Hayward City Hall located at 777 B Street is the best place to go for Passport Services. Briea in the passport office was friendly and very helpful. She provided clear information and reviewed my application, resulting in a quick turn-around time. I received my new passport that expires in 2035. read more

Hayward City Hall is now at this location. within a mile, there are 2 former city hall locations. with this and other new developments in the area, Hayward hopes to slower increase it's share of go to destinations. it's been a few years, downtown is coming around with new business openings. there are road construction everywhere. hopefully, new businesses and jobs will follow. Hayward has the lowest home prices in the area, expect speculators to swoop up the bargains. read more

Hayward City Hall - Olde city hall. - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Hayward, California

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Isabelle with the Hayward Water District is the best! We had a new service set up for water and were waiting for the city to turn on our service. She greeted us with a smile at 4:50pm right before closing and offered to help us. She was prompt, professional and courteous. She called the water people in the field and they said within 15 minutes someone will come out to turn on our water. She also told us to make sure all water is in the off position or that can prevent them from turning on the water. I know people usually complain about water companies but our experience was awesome!!! Thank you Isabelle and in case nobody tells you , you rock at your job and you are amazing! Thank you for helping us in a time of need. Parking was nearby and super easy to find. The water district is right in the main entrance on the right hand side. read more

Great location, plenty of parking opportunities around this area. This is a common spot for meetings of the Northern California and Nevada chapter of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and I have always had a positive experience when I come here. read more

Hayward City Hall - View from 2nd floor atrium. - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Hayward, California

Fortunately I was able to find a parking spot underground. There is a large parking structure across the street though. I checked in at the lobby and asked the security guard whether or not I needed to sign in. I didn't. I walked into the Revenue Office / Cashier, paid my water bill, got my receipt and headed back to my car. Simple and Easy. read more

My wife and daughter came here to get our passports nenewed and a new one for our toddler daughter. Fantastic service. You have to make an appointment first and get all of your paper work done otherwise you'll have a different experience than we did. We were in and out in 30 minutes. :D read more

It seems like every time the poor old City of Hayward is mentioned on Yelp or otherwise, it's open season to throw out all the jokes in the book about crime and despair. Sure, it isn't the most exciting place around, but riddled with violence? Let's show some stats to back it up. For me, there is one tell-tale sign on how dangerous a city is, and that is the number of homicides. So far in 2008, the grand total of murders in Hayward is EQUAL to such "scary" places as... -Palo Alto -San Ramon -San Leandro -Fremont And LESS than such cities as... -Pleasanton -Redwood City -Mountain View Not exactly perennial members of the "Top Ten Most Dangerous Cities in America" list now, are they? Is Hayward the safest city around? No. But Oakland South? I think NOT. read more

Hayward City Hall is a pretty building. I've had two opportunities to visit. 1) When I forgot to pay my water bill and I had to come down and pay in person to prevent shut off. Oops! The staff was pleasant, helpful and non-judgmental. 2) To attend a school board meeting where my kid's kindergarten class was showing off what they've learned in their Mandarin immersion, and another kindergarten class was showing off what they've learned via a new hip-hop curriculum. The meeting room is quite nice, comfortable seats, good sound. Close to BART, decent amount of street and off street parking nearby, and a beautiful fountain in front. Very nice. read more

Went for a walk to city hall with kiddies and have to say it is so nice out.. we sat by the waterfall and kids had a ball playing with the water and getting wet i don't think they're suppose to be doin that... Oh well they're just being boys read more

Hayward City Hall - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Hayward, California

