by Micky Duxbury
Many people don’t realize how important the Alameda County Board of Supervisors is to regional planning, emergency preparedness, county-wide policy direction. Most importantly, the Board appropriates money for programs that meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable community members.
Berkeley’s Supervisor, Keith Carson, is retiring after 30+ years on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. District 5 includes Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, Piedmont, West Oakland, North Oakland, Rockridge, Grand Lake, and portions of Fruitvale, Manzanita and the Dimond District. For 30 + years, Carson has advocated for the unhoused, the mentally ill, and for quality health care and re-entry support for those returning from prisons and jails.
Following are a few examples of the importance of the Board in making decisions that influence the overall direction of Alameda County.
Urban Shield was an extremely controversial and highly militarized police training begun by the former Sheriff Ahern. It was the largest SWAT training in the world held annually in the Bay Area since 2007.
Urban Shield was funded by the Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI), and by weapons manufacturers and corporate sponsors.
The training involved highly militarized war games and weapons expos with propaganda training films that supported militarized responses to most emergency situations.
Community resistance spiked from 2013 – 2018 and took the form of demonstrations at the site of the Urban Shield training, protests at the Board of Supervisors, and collaboration with many other justice and labor organizations. Supervisor Carson, along with Supervisors Wilma Chan and Richard Valle, voted to end Urban Shield in March 2019. Their three votes halted our county firefighters, police, and other emergency personnel being trained to behave like combat soldiers after an earthquake or other emergencies.
More recently, many community organizations with leadership from Restore Oakland, American Friends Service Committee, and the Interfaith Coalition for Justice in our Jails conducted a several-year process involving hundreds of stakeholders to create a Care First/Jails Last Resolution, passed by the Board of Supervisors in May 2021.
The Supervisors formed a Care First/Jails Last Task Force along with a Care First Community Coalition to advocate for substantive changes in investments, agency coordination, treatment and diversion, with the overall goal to end the County’s reliance on incarceration of people with mental illness and substance use. It is estimated that upwards of 40% of the population at Alameda County jails has mental illness. Of the 73 deaths over the last 10 years, at least 21 have been suicides.
These progressive policy changes would not have been possible without at least three votes on the Board of Supervisors. That is why the District 5 runoff election in November is so important. Two candidates are running: Nikki Fortunato Bas, currently the City Council president in Oakland, and John Bauters, former mayor and a current City Council member in Emeryville.
Bas’ endorsers include State Senator Nancy Skinner, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, Wellstone Democratic Club, the Alameda County Green Party, and the National Union of Healthcare Workers, along with several other labor unions.
Her contributors include SEIU Local 1021 which gave $20,000; the California Nurses Association donated $27,500; and the Building and Construction Trades Council donated $20,000.
One of her largest individual contributors is the founder of the Akonadi Foundation. Her campaign is free of corporate donations.
Bauters’ endorsers include the Sierra Club, Nor Cal Carpenters Union, the Alameda County Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, and retired State Senator Loni Hancock. His biggest contributor is a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, along with two local firefighter unions, and real estate developers.
An independent committee called “Bauters for a Safer East Bay” operates independently of the candidate and has raised $53,500. The Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of Alameda County, a law enforcement union, gave $20,000. PG&E gave $10,000 and a partner at Wareham Development which develops commercial and lab buildings, gave $15,000.
Check out the candidates’ websites to learn more and make an informed choice for District 5 Supervisor on November 5th.
Nikki Bas: https://nikki4supervisor.com/
https://nikki4supervisor.com/endorsements
John Bauters: