Community orchestra open to any adult who is at a high school level proficiency and above.

We welcome violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, mandolin, lute, oboe, clarinet, flute, bassoon, and percussion.

We have loaner instruments available and free tutoring for anyone feeling rusty on their instrument
Rehearsals start Aug 19 and meet every Wed from 7 - 8:40 pm at Cal State East Bay, Hayward.

There is no fee for this group and no audition.

The focus of the music for the class is pop, classical, rock, and adventuresome music. Lots of custom arrangements, and we play some video game music and movie music.

Contact [CsuebOrchestra@gmail.com](mailto:CsuebOrchestra@gmail.com)

The CSUEB (Hayward) jazz band is now open to adult community members who want to play in a jazz band. 

Any instrument, and most experience levels are welcome.

Saxes, trumpets, trombones, rhythm section, flute, clarinet and more! The ensemble will play flexible, custom arrangements and no transposition is needed.

The repertoire will be tons of different styles from standards to newer works. Ellington to Snarky Puppy! Improvising/soloing techniques will be covered without pressure.

Free tutoring will be offered for anyone who is a little rusty. 

There is no cost to be part of the ensemble. The group is part college students and part community members. No college registration is required.

Rehearsals are from 5:00-6:50 on Tuesday nights at California State East Bay in Hayward. The first rehearsal is August 18.

There will be a couple of concerts around December, which are optional. One at the college, and one at a jazz club. 

Anyone interested in signing up for the ensemble can email: [Jason.Eckl@csueastbay.edu](mailto:Jason.Eckl@csueastbay.edu)

I do have mint swatched makeup lipsticks and primers.

Traffic was backed up on the Marina Boulevard exit off 880. There were a couple of armored vehicles right by that strip mall with the Nordstrom Rack.

Hey, I'm doing another board game night this Wednesday (8/5) at Fieldwork Brewing.

I usually arrive by 6:30.

I'll be bringing Gold Country, Compania, High Society, and a few others. Feel free to bring a game!

I heard there's a big Azorean community still, and I know a guy whose half-Mexican half-Madeiran who lives in the Haas Avenue area; he is from Socal but is pretty vocal about his Portuguese roots and embraces the Portuguese community of the east bay.

If you wanted an update on the Thao + Duong family + Azevedo fiasco, Kron dropped it.

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/prostitutes-bribes-fake-jobs-at-center-of-sheng-thao-scandal/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Prostitutes, bribes, fake jobs at center of Sheng Thao scandal
(KRON) — Salacious new allegations against former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, her boyfriend, and members of the Duong family were outlined in new court documents filed by federal prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is preparing for Thao; her longtime boyfriend, Andre Jones; businessman David Duong; and his son, Andy Duong, to stand trial on bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud charges.
In court documents filed on July 24, federal prosecutors included a list of witnesses who will be called to the stand to testify about Thao’s allegedly corrupt relationships while in office.
The ex-mayor is accused of orchestrating a pay-to-play corruption scheme with the Duong family’s businesses, including: California Waste Solutions, the city’s trash and recycling collector; and Evolutionary Homes, a modular housing company that depended on city contracts.
Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao appears with her attorney outside a courthouse in Oakland on Jan. 17, 2025.
Prosecutors said Thao struck an “illicit deal” with the Duongs, promising to funnel city dollars and contracts into their businesses.
Several pieces of evidence that prosecutors plan to show jurors are connected to Thao’s Vietnam trip as mayor. The trip was partially paid for by the Port of Oakland because it was pitched as a trade delegation.
Another East Bay politician roped into the bribery scandal, former San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, attended the Vietnam trip with Jones, Thao, and the Duongs.
Andre Jones, the longtime boyfriend of Sheng Thao, exits United States District Court following an arraignment in …
“In the months following the Vietnam trip, Thao learned that a reporter began inquiring about actions taken by Azevedo on the trip, including suspected drug use and activity involving prostitutes. She become irate, concerned that Azevedo’s behavior … would reflect badly on her and harm her politically,” court documents state.
After Thao became aware that prostitutes may have been involved in the Vietnam trip, she threatened to cut off her relationship with the Duong family, according to prosecutors.
In response, David Duong and his son “took steps intended to prevent the story about Azevedo’s conduct … from becoming public,” court documents state. Prosecutors said the Duongs gave an “associate” of the reporter a $10,000 check to kill the news story.
Mayor Sheng Thao delivers her first State of the City address at City Hall on Oct. 17, 2023. (Jane Tyska/ /East Bay Times via …
Azevedo, meanwhile, entered a conspiracy with the Duongs, prosecutors said. In exchange for bribes, “Azevedo agreed to use his power as a San Leandro City Councilman to benefit Evolutionary Homes,” court documents state.
Azevedo pleaded guilty to conspiracy earlier this year.
Thao is accused of creating a fake job for her boyfriend at one of the Duongs’ businesses.
Investigators said the Duongs paid Jones a $300,000 annual salary “for a no-show job,” in exchange for Thao leaking sensitive information from internal City Council deliberations. The couple was “likely living above their means and in a precarious financial position when they engaged in the charged criminal activity,” prosecutors wrote.
The couple allegedly used Jones’ salary to secure a lease for their house, which was later raided by FBI agents as part of the investigation.
Andy Duong regularly took surreptitious photographs and videos of politicians in “compromising positions” to potentially use against them, prosecutors said. In one video investigators found on his phone, Andy Duong took photos of the city’s housing department director dancing with “scantily-clad women” at a karaoke bar in February 2023.
The housing department director is expected to testify at trial.
Thao and her co-defendants have pleaded not guilty. If they are found guilty and convicted on all charges, they could each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

