The San Benito County Community Action Board sponsored a leadership luncheon Oct. 18 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) to bring together leaders from the community, county, nonprofits and business in order to share positive strategies on building a better community. The theme of the event was “Ending poverty by empowering people.”
“The main purpose of the luncheon is give citizens and local community-based organizations the opportunity to ask questions on issues in the community, and for key individuals the opportunity to inform the public about what is going on in different areas,” said Enrique Arreola, deputy director of the county’s human health and social services department. “This could include public safety, education, community services, or homeless services.”
Arreola said the event, which is a partnership between the Community Action Board and LDS Church, and has taken place every other year since 2011.
There were six scheduled speakers on the panel: Mayor Ignacio Velazquez (who was unable to attend), County Supervisor Robert Rivas, Chief of Police David Westrick, Community Foundation of San Benito County President Gary Byrne, Deputy Director of HHSA Enrique Arreola, and Hollister School District Superintendent Dr. Lisa Andrew.
Before the panel took questions, the audience was reminded that the session was not a political platform and they were to keep their questions to topics relevant to each panel member’s field of expertise. Moderator Hal Hendrickson said that during the past such luncheons lengthy introductions of each panel member took up so much time that there was little left for the audience’s questions. This time, instead, he wanted to ask each panel member two questions about themselves: why they do what they do, and who was their greatest influence.
As it turned out, though, little time was actually saved, perhaps because the panel was comprised of people accustomed to delivering speeches. But the audience came away with some very personal stories.
Dr. Andrew related how she did not have a burning desire to be a teacher, but started out as a nurse. When it was pointed out that children seemed to gravitate to her, she began to think about teaching, so she transferred her credits to San Jose State College, where she said she had a choice of being a teacher or a ranger. She quipped that she didn’t like the ranger uniform, so she became a teacher, which she said was the best decision she’s ever made.
Enrique Arreola said he has envisioned helping others since he was a child. He also went to San Jose State with the intention of becoming a teacher, but became involved in nonprofits about 10 years ago. He credited his parents for the direction his career, telling how he grew up in migrant camps and working in the fields. His parents told him they wanted him to work in the fields to teach him the value of hard work and to discourage him ending up there.
Gary Byrne said his dad told him if he couldn’t give back to the community, he would not be worth much. He was a priest in Ireland, then was sent to Hollister. He wondered what he had done wrong to end up there, but he quickly fell in love with it and the people. Along the way, he thought of teaching, but eventually joined the Community Foundation in 2002.
David Westrick studied to be a journalist, but quickly discovered he would not be able to make a living as a reporter. He decided to go to the police academy because law enforcement was the “family business.” He joined the Hollister Police Department in 2003 after serving in two other police departments. He said he fell in love with the area and intends to retire there.
Robert Rivas said his career has been driven by his desire to improve the community. While attending Sacramento State College he envisioned working in state government, but quickly learned to hate it because it was “filled with self-interested, nasty people.” He said that’s why he came back home, where he enjoys working with people and solving ordinary problems.
When it came time for them to name people who had the greatest impact, all five told stories of their parents or grandparents who influenced them. For Rivas it was his grandfather, a Mexican immigrant who worked in the fields near Paicines. Westrick told of how his parents sometimes had to choose between buying food or gas in order to go to work. His mother became a school superintendent and worked to improve the lot of not only her family, but the students. Byrne said his father was a great influence, as well as people he has worked with involved in nonprofits and donors who contribute anonymously. Arreola recounted how his parents worked in the fields and made sacrifices to raise nine children. He told of how his father was disabled from the long hours of being bent over by the time he was in his 40s. He said all nine children obtained degrees due to their parents’ sacrifices and work ethic. Andrew said her grandmother, who she described as strong and opinionated, influenced her. She told of baking with her grandmother who spooned out life lessons and how she can still hear her voice giving her advice.
The first two questions from the audience were directed at Chief Westrick, asking him how the city would have the needed safety resources considering the amount of construction taking place, and how he would keep the parks clean and gang free.
Westrick said the city is already behind when it comes to public safety, with only .182 officers per 1,000 residents, when, ideally, that number should be 1.5 per 1,000. Even so, he said .2 officers is the average for most cities in California. He credited voters for passing two measures to make up for officers that were lost during the 2008 economic downturn.