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I am not sure why Hayward City Hall doesn't have all 5*. Our first visit several weeks ago left us with such great impression and positive experience! We have a listing in Hayward and wanted to confirm if the empty lot in the back is qualified to be built. We visited Hayward City Hall in hope of talking to an expert to find out. 1. The building is so new, beautiful and clean. 2. Parking was super easy. 3. The receptionist and everyone work there were super friendly and welcoming. 4. The wait was not too long and there was hot tea and water available for everyone. How nice!!! 5. Like the outside, the inside of the building is also new, clean, and super cute. 6. We sat in front of one of the tables waiting for our turn. On the next table, we overheard a lady patiently answered many repeated questions from a man. He came in asking about information about a building that he had no address on. Surpringly, the lady was able to find the address after some searching. We were so impressed with her patience and knowledge. 7. Our turn came up and lucky us, we had the same lady. Her name was Leigha Schmidt. She's a senior planner. As soon as she heard the address, she immediately gave us the answer. According to her, many people have asked about the same lot and she did some research and wrote a very detail email on different options the lot can be built to comply with the city's requirements. She went out of her way to find, printed out the email and shortly later, sent us a soft copy of an email. What an intelligent person with a passion for her job. She went out of her way to provide us with what we were looking for. It's easy to. Just "do your job". But Leigha's service and support was outstanding and fantastic. We sent her a quick thank you email and wanted to send her managers a great note and our appreciation about her work. She was sweet and humble when she responded to our email. We want to share our very positive experience with Leigha and the Hayward City Hall. People like Leigha for sure makes things so much easier for many people. Thanks, Leigha. Hope you will become even more successful on your career!!!! read more

Planning department is a joke. I got a permit for some HVAC work and called 2 days prior to an inspection. No one picks up the phone there no matter which phone number you use. VERY POOR management. read more

Have you noticed that all the negative reviews of Hayward (this one and elsewhere) are all written by people from San Francisco? Sorry, I forgot that your Tenderloin, South of Market and Powell Street areas are incredibly spotless and suburban. I forgot how much I love the smell of urine and panhandling in the morning. I forgot how much I loved living in Pacific Heights and having to park 4-5 blocks away from my house (on a good day). I forgot how much safer and more child-friendly your attractions are, especially Ocean Beach, Metreon, and the zoo. Yeah, superiority complex much? Fuck y'all. SF is an okay place, I do a lot of things there, but you know what? I'd rather come home to Hayward any damn day. Murders and all. read more

3 stars = A-OK, but there is definiately better out there....eh..and worse. I've been living in Hayward pretty much my entire life, so its safe for me to say being almost 30 years old that I have a somewhat good grasp of how much the city has changed for the better or worse. The great thing about Hayward is no doubt the location with respect to the bay area as a whole. I think thats where the coined term of "The heart of the bay" came from. So your a 30 minute drive (with no traffic) from San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, etc. Another great thing about Hayward and is sometimes overlooked is the educational facilities located in Hayward. Such as Chabot College and the California State University, East Bay. And the recreational facilities such as the Hayward shoreline to the west with its long path ways or Garin park in the hills with the scenic path ways. let us not forget the diversity which some great tasting restuarants have stem from... such as Tomodachi's sushi bistro or the number of taquerias such as Alcapoco's. Now you would expect a higher star rating with what I've listed above, however I do believe that certain issues have decreased in quality since I was younger. A lot of these may be due to the economy and lack of funding but who really knows. one issue Hayward is struggling with despite the abundance of educational facilities (high schools, etc) the educational system isn't producing a high quality education. Now of course, there is a number of factors that would effect that... the student's willingness to learn and etc... but everyone knows... or at least every realtor knows... property value is highly effected by the quality of education of that area. Hearing what I have heard from friends, high school teachers, and counselors the high schools are outright losing their grip of which the last state examination results can attest to. The elementary schools are okay I guess as well as the junior high school levels. But being raised here... I don't think their the same today as they were in the past. As in they've gotten worse. So it may not be the best place to raise children. The downtown area which from what my parents tell me used to be filled with people but since the construction of Southland mall is still a deserted (lack of foot traffic).... the place is cluttered with "for lease" signs. I've always been tempted to want to open a business here but just don't know with how quiet it is. I have to give the city credit for trying though with the new theater. Hayward needed that with Union City's Union landing closing all the theaters in Hayward down. Especially with the bowling alley on Industrial and mission closing down.... nothing to do here in hayward... no wonder why marijuana sales have sky rocketed... (I don't smoke and that was supposed to be funny...::quiet crowd:: ok whatever) The two libraries in Hayward are in need of remodeling. Last time, about a year ago I went to the main branch in downtown they still had people signing a sign up list to use a computer. Hayward needs to take a look at San Leandro's library.... As for the crime rate. Well I admit that Hayward is becoming increasingly "Ghetto" but the people are to blame. As a matter of fact, the people are to blame for all the issues that happen in a city... whether they are the increasing crime rate or lack of maintainence. If we don't address the issues then who will? So maybe we need to address the city as its citizens and possibly help the city develop solutions that we the people who live here want. Now.. I sometimes try to find a good definition of what makes a person "Ghetto", my definition is a person who doesn't have the self-respect to care or appreciate those around them or where they live. The police here from talking to them and working with them with our neighborhood watch have responded quite well to the demands of my neighborhood so I have to give them credit where it's deserved. We cant' expect them to catch a thief red handed all the time. They need the help of those who live here. I can say that I have (and I could be wrong) see a difference in gangs in hayward... I remember growing up everyone was in a gang... but now a days it seems like gangs are a thing of the past... so thats a good sign. All in all, Yes... I've never lived in other cities... but just passed off of visiting other cities.. I think one can say there are better places in the world to live and that Hayward is deteriotating for the worse. At the same time, its a lot better than our city to the north.... Oakland (no offense but I work in Oakland and I can't stand it). To Hayward... please... do something. Also, don't you think its time to fix those stupid recurring potholes near Marie Callendars at Southland Mall.... I think that street belongs to southland mall but pressure them to not just pot hole it but actually redo the entire street. ugh. read more

