My Turn: Council Member Kalimah Priforce

 Council Member Kalimah Priforce Weighs In-

My Turn

Council Member Kalimah Priforce

The Tattler has always made itself available to all elected officials in Emeryville to use as a platform to reach out to the citizens for whatever reason they wish.  We call it 'My Turn'.  All electeds are always invited at any time to submit information in the public interest and the Tattler will post it verbatim.  Council member Priforce has requested a Tattler space in kind and we accommodate all Emeryville elected officials in this request.  

The submittal from Mr Priforce this time is a little unusual in that he requested the Tattler ask him questions regarding the November election and his run for changing the mayoral selection process in Emeryville.  He said he would respond for the Tattler's My Turn feature.  Here then is the result of that, for your edification:

The Tattler: Emeryville voters don’t elect our mayors and yet you were endorsed to be mayor by Our Revolution East Bay and Igor Tregub, Chair of the Alameda County Democratic Party recently accused your voter guide mailers as confusing voters. Can you elaborate?

Kalimah Priforce: Emeryville’s mayor is selected, not elected.  It’s a broken system that can be fixed with this Nov. 5th election by voting for Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.  If you aren't registered to vote in Emeryville, you can still vote in person at the voting booth. Just bring proof of residence with you just in case.

When Mae Jamison became the first Black woman to be in space on the Endeavor shuttle in 1992, she was approached about what this history-making moment meant for her. Her response was that it was an opportunity to bring more seats to the table.

The problem with our politics in Emeryville is that the table is shrinking as the city is growing.  That table is the affordability to work, live, and thrive in Emeryville. The table is the ability to own a residence as a first time home buyer.  The table is the ability to move into Emeryville and stay in Emeryville.

As we were designing the voter guide mailers that had drawn so much attention, I labeled the ideas and feedback from the Emery Rising Neighborhood Group into a folder on my computer as “Project Folding Chair.”  The mailer would be a folded piece that featured Mia and Calvin as the candidates to vote for, and allowed me to remind Emeryville voters what is at stake with this upcoming election by sharing how I was skipped as their next mayor.  If it can happen to me, it can happen to all of us.

Shirley Chisholm is popularly quoted as saying, “If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”  The most important table that is shrinking in Emeryville is how decisions are made and how city planning is directed by the city council.  That is why we are facing a budgetary shortfall. The same ideas are being circulated because they are generated by the same special interests.

So, no - no one can “vote” me as mayor, but as I shared in my blog (www.votepriforce.com) about this controversy, my running for mayor is about supporting candidates who have the vision and character to restore what was broken and will return us to our rotational mayorship model but codified to give everyone a fair chance to be mayor, including myself - the lone dissenting and progressive voice on this council.  I’m Haitian.  I never have a problem standing up to colonizers and their sycophants.

I’d like to thank Our Revolution East Bay for endorsing my mayoral run and all those who believe in my work in Emeryville, including Van Jones who also endorsed my mayorship run.  For some reason, they get it, but Igor Tregub of the Alameda County Democratic Party doesn’t.  But then again, he’s just looking out for his friend, Courtney Welch, and turning friendship into politics at a time when our local party is facing not one, but two recalls.

Tell our readers more about Emery Rising.  Is it like Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) that helped elect council members into office?

Emery Rising is very different from RULE.  We are a neighborhood group spun out of the Emeryville Tenant Union which is based on the Berkeley Tenant Union.  Calvin and Mia are members of the ETU that grew out of the Courtyards 65th Tenant Board.  The basis for the growth of community organizing was our recognized need for single-family homeowners, workers and small businesses, and even churches to have a seat at the table.

If you aren’t at the table, you’re on the menu.  These groups have all seen the corporatization of Emeryville and how planning decisions are being made without community input - just surveys city hall sends out that are barely responded to in a city of 13,000.  Just as the Berkeley Tenant Union is helping to guide the Emeryville Tenant Union, REP-SF which stands for Race and Equity in all Planning Coalition have been successful in San Francisco at bringing diverse voices together to build collective power at the city planning level that prioritizes the dignity, health, stability, and aspirations of our communities, by placing the needs of the people over profit.

