Open Letter to My Fellow Unincorporated Residents

I’m Jennifer Esteen, nurse, mom and your neighbor in Ashland. It’s possible you’ve seen my signs, heard me speak, but for the people I haven’t been able to meet I’m writing to introduce myself. I’ve been serving on the Alameda Health System Board for three years helping to govern our four county hospitals and locally on the Eden MAC since its inception four years ago.

I’m running to be our next county supervisor to bring us direct representation. We’ve never had an elected leader that was an Unincorporated resident. It will be hugely impactful to have our needs and perspectives prioritized on the county level. We deserve to have a high quality of life with local businesses that thrive. We can keep our tax dollars circulating back into our community with a vibrant town square in each of our unincorporated communities. But that has not been the priority from our current county leadership.

Alameda County is a powerful governmental entity with a $4 billion budget. It’s fair to expect professionalism, responsiveness, and concern for our community’s well being. The county is directly responsible for us because of our unincorporated status, but too many of us have experienced delays, unresponsiveness and what seems like indifference when we try to open businesses, seek services or simply get help with basics. The sidewalk situation in parts of Fairview and Castro Valley, the closure of beloved restaurants, the visible poverty we see through long lines at food pantries, people sleeping in campers or worse and the fight to develop Ruby Meadows are just recent examples of how we’ve been mistreated through policy decisions.

We’re beyond time for change and new leadership but, it's not easy to make a strong challenge to the establishment. Until now.

–Jennifer Esteen, Ashland