The Hayward City Council laid out city priorities for 2012 on Tuesday to a full room of concerned citizens, business owners, chamber members and city staff.
Most priorities discussed were the same as 2011 that concerned city safety, cleanliness, staying green, health and fiscal stability.
The council listed their priorities in their discussion draft, which focused on strategies such as strengthening and expanding Keep Hayward Clean Green Task Force into neighborhood organizations and continuing implementation of Climate Action Plan.
Despite this, the City Council either had little or no focus on many of their issues listed in the discussion draft but rather diverted their attention to an issue citizens emphasized concerning gang injunction.
“We had a recent shooting at C Street that was gang related. We have three kids killed in the past three months. This is why a gang injunction is so important to use as a tool to prevent future crime in our city,” piped up one citizen.
City councilmembers such as Barbara Halliday and Olden Henson believed the city staff was working hard to gather enough data to possibly pursue a gang injunction to present to court.
Marvin Peixoto played black sheep in the conversation, emphasizing a different point concerning gang injunction.
“I don’t think the staff wanted a gang injunction program and I did not see the will from the staff to gather information for it. I don’t think this council has the political will to pursue one and once the data comes through we will discover that we should not have a gang injunction,” said Marvin.
City councilmembers Mark Salinas and Halliday expressed insult from Peixoto’s accusations of member’s lack of “political will.”
City council expressed concerns over other topics for the year involving poverty and accessible grocery stores.
“We should come up with an ordinance to get grocery stores where we need them and to save the full service grocery stores like Lucky and Safeway,” said Council member Bill Quirk.
The council spoke briefly on Hayward homelessness but admitted to not having enough resources to address homelessness or provide housing.
City council then closed public hearing, concluding no dramatic changes to 2012’s priorities besides a renewed effort to focus on a gang injunction.