Emery Rising is coalition structured so we can not accept individual members.  We can only accept groups. Group membership can be as small as five people and as big as a thousand.  This encourages grassroots organizing within pocket communities in Emeryville, and we will soon be set up so that these groups will be non-profit fiscally sponsored so they can raise their own tax-exempt funds, take out insurance, and operate as legal entities but without being over-burden with paperwork.  That is what makes us a neighborhood group that can transform our politics, because Emeryville needs it.  We will be hosting workshops and events after the November election.

Although it was my FPPC ID on the mailers, it was designed with community input by the Emery Rising community.

There has been controversy surrounding the Green Party of Alameda County endorsement of Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty and of you as mayor with their distributed voter guide and Courtney Welch’s claim that her race wasn’t acknowledged.  Can you address this?

Yes, and Igor Tregub “denounced” and called on everyone in the Alameda County Democratic Party to denounce the Green Party’s typographical error.  There are only so many times a person can “cry wolf” before people get the idea of what is happening and tune out. I'm glad Emeryville is getting this attention, so I thank Igor for that.

Currently of the six candidates for city council, only three have been endorsed by a local political party, Courtney Welch (Democratic Party), Mia Esperanza Brown (Green Party), and Calvin Dillahunty (Green Party).  All six candidates are registered democrats vying for three city council seats, two of them incumbents.

In order to be endorsed by the Democratic Party, there had to be a voting threshold to be met by its voting body - none of whom live in Emeryville. Only Courtney Welch met that threshold, and there’s a reason why.  Voting members were called and instructed to only vote for her. Some of them refused, others were outright disgusted by their request (gentle threats) and informed me, while others, those closest to her, capitulated.

I will add the voting results to my blog so everyone can see that she was bullet-voted several times when there were three possible picks out of six.  That tells me several things: (1) the people who chose to only vote one person don’t give a damn about us in Emeryville, especially since they don’t live here and are not vulnerable to their voting-outcomes, and (2) the other candidates who she endorsed and have endorsed her never had a chance for an endorsement and were essentially sabotaged.

Some people voted ideologically or were persuaded by the endorsement forum to support Mia and Calvin because they strongly oppose what is happening in Emeryville and stand with the Emery Rising movement, but those who decided to only vote for her when Sukhdeep, Matthew, and Sam agree with the mayor on practically everything - shame on them.  At the end of the day, no matter the beef, tension, or outright opposition I have with Sukhdeep, Matthew, and Sam, all three are still Emeryville (Sukhdeep alone has lived here two more years longer than I have), so when you mess with Emeryville, you mess with me (well maybe not Sam…I’ll go into details as to why with one of the next questions).  Growing up in Brooklyn taught me that.

The Green Party of Alameda County responded to my request that they correct their endorsement text. They explained to me that “non-incumbent” was unintentionally not included and that they would rectify it and produce a statement to address the outrage theatrics that were being performed by my fellow democrats.  I took them by their word and they did what they said they would do.  From what I know the Green Party takes a lot of cues from the Tattler, but the people I messaged were separate and kind enough to make those changes.  You didn’t write that endorsement and I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to allude that you did.

There are three seats available for City Council, would you consider a third candidate besides Mia Brown and Calvin Dillahunty?

Out of the remaining four, I’d be open to consider Matthew Solomon for the third seat.  I think Matthew can better listen to constituents once he finds his bearings as a leader.  My impression of Matthew is that of a follower.  If caught between choosing to side with the people versus the status quo, I think he would buck to convention.  With all the housing committee meetings I’ve attended, I study body language and Matthew seemed to always look towards Ned Resnick, the California YIMBY policy director, for approval.  He considers himself a YIMBY which raises several red flags. 

