One more candidate files nomination papers

By Allen Payton

In a post on Facebook, Thursday night former Antioch Mayor Wade Harper announced he had changed his mind and will not make a comeback effort and run for mayor, this year. Instead he will “focus on ministry, family, bike riding and other retiree stuff.”

In a Facebook Live video on Monday, July 20, which has since been removed, Harper said, “Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am standing here in front of Antioch City Hall. I just pulled my papers to run for re-election for Mayor of the City of Antioch. I believe I did a great job as mayor bringing economic development, more funding for law enforcement and cleaning up blight and graffiti, and just being the point guard or the team.”

“It is in my heart to serve this city. Before I went in and pulled my papers, I anointed my hands for this great work that’s before me. I anointed my mind so that I can contemplate on the wonderful things that we want to do for the city of Antioch. I anointed my heart because I believe my heart is in the right place to serve this city. And I believe this is a calling for me and I understand as a former pastor if you don’t love them you can’t lead them, and I love this city,” he continued. “We’re going to do some great things. I am the mayor that helped to bring the city of Antioch out of the great recession and it’s my desire, my goal to move this city forward out of the recession that we’re currently in. So, be on the look out for me. Pray for me, I need your prayers. I need your support. You’ll see me on the ballot. You’ll see me out in the community.”

However last night, Harper wrote the following:

“Friends, family, ladies and gentlemen: After much prayer and consideration I decided not to launch a campaign for re-election as mayor of the City of Antioch. While I have much to give and have a love for the people of Antioch I decided not to serve in the capacity of mayor. You don’t need a title to lead. During these difficult times Lisa and I participate with a counseling group that ministers to those who have lost loved-ones. We believe we are making a difference. I am also an elder at my local church. I plan to focus on ministry, family, bike riding and other retiree stuff. As a side note it was mentioned to me that in my previous comments I had too much of a focus on religion. With that said I want let all of my Facebook friends and family know that I Still Believe God! I believe Jesus Christ is Lord and He is our savior and healer. Love on your family during this pandemic and make sure you are assured of your salvation. God bless you!”

Harper was elected mayor in 2012 but lost for re-election to current Mayor Sean Wright by just 64 votes in a three-way race in 2016 that included Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock.

There is talk about a poll that was done about the mayor’s race with people in Antioch receiving calls. But that could not be confirmed before publication time or that it was the reason for Harper withdrawing from the race.

Remaining Candidates for Mayor, One More Files

Harper’s decision leaves six challengers for Wright, including Councilwoman Monica Wilson and former Antioch Planning Commission Chair Ken Turnage II. According to the Thursday report by Antioch City Clerk Arne Simonsen, one more candidate, Julio Mendez has filed his papers to run for mayor. But his signatures are being verified before the clerk’s office can determine that h is qualified. No definitive information can be found on Mendez from internet searches.

He is the second candidate to file papers in the race including 2014 candidate for California governor, Rakesh Kumar Christian.

For more information about local city and school board races see the Antioch Herald Elections 2020 page.

By Allen Payton

The Antioch City Council will continue their meeting from Tuesday night, July 28, which lasted four hours, on Friday night, July 31st, to complete the agenda.

The main item expected to garner the most public input and response is the discussion of the Transitional Housing Ad Hoc Committee’s proposal to lease the Executive Inn motel on E. 18th Street for use by homeless residents. The presentation will be made by committee members Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts and Council Member Lamar Thorpe. The cost to the city could be as much as $1 million per year. (See related article)

The other item is a resolution approving an Administrative Assistant in the City Clerk’s Department.

The meeting begins at 6:00 p.m. and can be viewed on Comcast Channel 24, or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99, or via livestream on the city’s website at https://www.antiochca.gov/live_stream.

 

Eubanks changes his mind; Tiscareno files papers for District 2 council seat

By Allen Payton

Two more candidates have jumped into the fray of Antioch politics, as Police Crime Prevention Commission Members Dr. Clyde Lewis, Jr. and Dwayne Eubanks have pulled their Nomination Papers to run for Antioch School Board in District 3 and city clerk, respectively.

According to the County Elections Office Wednesday afternoon report, Lewis will be challenging current Trustee Crystal Sawyer-White who is running for re-election to her second term on the board, after having said she wouldn’t run and would support Lewis.

