Supervisor hopefuls debate at Alameda County District 1 candidate forum

The race to replace retiring Alameda County District 1 Supervisor Scott Haggerty heated up last week when three of the four elected officials vying for the position took to the debate stage to talk the finer points of regional governance at a candidate forum in Livermore.

Presented by the Pleasanton Weekly, the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce and Livermore Indivisible, the public forum brought candidates together at Granada High School in Livermore on Jan. 23 to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the local community and wider county such as homelessness, traffic congestion, public transportation, infrastructure and the Bay Area housing crisis.

A contest that at least in recent history has not been hotly contested — Haggerty has run unopposed in five of his past six elections — the field is deep this year with four experienced elected officials running for the seat.

Those candidates campaigning for the 1st Supervisorial District are Fremont City Councilman Vinnie Bacon, Dublin Mayor David Haubert, Dublin City Councilwoman Melissa Hernandez and State Sen. Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), who is being termed out at the state level.

The district includes Livermore, Dublin, Sunol and Fremont. Any candidate could win the District 1 position outright in the primary election if they earn more than 50% of the vote. If no one wins a majority on March 3, then the top two finishers would advance to a runoff to be held during the general election on Nov. 3.

On-hand to participate in the Weekly’s forum were Bacon, Hernandez and Wieckowski. Haubert was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict with the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. — but the Dublin mayor did send representatives to share opening and closing statements on his behalf.

During the questions period, the three candidates agreed on a variety of issues such as reducing traffic in the area, supporting homeless residents and promoting innovation in the area, but they often disagreed on the best way to achieve these goals.

Homeless support services

When asked how to best support Alameda County’s estimated 8,000 homeless residents, Hernandez said “it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, not all people are homeless for the same reason.”

Bacon and Hernandez stressed that homeless residents are not a monolith, and that continued outreach and research are needed in order to ensure that residents receive support from the appropriate county services. Both candidates said that while some homeless residents may be eligible to receive jobs support, others may benefit more from counseling or addiction services.

Wieckowski agreed with this sentiment and added that in order to ensure adequate funding for these services, an accurate count in the upcoming census is paramount.

“One of the challenges we have, just a pitch for the census, is that 26% of the people in Alameda County are suspected of being undercounted and if we don’t get the right count, then we’re not going to be able to get the funding that we get from the federal and state government” he said.

Wieckowski further added that as supervisor, he would push for local communities to streamline the process for approving accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in residential homes — saying that while it is not the final answer, it is an affordable opportunity to increase the region’s supply of available homes.

Housing solutions

Piggybacking off the previous topic, housing solutions were another top item of discussion, with Bacon and Hernandez advocating for affordable housing, while Wieckowski pushed for streamlined development processes and ADUs.

“We really need to look at more affordable housing,” Bacon said. “I’ve seen it over and over on the Fremont City Council: Developers want to build market rate housing; they don’t want to do affordable housing. We need to push that more because what’s happening is … we have a real dearth in affordable housing now.”

Wieckowski pointed out that as he sees it, housing is in such short supply simply because not enough homes are being produced, and a big reason for that is because of the policies and fees imposed by local governments. Through streamlining the review process and thus increasing the supply available to residents, both the shortage and pricing of homes can be improved, he argued.

Hernandez pointed to Dublin’s successful efforts to increase available affordable housing within its borders and that local governments should be encouraged to support developments and take advantage of state and county funds to do so.

Traffic mitigation and public transit

Candidates generally agreed that supporting public transportation — with a particular concentration on Valley Link — would be key in mitigating traffic congestion throughout the region.

“With traffic, Valley Link is obviously the key for (Interstate) 580. The houses are going to be built, they have already been approved and Tracy is the perfect example. So the traffic there will (mean) more people on 580 trying to get to their jobs,” Hernandez said. “With regards to Valley Link, making sure that this project gets accomplished is huge.”

As the chair of the Senate Budget Committee on Transportation, Wieckowski said transit projects are not just a passing interest for him and that he is all in favor of connecting ACE, Valley Link and BART, taking cars off of the road and connecting the region with communities throughout the Bay Area.

Bacon added that while he is himself a big supporter of large transit projects and supports Valley Link, they are expensive and the real cause of traffic congestion lies in “a massive housing jobs imbalance.”

By incentivizing businesses to place jobs closer to where people live, Bacon argued the county can reduce the amount of traffic in a more affordable way.

The three candidates also answered questions on how they view the role of county supervisor, supporting agricultural industries, Santa Rita Jail safety and criminal justice in Alameda County, affordable housing solutions for specific groups like adults with special needs, military veterans and seniors, and how they would represent the Tri-Valley at the county level.

Unable to participate in the forum, Haubert was offered the opportunity to have proxies read opening and closing statements on his behalf.

“We deserve a proven leader who can work well with others, who is trusted and well respected of the mayors and other community leaders, we deserve a leader who is truly a community-oriented thinker, putting the needs of us residents first, a leader with a proven track record of success who knows how to get things done,” Len DiGiovanni, a supporter of Haubert, told the audience during closing remarks. “A visionary recognizing potential solutions to reduce homelessness, traffic congestion, upgrade our infrastructure and improve our overall quality of life.”

Haggerty was also in attendance, opening the forum with a brief overview of the District 1 supervisor position and the Board of Supervisors as a whole.

The forum was moderated by Pleasanton Weekly editor Jeremy Walsh, with support onstage from Dawn Argula, CEO and president of the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce. A video recording of the forum produced by Amos Productions is available for viewing online here.

Editor’s note: Livermore Indivisible worked with the candidates to schedule the forum date. After Jan. 23 was agreed upon, Haubert later realized he had a conflict with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, but because the venue had been secured and other logistics arranged, the forum was too far along to be rescheduled.