For example, when John Bauters pushed for Emeryville to have the East Bay’s tallest high-rise (dubbed Mount Bauters) with the Onni Group that would have had 638 apartments and only 55 of them three bedrooms - all rentals, would he have sided with the people or Bauters?  Or when Bauters pushed for the Trader Vic’s development by Trachtenberg Architects that would have placed a rental property next to a condo haven without community input.  When the people of Watergate stood up for themselves and rejected the plans, would he have sided with Bauters or the people of Watergate? 

Or when John Bauters invited an electric scooter competition to race through our streets but could not raise the sponsorship to pay for it and thus if we would have pursued it, our taxpayers would have footed a million dollar bill, would he have sided with the people or Bauters?   I just don’t see him as a strong candidate but a repeat of the last ten years of the YIMBY takeover of our city, but he has potential to be more.

I couldn't even see Sukhdeep Kaur’s 'pizza bribe' mailer coming from a mile away.  Last week I had to deal with two resident evictions in Emeryville.  The last thing the people of Emeryville need is a pizza discount and it's disappointing that she thought it was okay and not tone deaf when people are struggling to pay their own bills.  It delivered a, “let them eat pizza/cake,“ message to neighbors of mine who didn’t take it kindly and tossed them in the mailroom trash.

If Ally Medina hadn’t intentionally held on to her seat until after the November election, Brooke Westling would have been a council member.  Unfortunately, Emeryville lost out on a brilliant woman with a lot of love for Emeryville who would have been strong enough to stand up to the status quo.

From the 49 minute video mark on the December 19, 2023 meeting to the 2 hour 2 minute mark, Emeryville residents can view on YouTube an opportunity for city council to enact better-than-ADA policies around easier door access and mobility for our seniors and differently abled - get flushed down the drain.  And for some reason, Sukhdeep Kaur blames others for why the legislation did not pass rather than take responsibility for not getting it through and I made a lot of effort for it to.  Sometimes Sukhdeep can stand on her own, but it's extremely rare because she looks for her power to come from the top and not from the people.

While I was collecting signatures for Mia and Calvin at the Emeryville Public Market, I was with my sister and her trivia team when I was approached by Sam Gould.  He asked me who I was gathering signatures for and I told him it was for city council candidates.  He asked me if I were able to gather them on behalf of the other candidates.  I directed him to speak to the city clerk if he had any elections-related questions or to schedule office hours with me - as his council member, and ended the conversation.

I was sitting down and he was standing over us - this unhinged White man questioning a diverse table of people that included women, Black, queer, and differently-abled just off of work and wanting to have a relaxing time.  You and I have had conflicts about why I don’t approve or excuse when it’s done by you.

He then turns to my sister and asks her who I am gathering signatures for.  My sister, a Black woman from Brooklyn, looked at me with an uncomfortable expression on her face, and so did everyone else at the table. I got upset and demanded he leave us alone.  He wouldn’t. Another friend of ours at the table told him to go away and that he was creeping everyone out.  I suggested that they take out their cameras, and that was when he walked away.

If you have noticed a surge in online negative comments on matters related to Emeryville, Sam Gould creates most of them.  I tried warning the Emeryville public that his trolling behaviors were problematic, but it remains his preferred method of attack, by using anonymous postings with pseudonyms.

As a hacker, there are ways for me to uncover this kind of activity, and with a network of friends to help me, all the digital fingerprints lead back to him and his friends.  As negative as his postings are, the biggest issue I take with him is a lack of service.  I don’t believe he is someone Emeryville voters can trust to fight for them.

At the student’s candidate forum, he gave Emeryville the grade of “A-” for how the city is doing.  He not only tows the YIMBY line like Matthew, he sincerely believes in it.   If you read his answers to questionnaires, he talks more about trickle-down housing economics or transportation than he does about the people of Emeryville.  I believe that if he is elected, he would be Emeryville’s next Ally Medina.

Overall, I don’t care for their group-think politicization of ECAP. Early on as council member, I supported the city investing more into ECAP so that the food bank can be more independent and my plan involved providing them org-to-org mentorship, a residence for Nellie Hannon, and support for a succession plan. They didn’t get that because city staff were directed to lock ECAP into their housing plan.  I left it alone because those decisions were being made around John Bauters' ego and that’s never a good thing. 

