Breaking News: City Manager Announces Her Resignation

Carolyn Lehr, City Manager, Announces She Will Quit in June

Carolyn Lehr in June 2015 being
sworn in as Emeryville City Manager.

 In a tersely written letter to her staff, Emeryville City Manager Carolyn Lehr announced this afternoon she will retire from her position at the end of this fiscal year.  After only three years managing Emeryville City Hall, Ms Lehr will quit June 30th, with 33 years serving in local government she told her employees. She informed a "surprised" Mayor John Bauters a week ago she's now 65 years old and no longer wishes to work "full time".
She said working for Emeryville has been "dynamic and fulfilling" but she felt a need to reconsider her options in anticipation of negotiating the terms of her next employment contract with the City Council.

Follow Up Friday: Racist Stereotyping at Police Department Taken Care Of

Emeryville City Hall Stops Police Department 
Racist Stereotyping

'It's Being Taken Care Of' Says City Manager

At Follow Up Friday, we look back on previous stories; what's happened after our spotlight shined on it?  If there was a problem identified, has it been solved?  Has there been no change and the amount of elapsed time made the issue newsworthy again by virtue of that fact?  Look to Follow Up Friday to wrap it all up or to highlight for us all how lame our city can be.

After the Tattler twice reported on the racist nature of the Emeryville Police Department’s monthly crime blotter posted on the City’s website, the City Manager has moved to banish the formerly steadfast racist posts.  The Chief of Police, Jennifer Tejada, had been outed by the Tattler in two stories, one in December 2016 and another in February 2017 for injecting racist stereotyping into the City's official crime report.

 City Manager Carolyn Lehr acted after she received complaints from City Council members, by ordering the Chief to stop using overt racist stereotypes in the blotter.  Ms Lehr told the Tattler, “It’s being taken care of” some months ago in response to questions about if the City’s website would continue to post a suspect’s race as the only identifying quality of reported crime perpetrators the blotter chronicles.  

Emeryville Police Chief Jennifer Tejada 
The oath of office doesn't include perpetuating
racist stereotypes.

The monthly crime blotter reports crime in the city and gives descriptions of the suspects as they are given to the police from citizens. The blotter reports specific crimes, their locations, time and a description of the suspect(s) if known.  Sometimes the get-away vehicle is described or direction of travel of the suspect.  Physical descriptions of the suspects commonly include sex, height, weight, age, race, facial hair, hair length/color and distinguishing body characteristics.  The idea is to provide the public with information that could possibly lead to capture of criminals in our town.  The problem before the Tattler shone a light on it was that commonly the blotter would only report the suspect’s race (usually black) with no other identifying characteristics, leaving no way for the public to help the police capture a perpetrator.  That valueless description could only help perpetuate racist stereotyping.

Despite the Tattler stories on the subject, Chief Tejada initially stood by her racist blotter posts until she was forced by the City Manager to stop.  Now Emeryville’s monthly crime blotter leaves off a suspect’s race unless it is accompanied by other distinguishing characteristics, the way other cities in the Bay Area report crimes. 

City Staff Holds General Plan in Contempt

Contemptuous Staff and Weak City Council Means the People's Will is Ignored

Family Friendly Homes Keep Getting Torn Down Because That's What the Staff Wants

con·tempt

kənˈtem(p)t

noun

The feeling that (a person or) a thing is beneath consideration or worthless.

News Analysis

For the upcoming City Council September 5th meeting, Emeryville’s city staff, in seeking to grant a developer permission to tear down two houses on Doyle Street, has prepared a report for the Council that deprives them critical information that the two single family houses are in a General Plan protected ‘zone of stability’ and shouldn’t be torn down.  This comes after the staff also hid that fact from the Planning Commission in July.  
It’s not a mistake; the failure to inform the Council (and the Planning Commission) about such houses has been an ongoing issue for the staff ever since the General Plan was implemented in 2009.  It’s part of a pattern and practice that’s been firmly established by a recalcitrant Emeryville city staff that’s contemptuous of our General Plan.

Contemptuous is not too strong a word. Seven times in the last two years, homes in the zone of stability have been proposed by developers for demolition.  In seven out of seven cases, the staff has recommended the Council approve demolition.  That fact tells us the staff, specifically the Planning Department, doesn’t like the zone of stability provisions within the General Plan. Rather, they prefer to tear down homes in our town, zone or no zone.  But more tellingly and more contemptuously, for seven out of seven of those cases, the staff has seen fit to deny the City Council and Planning Commission the fact that the houses in question are in the zone of stability; the very information the decision makers need to make an informed decision.  In fact not once in eight years has the city staff informed the decision makers the information they need to know that a home in question is in the zone of stability.  It betrays their not-so-hidden contempt for democratic processes and contempt for our General Plan.