I've lived in Hayward for almost 6 years now and I for one like it here. Yes I probably wouldn't raise my children here since the school system is lacking, but the city, or at least the area I live in, has been getting better through the years. The population has become increasingly diverse - less of just one or two ethnicities and more of a balanced blend. As mentioned in another reviewer yes, this isn't the peninsula in the sense that it's not Burlingame or Palo Alto, but I wouldn't be so adamant about lumping all of Hayward into the "GHETTO" category. As hard as it may be to believe the peninsula has quite a few "ghetto" or unsightly areas as well - every city has them. Hayward has seen some great improvements throughout the years. The Target development a few years back on A & Hesperian, Costco opening last year on Industrial & Hesperian, all the great development of Chabot College, the numerous parks and resourceful libraries, and all the small mom n' pop and even chain restaurants and cafes scattered throughout the city. Real estate here is affordable (though I thought there would be increasing values) and is super convenient to every region in the Bay Area - San Jose, San Francisco, Peninsula, other parts of East Bay, inlands (Pleasanton, etc.). There's much room for improvement for sure but I have to say that I've enjoyed my time here in Hayward. read more

City of Hayward, how I try to avoid thee. With almost nothing to do and hot ass weather when other cities are cooler, how is it that almost nowhere in sight is there a place with air condition other than Lucky's? I believe your weather sucks ass like most places in the East Bay and South Bay like Fremont or Antioch or how about San Jose? And please tell me what is there to do in Hayward? Nothing much, really. I noticed a few bars, a couple of "antique" shops that sold more crap than antiques and a pharmacy with a soda fountain counter but it was closed for some reason on one of the hottest days of the year! And then there's your restaurants or lack of. Granted, you have Casper's and a few other places that I can't or don't want to remember. And you have pseudo Japanese place that sells sushi made in the morning and tries to pass them off as fresh at 2 in the afternoon. And I did manage to find at least one sushi place near the Historical Society. But it ain't real REAL sushi if it's made by a Chinese guy... But I must admit, your town is full of friendly people. People that are willing to answer your direction questions and bus drivers that actually stop and try their best to help you find your right bus and send you on your way. Not too many other cities can say that, not even my own San Francisco. Hayward still knows how to treat people. And that's a good thing. Stay classy, Hayward...And maybe try to be more commercialized with a mall or something, okay? It wouldn't hurt. Just as long as it's not a Walmart or a Super K-mart. That'll make you look like Oakland and you don't want to do that... read more

3.5 stars but I'm feeling generous. We moved to Hayward because we could afford a home here and that was about it. I have learned to love many things about it: --It is great to be in a diverse community --Val's Burgers --They're sprucing up the downtown very nicely --All my friends are spread out in San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and San Mateo and we're centrally located to it all. --I'm finding some pretty nice restaurants around this place --Did I mention Val's has great burgers and fries? --BART is right in town and is a 40 minute ride into San Francisco Things I dislike --I am getting serious road rage with these rude drivers --What is with all the jay walkers? --The schools are not great --The night life leaves a lot to be desired (this is why BART is so key) --Did I mention the rude ass drivers? --If the big one hits the Hayward fault, which we happen to live on, I'll be PISSED. read more

