All right, it's six o'clock and we have a quorum.

Well, we will establish that right after we do roll call, but I think we can go ahead and start with that.

Um you want to go ahead and do roll call?

Councilmember Asan Nielsen.

Excused.

Councilmember Maro Mohoko.

Present.

Councilmember Roll.

Here.

Councilmember Stanley.

Here.

Councilmember Cushman.

Oh.

Here.

Chair Weidler.

Here.

We have a quorum.

All right.

Thank you.

And uh you just might Laila.

Just watch for um Taylor just said she was on her way.

So at some point you'll add her in, I guess.

Okay, thank you.

Uh all right.

If we all can stand and do the Pledge of Allegiance, please.

I pledges in the five.

Yeah.

Stay somewhere.

She stands.

Under indivisible.

Thank you.

Okay.

At this time we'll be open for um public comments.

So I don't know if you have any speaker cards.

You do.

Okay.

Uh, let's start with off Roger Jen Pabst.

Happy New Year.

Oh.

Is this better?

Oh, yes.

There I am.

Happy New Year to everyone.

It's nice to see you all.

I hope that you're staying safe and dry.

Um, I know we've had a little bit of some inclement weather.

So just make sure that you're uh checking your vehicles and that you have good tire depth and your windshield wipers are working appropriately.

For December, I have some real quick stats for everyone for the Eden area.

We issued 320 traffic citations.

We towed and stored 20 vehicles.

We arrested six DUI drivers.

We had one felony arrest and five misdemeanor arrests.

We issued 17 parking citations and responded and took reports at 42 non-injury crashes and responded and took reports at 26 injury crashes.

We recovered two stolen vehicles, which were abandoned and there were no drivers in the cars.

Some traffic complaints that we are working on on Hisparium Boulevard.

We still have the speeding complaint pending, and the officers are patrolling the area.

We also have another speeding complaint on Blossom between Meekland and Western.

And we're continuing to uh patrol for vehicles in the bike lanes on East 14th in Ashland.

Uh some previous enforcement details.

We had our holiday enforcement period and New Year's, or excuse me, Christmas holiday enforcement period in New Year's maximum enforcement period.

And during that time, we had a lot of officers out on patrol, and we did not have any fatal crashes during those two enforcement periods.

Some events coming up.

We have seven new officers who are reporting uh on February 16th to our office.

So that'll help um make sure that our staffing levels are staying at a good level.

Some upcoming education is on February 10th at 12:30.

We have the age well drive smart at the Castor Valley Library, and on February 10th again at 6 o'clock p.m., we have a start smart class at the CHP Hayward office on Whipple Road.

And as always, I'm taking traffic complaints.

Um please email me at 345 Reckless Driving at CHP.ca.gov.

And do I have one more minute?

No, you're yeah, you are finished.

I'm sorry, I'll make it real quick.

Um, I just wanted to bring to the attention of everybody that uh if you are a pedestrian out in the community, please when you are crossing the street, whether it's in a marked or unmarked crosswalk, make sure that you're taking precautions for your safety and making eye contact with the drivers and slowing or trying to get out of the way of a car.

Don't expect it to stop.

Um and just be careful while crossing outside of the crosswalk.

Uh, we've had two crashes today involving pedestrians, and my concern is your safety.

So even though you may have the right-of-way inside of a crosswalk as well, just try to make that uh nonverbal communication with the drivers so that you are safe.

That is all I have.

Have a good meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for comments.

Uh Chair Weitler, I only have three more speaker cards if you want to do three minutes.

Yeah.

Yes, three minutes would be okay.

Okay.

Michael Moore, would you like to do a general comment?

Thank you very much.

Um, last Sunday morning at seven o'clock, I was uh driving home from eating breakfast with friends, and I was coming down uh foothill um towards Ashland.

And in front of me, um, at about where the shopping center is, um, there was a guy riding a motorized uh quad, and he was he had it all flipped flipped backwards, and he was just careening across all four aisles or lanes, and he was he was doing a wheelie.

He ignored the traffic, uh, the signals.

There wasn't anybody out there, just me behind him.

And then he merged on to uh where Castle Valley Boulevard turns in to go down to uh oh hell, I can't remember what the name of it is.

Anyway, the point is that he stopped right on the corner of Angus and Maddox, and I noticed us uh a uh Alameda County Sheriff's patrol car parked just down the street.

So I whipped over to him and I explained myself to him and said, Can you do something about that?

And he said, Well, everybody knows who that is.

There's an uh an all-point bulletin out for him, um, but chasing him is just gonna cause an accident.

He didn't do anything.

That needs to change.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next speaker, Chuck Meadows.

Good evening, everyone.

Last night I was in the same facility, and this room was literally packed.

Standing room only when Mimi Dean did a presentation regarding the proposed Sky West development.

That was an outstanding presentation.

Now I realize that is on the very edge of the border of quote unquote your jurisdiction, but it would have an impact on the people that live along the border, as well as the general quality of life if that property is saved as an open space area.

For those of you not familiar with it, the area I'm talking about is the area at the end of the executive runway, the executive airport.

Uh, was an old golf course.

We saw an amazing amount of great photos of the turtles in the ponds.

It's one of the largest monarch migration areas in the uh East Bay, as well as a variety of wildlife.

So I encourage, I know you can't take an official position on this, but I do encourage you to participate in supporting the effort to save Sky West.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Next, we'll have Gary Wolf.

Hi, I'm Gary Wolfe, and I just came here tonight to announce to the community and let the community know that I'm gonna be running for the position of director at the East Bay Municipal Utility District on the November ballot.

Because there are many issues of concern to the community, or my skills and experience will help.

Those issues include but are not limited to affordability of water, truck traffic and other work in our streets, getting more revenue from solar and wind and in-pipe hydroelectric, keeping parks and schools green during drought, and how to use water more efficiently or more than once.

I have 40 years of experience as a civil engineer, working on water-related issues and problems.

And I hope you'll take a look at my website, wolf4water.org.

That's Wolf with two Fs.

Number four water.org.

Feel free to uh email me or call me with any questions, and that's true for anyone out there who's listening or anyone in the community.

Or if you wanted to discuss the possibility supporting my campaign.

Several members of the committee have already endorsed me.

Thank you for that.

I promise to listen and to effectively represent you and the entire community on water-related issues.

I'm gonna hand out some business cards also that contain contact information.

I'm happy to answer a question to right now if that's appropriate.

And I will stay for the full meeting of course in order to better understand the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There are no other public comments.

Oops.

Nobody online.

Oh, sorry.

No speakers online as well.

Okay, thank you.

Alright, so our next um.

Next bit of business is the um approval of the minutes from December 9th.

And we should have all had gotten copies of those.

Um they were very complete.

So let's see if anyone has any um comments, questions, Taylor?

I do have a question, and it's helpful to have Officer Pabst here because it was a quote and the quote sounded kind of wrong.

Uh so it's page two, and I'm maybe I'm wrong.

Page two, the fourth question.

Uh, were there any year yearly changes in the statistical categories for any of the beats?

And then it says answer officer Pabst had not looked at yearly changes off beats closely, but noted that the statistical the statistics that CHP shares every year should be alarming because these are incidents happening in the unincorporated area area.

It does not include the freeway.

Officer Pabst also noted that crashes should be looked at to see whether this the statistics had changed.

I guess that felt a little out of context because they're alarming individually, but I think you also quantified that alarm.

Does that sound accurate to you?

Because it didn't sound accurate to me.

Sorry, Taylor.

Um, you can't have a conversation.

Yeah, you can't have a conversation and also um the minutes aren't a transcription.

That's why we have the video.

So if there needs to be a correction, if you need to refer back to the video to hear what it was said, um, that's where you would do it and go through the clerk's office.

So there's no point in me making a comment now.

You can make a comment and you can question it, but officer Paps can't answer it.

Um you would have to refer back to the recording.

Okay, so we we can just um when we make a recommendation to either um approve as read or modified, we can just say, um, can we verify via the recording what Officer Faps had um answered there?

Uh yes, and if you would like to table these until you get a uh till you're able to review the uh video, you can do that as well.

So apologies, my confusion.

It's my job to do the minutes.

I guess I'm confused.

You want me to watch the whole thing again that I was already present for?

Yeah, I'm misunderstanding here.

So if you want a word-for-word transcription, we would have to review the video, and the clerk's office prepares the minutes.

So if you're not comfortable with approving these minutes tonight as they are, then you can continue them.

Okay, I'm just saying I think the sentiment is wrong.

So quo or word for word.

I don't I don't know that it's captured correctly.

Um we okay okay.

Uh I feel a little uncomfortable with that thought, but um, but no, I'm not comfortable with approving it because I don't see why I should have to watch the whole thing again.

Maybe I've misunderstood, but um that's my statement then.

Thank you.

So is there a way that you would want it corrected too, Taylor?

Or I'm a little frustrated that my interpretation is that apparently I have to watch the whole video again.

Um yeah, I didn't say that you had to watch it.

I said the video was there for the transcription.

So if there needs to be a correction made word for word, that's where we would get it from.

And that and I said the clerk's office, not Taylor.

Okay, um, then my suggestion would be that that one section just be reviewed be reviewed because I I think the sentiment was while it is an alarming statistic to see any statistics of crime.

I I don't think my takeaway necessarily was that it singularly was alarming relative to prior years, because you couldn't speak to that.

Does that make sense?

No worries, the clerk's office, Kevin.

Go back and thank you.

I appreciate that.

Okay, thank you.

Um, anyone else, right?

I see you reaching for your light.

Yes.

Um, I'm supportive of you know not approving and just taking a bit more time to review, so thank you for that option.

What I wanted to comment on and question suggestion basically is I really like the QA detail, and I think it's very well captured for this for the board members, but I noticed that for public comment, it's just a reference to who spoke and not necessarily um even a summary of what they said.

Is that a possibility to include going forwards?

Um, I would have to talk to the clerk of the board, uh the new clerk of the board, just to see uh what she would like to do.

Um generally, we'll have a summary of public comments that are said in open forum.

But if it's like a public comment on an item, we'll just note that they commented on the item.

Okay.

So thank you for telling me what you generally do, but if you're okay to ask that question as well, uh, and especially if there's a precedent, like if all the Macs are doing it this way, I think I'd be more comfortable saying okay, so be it.

But if there is an opportunity, even just to summarize some of the key takeaways or positions that people took, I can see value with that.

Okay, thank you.

I can also um I can I can check what Tony when we do follow-up.

Um do a follow-up meeting on the detail in the minutes, okay.

Thanks.

Did you have something specific that you wanted us to?

Okay.

No, because I liked everything else.

That's the only thing that I thought, huh?

It doesn't quite have the level of detail that everyone else has, every other comments have.

Um, anybody else?

I had a really piddly little thing.

It's just a grammatical thing.

It's on page five.

Under presentation summary, it's just like a typo.

Uh under presentation summary, the first sentence is the community development agency planning department gave a presentation two regarding inclusure or inclusionary zoning.

I don't think you need a two or else to the emac, one of a two, something like that.

Yeah.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Um, if there's nothing else specific, is there a motion?

Um to either accept or make rec recommendations or to not accept the minutes.

Motion.

Yes, Warren.

I'm I'm a little time.

I move to defer the uh minutes for one month.

Okay, so mo um the motion is to defer the minutes until um our next meeting, and then check on the questions that were asked tonight, specifically the one regarding um officer Paps.

All right, is there a second to that motion?

I'll second it.

Okay, um Taylor seconded.

So it's moved and seconded.

Is there any other discussion?

Okay, you want to do roll call vote?

Yep.

Uh council member Astony Nelson.

Aye.

Councilmember Maramahoko.

Yes.

Councilmember Roll.

Aye.

Councilmember Stanley.

Councilmember Cushman?

Yes.

Chair Weiler.

Yes.

Motion passed.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Um, on our the agenda says that we're gonna get a report from environmental justice.

Well, first it says that from the health status report.

And then secondly from environmental justice.

Since these two things go together, um, the presenters are suggesting that we do the environmental justice first and then the health status report because I think that the environmental justice part of what they're doing will um lead us to need more information from health status.

So if that's all right with everyone, we'll just reverse the order.

Okay, all right, thank you, Allie.

So we'll be hearing the environmental justice element first.

Wonderful, thank you so much.

I'm Allie Abbers with the planning department.

Good to see you all again.

I'm here with my colleague Celestia Josefino.

We'll be uh tag teaming on this presentation.

