San Leandro updates quality-of-life and economic-development work plans; city highlights programming and partnership wins
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Summary
City staff reported progress on quality-of-life and economic-development priorities, including library arts programs, tree-planting grants, volunteer recruitment, senior services and a retail/innovation strategy. Council asked about long-term funding and outreach metrics; staff said many programs are ongoing and tied to existing master plans and a
City staff Monday updated the San Leandro City Council on progress toward newly adopted quality-of-life and economic-development priorities, summarizing completed programs, ongoing initiatives and future milestones.
Library, culture and recreation
Brian Simons, the city library director, told the council that arts grants and gallery programming work is underway, an annual calendar of cultural events has been established and bilingual early-childhood and technology programs have been expanded. The library reported growth in the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program and has launched new digital-literacy and artificial-intelligence class series for adults.
Recreation and parks staff highlighted volunteer and environmental work. The Beautify San Leandro database now lists more than 600 volunteers, the city conducted a turf-reduction plant swap and a recent community tree-planting drew a large volunteer turnout. The city also won a $244,000 small planning grant through the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program to coordinate a regional tree-planting approach, staff said.
Human services and food access
Human Services staff reported that three projects to expand healthy eating and food access finished ahead of schedule. The city awarded $200,000 to 11 local agencies in the first half of 2025; those agencies reported serving 7,269 unduplicated people and distributing more than 261,571 pounds of food in that period. The city also delivered the Cooking Matters program for seniors and expanded technology-training workshops that provided refurbished laptops to participants.
Economic development priorities
Katie Bowman, economic development manager, summarized work to implement the 2024 economic strategy. Staff completed an innovation action plan focused on target industries such as advanced manufacturing, clean technology, food tech and biomedical; the city held a developer breakfast to encourage investment, and commercial-permitting process improvements are underway following a staff-led process review.
Bowman said the city had updated and streamlined some business incentive materials, awarded $180,000 in safety and security grants for merchants, and is finalizing a retail action plan. A feasibility study on hotels is scheduled for a later budget year, she said, noting current regional market challenges in hospitality.
Council questions and next steps
Council members asked how ongoing programs will be funded and whether the city’s survey and evaluation tools capture participant feedback. Directors said most completed actions are now ongoing programs; departments use post-event surveys and program metrics and have aligned many actions with existing master plans (tree master plan, recreation master plan and library strategy). Staff said further budget decisions will be addressed in the city’s upcoming budget process, and that some projects can be paused or phased depending on funding availability.
Ending
Council members praised staff for outreach, volunteer recruitment and program expansions and asked for continued attention to public messaging, joint-use agreements with local school districts and the design of the public-facing tree and litter-receptacle programs. Staff said they will return with implementation details, funding options and additional performance data.