This place smells so good. You wouldn't expect that from an animal shelter. We saw a dog yesterday that we wanted to adopt and I hope we get it. That dog smelled so good too. I think you can lick the floor because its so clean in there. Cute animals for sure. read more

A true jem of industrial suburban hell with a touch of ghetto. The last place in the bay area where you can have your engine rebuilt by a real shop, smoke crack and eat a good burrito all on the same block. Bring the family. read more

ok Ilived in Hayward my whole life and It has changed a whole lot since I was a kid here. But its the same as any city you obviously know which areas not to be walkiing around at night. By chance if I do have to walk around at night I feel ok cause I know alot of people in different areas. People that write reviews on here about being scared of the tennyson area please....sheesh go about your buisiness and nobody bugs you. The crime rate has gone up a little since I was kid but then again its probably cause as a kid I was oblivious to stuff like this. There are family restaurants, local spots, and plenty of good area that nobody seems to mention. I do still wish the holiday bowl was open = ( read more

*Update 3/1/14* Although I am leaving my 1 star rating, i will say that the initial problem of a non-working street light was fixed after they did a swap out for all street lights to LED. Even though the lights are now operative all the time, i find the LED brightness is a little less than what we had before. Considering we didn't have a street light for the longest time, and with multiple complaints of it still not being fixed, I guess i'm happy with a less brighter light than no light at all. read more

I love Hayward! There are so many reasons why, here are just a few: (*) The Saturday Farmers Market - tons of great produce grown by local farmers and much cheaper than the Ferry Building (*) Location, location, location. Seriously - 1/2 way between SF and SJ (*) Housing prices are cheaper - you get way more bang for you buck (*) The views from the hills - you can see from San Jose all the way up to San Francisco on a clear day and at night - WOW! (*) Hayward regional shoreline - a great place to see wildlife and clear you mind (*) Diverse culture (*) The weather is perfect - never too hot or too cold Hayward is hidden gem. read more

Zucchini festival is coming up! It's Hayward's big deal like the Gilroy Garlic Festival! Also check out the blues fest in Hayward! Google it I've lived in Hayward for the greater part of my life and enjoyed life in this central area of the Bay Area. The city has changed a bit... it still is quirky and weird in its own way. Go to Hayward and drive around, go shopping, talk to people... its just... Hayward?! read more

Call Lynn today to complain about the garbage pick up they regulate it was told I would get a return call from the person in charge never received a call we paid for garbage in it never gets picked up at the right time and then they say you didn't put it out they play a game with us because we have no choice we have to pay garbage or we get find the city regulator why should we pay for something we don't get so much garbage all over the city and when you put your trash out to be picked up and They do nothing we need to be able to vote on something like this read more

Love this building! It has great architecture and I admire how pretty it is every time I visit. There are also fountains, a sensory garden, and a terraced lawn in the Plaza. Aside from City Hall's physical appearance, there's a lot of other positive things about it: - LOCATION: It's right next to BART and the downtown area. There are plenty of restaurants, shops, and parking nearby. - FREE WI-FI - GREEN: Energy-saving light switches and the building is actually made out of a lot of recycled materials - EVENTS AND MEETINGS: Good place to hold meetings and events. I've held meetings in one of the conference rooms here and I like how the room comes with a clock, lots of tables, stacks of chairs, and a white board with markers! The Rotunda also provides a very nice setting to hold community events. - ART: There's a little art gallery inside the building! City Hall is definitely an asset to the City of Hayward. read more

I am not the best person to judge services here but have been going thru this property daily forever. City reminds me when I was at CSU East Bay the house of our Department chair was robbed. She told us how everyone including the mayor lady (was ten years ago plus) showed up to share her anguish? As soon as media showed up she started campaigning for reelection on the spot and forgot about her and dilemma!! Yes the government cares a lot we are told. That election, the other guy did not get elected in spite of all efforts by our irked Dept Chair. That is what I remember every time I walk through here. Otherwise they are great on the outside as most City Governments are tgo be thus FIVE stars. read more

