Black Press
How Inglewood’s Homeless Seniors Are Finding Relief Through Housing and Trauma-Informed Care
BAKERSFIELD NEWS OBSERVER — For people like Gilbert Ramirez, the dangers of living on the street compound with age. Chronic illnesses become harder to manage, mobility declines and minor health problems can quickly escalate into medical emergencies without a stable place to recover or store medications. Increasingly, this vulnerable population includes seniors falling into homelessness for the first time after a lifetime of low-wage, physically demanding work.
Marion Apio reported this story while participating in the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2026 California Health Equity Fellowship.
For 70-year-old Gilbert Ramirez, the intersection of medical care and supportive housing proved lifesaving.
First sent to prison at 25, Ramirez spent decades cycling through nine separate sentences and three decades of parole supervision before finally completing parole seven years ago.
“I’ve been told what to do, man, for all my adult life,” Ramirez said. “I had nine turns on one number, and finally they gave my life back. So now I’m a free citizen.”
While incarcerated, he and his wife separated. After returning to society, he lost his daughter to cancer, was shot, and was left partially paralyzed and unhoused.
Surviving on the street, Ramirez fell into a heavy fentanyl addiction. For seven years, severe, open wounds flared on both of his legs—wounds he had no way of healing while living unhoused.
As the infections worsened, his weight plummeted to 95 pounds.
Compounding challenges for seniors who are unhoused
For people like Ramirez, the dangers of living on the street compound with age. Chronic illnesses become harder to manage, mobility declines and minor health problems can quickly escalate into medical emergencies without a stable place to recover or store medications. Increasingly, this vulnerable population includes seniors falling into homelessness for the first time after a lifetime of low-wage, physically demanding work.
“We have a large proportion of seniors experiencing homelessness—about 43 percent who had never been homeless before after the age of 50,” said Margot Kushel, professor of medicine, UCSFDirector of UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative
Eight months ago, outreach workers with People Assisting The Homeless—a nonprofit housing and social services agency—moved Ramirez into the Los Angeles Inn in Inglewood. They did so under an L.A. County-led initiative that brings unsheltered residents indoors by placing them inmotels converted into interim housing. It also connects clients with wraparound healthcare and case management.The effort primarily receives funding through L.A. County’s Measure A sales tax, which aims to create a direct pipeline from street encampments to permanent housing.
By the time Ramirez connected with Carrie Kowalski last November, a senior physician assistant with Venice Family Clinic, the wounds on both of his legs were deep, painful, and itchy. Kowalski cleaned and wrapped the wounds and provided Ramirez with naloxone nasal spray—an emergency overdose reversal drug – along with fentanyl test strips and buprenorphine starter supplies, a medication used to treat opioid addiction.
“It’s good, I ain’t now underweight,” Ramirez said about the services he receives under Pathway Home. “They offer me medicine. They come and, you know, give you everything. Whatever I need—a doctor, food, a bed, water, and everything I never had before.”
From August 2023 to August 5, 2026, Pathway Homehad moved 2,361 people into interim housing, while 892 had moved into permanent housing, according to Los Angeles County. The county said the biggest barrier to moving people from interim to permanent housing is the shortage of affordable permanent homes.
Pathway Home’s mission is to reach encampments throughout L.A. County and link people to permanent housing, said Courtney Reed, associate director at PATH.
“We operate in what we call a trauma-informed care model,” Reed said.
The Los Angeles County’s Pathway Home budget for fiscal year 2026-27 is $59.5 million. The funding includes $24.4 million from Measure A, $19.8 million in Measure H carryover, $13.8 million in state Encampment Resolution Fund carryover and $1.5 million from the county Department of Mental Health, according to information provided by the county in an email. In April 2024, the county also received a $51 million grant from the state of California to expand the Pathway Home program.
Countywide, the number of unhoused adults ages 55 and older rose nearly 5 percent, from 18,212 in 2025 to 19,104 in 2026, accounting for about 26% of the county’s 73,040 unhoused residents. Black residents continue to be disproportionately represented among the people experiencing homelessness, accounting for 21,822 people of the unhoused population within the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, according to the 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count.
A shortage of affordable housing has limited options for the unhoused in Inglewood
In Inglewood, Pathway Home teams have moved 54 people into temporary housing in motels, according to the mayor’s office. While experts call this placement critical for vulnerable seniors, city officials clarified Inglewood is strictly a logistical partner.