City Manager Carolyn Lehr
During her tenure at least four houses
in the zone of stability have been demolished
or approved for demolition in accordance
with her recommendations.
As an overseer of the Planning Director, she 
has made sure the City Council has
been unaware the homes were in the 
zone of stability as they 
approved destruction.

The ineradicable protections of the zone of stability language notwithstanding, the staff is free to recommend the Council approve a tear down for any home a developer wants to demolish, even those in the zone.  It’s their job to recommend whatever they feel is best, given their encircling directives.  However they are not free to withhold information, especially as derived from our General Plan, that could effect the elected official’s decisions.  Clearly, of all of the houses demolished since 2009, the fact that they were in the zone of stability if made known to the Council, would have affected their decisions about tearing them down.  There is a chance some might have been saved.

The Tattler has alerted the Council and the staff of this governmental breakdown for years but the staff persists in keeping the Council members in the dark regarding homes in the zone of stability.  There’s no conceivable rational argument to be made there’s anything going on here other than a rouge agency pressing its desires by means of deception... and that constitutes contempt.

It should be pointed out that the General Plan represents the will of the people of Emeryville.  The stuff in there is what we want.  We know that by virtue of the fact it’s in the democratically vetted Plan.  We know the staff doesn’t like the General Plan.  It probably feels constraining to them. We know the City Council up to now has not done the people’s bidding with regard to the zone of stability, otherwise at least some of these homes would have been saved over the years.  
We also know that the type of housing protected from demolition by the General Plan, detached single family homes, represent the most family friendly housing there is.  That’s been well documented.  The people of Emeryville had an innate sense of this when they crafted the General Plan.  The elite in Emeryville don’t care about any of that as judged by their record on this.  
Regardless they’re being kept in the dark by the staff, we shouldn’t be facile about this; the Council has been busy tearing down this family friendly housing stock, built before the term ‘family friendly’ was invented, and over the last two or three years, the Council has been trying to build new “family friendly housing” by use of developers.  The result has been disappointing by any metric.  Emeryville continues to be the worst city in the East Bay as far as families go.

The politics in Emeryville is locked.  The pro-developer former City Council majority hired the staff we have and the new ‘progressive’ Council majority so far hasn’t found the strength to impose its own vision for development in our town.  Perhaps it puts too much stock in the juris prudence artifice of stare decisis.  Appearently the people, as they say, will have to wait.

Earns Two Smiling Nora Davis'!
Nora Davis smiles down on her 
hand picked city staff.

City of Emeryville Suspects Black Women

City of Emeryville's Comfort Zone: 

Racist Stereotyping

All Black People Implicated As Crime Suspects 

 No Other Physical Descriptions Offered

Once again: Nothing about age, hair style/color, facial features, body type/height, clothing, or any other helpful descriptions.

Emeryville Police Chief
Jennifer Tejada
'Black females are suspects
in the Gap robbery'.

The City of Emeryville wants citizens to know there was a robbery at the Gap store at 5690 Bay Street in December and there are two "Black female" suspects still at large in that stolen merchandise case.  The City wants the people of Emeryville to be on the lookout for any Black females because they might have committed the crime and the police department needs help bringing them to justice.  To help citizens identify the suspects, the City of Emeryville tells us the females are "Black"....  No further descriptions are offered but the City thinks that's good enough to help us track the criminals down.  If it doesn't help directly solve the crime, it will likely get the citizens to look at Black females with more suspicion.  Perhaps that's the real reason for the paucity of descriptions offered by the City of Emeryville's crime blotter.

December's listing is from the Emeryville Police crime blotter published by the City of Emeryville every month.  The December Bay Street robbery with its two Black female suspects is added to the November robbery the City alerted us to at 6399 Christie Avenue with its three "Black male" suspects and the 3839 Emery Street shoplifting case involving a "Black female", both cases offered in the Emeryville Police Department crime statistics blotter posted on the City's website.
In all these cases, no other descriptions are offered by the City other than the 'Black' race and gender of the suspects.  It's likely enough to get many citizens to look at all Black people more suspiciously.   And that's seen as a good thing by the City of Emeryville.  We know this is true because they wouldn't have posted the crime blotter in November and December without physical and other descriptions of the crime suspects otherwise.