As a non-profit, ECAP is in a vulnerable place to be so dependent on the city for support and then is touted for photos-ops, or in the case of the League of Women Voters (Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville) as a candidate question about food insecurity in Emeryville when a majority of those who use our food bank are not residents of Emeryville.  I’ve spoken to the heads of food banks in our region and they have commented on the politicizing of ECAP that prevents the organization from merging with others to provide better services to the public.

What are your politics? You claim to be a progressive and a Democrat but you seem to be non-typical. What can Emeryville voters expect from a Mayor Priforce, should Calvin and Mia win and vote to change our mayorship selections?

I am a Progressive, but in California so many claim to be.  I don’t believe in playing the game “who is more progressive.”  A woman’s right to choose, marriage equality, Black Lives Matter, don’t ruin the earth - all these things shouldn’t be what makes people progressive.  They should be what makes us American, because these values are American values - the bare minimum.

To be a progressive is to see and want progress towards the fulfillment of what our constitution promises but fails to deliver.  On the ballot are issues like removing carceral slavery and rent control - in 2024.  That means that as blue as our state claims to be, there is something broken with our politics and that liberalism is highly subjective when faced against corporate greed and monopolization forces (neoliberalism).

So I can be considered a progressive populist.  Populism right now has been hijacked by the right-wing because the left have failed, with each election, to connect with those who want systemic and structural change - on both sides of the political spectrum.  Platitudes don’t keep our lights on or help us find childcare or even feed our babies.

For example, if I were mayor, my first future agenda item would be placing on the ballot box a change to Emeryville’s status from being a general law city to being a chartered city.  Not only will this help us financially, but would require us to have an independent public ethics commission. 

Why is this important?

Some people have heard of the incident of Mayor Courtney Welch screaming and yelling at me that it reached the entire building.  Mia Esperanza Brown was one of the first people to talk to me about it. If she were to make an ethics complaint with the city attorney, it would be rejected.  The way the newly formed code of ethics process works is that only a council member can make a complaint against a council member, not a constituent.

If a council member wants to bring a formal complaint against another council member, that council member must first request a future agenda item at an upcoming public council meeting and receive majority support of the council for that matter to be placed on the agenda.  The council member bringing the complaint is required to submit to the city attorney the factual allegations and relief requested within 10 days after the council agreed to place the matter on a future council meeting agenda.

The council member against whom the complaint was filed must be afforded notice of any proposed action to be taken by the council and an opportunity to refute the allegations.  Finally, any discipline imposed by the council is determined by majority vote of a quorum of council members.  This can be found on page 10, Section C of “Council Members” under “Sanctions for Violations of Code of Ethics and Conduct by Members”.  This convoluted process was created to keep the power within the city council and thus we don’t have credible oversight.

What’s also not my politics is this trend of delegitimizing.  Delegitimizing was a tactic that was made popular by Republicans during the birther controversy created by Donald Trump used against President Obama. Nancy Rosenblum of Harvard U in 2016 wrote “Why Americans Must Resist Delegitimizing Partisan Combat,” which talks about how people are silenced for disagreeing with one another.

Courtney Welch and Igor Tregub launched a “denouncement” attack against the Green Party of Alameda County for their mistake, but Courtney Welch made a similar mistake in 2021 when she claimed she was the first Black woman in 38 years (at that time) to run for office when it was found to be untrue.  Do I think she should have been delegitimized for that?  No. Less than one year later, Eugene Tssui made a similar mistake by claiming he would be the first Asian on city council, and didn’t acknowledge that Emeryville had a Filipino mayor.  He didn’t know, but who jumped on him about that? John Bauters, Courtney Welch, Ally Medina, and Dianne Martinez - the person this offended.

