Breaking News: Emeryville Police Give Up Military Chemical Weapon Launchers, Keep Assault Rifles

Breaking News:

Emeryville Police Attempt Carve Out Exemption for Arsenal of Military Assault Rifles

Emeryville Stands Alone Among Bay Area Police Departments 

AR-15 Rifles at Neighboring Police Departments Voluntarily Regulated By AB-481

The Emeryville Police Department last week unceremoniously dumped its arsenal of military style chemical agent launchers and issued a letter of disclosure to the City Council of its stockpile of military weapons of war in order to comply with California Assembly Bill 481, the Tattler has learned.  The department however is reserving the right to continue to carry the AR-15 military assault rifles as it has, regardless of the provisions of AB 481 (which normally requires police departments to declare them and submit a use policy for them) using a controversial claim that the assault rifles are “standard issue” and therefore beyond the reach of the State's regulation.  The City Council will meet and discuss the issue at its Tuesday meeting.

Emeryville Police Department stands alone among police departments in the Bay Area with the claim about its AR-15 arsenal according to John Lindsay-Poland, the co-director of the American Friends Service Committee’s California Healing Justice program.  All the other police departments are not making such a claim and their department issued AR-15 rifles are consequentially falling under the regulatory provisions of AB 481, Mr Lindsay-Poland told the Tattler. 

The purpose of the assembly bill, signed into law on September 30, 2021, is to require the police department to obtain the approval of the City Council before taking actions relating to the funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment. 

The issuance of AR-15 assault rifles among
some police departments like EPD have contributed
to a culture of militarization in recent years.

AB 481 was authored by Assembly member David Chiu (D-San Francisco).  It was written to have the effect to reduce the amount of military equipment and weapons of war in California police departments.  The jettisoning of Emeryville’s military chemical agent launchers last week just before Tuesday’s letter to the City Council is testimony to the bill's reach.  But the claims of compliance with AB 481 made by EPD regarding its stockpile of the AR-15 military assault rifles will have to be quantified according to the new law.  A strenuous policy of transparency and accountability to citizen complainants provided in the bill means the department may end up reclassifying the guns to match neighboring police departments.

The legislature of the State of California has defined the AR-15 as military equipment and an assault rifle

The American Friends Service Committee, founded in 1917, is a Religious Society of Friends (the 'Quakers') founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. 

Military CS Gas Launcher
Emeryville Police finally gave up these weapons of war 
last week because of AB 481.

In anticipation of Tuesday’s meeting, the City staff says AB 481 requires that law enforcement agencies seeking to continue the use of any Military Equipment must commence the approval process for the Policy by May 1, 2022.  They are recommending waiving the first reading of and introducing an ordinance adopting Emeryville Police Department Policy 707: Military Equipment. The second reading and formal adoption of the ordinance will not be scheduled until the relinquishment of the military chemical launcher equipment is verified as complete. 

The Emeryville Face of Citizen Engagement and Activism: RULE Folds After 14 Years

 RULE Showed Us How It's Done

The Emeryville resident activist group known as RULE announced in a press release through its steering committee last week, that it is disbanding after 14 years, having run its course as well as having been sidelined as a result of the pandemic over the last two years.  The group, who’s name is an acronym for Residents United for a Livable Emeryville and who has been the focus of many Tattler stories over the years, was ambiguous in its reasons for folding now, stating only that it had reached a “natural stopping place”.  The press release singled out the local social justice activist group EBASE (East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy) for helping get RULE off the ground and thanking them, noting the remaining funds in its bank account ($1317) would be donated to EBASE.

Having the ear of the City Council, RULE contributed much to Emeryville, having endorsed every winning Council member over the years.  In fact, one of the the most extraordinary things RULE accomplished in its 14 years was its perfect record on selecting politicians and local electoral measures and ballot initiatives.  Every single RULE endorsement was victorious, including even every School Board candidate selectee; a remarkable consummation of its political clout and indicative of its Emeryville centrist values and political bonafides, made even more remarkable considering its inauspicious beginnings.