This is his second attempt, having run for school board in 2018, placing fourth behind Mary Rocha, Ellie Householder and Jim Davis.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Lewis is the founder, and since 2014 has worked as Principal Consultant and Grant Specialist of ONESSIS International, LLC, and is currently leading the structuring of a program designed to support the re-entry of formerly incarcerated youth. He has previously worked in education, first as a lecturer at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology and Keio University, as well as for Overseas Broadcasting, OBC in Tokyo, Japan. Then as a Graduate Research Assistant for San Francisco State, as well as for Skyline College. Lewis also worked for Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and in job training and development including developing the Career Training and Employment Center (CTEC) Career Pathways program for Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS) as the Director of Workforce Development.

He earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree with emphasis in Ethnic Studies, as well as his master’s degree in Educational Administration and Supervision with Higher Education emphasis from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Lewis earned his Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership, Administration, Social Justice and Matriculation from San Francisco State in 2016.

He is the president of the Kiwanis Club of the Delta-Antioch and also serves on the District Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committee for the Contra Costa Community College District.

Eubanks, changed his mind after announcing on his Facebook page last July that he was running for City Council in District 2. The map of the city council districts and his comment, “Running For Antioch Council Second District” still appears on his page, as of today. He will instead take on incumbent City Clerk Arne Simonsen, who is seeking his third term in the currently, part-time position.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Eubanks is a Senior Business Analyst for the Judicial Council of California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Sociology from Linfield College in 1975 and did some coursework toward an MBA at J.F.K. University in 2002 and 2003. Eubanks is active with the Antioch Historical Society and is an avid runner.

Simonsen faced no opponent four years ago and defeated Argentina Davila-Luevano in his first campaign for City Clerk in 2012. He previously served on the Antioch City Council having first been elected in 2000, placing second out of five candidates behind Brian Kalinowski, and re-elected in 2004 placing second out of seven candidates, again behind Kalinowski, but beating incumbents Reggie Moore and Manny Soliz. Simonsen lost his bid for re-election to his third term on the council in 2008 placing third out of three candidates behind Mary Rocha and Kalinowski.

In addition, former Antioch Councilman Tony Tiscareno filed his papers to run in District 2 and according to the daily report from Simonsen, is awaiting verification of signatures. Each candidate must submit the valid signatures of at least 20 registered voters in the district in which they plan to run.

The following Antioch residents have taken out Nomination Papers as of 5 p.m., July 24th or Qualified for the following City offices:

ANTIOCH CITY OFFICES

Council District 2

Tony Tiscareno – Former Antioch Councilman – Filed on 7/28/20 (awaiting signature verification)

Michael Barbanica

City Clerk

Arne Simonsen (I)

Dwayne Eubanks – Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commissioner

ANTIOCH SCHOOL BOARD

District 3

Crystal Sawyer-White – Antioch School Board Trustee

Clyde Lewis – Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commissioner

There were no other candidates to pull or file their Nomination Papers for any of the other city offices or school board seats. This list will be updated when additional registered Antioch voters take out Nomination Papers or become Qualified. To see the complete list of candidates for city offices and school board, and to see the 2020 election district maps visit www.antiochherald.com/election-2020.

Editor’s Note: If not provided by the candidates, the photos of them used by the Herald are the best and most recent photos available on the internet, usually from their social media pages. All candidates are encouraged to email their bio/resume/curriculum vitae and most recent photo to editor@antiochherald.com. Thank you.

U.S. Marshal Service, Oakland Police assist; bail set at $6 million; baby with family members; over 20 firearms recovered including several assault rifles

By Sergeant James Stenger, Antioch Police Investigations Bureau

Through this investigation it was determined that 25-year-old Ramello Darryl Randle and 24-year-old Jonaye Bridges were in a dating relationship and have one infant child together. The couple have recently become estranged and have been going through child custody issues. On July 27, 2020 at approximately 12:36 AM, Bridges and an intentionally unnamed 27-year-old male were in a vehicle together in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven, located at 2301 Buchanan Road in Antioch. Randle saw the two victims together in the vehicle. Randle approached the vehicle on foot and fired multiple rounds into the vehicle with a semi-automatic pistol. Bridges suffered several gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. The unnamed male suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds and was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated and has since been released. (See related article)

On July 28, 2020 about 3:00 PM, Antioch Police Detectives and the Oakland Police Department located Randle in the City of Oakland and he was taken into custody without incident. The Antioch Police Department Investigations Bureau executed a search warrant in the 4500 block of Bond Street in Oakland related to this murder. Over 20 firearms were recovered during the search, including several assault rifles.