Hayward City Hall - Landmarks & Historical Buildings Near Me - Hayward, California

Despite Hayward's attempts to rejuvenate the place the place suffers from lack of businesses. Those leasing are charging too much or increasing rates for rent. Better to have an empty storefront than a thriving store it seems. Farmers market, new city hall, thursday street party redeeming qualities. As of today, a few new places have sprouted up, so we'll see how long they last. Unfortunately Hayward still has the reputation of it being "ghetto". read more

Don't hate on Hayward, yea there's supposedly not MUCH to do, BUT Hayward is located in a good location to many other cities with things to do! The location of my home isn't bad and Hayward has yet to do me wrong. Just because crimes are committed in a city doesn't necessarily mean the person committing the crime is from the city. After all, I live in a location that is literally 5 minutes away from BART and the freeway, so if I wanted to get out of the town at least it provides me with easy access to haul ass. Although, I do not like driving up and down Tennyson seeing so many immigrants selling themselves for hard labor. shut up with the ghetto! read more

City of Hayward major boner again not having the zucchini festival at the park work has not even started as promised we're not having a good time whatsoever over at the asphalt by the mall once again a Hayward officials not careing for its citizens. read more

Being from union city ... Hayward is also a big part growing up for me cuz it was boarder line. Love the new downtown loop in hayward ... southland mall will always be my mall I go to for shoes I don't care if people think it's ghetto. Hayward will also be considered home to me . read more

2 plus hour wait just to get a simple plumbing permit. 200+ dollars for the permit for an inspector to spend 2 minutes on the job site. I now know why most plumbers do not bother getting permits for their work. What a waste! read more

Hayward might just be one of the most pointless places in the world, but seeing how i live in THE most pointless place in the world it gets 4 stars. Hayward is commonly referred to as hay-STACK. there is no hay and there are no stacks, but rappers gotta eat right? I went to Cal State Hayward before the bay area caught on that the city of Hayward wasn't actually doing anything to support the University and changed the name to a more appropriate and vague "East Bay" back to HAAY-WIZZLE though.. hayward has Buffalo Bills, and La Pinata and since my main goal in life is to hit the 400lb mark, pizza, beer and burritos are pretty much my bestest friends. read more

Some background: Hayward's senior code enforcement officer performs an inspection of our in-construction site for Code compliance. He writes up very minor "violations" (only one was our responsibility and even that one was debatable) and gives us the minimum 10 days to fix them. One "violation" is for a section of fence that is 100% Hayward's responsibility, according to Hayward's own planning department. Even though we could have fought and likely won these trumped-up charges, because it is easier to comply than argue, we simply tasked a couple workers and fixed everything on our own dime. No biggie. But judge the actions of Hayward's most senior Code Enforcement officer for yourself: He certifies that he's mailing his "notice of violation" letter on day 1 and we have until day 10 to fix the issues before fines result. Then, after signing under penalty of perjury that he's mailing the letter on day 1, he instead holds the letter for almost a week before he postmarks it (we kept the postmarked envelope, of course). After holding it, he postmarks it with the machine in his office (Hayward has their own postmark machine, evidently) and then he holds the letter again after placing the postmark (adding mail fraud to the perjury he already committed) so that we receive the letter on day 9 (a Saturday). Try calling a contractor on a Saturday night for an emergency fence repair sometime that has to be completed by the following day (a Sunday). But that's not enough for Hayward's most senior CE inspector, no: he does his second inspection BEFORE THE DEADLINE and sends us a bill for almost $4,000. And this wasn't a one-time goof: He's done this multiple times with us in the past few months and always there was over a week's total delay before we would get his violation notices (if we would get them at all, as it seems there may have been one that was never even mailed). We reviewed both the ridiculous content of his notices as well as his illegal delay tactics with our legal counsel and the whole thing is just bizarre. BTW, Hayward's letters containing the fines followed the exact same procedure as Hayward's letters with violation notices, but with drastically different results: For all letters, someone signs under penalty of perjury that they're mailing the letter on a specific date. But, unlike the nine day journey the violation notices take to get to us, the bills are delivered to our door the next day. So there is nothing wrong with Hayward's mail system. If you've also been a victim of Hayward's nefarious code enforcement, please share your stories. read more

city of Hayward has a really bad sistem about getting permit, I dropped off my application and they took over two months to revise my plans, and it was just a little remodel not like 2 or 3 story house, and they took for ever.. read more