Emeryville City Manager
Carolyn Lehr
'Black males and Black females
are crime suspects in Emeryville.
Help us find them'. 

After the Tattler alerted the people to this racist practice by our city last month, the City has now doubled down on the racial stereotyping in its publicly posted crime blotter.  Whereas before, it could have been seen as possibly nothing more than insensitivity, epic insensitivity, now it's obvious this is all intentional.  Implicated in the racist stereotyping is the Chief of Police Jennifer Tejada and the City Manager Carolyn Lehr.  The Chief of Police works for the City Manager and the City Council hires the City Manager.  Starting next month, if the public posting of the crime blotter goes on depicting Black people as suspects (or any other people for that matter) without any other descriptions offered other then gender, the City Council too will be dragged into this.  They've been warned.
Watch this space.


From Emeryville's December crime blotter:
Robbery: In District 5 at The Gap, 5690 Bay St., four females concealed clothing in a bag and attempted to leave the store without paying. As the employee grabbed the merchandise from one of the suspects, the suspect punched the employee. The suspects then fled the store with the loss. LOSS: Miscellaneous clothing. Suspects: #1 Female, unknown race, wearing a white pom pom hat, long braids, and a light colored jacket. #2 Black female with short red hair, no further description. #3 and #4 Black females, no further description. 

Emeryville Public Library: Promised, Not Delivered

Library Bait & Switch?

We Paid $95 Million for a Library, 

Where Is It?

Public Cafe, Jobs Training Center and Solar Panels 
Also Promised But Missing

City/School District Won't Say 

In 2010, the 73% of Emeryville voters who voted to tax themselves $95 million for a public library at the Emeryville Center of 'Community' Life and have seen their property taxes go up commensurately now that the Center has been finished these past five months, would be expected to wonder why no such library has been built. These same residents might also wonder why the job training center they also paid for has not been provided at the ECCL, nor has the cafe associated with the library they paid for been built.  Additionally, they voted for solar panels on the roof at the Center of 'Community' Life, presumably saving these same taxpayers money on electricity.  It was all paid for but none of it has been provided.
Distressingly, a year after the Tattler began a campaign to get some public accountability on this paid for infrastructure, we're no farther along as far as answers are concerned.  Officials at the City of Emeryville and the Emery School District still publicly say eventually these amenities will be built but they're not saying when, "We are exploring that" says City Manager Carolyn Lehr.
Privately, two officials who wished to remain anonymous told us they doubt these promised projects of the ECCL will ever get built.


Before the Measure J election in 2010, a public record in documents and video recordings of promises to provide the amenities was built up, leaving the City and the School District now exposed.  Measure J was the ballot initiative that brought the Center of 'Community' Life and was famously oversold as many have pointed out.  What beckoned at the ECCL as an aching to be filled up wish list for politicians seeking favor, easy in 2010, now becomes a sword of Damocles it would seem.

Former City Councilwoman Jennifer West who urged passage of Measure J told the Tattler recently she is particularly concerned about the fact that the public library with its promised public cafe has not been built, "The Council and the staff need to understand this was the goal.  It was sold to the public as part of the ECCL package" she said.
Ms West told prospective voters on her Council blog in 2010 to vote for Measure J, stating, "The library is another need in our area. According to the Oakland Public Library, this geographical area is under served and needs an expansion or an additional library.  A great school needs a library as well and by combining the library needs of both the schools and the public, we can create the efficiencies of scale to serve all users much better."  The former Mayor West used her blog to warn the community to remain vigilant, presciently expressing concern about "trust in our elected officials and leaders on this project".

The jobs training center was to be available for students at Emery but also it was sold to voters as an integral part of the Community Center and its services were to be available to the whole community.  The jobs center isn't even on the radar at this point; Pedro Jimenez, head of the Emeryville Community Services Department told the Tattler, "I'm unaware of it" and he said he doesn't know where it would even go if it were to be built.
Racks of solar panels that the voters authorized and taxpayers paid for at the ECCL were supposed to have been installed offsetting the electrical tab and saving taxpayers money but they have not been and officials would not say whether there are any specific plans to install them.

