Emeryville's Greedy Business Sector: No Support for Schools

Emeryville's Stingy Business Sector 

Emery Schools Left in the Cold

Tightfisted Businesses Extract From Community,
Don't Support the Community

Wareham One Bright Spot

Emeryville’s growing business sector, an economic engine that funds City Hall with a workforce that more than doubles the town’s population each work day, is nonetheless extremely stingy when it comes time to help fund Emery’s schools according to a document recently released by Emery Unified School District.  The document, obtained by a Tattler public records request reveals that only one business, Wareham Development, donated anything beyond a pittance to the schools during the last three years.  

Despite occasional claims to the contrary, corporate philanthropy to Emery schools has been anemic over the three years we checked; the top ten major corporate employers in Emeryville were all shown to have given the schools nothing or almost nothing.

Sad that Pixar is so miserly.
And Grifols...and Leapfrog...and
the Oaks Club...and Peet's Coffee...

Only San Rafael based Wareham and its CEO Rich Robbins, Emeryville’s largest developer, gave any substantial donations to Emery Unified, breaking the $10,000 mark three years running.
Major corporations in town have long made public claims of support for Emery schools but only Wareham and Mr Robbins have followed though, the document shows. 
Perhaps the other corporate actors in our town meant they support the idea of supporting the schools.  Or they support the schools in spirit...like saying the word support is itself support...like 'I support the troops'.  

A District spokesperson has noted in addition to the large donations from Wareham, some small non-monetary donations have come in from some businesses during the three years.

Also of particular note is the penurious parsimony of Pixar, a Disney subsidiary that has earned $11 billion for its parent company, itself a nine billion dollar a year corporate entity with a youth oriented focus.  Pixar has led all Emeryville penny pinching corporations in cupidity by offering virtually no support at all to the schools or the community.  Other than in 2004 when it needed Emeryville voters to support a major campus expansion and when it stated categorically it would be a continuing major benefactor for Emery schools, Pixar has never felt any need to share its good fortune with the education of the children of our community who pay to watch its films.  Pixar supports the troops and maybe they'll offer Emery schools their thoughts and prayers.
  

Chart courtesy of City of Emeryville and EUSD

Emeryville's Biggest Employers	Number of Employees	2014-2017 Donations to Emery Schools  (10K or greater value)
Pixar	1155	0
Grifols	544	0
AC Transit	511	0
Oaks Card Club	430	0
Clif Bar	397	0
LeapFrog	373	0
IKEA	348	0
AAA of Northern CA,NV,UT	300	0
Novartis	280	0
Peet’s Coffee & Tea	258	0

Fiscal Year	Donor	Amount
14-‘15	Wareham Development	$25,000.00
15-‘16	Wareham Development	$10,000.00
16-‘17	Nancy & Rich Robbins	$15,000.00

Grossly Overstated: Emeryville's former City Manager goes to bat for Pixar in 2004 with effusive public testimony as the citizens prepare to vote on Measures T&U; permission for a major corporate campus expansion.  They will be a "major benefactor to the schools" the City Manager said of Pixar.

Breaking News: Schools Superintendent to Quit

Schools Superintendent John Rubio 
Calls it Quits

Breaking News

Embattled Emery Unified Schools Superintendent John Rubio has announced to the School Board of Trustees he plans on quitting his position with the following statement released today to the public from Emery Unified:  "Dr. Rubio has sent a letter to the board indicating his desire to not complete the 5th year of his contract, and instead move to a larger school district."  Mr Rubio's two year contract had been re-upped in December 2016 and it is presumed he vacates Emery at the end of this term on June 30th of this year.  This would make the forth Superintendent in 10 years for the tiny school district that has slid in academic performance since Mr Rubio took over in 2014.
The Tattler will report as details come in. 

RULE Meeting Called

Residents United for a Livable Emeryville

Hello Friends and Neighbors!

Please join us Saturday, March 17 for the next meeting of RULE. Share a late breakfast and coffee, meet your progressive neighbors, and speak your mind! 

Tentative agenda items include:

• The School Board and City Council elections coming up in November 
• Plans for a new Emeryville Art Center 
• Efforts by some California tenants' advocates to strengthen rent control regulations amidst the current affordable housing crisis.  

