Our Community
Unincorporated Alameda County is a thriving, growing, and diverse community which many working class people call home. Specifically, the communities of Ashland, Cherryland, Fairview and San Lorenzo, comprise approximately 80,000 people as of 2019, according to the American Community Survey. These four unincorporated areas have grown in population approximately 12% from 2010 to 2019, with the largest population increase observed in the community of Cherryland with an approximately 21% increase (source: https://cao-94612.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Unicorp.-Area-of-Alameda-County-Data-Profile.pdf) .
While this population increase presents us with opportunities for additional economic development and vitality in the form of attracting new businesses and retaining existing ones, it also presents us with challenges in the form of pressure on our natural resources such as on our open spaces, parks and water bodies, pressures on our aging infrastructure such as on our buried infrastructure and its capacity, and on our built environment such as increase in blight and waste.
For this reason, it is the responsibility of us through our local government agencies, to plan for the future and to ensure that we leave our world better than we found it.
Taking care of our natural resources is our responsibility because we are dependent on our environment to be healthy and thrive. At Lake Chabot Regional Park.
Priorities
Regulatory Environment
Make sure that the District is being proactive and not reactive in meeting all regulatory requirements. This might include testing, implementing or piloting emergent technologies, training staff on regulatory requirements, and having internal tangible metrics to measure success while continue to improve. My main goal is to not only be compliant but to get ahead of the ever-changing regulatory environment and become a leader in our field.
Passing the Torch
Ensure that as the workforce changes and retires, the institutional knowledge acquired during someone’s career is not lost and that there is overlap between the workforce leaving and the new generation entering the workforce through mentorship programs. In addition, begin partnerships with local community colleges and universities to establish a pipeline of future employees that could intern and train at the District and work in the same communities they live.
Replacing Aging Infrastructure
Prioritization of infrastructure repair and/or replacement is one of my main goals. Some of the sewer pipe within the District service area currently on the ground was installed more than 80 years ago and is now at the end its useful life. Only by prioritizing and establishing a sustainable rate of replacement, the District would be able to keep up with increasing break and spill incidents due to aging infrastructure. By replacing and repairing District infrastructure at a sustainable rate, we would be improving our level of service and providing the community with a reliable system.
