The Advocate

If you haven't heard the news about San Leandro City Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, well here it is .  The Feds have charged him with three criminal violations. One count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. One count of false statements. And one count of criminal forfeiture. The charges were filed as "information" instead of an indictment, which may mean Azevedo waived his right to a grand jury and made a plea deal. The investigation predates the current regime and the lawyers that signed off on this are career prosecutors, not political appointees. They accuse Azevedo of lying to federal agents, taking bribes, and selling out the city. The scheme is allegedly related to a much larger conspiracy involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and a business groups run by the Duong family. *** I've been a fan of Bryan's since 2020 when he was out doing community clean ups and running a program to help feed people during the pandemic. I voted for him for c...

It happened in San Leandro back in 2011 with Dewayne Stancill . A highly regarded Black police officer forced out because of racism, politics, and corruption. Now, here we are in 2024 having deja vu. Former SLPD Chief Abdul Pridgen has been fired by the city under, to put it mildly, suspicious circumstances without any actual evidence of wrongdoing having been provided with the specter of expensive litigation looming ahead. I guess I'll weigh in on this with what I know, especially now that Pridgen is officially out. What I have learned is based on information from my own sources, some of whom took great risks to reach out to me, so I can't even share all of what they told me, let alone independently verify all of it. At the same time, because the city is point-blank refusing to release responsive records under the California Public Records Act, despite repeated attempts to get them to do so, even what has been shared publicly is difficult to confirm or deny. So, please, like ...