The Advocate

(Photo credit: SF Chronicle ) If you live in the Bay Area, you've probably been inundated with hysteria about the local crime rate from catalytic converter thefts to store burglaries. So what's happening in San Leandro? Well, let's dig into the data.  https://www.sanleandro.org/449/Crime-Analysis . I looked at the December 2022 Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for the most recent data. Total YTD Crimes for 2022 are almost the same as they were in 2019, within 5% of each other. Thankfully, nearly all of that is property crime and not violent crime (property crime is, coincidentally, 95% of all crime in 2022 and 2019). Still, it's hard to call crime going back to pre-pandemic levels as we continue to transition out of the pandemic anything other than a return to normal. Albeit, a still unsatisfactory normal. I say unsatisfactory because total YTD arrests have continued to decrease significantly since 2017, when the high was 2,799 compared to 2022's 1,292. It's unclear

(Source) The title really tells you everything you need to know about what this post is for. Menthol tobacco products kill thousands of people every year and leave even more with lifelong debilitating illnesses. Even if we weren't in the midst of the most deadly pandemic in modern history fueled by a respiratory-based illness, this would still be the right thing to do. Here's how you can help: 1. Youth Organizers from both San Leandro and Union City will be hosting a joint press event and rally against Big Tobacco on Tuesday, August 10th at 11:00 a.m. at Memorial Park 1105 Bancroft Avenue in San Leandro. Please feel free to circulate the attached flyer and invite others to join this youth-led event.   2. The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council will be hosting a San Leandro “Why Menthol? Why Now?” Virtual Community Event on Wednesday, September 1st from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. San Leandro organizations will be co-hosting, including Unity in the Community, SLATE, and t

I waited to post until now. I wanted to sit with my feelings about the first official Steven Taylor Day this past April 18, 2021. The day commemorated not his murder by SLPD, but rather his life as a father, a son, a grandson, an artist, an SLHS alumnus, and so much more. He was a human being. His life mattered. It was self-evident, inherent. His worth was more than 40 seconds or $40 dollars of generic retail items. However, because he was a Black man, mentally ill, and homeless, he was discarded, disregarded, callously calculated as less than and less deserving than. Sadly, his story is not unique or even rare. It's why Steven Taylor Day was also made into a memorial for every life, every victim, every survivor, every family touched by police violence. It’s a reminder that racism is not a bygone era or fringe feeling. It was built into the foundations of our nation, intertwined within our institutions, our values, our way of life. So, yes, I wanted to sit with it, because so much