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CASTRO VALLEY FORUM A COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER SERVING CASTRO VALLEY SINCE 1989
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2024
YEAR 36
COUNTY REPORT
INSIDE YOUR
Crisis of Affordable Housing
FORUM
Kiwanis Cares
Kiwanis Club provides school backpacks for local children
By Michael Singer
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Page 2
PHOTO COURTESY OF CASTRO VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
From the Heart Local artist Vincent Bad Heart Bull’s life reflected in his art
Page 3
Teachers Ready for First Day of School By Michael Singer
CASTRO VALLEY FORUM
Age & Exercise
How does age factor into someone’s workout program?
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INDEX Agents in Action ..... 5 Classified Ads ........ 8 Crosswords ............ 9 Homes ..................... 5 Obituaries ............. 11 Opinions ............... 11 Our Town ................. 3 Seniors .................. 10 Sports .................. 12 Weather ................ 2 WWW.MYCVFORUM.COM
NO. 29
Long before Castro Valley public school students arrived for their first day of school this August 7 morning, teachers, staff, and administrators prepared the classrooms and themselves for the 2024-2025 academic year.
A mere 24 hours ago, many teachers were putting the final touches on their fun and inspirational decorations, quiet reading nooks, and activity spaces, where they will spend 180 instructional days shaping young minds and instilling a love of learning. Castro Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) has more than 9,200 students, 4,200 of whom are see SCHOOL on page 11
Finding an affordable place to live will become nearly impossible in the next ten years unless state and local governments create nearly 100,000 homes, apartments, and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU), according to a county housing report. The 114-page report released last week by the Alameda County Housing and Community Development Department is a culmination of housing reports filed by 14 cities and towns in the county. The main finding is that the county needs 92,833 new affordable housing units for low-income households and 2,200 new shelter beds for the homeless. Experts say the county needs to generate up to $27 billion in local investment to meet that goal. “Affordable housing is getting harder and harder to find, particularly for our lower-income residents,” County Housing Director Michelle Starratt told the Forum. “Homelessness is historically high, production of affordable housing has lagged behind need for decades, and more than a third of all households pay more than 30 percent of their income towards the cost of housing. The vast majority of the see HOUSING on page 7
Castro Valley Comic Con Ohana Comic Con founder Ziggy was extremely friendly to the crowds that came out and was grateful to return to Comic book lovers, merCastro Valley this year. chants, and colorfully costumed characters assembled “I used to put on baseball this past Sunday, August 4, card shows 35 years ago, and transforming Castro Valley’s it kind of dried out, so I ended Moose Lodge into Ohana up opening a video game Comic Con. store,” Ziggy told the Forum. Fast-forward to 2016, and I had Based out of Turlock, California, the traveling comic some guys put on a comic con in Modesto. They wanted me book convention and its vendors pack, display, and repeat to sell tickets but only gave me a quarter of the proceeds.” every weekend year-round throughout the San Francisco Not thinking it was worth Bay and Sacramento areas. it, Ziggy squeezed a deal to By Jack Leal
SPECIAL TO THE FORUM
get free admissions to the conventions and ended up selling more than 100 tickets. “So, my wife, two daughters, and their husbands all went,” Ziggy said. “Then they looked at me and said, ‘We used to do this with baseball cards.’” The convention is unlike most commercial Cons because most vendors made their own products. One table was decked out with Deadpool masks run by Cody SteffenPHOTO BY JACK LEAL son, who 3D-printed all his Brandon McKinney and his son at their post selling merchandise. see COMIC on page 11 prints and comic books.