“We have no funding obligation, Pathway Home Initiative is funded by the County of Los Angeles,” said Roberto Chavez, Inglewood’s HUD programs manager. “The city is a partner.”
However, transitioning people into permanent housing has also become more difficult in Inglewood, where the city’s housing voucher program is frozen under a “designated shortfall” from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development because federal funding failed to match local rent increases.
“The housing authority has spent its annual allocation, and HUD is monitoring our finances,” Chavez said. “The result is we’re not able to issue more vouchers to families to get housing.”
While homelessness continues to trend downward in Inglewood—where the unsheltered population dropped from a peak of 751 individuals in 2022 to 290 in 2026—countywide data masks a growing crisis among older and Black residents.
Challenges for seniors who are unhoused
By the time outreach workers connected with Jacqueline Thomas last November, the 67-year-old was hauling an oxygen tank across La Brea Avenue while managing a heart condition, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and a daily regimen of 13 prescription pills—all while living out of her car.
A 1976 graduate of Inglewood High School, Thomas’s life unraveled a decade ago after she lost her job. Faced with fixed income limits and rising housing costs across L.A. County, strain over rent money eventually frayed family ties, leading her to choose the streets over an unstable living situation.
For 10 years, Thomas parked her car outside businesses along La Brea Avenue to sleep. She let other unhoused neighbors stay inside with her for protection, but she could not avoid constant street harassment and theft. During one incident, someone stole $1,000 from her on the sidewalk.
A decade of exposure took a permanent toll on her body.
“All these health issues I have now, I didn’t have,” Thomas said. “I got them all out here in the streets.”
Six months after moving into a private room through Pathway Home, Thomas finally has reliable electricity to power her oxygen machine and blood pressure monitor, store her heart medication in a refrigerator, and manage her health.
“Housing is an intervention to help with vascular problems—like leg swelling and open wounds from sleeping sitting up—because now our patients have a bed to elevate their legs and sleep,” said Kowalski, who has operated a mobile clinic van since December 2020. “From a medical standpoint, we can provide care, but housing is the key intervention to actually get people better.”
Homelessness advocates point to L.A. County’s high cost of living and the severe gap between fixed disability payments and local rents as key drivers fueling the region’s homelessness crisis.
In an emailed statement, the Inglewood Mayor’s Office cited the shelter operation at Hollywood Inn Suites, a converted motel on Century Boulevard, as a key local success in resolving encampments.
The city said its Pathway Home partnership with Los Angeles County housed 54 people who had been living on the streets. It is also exploring motel master leasing and said it would consider adding a homeless services coordinator, funded through Los Angeles County’s Measure A, in June 2026.
When discussing the types of housing initiatives like Pathway Home that place seniors into interim housing, Kushel emphasizes that a standard apartment is not enough since older adults need specific physical adaptations.
“A lot of the issues we’re having is just the physical design of whether there’s infrastructure for people who can’t climb stairs,” Kushel said. “There’s a physical design aspect like, are there grab bars, non-slip surfaces and night lights.”
For Ramirez and Thomas, moving off the streets into stable housing has allowed them to focus on long-term recovery, healthcare, and personal goals.
Ramirez, who rides his bicycle up to 100 miles a week, said he is rebuilding his strength while gathering the medical records needed to secure a housing voucher for a local senior complex through Pathway.
His dream is to one day reunite with his 23 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
“I just want to be with my grandkids, raise my great-grandkids, and jam with them, you know what I mean?” Ramirez said. “Being out on the street was rough, just fighting all the time. But since I’ve been here, you know, it’s been all right. I’m home.”
For Thomas, months inside interim housing under Pathway Home have provided a secure environment to manage her health. With her medical needs finally managed and her daily living environment secure, she is now looking toward the future—hoping to acquire a computer and take tax preparation courses to build new job skills.
It is a sharp departure from her years spent struggling just to survive on the streets.
“I’m not a hopeless case,” Thomas said. “This is just my new way of living, and I’m adjusting to it.”
Marion Apio
Marion Apio is a multimedia journalist from Uganda currently based in Inglewood reporting for the Observer Group Newspaper of Southern California in Los Angeles. She pursued journalism to make information more accessible—especially for underserved communities like the one she grew up in. Her reporting focuses on access to basic resources necessary to advance human rights, education, health and with a strong interest in solutions journalism that highlights working models addressing community-level challenges.