On July 29, 2020, this case was presented to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. Randle was charged with murder, attempted murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and firearm enhancements. Randle is currently being held at the County Jail in Martinez with bail set at $6 million dollars.

Randle and Bridges’ infant child is safely in the custody of family members.

Original APD Press Release

On July 27, 2020 at approximately 12:36 AM, Antioch police officers were called to a 7-Eleven convenience store, located at 2301 Buchanan Road, on the report of a victim suffering from gunshot wounds.

Numerous officers responded to the scene and located one male victim down in the store, and a female victim seated in a parked vehicle. Both victims were found to be suffering from several gunshot wounds.

The female victim was suffering from at least one serious gunshot wound, and the male victim sustained at least two gunshot wounds. Officers immediately began providing first-aid and CPR to the victims until emergency paramedics arrived at the scene. The female victim succumbed to her injuries and passed at the scene. The male victim was transported by paramedics to a local area hospital, where he was admitted and listed in stable condition.

While at the scene, officers learned that there were several subjects present in the parking lot when gunshots were fired by one male suspect. The suspect fired several gunshots into a parked vehicle and then fled the lot on-foot.

Antioch Police Department’s Crime Scene Investigators and Detectives with the Violent Crimes and Special Operations Units responded to the scene and took over the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Antioch Police Department non-emergency line at (925) 778-2441, or Detective Brogdon at (925) 779-6895. You may also text-a-tip to 274637 (CRIMES) using the key word ANTIOCH.

“This blatant manipulation of the ballot label as well as the title and summary is in direct contravention of the Attorney General’s fiduciary duty to prepare impartial ballot material,” said Jon Coupal, President of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Today, July 29, 2020, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for his abject failure to produce impartial ballot material related to Proposition 15, the “split roll” attack that seeks the partial repeal of Proposition 13.

Past criticism of Becerra’s bias has been vocal but has now reached a crescendo. Just this past week, editorial boards and columnists have lambasted Becerra. In fact, the specific deficiencies of Prop 15’s ballot label as well as the title and summary are well identified in the media reports themselves:

• ​ ​“The ballot title on Prop. 15 begins by stating that it ‘increases funding sources for public schools, community colleges and local government services.’ It would do so, it states, by ‘changing tax assessment – not raisingtaxes-on commercial and industrial property.” (John Diaz, California attorney general loads language on 2 November measures, The S.F. Chronicle, July 26, 2020, https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/diaz/article/California-attorney-general-loads-language-on-2-15434094.php, emphasis in original.)
• ​ ​“The title and summary of Proposition 15 are not only tilted toward one side,​ ​they are less than fully accurate. Property in California is not taxed on ‘purchase price.’ It’s taxed on fair market value at the time of purchase, adjusted annually, for inflation with increases capped at 2 percent per year… To say property is currently taxed on ‘purchase price’ conveys an impression that property taxes do not rise at all, which is misleading in a way that favors the measure’s proponents who seek to raise taxes. It’s also misleading, if not completely false, to state that​ ​Proposition 15 ‘increases funding sources.’ It doesn’t add new sources, it increases taxes on existing sources: businesses in California.” (The Editorial Board, Editorial: Biased ballot measure titles and summaries distort our democracy, Southern California News Group + Bay Area News Group, July 22, 2020, https://www.ocregister.com/2020/07/22/biased-ballot-measure-titles​-​and-summaries-distort-our-democracy/.)
• ​  ​“California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has once again written a biased ballot title and summary, which deliberately misleads voters about Prop. 15…” “The attorney general contorts the English language to avoid using the word ‘tax.’ Unfortunately, he can’t call Prop 15 a revenue increase, since, as the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says, some rural governments could lose money if Prop 15 passes.” (Katy Grimes, Prop. 15: Messy Title, Feud With Signer, and Ironic Zuckerberg Contributions, California Globe, July 27, 2020, https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/prop-15-messy-title-feud-with-signer-and-ironic-zuckerberg-contributions/.)
• ​  ​“Rather than simply describe Proposition 15 for what it does, Becerra’s official title summarizes it this way: ‘Increases funding for public schools, community colleges, and local government services by changing tax assessment of commercial and industrial property.'” (Dan Walters, Becerra slants two ballot measure titles, CALmatters, July 27, 2020, “https://calmatters.org/commentary/dan-walters/2020/07/california-becerra-partisan-ballot-measure-titles/.)