10 AM to 12 PM  Doyle Street Co-housing 5514 Doyle Street (Common Room, first floor) 

Please spread the word. All are welcome! 

Hope to see you there!

Doyle Street Co-housing
Common room is through the trellis and
behind the stairs.

Bike Plan Reinterpreted: 45th & 53rd Street Bike Blvds Languish

Bike Plan Unilaterally Reinterpreted

City Hall’s New Vision Means Traffic Calming Must Wait for Bike Boulevards

1,143 Cars Per Day Over the Allowable Limit

City Council Refuses to Protect Bicyclists

Level Four Goalposts Moved 

The City of Emeryville Public Works Department has announced it is unilaterally reinterpreting its Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan, adding additional procedures and making it more difficult to protect designated bike boulevards from excess vehicle traffic.  Elucidated in a recent letter to the Tattler, the City Hall staff generated reinterpretation changes the traffic calming ‘level’ system in the Bike Plan, adding many more steps to each level before a designated bike boulevard can move forward to the next level of traffic calming.

The new policy, revealed by the Public Works Department, states that “multiple iterations”, of a particular traffic calming level should now be conducted before the Council would be advised to consider raising the street to the more rigorous next level, theoretically adding decades before a bike boulevard would reach the highest level of protection (Level Five).

At stake is bicycle safety on our Bike Boulevards as the new interpretation hamstrings the City in effectively dealing with an unsafe amount of vehicle traffic sharing the road with bicyclists that the Bike Plan was formulated to protect against.  By adding new steps for each level of traffic calming, the staff presumes to speak for the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and the City Council that certified the Plan (without the stringent new metrics) in 2009.  It is informative that before the new staff interpretation, bike boulevards were moved up in level without these extra steps for each level. 

Indeed, several streets in our town have moved up from Level One to Level Three traffic calming over the years, where they now appear to be stuck, as is the case with the 45th Street and 53rd Street Boulevards. The new tougher policy now effecting these two streets will require more iterations of Level Three traffic calming elements be installed before they can move up to Level Four. 

If the City Council really wanted to implement
the Bike Plan, they could do it.  It's the
'stick to it' step they can't seem to accomplish.
It's either Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or 
Developer Surplus Disorder (DSD) indicated.
Symtoms are the same.
Remedies would be Ritalin or 
Electorate Reckoning respectively.

A recently conducted traffic count reveals those two streets are shown to have 1,143 (45th St) and 638 (53rd St) too many cars in Average Daily Trips (ADT) to be considered bike boulevards by the Plan.  But regardless of the excess traffic on these specific streets, the staff has ruled neither street is ready for a level ‘upgrade’ because of the new metric of “[up to] five elements” of Level Three traffic calming measures have not yet been installed.  
For a complete description of each traffic calming level, please see the chart below. 

The 45th and 53rd Boulevards join the former Horton Street Bike Boulevard in languishing; all three hitting a wall at Level Three traffic calming regardless of their excess vehicle traffic.  Notably, the previous head of the Public Works Department Maurice Kaufman and the previous City Council member Nora Davis both declared Level Four calming for any Emeryville street a ‘no go zone’; being too onerous for vehicles as described by developers wishing to build auto-centric projects near the Boulevards.  Accordingly, an earlier traffic count conducted by the developers of the Sherwin Williams project that also showed too much existing traffic on all three streets, was ignored by Ms Davis and the rest of the City Council.  Later, Mayor Dianne Martinez steadfastly and unilaterally refused to move the two streets, 45th & 53rd, to Level Four as the Tattler reported in 2016.

On Horton Street,  the City Council refused to institute Level Four traffic calming elements and instead issued a ‘Statement of Overriding Considerations’, stating the Sherwin Williams project is more important than the Horton Street Bike Boulevard and that the City would ignore the Bike Plan remedy for excess vehicle traffic.  The Statement of Overriding Considerations signaled to the community that the City Council has no intention of supporting bike boulevard status for Horton Street.  Regardless, before they were elected, both Dianne Martinez and Scott Donahue promised Level Four traffic calming for Horton Street.

The 45th and 53rd Street Bike Boulevards have not been subjected to a statement of overriding considerations but the City Council is continuing to let them languish, unrealized as bike boulevards.