She is a California Local News Fellow, USC California Health Equity Fellow and Widening the Pipeline Fellow with National Press Foundation. Marion has reported for Richmond Confidential, Oakland North, Bloomberg, and has also worked with the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley on issues related to journalist safety and human rights.
In partnership with Rise East and the 40×40 Council, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee held a special 2026 State of the City East Oakland community conversation on Oct. 14.
The purpose of bringing a State of the City address directly to the community was to celebrate East Oakland, highlight the work underway, and look ahead to what neighbors, local businesses, youth, funders, community organizations, and partners can accomplish together.
Held at the Roots Community Health/Parker Elementary School Campus at 7929 Ney Ave., the event was emceed by special guest Mark Curry, Oakland native, comedian, and actor.
Lee shared how Rise East and the 40×40 Council have brought together the knowledge, relationships, and resources of people and organizations committed to East Oakland.
Residents bring lived experience, community organizations bring trusted relationships and philanthropy, and businesses bring resources and opportunity, she said, then turned to the government’s role: public investment, services and policy.
But, Lee intoned, City Hall has a responsibility to help connect those efforts.
“I am committed to listening to residents, working across departments and sectors, and helping open doors to opportunity. We must connect neighborhood priorities to the decisions we make about housing, economic development, safety, health and our young people.
City Hall “must be accountable for the results,” Lee said. “The measure of success is what families experience: greater stability, more opportunity and a stronger sense that they belong and have a future here.
“Tonight is an opportunity to listen to the leaders doing this work, learn what is making a difference and identify where we can do more together,” the mayor said.
Lee went on to moderate a ‘fireside chat’ on the theme: Building Oakland’s Future Together — From Neighborhood Investment to Community Empowerment with:
- Selena Wilson, CEO, East Oakland Youth Development Center
- Greg Hodge, CEO, Brotherhood of Elders
- Carolyn “CJ” Johnson, CEO, Black Cultural Zone
- Dr. Noha Aboelata, CEO, Roots Health Center
Mayor Barbara Lee’s media relations department provided this report.
Black History
Practitioners of African Traditional Spirituality Offer Ancestral Reverence Ritual Oct. 31
The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence will host “Ancestral Souls Rising” from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, featuring a three-day gathering of prayer and discussion. Led by elders and priests across the African diaspora, the seventh annual ritual honors those lost without traditional rites while addressing current social challenges. This year’s event connects ancestral wisdom with contemporary issues, including a two-day conversation inspired by Afro-Beat music focused on Black community solidarity and the sacred importance of voting. Read more for details on the ritual schedule and participants.
The Council for Global Ancestral Reverence (C4GAR), a group of elders who practice African traditional spirituality, will lead a three-day gathering of prayer and discussion from Oct. 31-Nov. 2.
Called ‘Ancestral Souls Rising,’ the council members and 21 priests will lead the prayers from many parts of the African diaspora: Africa, Portugal, and across the U.S. from Maryland to the Bay Area.
Now in its seventh year, the annual ritual began during the 2020 pandemic when hundreds of thousands of people died alone and were buried in mass graves without rites and rituals according to loved ones’ traditions.
This prayer event was and is intended to give peace to the departed and comfort for the living who still mourn. Each year, we gather names of new ancestors from living elders to elevate them into the “Great Hall of the Titans.”
In ensuing years, C4GAR added themes to the prayer gathering that referenced current events. In 2024, before the consequential presidential election, C4GAR called on people to vote, invoking the memory of Civil Rights Movement heroes and heroines like John Lewis, who urged “Good Trouble,” and Fannie Lou Hamer, who famously declared that she was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
The day of global Prayer on Oct. 31 will be followed by a two-day conversation inspired by “The Blueprint,” an Afro-Beat song by UyiosaEl, to write our new blueprint that supports solidarity and action in the Black community.
“Our elders have, for many generations, known the power of prayer, ritual and breath,” the council said in a statement.
It was and is their intention, then, to use the cultural wisdom, the gift of prayer “and the most sacred thing we have, our breath, to send energy into the world that invokes and honors our ancestors,” the council statement continued.
“Doing this creates a vibration that protects us and employs their ancient wisdom for the well-being of our communities,” the elders said.
The councilmembers, all over the age of 60, recognize that what is now history for so many was once their lived experience. And that history, those joys and sorrows, are now in their bodies.
To them, the uttered prayer and the sacred breath are oaths to an unfolding future that people can still shape.