“This blatant manipulation of the ballot label as well as the title and summary is in direct contravention of the Attorney General’s fiduciary duty to prepare impartial ballot material,” said Jon Coupal, President of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

California voters are entitled by law to “a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure in such language that the ballot title and summary shall neither be an argument, nor be likely to create prejudice, for or against the proposed measure.” Instead, Attorney General Becerra has bowed to the political power of special interests who seek to hide from the voters that the measure they have put on the ballot is the biggest property tax increase in California history.

 

Being held on No Bail Allowed; incident occurred at apartment complex on James Donlon Blvd.

By Sergeant James Stenger #3604, Antioch Police Investigations Bureau

The Antioch Police Department Investigations Bureau has been diligently investigating this case since May 18, 2020, the night 36-year-old Kenneth Lee McClain was shot and killed. Through the investigation it was determined that an argument started over a dice game between McClain and Vallejo resident, 27-year-old Alfonzo Lavell Blake. During the argument Blake shot and killed McClain and shot and injured an intentionally unnamed 23-year-old male victim. That victim was treated at a local hospital and later released. Blake robbed another partygoer of their gold chain and then fled the scene on foot. (See related article)

The Antioch Police Department requested an outside assist from the US Marshal Service to track and take Blake into custody. On July 27, 2020 at approximately 5:30 PM, the US Marshal Service tracked Blake to a residence in the 200 block of Cypress Avenue in Vallejo. The US Marshal Service served a search warrant at the Cypress Avenue residence and Blake was taken into custody without incident.

On July 29, 2020, this case was presented to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office. Blake was charged with a special circumstance murder for committing a murder during the commission of a robbery (Penal Code 187(a) and Penal Code 190.2(a)(17)). Blake is currently being held at the County Jail in Martinez on a No Bail Allowed complaint.

On May 18, 2020 at approximately 1:33 AM, Antioch police officers were called to the Twin Creek Apartments, located at 1111 James Donlon Boulevard, on the call of gunshots heard near an apartment.

Numerous officers responded to the scene and located one male victim, down on the ground, on the back patio of an apartment unit. The 36-year-old male victim was suffering from at least one (1) serious gunshot wound. Officers immediately began providing first-aid and CPR to the victim until emergency paramedics arrived at the scene. The victim succumbed to his injuries and passed at the scene. Another adult male at the scene also sustained a gunshot wound and was transported by paramedics to a local area hospital, where he was admitted and listed in stable condition.

While at the scene, officers learned that there were several subjects inside the apartment when an altercation occurred. Shortly afterwards, a male suspect fired several gunshots and then fled the complex on-foot.

Antioch Police Department’s Crime Scene Investigators and Detectives with the Violent Crimes and Special Operations Units responded to the scene and took over the investigation. At this time, the suspect responsible for this shooting has not been located. Currently, the investigation is still active, and evidence is being collected.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Antioch Police Department non-emergency line at (925) 778-2441, or Detective Brogdon at (925) 779-6895. You may also text-a-tip to 274637 (CRIMES) using the key word ANTIOCH.

“You are not being inconvenienced that much.” – Supervisor Karen Mitchoff

• Half-Cent Sales Tax Ballot Measure Plans Hung Up in Sacramento

• Sheriff Continues Cooperation With ICE

By Daniel Borsuk

Over citizen objections, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0, Tuesday to approve fines for non-commercial and commercial public health violations in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new ordinance that goes into effect immediately requires citizens to wear face masks in the public and in commercial settings or one can be subject to a fine, or multiple fines.

Contra Costa County Health Services Director Anna Roth told supervisors the county needs an ordinance setting down fines because as of Tuesday the county’s COVID-19 caseload is still rising with 7,304 cases. In the county there have been 108 COVID-19 related deaths, she reported, of which 70 percent occurred in long term care facilities. County health officials have observed a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases since May. Roth pointed out the county is on the state’s COVID-19 Monitoring List.

Deputy County Health Director Randy Sawyer explained there is an “urgent need” for county supervisors to adopt an ordinance establishing fees so that county health enforcement officers can enforce public health orders especially during the current pandemic.  Citizens are not wearing masks and are not practicing social distancing, Sawyer said.

Sawyer said there are about 200 businesses that the county has ongoing public health complaint issues with the department.

Similar ordinances have recently been adopted in Marin and Napa counties, and the Contra Costa County ordinance requires persons to wear masks when engaged in noncommercial and commercial activities.  In Contra Costa, for the first noncommercial violation the fine is $100, $200 for the second violation and $500 for each additional violation within one year of the initial violation.

