Priforce on the Mend But Haters & His Detractors at YIMBY Still Hurting
Kalimah Priforce returned to his City Council duties Tuesday after being struck by a car and injured last week while riding his bike. The accident occurred on San Pablo Avenue in front of Emeryville Citizens Action Program (ECAP) in Oakland where Mr Priforce was volunteering his time to hand out food to needy community members in the wake of the federal government’s partial suspension of SNAP food benefits.
Even though Council member Priforce broke his shoulder in two places and may require up to a year to recover full use of his left arm, he attended Tuesday’s Council meeting, his arm in a sling and helped distribute food to needy families enrolled at Emery schools at the Center of Community Life on Monday. Said Mr Priforce about the quick bounce back, “Volunteering with families, being present in council chambers, staying connected to the work is what gives me strength.”
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| Family Food Donation Drive at ECCL Council member Priforce (on left) helped give out food Monday with his right hand. |
Despite being in considerable pain, the Councilman put on a happy face, “Healing has been slow, painful, and humbling, but the people of Emeryville keep me moving. Even with limited mobility, even on the days when it takes twice as long just to get dressed or make it across town without my bike, I show up because our community shows up for each other” he told the Tattler.
Unsurprisingly in today’s Emeryville where it seems much is made to service a procrustean binary narrative, YIMBY and YIMBY adjacent members of the community have used the progressive Councilman’s injury to forward a political aim. On Emeryville specific social media, anonymous sources have impugned Mr Priforce’s injury stating he is faking it (presumably to take away community sympathy from the sole progressive on the Council) or to malign the Councilman’s ideas about the 40th Street Multi-Modal Project, a project idea promoted by YIMBY. Mr Priforce, for the record, has expressed concerns that the 40th Street proposed project does not increase bike safety as much as it takes away from resident livability and small businesses ability to continue doing business. Others have also called out the lack of resident desirability of the fast tracked public works project (see future Tattler story) but the YIMBY organization has sought to question the legitimacy of views that don’t exactly meet their desires for the project.
Mr Priforce remains undaunted in the face of his injury or the subsequent anonymous internet attacks, “Public service doesn’t pause when life gets hard” he said as he handed out food to hungry neighbors.
The 40th Street Multi-Modal Project is a proposal to eliminate side streets, making large ‘super blocks’ to facilitate more and higher speed traffic for 40th Street. YIMBY California is a corporate backed Sacramento lobbying firm, active in Emeryville, that seeks to increase the profits of Real Estate Investment Trust Corporations by taking away local democratic control of public housing policy.
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| The Councilman was injured but let me take this opportunity to trash him for disagreeing with YIMBY. |
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| What I mean to say is the lone progressive on the Emeryville City Council faked this bike accident. |
I'm so sick of anonymous haters on social media. The councilman tries to help out the community and that's enough for the hate to start flowing. Tattler, maybe it's time to stop allowing anonymous comments. We can see the bad they cause in the community but what good are they?
ReplyDeleteIs the project really fast tracked if it's been worked on since 2017? If anything it should have started construction years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cruel the city attorney made the councilman leave the room when they talked about this project just because he didn't reveal he took money from the real estate group fighting the project.
ReplyDeleteWild how the story here is literally about a councilmember getting hit by a car, breaking his shoulder in two places, and still showing up to feed families and attend meetings yet somehow the YIMBY crowd wants to make themselves the main characters.
ReplyDeleteEven the cowardly commentator on here with the lies...Priforce recused himself. That’s it. That’s the whole “scandal.” But instead of acknowledging what actually happened, YIMBYs are out here inventing drama, pushing whispers about “secret real-estate money,” and spinning the most mundane procedural moment into just another YIMBY conspiracy theory.
Meanwhile, the article lays it out plain as day:
Someone is recovering from a serious injury, still serving residents, still showing up for families in need and the YIMBY reaction is…to call him a liar? To claim he faked a bike accident? To twist his recovery into political ammo for a pet project?
That says a whole lot more about them than it does about him.
This outrage isn’t about ethics, conflict rules, or transparency. It’s about punishing the one councilmember who isn’t afraid to question whether the 40th Street mega-block fantasy actually makes life safer or better for real Emeryville residents. They don't care about cyclists.
YIMBYs spreading lies. What else is new?
But picking on someone who just survived a collisionand is still out feeding families is a new low even for them.
The headline should stand as is:
The councilman is on the mend.
It’s the YIMBYs who are still hurting because he isn't one.
Why did he recuse himself?
DeleteIt's going to be hard for Priforce to keep up the lie. He's going to have to wear a sling for a year and he knows we'll all be filming him wherever he goes to catch him without his sling on.
ReplyDeleteI think this is just some straight up racism.
DeleteNobody expects any public figure to be absolutely clean-handed anymore, we've become too jaded for that; it's a matter of what cookie jar transaction, and how much. Whatever the "real estate money" event was, Mr. Priforce and the public could benefit by a
ReplyDeletepublic acknowledgment of it and admission of bad judgment, if that's what it was.
Council member Priforce has said many times on the Tattler and elsewhere he does not respond to hostile allegations made anonymously. He has shown that he will respond to allegations, even absurd ones, if they are signed by an actual person. If you wish for Mr Priforce to respond to this allegation, sign your real name to it and I will make sure he gets it. If you want to simply impugn him anonymously, the Tattler will post any of your allegations (excepting those that violate the Tattler comment guidelines).
DeleteThis is how the anti-Priforce people are trying to take him down: with a whisper campaign. They are using this tactic all the time and they don't feel any unease even doing it for a story about how he was hit by a car while helping Emeryville's food insecure community members. Why not tell us what you think Priforce did wrong and sign your name to it? This is the cowards way.
DeleteIt’s wild watching the same Anti-Priforce YIMBY clique - Sam Gould, Corry Frydlewicz, Zac Bowling (funny how that trio always shows up together… wonder what they all have in common?) try to run the same tired whisper-campaign playbook over and over again. Priforce owns them every single time. They aren't on his level, so they leave anonymous reddit remarks and comments.
DeleteThey tried it during the election.
They tried it when he pushed back on the 40th Street mega-block fantasy.
And now they’re trying it while he’s literally recovering from getting hit by a car on his way to feed working-class families.
That tells you everything.
They couldn’t control him like the old John Bauters regime tried to.
They couldn’t scare him.
They couldn’t co-opt him.
And now they’re grasping at anonymous innuendo because they keep losing in the daylight.
The guy will never be what they want him to be because they didn’t put him in power — the people did.
He shows up for residents, not lobbyists.
He’s out here feeding families, showing up at meetings in a sling, organizing the proletariat while they sit behind burner accounts inventing conspiracies.
This “real estate money” nonsense is just their latest cheap trick. If they had anything real, it would be on the news, because they know it won’t survive five minutes of scrutiny.
PDon’t let their accusations be a distraction.
They’re not exposing corruption; they’re exposing their fear of someone they can’t buy, bully, or bend.
And that’s exactly why he’s still standing even with a broken shoulder and they’re still hiding behind anonymous comments.
I don't know anything about the people you mention, Sam Gould, Corry Frydlewicz or Zac Bowling, but I'm inclined to agree with your point. There's lot's of Kalimah hating going on here and at the council and I appreciate the Tattler pushing back and telling us the truth about our councilman.
DeleteThis is a lot of oxygen to give to a couple of random comments. There will always be trolls. Pay them no mind.
ReplyDelete