Some 50 dues paying members strong at its outset, RULE was forged in 2008 during a time of business and developer hegemony in Emeryville history when resident’s interests took a back seat to business interests at City Hall.  The City Council, stacked up five deep in order to help those seeking to make a profit in our town, were in the thrall of the business community.  The locus of the power resided in the long standing Councilwoman Nora Davis.  At her zenith at RULE’s inception, Ms Davis, was a stalwart and generous friend to developers and the powerful Emeryville Chamber of Commerce who ran City Hall out of its taxpayer funded headquarters on Harlan Street.  Together, they provided the leadership to build the town as the developers and business owners prescribed.  

RULE joined with EBASE to help give 
the City Council space to raise Emeryville's
minimum wage to the highest in the nation.

In this milieu and made up of only residents, RULE took on a plucky and adversarial role with enough audacity to imagine a more democratic city that would work for the residents.  The Tattler was there, ready to support RULE since its beginning.

With its outrageous pro-resident and left wing demands, like more locally serving retail as well as a place at the table for unions in construction and a higher minimum wage in Emeryville, RULE was mostly just ignored by the elite….at first.  But as successes came, derision came, followed by fighting and vilifying from the businesses community and their Council sycophants, and especially from former resident Rob Arias, who helped form a pro-business blog the E’Ville Eye meant to counter the Tattler and RULE.  Mr Arias, who has since moved on to Pleasant Hill in Contra Costa County, provided the pushback and as the powerful Chamber of Commerce foundered, he helped form a replacement business lobbying group known as Little City Emeryville. 

That group, undemocratic and secretive, also folded against mounting RULE successes.  Little City Emeryville and the E’Ville Eye ultimately served as an impotent foil to RULE and the Tattler.  Emeryville voters wanted none of what the business community was selling; Mr Arias and Little City Emeryville backed the loser in every Emeryville election before Rob finally packed it in and moved out to the suburbs.

RULE went to the residents to see what they wanted in a city-wide survey at its inception.  Now, having achieved most of its goals identified by that survey, the most influential resident interest group in the City’s history leaves the scene with much to be proud of.  Its work included installing a progressive vision and a progressive City Council to implement that vision in order to deliver among other things, a minimum wage high enough to keep full time workers out of poverty and real solutions to address the region-wide lack of affordable housing.  These progressive policies and more for which Emeryville is now known and emulated among California communities were brought to fruition in no small part by RULE.

In its swan song March 21st press release, RULE takes a bow for its impressive game changing list of accomplishments and they throw down a challenge to new residents who might take it all for granted.  Warning against a reinvigorated business community rising, RULE  reminds new residents as it exits the stage; ‘It’s only when residents get involved, raise their voices, organize, and go to the polls that positive change is possible’ .

Crush of Trucks Blocking Bike Lanes Draws Chief of Police to Declare it Legal

Chief of Police Rules OK to Block Bike Lanes in Emeryville

Illegal to Block Lanes in Neighboring Cities

City Hall Scrambles to Protect Bikers, Thwart Chief's Ruling

Officials at Emeryville City Hall have been pushed into a tailspin by recent incendiary comments from the chief of police that claim people are allowed to block bike lanes with parked vehicles for up to 72 hours without fear of receiving a ticket from the police department. The comments came in a November 29th email from Chief Jeffery Jennings after a cascade of citizen complaints about trucks blocking our bike lanes and have pushed the city staff and the Council to search for new ways to keep the city’s bike lanes clear, the Tattler has learned.  Mr Jennings cites the California Vehicle Code as his authoritative source that it is “perfectly legal” for vehicles to block bike lanes, interestingly, the same source that neighboring cities use to declare the practice illegal.

Emeryville Chief of Police Jeffery Jennings
His unique reading of the California Vehicle Code
puts him at odds with chiefs of police in Berkeley,
Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward.

The City of Emeryville is scrambling, responding to the distressing pronouncement from Chief Jennings by exploring extra levels of protection for bicyclists such as painting all curbs in bike lanes red and/or adding ‘no parking’ signs alongside every bike lane.  Mr Jennings expressed to the Tattler that such actions would be enough for him to start directing his officers to ticket vehicles in those bike lanes.  

Attorneys contacted by the Tattler expressed surprise at Chief Jennings’ take on the vehicle code that has the added effect of voiding Emeryville’s new parking meter program by offering a plethora of free parking on any bike lane.  One attorney stated the snippets quoted from the California Vehicle Code by Mr Jennings seem to be cherry picked in such a way as to make vehicles blocking bike lanes legal.  