For commercial activity violations, the fine for the first violation is $250, $500 for a second violation, and $1,000 for each additional violation within one year of the initial violation. “If a violation continues to more than one day, each day is a separate violation,” the ordinance states.

Public Opposition to Mask Ordinance & Fines

Speakers opposing the ordinance said requiring persons to wear masks violates their Constitutional rights. “I oppose this ordinance because it violates our liberties, “said Dave Sutton. “It restricts our liberties.”

Similarly, Deborah Thompson said, “I oppose the ordinance because it is an abridgement of our liberties.”

Comments like those sparked District One Supervisor John Gioia of Richmond to say, “I am shocked by the lack of literacy and scant knowledge that people have.”

The supervisor said some people don’t understand that this virus is causing a public health crisis where this county “may soon run out of ICU beds and two thirds of the people who have died in the county lived in congregant living facilities.”

“We are out to get these numbers down,” Supervisor Karen Mitchoff of Pleasant Hill said in reference to the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the county. “A health order will do that. You are not being inconvenienced that much.”

Mitchoff, who noted Contra Costa County’s fines are less than other Bay Area county fines, said  the new ordinance will mean persons will now be required to wear a mask when they out of their house, even when they go to the fast-food drive thru. “If you don’t want to wear a mask then get used to wearing a ventilator,” the supervisor warned.

Richmond resident Edith Alderman supported the ordinance commenting,” I’m 100 percent in favor of the ordinance.  This can help get a handle on this disease.”

Speaking on behalf of the board, Chair Candace Andersen of Danville said “Many people are following the Health Order, but we need to increase our efforts together to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community. To further our progress, to protect lives and reopen more local businesses and activities, we need a tool to send a fair message that everyone has to adhere to health orders to prevent the spread of the virus.”

“With a 14 percent unemployment rate, this is not the time for a sales tax hike” – Board Chair Candace Andersen

Half-Cent Sales Tax Ballot Measure Plans Hung Up in Sacramento

With the legislative clock ticking in Sacramento, the supervisors plan to meet at a special teleconferenced meeting next Tuesday in order to get a status report to waive the second reading on the supervisors’ resolution calling for a Nov. 3 half cent sales tax ballot proposal.

The special meeting was called because state legislators have not convened to act on proposed legislation, especially Contra Costa County State Senator Steve Glazer’s Senate Bill 1349, a transactions and use tax law, that the supervisors need the state Legislature to pass and Governor Gavin Newsom to sign by August 18 or the supervisors’ half cent sales proposal will not appear on the November ballot.

Deputy County Administrator Tim Ewell explained without passage of SB 1349, the county will  lose $800,000 to $1 million in state revenue to cover printing costs tied to the ballot measure, but the clock is ticking and the supervisors need to have SB 1349 passed in the legislature and signed by the governor by August 18.

“I want those funds,” said supervisor Mitchoff, “but it will only move forward if the legislature acts.”

Supervisors voted 4-1, with Chair Candace Andersen of Danville casting the lone opposing vote, to move forward to meet next Tuesday.

“I will not support it” said Andersen, who also opposed the tax increase proposal at the board’s July 14 meeting.  “With a 14 percent unemployment rate, this is not the time for a sales tax hike with such high unemployment rate.”

One of the few speakers opposing the proposal Tom Townsend of El Cerrito, said, “I am taxed to the limit and I oppose the half cent sales tax.”

“I am unsure if this ballot measure will pass,” warned District 3 Supervisor Mitchoff, but she voted in favor of it anyway.

Tax proponent Supervisor Gioia said a county resident would typically pay $60 to $80 a year should the tax measure pass in November.

The proposed language for the county tax measure reads:

“To keep Contra Costa’s regional hospital open and staffed; fund community health centers; provide timely fire and emergency response; support crucial safety-net services; invest in early childhood services, shall the Contra Costa County measure levying a ½ cent sales tax, exempting food sales, providing an estimated $81,000,000 annually for 20 years that the state cannot take, requiring fiscal accountability, with funds benefitting county residents, be adopted?”

Sheriff Continues Cooperation with ICE

Sheriff David Livingston ran into criticism from the public about how the Sheriff’s Office works with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but is not expected to change his policies.

“The Sheriff continues to respond to ICE notification requests,” said Melanie Kim, a staff attorney for Advance Justice – Asian Law Caucus. “These practices are especially cruel given that COVID-19 is running rampant inside ICE facilities.  People in ICE custody are vulnerable to grave illness or death.”