Um, so we're really excited to be here today with our first annual report on the implementation status of the environmental justice element, which your council was really deeply involved in adopting.

Um, this is gonna cover a period from August of 2024 when the EJ element was adopted, um, to September of 2025, so approximately the first year.

Um, next slide.

So this is an informational item.

Um, our request is that your council hear this presentation, take public testimony, and provide us with any comments that you'd like for us to pass along to the board of supervisors as we go through this process.

Um, just to note this is a draft of the report, um, and we are also circulating the draft at this time to uh all of the county agencies that are also implementing actions in the EJ element.

So there may be some slight tweaks um before the final final is published, but this is uh this is a like penultimate version, so very close to final final.

Um next slide, please.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna pass it to Salutia.

Go ahead.

Thank you, Allie.

Um, I will be providing an overview of the EJ element.

Uh the EJ element was adopted by this Board of Supervisors in August 2024 as a chapter of the County General Plan, and it was developed by the CDA's planning department in partnership with the Alameda County Health.

This effort has been highly collaborative, involving county agencies, area service providers, the Eden Area Communities Collaborative or EACC, and residents from the priority communities.

DEJA element covers an 80-year period beginning in 2024 and outlines policies and programs designed to improve health and equity in an incorporated priority communities, which includes Ashland, Sherry Land, Hayward Acres, San Lorenzo, and Southwestern Castro Valley.

Next slide, please.

This map illustrates DEJ element priority communities, showing where EJ policies, action items, and programs are targeted.

Next slide, please.

Throughout the development of the EJ element, we heard that implementation was just as important as adoption.

Community members were clear.

They did not want this plan to sit on a shelf.

In response, the community the county developed an implementation framework to ensure the EJA element is actively uh used and put into practice.

This implementation framework is guided by four key principles accountability, transparency, equity, and collaboration.

It includes actions such as translating DJ element into Spanish, identifying catalyzing actions, and to creating a staff technical advisory committee or TAC to support coordination across departments.

County staff also take part in the E ACC and commit to reporting on progress each year.

Next slide, please.

Thank you, Celestia.

Um, so on to the purpose of this report.

So this uh report fulfills our first annual um commitment to implementation reporting.

So this is gonna be happening every year for the next several years.

Uh we're going to deliver this report in the year the first stop, so thank you very much for hearing this report first.

And we'll we'll be delivering it to the Castor Valley Mac and the Board on Incorporated Services Committee and the Planning Commission before finalizing it and sending it to the board.

And this is really the purpose of this, of course, we want to report on progress, but we really want for there to be an opportunity for the members of the MAX and for the public to weigh in on our progress and on what our future priorities should be.

So this report includes updates from all of the different county agencies that have actions identified in the EJ element, and that is most county agencies.

So it's not just the planning department, it's many agencies throughout the county.

The report talks about our accomplishments.

So what have we done?

What have we done well?

Where are we meeting challenges?

How are priorities changing and assessing our progress and next steps moving forward?

Another interesting thing that this report does is for us it is it really establishes a baseline.

So it's a starting point of sort of where are we now in our progress so that we can really begin to track progress over the next several years.

Next slide, please.

So I mentioned all those agencies that have roles to play in the EJ element.

There are many.

I'll highlight a few.

So AC Health, our colleagues who are going to be presenting next, have 55 actions that they're either leading or co-leading in the EJ element out of a total of 162 or 163 actions.

CDA, the agency that we work for, leads or co-leads 22 actions, and the public works agency has 23.

So those are sort of the key players in this, but we also have districts three and four that have a lot of actions in this in this document the Social Services Agency, the Sheriff's Office, libraries, probation, General Services Agency, and the Workforce Development Board.

So lots of different agencies with roles to play and who are part of this process.

Next slide.

So as I mentioned, there are 162 actions in the EJ element.

And what this report does is it summarizes our progress, it identifies responsible and reporting agencies.

So who are the agencies that have responsibility in the EJ element and who provided us with the reporting information?

And then what is the implementation status?

And to sort of make it easier and quantifiable, we assigned four implementation statuses.

So an action is either marked as implemented, and that's marked with a blue circle.

Significant progress made is marked with a three-quarters full green pie.

Sorry, significant progress made.

That's that green, that green circle.

And then in progress or progress made on alternative action is yellow.

It's about that's a halfway circle.

Not yet started is an empty red circle.

And then I also wanted to note that there are some actions that are considered ongoing.

So those are actions that are part of a department or an agency's core function.

So it's not an action that will ever finish because it will be happening forever.

It is part of the county's core function.

So that's our progress key.

Next slide, please.

So as I mentioned, that ongoing category, about 58 of the 162 actions in the EJ element are part of the county's core function.

So what this pie chart does is it looks like it looks at the remaining actions, so those discrete actions that have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

And there are 104 of those.

Of those, uh about 10%, so 9.6% have been implemented as of this first year.

7.7% show significant progress, 56.7% are in progress, and 26% have not yet been started.

So that is the sort of overview of the implementation status.

And the next slide goes into a little bit more detail.

So this chart, which is also in the report, breaks down our implementation progress by each of the EJ element's seven goal areas.

And in case you don't remember from our presentations before, those are centering environmental justice, that's goal one.

Goal two is reducing pollution and improving air quality.

Goal three is promoting access to public facilities.

Goal four is promoting safe and sanitary homes and neighborhoods.

Goal five is promoting access to healthy food.

Goal six, promoting health and physical activity, and goal seven, promoting civic engagement.

So this report really, I won't go over the whole chart, but the report does reveal progress across all seven of those goal areas.

And importantly, no goal areas in which the county has failed to make any progress.

So while we, you know, we have, like I said, only implemented about 10% of the actions so far.

We're making we have started action in many of these areas.

So that is promising.

And next slide, please.

So a bit about areas where work has not yet started, so those barriers to implementation.

This was often, you know, from the responses that we received from our colleagues across county agencies.

This was because the measure had a practical barrier, or because it wasn't clearly funded or staffed, or because the program priorities have gone a different direction in response to changing needs, so the changing needs of the communities that we serve.

And next slide, please.

I'm going to pass it back to Salustia to talk about some implementation highlights.

Thank you, Ali.

We can begin with action J36E, that encourages multi-use connector trail in the priority communities and is currently in progress.

Public works through the flood control district is partnering with the HARD to develop the San Lorenzo Creekway Trail, which will connect Castro Valley to San Lorenzo.

Funding has been confirmed, and HARD and Public Works are working on a memorandum of understanding for project implementation and a request for proposal for professional design services scheduled to for release in fall 2025.

Next slide, please.

Turning to code enforcement.

Both actions, J42B and J42C, have been implemented.

The CDA's code enforcement team developed an online complaint form available in Spanish, English, and Chinese.

Additionally, they develop an interface within the public portal main start that allows residents to check the status of their cases.

These tools improve transparency, accessibility for the community.

Next slide, please.

Action EJ 43A is a catalyzing action addressing lead poisoning prevention and joint powers authority expansion.

And is currently in progress.

In 2025, the Healthy Homes Department issue a request for a proposal to study a possible ballot measure to expand JPA participation in unincorporated areas.

Next slide, please.

Significant progress has been made in improving access to healthy foods.

Action 51D involves all in Lamida County requesting board of supervisor's approval for a mini grant program to support up to five neighborhood stores committed to offering healthier food and beverage options.

These grants support infrastructure improvements, foster local partnerships, and engage community members in healthy eating activities.

Each grant award is capped at 25,000, and the application window was opened through October 10th, 2025.

Next slide, please.

Action EJ 56A, which is also a catalyzing action, has been implemented.

The all-in-neat circular food economy programs originally incubated by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Deputy Sheriff's Activities League, where a transition to the Alameda County Community Food Bank in 2024 and 2025.

This transition ensures continuity and sustainability through community-based partnerships.

Next slide, please.

All right, so a few more highlights.

Action EJ 6.6A, which is also a catalyzing action, is a commitment by Alameda County Health to prioritize disaggregating health data for the unincorporated areas.

Significant progress has been made on this action.

The public health department has implemented disaggregated race and ethnicity data for the unincorporated areas and is working toward requiring disaggregated data collection from its contractors.

The health status report that you're going to hear next actually features some of this disaggregated data, so you'll get to see that in action shortly.

Next slide.11A is a commitment from AC Health and the Social Services Agency to work with first five to perform a child care needs assessment.

And this measure has been successfully implemented.

First five released its early care and education needs assessment for the unincorporated area in 2024.

And findings from this report are already being applied to the county's child care preschool and early education program and budget.

Next slide.

So let's see, Action EJ 7.1A is a commitment to explore organizational changes, including the possible establishment of an Office of Unincorporated Services.

So this is something I'm sure you're all very familiar with.

You've participated in this process.

This is in progress still in fall of 2025.

Supervisor Miley allocated District 4 funds to engage a consultant to begin to research this project.

And that work will prepare the office for eventual approval by the Board of Supervisors.

So very excited to see that in the works.

And next we've got Action EJ 7.1C, which is a commitment from the county to support the ongoing work of the Ashland Cherryland Healthy Communities Collaborative.

Significant progress has also been made on this action.

In 2024, the ACHCC, as it used to be called, received a grant for organizational development, which it started doing.

It has since rebranded itself, the Eden Area Communities Collaborative, to better reflect the geographies that it serves.

So not just Ashland Cherryland, but also San Lorenzo, Hayward Acres, and Castor Valley.

They've now developed bylaws, they hold regular meetings, they've established subcommittees.

And what I think is really cool is that some of those subcommittees are focused specifically on EJ related tasks or issues like food justice, lead poisoning prevention, and community health worker programs, so promotorist-style programs, and is focusing a lot of its work on those community-driven priorities in the EJ element.

And then our final highlight, next slide, something I hope you're also familiar with.

This is Action EJ 7.4C, another catalyzing action, which is a commitment to pursue change to U.S.

Postal Service place names for the unincorporated area.

This action has been successfully implemented.

This happened in March of this year, or sorry, last year, 2025.

And as a result, Ashland, Cherry Land, Hayward Acres, Fairview, Castro Valley, and San Lorenzo are the official USPS mailing address place names for the unincorporated county.

We've also, you know, back in the spring, we launched an outreach campaign to let the public know about these changes, and we're continuing to work with major service providers like PGE, the DMV, the Assessor's Office or Loma Sanitary District to make sure that they're also aware of these changes so that there's continuity across all of those providers.

Next slide.

So that uh that concludes our highlights.

So we talk a little bit about what is next.

So going into our second year of implementation.

And particularly, I want to note what we're doing as far as EJ implementation goes in this shifting political landscape that we find ourselves in.

So the EJ element was developed between 2021 and 2024, and it was really shaped by the goals and mandates and issues of that time.

So it really focused primarily on things like civic engagement, improving physical and environmental conditions, things in the built environment, et cetera.

So since adoption, of course, as you know, the political and social landscapes have really shifted.

So just as some examples, federal immigration enforcement and ice raids are creating widespread fear, economic disruption, and public health challenges for immigrant and refugee communities, federal legislation and state budget changes, which are expected to reduce the county's health care funding, are really increasing demands on the county's healthcare systems, cuts to our safety net programs, supporting health care and supplemental food access are really impacting the communities here, and cuts to climate, environmental and diversity equity and inclusion, inclusion programs are impacting the work that we're doing here in the EJ element.

So we just wanted to, we wanted to acknowledge that and also to say that as the county and its agencies continue to implement the EJ element, it's going to be very important for us to remain nimble and responsive to those changing needs.

So that we are implementing work that is needed and important and timely.

Next slide, please.

So more on what's next.

What is happening in year two of implementation?

So Celestia mentioned the technical advisory committee.

That's the group of county staff folks who across agencies are implementing the EJ element.

So we're going to strengthen coordination of that group.

We'd like to work to enhance community engagement in EJ implementation, including potentially things like annual EJ community surveys and an annual EJ community meeting.

We are planning to publish an EJ element companion guide, which is a recommendation that came out of our public process as we were developing this, which is basically like an accessible online platform that folks can use to interact with the materials and see progress in closer to real time.

So they don't have to wait a full year to interact with the materials again.

We are interested in working with our colleagues at the public health department who are here today to update some of that baseline data.

So that baseline health data and demographic data in the EJ element because we're coming up on a that five year period.

So it'll be interesting to see how things have changed since we created those reports at the beginning.

Refining our reporting tools, and then again, as I mentioned, balancing the long-term goals of the EJ element with emergent needs.

So with what's happening here in our communities in real time.