The November 29th statement legalizing bike lane blocking in Emeryville by Chief Jennings, cites CA Vehicle Code Div 11 Chapter 1 Article 4 Section 2121 which states:  No person may stop, stand, sit, or loiter upon any class I bikeway, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code, or any other public or private bicycle path or trail, if the stopping, standing, sitting, or loitering impedes or blocks the normal and reasonable movement of any bicyclist.

The above language would protect bike lanes but Chief Jennings focuses on the Streets and Highways Code to make his determination that it is OK for vehicles to block the lanes, a move former Emeryville City Council member and practicing attorney John Fricke took issue with.  In a letter to the Tattler responding to the Chief, Mr Fricke was adamant, “The police chief's reliance on S&H Code section 890.4 is severely undermined by the fact that the S&H Code in general is not where vehicle prohibitions are placed.  For that, one must look to the Vehicle Code.  In addition, section 890.4 is part of a larger act that has as its main purpose the promotion of bicycle travel: the California Bicycle Transportation Act.  How ironic that the police chief cites this act as proof that trucks can block a bike lane.”, Mr Fricke wrote. 

Additionally, Mr Fricke notes “Subsection (b) is the general rule, no parking in the bike lane ("upon any bikeway" includes a Class II bikeway as defined in Streets and Highways Code section 890.4, which is the section  the police chief cites as evidence of a right to park in a bike lane).” 

The City of Emeryville’s Municipal Code also protects bike travel in town by making it illegal to block a bike lane.  Code 4-9.21 states “It shall be unlawful for the operator of any train, truck, or other vehicle to stop or park in such manner as to block or impede the flow of traffic”.  However Chief Jennings says the Emeryville Municipal Code is subordinate to the greater authority of the California Vehicle Code and so bicycle traffic may be impeded.

The Tattler contacted the police departments in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and Hayward and all reported it is illegal for vehicles to block bike lanes in their respective cities.  Berkeley PD Officer Vaughn (#826) uses the same CA Vehicle Code Div 11 Chapter 1 Article 4 Section 2121 Chief Jennings does but he said, "We cite [vehicles] for that every day”.

The only vehicles allowed to block bike lanes according the the California Vehicle code are specifically utility trucks, newspaper delivery trucks, garbage trucks and tow trucks, and all while actively working only.

Bike safety studies have shown crossing over the solid white line of a bike lane, swerving out into a vehicle lane to avoid a vehicle blocking is the most dangerous legal move a bicyclist can make.  Emeryville, it would appear, will continue to be a place for this very dangerous movement made by bicyclists unless the City Council reverses Mr Jennings and his anti-bike directive.  

Chief Jennings is not some lone wolf it should be noted.  An October 29th 2020 Tattler story highlighted a recalcitrant Emeryville Police Department loath to issue citations for vehicles blocking our bike lanes, indicating this anti-bike culture predates Chief Jennings who was hired in December of that year.

For his part, Mr Jennings has downplayed the whole bike lane tumult.  Shrugging off the mounting controversy his legal-to-block-bike-lanes directive has caused, the Chief was nonchalant, ”If this is the worst problem that I have then I'm doing well” he told the Tattler.

Emeryville Police responded to calls concerning this truck with a large banner
parked on Shellmound Street, blocking the bike lane.  No tickets were written
because "It is legally parked" said one of the responding officers.

This banner could be placed on any one of the hundreds of trucks blocking our bike lanes 
every week in Emeryville.

Trucks blocking bike lanes
earns one Nora smile.

Guest Column: John Fricke on Emeryville's Shoddy Children's Playgrounds

Emeryville City Hall’s New Language of Empathy and Inaction

By John Fricke

Guest Columnist

When I was growing up in Chicago my mother would say to me, ką darai, daryk gerai!  (What you do, do well! – in Lithuanian.)  In my practice of law, I’ve tried to live up to that parental advice.  Not so Emeryville city government.

In Emeryville city government, the performance goal appears to be markedly lower than the one imparted to me by my mother.  What specifically comes to mind is the condition of our public playgrounds.  