The sheriff told supervisors that because of the COVID-19 hygiene practices that his officers and the inmates use at the West Contra Costa facility in Richmond and Martinez jail, there have been no reported COVID-19 cases.

The sheriff reported that in the past year his office detained for ICE enforcement purposes, 72 were Hispanic prisoners, 18 were Asian prisoners, one was a Black prisoner, three were white prisoners, and two “other” prisoners.

Sheriff Livingston said of the 95 prisoners reported to ICE, 71 were charged for miscellaneous felonies, four for penal or murder, five for robbery, two for car jackings, and for 11 for assaults with deadly weapons.

While there were a number of critics of the Sheriff’s Office asking that the Board of Supervisors to reduce funding for the upcoming 2020-2021 fiscal year, Karen Clarkson was one of few backers of Sheriff Livingston’s department requesting that funding remain unchanged. “I support the Sheriff,” she said. “It is an unsafe practice to defund the Sheriff.”

“This county should be safe for everyone, whether they are documented or undocumented,” said Anisha Walker, who requested that supervisors cut funds to the Sheriff’s Office.

“I have no sympathy for those who break the law and are violent criminals, “said Supervisor Mitchoff. “I support the sheriff. And I support social justice and equality at a time we are in a COVID -19 pandemic.”

Earns high-performing rankings in two procedures/conditions

By Monique Binkley Smith, Sutter Health Communications Manager, News Bureau

Sutter Delta Medical Center, part of the Sutter Health not-for-profit, integrated network of care, achieved recognition as among the best hospitals in California for 2020-21 from U.S. News & World Report. The annual rankings rate top hospitals in the state and in major metropolitan regions according to their performance across 26 adult specialties, procedures and conditions.

Sutter Delta earned high-performing rankings in two procedures/conditions: heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is the fourth consecutive year Sutter Delta was recognized as high-performing for these services.

“I am pleased to see our teams recognized once again for the hard work and dedication it takes to achieve these results. Our goal at Sutter Delta Medical Center is to provide safe, affordable, quality care that is readily accessible to our community members. This year’s recognition by U.S. News & World Report reflects that,” said Sutter Delta CEO Sherie C. Hickman.

“Safety and quality are in our DNA,” said Bill Isenberg, M.D., chief quality and safety officer for Sutter Health. “Recognitions like these honor our network’s doctors, nurses, clinicians and employees who compassionately care for patients and their families across Northern California.”

Sutter hospital campuses ranked among the top 50 in the state include:

• California Pacific Medical Center– Van Ness Campus* (High-performing in five procedures/conditions and four specialties)
• Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento(High-performing in six procedures/conditions and one specialty)
• Sutter Roseville Medical Center(High-performing in five procedures/conditions)

In addition to Sutter Delta, six other Sutter hospital campuses earned recognition as “high performers” in at least one adult specialty, condition or procedure, including:

• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center– Summit Campus in Oakland (High-performing in three procedures/conditions)
• Alta Bates Summit Medical Center – Alta Bates Campusin Berkeley (High-performing in two procedures/conditions)
• Memorial Medical Center(High-performing in two procedures/conditions)
• Mills-Peninsula Medical Center(High-performing in three procedures/conditions)
• Stanislaus Surgical Hospital(High-performing in one procedure/condition)
• Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital(High-performing in two procedures/conditions)

Sutter Health’s not-for-profit network set out to build a truly integrated system—one that offers comprehensive patient services and quality health programs tailored to the diverse communities it serves. Today, Sutter Health cares for more than 3 million patients throughout its Northern California network of physicians, hospitals, home health providers and other services. Its coordination and focus on standardizing best practices reduce complications in care, lower hospital readmission rates and bring down the total cost of care.

“For more than 30 years, U.S. News & World Report has been helping patients, along with the help of their physicians, identify the Best Hospitals in an array of specialties, procedures and conditions,” said Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis at U.S. News. “The hospitals that rise to the top of our rankings and ratings have deep medical expertise, and each has built a track record of delivering good outcomes for patients.”

The U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals survey ranked hospitals according to risk-adjusted survival and readmission rates, volume, patient experience, patient safety, quality of nursing care, physician surveys and other care-related indicators.

For more information and complete rankings, visit U.S. News & World Report.

* Many of the services recognized had originally been performed at California Pacific Medical Center – Pacific Campus and are now located at California Pacific Medical Center – Van Ness Campus.