City of Emeryville Removed a Community Food Table the Day Before a New State Law Would Have Protected It

Racing the Clock, Emeryville Stopped a Community Food Pantry Just Before SB 634 Became Law

 State of California's Priorities VS Emeryville's Priorities

State Interested in Alleviating Hunger

Emeryville Interested in Maintaining Order

In December, sandwiched between the federal government’s restoration of full SNAP benefits and a new California law protecting the rights of  “good Samaritans" to help feed hungry people, the City of Emeryville moved quickly to remove a community free food table in a rapidly closing window of opportunity to legally stop ordinary citizens from assisting hungry neighbors the Tattler has learned.  The former food table, located at the corner of Horton Street and Sherwin Avenue was removed on the order of John Kennedy, Emeryville’s City Attorney on December 31st 2025 because it was violating the City’s encroachment ordinance, he said.  

Emeryville City Attorney
John Kennedy
He used his $307,000 salary to make
sure homeless people in Emeryville can't 
get access to community donated food.
'We don't see hungry people', his ruling said. 
More important than hunger, Emeryville's
encroachment ordinance is paramount
and must be obeyed.

  

The Tattler food table was set up in November in responce to a growing crisis of hunger in the Emeryville community just before the federal government stopped payments through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).   As such, the community was offered an ongoing and convenient place for community members to drop off food for hungry neighbors in need.  However, where many neighbors saw positive attributes of vital community engagement and a rallying around community values, the City of Emeryville and its attorney saw only a violation of its byzantine encroachment ordinance.  

Hunger is still an existential problem in the community even after SNAP benefits have been restored.

The City moved quickly and validated the removal of the food table by initiating a legally required 10 day warning sent to the Tattler on December 21st, 2025, invoking Title 7, Chapter 2 of the Emeryville Municipal Code (the encroachment section) as a legal basis for removing the food table.  That set up a December 31st removal, the day before the State of California  took away the City's legal basis on January 1st, 2026, albeit one day too late to help feed the hungry in the community here in Emeryville.   Victims of this legal technicality, hungry people in Emeryville, have since gone without food assistance from the Tattler community food table because of the City Attorney's quick action removing it. 

Emeryville City Manager
LaTonya Bellow
Community free food tables will not 
be allowed in Emeryville.
Order must be maintained she says.

It is presumed Mr Kennedy did not like the optics of the City of Emeryville removing a food pantry table at the same time President Trump was removing SNAP benefits to all Americans.  By the time a federal judge got SNAP fully restored, Mr Kennedy was left with less than a week to initiate the community food table removal.  The City Attorney refused to comment for this Tattler story but it is clear he had a removal agenda and he was working to beat Sacramento’s clock.

President Trump ordered the federal government to stop all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) payments to hungry Americans in early November of 2025 just as the Tattler set up the Community Free Food Table.  A federal court then ordered the federal food assistance program reinstated on November 6th, a Thursday, setting up a race in Mr Kennedy’s mind, to get rid of the Tattler food table with California's SB 634 breathing down his neck.   The City Attorney got the Emeryville food table removed just under the wire.  

People who claim Emeryville’s City Attorney is overpaid at $307,000 per year (plus benefits), need only to look at this case showing his talent in recognizing the significance of and acting with alacrity upon intersecting legal time constraints in order to stop homeless people in the community from getting food.  Had Mr Kennedy not acted quickly and adroitly, homeless people could still be receiving community donated food at the food table.

Berkeley's Private Free Food Table
on McGee Avenue at Oregon Street
For 10 years, the City of Berkeley has said this
food table is OK, 10 years before SB 634
made it legal in every California city.  The City
of Berkeley  has a long record  of
caring about hunger in the community.

Fans of the former Emeryville Tattler Community Free Food Table have noted only Emeryville forbids community food tables (despite SB 634); Oakland and Berkeley have allowed food tables on public property even before the new State law kicked in.  The city attorneys in those two cities had come to the conclusion that their local encroachment ordinances should not trump hungry community members’ ability from getting food.   In Berkeley, city hall publicly condoned grassroots private community food tables set up on public property, including a table located on McGee Avenue that has facilitated free food for more than ten years.  Emeryville is different from Berkeley and Oakland when it comes to community members taking their own initiative in helping with hunger in the community.  Here, order is the coin of the realm, hunger taking a backseat. 

Emeryville's Mayor, Sukhdeep Kaur, the Vice Mayor, Matthew Solomon, the City Attorney, John Kennedy and the City Manager, LaTanya Bellow, were all reached out to for this story but none responded. 

The text of the relevant part of section two of California SB 634 is as following:

53069.44. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a local jurisdiction shall not adopt a local ordinance, or enforce an existing ordinance, that prohibits a person or organization from providing support services, including legal services or medical care, to a person who is homeless or assisting a person who is homeless with any act related to basic survival.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) (A) “Act related to basic survival” includes, but is not limited to, assisting with or providing items to assist with any of the following:

(i) Eating and drinking, including provision of food and water.

(ii) Sleeping, including provision of blankets and pillows.

(iii) Protecting oneself from the elements.

(iv) Other activities and items necessary for immediate personal health and hygiene.

The full text of California SB 634 can be read HERE.

The Tattler set up the food table HERE.

The City of Emeryville took away the Tattler Community Free Food Table HERE and HERE.

The Western Center on Law and Poverty story on SB 634 can be read HERE.

The Tattler Community Free Food Table on Horton Street
before it was shut down by the City of Emeryville.
The City of Emeryville said the problem was the table violated
its encroachment ordinance. 
The City says what's more important than feeding hungry 
community members is assuring the City's encroachment law
is followed to the T.  The State of California disagrees.