My three-year-old son, Dean, and I are frequent visitors to the various playgrounds.  Based on my experience from when my daughters were Dean’s age, playground deficiencies brought to the attention of someone in Emeryville city government would quickly be repaired.  When my parents would visit from Chicago, they brought their granddaughters to various Emeryville playgrounds, all in pretty good repair.  

Therefore, when I brought Dean to the same playgrounds, I was taken aback.  Was the city not aware of the various things in need of repair?  Of the trees that had been cut down by the city and not replanted?  Had no one brought these things to their attention?  A quick email to the city manager (annual salary over $227,000) will address my concerns, I thought.  

I’ve since come to realize that the work ethic of ką darai daryk gerai has been replaced with a new bureaucrat-speak that manages to meld empathy and inaction into one sentence.  

The city manager’s response to my email message (enumerating all the things needing attention at five public playgrounds) included this sentence: 

“We are also assessing what grant opportunities from the state might be available to fund the various infrastructure improvements at the parks you describe below.”

Inquiring minds surely want to know what were these ‘infrastructure improvements’ I was demanding. 

Eradicate graffiti (infrastructure improvement?):

Replant shade trees (cut down by the city) near play structures (infrastructure improvement?):

Why replant a tree when you can fill the 
tree well with concrete?

It almost leaves you with the impression that they don't care.

Patch rubber matting (infrastructure improvement?):

The city manager’s response promised “substantive answers”.  She then passed the buck down the chain of command.  

I held my breath for a response.  After two weeks of no response from our very-well-paid city functionaries, I sent a follow-up message.  

Days later, a response came from the director of public works (annual salary over $161,000), including the following:  “Playground facilities assessment and budget is in the process of being prepared and scheduled based on funding.”

Here was a person well-trained in the new language of empathy and inaction.  

I immediately sent another message demanding to know when the repairs would be completed.  And again, I was provided (with a same-day response, no less) with an exemplar of the new lingua franca:

“We are working on the park assessment now and the recommended repairs.  With that we are also obtaining the costs and timing.  We will then process for the repairs based on the city contracting requirements and available funding.  The rubber matting is high on the list and I look to have the recommendations and timing for repairs soon.  Have a wonderful day and please feel free to contact me at any time.  Take Care.”  

Ron Swanson is alive and well and working in Emeryville city hall.  

Despite the fog of bureaucrat-speak, I did manage to glean a date certain by which seven trees would be replanted.  (No commitment for when the other things would be addressed.)  When, pray tell, will the trees be replanted, you ask?  

In April.  

Of 2021.  

Since my original messages, Emeryville has completed a circumnavigation of the sun.

As far as replanting trees, regular Tattler readers will no doubt chime in regarding the city council’s sordid sell-out of the street trees on Horton Street.  Orwell would appreciate the council members’ Newspeak word, “nuisance tree”, whereby, at the developer’s behest, a healthy tree is transmogrified into a nuisance, and then cut down.   Dean and I should be glad that the remaining trees in the playgrounds have not met the same fate.  I suppose that’s because a developer hasn’t yet cast his wandering eye on a parcel occupied by a playground.  Longtime Emeryville residents will recall how adamantly opposed Council member Nora Davis was to a park at Doyle and 59th streets.  After all, the city council had purchased the property with the intention of constructing a four-level parking garage.  During the dot com frenzy of the late Nineties, Emeryville business owners’ demand for more free parking had to be sated, according to Nora.  My election put an end to that folly.  

Say!  A parking garage!  No muss, no fuss.  No grass to mow, no trees to replant, no play structures to repair.  The new Newspeak word:  nuisance playground.  Doubleplusgood!

In the twelve months since I emailed the city manager not only have none of the repairs been done, but more things have broken down in the interim. 

In June, the public works department boarded up a slide that needed repair.  

Seven months later, even the barricades are breaking down. 

Perhaps we should set our sights on a more achievable goal: repair the barricades.

The rubber matting in one location has now been worn down to the concrete slab beneath.   

A spinning item has broken off at the base creating a protruding pipe.  The city’s solution:  more traffic barricades. 

Personal injury lawyers smell blood in the water.

