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CASTRO VALLEY FORUM A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CASTRO VALLEY SINCE 1989
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2022
YEAR 34
CVHS Field to Be Named After Coach Brosnan
INSIDE YOUR
FORUM NEWS
By Michael Singer
Get Your Tickets
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Tickets now on sale for CV Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony
Page 2 OUR TOWN
PHOTOS BY MIKE MCGUIRE
Proposed site of housing along Ruby Street near A Street.
Crime Spree Sheriff’s deputies seek information on brazen robberies at gunpoint
Page 3 SENIORS
NO. 3
Ruby Meadow Housing Decision Put On Hold By Mike McGuire
John Brosnan, a beloved Castro Valley high school coach and teacher, will be honored by adding his name to the football field on which he shaped the lives of students for 31 years. The Castro Valley Board of Education voted unanimously, 5-0, to adopt the recommendation of the 13-person Naming Committee and move forward with naming the field after John Brosnan at Trojan Stadium on the Castro Valley High School campus. Brosnan or “Coach”—as he was known around Castro Valley—passed in September 2020 at the age of 85.
John “Coach” Brosnan
Brosnan’s niece, Michelle Smith McDonald is with the Alameda County Office of Education and a former sportswriter. She says the idea that future Trojan players would one day run onto the field named for the man who loved the school so much is a fitting see COACH on back page
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INDEX Classified Ads ............ 8 Crosswords ............... 9 Homes ....................... 6 Horoscope ............... 12 Legal Notices ........... 10 Obituaries ................ 11 Opinions .................. 11 Our Town .................... 3 Seniors ....................... 4 Weather ....................... 2 PHONE: (510) 614-1560
A decision on a 72-unit affordable apartment project planned for “Ruby Meadow” near San Lorenzo Creek is on hold following its unannounced removal from a scheduled Alameda County Board of Supervisors meeting. The six-acre site is located at Ruby and A Streets near Crescent Avenue on the Castro Valley border with Hayward. The agenda item was penciled in for the Supervisor’s regular meeting last Thursday, but disappeared off the agenda without explanation. Eden Housing, which has developed numerous nonprofit housing sites in the East Bay and throughout Northern California, wants to build 72-units of housing with 109 parking spaces. The apartments vary in size from studios to three bedrooms. The county’s Planning Commission had approved the housing proposal, but final approval was needed from the Board of Supervisors. Some 20 residents had written to the board asking that the item be pulled, saying it was an improper use of funds from Housing Measure A1, passed by voters in 2016. It is not clear if those arguments played a role in the item being removed, however.
No Smoking, Please: Board Unanimously Votes to Extend Ban long-term care facilities, hotels, and any other residence with two or more units. Smoking has been banned Smoking will also not be inside apartments and allowed in common areas townhomes in most Alameindoors and outdoors, or within da County cities since 2014. 25 feet of any doorway, winBut the Board of Supervisors dow, vent, or other openings unanimously voted this past into a residence. The cities Tuesday to extend that ban to Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, unincorporated areas such as and Emeryville have already Castro Valley, Ashland, Cher- adopted ordinances prohibiting ryland, and San Lorenzo. smoking in multi-unit resiThe ordinance is expected to dences. take effect on July 1 this year, The ordinance is the result at which point smoking will of three years of discussion and be prohibited inside multi-unit community advocacy. In 2020, homes such as apartments a La Familia survey of Eden and condominiums but also Area residents in unincorpoto senior and assisted living or see BAN on page 10 By Michael Singer
Some current inhabitants of the proposed affordable housing site on Ruby Street.
Next week’s board meeting was canceled, and there are not currently any other regular Supervisors’ meetings scheduled for January or February. Calls to Supervisor Nate Miley’s office last week asking why the item was pulled, and when it will next be considered, were not returned. The Ruby Street project would join several hundred more units of affordable housing Eden is currently developing on several sites in Castro Valley. Their website is https://edenhousing.org. see HOUSING on page 10
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