The council members are Dr. Iyabeji Cathy Royal, Iyalocha Jennifer Dillard, Manbo Charlene Desir (Florida), Nana Sula Spirit (Louisiana), Baba Obafemi Feyemi, Ohen Nedra T. Williams, and Iyalocha Wanda Ravernell-Stewart Emeritus (Oakland).
This year, they also encourage everyone within their reach to VOTE because it is not only a secular and political act, but a sacred one. Remember, the ancestors were denied that right and died for it.
For tickets, go to:
Black Press
It’s Time to Lose Weight Before the Holidays
Licensed internist Dr. H. Geoffrey Watson has joined gastroenterologist Dr. Ralph Peterson at Oakland’s MacArthur GI to address the rising obesity epidemic. With U.S. obesity rates reaching 42.4%, the clinic offers supervised weight-loss programs and screenings for fatty liver disease. Treatments include dietary counseling and various medications, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which regulate digestion and appetite. As certain populations continue to be disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions, medical experts are highlighting new tools available to help patients reach their goals before the holiday season. Read more.
Dr. H. Geoffrey Watson, a licensed internist, has joined renowned gastroenterologist Dr. Ralph Peterson at MacArthur GI in Oakland to address obesity, provide supervised weight-loss programs including GLP-1 therapy, and screen for and treat fatty liver disease.
The Obesity Epidemic
Obesity is associated with numerous chronic health problems, including hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, asthma, depression, joint disorders, fatty liver disease, and high cholesterol. Its causes include genetics, environment, stress, medication side effects, hormonal imbalances, and other factors.
Since 1999, the prevalence of obesity in the United States has risen from 30.5% to 42.4%. Childhood obesity rates are also climbing, with approximately 19.3% of children and adolescents now affected.
Measuring Obesity: Body Mass Index
Obesity is measured using a formula called the Body Mass Index (BMI). You can calculate your own BMI on most smartphones by searching “BMI calculator” and entering your height and weight. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is classified as overweight, and a BMI of 30 or greater is classified as obese.
Populations Disproportionately Affected
Obesity affects certain populations at higher rates. Among U.S. adults, obesity prevalence is 49.9% in Black adults, 45.6% in Hispanic adults, 41.4% in White adults, and 16.1% in Asian adults.
Treatment Options
A variety of treatments are available for obesity, including dietary counseling, exercise programs, bariatric surgery, and anti-obesity medications.
Common oral medications include:
• Adipex (phentermine): A stimulant that works by suppressing appetite.
• Contrave (bupropion/naltrexone): A combination of an antidepressant and an anti-addiction medication that helps control appetite and cravings.
• Qsymia (phentermine/topiramate): A combination of a stimulant and an anti-seizure medication that reduces appetite and cravings.
GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Therapy
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists were originally approved to treat type 2 diabetes. GLP-1 is a hormone produced naturally by the body that regulates digestion, blood sugar, and appetite by communicating with GLP-1 receptor cells throughout the digestive tract. These medications reduce cravings, appetite, and food intake by influencing the hunger hormones ghrelin, which stimulates hunger, and leptin, which signals fullness.
What We Offer
Drs. Peterson and Watson provide FDA-approved tirzepatide injections, a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication indicated for weight management. Each patient receives a comprehensive history and physical examination to ensure the safety and appropriateness of the medication as part of an overall weight-loss protocol. Dr. Peterson also offers ultrasound screening for fatty liver disease.
We look forward to helping you reach your weight-loss goals and feel your best this holiday season.
H. Geoffrey Watson, M.D., runs the MacArthur GI Clinic at 10520 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA. He can be reached at (510) 562-7467.
Black Press
Trader Vic’s Returns to Its Oakland Roots
Trader Vic’s, the internationally recognized brand and birthplace of the original Mai Tai, has officially returned to its roots in Oakland. Originally founded in 1934 on San Pablo Avenue before moving to Emeryville, the hospitality giant has launched Trader Vic’s Outpost at Oakland International Airport’s Terminal 2. The new full-service location offers travelers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and cocktails in a 108-seat space designed to celebrate the city’s status as a top national food destination. Visit the website to read more.
Oakland has always been a city of innovators, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and world-class hospitality. Trader Vic’s—the birthplace of the original Mai Tai – first opened in Oakland back in 1934 on San Pablo Avenue, long before becoming an internationally recognized global brand.
More than 50 years after it moved to Emeryville, Trader Vic’s is returning to its roots. Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee touts the return as another victory for Oakland.