These days, when I ask Dean which playground he wants to go to, he refers to them based on the thing that’s broken.  The playground at Doyle and 59th streets:  “Broken Slide Park”

Perhaps I should appropriate the new language of empathy and inaction when responding to my son’s questions.

Dean:  Daddy, why is the slide still boarded up?  

Me:  Son, the city is working on the park assessment right now, is assessing grant opportunities, and is processing for this repair based on regulatory contracting requirements.  The city will coordinate with all relevant stakeholders and interested parties.  The slide will be repaired soon.  Their door is always open.  Have a wonderful day.  Take Care.

Or, maybe this new language is best appropriated in my practice of law.  If I fail to complete a task on time, why not replace candor with the new bureaucrat-speak (“nuisance deadline”)?  Will my client be any the wiser?

And what of the city manager’s “promised answers” (as indicated in her message of February 26, 2021)? 

 

Perhaps the leading lights down at city hall should seek funding opportunities to establish a new city motto.  I propose the following candidates:  Good things come to those who wait.  Or, Emeryville Public Works, Out of Order (temporarily).  Or, Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the slothful.  Or, How can I not help you?  Or, Fool you once, shame on you.  Fool you twice, shame on you.  Or, “Playground facilities assessment and budget is in the process of being prepared and scheduled based on funding.”  

Gentle readers, please contribute your own suggestions for a new motto.  The following will be rejected out of hand:  Ką darai, daryk blogai (what you do, do poorly).

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, as well as a former member of the Emeryville City Council.

Mayor Bauters Slams Developer For Illegal Demolition, City Levies Fines

Unprecedented in Emeryville: City Levies Fines on Housing Developer

Mayor Calls Developer's Actions a "Charade" 

Developer Says "Mayor Has it Out For Me"

The Emeryville City Council, long known for their obsequious fawning over real estate developers, finally met a developer they cannot countenance.  Vallejo resident Aquis Bryant, a self described entrepreneur and ‘house flipper’ was given a sharp rebuke and a quintuple building permit fine at the December 21st City Council meeting after Mayor John Bauters called out the small time developer for illegally tearing down his four plex apartment building at 1271 64th Street and a Christmas time eviction of the prior tenets there.  The illegal demolition was acknowledged but the eviction charge is refuted by Mr Bryant.

A major point of contention flared at the December 21st meeting whether the applicant, Mr Bryant (no relation to Emeryville City Planner Charlie Bryant) evicted his low income ‘section eight’ tenants in order to do work on the building approved in 2016, a point alleged by Mayor Bauters.  Mr Bryant told the Tattler the Mayor’s eviction allegations are untrue and that he simply asked his tenants if they were willing to be “bought out” or paid money to leave, to which they agreed and were paid.  He called the eviction charge “false”. 

Property owner and developer at 1271 64th St
Aquis Bryant

The 2016 building permit Mr Bryant had received was a conditional use permit to renovate his building by adding an additional floor to increase the size of two of the existing four units from two to three bedrooms.  The tenants at the building all vacated the premise prior to the beginning of work and the building contractor hired by Mr Bryant proceeded to demolished the entire structure, explicitly not permitted by the City of Emeryville.  A Stop Work Order was subsequently issued and a Notice of Violation sent out by the City.  Mr Bryant then applied for an after the fact demolition permit as well as permission to rebuild the entire building according to the new plans, both of which were approved by the Planning Commission in October of 2021.  

The Mayor’s short temper at the December meeting was attributed to the fact that he (Mr Bauters) was a Planning Commissioner in 2016 as it turns out and had been privy to the ‘no demolition’ first iteration of the 64th Street project application.  The mayor, clearly angered at the applicant for the unapproved demolition, expressed that he had heard about the tenants’ removal after the 2016 Planning Commission building renovation approval.  For his part, Mr Bryant says his contractor demolished the building without his permission. 

The City Council in December ultimately approved the new construction however, invoking the Municipal Code, they levied a ‘five times’ building permit fine owing to the fact that Mr Bryant had partaken in construction (demolition actually) without a required permit, for a total fine/fee of $64,135 (five times added to the original $10,241) .  The Council also added a provision the applicant pay for a special inspection of the final height of the building to make sure it is in compliance.  To all this, Mayor Bauters said, “Maybe this will be an incentive to have the applicant be a more responsible home flipper in our community which is not interested in continuing in a charade like this.”  