The Bike Plan calls for traffic counts to be conducted every two years, a fact the Public Works Department now acknowledges even though the Department was caught lying to the City Manager about that in 2014.  The Tattler uncovered an internal document by use of a Public Records Request that showed how the Department was going to extraordinary lengths to prevent a street moving to traffic calming Level Four by attempting to get the newly hired City Manager Carolyn Lehr to ignore the Bike Plan.  In the memo, the Public Works staff told the new City Manager the Bike Plan says traffic counts are not to be conducted every two years, but rather only if a substantial construction project happens on the street in question or if a large number of citizen complaints are registered; an outright falsehood.  The Bike Plan is very clear that traffic counts must be conducted every two years without conditions.

The new interpretation of up to five required applications of Level Three elements (up from one) being ‘required’ may be the latest attempt by the City to stall implementation of Emeryville’s Bike Plan.  The City has felt no compunction against moving any Bike Boulevard speedily forward through Levels One to Three but they haven't thus far been able to make the breakthrough to Level Four, forwarding different reasons that change over time as to why it can't be done.  The latest prohibition against Level Four in the form of the unilateral Public Works reinterpretation seems to be just the latest blockage offered up by an ignominious City Hall.  It would seem the admonitions against Level Four traffic calming by the assailing Maurice Kaufman and Nora Davis made years ago are still the modus operating principles at City Hall.  

Bike boulevards are supposed to be "cars allowed but bikes preferred" streets meant to maintain bicycling as a safe and convenient form of transportation by discouraging motor vehicle use.  Developers and the business community have long tried to dissuade the City Council from enacting effective traffic calming on Emeryville's Bike Boulevards.

From the Emeryville Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan
Level Four=street narrowings, Level Five= full and partial closures
Level Four (and Level Five) have been determined to be too effective 
so the City has resisted implementing them on any street.  The City Council however has not 
seen fit to amend the Plan to remove these two highest levels they don't like, probably because 
they don't want to be perceived by the public as anti-bike.

From the Bike Plan
53rd Street is at the top of the photo, 45th on the bottom with Horton Street to the left.
North is up, east right, south down and west is left.
The Average Daily Trip (ADT) is supposed to be no more than 1500 for the eastern sections of
45th and 53rd Streets.

53rd Street From the Latest Traffic Count
The eastern section of 53rd Street has 2138 Average Daily Trips or
638 over the maximum allowable amount.  Since the street is now at Level Three, 
that should mean 53rd Street is a candidate for Level Four traffic calming elements.
The Public Works Department says NO however.

45th Street From the Latest Traffic Count
The eastern section of 45th Street has 2,643 Average Daily Trips
or 1,143 over the maximum allowable amount.  A City Council
that cared about bicycling would impliment
Level Four traffic calming elements for the street.

A traffic count from years ago east of San Pablo Avenue

showed 45th Street with more than 3000 cars per day.
Note the vehicle speeds are too high also.

Earns Two Smiling Nora Davis's
Nora Davis smiles down on
the Public Works Department 
and the City Council!

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.

Emeryville Police Excoriates E'Ville Eye Blog

Police Officers Release Letter Refuting 

E'Ville Eye Editor

A recent smear campaign directed at the Emeryville City Council and the Emeryville police from the E'Ville Eye blog has prompted the Emeryville Police Officers' Association to release a letter defending the rank and file against the attacks on their officers, what they refer to as "negative posts" made by Rob Arias, the editor of the blog, and several of his readers.  The letter released to the Tattler late Friday evening refutes claims made by Mr Arias that the EPD is being manipulated by the Emeryville City Council, an alleged conspiracy he says that is responsible for what he calls a spike in crime, caused by the City Council members directing the police away from enforcing the law. 

E'Ville Eye Editor Rob Arias
Alleges the City Council is
manipulating the police.  The police
deny Mr Arias's "negative posts".

Mr Arias has directed the E'Ville Eye, Emeryville's pro-business news blog, in a conspiratorially minded direction with a recent flurry of stories blaming the City Council for driving businesses away and driving up crime because of their support for Emeryville's Minimum Wage Ordinance.  At the same time he is also asserting that back room dealings by the Council have laid plans to stamp out what he calls "police instincts" to quell law enforcement.  Without offering evidence, Mr Arias has informed his readers the Council wants Emeryville's police to be councilors for criminals instead of law enforcement agents because he says the City Council has made an  agreement that arrests are not necessary, rather "criminals will self-rehabilitate if we give them enough chances."   He has called upon the City Council to "stop undermining the force and let them do their job.", a charge specifically refuted by the police officers in their letter.