“My administration is deeply committed to backing businesses like Trader Vic’s and Plum Market—partners who invest in our city, uplift our local workforce, and support thousands of local jobs,” Lee said.
The latest Trader Vic’s – called Trader Vic’s Outpost – is located at the Oakland International Airport in Terminal 2 near Gate 25 and had a soft opening in August.
With 108 dining seats, 28 bar seats and a counter for standing-room customers, travelers from around the world can have a full-service restaurant and bar experience or take-out for those with planes to catch.
Open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktails will be served.
Trader Vic’s returning to its roots confirms Condé Nast’s decision to name Oakland the #1 Food City in America two years in a row, and just earlier this month, ranked Oakland #6 on their list of Best Cities in the U.S.!
“The opening at OAK is incredibly meaningful for us,” said Rhett Rosen, CEO of Trader Vic’s Hospitality Group, according to the company website. “Trader Vic’s was born in the Bay Area, and this new location gives us the chance to welcome travelers with a taste of that original spirit before they take off. It brings together everything people love about Trader Vic’s — great cocktails, flavorful food, warm hospitality and a little sense of escape — in a place that connects Oakland to the world.”
Trader Vic’s is an Oakland institution and one of the region’s most recognizable hospitality brands, said Port of Oakland Director of Aviation Craig Simon on the web site.
“Travelers are increasingly seeking dining options that are memorable, locally rooted, and uniquely representative of the communities they are visiting. Trader Vic’s delivers all of that while providing a high-quality food and beverage experience for our guests. We are proud to welcome this hometown favorite to Terminal 2,”
The original Trader Vic’s in Oakland:
In 1934, with an investment of $500, Bergeron opened his initially small restaurant at 65th Avenue and San Pablo, serving comfort foods for lunch and dinner and beers and whiskeys. As his clientele grew, so did his restaurant, expanding space and menu options. After visiting this establishment, famed San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen proclaimed that the “best restaurant in San Francisco is in Oakland.”
There were as many as 25 franchises worldwide, including the U.S. Trader Vic’s is now headquartered in Martinez.
Black Press
Oakland Coal Terminal Backed by Trump Would Be Bigger, Dirtier Than Promised, Says Report
A recent feasibility study commissioned by potential investors says an Oakland coal terminal backed by President Donald Trump could export 13 million tons a year — three times the amount estimated in an earlier environmental review.
Surprisingly, the report also contradicts developers’ and project advocates’ repeated pledges that the coal would be stored in a covered terminal. Instead, the millions of tons of coal shipped annually from inland states to the West Gateway terminal in Oakland would be stored in “two open-air bunkers,” with about 150,000 tons of coal per stockpile, before being sent overseas, according to the recent report cited by the L.A. Times. (https://ruic.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Port-Study-RUIC-Bulk-Commodity-Ocean-Terminals-Study.pdf)
Residents and clean air advocates have long expressed concerns that coal dust would worsen pollution in West Oakland and throughout the East Bay.
The proposed site of the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal (OBOT) is located at the former Army base near the Port of Oakland, which developer Phil Tagami has been trying for years to turn into a shipping terminal despite determined community opposition.
Trump announced a $75-million investment in the project in June, about a third of its estimated cost. The new terminal would be the largest coal export site on the West Coast, transporting coal to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia, according to the Trump administration.
Opponents say a new terminal would undermine years of progress cleaning up the air in West Oakland, which has a history of disproportionate pollution and high asthma rates due to its proximity to the port and other industry.
According to No Coal in Oakland organizer Ted Franklin, who has been active for 11 years in the fight to stop the coal terminal, the report indicates that investors may be looking for a cheaper way to build the terminal.
“We were shocked but not surprised” by the report, Franklin said. “Basically, it seems that the plan now is to store open piles of coal, which is a less expensive project than creating a completely enclosed facility.”
The threats that the project poses are real, but it faces a lot of economic and legal hurdles, he said.
Coal production is in permanent decline worldwide, he said, wondering who was going to “invest money in an industry that has no future.”
Further, the project has not yet attracted big investors. “There’s no bank, no financing, no financial institution backing this,” he continued.
A major legal hurdle facing the project is the passage of Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s bill, AB 40, the Community-First Coal Review Act, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 30.
The law requires developers of large-volume bulk coal facilities to complete a full Environmental Impact Report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) before they can operate.
The law was specifically designed to block or delay the coal terminal project.
