HAYWARD — Cal State East Bay graduate students will share some of what they’ve learned about the area’s colorful history on Thursday, May 16.

The presentations include:

– Michael Burton, “Port Costa: Sustaining an Unlikely Coastal California Boomtown, 1879-1909;”

– Edwin Contreras, “Mexican Land Grants: The Case of Don Castro’s Rancho San Lorenzo;”

– Olga Kachina, “How Global History Became Local: The Memory of the 1918 Izhevsk-Votkinsk Anti-Bolshevik Uprising as It Is Preserved in California;”

– Andrew Levin, “BART: The Backbone for Who?”

– Bria Reiniger, “Salt of the Hayward Shoreline: The Oliver Salt Company;”

– Carlotta Falzone Robinson, “Designing a Unified City: The Aesthetic Ideals of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.”

The free talks begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Pancho Villa Event Center, 1026 B St. The event is a collaboration of the Hayward Area Historical Society, the History Department at Cal State East Bay and the Pancho Villa Event Center.

Three cleanups are planned for the unincorporated area.

On Saturday, volunteers will gather at Mervin Morris Park, Nielsen and Grant avenues in San Lorenzo, to pick up trash for Earth Day. The event starts at 8:30 a.m., ending with a free barbecue lunch at the park. Preregistration is requested at 510-276-4554. The event is hosted by Supervisor Wilma Chan and the San Lorenzo Village Homeowners Association.

On April 27, Supervisor Nate Miley and Friends of San Lorenzo Creek will join Castro Valley Sanitary District’s Earth Day Cleanup of the Castro Valley BART parking lot and Castro Valley Creek. There will be two staging areas: the CVS parking lot area, 3667 Castro Valley Blvd.; and Miley’s district office, 20993 Redwood Road.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. To sign up, go to www.cvsan.org or call 510-537-0757. For questions about parking, contact Anna Gee at 510-537-0757.

And on May 4, there will be a cleanup of the San Lorenzo Pioneer Cemetery from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those joining in are asked to take rakes, gloves and gardening equipment and meet at the corner of College and Usher streets. The cleanup is hosted by the Hayward Area Historical Society and the San Lorenzo Pioneer Cemetery Friends.

CASTRO VALLEY — While many think of St. Patrick’s Day as a time for wearing of the green, the community is invited to be green in eating habits at the same time.

A free screening of the documentary “Forks Over Knives” is planned for this coming Sunday, March 17, at the Castro Valley Library.

The film will focus on how a low-fat, plant-based diet can reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and autoimmune diseases while helping the planet.

Snacks will be provided, and a short discussion will follow the film, sponsored by Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church.

The event begins at 1:30 p.m. at the library, 3600 Norbridge Ave., Castro Valley.

This month’s Keep Hayward Clean and Green Cleanup will target the South Garden neighborhood in the northern part of the city this Saturday, Jan. 26.

Those interested in taking part in the litter cleanup and graffiti removal should gather at 8:30 a.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church, 22582 S. Garden Ave. Supplies will be provided, but bring your own gloves.

Those under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult.

The Hayward Area Planning Association surveyed city council candidates on matters including development surrounding the South Hayward BART station, transit vs. car access to Cal State East Bay, and Bayview Village. Six of those surveyed responded, and you can find the results here.

Former City Manager Greg Jones checked in with a letter to the editor, related to the City Council setting priorities for the coming year. Jones is concerned about diluting the core goals with the addition of “Green,” which was done last year, and a lack of interest in pursuing gang injunctions,  a hot topic at the Council priority-setting meeting in January. Here’s his letter:

To The Editor:

The Hayward City Council has been reviewing their priorities for 2012. I applaud their continuing efforts to ensure the focus remains on the right things, a process I began back in late 2007 when I arrived at the City. We built a strong, clear framework for how the resources of the City are allocated to service delivery.

Unfortunately, two things (among others) have occurred to weaken that clarity first established almost five years ago:

1. The two overriding priorities of Public Safety and Cleaning Up Hayward have been diluted by the addition of a third overriding priority of “greening” Hayward. This has distracted the organization from the core services that first have to be delivered above all others. Conservation efforts have always been emphasized at the City through a number of actions and policies, but serve as a support of the other two priorities. Each of us has a personal responsibility to assist in meeting environmental challenges to be sure, and local policies enhancing that ability should be carefully considered. I want my elected Council to stay focused on the most concerning and immediate of issues: Safety and Cleanliness!