I offered to Dianne Martinez an opportunity for Eugene Tssui to apologize to her and make amends.  She refused. I had then suspected that it was because the “outrage” was playing so well on social media.  At the next candidate forum, I squashed it by suggesting we all move on from the gaffe. I think that was the moment they all realized I was not like them and never could be.  It’s also why I’ve muted them all from my social media, but constituents who find their attacks reprehensible send me screenshots then I apologize to them on behalf of the city for their behavior.  I believe that should Calvin and Mia not be elected, this politics will continue.

So it's not surprising all their efforts to delegitimize The Emeryville Tattler.  What people don't understand is that if this publication didn't exist, what and who would fill the void of holding elected officials accountable?  I don't see anyone else stepping up and unfortunately The E'ville Eye isn't enough.  The E'ville Eye serves a different purpose and sometimes a different audience, but some of the breaking news and exposé stories that have appeared here are part of our history as a city.

Do I agree with everything the Tattler does?  No.  Do we agree to disagree when it comes to your tactics? Yes. But somehow Americans want to feel safe without asking how our military actually does that, or what our police officers actually have to go through.  I'm vegan and I see people eating animals without ever stepping into a slaughterhouse and killing livestock themselves.  We want the product, not the process.

Some of the Tattler's methods are questionable, but the things you uncover have tremendous value to the people of this city.  The Black Panther Party were once considered a nuisance and now they have attained legendary status.  So it's not surprising that many of them would prefer The Emeryville Tattler be out of the picture.

I'd like to put to rest this delegitimizing that you are somehow racist or misogynistic because you dare question women or Black people.  Fraudulent identity politics is exhausting.  You certainly can get obsessed and funnel visioned, but are you the one that plummeted Emeryville's Black home ownership numbers?  City Hall did that, and yet you're the racist?  God save us all from these political platitudes.

My only request is that you tone down your physical presence in front of people once they have shared that they are uncomfortable and that you don't show up to private events and private spaces asking your questions or while people are working (because you wouldn't want them to show up to your job site) when they reject your questioning.  I understand you take these steps because city hall and elected officials have not been responsive in ways that they could not get away with if this was Sacramento or even Oakland.

Just the fact that I can trust you to publish my admonishment of these matters demonstrates integrity.  The Emeryville Tattler has an important place in our political accountability discourse.  We govern better as public servants because of both publications, the E'ville Eye and the Emeryville Tattler and I'm probably the first elected in Emeryville history to state that on the record.  You need to come up with a succession plan!

What if Mia and Calvin don’t win and you don’t become mayor?

I’ll continue to serve the people of Emeryville in my current capacity as council member.  Of course, I won’t be able to lead better tenant protections or help institute policies that would make Emeryville nationally renown for public safety and affordability, but I’m still a hacker, so I’ll figure out ways to make an impact, because that is what we do.

The Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party has named me Bay Area Vice-Chair and so my ideas and talents will continue to be channeled politically, but to support progressives regionally and statewide.

I’ve learned in life that when things don’t work out, it’s usually because I was thinking too small and God wants me to go bigger.  That is why all those petty social media comments from any of Sam Gould’s fake online personas or by some random astroturfing YIMBY doesn’t land on me and aren’t worth a response.

If anything I find them quite amusing, because my day-to-day world is only local when it comes to addressing the needs of Emeryville residents, businesses, and workers, but my non-municipal life is so much bigger and global in reach.  I also have a memoir to finish, “How To Raise A Hacker.”

I do need to work on my self-care admittedly.  I showed up to the harvest festival with a catheter attached to me that I hid from public view but needed to inform people in case they were expecting one of my famous hugs.  I came straight from the emergency room, napped for an hour, and sat with Our Revolution East Bay's first appearance in Emeryville, along with Calvin. 

I also want to be of better support to my baby brother who just got married.  In a few days will be the 24th anniversary of our eighteen year old brother who was shot and killed.  I just need to take care of myself better.  Not being mayor may actually be a relief!

I’ve done incredible work in my life and I’ll continue to do so. I’ve come too far to let anyone stop me.