There we were on a Saturday night, wife and I watching 'Descent 2' when, suddenly, CRASH! outside our house. Little did I know, as I opened the front door, that I was going to be faced with a tough decision - local or USAmerican?

A Honda driver had somehow slammed into SPEFFZ (my Toyota Previa) throwing it against a tree! Only $12K to fix it! Naturally, the insurance said 'totaled'.

Sad moment - watching a tow truck lift her up and take her away, forever. Hey, don't laugh - she had been in the family since her 1991 birth!

So, new car it was. But, which one, and just as important, where to buy?

I have often approached owners of new Hayward-bought cars, introduced myself, and thanked them, as I handed them my City Council business card, for having helped our Hayward economy.

So, the new car HAD to be bought in Hayward, no if and or buts about it.

I also support buying USA products first, thus helping our national economy, in my unfortunately feeble attempt to fight outsourcing by our USA companies. Being also an ecofriendly Mother Earth conscious individual, the car HAD to be a hybrid, especially with this dumb oil spill in the Gulf of México. Electric? Someone killed them a while back, in 1995, and I can't wait for NUMMI. That said, it had to be a Hayward hybrid USAmerican car.
Simple, no? Well, not quite.

Our daughter Stefanie had just bought a hybrid Ford minivan, and is happy with it. Then, Chevy has a good model too. Chevy and Ford, yeah! But, alas! You know what? Hayward is Chevy and Fordless - abandoned by them! Can you believe that - the Bay Area's fifth largest city, and California's 30th
largest, without either of them, having been spurned by Chevy and Ford?

My decision, knowing that for every $10K new car purchase, our City receives $75, for our General Fund? I had, have to put our City first. After Hayward window shopping, came down to either Hayward Toyota or Hayward Volkswagen.

Yes, I did try Costco's auto program, but their partner is Dublin Toyota. No dice.

They'll be some unimpressed folks who'll chastise me for not buying USAmerican, but how could I betray my own personal edict of buying a car in Hayward? It is the right thing to do, putting our City first.

So, you may ask, why not carless? Did think about it. Problem is an active lifestyle. If all I had to do was teach at Chabot, not a problem. More often than not I bicycle and or walk to work. However, meetings here and there, speaking engagements, visits, and whatnot, right after Chabot's classes, means a car. Why? I hate being late! And family. One daughter (+ son-in-law and granddaughter), in Monterey. Another trio in Oakland. A brother in Modesto and another in Santa Barbara, plus more family in Ventura and in Tijuana. Get the picture? Why couldn't they all live nearby, like mom, right across the street? Incidentally, I'm on my third Hayward bought bicycle!

You might have guessed correctly. I now drive a brown Prius, with, can you beat it, solar cells on its roof! Sweet.

So, the question to you - have you bought your last car in Hayward?

Remember, put your money where your home and your job are - shop locally! Hayward on!