Alameda County Fire Department

Measure X - 2/3 Approval Required

While your firefighters remain on the frontlines of this pandemic and the fire line, NOW is the time to enhance our fire safety in unincorporated Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Livermore, San Lorenzo, and Sunol communities -- vote YES on X!

We rely on the medical lifesaving services, fast 911 response, wildfire protection and disaster services County Firefighters provide—yet the County has closed an unincorporated fire station.

YES on X ensures responses for wildfires, emergency medical services and disasters are enhanced with state of the art facilities strategically located to serve our communities.

Yes on X upgrades fire stations built in the 1950’s. These fire stations are out of date and do not provide the functions necessary for emergency response and community preparedness.

YES on X ensures our firefighters have adequate facilities for our diverse workforce. When these fire stations were built the workforce was vastly different.   Our firefighters need facilities for both our male and female firefighters ensuring privacy and the personal needs for all of our firefighters.

Yes on X ensures our communities have the needed public facilities for all types of emergencies including impacts from Covid-19.  These facilities can be utilized should the pandemic force additional community needs as well as for the planning of the next public health emergency.

YES on X’s strong Fiscal Accountability requirements include:

• Citizens Oversight

• Annual Independent Audits

• NO MONEY for salaries, benefits or pensions that voters haven’t approved.

By law, EVERY DIME is required to be spent ONLY for fire stations and facilities IN OUR UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITIES and cannot be taken by Sacramento politicians or used for other purposes by County bureaucrats.

Join local Firefighters, First Responders, and leaders in unincorporated Alameda County -- vote YES on X.

s/SEAN BURROWS

President International Association Of Firefighters Local 55

s/MARK BLANCHARD

40+year San Lorenzo resident/ Retired Deputy Chief

s/MARIA GORDINEER

Castro Valley Resident/ Palomares Hill Homeowner Assn Member

s/AISHA KNOWLES

Fire safety professional/ Alameda County Board of Education Trustee

s/LARRY VOLD

Castro Valley Resident

s/JOSHUA LEINES

Political Director IAFF Local 55

Are you kidding us? A LARGE NEW TAX, NOW?

Before Covid, last March 2020, the VOTERS rejected this same bond measure.

The Board of Supervisors has simply submitted the measure to us again unchanged. The Board seems blind to the fact that the world has changed a lot since March. Due to Covid, many people have lost their jobs or businesses, and we are all unsure of the future.

This is a terrible time to add over $160 million of TAXES that ALL property owners must pay. Yes, it's $160 million not $90 million because we have to pay 30 years of interest on the $90 million Bonds. Renters pay these taxes thru increased rents. Many of us are struggling to make our next mortgage or rental payment. Asking us to pay EVEN MORE in taxes for the next 30 years is BAD.  This is a terrible time to add over $160 million of TAXES that ALL property owners must pay.

The Fire District requires $103,695,000 for this Program but the Supervisors are only asking for $90,000,000.  The Fire Department Program admits that 'less will 11 result in ACFD seeking other funding.’  Maybe the Fire Chief knows how to manage a $103 million construction project with only $90 million. Maybe not. There is nobody in charge of auditing or enforcing the bond expenditures. This Program is designed to fail and has NO accountability:

• No independent audit is required for actual expenditures

• The oversight committee's report can be ignored by the Board

• The Fire Chief ‘shall report to the Board', but the report can be as little as ‘we got the money and spent it.’

This is a terrible time for a large new tax. Building fancy new fire stations can wait.

VOTE NO on this MEASURE!

s/MARCUS CRAWLEY

President, Alameda County Taxpayers Association

s/THOMAS RUBIN

Vice President, Alameda County Taxpayers Association

s/TERRI LUTZ

Member

s/PETER KAVALER

Member

s/JOHN FERRERO

Voter

The Argument in Favor failed to explain the need for a $90,000,000 Bond for Fire  Stations, which will cost $160,000,000 in taxes.

• OK. The County closed one Flre Station. Neither the Argument or the Measure explain WHY.  Maybe, because a new municipal Fire Station is nearby.  They didn’t say and we don’t know.
• OK. A couple of Flre Stations are old. The Argument fails to even explain the need or cost of modernizing these two.
• OK. Some Stations need a ‘Lady’s Room.’ The Argument failed to explain how many and at what cost.
• This Project was drafted before COVID. The COVID argument is simply an excuse.

The Fire District’s letter explain that the purpose of this project is to sell a $90,000,000 Bond;

• The EMC Survey found that a $90,000,000 Bond would be preferred by respondents.
• The Survey found certain ‘hot button issues’ resonated with respondents.
• The Survey found Voters rejected this same Measure at the March election for ‘economic concerns.’ The Argument failed to address our economic concerns.

This Measure is ALL about selling a Bond.

The project failed to identify repair projects from remodel projects. The Argument fails to identify which Stations are obsolete and need to be replaced. Let’s spend our taxes wisely.  Make repairs with Parcel Taxes.  The Dlstrlct needs to present a program that respects taxpayers’ scarce dollars.  Skip the political surveys and give us engineering surveys. 2

Reject a Bond for the sake of selling bonds. Vote No.

s/MARCUS CRAWLEY

President, Alameda County Taxpayers Association

s/THOMAS RUBIN

Vice President, Alameda County Taxpayers Association

s/TERRI LUTZ

Member

s/PETER KAVALER

Member

s/STEVE KAUSLARICH

As Fire Commissioners and Firefighters, it our responsibility to assess the threats to the unincorporated areas that we serve, and how best to keep the community safe. After gathering feedback from thousands of residents living in the unincorporated areas of Alameda County, Measure X was placed on the ballot to address inadequate fire stations that support our ability to respond to fires, medical emergencies, disasters and even a pandemic.

A YES on Measure X will upgrade existing fire station that are at least 30 to 70 years old by designing and constructing fire stations to reduce emergency response times, improve our ability to respond to wildfires that threaten your community, allow for the installation of modern communications equipment and be functional when an earthquake strikes.

Measure X is intended to benefit the unincorporated communities of Ashland, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Livermore, San Lorenzo and Sunol— not cities. There is no funding gap as purported. A closer read of the documents would prove this fact.

A YES on Measure X means independent citizen oversight and annual audits. Bonds can only be spent on “bricks and mortar“. No funding can be spent on salaries, benefits or pensions. By law, all funds must be spent in the unincorporated communities and cannot be taken by cities or the state.

Please vote YES on Measure X and join a clear majority of voters in the unincorporated communities that supported the Fire Safety Bond in March.

s/JOSHUA LEINES

Political Director IAFF Local 55

s/DENNIS WAESPI

Fire Commissioner/ Castro Valley Resident

s/ARIO YSIT

Fire Commissioner/ Sunol Resident

s/CYNTHIA TORRES

President, Cherryland Community Asociation/Cherryland Resident

s/THOMAS SPETH

Member, Alameda County Firefighters Association/Castro Valley Resident

s/MATTHEW MCAUSLAND

Member, Alameda County Firefighters Association/Castro Valley Resident