2. The Gang Injunction Program, a priority articulated when I arrived that has languished for the past four years, has lost Council support. Interestingly, it is members of Council running for reelection that shrank from their commitment to continue to strengthen our public safety efforts. Olden Henson is the lone supporter of the Gang Injunction Program running for reelection. Mayor Sweeney and Council member Marvin Peixoto also support forging ahead with the effort. The others have gone eerily silent in supporting this important policy decision. A number of very effective initiatives have been implemented, but the Gang Injunction Program is a crucial element of a comprehensive strategy for curbing crime.

The community supported Measure A, the Utility User’s Tax, to maintain public safety and to clean up Hayward. We need a Council that will stay true to that commitment. We certainly have NOT reached our goal of a “safer” Hayward nor have we “cleaned up” Hayward to the point we can move on to other issues that could be considered as important.

Let your City Council know you want them to stay the course. Let’s getHayward safe and clean before we start distracting ourselves with other less specific and measurable endeavors.

Greg Jones

Former City Manager, City ofHayward

City of Hayward Resident

Got an email from a reader saying that although the city’s ban on polystyrene foam products at restaurants and other businesses serving food went into effect in July, he’s seen some of the nonbiodegradable culprits being used out there. I’m going to go take a look at the locations he specified, but has anyone else noticed noncompliance?

The ordinance was approved by council in October of last year.

From city’s website: Effective July 1, 2011, restaurants and all other vendors selling food at retail must use only paper, cardboard, aluminum or recyclable plastic cups, plates, bowls or trays.

This requirement applies to:

•Foods eaten at a business, packaged leftovers, or ordered “to go”

•Foods offered by a Hayward business that can be eaten without further preparation (e.g. cooked chicken, sandwiches or sushi)

There’s also a bill going through legislature that would take such a ban to the statewide level by 2016.

These are the bad boys we're looking for. Seen any around?

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 »

The walkability index is a guide that rates cities and neighborhoods based on proximity to nearby amenities such as grocery stores, restaurants, schools, parks, and public transit. 

Here is Hayward’s data and a pretty cool map in which green is good and red is bad in terms of legging it around town. Notice that while the overall number isn’t very impressive, some areas of town are indeed very walkable according to their methodology. In particular, North Hayward is up there at 77, which isn’t bad considering the 85 rank enjoyed by the country’s two most walkable cities of New York and San Francisco. San Lorenzo also got a 58 overall score, while San Leandro was somewhat higher at 65. Castro Valley faired poor for walkers, with a score of 45.

Fun feature: Enter an address and find a walk score particular for where you are. I’ll have you know that the Daily Review’s address is a “Walker’s Paradise” with a score of 98. The Castro Valley neighborhood where I grew up rated a dismal, “Car-Dependent” score of 28, but I could have told you that it wasn’t much fun getting around pre-car without the rating. 

 Here’s the press release from Walk Score.

According to the website, “The 372 largest cities in California have an average Walk Score of 50. The most walkable cities in California are West Hollywood, Albany and San Francisco.  The least walkable cities are Mead Valley, Prunedale and Adelanto.”

Matt Rodriquez was selected by Gov. Jerry Brown to run the California Environmental Protection Agency, and his mom called the Review to point out that he’s a son of Hayward.

You might know his mom, too, from her years of service on the City Council.

“I just wanted to drum the fact that Hayward is a really nice town,” said Doris Rodriquez, who was on the council from 1991 to 2004, and also served as an appointed member from 2006 to 2008. She still can often be heard speaking at city meetings.

“It’s been a while since Matt went to Hayward schools, but he did,” she said. Matt went to Southgate, Calaroga (now MLK) and Mt. Eden.

 ”Chabot College, too,” she said. ”It was what I could afford, and he spent two years there before going to UC Berkeley and Hastings. It says something about Chabot.”

She said her other two children also started out at Chabot. One is now the head of the Hayward Education Association, and the other is also an attorney.

“It can make for sort of dull dinner conversation sometimes, but other than that it’s a good deal,” Rodriquez said.