NEW YEAR, SAME GREAT COVERAGE
EVEN MORE IN
2024 ...AND BEYOND
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CASTRO VALLEY SINCE 1989
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2024
YEAR 36
NO. 1
New Year, New Laws Statewide
INSIDE YOUR
FORUM
By Michael Singer
What a Gem
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
75th Anniversary of CV Mineral and Gem Society
Page 2
PHOTO BY MIKE McGUIRE
The Avalon Mobile Home Park, where residents are fighting a big rent increase.
Not Fun Fungi
Wild mushroom warning from East Bay Regional Park District
Page 3
Eviction Notices Sent to Some Renters at Mobile Home Park By Mike McGuire
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
RSV and You Protect yourself during respiratory disease season
Page 10
INDEX Calendar ................ 4 Classified Ads ........ 8 Crosswords ............. 9 Homes ..................... 5 Obituaries ............. 11 Our Town ................. 3 Seniors .................. 10 Sheriff’s Report ....... 3 Sports .................. 12 Weather .................. 2 WWW.MYCVFORUM.COM
The owners of Avalon Mobile Home Park in Castro Valley are moving to evict some, but not all, of the residents that rent units there. The park’s residents who own the units they live in are facing big rent hikes effective February 1.
Neither the rent hikes nor the evictions are legal, according to officials at the Alameda County Community Development Agency (CDA), which is helping residents contest the owners’ notices. In the past few weeks, letters have gone out to several residents at the 3970 Castro Valley Boulevard mobile home park telling them they have to be out within
120 days, according to Elinda Null-Bonora, a tenant who got one on December 19. The letters are not, however, the legal forms used to begin legal eviction proceedings, leaving out required information, according to a neighbor who showed them to both county officials and to an attorney. see EVICTION on back page
California lawmakers passed hundreds of new laws that took effect on January 1. Here’s a breakdown of the ones that impact our Castro Valley community. Working for minimum wage? It’s now $16 an hour in California. That’s a 50-cent bump from last year. Of course, it depends on where you work and what you do for a living. Cities like San Francisco and Berkeley pay $18.07 per hour, while Oakland pays $17.94 per hour with health benefits. Healthcare workers in the state must be paid a $23 per hour minimum starting June 1, according to Senate Bill 252. Also, if you partake of cannabis when you are not on the clock, Senate Bill 700 makes it illegal for your employer to discriminate against you in hiring, firing, or any condition of employment. Working from home? Many employers are asking workers to return to the office. Senate Bill 731 says your employer must give you a 30-day advance written notice before requiring you to return to in-person settings. Of course, employees have the right to work virtually as accommodation, if applicable, to their disabilities. Having a baby? Senate Bill 848 requires employers to offer reproductive leave within three months of the event, which must be see LAWS on page 11
Summer Scott Uses Slights as a Driving Force By Dave Del Grande
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Summer Scott learned many valuable lessons growing up in Castro Valley. One involved beating up on boys. In a nutshell, if you want to put boys in their place, take up wrestling. “I dealt with a lot of animosity in college – boys who didn’t want you in that (wrestling) room or competing,” Scott recalls. “It was frustrating,
but also it was a driving force because it made me do better. It’s not like that now, and I’m proud of that.” Scott wasn’t elected to the Castro Valley Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 because she wrestled boys. She was honored because, most of the time, she wrestled girls … and almost always won. A youth softball player in the Castro Valley league and a three-year member of the
Trojans’ teams, Scott decided to get serious about wrestling as a high school senior. She was an immediate standout. After starring for Castro Valley’s first all-girls team the year before, placing fifth at the state tournament, she captured league, section, and state titles as a senior in 2004, a year in which a boy was brought in to be her practice partner. Countless wins, medals, a
rare California “triple crown,” and even national honors later, Scott credits her support crew, led by former Castro Valley coach Steve Solis, for creating an environment where individual success was only part of the fun. “The Castro Valley wrestling team earned the highest academic award both years,” she boasts. “We were a family. The whole town (of see SCOTT on back page
Summer Scott