Bay Street Mall Developer Auctions Off the Public Commons

Corporation Sells Public Parking Spots

Illegal Clandestine Rental Agreement Revealed

News Analysis/Opinion
Madison Marquette, the Washington DC based Bay Street Mall development corporation has been caught renting for profit Emeryville's public property City Hall revealed today.  In a memo issued to Madison Marquette and the Police Department, the City ordered the mall developer to cease and desist a bogus rental agreement between Madison and Crepes a la Carte, a vendor selling food stuffs in a parking spot on Bay Street, a City owned thoroughfare.  The memo indicated Crepes a la Carte could however obtain a street vendor permit through the City, not Madison Marquette.  It was not revealed how much rent the vendor has been paying the private development corporation for the invalid use of the public's space, nor for how long.

Audacious
Madison Marquette usurps public property for
its own material gain.

An investigation into the agreement between Madison Marquette and the City of Emeryville made as part of the approval process in 2000, shows a very unusual arrangement.  The public-looking sidewalk is actually owned by Madison Marquette, a request the developer made during the negotiations with the City.  The privatized sidewalks allow Madison to garentee the retail stores along the sidewalk, no protestors or other undesirable types will be allowed.  The City retains ownership of the street including the parking spaces.  However the parking meters are owned by Madison and they collect the money generated.  The City gets the revenue from parking meter violations, bringing into question how the City can fine someone for a claim of violation from a private company using privately owned meters.  Do the meters work properly?  The public is placed in jeopardy without recourse.
Also Crepes a la Carte has not been paying money into the meter (instead they've been paying rent) as part of the illegal arrangement with Madison, unfairly removing a source of possible revenue for the City.

The private parking meters for a public parking space (without rental violations like Crepes a la Carte) itself calls into question the idea that a private corporation should make a profit for use of public space.  We can't see how the people of Emeryville benefit from this relationship.  It's our land, we think any money generated from it should go to us or there shouldn't be any money generated at all like in the rest of Emeryville.  But we are especially dismayed that a private corporation has been charging rent for use of our space.  The City is right to stop the illegal rental agreement today and we think it's time to call back the problematic parking meter arrangement with Madison.

The whole idea that sidewalks be given away to developers should be anathema to any City Hall supposedly working in the people's interests.  Bay Street was the first of three major sidewalk give aways to private developers City Hall has arranged.  Fortunately, the Tattler caught wind of another attempt to privatize the sidewalks at the Public Market development and nipped that in the bud along with another give away attempt at a future hotel on Shellmound Street.
For Madison Marquette however the gift of the Bay Street sidewalks obviously wasn't enough for them.  They wanted more in the form of this quiet illegal rental agreement.  We think we should stop blurring the line between public and private space least the greedsters cheapen and usurp the commons like this.  Old fashioned public sidewalks are a perfectly good idea...they don't need 'improving' by privatizing them.

Councilwoman West Addresses Parking Issues In Anticipation Of Big Saturday Meeting

Councilwoman West Offers Counter Narrative To Property Owners Group On Parking

In anticipation of this Saturday's Town Hall meeting sponsored by former councilman Ken Bukowski and the Emeryville Property Owners Association (EPOA), councilwoman Jennifer West offers alternative ideas about the contentious issue of parking in North Emeryville.  EPOA has been arguing for among other things, more free parking for businesses and residents, something we can no longer and should no longer supply according to Ms West.  

The following is from two entries about parking from the councilwoman's blog.  The bottom entry is about Saturday's meeting specifically:

Parking or "Where do we put all the cars?"

By Councilwoman Jennifer West

When I decided to run for City Council, I had lots of conversations with people in Emeryville concerned about traffic. I have written a few times about this, and yet, after 3 years on the council, I am not sure that the average person thinks things have improved. Consider that within the next 20 years, it is projected that the number of residents in Emervyille will increase from 10,000 to 16,000, according to our General Plan. Where are we/they going to put all those cars?