The public library, the job training center and the solar panels were explicitly part of the Measure J bond project list that was approved by voters in 2010 and likely must be provided by law since general obligation bond financing was used under the aegis of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the laws commensurate with that body.  Failure to comply with the terms of the bond sales could constitute fraud.
The cafe, as promised in City and School District documents as well as elucidated in many public meetings leading up to the vote, is not required by law to build, just ethics.

By 2015, it was becoming clear the ECCL project would not deliver all that was promised prompting then Emery School Board member and now City Councilman Christian Patz to muse, "Philosophically I agree with a lot of the concepts [of the ECCL]" he told the Hechinger Report, "but the execution has not been as promised".
Former Mayor Jac Asher was less circumspect, telling the Hechinger Report she didn't think the shared space idea behind the school/public library then touted would work, being "oversubscribed" as she said it would be.  The small parcel size of the ECCL space would drive this oversubscribing she said and called attempts to work out joint use by all stakeholders a 'logistical nightmare' for teachers and staff.

As far as the City of Emeryville is concerned as of now, these promised amenities will be built eventually but they refuse to commit to a date, "I can't give a date..." said Carolyn Lehr Emeryville City Manager, "it's not a simple thing".  However she did acknowledge the City is on the hook for providing the promised infrastructure, "I understand we're charged with bringing it forward" she said.

 

City to Take Possession of Ohlone Artifacts From Bay Street Mall

City Council Hopeful Brokers Deal on Purloined Emeryville History

School Board Member and
City Council candidate
Christian Patz (Ed.D)
We have a "shared history"
with our native predecessors.

School Board member and Emeryville City Council candidate Christian Patz announced today he is brokering a deal between the City of Emeryville and the corporate owners of the Bay Street Mall to take possession of certain Ohlone Indian artifacts, dug up when the mall was built, ultimately to offer the objects to living ancestors of the Bay Area tribe.  The mall is built upon the site of the largest Native American shell mound on the West coast and construction workers uncovered many votive and religious objects some up to 2800 years old as well as every day  tools and buried human remains in 1999 when the mall was being built.

Madison Marquette Corporation, the builders of the mall, gave over to the University of California most of the trove of artifacts in 1999 but they kept some for themselves where they have occupied a dusty corner of the corporate leasing office ever since.  It is not known if the corporate seizure of the objects in 1999 was legal.  The City of Emeryville's Redevelopment Agency is the responsible party to the final destruction of the shell mounds but Mr Patz says the pre-Columbian objects should not be in the possession of the Bay Street Mall.

The building of the mall brought much protest from the Bay Area Native American community especially at the time since the site was the burial ground for many generations of their ancestors.  The swapping of a 2800 year old sacred site to a shopping mall has been called an insult and worse to Native Americans.  Protesters still convene on the site every Black Friday before Thanksgiving.

Although Dr Patz says the artifacts should be returned to their rightful owners, he thinks City Hall should at least temporarily display them for the benefit of the people.  "The loss of the shell mounds was tragic" Dr Patz told the Tattler today. "While it cannot be undone, we can empower the few remaining decedents by letting them decide where these treasures end up.  Until then, they should act as a reminder of our shared history" he added.

The Deal brokered by Mr Patz appears to be imminent as Bay Street Mall Manager Jen Nettles has expressed interest in donating the objects to the City and City Manager Carolyn Lehr indicated she would accept them.

Below: The 2800 year old Emeryville Ohlone artifacts in the Manager's leasing office at Bay Street:

The City of Emeryville Has Determined Colt AR-15 Assault Rifles Are NOT Assault Rifles

The AR-15, Weapon of Choice for Mass Shooters in America, is NOT an Assault Rifle Says Emeryville

News Analysis

Firepower on a truly epic scale;
The AR-15  can shoot through concrete block walls.

In order to stifle public debate and concern over Emeryville police now carrying assault rifles, the Chief of Police has determined that assault rifles are not assault rifles.  The City Council agrees with the Chief and the City of Emeryville has taken a lonely position among municipalities in their determination that Colt AR-15 rifles are not assault rifles.  The shooting of Yuvette Henderson by Emeryville police last year with an AR-15 has divided the community but unified the City of Emeryville; City Hall closing ranks with the Chief of Police.

Gun enthusiasts call the AR-15
'America's Gun'.