Any private agreements among the City Council members as Mr Arias suggests would be a violation of the law owing to the California code known as the Brown Act that requires public business to be conducted in public.  The Brown Act, also known as the 'sunshine law',  is clear, especially where a quorum of elected officials occurs behind closed doors as would necessarily be the case if Mr Arias' claims of conspiracy to manipulate the police were true.

The Emeryville Police Officers Association (EPOA), the public service union that represents the rank and file at EPD, is a natural adversary for Mr Arias it should be noted, who has long used his blog to rail against unions, including specifically Emeryville's public service unions.

Here is the letter received from the EPOA:

February 16th, 2018

Emeryville Police Officers' Association Supports Elected Officials

It was recently brought to the attention of the Emeryville Police Officers' Association Board off Directors that certain social media posts attributed statements to unidentified members of the Police Department which in some respects were critical to the relationship between the Emeryville Police Officers;' Association, the Mayor, and the City Council. 

While we continue to build upon our excellent relationship with the City and the community, we are not insensitive to the fact that members are always engaging in conversation with members of our community on various issues.  Some members of the community have their own set of beliefs that may influence their account of contact with our members.  We believe that our members exercise great restraint and discretion in engaging in conversation on topics that may be controversial.  It is our belief members will avoid disparaging our City government or the Police Department. 

Although we do not have any specifics on what was actually said or who may have said it, we have reached out to all our members asking them to be judicious and respectful in conversations about our Police Department and the city's elected officials.

Our police officers have always had a great relationship with and support from our elected city officials.  The police officers, sergeants and elected officials of Emeryville share interest in the safety of the community and are committed to working together to fight crime.  In a small City like ours, EPOC membership has a unique opportunity to make a significant contribution towards a better quality of life for our residents.  It is only in continued cooperation and collaborative effort between the Mayor, City Council, and the Emeryville Police Officers' Association that we will be able to realize Emeryville's true potential.  It is in this unified effort that we believe: Our size is our strength.

Finally, we want to acknowledge that our membership has thousands and thousands of contacts with citizens each year.  These recent negative posts represent a fraction of the number of comments made by citizens about us.  By far and away the majority of our contact with our community is very positive and social media reflects the professionalism and integrity of our members.

We look forward to working with residents, Mayor and the City Council to continue growing the quality of life in Emeryville.

Emeryville Police Officers' Association 

Emery School Board Member Donn Merriam, Announces Re-Election Bid

Audacious Donn Merriam Throws Hat in Ring

Running For Re-Election on Record of Support of 

Superintendent Rubio

November's election season has begun early for Emery School Board, the opening salvo initiated by Board member Donn Merriam in what promises to be the District's first truly contentious board election.

School Board member Donn Merriam has launched a campaign to be selected an Alameda County delegate for a statewide association of school board members, a two year position that would run concurrent with his Emery Board position, putting to rest questions about a possible re-election bid for Emery School Board in November when his term is up.

School Board Member Donn Merriam
Running for re-election as a strong
supporter of Superintendent Rubio.
Notably, Mr Merriam's support
 has never wavered despite the 
Superintendent's terrible record 
that has driven Emery down.

The announcement of Mr Merriam's campaign is a portentous development in a looming and contentious Board election season for the struggling Emery Unified School District pitting Mr Merriam and his existing status quo Board majority supportive of schools Superintendent John Rubio against a probable field of energized opposition candidates seeking to turn the dysfunctional district around.

   

Mr Merriam has been a controversial Board member, having voted in December 2016 to renew the District’s employment contract with embattled and pugnacious Emery Schools Superintendent John Rubio despite Mr Rubio’s lamentable three year record at Emery frequently splashed all over the pages of the Tattler and the East Bay Times.  It has been widely rumored that Mr Merriam would not seek re-election after the drubbing Mr Rubio has received having so definitively dragged the District down during his tenure.  The beleaguered Mr Merriam is closely associated with the Superintendent serving as the Board’s most ardent supporter regardless of Mr Rubio’s bad record at Emery.