And finally, our last slide.

This is the inaugural EJ element implementation status report.

And we think that it demonstrates the county's progress in transitioning the EJ element from planning into action, and the county's commitment to fostering equity, health, and environmental resilience.

Most of the actions are now either underway or already embedded in county operations, which reflects the county's success in institutionalizing environmental justice principles across programs and services.

And this first year has also highlighted the need for us to remain flexible and responsive to external forces that shape the daily realities here in the priority communities in the Eden area.

And then finally, under the board's leadership, the county remains committed to EJ implementation, so to keep it from sitting on the shelf and keep it moving to support the ability of every resident of the unincorporated communities to thrive in a healthy, safe, and inclusive environment.

And that concludes our presentation.

Thanks.

Thank you, Ellie.

I appreciate that where you come back with like an update and a status report while something's in progress because sometimes after we hear once, then it sort of disappears and it's like, whatever happened with that.

So let's see what our board members or council members might have to contribute is suggestions or questions here.

Because what you're looking for is some kind of comments and things to take back with you.

Does anyone have something that they want to start with right off?

Elizabeth?

I'll start.

Um I would just suggest the outreach, because I would imagine most of the people, including myself who live here, other than knowing it through you, I wouldn't know any of these things were happening, right?

So maybe something on the website, we say near me and like a map or something, you can say, Oh, okay.

Um, and maybe like an email list or something like that, so you could keep up.

Um, I mean, I got the thing in the mail about I live in Ashland and but maybe something like that every year, so like I said, just awareness, you know, we know, but we're in the minority probably on that.

So just spreading the word about all the good things you guys are doing.

Um Megan.

Hi.

Thank you for your presentation on this informational item.

Um I don't know, page 12 of this report.

It talks about um connecting the San Lorenzo Creekway Trail to Pastor Valley from K from San Lorenzo, and it talks about RFPs um scheduled to be issued for the fall of 2025.

Do you mean 2026?

And if not, if it's 2025, can you provide more details on what's taking place there?

Yeah, so that's um that's one of the challenges of of reporting several months after we finished our report.

So it did mean fall of 2025 because we finalized or the language of this report, we stopped collecting data for this report in September of 2025.

So I do not have updates uh unless I'm directly involved in a project.

Um we will definitely have updates for you on that when we come to report on this next time.

Um, but meanwhile, I would say if you you know if you have hard coming to report on anything in in the future, the Hayward Area Recreation and Parks district, they would be best placed to give you sort of more up to you know to the minute updates.

Okay, thanks.

And then regarding um the disaggregated data that you were working on getting from page 17.

You mentioned it was going to be kind of shown later.

How is the data being disaggregated?

Is it just solely based on the names of the places that we live or what are we parsing out?

If my colleagues in public health are willing, you could talk about it now or at your item.

Yeah, okay.

So they'll cover that.

Okay.

Yeah, sorry, I I meant to just kind of caution us to if we have questions on the the health status part that they'll make their presentation afterwards.

So um we'll expect a little bit more detail about the health status later, but that's a good question.

Um Diane?

Yes, or thank you, Taylor.

Um I want to follow up on the trails uh piece.

Um, you know, um I'm very passionate about when trails and parks and other kinds of recreational spaces are created that they be accessible to all people with disabilities.

So as we as these projects move forward, um, and whether we hear from heart or what whatever, however this crosses our path, I'd like the planning department to take a look at that piece at some point, um, and and make sure that as these consultants are brought on that um that is a thought point for these folks that they do want to make them accept or we we do want to have a conversation around accessibility.

I have a couple of other things too.

Um, with regard to um the overall planning process, I I wonder um it sounds to me like the low-hanging fruit had a lot to do with what was um implementable uh with regard to funding uh and staff time.

I think I heard that right.

So um the hard stuff is coming, and that leads us to uh a question of the was mentioned about um the challenges to the county in a lot of different ways, including social services, which I care a bit about.

Um I I do think we have to think out of the box when it comes to some of these challenges that the county is going to face, the health care piece uh and some of the social service pieces that intersect with this EJ element are going to be extremely difficult for a while and so I think we're gonna have to think out of the box I'm glad that the uh the the healthy that the um the collaborative uh is also a part of this mix I have run into them before and I think they're a good group of folks so overall I like the direction this is going but uh I I do have some uh future uh touch points thank you uh Taylor do you have anything?

You've been busy uh I echo what Diane said earlier about uh it's nice to see you come back and to see the clear progress that has been made in the area so appreciate you doing that and you know seeing what you've done it's been a clearly quite a bit um I'm just wondering two two questions I know you already talked about the changing landscape and how you're trying to kind of hit a moving target was sort of what I my takeaway was um would love to hear a little bit more about that approach because it's very likely that target will continue to move so while we want to press forward with an output how do we make sure we have an output that can be executed so I'm I'm curious to learn a little bit more about that.

And then along those lines um like the visuals I love and it's great to see kind of you gauging what success would look like and having clear goals around that.

But how do we connect this to the people and the intake that it like to actually intake that effect that we're looking for do we plan how do you get to or what is your future plan to hear back from the people and the community that you are looking to affect I'd love to hear a little bit more about that.

So let's see I'm gonna try to take notes here.

So how do we make sure in this changing landscape that our output can be executed and I think I think so we're asking that question and we're also asking um are the things that are outlined here still priorities or in a changing landscape have priorities change too um so it's sort of both of those questions um and I I think to some of these questions I don't I don't yet have a clear answer.

This is going to be an iterative process um continuing to work with the Edenary communities collaborative which really you know are the direct service providers who are doing service directly in the community with community members to hear what they're hearing from their you know the folks that they that they serve um and uh and then working together as we continue to work with those county agencies that are part of this as well to um you know to try to be realistic about in this scenario so you know where where do we have the low hanging fruit where do we have you know staff where do we have money already and where we don't um how can we pool our resources even if it's just our staff time to to identify priorities and really push for the priorities that that we're hearing from our community partners are are the highest um and then that kind of goes to your second question which is how do we connect to the people and I in my opinion the community engagement piece in this year has been the weakest.

So I I think we are um the first year of anything is a challenge and we've been trying to figure out how how do we get all of our colleagues you know how how do we get information from all of our colleagues about the really vast amount of work that they do.

Like this is not just the planning department there's a ton of work that is happening in all throughout the county um and we are not the experts in that area so how do we get that information synthesize it and do it in a way that doesn't overwhelm them when they're already trying to serve the community and you know make the the most out of their limited resources.

So we spent a lot of time on that this year.

Um, and I think that I'm hoping that one of the things that's going to come out of the next year is um a deeper focus on okay, now how do we really connect now that we have a better sense of like what we're doing and how we're doing it, how do we connect people to it?

Um so TBD, but it is a priority.

Well, again, very much appreciate what you're doing.

I think my th my two thoughts then hearing that a bit more is just um and apologies if it's I'm sure it's already in your mind.

But um, how does what we're creating stand the length of time and not feel immediately stale?

Because this is an investment in a product of any form, you know, an output that we want to be able to exercise and use.

And so, I mean, we already have quite a diversity of goals, but then just be mindful that they're like um from diverse perspectives as well as financing and other categories, so even if the landscape change so drastically that there is still something that would be valuable and to speak to, uh, and then uh it would be great to see the people affect before, during and after at all phases in the timeline because this is the planning phase to your point.

Uh, but measuring it at the end, we can see that the project's completed, but did the public what was their feedback?

Did they appreciate it?

Did they value it?

Because that's who we're serving.

So thank you.

Okay.

Um this was this is so useful.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

First thing I'm gonna ask is I personally don't want to wait a year to have this conversation again.

So I'll come back to that in terms of my feedback.

I've got about six items.

I'll try and be quick.

But just what jazzes me is um this is almost like a state of the unincorporated areas of Alameda County, and I think it's so useful, and so here's my feedback.

Um, on the contributing agencies, I saw 11 listed.

Is there a reason the fire department wasn't listed there?

They don't have any specific measures under the EJ element.

Um, so that's the main reason.

They do have measures under other parts of the general plan.

So, for example, um, the community climate action plan, the safety element, et cetera.

But um, they did not have I don't think they had any in the EJ element.

Okay, and then related to as a lead, yeah.

Got it.

What about for hard?

So this is uh another so interesting when you start to uh look at the services that people depend on in the unincorporated area, and you start to sort of parse out which ones are under the control of the board of supervisors and which ones are not.

So hard, as you know, is a special district, uh, they have their own board of supervisors.

So while we collaborate with them, and they're definitely part of this, and they they did uh participate in the process and they'll continue to participate.

Um there they their participation is as a as a partner agency um as a as a collaborator, not as a body that's um subject to control of the county board of supervisors.

Essentially, the the board of supervisors can tell us as county agencies what to do, but we can't tell special districts like the school district or hard, which are really important here, but are not part of the county, can't tell them what to do.

So, thank you for here's my feedback on that.

I think there's an opportunity to include some of these partner organizations at a minimum from a checks and balances standpoint.

It seems that everything has been self-reported, makes sense, you want to hear from the experts, but our nation was founded on checks and balances.

I think in every sphere of business, politics, you name it, there's always value there.

And especially when they co-own some of the action items, because I also had some questions around the um the trails because that was pretty exciting to see, but it's not involved directly necessarily.

So that's my first feedback point there.

Um, and then frequency.

So just coming back to not hoping to not see you a year from now.

I heard you say that data cutoff data collection cutoff is September.

When did you begin the data collection process?

We started in like March or April.

So it took it took about six months for us to collect all of the data.

And I think now that we have a system in place for that, it will be a lot more efficient.

Um so I hope it'll take less time.

Uh but yeah, it was a lot of what Celestia was doing when she first started here at the county.

I mean, you're you're building the plane and flying it, makes total sense.

When you say a system in place, is it a combination of technology and process?

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

So because familiarity?

I would say also from our partners, yeah.

That makes a lot of sense.

So please please take my second feedback or third feedback item just around with a more efficient system.

Maybe let's go.

Can we aim for quarterly?

Like what whatever the right number is.

Because this is good.

And I don't think we should wait a full year to have some of these updates and conversations.

Third feedback point or fourth.

In terms of making sure this is holistic, because again, it's a really good broad overview.

Can I assume that?

Well, I don't want to assume I'll ask.

We did a pretty extensive budget prioritization exercise into last year led by the supervisor's office.

Is that going to be looked at or included, or is that treated as separate?

How are you approaching that?

So we do um talk a bit about that in the EJ element.

So I believe it was in um, I don't remember the specific number, but it was in goal seven, which is civic engagement.

There was a section that was around community input in the budget process.

Um at this point, um, that process that that supervisor, I think it was Supervisor Miley's office was leading that process.

Um, implement and supervisor champ, okay.

Um, is actually implementing some of the actions in the EJ element itself and how those things are going to talk to each other back and forth, we don't know yet.

Um, but it is mentioned in the report, um, at least where it stood as of September.

And I know a lot happened between September and I think most of the meetings were October.

The big Mac meeting was November.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So more to come on that in the next report, definitely.

Okay, good.

And then similarly, um, when I think about what's happening at Bayfair with some of the housing and the transit related work, is that factored into this as well?

Yeah, so um Bayfair, so that those are our colleagues that are, you know, that are working on that project.

So we're we're familiar with it, although not working on it directly.

Um I don't yet know how much that's going to play into the EJ process.

I do expect that um, so the climate action plan, which is coming back to um hopefully go up for adoption fairly soon, um, is I expect that a lot of that work will live more in the climate action plan.

Um noted and I'll keep keep an eye out for how we might loop it in.

That's good enough, thank you.

And then the action EJ5.1E references an economic development strategic plan.

Um expected by the end of last year.

So similar to that RFP question with the trails, uh, where is that?

Uh I don't know the status of that.

Those are our colleagues in economic and civic development.

Um so I could let them know that you're interested in hearing more about it.

Yes, please.

Cool.

And then two more things.

Um, you've got EJ7.3B on multi-language access.

I'm wondering if this is, well, I'm wondering if it's contradictory.

It's listed as not started, but I know that the supervisor's office is looking into coming up with a policy.

Do you know about that?

I am aware that their thoughts about developing a policy.

I think when we when we talked to them about reporting on this item, it was still sort of in the noodling phase.

Um, so maybe not ready to report on yet.

We're aware of it.

Um, and I think can you remember if we've added more notes on that since we're we're still, this is one of the things that we're doing now is collecting notes.

Yeah.

