Surprise Vote by Board of Supervisors is a Victory for our Coalition

The Emerald Fund hearing on September 25^th ended with an amazing victory for Super Health Care not Super Jails! Thanks to a surprise 3-2 vote by the Board of Supervisors we have won a smaller Juvenile Jail and potential funding to rebuild Fairmont! This outcome was the result of a campaign waged by an impressive coalition! Vote Health members, working for a new Fairmont Hospital joined forces with SEIU 616, Books not Bars and the Youth Force Coalition, working for alternatives to incarcerating youth in the planned Super Jail. An endorsement from the Central Labor Council helped ensure our success.

If you didn't stay 'til the very end you would have missed it. The hearing started with a report from the County Administrators' Office, holding firm on the recommendation to build a new Juvenile Hall with 450 beds in Dublin, and to spend the entire annual interest on County Emerald Fund holdings on the annual payments for that facility!

• The county to examine building a smaller facility "of a size that has not been determined."
• Considering building two facilities, one in Dublin and the other near the current site in San Leandro, to better serve the north end of the county.
• The County to adopt more alternatives to incarceration for youth and;
• Any savings from building a smaller facility to be put toward improvements to Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro.

Supervisors voting in support of the motion were: Nate Miley, Keith Carson, and Alice Lai-Bitker.
Supervisors voting against the motion were: Scott Haggerty and Gail Steele. Supervisor Lai-Bitker's vote represented a major change in her earlier position in favor of the Super Jail.

Go here to thank the Supervisors who supported this change in County priorities in the right direction.

Read all the details in these articles:

"Supervisors vote to slash size of new juvenile hall"

"Juvenile Hall Plan Reduced:"