Ever since his election, Zohran Mamdani has been a bit of a national celebrity, especially among the more progressive voters and activists. From his embrace of socialism to actually delivering on his promises, he’s shown that leftist talking points are not only popular, but deliverable.
He’s been an inspiration to local politicians, too. Hayward Councilmember George Syrop proclaimed himself a Socialist during his campaign launch and filmed videos with the Democratic Socialists of America. But replicating that success in other cities, especially in California and the Bay Area, has as much to do with structures as it does with political preference.
I saw a video on social media recently titled, “LA Will Never Have Its Own Zohran Mamdani.” The video outlines Mamdani’s successful policies and explains that New York is, for all intents and purposes, a City State. Almost all agencies are under the control of a powerful mayor, and NYC commands a budget that rivals some nations.
Los Angeles seems like a perfect corollary to NYC, but it’s built so differently that electing an L.A. Mandani would make almost no difference. Local governments in the Bay Area are in a similar situation. In Hayward, for example, not only is our mayor not the executive—that’s the city manager—but they have no control over schools, parks, social services or even all the land within the city’s borders.
Take something as simple as getting an unhoused person into shelter. Assuming you can reach them, city workers put them on the waitlist for Coordinated Entry (controlled by Alameda County). And depending on availability, they could be housed anywhere in the county. Despite having Regis Village right downtown—and being paid for in part by city money—Hayward has no control over who gets access to its beds.
It’s difficult to tell if this is a feature or a bug, but it’s a similar story with almost every local government in the Bay Area. Services are provided through a complicated mish-mash of local, regional and statewide agencies and funding which ensure nothing is as simple as you’d hope.
A Bay Area Zohran probably isn’t going to happen. But the sooner we stop looking outward and start looking inward, the sooner we can learn how things work here and set about changing them for the better.
Collin Thormoto is the editor of Hayward Herald, haywardherald.org.