Mr Bryant who after telling the Tattler “The Mayor has it out for me”, said he would pay the fines, “What else can I do?” he asked.

Mayor John Bauters
On the Planning Commission in 2016, he was assured
this developer would not demolish the building.

Mayor Martinez: Lying & Science Denialism Rates a D-

 Mayor Dianne Martinez

Continuing our tradition of looking back on each year-long mayorship of the rotating Emeryville City Council members/cum mayors, with Dianne Martinez now moving aside to make way for John Bauters, we take this opportunity to look back on Mayor Martinez’s tenure as Emeryville's highest elected official.  The Tattler continues with the tradition of these mayoral wrap-ups; the assignment of letter grades for each mayor—and to that end, we report Dianne Martinez has received a D- for her efforts as our mayor.

Opinion

Emeryville Mayor in 2021
Dianne Martinez

A glaring piece of bad politics came last June 15th when the Council majority voted to cut down the people’s street trees at the Sherwin Williams development site at the request of Lennar Development Corporation, Mayor Martinez leading the charge.  Before her June 15th vote, she also had voted to kill the same trees in a losing bid in 2019.  Ms Martinez, hoping people had forgotten, appallingly attempted to rewrite history when she announced at the June meeting she had been in favor of saving the trees in 2019.  “I was on the side of doing everything we could [to save the trees] but now, I’m on the side of (having the healthiest and most vibrant trees on Horton Street), she said, parroting the developer’s talking points.  Ms Martinez’s colleague, the former Councilman Christian Patz, at the same June 15th meeting told the assembled crowd that the developer had presented no new information from the 2019 Council vote (when the trees were saved).  The Mayor, undaunted, then voted to kill the trees again after happily announcing that the developer had gone behind the back of the Council and gotten permission from the staff regardless and so any vote to save the trees would just be a wasted protest vote.  This was the politics of the public be damned at its most cynical.

In addition to her terrible vote in June, before the voting and before hearing her colleagues openly deliberate on the matter, Mayor Martinez stated that she had already made up her mind to kill the trees, attempting to unfairly coerce her colleagues into voting with her.  She announced, “Let me indicate for you how I’m going to vote tonight”  (see video at 33:40) without letting the other Council members have their say in a fair and open manner.  In so doing, Mayor Martinez worked to close down open and meaningful Council debate.  All City Council members are supposed to listen to what the others say before deciding.  They should come to meetings with an open mind.  They are actually paid to have an open mind in matters of public policy.

Lying Mixed With Science Denialism

Shockingly, Mayor Martinez later denied she ever made the “Let me indicate for you…” announcement.  It’s not as if these meetings are not recorded and on the City’s website for all to see.  So we're not sure what she thinks she's doing with this.

The dreadful behavior exhibited around the June 15th Council decision is added to Ms Martinez’s blanket rejection of scientifically collected housing data by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) of which Emeryville is a dues paying member.  Mayor Martinez continued to vote to give developers a free pass, increasing their negotiating strength with her constantly stated position that Emeryville needs more (market rate) housing.  Her housing claims exactly mirror developers' and are in direct contradiction to ABAG who reports that our town is far ahead of our housing mandate every measuring period.  The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported on this, to Ms Martinez's dismay.

The lone Emeryville City Council member who utterly rejects ABAG’s housing data, “I think the ABAG recommendations are too low”  she told the Tattler in 2018, Ms Martinez refuses to tell the people how she knows that or how much housing Emeryville should have.  This position of hers means she is not working to leverage Emeryville’s value when developers come knocking with their housing project proposals.  If we are always desperate for more housing, we'll let developers have their way with us, leading to less livability for existing residents in the negotiations.  

And that leads us into another area of bad policy from Mayor Martinez: Emeryville’s lack of action on delivering more parks to our worst-city-in-the-Bay-Area park acreage to resident ratio.  Emeryville added zero new park acreage during her term (and only one acre during her entire City Council term of seven years despite the City adding more than 2000 new residents during that time).

For all these reasons (especially lying to the people) plus a lack of action for bike transportation and no action on getting a public library like she promised (see question #10) , Mayor Martinez gets a D- .  Not a fail, but almost.

