Emeryville Bad Corporate Neighbor: Federal Express

Introducing Emeryville Bad Corporate Neighbor, a column that focuses on the corporate and business miscreants in our midst; be they greedsters, fraudsters or churlish philistines, who make our town just a little worse for everyone.

Fed Ex: Bad Neighbor

The Emeryville Police Department has long known about how Federal Express trucks routinely block the bike lanes on Horton Street, forcing bicyclists to make a dangerous swerve out into traffic.  It's an all day every day kind of thing.  They've been getting complaints about it from bicyclists for years now.  Fed Ex sees the tickets they receive as a cost of doing business.  So far there's been no attenuation of their behavior as a result of all the complaints (and tickets).  

Au contraire!   

Hey!  We're trying to run a business here!

Recently Fed Ex, located at 1600 63rd Street, has been doubling down; the trucks are racing down Horton Street at shift end (trying to meet new dictates from the management we're informed).

  We've clocked the Fed Ex trucks on Horton Street at over 45 mph in a 25 mph residential zone, blowing through stop signs all the way.  So much for the Horton Street Bike Boulevard "safe street".  Young children live on Horton Street.

  

When we complained ourselves we were gruffly told by the manager of the 63rd Street facility "That's the way we do business".   

When it comes to driving in Emeryville, Fed Ex has shown us all they're not interested in being responsible or safe.  Time is money at Fed Ex and what drives them is maximizing profits. 

But stopping will cut into our profits!

The City of Emeryville is considering making Horton Street a bike boulevard some day.  That would involve traffic calming measures be implemented, making it impossible for Fed Ex to continue their reckless and unsafe driving behavior.  We fully expect this bad corporate neighbor to join with the Chamber of Commerce to try to shut down the Horton Street Bike Boulevard if the City makes a move towards implementing it.  But Fed Ex's disregard for safety on Horton Street and disrespect for our town should disqualify them as reasonable voices of opposition. 

It's a reprehensible traffic record for Fed Ex and it's what make them this week's Emeryville Bad Corporate Neighbor.

Emeryville Bad Neighbor: CVS Pharmacy

At the Tattler's new feature, Emeryville Bad Neighbor, we'll focus on the corporate and business miscreants in our midst; be they greedsters, fraudsters or churlish philistines, who make our town just a little worse for everyone.

CVS Pharmacy: Bad Neighbor (again)

CVS makes the Tattler's Bad Neighbor list again.  The corporate giant spent yesterday morning telling customers that they were forced to close their doors on their San  Pablo Avenue store because of "systems failures".  The real reason turned out to be the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health forced them to shut down for a "severe violation" involving an infestation with rodents.
The store manager stood in front, blocking the red sign posted by the Health Department as he told customers to please return in the afternoon because the store was experiencing "systems failures".  When we asked about the nature of the systems failures, we were told again simply "systems failures" were responsible and everything is fine.

After it was discovered that Alameda County shut down the store, we again confronted the manager; why is he trying to deceive the public as to the nature of the closure we asked.  The manager told us, "We're trying not to unnecessarily scare our customers".

This is the second time CVS has received the Tattler's Emeryville Bad Neighbor distinction. Last summer it was disclosed that CVS was continually illegally blocking and locking their front door onto the San Pablo side walk, a serious fire safety violation.

CVS Pharmacy: Emeryville's Bad Neighbor of the Week

Here's the Real Reason for CVS's Closure:
Rodents
A red tag means "severe violations 
of codes".  According to
Alameda County, one or more 
major violations exist.

Oh Those Darn "Systems Failures"
Here's the sign attached to the front
door of CVS Pharmacy yesterday...
no need to worry, it's just
some systems failures.