I have found a strong consensus through the transportation planning world about how plentiful, free parking actually encourages people to use cars when they otherwise might not; free parking is like a car magnet. Emeryville is different from our immediate neighbors to the north and south, in that public parking is free here. (Note that some private parking, like at our hotels and at Bay St. is not free.) I believe that free and unrestricted parking is part of the reason we have more cars here than we like. You should also know that we have 20,000 people working in Emeryville each day. They weigh many considerations as they decide how they will get here, including the direct cost to them of driving.


Several years ago (before I joined the council) Emeryville commissioned a study of the North Hollis area to look at parking issues and solutions, as the streets in this part of town are very often completely "parked up" on a weekday. Restaurants and businesses with customers who come and go have complained people can't find a place to park, and that this could impact their number of customers and sales. With off-street parking required to be provided for employees, why is the on-street parking so full all the time?

Wilbur Smith Associates, who completed the study, found that people will park where it is most convenient. With free unrestricted street parking, people will park there first, and when it is full, find another spot (maybe in a garage). Some people don't have access to off-street parking as it is private or don't want to park there as it is costly, and find themselves circling, looking for a spot on the street. With no time limits on the street, during the day there is very little turn-over of spots.

By limiting street parking in non-residential areas with a time limit, we can help people find spots that are meant for them. This is about managing parking, not just providing it. We can manage it with time limits or fees. Our hope is to first put limited time parking zones in places planned out by the study. Eventually, if the city puts in paid parking on the street, we could use the revenues (once capital costs are covered, which would likely be within 2 years) to fund additional pedestrian or bike improvements that would enhance the area for everybody. This is called a parking benefit district, where the use of cars and paid parking actually helps to pay for direct improvements. Right now we taxpayers are all subsidizing those who drive here and park for free.

Residents need to be protected from other users spilling over into the areas they depend on for parking. We have some areas with residential parking permit programs, and the city can support more if it is warranted.


What is important is to hear from the community regarding this pending change. I want residents to have residential parking, I want employees to have employee parking, and customers to be able to find customer parking. It is great if we can share parking, but I know we can manage the parking we already have better to be sure each type of user can have parking when and where they need it.

Emeryville is special in that we have a free shuttle provided by businesses, property owners, and our city government that gives us a ride to and from BART, the Emery-Go-Round. With over 1.3 million riders each year, Emery-Go-Round certainly keeps some cars off our streets. We can build on this service to further encourage people to get to Emeryville without driving their cars.

More Parking discussions, Sat 1/12 and Tues 1/15

By Councilwoman Jennifer West

The Transportation Committee meeting on December 11 at the Fire Station on Hollis Street was very well attended, thanks in part to the efforts of Ken Bukowski. We had about 30 people there: residents, property owners, and business owners. Many points of view were expressed, and quite a bit of concern about changes, as well as frustration about the current situation.

This issue is not an easy or obvious one to solve. Emotions run high when it comes to parking. Some expressed the "right" to park for free in front of homes or businesses. Some pointed fingers at other property owners who have not handled parking needs correctly. Some said that we do not want to be like Oakland or Berkeley where parking is too hard or too expensive. Others said that permit parking will be the future, sooner or later. Some said there are too many empty parking garages, perhaps because of the fees charged there. Some say that the public doesn't respect private parking for customers, disregarding signs. Although many say that these problems already exist, there was real fear that any changes will make them worse, not better.

I recognize that parking management is very complex. I do not believe that Emeryville has a parking shortage. I think that we have a parking management problem, and that we should try to make sure that each street has spaces for the users who have priority for that area. If you are allowed to park for free all day long in front of your house or business, then it will be very hard to prevent anyone else from doing so as well, or worse, instead of you.