 When mass shooters in America wish to mete out epic carnage and pile up a huge body count in a few fleeting moments, the gun of choice is invariably the high powered Colt AR-15 assault rifle. That much everyone agrees upon.  The disagreements start when the word 'assault' is applied to this gun.  The State of California (who have banned the weapon) and police departments up and down the state acknowledge the lethal singularity of this weapon and they have designated the gun an assault rifle but the NRA and the City of Emeryville objects, insisting the AR-15 is nothing special...just a garden variety sporting rifle.
The City Manager Carolyn Lehr has made a contorted Nixonian finding to support Emeryville police carrying the weapon; in the hands of police, assault rifles are no longer assault rifles she told the Tattler yesterday.

The City of Emeryville and the City Council in their silence while their Chief of Police goes on a campaign in our town decrying the legislature of the State of California over the proper nomenclature have made it official by default: here in Emeryville, the AR-15 specifically is NOT an assault rifle.

Who disagrees with the City of Emeryville and the National Rifle Association?  Who says AR-15's ARE assault rifles?

• The President of the United States
• The Congress of the United States
• The Legislature of the State of California
• The Governor of the State of California
• San Francisco Police Department 
• Oakland Police Department
• San Jose Police Department 

Manly perhaps but the AR-15 is just an average
sporting rifle says the City of Emeryville.
Fine for our police to carry they say.

Community Swimming Pool: Turner Construction Misses Deadline for Opening Day

Community Pool Fails Health Inspection

Opening Delayed Again

Emeryville's community swimming pool, plagued by missed deadlines and cost overruns will not open today as had been planned owing to a "failed health code inspection" and other delays by builder Turner Construction according to the City Manager.  Today's planned grand opening gala of the community pool has quietly now come and gone with nary a wet toe and without a peep to the community from the City or the School District as to an explanation other than individual emails sent to parents and community members that had signed up for lessons and general use.  The City now says it is hoped the pool will be ready by early June but they're not committing.

City Manager Carolyn Lehr told the Tattler the City will honor agreements as codified by policy at City Hall as far as refunding any fees paid by community members that cannot be used.  Additionally she volunteered that any new costs associated with the most recent delays will be born by "responsible parties" as a way of differentiating previous cost overruns that have been absorbed by Emeryville taxpayers up until now.

Emeryville's Community Pool
Taken before the remodel began
several years ago.

The community pool remodel has proven to be a first rate boondoggle for the City and the School District with costs more than 100% over budget and a timeline now more than a year behind schedule.  The pool, part of the community use part of the Emeryville Center of 'Community' Life (ECCL) was separated out of a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) agreement for ECCL between the School District, the City and Turner Construction, set up to prevent this sort of overrun.  The fact that the pool was not included in the GMP agreement has left taxpayers exposed to Turner cupidity as the builder seeks a way to recoup losses incurred on the rest of the project, critics have charged.  As protective of the public coffers as the GMP has been (insofar as it has), the agreement does not preclude Turner from clawing back their expenses by lowering quality on the rest of the ECCL project, a tactic they call 'Value Engineering', a tactic they have made liberal use of it should be noted.

Besides being more than a year late, Emeryville's community pool remodel has now cost more than $2 million; double what a pool the same size would cost built new, according to swimming pool contractors the Tattler contacted.  The Emery Unified School District has been the public agency responsible for overseeing the community pool with the City fulfilling its role as benefactor for the ill fated project.

Emeryville City Hall Staff Doesn't Understand Bike Boulevards

"Like a Squeezed Balloon..."

Emeryville's City Hall Staff Can't Imagine

Bike Boulevards

Analogy for Sisyphean Meaningless Work: 
Squeeze it here and the air goes over there;
you've accomplished nothing says Emeryville.

News Analysis/Opinion
Sometimes a single utterance gives away the whole game...
When a feature of a democratically vetted new polity is described by those entrusted with promulgating it as a flaw, you know there's a fundamental lack of understanding going on.
And that's what's happening behind the scenes at Emeryville City Hall right now.

Case in point: when recently interviewing the department heads management staff, the same curiously quoted axiom kept coming up: the idea of the futility of squeezing a balloon as a stand-in for meaningless work.  What these paid staffers are referring to is our Bike Plan and its provisions for building a network of bike boulevards in Emeryville.
Bike boulevards are corridors set aside primarily for bicycles and central to that endeavor is the requirement laid out in the Bike Plan to strictly limit the number of motor vehicles using these specially designated streets.  The Plan seeks to force cars from the bike boulevards over to regular streets for the safety of bicyclists.  This isn't a bug, it's a feature.