So we, yeah, we don't think we know.

We know that it is happening.

We know that that is uh something that they're talking about, but we don't have any more information on it at this point.

Okay.

Yeah, we we've been requesting it for several months, and we'll request it again at the end of this meeting.

So please note it through that channel as well.

Yes.

And then I echo, I think it was um Elizabeth Stanley who just talked about distribution being important.

I took note of your comment about community input being the weakest element for this year.

Again, this language access policy and getting it started and implemented, even if it's in phases, it's going to be so valuable.

And if I could add starting with these meetings, translation devices for people that are joining in person and speak Spanish or Chinese, any of those top two or three languages that are in the next report we're going to hear from.

So thank you.

If I may, I wanted to add, um, I know Susia mentioned this, but we are um in the process, it it's everything is a process, but uh, we're in the process of getting access to this countywide contract for translation, which is going to enable us to translate the entire EJ element into Spanish.

It'll be the first um general plan document of the county that has ever been fully translated into Spanish.

So we're very excited about that.

And it's going to be also a fully accessible um ADA accessible PDF, which is something that we're also working towards.

Well done, and thank you.

I'm working on it, yeah.

And I'm sorry that this report is also is not also in Spanish, but we're chipping away at it.

It's a start.

I saw your one page summary, and it's in Spanish, so thank you.

Okay, anyone else?

All right, I just have a couple I have to push harder on the trails, because this came up before about Sky West, which technically is in Hayward, except that it's right on our border, and we don't stop roads, you know, at a at a city and county line.

I don't understand why why it's such a a big deal that we can't work with the city of Hayward to get the trail from the unincorporated side to continue on through Hayward and go past that sky west area.

I mean, everything says that we work together.

Uh actually I meant to ask um the cities have the same kind of environmental justice um requirements, right?

Because this comes from the state.

So it just makes sense to me.

If you have open space here and open space here, why are two people, you know, city counties, whatever wouldn't just connect them.

Why would they say, no, you stop your open space there, and we're gonna build a building here and we're gonna put our open space somewhere else.

I it just I mean, I know it's a diplomatic kind of job, but it just seems to make sense to me where there's already open space adjoining that we can't work together and make it continue.

Um I know Charles keeps coming up and it came up once before, but it just seems logical that a trail would continue through an inincorporated area into the city next to it.

Um and then I had another thought on this is on page 13 about the multiple languages and code enforcement and having a code enforcement um a complaint form or something, but the mobile citizen is an app.

Now I don't know where it comes from, but if that was in multiple languages, it's it's very useful.

I've used it before in public work seems to get the message and get gives me a response.

But if something like that could be um also done in multiple languages, it seems like it would be helpful.

Yeah, I can check the status of that.

I believe that modal mobile citizen is a public works agency app, um, and they forward the complaints to planning if they're code enforcement related.

If people come directly to our code enforcement form, it's in three languages right now.

Um I don't know about mobile citizens like language translation capabilities, but that's something I could bring up.

Okay.

Um, then the other thing is um maybe more of a question, but on on page 19 where you're talking about um centralized office of unincorporated services.

I think the there's a budget committee process or budget budget process committee, and they've also mentioned it.

I mean, it seems to be kind of nebulous as about what exactly it is, a physical place or uh a virtual interaction, but you're working with them, so you're coming up with the same that concept will be the same throughout, right?

Yeah, so um their supervisor Miley's office has hired uh consultant to do a deep dive into what it might look like.

Uh, I don't know the status, but I expect they'll probably be coming around and reporting um to the Macs at some point when they get farther along with that.

So there will definitely be more detail coming on that.

Okay, but I don't have it personally.

Okay, and then sorry, but I got some things on the details that you gave us besides the presentation.

There is a whole section with details.

And I had a few things on there.

Let me see if I can figure that, find them quickly here.

Um, because something was not oh, even started.

Oh, like um, I'm looking now at shoot, what am I looking at?

Pollution and air quality.

Um, the urban greening master plan, and oh, establishing the a canopy, you know, baseline.

We should do that now, right?

And we should be keeping what we have now, but we're not.

We're cutting down what we PGE's cutting down trees, and I don't know if they're working with the county or not, but we don't seem to know when it's happening.

We just drive by and see them cutting down a tree and oh yeah, PGE's cutting it down.

So I think some of these things maybe have to be accelerated.

That one I actually have good news about because I am working on that one directly.

So we got a Calfire grant to complete an or a comprehensive urban forest plan and tree inventory for the unincorporated area.

Um it was on hold for a bit because of IRA funding issues, um, which you're all aware of.

Um the freezes the funding has been unfrozen.

We are in the process of um of looking for consultants to do that work, and I expect that we'll onboard those consultants within the next month or so, and then we will start that process in earnest.

So we will be doing a comprehensive community-based urban forest plan.

Um I will definitely be back to you to talk about that specifically.

Um, and we're gonna want a lot of community engagement.

We actually have money to pay uh community members to participate in that process.

So we're really excited about that.

That is happening soon.

Okay.

Yeah, because there is just some things seem like we like we shouldn't.

They should not be in a not started status at this point because yeah, we're good losing ground.

I left it at the started, I think, because uh we we haven't technically begun the process.

Yeah, we have the funding, but we'll have a lot more to report on that one in the next the next report.

Okay, so maybe let's see if that was most of what I had.

Oh, I had one need to start now.

What is this one?

Let me see.

The county will uh consult the city of Hayward, oh, and the executive airport and review activities and emissions estimates for the facility.

This is way down on page nine page nine of the detailed report.

It seems like we need to start that like now.

It says it's not started yet, but Hayward's already figuring out what to do with that Sky West property and what they're gonna do with the airport, and they'll be all done planning what they're gonna do before we even start trying to figure out you know how it's gonna affect us in the unincorporated area.

So, just some of those that I think it needs to start like yesterday.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

I think that's um I think that's about that's all I will go over now, but some of the things further down, I just think we need to jump on.

Okay, um, let me let's see if there's any comments from um the public first, and then we'll do the health status part.

I've got potentially three speakers.

Um, what do you want the three minutes okay?

Three minutes.

Yeah, thank you.

All right.

First up, Michael Moore.

Thank you.

I'd like to echo the comments from the board, and that I think this really is a wonderful tool.

I think it will tell us what to be doing.

It is, in fact, because I've unfortunately read it now.

Um it is a record of everything that has happened in Alameda County since I've lived here, which was 1990, in its various parts and pieces.

What I discovered after I read it was that you really have to start with the beginning at the end.

That's part seven, where you have a whole lot of things that are not started, and these are the fundamental things.

The other thing that you have to factor in is what's got cut out, because there's no funding for it.

It says that in the report as of September, there was no funding for it.

We all know that there is definitely no funding until there's change in Washington, DC, and California gets back its money.

The most important thing I think that I have learned about this process is that there were a couple of questions that weren't answered.

There's this word called priority community.

I don't know who that is.

Because it isn't just Eden, and it isn't just the Mac.

It is an entity that is devoted to being identified and supported, which is directly counter to the current federal guidelines on how we're doing things.

So unless we stand up and fight back, none of this is gonna happen.

I would encourage all of the board to stand up.

And as your chairman said, do it now.

There is no time to wait.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

We'll move on to Sandra Arculetta or Tiletta.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Um, I have to agree with a lot of what's been said already around community engagement.

I think it's so important.

But I also think we really do have the infrastructure within the groups, uh, like the Ashland Community Association, we have Wilmachan, we have Reach, we have like a really good network of community members that are ready to do a lot of that community engagement work.

I know that we and SLAM have worked with a lot of the different agencies already to um implement this, and so I'm actually thinking that we are not as far away from these goals as it may seem, because from the community engagement side, we have built those infrastructures and they have been.1b, where um you guys talk about the youth commission, and um I guess it says that the decision was to put um some youth leaders in an existing structure, which that's great, but I just really don't feel like it's enough.

I think that a youth commission that really um one creates a pipeline for these MAC seats and for these commissions is important because if you establish a youth commission, then when these open positions come up, you'll have people that have some experience in the uniqueness of unincorporated area committees that does not really exist in other places in the county, right?

And so one, it would really benefit for just establishing that pipeline, but also as someone that works with a lot of youth.

I think a lot of you have seen my youth leaders coming to the meetings, especially around the budget process that's been our latest um kind of campaign.

You know, these youth leaders have so much to say and so much to contribute that I think that we should really capitalize on really something that they really enjoy.

I hear a lot of them when you guys tell them like, oh, it's great to see youth leaders.

Like that really matters a lot to them.

So I feel like there's momentum for that right now, and I would love to work with anybody that wants to move that forward because that for us is really important, and we will be advocating for that.

So I encourage you to really work on establishing an unincorporated youth commission to really serve the needs of the community because we also have a huge population of young people in this area.

Thank you.

Mimi Dean.

Hi, it's Mimi Dean, and um, it's great to see everybody with the Mac.

And um, I'm just gonna talk a little bit about this.

Sorry, guys, I had surgery and I really want to come tonight, and I just couldn't make it.

Um, you know, we were really great that we got um when when I was on the Mac that we got the Hayward Executive Airport and we got all their stuff in the environmental justice element because it really is true that the airport has a lot of effects and impacts on the San Lorenzo community in addition to the Northwest Hayward communities.

Um I have been doing a lot of research, you know.

I'm kind of like one of the leaders of the Save Sky West movement, and I've been doing a lot of research um on the Hayward City Council's the Haywards website as well as the airport's website, and I have uncovered quite a few things.

I'm gonna tell you one of the most recent things I uncovered, which I feel is a major environmental justice issue.

I found um something in this 2011 layout plan report that um Sky West Golf Course was put in as a buffer zone for the community of San Lorenzo, and so any development that gets done on the golf course completely goes against you know the golf course being a buffer zone for the community of San Lorenzo, right?

So um I did a really great presentation last night at the San Lorenzo Library, and it was standing room only.

We had about 50 or 60 people there.

It was absolutely incredible, multi-generational, multicultural, and I'm doing another presentation on Monday um February 23rd at six o'clock.

And you know what, you guys, if you want me to come and do a presentation about all the different stuff I've learned and how it relates to the Eden Mac and how it relates to our communities, I would love to come in and do my presentation at the Eden Mac.

I think it'd be really important.

Um, so that's just kind of where I am, and I'm glad we're moving along with the environmental justice element.

We've got um we've got a lot of different environmental groups who are very supportive of saving Sky West and keeping it as a buffer zone for San Lorenzo.

And um, I hope somebody will reach out to me.

I think you've all got my phone number and my um email.

Sadly, I didn't have everybody's phone number.

So if Randy is still there, maybe he'll give you my phone number.

All right.

Thanks, thanks you guys.

Keep up the good work.

Good night.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh Anna Risquiza.

Good evening.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yay, okay.

Okay.

Good evening.

My name is Anna Rasquiza.

I'm the director of community development at Resources for Community Development.

And I wanted to call in this evening to thank uh CDA, specifically Ali and Seleucia for your thoughtful presentation.

I wanted to express gratitude for the EJ element as a body, and the county's work to so smoothly transition from adoption to implementation.

As we know, this is a report that's not meant to sit on a shelf.

It's meant to like move the dial and change conditions in the community.

And the county has done a great job of transitioning the focus to implementing the element and the plan and making these action items happen.

It's a powerful tool for the unincorporated community and specifically for the Eden area.

It's so helpful to have a tool that identifies and tracks the county's work, advancing the environmental justice, specifically within an intersectional lens and a holistic lens, acknowledging that civic engagement, access to basic needs, youth participation and shaping our community conditions are elements of environmental justice and that these things go hand in hand.

We're also thankful for the acknowledgement on the county's part of the continued need uh to deepen community engagement and excited to partner with the county on continuing to deepen the community engagement with the environmental justice element.

Ultimately, we're so thankful to have a tool and a plan that has been endorsed by both the county and the community.

And we're excited to work with the county to continue to advance that work.

I personally find that almost every single day in my work, I encounter an issue where I'm so thankful that I can remind people, hey, this is in the EJ element.

Like this is something that's been agreed to.

This is something the county's on board with, this is something the community's on board with, um, and that's something that's really powerful to be able to remind people of as we work on this uh moving forward.

So I'm thankful for that and I'm thankful for this evening's presentation and the um report that goes along with it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Michael Freedom.

Hi, good evening.

Uh, this is Michael Freed.

I'm from Cherryland and uh uh past member of the council.

