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Crises in housing, health care and the environment are just a few of the issues stacked regularly on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors’ plates. 

Alice Lai-Bitker, appointed to the board Tuesday in a unanimous vote by the four board members, doesn’t flinch from the tasks ahead. 

“I’m ready to take the challenge and do the work,” she said Wednesday. 

As soon as she is sworn in, Lai-Bitker will take the place of former Supervisor Wilma Chan, D-Alameda, elected to the State Assembly seat formerly held by Green-turned- independent-turned-Democrat Audie Bock. Lai-Bitker worked as an assistant to Chan for six years. 

While Lai-Bitker does not directly represent Berkeley – Supervisor Keith Carson does – she says she will be an ally in addressing some of the issues Berkeley faces.  

One of her goals is to address the problem of the uninsured, people who earn too much money to receive MediCal, but who do not get adequate insurance benefits from their employers. 

Skyrocketing housing costs and rents that cause some to leave the county and others to go out on the streets is another issue Lai-Bitker plans to address. “Housing issues are not jurisdictional,” she said. 

She said she plans to work with Carson, especially on health care and housing issues. 

Carson said he is looking forward to working with the new supervisor, whose district includes parts of Oakland, San Leandro and Alameda. 

“She has been visible in the health committee meetings,” Carson said, adding that Lai-Bitker will work for solutions to the housing crisis.  

The greatest challenge Lai-Bitker might encounter, Carson said, “is that she’s “never been the policy maker.” But Carson, once an aide himself to former Rep. Ron Dellums, acknowledged that he had to go through the same learning curve when he was voted into office. 

Lai-Bitker, who was born in Hong Kong and emigrated as a graduate student to the Bay Area in 1983, will be the lone Asian on the board, as her predecessor was. “It’s good government when you have as many diverse voices at the decision-making table (as you can),” Carson said. 

The soon-to-be supervisor agrees. “It’s important to have that representation,” said Lai-Bitker whose volunteer efforts have included voter registration and education in the Asian community. 

Lai-Bitker lives in Alameda and is married to KCBS sportscaster Steve Bitker. She has two children 14 and 9. 

“I do not have the ambition of higher office,” Lai-Bitker said in her application to the supervisors for the post. “In fact, I am seeking the appointment only because I care about the district and the county, and I want to make a difference in people’s lives.” 

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On Tuesday, in addition to voting Lai-Bitker into office, the supervisors declared an emergency in Alameda County housing. Some 200 people spoke in favor of adopting the state of emergency at the meeting, Carson said.  

Approving the resolution means setting “truly low-cost” housing high on the priority list for the supervisors, Carson said.