Board member Merriam has stood by Superintendent Rubio even as the Superintendent has led the District into the cellar among Bay Area school districts in academic achievement, dropping its ranking to last place in the East Bay under Mr Rubio’s watch.  Additionally, Superintendent Rubio has earned the notorious distinction of the worst teacher retention of any Bay Area school superintendent, a common metric used by educators to evaluate the efficacy of superintendents.  Mr Merriam infamously threw his unconditional support behind Superintendent Rubio during a 2015 contentious fight when the Tattler and the East Bay Times exposed Mr Rubio after he conducted an illegal and secret Board meeting behind closed doors, the beset Superintendent only admitting culpability and apologizing later, Mr Merriam following suit.

Mr Merriam is hoping to be among the four selected by Alameda County school board members to represent the County among 270 delegates representing nearly 1000 school districts statewide. Such a status would likely bolster his chances for re-election in November, a fact probably not lost on Mr Merriam.  The Emery School Board will vote for four (out of seven) representatives for the august seat on the California School Board Association Wednesday night and among his colleagues Mr Merriam is a likely shoo-in (4-1?) however he is less likely to receive enough votes among the other Alameda County school boards owing to Mr Merriam’s thin resume, lacking in educational bona fides as it is.

Spur Alley Bike Path Betrays Emeryville's 'Bike Friendly' Claims

Coddling a Developer on Spur Alley

at the Expense of Bikes

City Refuses to Enforce Public Bike Path Easement

Bike Path Forsaken

News Analysis

There’s a bike path in Emeryville, putatively on private land but officially recognized in the City’s Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan and legally dedicated for public use by means of a City Hall mandated public easement that could nonetheless get you arrested for trespassing were you so bold as to actually ride your bike on it.  Welcome to Emeryville’s Spur Alley bike path…however ‘welcome’ is not really the kind of word that would be used to describe how bicyclists are made to feel on their bike path. 

 Illegal Sign 
The Spur Alley Bike Path can be used  by
the whole public any time without constraint.
It is not "subject to control of the owner".
Emeryville City staff wants this sign to
remain up, giving police the right
to arrest bicyclists using their own bike path.

The ‘preferred use’ north/south bike route running parallel with and a block east of busy Hollis Street was dedicated when the City placed the route in its Bike Plan in the 1990’s.  Conceived as a way to encourage bikers to use the former railroad spur route instead of the dangerous Hollis Street, the City subsequently secured an easement on the private land that guarantees unrestricted public use of the corridor.  The developer owner of the land sees the easement differently however and he’s placed signage there that tells bikers the land is private property and their use of Spur Alley is provisional. 

Public Use?

Bikers would be understandably confused by the plethora of signs informing them Spur Alley is an official City bike route at the same time threatening them with arrest at the behest of a private ‘controlling’ owner.  The Emeryville Police Department is not confused however and they have acknowledged that bicyclists will in fact be arrested if they fail to vacate the bike path if the owner tells them to leave.  It’s a conundrum; the City guarantees the right to pass unconditionally through the same piece of land its own police department says NO to.

This bike route starkly reveals how what the City of Emeryville says about bikes runs into the reality in the field; the deference City Hall pays not to bikes but to developers and the business community.   Citizens attempting to use this City recognized bike route could get a very clear correction for believing in the good faith of Emeryville and its Bike Plan with its oft repeated claims of bike love…as clear as a pair of handcuffs.  

Not A Bike Friendly History
The history of Spur Alley is a Cliff Notes summery of bikes in Emeryville in the aggregate, revealing a city that’s long on talk and short on action.

After the city attorney secured the use of the alley for bikes in a deal with the developer in 1998, the City with help from the Bike Committee, dedicated Spur Alley as a Class 3 bike path in the forlorn Emeryville Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan.  Unsatisfied, the developer wanted to increase the value of the leases to his tenants (among them the popular gymnasium Head Over Heels) who were clamoring for more parking. As a result, the City Council, under pressure from the developer, ultimately voted to allow private parking on the bike path easement.  The bikes, a tolerable nuisance to the developer at the onset, now turned into an unacceptable impingement on his bottom line and he appealed to the City Council, who voted 3 to 2 (Atkin, Fricke dissenting) to allow private parking on the public bike easement.  The public was still to be allowed use of the bike path, the City Council assured the public at their July 17th 2007 meeting, just not in striped bike lanes on the easement as was originally planned. 

