The Advocate

I finally finished listening to the season finale of local political and foodie podcast, The Marinade with Lee Thomas . For those who don't know, Lee is a former District 3 City Councilmember here in San Leandro - one of the few Black elected officials in our area - as well as a small business owner and budding entrepreneur.  I was happy to hear District 6 City Council Candidate Dylan Boldt speaking up to dispel the myths surrounding rent stabilization . (Something his opponent, Robert Bulatao, also enthusiastically supports.) Because of inflation and the high cost of living here in the Bay Area, rents are going up as much as 10% year over year. Meanwhile, most people's salaries are stagnant and they're already paying more than 1/3 of their income for rent as is! I think those skeptics, like Lee, should take a look at the broad-based movement from the Big Tent - San Leandro and the work we're doing on housing reform. As for Ed Hernandez , apparently, he's lying aga

There comes a moment when each of us must ask ourselves, am I an observer or am I a witness? An observer watches, passively, consuming events from the sidelines as if they were an isolated island. A witness is active and affirming, participating in the world as it exists to provide information in order to create understanding. I choose to be a witness. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bernard Ashcraft has been a drum major for social and economic justice for over 50 years. First, as a navy corpsman protesting racism in the military, then as a local leader in San Diego during the Civil Rights Movement before moving to the Bay Area in the mid-90s to continue his work building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations across the socio-political spectrum. He has made extraordinary achievements tackling disparities in public/private employment contracts for BIPOC workers and virule