And uh really appreciate uh I was gonna come on and uh just remind the council they should at least look at or pay attention to the um presentation that was uh at your in the same location that you're in now um last night from Mimi Dean and do appreciate everything she just finished saying that we really have to move this along and now if we're gonna call this a tool that we can use, the EJ element being implemented regardless of how much money is involved with it or whether it's got to be put on hold for the next couple of years.

I think that's it's gonna be, you know, not enough.

Um too little too late if we don't act now and really implement the thing and get it uh put the teeth in it that it really deserves to have and push back on all these boundary disputes that we have over like Sky West and just saying, well, it belongs to Hayward.

No, it really doesn't.

It belongs to the Eden community, which includes Hayward, Hayward Acres, Cherry Land, Ashland, San Lorenzo.

All of us on this little beltway of unincorporated really need to have that as first efforts, not nice to have if you have the money for it later.

So I'm just gonna encourage the uh council to really investigate it and keep looking.

Um if you if you can't find um connections with these uh other agencies, like Ray was mentioning that he would like to see more uh cohesiveness and interaction and bringing forth reports uh more in a timely manner rather than just every year.

I really appreciate that.

I think that's something that should be on the front burner as you know, primary on the agenda, having a uh report out every every quarter, whatever.

Anyway, I do appreciate all the work you've been doing.

I do have one concern is that you're still down to six members, and I think you really need to have the full compliment to represent all of our communities.

Um, so I'd encourage you to um encourage other people to sign up and become a member, um, become a councilman, council person.

Um I know it's all advisory only, but I think we need to take whatever advice we can and push it forward to the upper levels where the implementation can actually be implemented and get the work done, which should have been done as um was stated earlier uh by your chair.

Um should have been done yesterday, and that's where I'd like to encourage you to really have umy dean's uh group, um Save Sky West group come and make a presentation and the urgency of it is it should be implemented as of yesterday or two weeks ago, or whenever, but um, it really needs to come forward.

Thank you for your time.

Do appreciate all the work you're doing.

Thank you, Brooklyn Marcado.

Brooklyn.

Oh, sorry, can you hear me okay?

Yes, okay, perfect.

Um, I just wanted to highlight what Sandra said earlier.

I really do appreciate all of the work you've done.

Um, especially with the post offices, you know, getting each unincorporated area like their name on that.

That's really helpful and beneficial, specifically for you know, U.S.

Census data collection and things like that.

Um, I just really wanted to emphasize that the youth advisory council getting kind of sweeped into Alameda County count, like their advisory council as a whole feels kind of not the best.

We really believe that unincorporated the communities should have their own youth advisory council are unincorporated youth.

They face a lot of different circumstances than the county as a whole.

Um so really just want to push that forward.

Um, I work with the youth here in unincorporated Alameda County.

Um, and yeah, I just wanted to highlight that and hopefully moving forward we can look into different solutions to get the youth more involved.

And I know somebody else also just mentioned, you know, getting no new people on the um Mac as a whole, and you know, maybe even consider getting some like youth seats on the board.

Um, just throwing that out there as an idea.

Um, but yeah, really appreciate all the work you're doing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Lastly, we have Rennie Waggy.

I wasn't going to speak, but now I'm up here.

Um I do like what you said about the trails.

We really should get cracking on that.

What you need to do is get Hayward Rec here.

Michael was in charge of it.

I forget his last name, but yeah, you should get them to report for you guys.

And the other thought too would be um, maybe even someday you'll get East Bay Regional Park District, because we would like the East Bay Regional Park District to take over Sky West so maybe our representative could come here and kind of talk about East Bay Regional Park District, and we could actually ask her questions about hey, we really would like your board to consider Sky West, and it's up to the city of Hayward, too.

Um, and yeah, I love Sky West.

I mean, we all know that.

Uh Mimi's presentation was amazing yesterday.

We did have a ton of people.

So hopefully, with that momentum, we can save Sky West.

What she's saying about it being a buffer, that's pretty damn cool and pretty important.

I mean, we have all our houses right by the airport, so that is a nice buffer.

Also, I'm just gonna uh give this to Ray really quick.

This is Mimi's phone number.

She wants you to have it, she told me that.

So if you want to pass it down, that's fine.

Um, anyway, good meeting.

Uh, enjoy the rest of it.

I'm gonna be going pretty soon.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There are no other speakers.

Right.

So let's go on to this additional part of this report.

Um, and here from the uh county county health.

Diane, quick question.

Does that mean the previous presenters are leaving?

Or is it no?

Uh good evening, council members.

Uh thank you for uh the flexibility with the agenda.

Um, I'm Dr.

Nicholas Moss, Alameda County Health Officer.

My colleagues, Sandy Galvez, Director of Health Equity Policy and Planning, and Dr.

Julia Rafeman, Director of the Community Assessment Planning and Evaluation Team are here with me from the Alameda County Public Health Department to share a health status report for the priority communities identified in the environmental justice element of the county general plan.

The EJ element embodies the commitment of Alameda County to identify and collaboratively improve conditions that contribute to health inequities in communities within the unincorporated county.

And objective EJ 6.6b of the EJ element requires our department to provide the Board of Supervisors an update on the health status of the county and of the EJ priority communities every three years.

Tonight's presentation is adapted from that report, which will go to the county supervisors in February.

The Alameda County Public Health Department monitors the health of county residents through the analysis of data reported to us, including birth and death data and communicable disease activity, data from our own service programs, and local hospitalization data available from the state, as well as publicly available population health and social data.

We use that information to support the development of programs and policies that advance the health of county residents, particularly those experiencing poor health outcomes driven by social inequities.

Tonight's report will draw on this work.

I'll just review the agenda briefly.

We'll cover some demographic information.

Again, this will encompass both the county as a whole and the priority communities from the EJ element.

We'll review conditions that impact health outcomes.

We'll look at data on health inequities and life expectancy as well as by race and as well as by race and ethnicity across the county, and we'll share some conclusions and key findings.

And with that, I'll turn things over to my colleague Sandy Galvez.

Good evening, Commission, Council members.

Thank you for having us.

So I'm going to be starting to provide some context, sharing a bit on the demographics of the people that live in Alameda County and in this EJ area.

So we are fortunate to have an incredibly diverse population in Alameda County.

Latinos at 23%, African Americans at almost 10%, multiracial people at 5%, Pacific Islanders at 0.80%, and American Indians at 0.2% of the population.

The population of the EJ area is also incredibly diverse, but looks a little bit different than that of our county as a whole.

The Asian white and multiracial populations are smaller than they are in the county as a whole.

While Pacific Islander and Alaskan American Indian Alaska Native are larger than their counter percentages, and the Latino population is significantly larger at almost 42%.

And there's also a great deal of diversity within each of these groups.

And when there is data available to look at those further, we also see very different rates across both social and health indicators.

And if you can go to the next slide.

Sorry, let me just go back to that.

So a lot of, you know, our immigration, immigrant population comes from Asia, set followed by Latin America, Europe, Africa, and others.

And then if you can go to the next slide, we had a little bit on the languages spoken in our county.

Spanish is Spanish is the most common language, followed by Chinese, and then other non-English spoken languages are hint, most after that are Tagalog, Hindu, and Urdu, and then various other languages with smaller percentages.

Next slide.

So next I'll be sharing some data on the conditions that impact health.

And I wanted to do this because health trends are shaped very much, not just by the result of individual behaviors and risk factors, but also they're deeply influenced by what happens to people within the physical, social, and economic environment that in which they live their lives.

The opportunities that they have as well as the challenges they face are shaped by those factors at every stage of our lives.

So next slide.

These current inequities have deep-seated roots, beginning with the early history of our state and of our county.

Nonwhite people in our county have faced overlapping structural barriers created by discriminatory and violent practices and policies throughout the 19th and 20th century that continue to impact health outcomes for our residents.

Early practices of enslavement, removal, and relocation of non-white people that were present throughout the expanding US and impacted the early history of California and of our county and have left lasting legacies of trauma and mistrust in government that continue to impact many communities.

As the state continued to develop, many communities of color, but especially black African-American people experienced often government-sanctioned forms of discrimination either through explicit policies or through lack of protections when they were harmed.

Policies led to segregation, exclusion from public spaces and educational opportunities, and often left these communities to be targets of violence and criminalization.

Housing and property ownership is really the most accessible pathway for intergenerational wealth building in our country, both that you can pass on the property and the value that it's increased to future generations.

You can also leverage the value to finance educational and business opportunities, both for current and future generations.

However, historic policies and practices have limited these opportunities for many people in our country.

Early policies and practices in our state and even early on in our county, sanctioning property theft, forced segregation and often violence, leading into more civilized things in the 19th and 20th century, like racially restricted covenants that forbade the passing of property to non-white people or the selling of property to non-white people, and redlining that limited the availability of federally backed home loans to non-white people, both simultaneously expanded pathways to the middle class for a lot of people in our country and also limited it for others.

And while now these practices are illegal, these and future land use policies have created conditions that still impact the economic status of today, and we'll share a little more data about that in a moment.

Sorry.

And educational inequities were often very closely tied to property values, and as I've already spoken about the different investments in different kinds of communities, this resulted in the same access to the quality of education that different communities have.

And although we've, you know, recently in 2013, there's the local control funding formula, which restored some of the local funding lost in the state after the passage of Prop 13, it has also shown to and has helped shown to help close some of the achievement gaps, where also there's a lot of over of um disparities to still overcome.

And lastly, intersectional inequalities.

So people who straddle various intersecting identities often experience worse health identities, health inequities.

We won't be sharing a lot of that data today since we had to limit the amount of data we could show.

But coupled with the structural inequities faced by sexual minorities and people with disabilities, racial health inequities often get even deeper.

And then lastly, as we spoke as has been said already, you know, current changes to federal policies and rhetoric will also worsen population health and access to opportunities that will lead to more health inequities.

Next slide.

So we're going to share some slides related to poverty.

Poverty is highly correlated with a myriad of poorer health outcomes.

Following the historical injustices that limited economic prosperity opportunities for many people, it's not surprising that poverty status is very heavily correlated with race.

And in our county, African Americans are two and a half times more likely to live in poverty than our white residents.

And for children, this correlation is even more stark, with African American children being seven times more likely to live in poverty than white children.

And in the next slide, we see that we we show the comparing the racial breakdown of poverty in our county to the EJ area.

We have insufficient numbers to be able to show the percentages for Pacific Islanders and American Indian populations, although our estimates for the PI population is much higher is higher than 27%, and for American Indians at about 5%.

And so we have we kind of see similar patterns, and then African American populations continue to have the highest levels of poverty, with multiracial people having the lowest in the EJ area.

Next slide.

Another way to look at poverty is by how it spread geographically, and was mentioned earlier, areas like Oakland received a lot of immigrants as well as black populations migrating from the south during the early 20th century.

And then as these populations grew and municipalities developed, there were several generations of policies aimed at restricting upward mobility.

So we see these concentrations of poverty today.

Next slide.

Another strong predictor of health status over the course of one's life is related to educational opportunities and you know it leads to employment, housing, wealth accumulation opportunities.

And in this slide, we see rates of non-completion of high school disaggregated by race for the school year 22-23.

And you'll notice that yes, we see very similar, we see very stark inequities with Pacific Islanders having significantly lower rates, higher rates of not completing high school compared to others.

I didn't, I'm sorry, this is not the slide I was expecting to see.

So next slide.

Sorry, it looks like I'm missing some of my notes here.

Oh, here we go.

So the another we're also looking at this data by the by the geography.

So we, you know, looking at all of the cities in our county and then split up all the EJ areas.

We see lower levels of high school completion in several areas in the EJ area compared to the county overall and to other cities.

The county's overall rate is 92%, while the EJ area is almost 86%.

And then within the EJ area, there's a lot of variability with cherry land having the lowest rate at 72%.

Next slide.

A related measure for predicting economic prosperity and health status over the life course is looking at the percentages of young people who are neither in school or employed.

And the highest percentages and much higher than the county average shown at the bottom is that in Hayward Acres, followed by Cherryland, with Hayward Acres having almost 18% of its youth, neither in school nor employed.

Next slide.

Other key measures related to both poverty and health are those having to do with housing.

And so this graph focuses on overcrowding.

Once again, we show the some of the EJ areas in darker colors, and 13% of people in the EJ area are communities that live in overcrowded homes.

And it's actually like 1.8 times the overcrowding of the county overall.

And this is particularly worse in Cherryland, Hayward Acres, and Ashland.

