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(Photo credit here by artist Lia Tin)

As American fascism continues its steady stride across the world, I'm back again with your regular roundup of warnings and strategies. This is especially important as the Trump regime has explicitly said it will attempt to interfere with and, if possible, even cancel midterm elections in America.

So, what is San Leandro doing? Well, the City Council is still fighting amongst themselves, even as they face a deadline to fill an the seat vacated by former District 2 Councilman Bryan Azevedo. The usual suspects from among our bottom barrel roster of local leaders are out campaigning for the chance – but not from the voters. No, they'll need the vote of the very City Council currently flailing in dysfunction. 

That leaves it to the people, per usual, to step up to protect our democracy. So let's talk about how you can get involved right now to build a better San Leandro. Because no one else is going to do it and there are a lot of people who would rather you didn't so they can stay in power.

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1. Get involved in the selection of the replacement on the city council for district 2. "The special City Council meeting to interview District 2 appointment candidates is set for Monday, March 23, 2026, at 5:00 pm, in the City Council Chambers (835 East 14th Street)." The appointed term runs through December 31, 2026. Fortunately, the 2026 midterm election will choose someone to serve after that date, but it's expected that the appointee will be heavily supported by the rest of the City Council in their campaign.

You can see eligibility requirements, application instructions, and background materials on the City's website at: sanleandro.org/citycouncil AND sanleandro.org/cityclerk. If you've got questions, I encourage you to contact the City Clerk’s Office at clerk@sanleandro.org or (510) 577-3367. If you send an email, make sure to CC the entire city council as well.

2. Get involved with the city's upcoming budget workshops! These sessions are critical to make sure that the city funds projects and programs that support the priorities of our residents instead of special interests and corporate elites. In fact, the next fiscal year budget for 2027 will be updated starting in April.

Here are the details on each budget engagement session:

• March 16 – In Person

• March 17 – Virtual

Also, there's a city council finance committee meeting:

March 25 | 4:00 p.m.

City Council Chambers (835 East 14th Street)

The finance committee discussed the proposed budget in greater detail and provides recommendations before the final package moves forward to the full city council. The city says that "these discussions are an important part of ensuring transparency and thoughtful decision-making as San Leandro works to maintain fiscal stability while protecting the services residents rely on." However, that only works if we show up and speak out!

3. Get ready for the 2026 midterms by looking into the candidates and races listed on the Alameda County Registrar of Voters website. Note: many are still missing, such as candidates for our City Council. You can also cross-check by looking up people's names to see if they have any public finance disclosure documents listed here. If you look through to the June 2026 primary dates listed below the search bars, you can expand the lists to find other useful information about who's running and who's paying for their campaign.

4. There's a new local organization called League of San Leandro Voters. While the leadership and even the membership are unknown, they claim to be "a grassroots group working to encourage and support local leaders committed to accountability and transparency." I highly encourage people to reach out to them directly to learn more at league-slvoters@outlook.com.

5. The community will be having another "No Kings" protest on Sunday, March 28 from 2-4 PM. You can learn more and sign up at the Indivisible website here.

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If you can do even one of these five steps, you'll be far more ready than the vast majority of the country. (If you do all five, then you get a gold star.) But if you decide to opt-out, you're saying you don't care about how expensive groceries, gas, healthcare, and housing are. You're saying you don't care what happens to our city, county, country, and planet.

And I'm not sure I believe you don't care, because even the billionaire Epstein class cares. In fact, they care so much they've been spending millions of the cash they care about more than anything else to stop you from noticing that Americans are being oppressed and robbed by the Trump regime and all his cronies.

So do yourself and the world a favor, act like you care as much as you do when you rage-post on social media. Get involved and make a difference before it's too late. (Spoiler alert: it might already be too late, but we're not going down without a fight.)

Take note and take care.