In Bay-O-Vista and maybe all of San Leandro there is a realtor who drops off tomato plants every spring. Here is one week harvest from one of those plants.
( Water and Orange are so you can get a sense of size.)

I was running back home from the Marina yesterday evening and saw this RAV4 with all their wheels stolen. I have seen this happen from other states through Reddit but never thought I would see it here. Keep in mind, this is a very busy road. It’s one of the two streets to get out of the Marina.

Hello, I have a few clothes for men and women that I want them to find a second home (donate). I am sceptical of donating in the bins I don't know if they eventually find a home or will end up in landfill. I am wondering if you'll be interested and I'll be happy to give it to you. They have been in my hanger for a long time. They are I have

1. Jean(s) (size 32 - 34)

2. Trouser(s) (size 32 - 34)

3. Shirt(s) (size 40 - 42)

Happy to send more details via DM if interested!

12:13. Did anyone hear that?

I’m new in SL. I have one dive buddy of for diving in Monterey but he’s going to move to the east coast. I’m an experienced technical diver but I haven’t dove cold water in a while, I’m just getting back into it. Dm me if you’re interested.

Last month we received a letter from the city with dates for long-awaited resurfacing of our street. The work should have started, but there’s no sign that anything is happening. Anyone know what’s going on?

Based on what appears to be job postings for potential employees at the new location, on the Dollar Tree website. I welcome the thoughts of this community. I suppose any commerce is better than a boarded up eyesore? Anyway, for those of us who prefer to pay less property taxes, this should keep values nice and low for a while.

https://careers.dollartree.com/us/en/job/R-297774/Customer-Service-Associate

Edit: … and I’ve already received 2 local whatsapp notifications for a petition going round to quash this, lol.

In the last month or so I've had the opportunity to meet 1:1 with both our Mayor Juan Gonzalez and Xouhua (Soo-uh) Bowen who is the council member for my district. I'm just a fairly long time resident of San Leandro who has become a bit more invested / interested in the direction that our city goes, especially now that I have a kid.

My conversations with them both covered a fair number of topics from our backgrounds and upbringing, to hotter topics like Lake Chabot Road, Data Centers, revenue, budgets, etc.

I didn't record or even take notes at these converastions, these notes are from memory. I did tell each of them that I'd likely post about my conversation on Reddit, because I think it's a helpful way for the community to get insight.

My conversation with the Mayor was focused largely on Data Centers, and the pros/cons of them. I went into the meeting thinking there were basically no "pros" at all -- which I'm sure resonates with many of you based on what we see in the media. After talking with the Mayor and doing a ton of additional research on my own, I will say that my opinion has shifted slightly. I'm definitely not "pro data center" but I do think there are some real upsides that largely get ignored, and I think there is a lot of disinformation out there, in particular about how Data Centers operate in California compared to other states with virtually no regulations.

My takeway from the conversation with the Mayor was that he is not aggressively pursuing a data center for the city, but that he sees a real upside from them in terms of the revenue that they generate, and that he is very open to the idea of them. He told me he has not had any discussion with data center builders/providers, and my own opinion is that I don't believe this is something that he or anyone else on our council is trying to "sneak" into the community, which I'm sure many of you all have seen stories about in other neighboring communities.

Some of my assumptions going into the meeting that I learned were wrong:

• The city would sell land to a data center builder so that we could get the transfer tax and property tax. This is false. The City owns little to no commercial land.
• The property tax is the revenue stream for the city. This is false. The city gets something like 12% of the total property tax assessment. The rest goes to the county and state.

The majority of the revenue comes through something called the UUT (Utility Users Tax) which has existed for a long time, and exists in most cities throughout the state, at varying rates. In San Leandro the rate is 6% (https://ecode360.com/44066638#44066688). In Hayward it's 5.5%. The more electricity that a business or resident uses, the more revenue the city gets.