At the bottom of the slide, you'll see the comparison of the county average, which is 7.4% versus the EJ area, which is at 13%.

And next slide.

Also looking at overcrowding by race and ethnicity, and then comparing those between the county and the EJ area.

Following the previous side, we see higher percentages of overcrowding across all populations that live in the EJ area, with the exception of American Indian populations.

And then within the populations, they're nearly seven times more likely to live in overcrowded Latinos are much are much more likely to live in overcrowded housing relative to white people.

Next slide.

The final set related to housing that we'll look at is for severely rent burdened households.

And severe rent burden is defined as spending over 50% of a family's income on rent.

And overall in our county, it's very expensive.

And overall in our county Pacific Islander populations are the most severely rent burdened, and American Indians are the least.

And in the EJ area, which is the bar the red bars, there is little difference in the racial composition of households facing severe rent burden.

So everybody in the EJ area is fairly severely rent burdened equally.

And we're not able to look at the data for Pacific Islanders or American Indians in the EJ area because the numbers are small.

Next slide.

So another social connection condition that contributes to health outcomes is health coverage.

We've got you all spoke a little bit about Medi-Cal.

This slide shows the percentage of our county's population who have their health coverage covered by Medi-Cal.

It's crit, you know, it's critical to preventing illness, injury, and premature mortality for the whole population and especially for those that are affected by inequities.

30% of our county's residents rely on Medi-Cal for their health insurance coverage, which is approximately 500,000 people in our county.

Nearly 40% of African American residents in our county and more than 50% of Latino residents rely on Medi-Cal.

It's also very important for children's health, paying for services for underserved children with chronic conditions and complex health needs, as well as their preventative health care overall, which is very critical for promoting health.

28% of medical enrollees in our county are children, and 27% of births in our county are covered by Medical.

More than 50% of births to African American and Latino residents are covered by Medi-Cal.

Medical also supports older adults and people with disabilities, and over 64,000 residents age 65 and older in our county are covered by Medi-Cal.

Seniors face barriers to employment and alternate coverage options.

So they're very reliant on this source of health care.

Also 85% of our population of the homeless population in our county relies on Medi-Cal.

And so changes in Medi-Cal at the federal level will are already having and will continue to have severely impact the availability of medical coverage for populations in our county.

The last two slides that I'll cover will be related to physical environmental conditions that impact health.

So this slide shows the amount of access that residents in the county have to open access parks.

And this kind of access is critical, not only for recreation, but it also supports both physical and mental health by providing opportunities for physical activity, relaxation.

And as you can see, the EJ area has fewer green areas, which are the areas that designate the parks.

The next slide, if you if you can go to it.

Related to parks is tree coverage.

So not all trees are connected to parks, but trees are obviously a part of parks.

And they're very important because they contribute to protection from and prevention of extreme heat.

Also, help clean the air, which is especially important in areas with a lot of exposure to air pollutants.

And is as you all know, residents in the EJ area are especially susceptible to this since they are both exposed to pollution from the three freeways and have and then have limited access to the parks and trees.

So that's the last slide that I'll cover.

I'm going to turn it over to my colleague, Dr.

Rafman, who'll cover the health data.

Thank you.

Good evening, everyone.

I thank you to the council for your leadership and contributing to developing the environmental justice element and for the privilege of presenting this evening.

Thank you to everyone who's participating and your for your thoughtful comments and questions.

I'm the director of community assessment planning and evaluation, the data and evaluation group for the public health department.

And just as my colleague Sandy presented on health status for the county as a whole and for the environmental justice area, I'll present data on both sets of populations.

But to the question on disaggregation, if there are any data that you see that are not disaggregated in a way that you would find helpful, we are glad to follow up with additional information.

Before I go into my slides, I just want to share that unfortunately we see patterns of stark inequities in health indicators in the county by race and ethnicity as well and in the environmental justice area.

And we take very seriously the importance of using these data to inform better.

So thank you for participating in this conversation and all the work that is to come.

Next slide, please.

This figure depicts life expectancy over time in Alameda County and California and in the United States.

In Alameda County, we benefit from higher life expectancy relative to California and the United States, thanks to evidence-based and equity oriented policy leadership in the public health department and in our community and our community's commitment to protecting each other.

We had less of a decline in life expectancy here in Alameda County during the COVID-19 pandemic relative to California and the United States, and we've seen continued improvement on life expectancy since then.

And next slide, please.

Unfortunately, we see that not all populations in Alameda County benefit from that higher life expectancy.

So this figure depicts life expectancy over time by race and ethnicity.

Prior to the pandemic, there was a large 13-year gap in life expectancy by race and ethnicity that grew to 16 years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it remains larger today at nearly 15 years.

We have seen that most populations have started to recover life expectancy since the height of the pandemic, but that life expectancy recovery has been lower for the African American black population.

I think what this highlights is that there is there are these concentrated inequities, really stark inequities by race and ethnicity in our county, and that the challenges like economic hardship and health crises can exacerbate those inequities.

So as we see new challenges on the horizon now, and already here now, that may again exacerbate inequities.

Next slide, please.

This figure depicts life expectancy by city and place across the county.

And you can see the environmental justice area, EJ area is in red.

The rest of the county is in pink.

Next slide, please.

This figure is a map that depicts the same data and also adds some granularity with Oakland regions, 10 different regions of Oakland.

And we can see correlation between structural drivers of health and health inequities.

If we look at indicators in the regions with the highest and lowest life expectancies.

If you can click.

Here you can see in Piedmont, just 3.8% of the population lives in poverty.

The rate of overcrowding in homes is nearly zero, and nearly 99% of the population graduated from high school.

And they have a very high life expectancy of 87.7 years.

In contrast, next slide, please.

In Hayward Acres, 10% of people live in poverty, 16% live in overcrowded homes, and 79% of the population graduated from high school, and that's the lowest life expectancy at 75.2 years.

And then if you can click again.

Here we see another example of the Elmhurst region of Oakland, where 16% of the population lives in poverty, 15% live in crowded homes, and just 70% of the population graduated from high school.

And here again, we have a low life expectancy of 76.2 years.

If we look at race and ethnicity, the Piedmont population is predominantly white and Asian, while the Hayward acres and Elmhurst populations are predominantly Hispanic or Latinx and African American or Black.

We hope these examples demonstrate how structural inequities are correlated with health.

Next slide, please.

Next, I'll provide some additional detail on health inequities across leading causes of morbidity and mortality.

Next slide.

This figure depicts mortality rates for leading causes of death by race and ethnicity, and a pattern that we have started to call concentrated inequities.

Across every leading cause of death, we see African American or Black and Pacific Islander people are disproportionately affected.

The mortality rate for African American or Black people is three times higher for heart disease, 1.8 times higher for cancer, 3.4 times higher for COVID, 10.3 times higher for overdose, 2.1 times higher for stroke, and 3.3 times higher for diabetes relative to Asian populations, which have the lowest mortality rate for these leading causes.

Pacific Islander people in Alameda County are similarly affected by inequities.

This pattern of inequities across leading causes of death highlights the importance of those structural drivers of inequities that Sandy described in her portion of the presentation.

Next slide.

This is the same slide for the environmental justice area.

And so just to highlight that in the environmental justice area, we see some inequities, but we really see a very similar pattern of stark inequities by race and ethnicity across leading causes of death.

Next slide, please.

This figure depicts all cause mortality by age group in the environmental justice area and in Alameda County.

And we really wanted to look under the hood and try to understand why were we seeing lower life expectancy in the environmental justice area.

And it took a little bit of further examination.

What we learned was that it's because of mortality and middle age.

So people age 45 to 74 are dying at higher rates in the environmental justice area.

So 49% higher mortality rate in that middle aged population.

And you know, that's an age when people would otherwise be expected to live sometimes decades longer, right?

If they're dying at 45, and when people have dependency on people who socially, emotionally, and financially depend on them.

And so it's really a tragedy to have people dying that young at a higher rate.

Next slide, please.

When we looked at the leading causes, we saw that heart disease and cancer were the leading causes of mortality in the environmental justice area as in the county, but we really learned that the rates of heart disease mortality in middle age are higher in the environmental justice area.

So there's a 62% higher rate of heart disease mortality at ages 45 to 74 in the EJ area relative to the county.

And heart disease occurs when blood vessels are blocked by a buildup of fatty deposits and coronary arteries, and it the risk is elevated by tobacco use affected by diet and exercise and exacerbated by pollution.

High blood pressure, high cholesterol, alcohol use, low rates of exercise, diabetes, and overweight and obesity can all exacerbate it.

But long term exposure to pollution, specifically particulate matter and nitrogen oxides can also increase vulnerability to heart disease by prematurely aging blood vessels and curbing contributing to more rapid buildup of deposits in arteries.

Next slide, please.

Premature mortality due to cancer is also elevated in the EJ area relative to the county.

Cancer mortality is 30% higher for people aged 45 to 74 years in the EJ area relative to the county.

The leading causes of cancer mortality in Alameda County and in the EJ area are lung cancer followed by breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colorectal cancer.

About 85% of lung cancer is thought to be attributable to tobacco use.

And so we did reach out to our tobacco team who shared that they've been really impressed by the Board of Supervisors passing a smoke-free multi-unit housing ordinance in January 2022 and a tobacco retail licensing ordinance in spring 2020, and that there's been a good record of enforcement at the community development agency.

And hopefully these policies will start to make a difference over time.

I did want to highlight that in addition to tobacco, long-term exposure to pollution, such as for motor vehicle traffic, is associated with elevated rates of lung cancer and could be contributing to elevated rates of cancer in the EJ area.

Next slide, please.

And what this demonstrates is that by fifth grade, many people have already been affected by overweight or obesity.

And that can be that can be a health trajectory that's very hard to change and that can lead to those health risks in middle age.

And so efforts to support healthy nutrition and exercise and increase access to parks and things like that can make a difference.

Next slide, please.

This a map depicts inequities in asthma across the county.

These are hospitalization and emergency department or ED visits among children under five who are most affected by asthma.

And you can see that the burden of asthma is it's pretty concentrated in Oakland and Berkeley.

Next slide, please.

And this figure depicts racial and ethnic inequities in child asthma hospitalizations for children under five in the dark red and children age five to fourteen in pink.

And you can see that there are again stark racial and ethnic inequities in the burden of asthma across the county.

Next slide, please.

In the county as a whole, shaped by firearm policies that vary state by state.

But and suicide mortality rates are similar in the EJ area and in the county.

But we do see really stark inequities by sexual orientation and gender identity that are shaped by structural stigma.

And so 45% of transgender youth and 30% of cisgender gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth report considering suicide in the past 12 months, relative to 9% of cisgender straight youth.

And I just wanted to finish by noting that I had the great privilege of visiting the REACH Ashland Youth Center for the first time this morning.

So it's just an incredible institution and really made me hopeful about the future of our work.

And they also wanted me to share that they actually have free mental health resources available for youth and that they are looking to reach more youth with their free mental health services.

So if you know of individuals or institutional leaders who would benefit from that information, then I would be excited to pass on that connection.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anyone on the council want to start us off?

I think there's just one more slide.

Oh, sorry.

It's all right.

Conclusion.

So I think probably the slides and and uh my colleagues' presentations um uh uh surely illustrated these key findings, but certainly um to summarize African American.

Sorry.

Is that better?

Do uh, I'll do my best here.

Um African American or black and Pacific Islander people in Alameda County are disproportionately affected by income inequities and all leading causes of death, especially leading causes at young ages.

Residents in the EJ area face higher overcrowding and have health inequities and chronic disease mortality in middle age compared to the overall county.

To address health inequities, we must address social inequities, especially in support of healthy childhoods that includes through supporting housing and economic security, educational attainment, and family supports and supports are needed for populations specifically affected by concentrated inequities alongside programs that serve everyone.

Thank you.

Anyone on the council have uh something that you want to start us with?

Right?

Thank you for the information pretty sobering, um personal as well, very personal in terms of um myself, family, friends, neighbors, so it does hit hard, it does hit home.

Uh my first question, is this the first time the public health department has produced a report of this nature?

Um we've produced um many reports over the years, including reports that are somewhat similar to this, sometimes in different formats.

Um and a lot of this data has been uh produced in in recent years in other formats and presentations, um, but uh we are through through the EJ process getting back to these um larger, you know, sort of um health status report that are that is intended to be more comprehensive.

So the data has been available.

We have done reports similar to this in in the past, but it's been several years since we've done something that isn't as comprehensive as this.

This should should be in the final product.