The report to potential developers was produced by consulting groups Norda Stelo and Wood Mackenzie in July and released this month. It was commissioned by the Rural Utah Infrastructure Coalition, made up of eight Utah counties that are considering investing about $43 million into the terminal to receive Utah coal.
The consultants produced their findings after visiting Oakland, examining engineering documents and holding discussions with Savage Cos., a Utah-based transport and logistics company selected to operate the facility
Research has shown that coal terminal operations can be dangerous to public health. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach moved away from open-air coal and petroleum coke storage three decades ago.
The report says that the site could process 12 million metric tons, or 13.2 million tons, of coal each year, three times more than the terminal’s approved environmental impact report from 2002 and its 2012 addendum. Neither document mentions coal specifically, but rather bulk commodities.
The coal arriving in Oakland could also be dirtier then had been previously stated, according to the report. Project officials previously said the terminal would handle only high-grade western bituminous coal from Utah, but the recent report says it will also handle Powder River Basin coal from Wyoming and Montana, known to be much dustier.
Nor does the report mention plans to cover the rail cars to prevent pollution, though project officials previously promised they would only utilize coal transported in covered rail cars.
“It appears the developers want to build something much bigger and more polluting than anything they previously revealed, either in court or to the West Oakland community,” said Colin O’Brien, deputy managing attorney at the nonprofit Earthjustice, speaking to the L.A. Times.
The report indicates that the project may be much more expensive and take longer to complete than anticipated. The Energy Department estimates the terminal will cost about $231 million, but the report places the price at between $430 million and $625 million.
The terminal will take 53 months to complete according to the report, significantly longer than Trump’s promise of exports beginning in 2028.
Ted Franklin’s column, “Utah Study Blesses Investment in Oakland Coal Terminal but Leaves Key Questions Unanswered” is available at https://nocoalinoakland.info/utah-study-blesses-investment-in-oakland/
Black Press
Opponents Smear Effective African American Transit Director as Election Nears
Incumbent Joel Young is defending his seat on the AC Transit Board against allegations of harassment stemming from a public interaction in late 2024. Supporters of the director cite his record of securing $600 million for bus services and leading civil rights initiatives as evidence of his effectiveness. They argue the accusations regarding a group photo interaction have been politically weaponized by opponents to influence the Ward 3 election. The controversy has sparked a debate over candidate character versus transit performance. Learn more about the investigation and the upcoming vote.
I am an academic and a community activist. I take women’s issues, including workplace harassment and discrimination, seriously. I have been following the AC Transit Ward 3 election and have become concerned about what I believe is a serious injustice.
Joel Young is an effective AC Transit director. He has secured more than $600 million for local bus service and fare affordability. He led the Freedom Bus Project, integrating civil rights history, art and transit. He was presiding over the board of AC transit when it won the 2023 Outstanding Public System Award, and he raised $1 million for the hydrogen fuel cell bus program. These are just a few of his accomplishments.
I reviewed the allegations of unwanted physical contact and harassment made by AC Transit Director Sarah Syed against Director Joel Young, I believe the events of Sept. 24, 2025, have been characterized in a way that does not accurately reflect what occurred.
That interaction took place during a group photo after celebrating the life of a longtime Board member who passed away. From the video I reviewed, it appears that individuals were consoling one another and exchanging hugs in a public setting surrounded by numerous witnesses.
Young’s interaction with Syed appears consistent with those expressions of sympathy and it appears that Young was attempting to extend a gesture of goodwill toward Syed.
I am concerned by how this incident has been recently used as a political tool to influence the outcome of the AC Transit Ward 3 election and support Young’s opponent.
Syed and her supporters launched a targeted political campaign, first through the Alameda County Democratic Party and subsequently by organizing a letter from a group of majority-white elected officials who have endorsed Young’s opponent against Young, who is Africa American.
Furthermore, this manufactured controversy distracts voters from the critical issues facing AC Transit. The public deserves a substantive debate on service reliability, ridership recovery, passenger and operator safety, financial stability, regional equity, and future transportation infrastructure. The electorate should be evaluating which candidate possesses the judgment, experience, and vision to lead AC Transit forward – not reacting to a distorted personal interaction.
Regardless of one’s political views or preferred candidate, allegations of harassment should never be weaponized for electoral purposes. We all know that exaggerated or unsupported accusations can undermine public understanding of, and trust in, efforts to address genuine sexual harassment and violence.
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