This sign is also up at Spur Alley 
sending a conflicted message to bicyclists.  
The oft repeated trope about being a
"bicycle friendly city" is betrayed on Spur Alley.
Emeryville's actual views on bicycling are
more complicated.

Earlier, Councilman John Fricke noticed the staff wasn't taking Spur Alley seriously as a bike route, "second class status" he called it (in the normal parlance unrelated to official bike route class designations).  He noted in November 2006 the developer had closed the alley for construction but hadn't even gotten an encroachment permit as would be required for any public easement as he testified at a  Council meeting (see video below).  The staff responded that they had "forgotten" Spur Alley had a public easement and so that's why the developer shouldn't be taken to task for the illegal closure. 
Mr Fricke's charge that the staff wasn't taking bike use on Spur Alley seriously was further bolstered after they worked with Pixar to eliminate the southern section of the planned bike route.  Pixar, seeking a private campus expansion, twice re-routed the path jogging it over closer to San Pablo Avenue, rendering it useless for bike use.  The southern segment of Spur Alley disconnected as the City and Pixar made it, is now reborn as Joseph Emery Skate Park.

After the Council voted to allow the developer use of the public bike easement for his tenant's exclusive parking use in 2007, the developer, unsatisfied with his victory and wanting more, unilaterally ratcheted back his agreement and without permission from City Hall, put up the signs that deny the public the right to use their path and signal to police their right to arrest the public for so using it.

A City Seized With Inaction

Emeryville Likes These Signs
from the League of American Bicyclists.
They're posted all over town.  The designations
are based on a city's bike plans, not how the
plans are implemented (or not implemented in
the case in Emeryville).

The City has been alerted to the illegal signs for years but they have refused to act to protect the negotiated public easement on the alley.  The latest such attempt came in 2017 when then Mayor Scott Donahue told the staff at City Hall to direct Public Works to remove the signs that claim biker’s rights are constrained by private property on Spur Alley and warn the developer against putting up such signs in the future.  “The staff doesn’t appear to want to take the signs down” the mayor told the Tattler after it became clear there was no interest to do such a thing.  The signs are still up, warning bicyclists against using their own bike path and serving as a testament to who's interests are valued at City Hall.  

As our little city struggles with an image it likes to forward to the world about being a bicycle friendly community versus the actual on the ground conditions as directed by a not-so-friendly-to-bikes business sector the City is in bed with, a bike facility that was supposed to be built long ago serves as emblematic of a dichotomy, vexing an Emeryville that wants its bicycle bonafides but without having to deliver amenities for bicyclists.  
Spur Alley is the bike corridor promised but never delivered, a public right of way for bicyclists secured by City Hall but given over instead to business interests, the signs canceling the public easement serving to mock the City Council who gave away this public asset for nothing and who still refuse to make amends to the bicycle community. 

Video courtesy of the Emeryville Property Owners Association

"Spur Alley is being treated as though it has second class status" said Councilman Fricke in 2006.  "We forgot about Spur Alley" replied the staff, proving the Councilman's point.  Biking on Spur Alley: what was forgetful in 2006 later became something for City Hall to actively limit and constrain. 

RULE Meeting: School Board

Residents United for a Livable Emeryville

School Board Candidate Discussion

Hello Friends and Neighbors!

Please join us Saturday, Jan. 27 for the next meeting of RULE.  Share a late breakfast and coffee, meet your progressive neighbors, and speak your mind!

This month's meeting will focus on the Emeryville School Board election in November and how we can recruit qualified, knowledgeable candidates - vital to improving the quality of education the district provides.

We would love to hear from all members of the community, but particularly parents and teachers. What insights can you share?  Are you interested in running?  Do you know someone who is?  Maybe you have suggestions about how to recruit good candidates.  There will be three seats (out of five) open this election. 

Please spread the word. All are welcome! 

If there are other (or related) issues you want to discuss, please call the host and we will add it to the agenda.

Hope to see you there!

