San Leandro PD says these two guys are in custody for the armed hold up of the Quik Stop at 1001 MacArthur Boulevard on Sept. 16.

The suspects are also believed to be responsible for a robbery on Aug. 31 at the 7-Eleven store at 333 E. 14^th Street. 

Investigators identified Oakland residents Kenyatta Fudge, 22, and Ronald Carson, 29, as the suspected robbers. Fudge was arrested without incident after posting bail in Santa Clara County on an unrelated forgery warrant, and is in custody at the SLPD jail, police said. Carson is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on a parole violation, and charges are pending against him for the robberies.

Police ask anyone with additional information to contact the San Leandro Police Department at 510-577-2740, or the anonymous tip line at 510-577-3278.

The National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for the Hayward area, meaning that nuisance flooding could occur. Not nearly as extreme as a flash flood watch. Regardless, we went down to take a look at San Lorenzo Creek in a number of spots and found it flowing rather rapidly.

Here it is near Foothill Boulevard and City Center Drive.

Here it is at the Grove Street Bridge.

Here it is behind the Meek Mansion.

Want to know how your surrounding area would fare in a 100-year-flood? Here’s a FEMA site where you can punch in your address and get an overview.

And here’s a Daily Review from the mid-1950s, before the San Lorenzo Creek was calmed by dams and culverts.

Let us know if you are aware of any particularly flood prone areas in the greater Hayward area that we should be keeping an eye on.

San Leandro police are seeking tips after a convenience store was robbed Wednesday night, with the crime caught on video. They released the following information and video:

San Leandro robbery video

On 9-16-09 at 8:15 pm two male suspects went into the Quik Stop located at 1001 MacArthur Blvd and committed an armed robbery.   The suspects then fled the area. 

Suspect #1 is described as a black male, 5’8” to 5’10”, 200 lbs., with a goatee wearing black clothing.  Suspect #2 is described as a black male, 20’s to 30’s 6’, 220-260 lbs, dark clothes, armed with a black handgun. 

We are investigating whether these suspects may be responsible for other robberies in the area.  Attached to this press release is a video of the robbery.  We are asking the public’s assistance in identifying the suspects in this case. 

Anyone with information should contact the San Leandro Police Department at 510-577-2740, or the anonymous tip line at 510-577-3278.

Save the Bay is still seeking volunteers for tomorrow’s Coastal Cleanup event at Eden Landing. They need 40 to 50 people to come out and collect the various trash — mostly plastic — that accumulates along the shoreline, which is in the process of being rehabilitated to its natural state.

Amy Alton Ricard of Save the Bay said our article about urine-filled bottles washing up on the San Leandro shore probably didn’t help the recruitment effort, though as the story states, volunteers are not expected to go near such nasties. Most of the trash consists of plastic bags, empty bottles, bottle caps and other refuse that isn’t biohazardous but is wrecking the Bay nonetheless. Save the Bay will have gloves and some extending trash-grabbers available.

Sign up here for the Eden Landing cleanup. It starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 19.

Something has vanished along the Interstate 880 corridor. It used to serve as an unofficial road sign for southbound commuters — if you want to take 238 to 580, why, you’d better start moseying over to the right lanes.

According to the new tenants of 3199 Alvarado St. in San Leandro, they took down the landmark (albeit dilapidated) Levitz spike n’ sign about three weeks ago. It has been replaced with their own Dependable Logistics Services sign, which is about half as high as its predecessor. Dependable, a warehousing and trucking company, signed a 13-year-lease for the 260,000-square-foot space nearly a year ago.

Luke Sims, San Leandro’s director of community development, said current zoning would never allow for something as tall as the Levitz sign. He did acknowledge that it was an unusual piece of the skyline.

“The Levitz Needle,” he said. “Yeah, that was kind of a skewered, ’60s-looking thing.”

Dependable general manager Trevor Schirmer said the surrounding community had wanted the big sign taken down, and they were happy to oblige. It has been dismantled and scrapped.

“Now you can look at our sign and make it your landmark,” he said.

Photo is of the Levitz sign in happier discount furniture days, taken by Studio H on flikr one morning in 2005.

Sometimes a story just won’t die. Take Jason Sweeney’s tale about the flat-screen television for sale that was really an oven door. It’s been reigning in the top five most viewed stories on the InsideBayArea Web site for more than a week, just falling to number six today. Perhaps it’s because it was picked up by technology and gadget blogs Gizmodo, Gear Diary and Slashgear as well as news aggregator Fark.com, but it still goes to show that people love a good quirky crime yarn.

UPDATE: They changed the route at the last minute this morning. Not sure why, but the train came through town on the less-used rails closer to the shoreline off Industrial Boulevard, then hooked up through Newark to Niles before continuing its route. An unfortunate bypass of the more populated parts of Hayward. I asked avid train chaser and Lamorinda Sun editor Sam Richards about it and he said not to take it personally — railroads change their routes all the time like that and often run late.

An old Union Pacific steam-powered locomotive is on tour in the area, and will be making a run from Oakland to Stockton on Wednesday morning.

According to the UP tracking site, our leg will bring it through San Leandro, Ashland, Cherryland, Hayward and Union City! It is scheduled to leave Oakland at 9 a.m. and arrive in Stockton around 11:30 a.m., so those with an inkling to see some vintage steam action should plan accordingly.

The planned course follows the rails next to the BART tracks, down San Leandro Street, Western Boulevard and Whitman Street.

We’re trying to figure out the best spot along the route to watch this magnificent machine chug through. Any suggestions?

Margarita Lacabe, whose husband is San Leandro school board President Mike Katz-Lacabe, wants sacred music to be removed from elementary school music studies or school programs. We’ve been getting lots of letters and calls. Sound off here.

The future of San Leandro Hospital is under consideration, and drop-in, urgent care centers are proposed as alternatives to full-service hospitals. What’s your opinion?

Many of Melanie Blagburn’s students at San Leandro’s Lincoln High School voted for the first time in last November’s presidential election. Then, they decided to participate in the national online “Letters to Obama Poetry Project.” Check out some of their poems, and a photo of the classroom’s “Obama Wall.”