Frequently Asked Questions

Initially, here are the facts:

• Crime is surging in San Leandro. Serious and violent crime has increased by 46% over past three years. In 2023, crime was at its highest level in San Leandro in 27 years.
• Our Police Department is severely understaffed. The department has approximately 70 police officers when it should have 100 officers. As a result, only 6-7, and sometimes less, patrol officers are on duty each shift for the entire City of San Leandro. Criminals can target San Leandro homes and businesses knowing they will likely not be arrested.

Here is Ed’s plan to make San Leandro a safer community for all:

• Rapidly Restore the Police Department to Full Strength - Ed will make the recruitment and hiring of qualified new San Leandro police officers the #1 priority at City Hall until this goal is achieved. Ed will advocate for the City to hire a full-time recruiter for the San Leandro Police Department. 
• Bring Back Community Policing and Traffic Enforcement - With more patrol officers, officers can walk neighborhoods and form relationships with residents. Strong, positive relationships between residents and police are essential to keeping San Leandro safe. In addition, officers can be assigned to stop speeding and unsafe driving on our streets.
• Deploy Community Safety Cameras: Ed will expand the safety camera program to neighborhoods to protect residents. Ed’s opponent delayed the installation of community safety cameras, second guessing the expertise of our police and depriving them of a valuable tool that both deters crime and helps apprehend criminals.
• Create Permanent Mobile Assistance Teams: For unarmed persons in mental distress, trained mental health professionals, not police officers, should be the first responders.

Small businesses Are The Heart Of Our Community. Unfortunately, operating a small business in San Leandro today has become increasingly difficult. 

Markets, restaurants and retail stores across have been broken into, often multiple times, causing property damage. Money, merchandise and valuable equipment have been stolen.

I Will Help Small Businesses Stay And Thrive In San Leandro. 

As a small business owner, myself, I will be a strong advocate for small businesses on the City Council. 

Here is what I will do for San Leandro small businesses:

1. Bring our Police Department Back to Full Strength: Just as we must protect residences, we must protect small businesses.
2. Establish A Grant Program for Small Businesses Hurt by Crime:  San Francisco has a similar program that provides up to $2,000 in grants to small businesses for vandalism-related costs. 
3. Freeze for Two Years Business License Fees on Small Businesses:  Small businesses are struggling with the cost to do business. My opponent has voted to increase city licenses fees on small businesses by 13.5% over the past four years. I will advocate the city stop any increases in these fees for the next two years.

We All Benefit When Our Small Businesses Succeed. Small businesses create jobs and economic opportunities for hard working San Leandro families and generate tax revenue for the City to invest back into the community. 

Ed's background is in real estate, finance and organizational development. He has worked as a real estate broker for families seeking new homes and small business owners seeking new opportunities. Ed strongly supports building more housing, both market rate and affordable, to address the Bay Area housing crisis.

Ed will apply his business skills and knowledge to create more housing opportunities that are affordable for all who wish to call San Leandro home. 

When Ed served on the City Council, he helped secure $3 million in public funds to support the construction of the Marea Alta and Loro Landing apartments in Downtown San Leandro. These two projects provide affordable housing to several hundred families, seniors and veterans. Ed will continue to find new grants for affordable housing as your Council member. 

Ed's opponent has not supported any major housing project that has come before the City Council in the past four years. He even opposed a project for single family homes that the Mayor and every other member of the City Council supported (May 2, 2022 City Council Meeting). His position is if any neighbors object to the project, then he will vote against it not matter how sound the project is or if the developer has worked to meet neighbor concerns. 

Ed will insist that developers meet with neighbors and genuinely work to address their concerns. However, if a project meets state and city zoning standards for development, Ed will not allow a small group to exercise a veto over the project. We owe it to all residents, including our children when they become adults and wish to start their own families, to generate more housing, including more affordable housing, for them to live in our city. 

Ed served on the City Council in 2019 when the City adopted a climate emergency resolution. Ed 

focused staff on working on a plan to reduce greenhouse gases, including but not limited to partnering on reducing our carbon footprint as a city agency and joining East Bay Community Energy (now Ava Community Energy) as a member city to procure and develop clean energy solutions for our community needs.

Since Ed's departure from the Council at the end of 2020, Ed has continued his involvement with Ava Community Energy. Ed serves on the Community Advisory Committee and currently the Chair and Ex-Officio Board Member for this important agency. In this position, he has promoted the expansion of renewable energy sources for San Leandro utility users. In addition, Ed serves on the Eden Health District Board deploying resources from the community grant program.

Ed advocates that San Leandro re-focus and bring on the necessary resources to move the plan forward. The failure by San Leandro to hire a new sustainability manager, upon the departure of the previous sustainability manager, has been a mistake. This position is critical to overseeing and building momentum for the city achieving its climate action goals. 

Ed wishes to see a sustained and equitable transition to clean and renewable energy sources by businesses and residents citywide. Ed supports making our streets more pedestrian and bike friendly, including installation of protected bike lanes. Ed also will advocate for the city to sponsor community programs and educational events on resiliency and steps San Leandrans can take to reduce greenhouse emissions.