Vice Mayor Donahue Skipped Over for Mayor

 Council Colleagues Deny Vice Mayor the Mayoralty

Loss of Confidence in his Abilities Cited

Not To Be Mayor Scott Donahue
His colleagues expressed a
loss of confidence in him.

Mayor Dianne Martinez announced at the December 7th City Council meeting “It is with a heavy heart and for the health of the City...” she would join with three of her colleagues in stopping Vice Mayor Scott Donahue from becoming mayor as he was set to do Tuesday night.  Losing Ms Martinez's support spelled doom for the Vice Mayor’s mayoral prospects who fully expected to be voted in as mayor as is the customary tradition in Emeryville.  Instead it was Council member John Bauters who got the nod Tuesday evening when his colleagues voted for him to become the next mayor.

In what was likely an example of cultural groupthink 'go along to get along', newly elected Courtney Welch, who had been sworn in as a Council member only moments before, joined in with the vote to elevate Councilman Bauters and to stop the Vice Mayor, having had no relationship with Mr Donahue at all.    

The vote represented a rare but not unheard of skipping of a Council member in line successionally to be elevated as mayor.  After initially expressing interest in and lobbying for the mayor position, Vice Mayor Donahue ultimately joined with his colleagues in what turned out to be a unanimous 5-0 vote for Mr Bauters.  Councilwoman Ally Medina was selected as the new vice mayor, also in a unanimous 5-0 vote.  

Normally, each Council member gets a turn as mayor for a year after serving for a year as vice mayor.  Only a few times has the line of mayoral succession been upset before.

Emeryville's New Mayor
John Bauters

Tuesday night, looming budgetary problems seemed to be on the Council’s mind and that was cited as the primary reason for the vote for Mr Bauters.  Councilwoman Medina, who expressed a lack of confidence in Mr Donahue’s abilities, nominated Mr Bauters after she said next year will be very difficult to balance the budget, invoking an impending structural budget crisis.  “We’ll likely need a revenue generating ballot measure during the mid term year” she said, adding “Our city will be best served stewarded by a member of Council who has spent years diving into these [budgetary] details”.  She praised Mr Bauters’ fiscal expertise as she forwarded his name, skipping Mr Donahue.  

Skipping fellow Council members’ their due to serve as mayor is not unprecedented but it has been rare in Emeryville over the decades.  It has historically happened when a Council member angered or embarrassed their colleagues.  In the 1990’s Council member Greg Harper, the lone progressive on a very conservative council at the time, was denied his turn as mayor as was former council member Ken Bukowski later, who fell out of favor among his colleagues after a damning New York Times article about his illicit drug use.  Forming an alliance, once, a Council member was skipped in order to help a different and vulnerable colleague who needed the perceived gravitas the mayoralty provides to assist him for the following November election.

Mr Bauters will serve as mayor for one year followed by Ms Medina....unless there's more ruffled feathers and another kerfuffle in the Council chambers next December. 

Sherwin Williams Project: Violation of Public Trust on Labor Rights

 City of Emeryville Screws Construction Workers at Sherwin Williams Site

Dirty Double Deal as Workers Paid Substandard Wages in Our Name

News Analysis/Opinion

Conspicuous on Horton Street at the Sherwin Williams construction site recently is a large three dimensional representation of veiled black death and a huge thumbs down sign among other signs decrying unfair labor practices.  It's an embarrassment for our town as workers very visibly demonstrate a labor dispute with two sub-contracting firms building the Sherwin Williams project, something the City of Emeryville promised would not happen when this project was approved.  The two  firms, Steelwave Development and Lusardi Construction, have been cited by the demonstrating union workers at the project site over the last few weeks as reneging on the promise that the project be constructed with prevailing union wages that the City of Emeryville had guaranteed. 

The fact that the Sherwin Williams project, the largest construction project in years in Emeryville, is being built in violation of the agreement and so hurting workers in the community is bad for labor of course but the breach of trust violates the City's word as far as the local citizens are concerned too.  The people of Emeryville were promised this project would not be built by oppressing the workers building it.  Had we been told substandard wages would be paid by the subcontractors, we might well have protested this project.  But the City of Emeryville wanted this project to be built and so to get us on board, they assured us this would not happen.  They bought community peace with the assurance the workers would be paid prevailing union wages.  