“It’s looking like we’ll be able to add more in the next two years,” he said, adding that it’s his intent to provide full service to the community by placing officers in schools, officers concentrating on traffic issues, and those who can address domestic violence calls or critical incidents. “We’re trying to do all those things and stay under budget. We’re turning the corner, but we’re not there yet. We’re at least 10 years away. I think the council is committed to making sure public safety is a priority.”
As for gangs and parks, he said a coalition was formed about 10 years ago to combat gang violence. He said there are officers dedicated to gang enforcement and that violent crime has gone down 19 percent in the last five years. He said one thing he would like to see is a return to police walking beats, which he said works in the Bay Area.
Byrne was asked to comment on the homeless situation in the community. Byrne said Arreola was more qualified to talk on the subject, but related how the new homeless shelter should be opening in December, and that the migrant camp, which has been used to house homeless overnight during the winter, should be open longer than four months.
“The city and county stepped in and they’re trying to make it (new shelter) work,” he said. “They’re looking for a nonprofit to come in and manage it. A lot of people in our community are concerned about the homeless, particularly when it effects the children living in cars and trying to go to school. So, it looks like there is hope on the horizon with a permanent facility that will be open 365 days a year, and there will be services there.”
Arreola added that the new shelter is only the first phase, which will provide overnight shelter every day. Phase two, he said, is called “whole person care,” and will provide assessments, services to look at each person, and how to position them into permanent housing.
“In phase three we’re applying for a grant for 10 transitional units,” he said. “So, you have the emergency shelter, services, and for those that are ready, there might be some housing units or rooms.”
He told the audience that the 2007 homeless census determined there were 527 homeless people in the county, which he said was a 19 percent decrease from 2005, when there were 651 homeless.
Rivas was asked about the future of people who live in the Lovers Lane area who suffered great loss during the January floods. Rivas related how over time he has learned what it means to be flooded out and then have to deal with the government for relief.
“You learn about the issue and you learn about how ridiculous government regulation actually is. I still scratch my head at the red tape and regulations in place,” he said. “Common sense says look at all this debris in the river beds. We’ve got to clear it out. Then we’re told if you guys go in there and do repairs the county could be held liable in perpetuity.”
Even though he recognizes the county was basically throwing good money after bad, he said the supervisors decided to make the commitment to repair the levees.
“It’s not a vision and it’s not sustainable,” he said, adding that while the county will repair the levees, they need to work with state and federal representatives to convince Fish and Wildlife to give the permits to allow the creeks to be cleaned and maintained to prevent future floods, which will surely come.
Dr. Andrew was asked what the school district is doing to address truancy. She responded that when dealing with children between the ages of five and 13 it’s the parents’ responsibility to get them to school. She said school officials can’t ask the child why they’re not at school when the parents should be getting them there. She said, however, the district recently received a state grant to study chronic truancy.
“The strategy is to come in and talk with the family to see what kind of support they need and how we can help them, so the child can be at school on time,” she said. “We want to get at the root cause why kids are late getting to school.”
Hendrickson tossed out a question for anyone to respond to, “In what ways can the city and county leaders pool the limited resources to work in collaboration for the betterment of the entire community?”
Rivas responded, “In a small county such as ours there is no reason why we can’t all work together. We’re in a unique position to do great things as a community. We have to have the will to change the way we work together.”
He said that has not happened to a great degree because city, county and school district leaders are too protective of their individual jurisdictions.
“We all get our resources from the same tax payers in San Benito County,” he said. “There’s no reason we can’t take a serious approach to working together more frequently.”
Rivas suggested that there should be a consolidated government in order to better utilize the limited resources. He said until leaders are ready to have a serious discussion nothing will change. He said it will be up to the citizens of the county to demand change.
Byrne added that the large grants that are needed are set in motion when the population surpasses 100,000. He recognized there are growth issues in the county, but said if the county never exceeds that number, it will not receive all the philanthropic dollars that it otherwise could, which will also preclude large infrastructures coming to the county. He said what often happens is major donors will see that there is a lack of cooperation in a community, which discourages them from giving.
Before leaving, Andrew wanted to give the audience one example of cooperation that has worked for the betterment of the community. She said the district and city council crafted a master, joint-use agreement that allows the city access to certain areas when school is not in session.
“We’ve come up with an agreement where we have shared costs, shared improvements,” she said. “The community can always use that green, open space. It’s taken us a few months, but we’ve come together to put that together.”
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