San Leandro (Special to ZennieReport.com) – As you’re aware, San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo has been the focus of alleged attempts at manufactured character-assasination by former San Leandro Councilmember Lee Thomas and the man he supports as the challenger to Azevedo, the man who held Azevedo’s seat and lost it to him in 2020, the head of the real estate development consultancy Bay East Legacy, Ed Hernandez.
But this week, Zennie62Media has received new news from a variety of alarmed sources that San Leandro Mayor Juan Gonzalez III, once a supporter of Bryan Azevedo, is now planning to launch an investigation against him.
Why? Well, the events that comprised the San Leandro Library argument between Lee Thomas, the mother of Councilmember Bryan Azevedo, and Councilmember Bryan Azevedo himself, who stepped in to protect his 70-year-old, five-foot-tall, mother.
And because of the reported threat of investigation by Mayor Gonzalez, now here’s what the entire picture looks like: an ambush created by Lee Thomas and aided by other former officials, all to make the well-regarded Bryan Azevedo look like a hot-head just because he’s coming to his own mother’s defense.
Process that for a moment.
Former San Leandro Councilmember Lee Thomas, former San Leandro Councilmember and Bryan Azevedo challenger Ed Hernandez, and current Mayor Juan Gonzalez III, all reportedly have relationships with San Leandro Marina Developer Los Angeles-based developer Cal-Coast Companies.
If you don’t know the story involving Cal-Coast Companies, in May of this year, Cal-Coast was served a notice of default on a $24.8M loan from the city that is tied to a 15.9-acre portion of the site where 206 homes were planned, according to a report in SiliconValley.com.
Councilmember Azevedo recently said that “the Marina has not been developed for a long time, so we need to determine how we’re going to move forward either with Cal-Coast or another developer.”
Zennie62Media has been told that luke-warm response did not sit well with proponents of Cal-Coast’s project, including Mayor Gonsalez. That may explain why Mayor Gonsalez put $500 into Ed Hernandez campaign according to documents filed with the City of San Leandro. His contributions join those of Leo Sheridan, and Lee Thomas (multiple gives listed) for Ed Hernandez against Azevedo – and Corina Lopez.
It was Corina Lopez who was part of the San Leandro Library Forum mixup, where observers tell Zennie62Media she was reportedly seen grabbing Lee Thomas, but Thomas later reported it was someone else.
On top of that Mayor Gonzalez recently remarked that the City of San Leandro was working with Cal Coast on a restructured San Leandro Marina Project. That means Cal Coast will have to return to the San Leandro City Council for a positive vote. It’s starting to appear that Mayor Gonsalez would like for the vote in favor of Cal Coast to be a formality, but sees Azevedo as an impediment. (And on that matter, many residents who texted and talked to Zennie62Media bring up that Ed Hernandez “got thousands from real estate developers, during his first 2020 re-election campaign. That claim is supported by this informative Facebook entry.)
And back in February of 2020, it was San Leandro Councilmember Ed Hernandez who voted for the Cal Coast San Leandro Marina Project, and was a big proponent of the Cal-Coast project. The San Leandro City Council voted for it 6 to 0.
The same people against Councilmember Azevedo and for Ed Hernandez and the Cal Coast project in 2020, when Hernandez lost, are back again, not only pushing for the real estate consultant, but aiming fake character attacks at Azevedo. And, like 2020, at the center of the election is the fate of the problematic Cal Coast San Leandro Marina Project.
It’s clear the proponents are willing to shove a questionable developer down the collective mouth of San Leandro Residents, and Councilmember Azevedo stands in their way. While Mayor Gonsalez had said San Leandro would seek another developer if they could not work out a new plan with Cal Coast, now it looks like the Mayor’s edging in favor of retaining Cal Coast, period.
So much so, that Mayor Gonsalez, reportedly upset that Azevedo is popular, is reportedly plotting to have him investigated over the Library matter, where Bryan and his mother were used in a setup, and thinking that will turn San Leandro against Azevedo before the election.
Is a sitting Mayor of any city supposed to do that sort of thing?
Note: Zennie62Media was commissioned by the Campaign to Reelect Councilmember Azevedo to reveal the truths about the election campaign, and because the staff was concerned that the opponent Hernandez supporter Lee Thomas, reportedly hired a well known East Bay Blogger who he’s friends with, and telling a one-sided story.