And then with now that we have the EJ element in place, are you also planning to do this periodically?

Uh the EJ element requires that we do this every three years.

So the uh county health status report and a breakout of the EJ priority communities.

Got it.

And just out of curiosity, why three years?

Um, I I don't know if Ali has any insight into that um from the development of the plan process.

Uh to my recollection, it was um, I think we developed that in collaboration with ACL.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah, I wasn't part of those conversations, but um I think based on probably uh the fact that a lot of this data doesn't change on an annual basis, and you can do a better job characterizing trends and sort of looking over um if you look every every few years, but versions of this data we do produce every year, not necessarily for the um for the EJ priority communities.

So for example, we we produce mortality reports every year.

Got it.

And then the data that was produced and sort of your team.

Can you just explain how it's related to I see that you're number one on the contributing agencies, which is good?

You've got the most number of actions, which is good.

Is that part of the department but separate from your team?

Um the the group that's here tonight, we're really here to um address the um the requirement to provide the the health status report.

Um I can speak to some aspects of our engagement with uh with the EJ element more broadly, but but um that that's not solely the responsibility of of the folks in the room tonight.

Makes sense.

So can I test that with one question?

So of the 55 actions, are there any that are not yet started that just jump out in terms of especially your key conclusion slide at the end?

I I would have to go back and um and and actually look through the list.

There's too many for for me to be able to hold them all in my head.

I'm I'm sorry, but certainly we are not um we have a ways to go on on many of them, and and um and uh uh I wouldn't claim otherwise.

Okay, and then for the purposes of this presentation, are you what are you looking for from us, I guess?

Like you're answering my questions.

I appreciate it, but what else?

Uh I think um what would be well, first of all, of course, we appreciate the um the the audience um and we were asked to come and share this with with um with the council.

Um we uh because we are this is a new um process for us, the reports tied to the um EJ side uh EJ element, um, although we have a lot of experience with health status reports, we are interested in feedback about what you saw and what's missing and um and how we could uh in future versions of this and you know improve it to better meet the needs of certainly of the unincorporated communities.

Okay, then I'll end with probably the only thing missing, but I'm not even sure if it's missing.

There's the I think we're in a public comment period right now for traffic being allowed to be routed on highway 580.

Um that today is mandated to travel on 880.

If it's commercial and of a certain weight, um that would have I'm assuming direct impacts in terms of some of the trends that you reported.

Um I'm just it would be good to know if there's a perspective the county is taking or position or if you're looking for public input, because I'd love to share an opinion on it, but only if it's helpful.

Sandy, I don't know if you want to comment on this.

Yeah, that process.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry, we are sharing data with that process.

We haven't taken a position.

Um I think as you as you say, you know, if we'll obviously spreading spreading the pollution more broadly probably would have some if some long-term impacts on pollution, what the pollution people are exposed to as well.

Okay, thank you.

Megan.

Thank you for the report tonight.

Um I echo Ray's comments about the sobering nature of the data that was shared, especially in our unincorporated community.

There's uh enormous disparity that stark when you um see the data.

Um, I guess kind of circling back to the point that was made, and I do appreciate the slide about having three freeways in our in our um in our area, and then speaking to the environmental justice uh element that we have.

Are there any action items that we could take that address the high rate of pollution that our communities are facing?

I know that Caltrans and others take over like every single inch of the AD for um for expansion of lanes.

I mean, obviously having trees as a buffer zone would be awesome.

I don't know if that's really feasible, but I don't know if there are other ideas that um that we can point to or think about when it comes to our environmental justice plan regarding their freeway pollution.

Um and then regarding one of the so I don't know if you want to comment on that or yeah, so this is Allie with the planning department.

Um there are a couple of actions in um the under the second goal, the air pollution um reduction goal of the EJ element um that particularly speak to this.

They have not yet been started, and one of them is identified as a catalyzing action.

Um and those are 2.2a and B.

Um, and those are to work with the air district and uh the California Air Resources Board and our neighboring cities to develop ways to minimize uh exposure to pollution along freeways.

Um, and then specifically to uh work with that partnership to create what's called an air pollution exposure zone ordinance, uh which is something that would be adopted by each of those individual jurisdictions and could be um it could be sort of tweaked a bit for each jurisdiction to be appropriate to to what that jurisdiction needs, which is specifically looking at um and applied to areas where sensitive receptors, so um folks who are particularly sensitive to air pollution um interface with or directly abut freeways.

Um so there is that is covered in the EJ element and we haven't started it yet.

And is there like a particular radius um from the freeway that is more, I guess, determining or what what data do you use or area do you use to determine the outcome about like proximity to freeways being adverse to one's health?

I don't know off the top of my head what the s thresholds have been used, for example, to study this.

I've my guess is that it it's probably uh you know the further away you get the better it is, but I don't know.

There's probably some thresholds that people look at, Sandy.

I don't know if you know off the top of your head.

Yeah, yeah.

So I believe it qualified, um, but in the first I wasn't deeply involved in this, it was sort of when I first started with the county, but um I I believe the area of the Eden area did qualify, but um the those efforts are focused at this point in other parts of the county, like I think mostly Oakland, um, but that would be something that I think we would probably pick back up again um as part of the APES, that air pollution exposure zone process if we were to engage in that.

And we're happy to look and see if there's a specific like half a mile or so outside of a freeway where your risk of some of the um common um health outcomes associated with air pollution where you see a drop-off, which I just don't know what I'm talking about.

Sure.

Thanks.

Um, and then the other comment I was gonna make about a slide that I thought was missing was about maternal outcomes.

Um obviously black maternal health is huge and we do have a fair uh population of African American and black people in our community, but given obviously the other demographics we have in our community, I would like to maybe see how they compare to others.

Do you want to?

Yeah, we're like, sorry, we just have to make sure that your guys' comments are uh on the record and yeah, yeah.

Um thank you for that's a great question and great comment.

Uh and we are glad to follow up with data um on unfortunately stark racial and ethnic inequities and um maternal mortality and infant mortality um that we um we have for the county, and then also we can run analyses of um infant outcomes for the environmental justice area relative to the county as a whole.

Um we um fortunately like maternal mortality is a rare event, so we wouldn't have um enough data uh on maternal mortality itself, but um, but with infant outcomes we can learn more.

Great.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Elizabeth.

Um to Ray's point, like if you do this often, it would have maybe I don't know, been less depressing or more depressing to show us what it was.

You know, I think we're starting here, we're hoping that later everything as a whole will be more evened out, but maybe some kind of context about like you said the trends, whether I mean the whole point of this EJ thing is that we have better outcomes, but maybe something that we could compare to in the meantime, you know, for next three years, hopefully we get a better grade, but just something that we could see okay, is this about the same as 10 years ago, or is this everything's out of control?

You know, some kind of perspective maybe would be appreciated.

Yeah, I mean, I think ideally, yes, we would be able to say three years from now, be able to look at some some indicators and see some movement if if this were having um, you know, the desired impacts.

I think I would caution that there are many factors that are going to be outside of the control of the EJ element that will also, you know, drive health and and and it it might be difficult for us to really tease that out.

But if we continue, we have seen, although things do go up and down, and there are real policies as we've discussed tonight that can push health in the other direction.

But um, but we we often when we look over time do see improvements, and so um, so I'm I'm hopeful that we will see that.

I I think we can try to as we do our work, if we can see specific uh data elements that we think are maybe more responsive to to this work and and similar work being done in in the um unincorporated areas and really try to highlight those we will um so maybe maybe maybe we can over time have a better sort of something that's more sensitive to this work, Kate.

My uh agenda is typically littered with a lot of comments as we progress through these sessions because I'm inspired by my fellow council people and the comments that we hear from you uh today is no exception.

The first comment that I made was that this data feels like it validates our lived experiences.

Um a lot of what you have listed there were observations that I've already made um since moving to the community, so um it's really eye-opening and helpful to have that in a numerical form that we can better assess.

So, very happy to have this.

Um, think it is um really inspiring in a lot of ways because we we know that this exists, but now we have something to base it off to gauge and try and improve.

Um I would be curious to see how we will gauge this success in parallel with um the EJ element.

I know that you mentioned and and so did my um fellow councilman uh about some of the some of the areas being pointed out in the element, but this is so important that I think we should make sure that it is all being addressed in some way or another.

Like, do we have an initiative for everything around here?

I mean, there are core principles that you've addressed.

Are we paralleling it sufficiently?

Because this is something that we need to take active change upon.

Um, and then outside of that, I I just wrote a lot of things that stood out to me about overcrowding of households, access to parks, asthma.

I mean, the air here is not always very good, I can attest to that.

Um gender uh identity suicide, a lot of this has already come to our council in different ways, like we have um our housing element now.

How is this getting integrated into that too?

Uh, and so I think that there's a lot of value that this offers, and I hope it's also being shared with these other departments to integrate into their proposals for change.

Uh thank you for that comment.

Um, I it's interesting your point about other departments.

I mean, we were used to presenting forums like this to presenting to community, presenting to the board.

Um, and I think hopefully, as we've done in the past, producing resources that people from across the county within and outside the county can um can use to inform their work.

But um, yeah, I would love to be able to take it to to other county agencies, and I think certainly we have some close partners that I think will have ample opportunity to do that.

Wonderful.

Warren?

So, okay.

Hi, Dr.

Moss.

Um, so and and other presenters, um, I wanted to ask first, did I hear that that uh this presentation will be going before the board?

Uh a version of it is gonna go before the full board.

I think to a work session on February 3rd, if I'm not mistaken.

Okay, so that's pretty soon, okay.

Yeah.

All right, that's good to know.

I'll try to tune in.

Um, I have a couple of questions about people with disabilities.

I heard um that we we were mentioned um a bit ago, so um, is there any data on the lack of employment for people with disabilities at all?

We do have data on disability.

Um we had we had data related to employment.

I want to point out we did a series to the board last year where we looked at data for different populations, one of them being disability.

Um, we'd be happy to share the the data set that we had for that because we looked deeply at that.

We just didn't do a carve out for the EJ area.

It was countywide.

Yeah, I'd love to be able to interact with your department on that because I'm curious to know about the employment piece um or the lack thereof for people with disabilities.

Also wanted to talk a little bit about exercise.

Um most people with disabilities have have challenges in exercise for a variety of reasons.

Um I have never had luck with exercise.

Part of that has to do with isolation and lack of opportunities.

And part of it has to do with the built environment.

And so exercise becomes a real challenge.

And I heard you say that that was a focus, and I think that's something to think about is that there are certain populations that just don't get the opportunities to exercise.

And so I wondered are you did you look at bullying at all?

We did in the health series presentation that that um Dr.

you want to address that?

Because yeah, um, we did look at that.

I think it was in the youth in the youth um section, if you remember correctly.

Um yeah, so we thank you.

That's a great question.

We did um uh re look at the California Healthy Kids survey data on bullying, um, and saw similar inequities by sexual orientation and gender identity.

And I think you're raising important points about um disability, and so we can see if there are variables in that data set that allow us to look at um at inequities affecting um people living with disabilities.

Yeah, that would be helpful, and then finally, in terms of seniors, um, you know, I think it's important to look at older adults and the challenges that older adults face.

There's a lot of uh unique challenges that older adults face.

I hope we should be we are also looking at the senior population.

Um, we are as far as the data we did do as part of that series.

One of the one of the carve out sessions was related to older adults.

So we'll we'll share the um the the series links with Ashley who can share it with all of you because there was a lot more data in there for in looking at it from like the the perspective of different populations.

We did it for racial ethnic populations, youth, seniors, disabled, and LGBTQ populations.

Yeah, I'd like to look at it.

Thank you.

Sure.

Okay, um I said a couple maybe more observations, but you're speaking just for people who utilize the county health care system.

So if people have HMOs or private health care, those aren't included in any of your statistics, are they?

They would be.

This is this is um our mortality data is based on residency in the county um or yeah, in hospitalization as well, so it's not tied to people's insurance status or anything like that.

Now we s our hope is to continue to enrich the data with sources, um, you know, with other sources of health data in the county, and so it may be that we have something that's just on say the Medi-Cal population.

Um, but tonight's data was for the most part countywide.

Correct.

I just wonder if you have any um I don't know, theories or observational things about whether the similar statistics would be found throughout all health care systems like HMOs and private care and Kaiser and all that.

Well, the data that we presented today was population level for the entire county and then population compare some of them right, comparing them to population for the entire population of the EJ area.

Um, the most of the data we look at is like that.