I'm giving them 5 stars because the people were awesome. There are better facilities out there (the "glamor slammer" at the SF SPCA has flat screen TVs and big spacious rooms and such) but the point is to move these little guys and gals out as quickly as possible, right? They have two dog adoption rooms for checking them out, plus a couple private "visit" rooms if you find a pup you want to spend more time with. They let me spend as much time as I wanted with the dog I picked, plus an officer/trainer was with me to answer any and all questions at first. Their website is not real-time with status, and they link you over to Petfinder and Virtual Pet Adoptions. I don't think the little chi-mix I adopted was even online, though she was at the shelter for a few weeks. They also have lots and LOTS of cats, plus a little room with really adorable bunnies. My suggestion is visit in person, and visit often as new dogs are brought in and processed. (There's obviously a delay while dogs in the back are "processed" and checked out for health and temperament- this seemed typical). I ended up going twice, a couple days apart. Check their website for hours, because they are staggered. Once I decided that "smooches" was right for me, the whole adoption process was great. The front desk went over everything in detail and took care of all the vet details. They are obviously animal lovers and care about the pets in their care, and are excited to see them go to good homes. The cost was really reasonable- about 125.00 total for fixing, shots, vet, and micro-chip. Budget cuts have hit them hard- so donate some food or something for the poor guys left behind with all the money you save over private adoptions! read more

They fuckin suck. No one answers the phone. They do not return emails unless you report it to their boss. They don't even have their hours listed on the outgoing messages. You have to go down there to waste your time and has to find out they are closed. City of Hayward Revenue office needs to step their game up IN A REAL WAY. Every single one of you ought to be embarrassed about the manner you in which you conduct yourselves. Sub par! read more

Finally, the city staff decided to remodel a part of this city that's historical. As in historical I meant to say Mission BLVD. Not only are they remodeling they are also cleaning up the city streets. The brand new shopping centers have a wide variety of places to shop that this city never had before. I am glad that all the old neighborhoods are still there. My only concern is that when are they going to remodel that old Toys R Us store, its always trashed and outdated. I gotta say im liking this city a whole lot more because everything is going back the way it used to be, but even better. read more

I had the misfortune of moving here about 3 years ago when I bought a house and there's a reason why real estate prices are comparatively cheap in Hayward compared to the rest of the Bay Area, but I seriously didn't think people could not care this much about where they live...dog poop and garbage everywhere. Of course some areas are nicer than others, my neighborhood just seems to be a dump. And as others have mentioned, it's central to the rest of the Bay Area, which is good because you have to go somewhere else if you want to do anything. Oh, and Ryan V's review is THE BEST...couldn't agree more Lol! read more

Ok im sure youve heard all the stories about hayward and how its not what it used to be, but honestly for someone who is trying to build their life straight of college this is not a bad place to start. The real estate prices are somewhat lower then most surrounding areas, and hayward is in the heart of the bay, you could easily commute anywhere in the bay area, my major complaint is the slow progress of construction. read more

This city has a nice, small town feel. Clean and very accessible. There are lots of shops, restaurants, movie theater and grocery stores in walking distance. The people are kind and jovial. There's always a community event going on. It's safe and quiet here. Not to mention the hotties!!! I'm enjoying my visit. read more

I've heard the phrase that "Hayward is the armpit of the Bay Area." In the 13 years that I have lived here, I have seen very little growth. Yes, they are finally fixing roadways and the Hayward Hills is very nice. Downtown is getting a little better. I think that Foothill, which is used as a connector to two freeways, could be improved a little more. For all the traffic during commute hours on that street, there is very little, if any, people stopping in Hayward to buy. The buildings need to be refreshed and perhaps a few more quality stores. The positives are the location. It is easy to get to SF on Bart as well as other cities in the Bay Area. The parking is good. Love City Hall and I think that we have one of the better Farmer's market. read more