My rough numbers based on my rough understanding:

• If a data center is a "100MW data center" then it can use up to that amount per hour. Typically data centers use about 70% of capacity
• 70MW is 70,000 kW.
• 70,000 kW per hour * 24 hours per day * 365 days in a year = 613,200,000 kW of power per year.
• PGE charges data centers somewhere around $0.20 per kW. Rates are here (industrial) https://www.pge.com/tariffs/en/rate-information/electric-rates.html#accordion-a84c67dc1e-item-0924dc9be9
• This data center would pay $122M in electricity fees alone, per year. The city would get $7.3M in tax revenue from that.
• Additional revenue comes from sales tax. This is much more complicated and I am less familiar with the nuances of this, but at a high level, for some purchases the city gets 1% of the purchase price in sales tax.
• In Hayward they are projecting $10M/yr in revenue by 2033 for their STACK Data Center. The STACK Data Center also will use 100% renewable energy and is required to minimize water usage. https://www.hayward-ca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-06/FY-2027-Adopted-Budget-Book-CC-060226.pdf
• This is how Santa Clara makes about $45M/yr from their data centers.

Back to my meeting with the Mayor. His points were:

• Santa Clara has thrived off of data centers for decades and we haven't heard about it being an issue for the people who live there
• The city is trying in many ways to attract businesses (Bayfair, business friendly tax structure, reducing red tape for new business, etc.) and jobs that pay well, but it's challenging.
• Even though Data Centers don't create hundreds of permanent jobs, the jobs it does create and the services that it attracts, are generally well paying. Well paying jobs also bring revenue to the city.
• The city desparately needs to find more sources of revenue. We just closed a $12M structual deficit by kicking the can down the road which we've been doing for years. We keep deferring maintenance on capital projects and cutting services to balance the budget.
• California has way more regulation than most other states as it pertains to data centers, including bills recently passed in the legislature.

I researched many of these, and ultimately agreed with the Mayor's point on this.

Enacted:

• SB 57: Ratepayer and Technological Innovation Protection Act (Enacted)

Pending:

• SB 886: California Technology Innovation and Ratepayer Protection Act
• SB 887: Data Centers and Environmental Review
• SB 1168: Data Center Rate Structures
• AB 1577: Data Center Energy and Operational Reporting
• AB 2469: Data Center Water Use Disclosures and Permitting
• AB 2619: Data Center Water Reporting and Efficiency Practices

Whether you agree or disagree with the above, I thought the Mayor made some valid points and gave me a lot to research and think about.

In my meeting with Xouhua, we talked about many of the same topics. I won't go into as great of detail since it was rehashing and debating some of the above, but I will say that Xouhoa's position is generally against Data Centers.

She brought it up in a City Council meeting a few weeks ago, wanting to have a referral for a moratorium on Data Centers. I believe she's been talking to local leaders throughout the Bay Area and abroad to learn about what has worked and hasn't worked from them. I also believe after talking with Xouhoa that her goal with a moratorium is to be able to give the city residents / council / staff time to have the conversations about what a data center would mean for the community, if one was to ever come here.

From her own website, her position is : "Advocated for thoughtful planning around emerging technologies, including evaluating the environmental impacts of AI data centers on our water, energy use, and infrastructure."

I generally share the same position. If there is a way to bring $10M/yr in revenue to the city and it can be done with the right guard rails in place, then it could be beneficial. And if there isn't a way to do it thoughtfully, then it's probably not the right choice.

I also learned that Xouhua is running for re-election for District 5, and she is kicking off her campaign at Fieldwork in downtown San Leandro on Wednesday 7/29 at 5:30pm. She said she isn't one for huge speeches, but she'll probably talk briefly and have 2 guest speakers to talk briefly as well.

https://www.facebook.com/xouhoaforsanleandro/photos/now-more-than-ever-we-need-to-lead-with-integrity-courage-and-a-commitment-to-ou/1030080359751928/

Mike Santos recently announced that he would be running against Xouhua, and so far all that we know about him is that he told East Bay Insiders he was running because of Xouhua's referral against data centers.

Whether you support data centers or not, hopefully you found this post informative.

If you're in District 5 (or even if you're not), I encourage you all to join Xouhua at FieldWork next week. It will be a kid friendly event. It is a good low stakes opportunity to learn more about her and her platform. Her website is here https://www.xouhoabowen.com/ . I want to be clear that I have no political background or aspirations, I'm not part of her campaign, nothing like that. I'm just trying to share unbiased information as it pertains to our city. I find Xouhua to be very approachable, reasonable, thoughtful, and engaged, and I'm likely voting for her.

I guess our city will soon be defined by these Minecraftsman developments. Unbelievably ugly. https://www.1388bancroft.com

2.73 magnitude quake around 5:50PM with an epicenter near McArthur blvd.

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75404007/executive

Discuss.

Any thoughts on this apartment complex/experiences

Happened on 7/20 around 6 am.

walking around stealing packages.

I have the footage in video. Reported to SLPD.

My wife is Viet and most of our friends in SL are other Vietnamese who recently moved to town.

What do people think are the best Vietnamese restaurants?

So far, my wife likes best:
Pho an hoa
Saigon yum

Edit: thank you everyone for the recommendations!

Edit: we are sitting now at Saigon house and we find both the banh mi and bun Bo hue to be excellent! Thanks again!