"If the idea is to atomize traffic in town, 

trying to keep an equal amount 

on all streets that the balloon 

analogy reinforces, then there's really 

no such thing as a bike boulevard". 

And yet our City staff can't seem to understand this basic principle, hence the oft repeated balloon analogy.  What they don't understand, they don't want.  At its core is a refusal to accept bike boulevards.  If the idea is to atomize traffic in town, trying to keep an equal amount on all streets that the balloon analogy reinforces, then there's really no such thing as a bike boulevard.  And viewing their actions trying to stop the Horton Street Bike Boulevard specifically over the last couple of years, it's safe to say we now know the philosophic underpinnings to their work: they can't even imagine a bike boulevard.

City Manager Carolyn Lehr
A fundamental lack of cognition:
"Like a squeezed balloon, the traffic
will just go elsewhere, you're
not solving anything" she said
of bike boulevards.

Who has spoken of squeezed balloons at City Hall?  The top brass; our City Manager Carolyn Lehr, our Director of Public Works Maurice Kaufman and also at least one underling.

We call on the Emeryville City staff to educate yourselves about our General Plan, our Bike Plan and Bike Boulevards.  The squeezed balloon image that you've been citing as reason for your dismissive demeanor is actually how it's supposed to work; we're supposed to squeeze traffic off the bike boulevards and onto regular streets.  Remember, it's bikes preferred, cars allowed on bike boulevards.  So stop trying to subvert that basic premise and get with the program.

City Council Moves Against Horton Street Bike Boulevard

Council Reversal:
No 'Chokers' for Horton Street 

'Level Four' Traffic Calming Snatched From Consideration,

Horton Street Pushed Back to Level Three

Mayor, Vice Mayor Break Explicit Campaign Promises

Emeryville will not implement a key provision of its $200,000 Bike Plan the City Council revealed April 5th when they voted to negate a contentious traffic calming metric on Horton Street mandated by the Plan, an action requested by City staff, developers and the business community repeatedly over the years.  The provision, the emplacement of certain specific traffic calming devises called chokers on the street, was unanimously approved in 2012 when the Council certified Emeryville's award winning Bike Plan and so the April 5th decision represents a reversal for the City.
 With its signs, stencils and other traffic mitigating measures in place, Horton Street as of now is at traffic calming 'level three' according to the Bike Plan but with the latest reversal, the Council now unanimously disregards the Plan's long passed schedule 'Level Four' traffic calming for the street and instead will implement a different version of a Level Three calming device, namely speed bumps.  Mayor Dianne Martinez and Vice Mayor Scott Donahue, who ran as a slate, broke specific campaign promises by their votes on April 5th.

At issue are so called 'chokers', a pinching down of the street to one lane in a specific area designated as the Level Four traffic calming treatment intended to drive traffic volumes down to less than 3000 vehicle trips per day.  Bike boulevards are defined as "bikes preferred, cars allowed" streets and Horton Street is the first of Emeryville's network of official bike boulevards that has run into bike safety problems excess traffic volumes brings.

Dianne Martinez & Scott Donahue
Broken promises for Horton Street.
(Photo from their campaign flyer)
Now they think Level Four traffic calming
is too much.
Bike safety must continue to wait
for Emeryville.

Horton has long been a source of contention; developers and business interests wishing to place more cars on the street with the only push back for bicyclists being Emeryville's long ignored Bike Plan.  The street could serve as a safe north south route for bikers through the town but Horton has been plagued by huge numbers of vehicles that only gets worse every year as traffic counts show.  The City responded by writing the 2012 Bike Plan, after spending two years of public meetings and $200,000 on it. Up until now the Plan has withered, the City Council refusing to implement it.  That was supposed to change on April 5th but the Mayor and Vice Mayor changed their minds.