Where: 
Doyle Street Co-Housing
5514 Doyle Street (common room, 1st floor)

When:
Saturday January 27th at 10:00 am

Who: 
Lillian Schroth host 
(510) 205-5850

Why:
To make your town a more livable place!
     

Councilman Bauters' Blog Takes on Train Noise

Mayor Bauters Attempts Long Standing Train Noise Fix

Public Invited to Help

Blog Drives Public Policy Using Facts as a Foil Against 

E'Ville Eye Hyperbole 

Mayor John Bauters is using his Emeryville-centric blog to activate the long simmering issue of excessive train horn blaring with a citizen drive to secure grant money for infrastructure to quiet the neighborhoods adjoining the tracks.  The issue, a source of much agitation especially for those Emeryville residents living near the tracks on the north end of town, has been taken up by many City Council members over the years, notably at election time, but Mr Bauters' efforts seem to be real and on the verge of success.  He is requesting residents to help in this effort by use of a letter writing campaign (see letter below).

It is the latest from Councilman John Bauters who has been a whirlwind of activism on the public's behalf since he took office starting with his prodigious blog he began shortly after being elected to office in November of 2016.  The no nonsense John Bauters' Blog has been used effectively to impart valuable information for residents and has stood above the blog sites other Emeryville City Council members have edited over the years not least in its rigorous density of information.
A recent January 1st blog entry, Closing out 2017: Progress on Priorities is especially impressive with its plenary list of footnotes and links that will long serve as a central repository of factual information on Emeryville's progress moving forward with the City's priorities up through 2017.
Also impressive is how Mr Bauters' March 2017 blog entry Information on the Halleck/Beach Dog Park, effectively used his blog to shut down a politicized issue of a dog park across the border in Oakland proposed by local blogger Rob Arias who sought to use it to keep homeless people out of his Park Avenue neighborhood.  Animating Mr Arias was a not-so-hidden attempt to increase his standing and that of his monetized blog The E'Ville Eye in the eye of the public by huckstering his dog park idea, PT Barnum style.  Councilman Bauters was viciously attacked by a hurt Rob Arias after the Councilman led a drive to kill the ill-advised dog park; a return to rationality after Mr Arias' self promotional foray into what should be public public policy.  Mr Bauters' blog post defending his Halleck/Beach Dog Park action was a non-political tour de force of purely rational public policy featuring a total lack of hyperventilating bombast to serve as a counterweight to the poisonous  E'Ville Eye missives.

Now, Mayor Bauters is using his blog to remind us the train noise issue looms with a deadline of January 25th and he urges residents to help write emails to secure the funding to finally do something about this vexing problem for Emeryville residents.
 Mr Bauters submitted the following letter to the Tattler to help towards that end:   

Dear Neighbor,

The City Council is actively pursuing a competitive grant that would bring us the funding necessary to install infrastructure at the 65th, 66th and 67th Street railroad crossing that would allow us to create Quiet Zones that silence the Amtrak train horn.

I am working with city staff to pull together an application and we need your help!

Attached to this email are two letters. The first letter is a letter I am submitting on behalf of the city council with our grant application.

The second is a draft letter we wish to submit from you, the residents and community members who stand to benefit from winning this grant award.

We would like to sign as many resident names onto this letter as possible to show how much the community supports the city's efforts to bring Quiet Zones to Emeryville. You can help us by doing the following easy steps:

(1) Read both of the short letters attached to this email.

(2) If you are willing to sign on in support of this request, please send an email addressed to both:

roconnell@emeryville.org
jbauters@emeryville.org

(3) In the subject line of your email please write: "Quiet Zones"

(4) In the body of your email please provide only the following information:

• Names of any adults in the household who wish to sign on to the letter
• List whether you are a resident, business owner or employee
• Your physical street address (we will not publish this, it is only to confirm for the grant review team that those signing the letter are from Emeryville if we are asked to provide proof)

Only your name and affiliation to our city (resident, employee) will be listed at the bottom of the letter.


(5) Once you have sent us your sign-on, please forward this email to your neighbors and ask them to sign on as well.

We must submit the application on January 25th.

I will post a final copy of the letter we submit on my blog site after we file the application. You can find my blog site at www.johnbauters.wordpress.com.

Thank you for supporting our community and helping us create a more livable space for everyone to enjoy!

Cheers,

John