“I have done this work for over 30 years, it’s all I know.” Sr. Hernandez’s eyes welled up with tears. “I have no benefits and can’t even get unemployment.”
Hernandez was just one of so many elders and families who have been lied to and face immediate homelessness and joblessness in Pleasanton after being terminated from their job supporting the “racetrack” industry.
On January 30 the California Authority of Racing Fairs stated that it would end all Golden State Racing stabling and training operations in Northern California, including at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. The agency told stable staff—who lived in recreational vehicles they had bought after being displaced from a previous racetrack in Albany—to be ready to vacate by March 25.
“We came here after they closed Golden Gate Fields [in 2024] because they said we would be employed for five years, now we have no job and no place to live,” said Vicky, one of the indigenous residents of the Alameda County Fairgrounds RV park who has worked for the stables since they got there…