Even as the City Council ignores the Plan, as individual candidates, every four years they universally have told voters they like bicycling and they will implement our Bike Plan.  Mayor Martinez and Vice Mayor Donahue joined their colleagues and voted NO to chokers for Horton Street on April 5th but in 2014 when they were running for Council they told voters they would support the Plan and install chokers.
On October 7th of that year, candidate Scott Donahue told Emeryville citizens:

"I strongly support Emeryville's Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan overall, including maintaining Horton Street as a bike boulevard.  I helped craft the plan, having spent more than 10 years on the City's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.  It is a balanced plan and addresses the needs of all stakeholders."   -Scott Donahue,  2014

Councilman Donahue refused to comment to the Tattler about the discrepancy between what he told voters he would do versus the vote he took on April 5th.
Mayor Martinez was even more explicit in the run up to her election, telling voters on October 9th:

"I support Emeryville’s Bike/Ped Plan and believe that Horton Street should remain a Bicycle Boulevard as defined by that plan, and that we should continue to strive for under 3,000 vehicle trips per day on this street."   -Dianne Martinez,  2014

Candidate Martinez elucidated the need for Level Four traffic calming for Horton Street, taking a more cautious approach than moving directly to Level Five traffic calming what Emeryville's Bike Committee recommended at the time. She directly said if elected she would vote for Level Four traffic calming for Horton Street telling voters:

"In light of the recent community meetings at city hall, I’m personally in favor of Level 4 traffic calming measures, without going straight to the experimental traffic diverters (part of a 'Level 5' strategy) recommended by the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). "   -Dianne Martinez,  2014

Emeryville's city staff has long been against Level Four or Level Five traffic calming for Horton Street as regular Tattler readers know.  City Manager Carolyn Lehr recently told the Tattler she's against chokers completely, calling them "too extreme."  Ms Lehr moved against the Bicycle Committee and against the Bike Plan's settled bicycle policy by removing Level Four traffic calming from consideration for Horton Street.  Ms Lehr's plan to remove chokers was revealed at a February 1st community meeting to discuss the temporary traffic calming measures, the public not given an option to consider them and weigh in.  Instead, the community was given several Level Three options to consider for the street against the wishes of the Bike Committee.
For her part, Mayor Martinez told the Tattler recently she does not approve of what Ms Lehr and the staff did by taking Level Four traffic calming off the table for consideration.  The Mayor defended her vote against Level Four traffic calming for Horton Street, hinting perhaps someday the Bike Plan could still be implemented, regardless of her vote on April 5th:

"I stand by my original answer from my campaign. I support Level 4 traffic calming short of (Level 5) diverters.  Chokers were not offered to the BPAC as part of the experimental Level 4 calming [at the February 1st community meeting], and that's unfortunate that they weren't reviewed by the public as a potential tool for traffic calming.  However, I'm not willing to wait another minute to implement much-needed measures on Horton.  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and there is always room to review the effects of the proposed plan and add more calming measures in the future."  -Dianne Martinez,  2016

   
Vice Mayor Donahue was adamant about following the Bike Plan and installing chokers for Horton Street after the February 1st community meeting (but before his April 5th vote).  Upset at the City Manager and the staff for not including discussion of chokers at the community meeting, he told the Tattler in March:

"I'm disappointed chokers were not presented as an option to be studied at the [February 1st] community meeting but I will insist that they be studied and will put it on the next [Council] agenda if staff will not do it".   -Scott Donahue, 2016

The Councilman refused comment to the Tattler about why he changed his mind.

Internal Document at City Hall Reveals Clandestine Attempt to Overturn Emeryville Bike Plan

Public Works Department Subverts Bike Plan 

Smoking Gun Document Shows a Department Bent On Torpedoing Settled Bike Policy

A damning internal City Hall document obtained by the Tattler Thursday reveals a rogue Public Works Department attempting to misdirect the newly hired Emeryville City Manager in order to subvert and ratchet back Emeryville's Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan.  The document, a letter from a Public Works employee to City Manager Carolyn Lehr, was sent in response to a public request to conduct a traffic count on 45th Street, a street designated as a bike boulevard, and was meant to assure Ms Lehr no such traffic count is prescribed by the Bike Plan, a patently false claim.

In the letter obtained by a Public Records Request, the employee falsely tells Ms Lehr other than in case of "significant community concern", the only circumstance when the City should conduct traffic counts on 45th Street or any other bike boulevard in Emeryville is when, "significant development occurs on or near that boulevard."  In fact the Bike Plan actually says unequivocally, "[Traffic] counts should be conducted every two years."

Noteworthy is that the Bike Plan prescribes a course of traffic calming action, as is the case for all seven bike boulevards in Emeryville that are found to have an excess amount of traffic, for the 45th Street Bike Boulevard that being a maximum of 1500 vehicle trips per day.  If the street were to be found to have more than this volume of traffic, a regime of traffic calming measures would be automatically initiated as called for by the Bike Plan.  The letter would remove Emeryville's capacity to determine when traffic calming is called for, leaving bicyclists in danger on bike boulevards with gross excess vehicular traffic.

