the applicant said police are out to get the Funky Monkey, and target it on weekend nights and that’s why so many incidents are recorded there.

That didn’t sit well with planners.

“You mention police sitting out in front as if that’s a negative thing,” said Rodney Loche. “I applaud the police for doing what they have to do.  It is unfortunate we have to use police in that way, but they are doing what they feel they need to do to make the city safer…  To suggest it is a negative or personal attack is unfortunate.”

Included in the staff report recommending denial is police information about service calls to the Funky Monkey. There were 80 last year. Three case studies included are kind of a “best of” list. Er, make that “worst of”:

Read the rest of this entry »

City Council gave a downtown restaurant and night club the go ahead in a fairly extended meeting last night. I’ll have a longer story in tomorrow’s Review.

Speaking of long meetings, the Council also approved changing the time they meet. Starting next year, Tuesday night meetings will begin at 7 instead of 8 p.m.

That 8 p.m. start time was definitely on the late side of things. The earlier start puts Hayward in line with Fremont, San Leandro, Union City, Oakland and Berkeley, to name some other 7 o’clockers. Newark remains a regional anomaly that splits the difference, starting at 7:30 p.m.