On Saturday, January 12 at 10:00 am, Ken Bukowski is hosting a community meeting at the Ralph Hawley School site at Doyle St. and 61st St. to have the opportunity to talk more about parking issues in Emeryville. I am grateful that he is allowing me to address the gathering for 10 minutes. Please consider attending and sharing your point of view as well. His flyers talk about a parking plan in a limited part of town that the City Council is considering implementing, and will be discussing on Tuesday, January 15, City Hall, 7:15 pm. The plan has been waiting on the shelf for 3 years. It is a sensible plan with a phased approach and monitoring in place to see how changes that are put in place impact availability. It does not include paid parking in the first year or two, only later in the plan. The initial changes include limited time parking, with the painting of green curbs on certain blocks. Later in the plan there is also the possibility of residential parking permits and business/employee parking permits, if there is a need to support these uses.

I know that we all need to do our part to reduce reliance on cars, not only in Emeryville, but in the region, in the state and the world. It is a hard change to make for many of us. We have already committed to these changes with our state laws, such as SB375. Regulating on-street parking is one way to change people's behavior. Free parking actually costs all of us a lot of money in the long run.

Please consider joining me on Saturday morning, or on Tuesday evening. I welcome your comments.

Mayor Jennifer West's New Parking Policy

 New Mayor, New Parking Policy?

News Analysis/Opinion
Emeryville's new mayor, Jennifer West, has released a surprising essay detailing her views on how to administer the controversial issue of parking in town, but her record so far on parking has been in opposition to her own newly stated goals.  The article, posted by The Secret News on December 7th, illustrates a new way forward for parking and is sure to raise hackles since the only way to accommodate everybody in a town with too many cars chasing too few parking spaces is to make everybody accept a less desirable policy than what we've had up til now: no policy... and that's a recipe that simply brings more cars.

Ms West's somewhat arcane approach is to bring to an end the days of unlimited free parking for business and residents in Emeryville, a place that all cities ultimately come to as they grow and mature, least they choke on traffic and devalue the town for all the stakeholders.

Mayor West's position on parking policy now acknowledges and compliments former council member John Fricke's contribution on the issue of parking for Emeryville's business and residents, a position he held in the wilderness six years ago without any colleague support.
One issue much discussed by Mr Fricke and now taken up by Ms West is the idea of "unbundled" parking or parking available to the public, not just condo owners where the parking is located.  Mandated unbundled parking would mean that every condo owner in a new project would not necessarily get guaranteed free parking with their unit but they would be free to try to park there for a fee, along with the rest of the public looking for parking.

The issue of parking is really about livability for Emeryville.
We realize the easiest way politically for an elected official is to simply ignore the problem or worse; keep adding to the glut of free parking that only further exacerbates the intolerable traffic and forces a regime of ever widening the streets.
We salute the mayor's courageous efforts to solve this vexing problem without the usual pandering done by her colleagues, pandering that has brought us to this point of immediate concern.  It should be noted that any up-tick in the economy will bring us to crisis: a sea of cars in our town.

We feel the council should move forward on Ms West's solutions with one proviso; existing Emeryville residents should be given some relief from the more draconian parking fixes she prescribes and the most onerous regulation should be more born by new residents and businesses; after all new residents have a choice about moving here and we're supposed to be making our own town more livable for us, the existing Emeryville residents.

Lastly, while we are pleased the issue of parking has been taken up by Mayor West, we must ask where her sudden epiphany came from?  Council member West recently helped usher in both the Ambassador housing project proposed for east Emeryville and the Marketplace Development phase 1 housing project to be located near the existing Public Market, and both of those projects were approved without any concern for parking.  The Ambassador Project was approved by the council for 69 units with 110 bundled parking spaces making a development that encourages auto use.  Market Place too, approved by Ms West, has 192 units with 200 bundled parking spaces and as such is also a new project that encourages driving.

We hope mayor West has indeed changed her ways when it comes to enabling profit maximizing developers who always seem to clamor for more free parking.  It's a catechism at City Hall that has been uniformly embraced by the pro-business city council majority.  We wish Ms West  luck in her push to empower a new pro-resident pro-livability parking paradigm here.

Mayor West's article in The Secret News may be seen here: The Secret News