The Bike Plan provides for up to five levels of traffic calming on bike boulevards meant to keep traffic volumes below the maximum allowable for each boulevard.  Traffic calming starts with simple signage and progresses up to level five traffic diverters.  The idea is that on bike boulevards bikes are preferred although cars are allowed so long as the maximum number of cars per day is not reached. Up to two years between each level are called for to study the effects on traffic.
The main north/south bike boulevard in Emeryville, the Horton/Overland Bike Boulevard has been in violation due to excess car traffic for at least ten years and has been a source of friction between the Bike Committee and bike interests versus the Public Works Department.  Decision makers at City Hall have not been able to move Horton Street past level three traffic calming even though the Bike Plan clearly calls for it.  The Horton Street recalcitrance has cast a pall on bicycling as a viable mode of transportation in Emeryville.

Public Works Dept: Increasing Traffic Not Possible
Besides misleading the City Manager about the need for a traffic count on the 45th Street Bike boulevard, the Public Works Department, by falsely presenting the requirement for development on or near bike boulevards to trigger a traffic count, a bizarre and unfounded finding of fact is presented that it is inconceivable that traffic might increase over time in the absence of a development project on or near the street in question.  This premise has been shown to be patently false in the Bay Area over the years.  What has been indicated is an increasing number of vehicles using city streets as the aggregate population in municipalities and the region increases.

Maurice Kaufman, Emeryville's Director of Public Works and the ultimate progenitor of the letter to Ms Lehr it should be noted, has expressed concern over bike boulevards in the past.  He has indicated to the Tattler his job is to make traffic in Emeryville flow more efficiently and he's noted although bikes are not a problem, traffic calming over level three would begin to severely impede the flow of vehicles, something he has said he is duty bound to prevent.
Mr Kaufman is on vacation and unavailable for comment for this story.

The letter to the City Manager omits the Bike Plan's direction for traffic counts every two years on Emeryville's bike boulevards and instead jumps to a section that adds on to that a further requirement to conduct traffic counts when development has occurred.  From the letter dated July 17th:

"...The plan says that the City should collect traffic data when significant development occurs on/near that boulevard or when substantial community concern is brought to the City.  Our last traffic counts on 45th Street were in 2008, and volume did not exceed the goal of 1,500 average daily vehicle trips.  There has been no significant development in the area that would suggest traffic has changed substantially."

From the actual Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan:

Monitoring
As noted in Chapter 4, Section 4.4.3, the City should regularly monitor traffic volumes, and speeds on its bicycle boulevards to determine if they are meeting the goals listed above or not. Counts should be conducted every two years. If a bicycle boulevard goal is not met, the City should consider treatments that will allow the bicycle boulevard to meet goals. If additional treatments are not possible, or if treatments are unlikely to result in conditions that meet the above goals, the City should consider a different type of bicycle facility. Emeryville should collect this data and evaluate each bicycle boulevard in the case of any of the following:

• Development occurs that is projected to increase motor vehicle volumes on the bicycle boulevard 

• The Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan is updated 

• Substantial community concern is brought to the City 

  public records request bike blvd 45th St

Carolyn Lehr Selected New Emeryville City Manager & Michael Guina Elevated to City Attorney

Emeryville has hired a new City Manager, Carolyn Lehr and a new City Attorney, Michael Guina, City Hall revealed today.  In a memo to the City staff, outgoing City Manager Sabrina Landreth made the announcement; the City Council has selected Sacramento native Carolyn Lehr to replace Ms Landreth and current Emeryville Assistant City Attorney Michael Guina will replace outgoing City Attorney Mike Biddle.

New Emeryville City Manager Carolyn Lehr
She arrives from Chowchilla CA where
she has served as interim City Administrator
since December of last year.

Ms Lehr graduated from San Jose State and obtained her MPA from Rutgers University. In addition to over 25 years in local government, she spent seven years in product administration in Silicon Valley and also served as a public relations director to a community hospital.  Carolyn is married with two sons.
She will begin her work in Emeryville on June 19th.

Michael Guina will serve as City Manager as a result of a tentative agreement beginning July 1st.  He was first hired at Emeryville as a Deputy City Attorney in 2003, later he worked for a private law firm, Oakland's Burke, Williams & Sorensen as a partner.  Mr Guina returned to Emeryville in 2013 where he has served as Assistant City Attorney in Mr Biddle's office.