It's population level, it's not by um people that have access to certain types of health care.

We would need to get that data from each healthcare system, which we don't always have.

Okay, thank you.

I was just kind of wondering in um, I guess Warren brought up a good point that I hadn't really thought of, Allie, but when we talk about health and exercise and trails and open space, maybe for seniors and people with disabilities, there needs to be a another category.

I don't know what it would be, but I don't know, gyms or um group-led exercise programs or something, but maybe there's another another besides just open space and and trails and you know that kind of exercise.

Um that's pretty much all I had.

Oh, yes, go ahead.

I just wanted to comment on that.

We'll we'll um engage the uh there's a team at the public health department that works on both um aging and and disability, and we'll it we'll engage someone specifically around the issue of exercise and um make sure that they get this feedback.

Yeah, okay, thank you.

Uh, because the only other comment that I really had is that it just seems to me with I mean pollution, air goes where air goes, it didn't stop at the Hayward border or San Leandro borderline.

So it seems to me from hearing uh what you're talking about health and related to pollution and um freeways and airports, that all the more reason for the county to be able to work with the adjoining cities to try and um mitigate some of these um contributing factors to you know negative environments like pollution and um health care.

It just spoggles my mind that we can't work that the county shouldn't be county and city shouldn't be working together to achieve these same goals, all right.

Um that's yes, go ahead.

Sorry, just wanted to um address that a lot of the so air quality in our region is monitored, and a lot of the the interventions are led by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which um they do a so when I mentioned AB 617, it's a process where the state has identified um priority communities based on a variety of indicators, um, air quality and exposure to air quality being one of them, um, where they've worked closely with groups of you know community organizations and resident leaders to develop like mitigation plans around to improve air quality.

Um, so they are they're the the jurisdiction that really that takes the lead on these things.

We work closely with them, um and the cities do as well, but just kind of wanted to highlight that that that's really where like the the leadership around air quality really comes from the air district.

They declare the spare of the air days.

Yeah, they're the ones that declare the spare of the air days, yeah.

Okay, thank you.

All right, is there an um public comment?

Yes, Michael Moore, would you like to speak?

Thank you.

Um, for the health guys, I was looking at um my notes on section six, and I don't see anything where there were comments about the impact of drugs, specifically when I was a kid, heroin was the thing to worry about, and if you smoked marijuana, you'd be taking heroin soon.

Um alcohol was encouraged on the television, those things have sort of changed.

Heroin is probably still a problem, but science got got caught up with them.

Methadone did a lot of good things, but now we have a brand new set of drugs that didn't exist five years ago that weren't uh scourge of the community.

So I'm interested in and where that is within the realm of what we were talking about, specifically about the affected communities by race, by ethnicity, and is drugs really a problem.

I suspect that it may be when I went through my notes on health and the progress of all the initiatives, it's really good to pat ourselves on the back, and I and I think all of you have done a really good job.

But the initiatives that haven't gotten approved yet to even start is staggering.

Specifically crime.

Homelessness, standards of care, and planning for new development.

Not even started yet, or looking at it very fundamentally.

Has done great things for outreach.

Really superb stuff.

But they can't even get together with Hard.

Because Hard has its own point of view.

Libraries have their point of view.

The two of them are competing for the same books.

And they haven't started on their work yet.

So somebody, and I think it starts with us, needs to say, now we're done with this.

We're not going to come back and look at what's the problem in a year.

We need to do it now.

And we were already late.

We should be reporting on how successful we've been.

If we look at it that way, we're a 90% failure of the things we already know about.

I don't know how many hours it were spent on the budgetary process problem.

But all of those things were about spending more money.

There isn't any more money.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Gary Wolf.

Yeah, thank you.

Um I wasn't planning to comment on this, but then as I was watching, uh I was horrified as usual when I see these numbers.

I've seen them before.

But part of what horrifies me is I don't know how to fix it.

Uh, but I do know that water uh bills going up as much as they have contributes to the financial pressure on people.

And there is a community assistance program at EbMUD that's vastly undersubscribed.

So I just wanted to get into the public record.

That program exists, it's called the EbMUD community assistance program.

You can find it under EBMUD, either community assistance or CAP on online.

Uh, it looks to be a fairly generous program.

Um, the the income requirement uh for a two-person household is 61 or 62,000 or below, and each additional person in the household they add six or seven thousand dollars to the income threshold.

So it doesn't look like that's what's preventing people from signing up, but Edmund's own staff report shows that 33,000 households qualify and only 11,000 have signed up.

So I don't know why that is.

I would like to know why that is.

Um, I'd like help from the community and understanding why that is, but even apart from that, uh, people should just know the program exists because maybe it's just the people don't know the program exists if it's that simple.

Let's let's get people signed up who need help.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Let's move on to online speakers.

Anna Raschiza.

Good evening, can you hear me?

Yes.

Good evening.

My name is Anna Raskiza.

I'm the director of community development at resources for community development.

And um joining this evening to thank Alameda County Health for the thoughtful and powerful presentation of data this evening.

Um, we know that data is a powerful tool, and but often in the unincorporated community, we find ourselves left out of local data analysis.

Um we know that this level of data analysis for the unincorporated area takes extra work and appreciate um this report this evening.

Um we uh particularly appreciate the effort to pull the unincorporated area data apart by demographics, including race, ethnicity, and by neighborhood.

Um, within the unincorporated EJ or sorry, within the EJ element priority area.

Um, as we can see in the data, you know, I think sometimes we talk about the unincorporated community as one area or even the unincorporated, the urban unincorporated area as one community, and we can see in the data that when you split the data apart by race ethnicity or by neighborhood within the um EJ element priority area.

Really, we're looking at communities that are facing really starkly different conditions um and have really different outcomes.

Um I also appreciate Taylor's comment that this presentation validates the resident-lived experience.

Um, I think we hear that often um when we're working with community, and I always note that when I hear comments like this, because I think it's a powerful sign that the data analysis is um it's you know appropriately aligned as one of the many ways that we can articulate and amplify resident voice.

Um I think it's powerful when we hear residents say, Oh yeah, you're presenting this data to me, and this is what I see in my life.

I think that that's a sign that we're on the right track, and that this data analysis is really like reflecting what's really happening in the community.

So I just wanted to thank you again for this thoughtful and powerful presentation, and look forward to um reading that full report.

Thank you for your comments.

Uh next online speaker C C A.

Hello, can you hear me?

I'm sorry, I.

Yes.

Can you state your name for the record, please?

Yes, this is Michael again from Cherry Land.

I just wanted to um make a comment that I think this uh last presentation goes hand in glove with the previous agenda item where it really is supportive of maintaining our open space and moving towards uh just being very careful about what uh land use we we tend to just give up to development, and I think we really have to look at that as a very special uh need that we have for all the population of especially the Eden area.

Um, but the other comment I want or question I had was um does your group uh the presenters do you interface with the Eden um uh what's it called the Eton District uh health district at all with their um they they published a bulletin with all kinds of health problems that were very good at uh during the COVID instance of every every day they they published a COVID report, but they also I think would be a good um sort of a pivot point or kiosk for getting information out to the public and just wondered if you have any interface with them and also with the air quality uh control board.

If they in their analysis of the air quality, uh have they changed their metrics to include the various toxins that are kind of new to our environment after all the big fires we've been having because they're different than just wood smoke from a forest fire.

And so these urban fires we've had are significant, not just for our area, but the entire barrier are affected by it.

And when we're talking about pollutants that come from the freeways, it's not just about lead and cadmium and heavy metals and asbestos anymore from breaks.

It's now particulates that have come from these fires that are burning, you know, plastics and all kinds of stuff that we're not really aware of.

And just wondering if there's some metric uh adjustment that we can use in terms of our analysis for air quality on a given day.

And just wondering if you have any insights into that, those questions.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

There are no other speakers.

Okay, thank you everybody for your input.

And um just to wrap up, Ali, did you have any you know comments or do we do we put out any misconceptions or things like that that you wanted to um leave any corrections or thoughts with us?

I don't I don't know if I have anything to sort of go back.

I think all of these I've been taking notes furiously, and um I have highlighted a number of things both from this presentation and from um our colleagues' presentation that I think are going to be really useful for the supervisors to hear when we bring this to them.

Um, and this really is like EJ implementation.

I know we're not on that item anymore, but it's an it's it is an iterative process.

So we're at this point in the process where we are reporting and listening um and getting a sense of what the priorities are and and then and then reshuffling and seeing where we go again from there and then sort of going through that annual process again.

So um I uh the health data is.

Oh, here's something I I can say.

Um the EJ element itself does have um some baseline health uh environmental data, health and environmental and and demographic data um that our colleagues helped us produce that really form the baseline of the EJ element and something that I'm hoping to do within the next couple of years, just you know, looking at our colleagues over there, um, is to to update those data so that we can have a sort of longitudinal look at how things are going.

Um, and it's we're at about five years from when those data were produced, so it's pretty good timing to do something like that, and that might uh provide uh sort of more of that context um that you're asking for, and that I I think I think would be very helpful for all of us to see.

And then again, you know, uh I I don't know how we tie the the work of the EJ elements specifically to health outcomes.

Um we can look at them, we can look at them next to each other, but we can't necessarily say that one is causing the other.

So um just have to say that.

But they're important context, right?

Like we're doing this because that, and we hope that this will impact that.

Okay, just let me um go through the council members and see if there's any last things that you think you Allie might need to include in her in her comments from the public.

Ray, do you have any last things that maybe you think we haven't said?

Allie, I forgot to mention that on page 10 or 11, you've got that table.

And page 10, implementation progress by coal.

I think your math is off when it comes to the percentages, and you're missing a couple of values as well in there.

Um, and then also when we talked when I asked you the question about thanks for your patience.

Oh, yeah, the economic development strategic plan.

That was just in the same spirit of making sure it's all just comprehensive and tied to the EJ element, what we've heard from public health.

So thank you.

Megan?

Or Taylor?

Only because Ray reminded me.

Um slide nine, I was wondering why we don't have an ongoing carve out.

It seems like they parallel to slide eight really nicely as it relates to implemented, significant progress, like the yellow, green, all that is just, but there's no black.

So I'm just wondering what the percentage ratio is of that relative to all the others.

Uh so that is I don't know if I have the percentage here.

Um, the overall percentage, I'd have to do a little bit of math.

Um, 58 of the total 162.

That's about a but my math is terrible.

About a third of the measures, the total measures are uh are ongoing or in that ongoing category.

That's helpful.

And don't tell yourself sure, ongoing is a lot of work.

So it's nice to kind of put that in.

That is the majority, that is the county's bread and butter.

Yeah.

Appreciate that.

Elizabeth.

All right, thank you very much for your presentations and for everybody's input.

Hopefully, that will be helpful.

We look forward to the next status report.

Thank you so much.

All right, the next thing on our agenda is a chair's report.

I don't really have a report.

I just always appreciate um the comments from our from our members and uh people who participate in these um council meetings.

Uh next council, or does any council members have any announcements or comments or reports?

Laura, yes.

Boy, you're okay.

It's on.

So I just want to I just want to remind people.

I discovered at three o'clock in the morning I had a 3 a.m.

agenda moment, and I discovered that I don't have the Congressman I thought I had.

So after Prop 50, you may want to check your Congressman because mine is not what I thought it was, and I think a lot of people in the unincorporated may be in the same position.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Yeah.

Oh, Ray?

Yes.

Sorry.

Oh good.

Um, Ashley.

Not to put you on the spot because I know your counterpart from Supervisor Tam's office isn't here, but do you have as staff any updates on language?

No.

Okay.

Second one, um, when we talked earlier about the minutes and how I was commenting on public comment, just doesn't it only references that somebody made a comment?

I was reflecting on the gentleman, Gary, when he gave the PSA about the East Bay MUD Community Assistance Program and how only 11,000 out of 30,000 people have signed up.

So please use that as an example of why I think it's useful to record some of what gets said in public comment.

And then yeah, my hope, Diane and Warren, as chair and vice chair, is that with in the 2026 agenda we can keep coming back to the priorities and the structure that we've been given in this meeting today.

Okay, any staff announcements?

Ashley, Tona, do you have anything for us?

Nothing for me, Diane.

Thank you.

Okay.

Well, unless I hear any uh complaints or objections, I think we can adjourn this meeting.

I don't see any complaints or objections, so we will adjourn the meeting at what is this eight forty?

Eight forty.

Oh 20 minutes early.

All right, thank you, everyone.

How are you, Taylor?