Now we come to find out it was all a sham by the City of Emeryville.  This Sherwin Williams project is being constructed at the expense of local workers and its being done in our name.  

We admonish the two firms, Steelwave LLC and Lusardi Construction for screwing their workers in our city of course.  But these are profit driven corporations who can be counted on to always do what they think they can get away with as they seek to maximize their profits.  Corporations lie, cheat and steal as far as the law allows; that's to be expected.  So as far as their honor goes, we appeal to them to do the right thing.   But we're not holding our breath they're going to anything but continue to screw their workers as long as they feel they can get away with it.  And they know they can get away with it in a push over pro-development city like Emeryville.

All the parties concerned; Steelwave LLC, Lusardi Construction, the general contractor Lennar Development and Mayor Dianne Martinez as well as the City of Emeryville refused to comment on this.  We expect silence from the contractors but the City of Emeryville has to behave in a transparent manner.   This is public policy.  We want to know what City Hall is going to do about this.

We're calling out the City of Emeryville for this dirty double deal, screwing workers in our name.  We say the City has to make this right.  They made their promise to us, the resident citizens of this town, and now they have to step in and fix this.   

A city that loves developers is willing to screw workers. 
Emeryville promised us this wouldn't happen as long as we supported this project.

Guest Column: John Fricke on Emeryville's New Bike/Ped Bridge

The Long and Winding Road to the Bay Street Pedestrian/Bicycle Bridge

by John Fricke

Guest Columnist

The pedestrian/bicycle bridge to Bay Street shopping mall will open December 3rd, this Friday evening.  It's been a long time coming.  Formally proposed in Emeryville’s 1993 General Plan, the bridge idea languished until 2002 when the City paid an engineering firm to produce a rough design, which began for me a yearlong effort to torpedo the flawed design, and promote a more functional design.  

By 2003, I had become very familiar with Emeryville’s streets and sidewalks while behind the wheel of a double stroller occupied by my twin daughters.  

Nina Criswell & Lane Fricke
in the Emeryville City
Council chambers

Then (as now), Emeryville city government prioritized the car over pedestrian and bicycle access.  On a typical walk from my house with Lane and Nina in the stroller, we would risk life and limb crossing San Pablo Avenue (or wait an interminable period of time at a traffic signal).  Various routes north (between the railroad tracks and San Pablo) were pleasant enough.  But I heard rumors that there was a place not far to the west with a gorgeous mile-long path along the water.  One need only traverse railroad tracks, and then a ten-lane freeway.  But how to get there on foot?  

The 40th Street bridge, with its four lanes of speeding vehicle traffic, was not the best environment for facilitating a nap.  In 1997, the Emeryville city government had produced at the train station a pedestrian bridge with elevator and stairs, but no ramp. 

 

Prison watch towers in Emeryville?

Setting aside for the moment the neo-prison-watch-tower design and the placing of the elevator doors out of view from the street, the functionality for someone with a stroller (or wheelchair) depended on the whim of the elevator vandals, and the swiftness of the City to repair the broken elevator.  (Suffice it to say that Emeryville city government appears unfamiliar with the US postal service motto.)  Quite a number of times, Nina, Lane, and I would hold our noses going up the elevator on one side, only to be left waiting at the altar for the down elevator to arrive at the other end of the bridge.

Apparently, the folks in Berkeley responsible for designing the I-80 ped-bike bridge took note of the folly of the elevator/stairs design in Emeryville.  Their bridge design was all ramp, no moving parts.  In 2002, five years after Emeryville cut the ribbon at the prison watch tower, the Berkeley bridge over I-80 opened to critical acclaim.  

Berkeley I-80 ped/bike bridge

So what did we, pedestrians and stroller passengers in Emeryville, receive a year later from the high-priced engineers that the City hired to design a second bridge across the RR tracks?  Gentle reader, you can see where this is going.  Incredibly, the city manager was so pleased with the engineers’ elevator-stairs bridge design that he asked the firm to produce a large 3-D physical model of the bridge.  

In Hans Christian Andersen’s folktale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, one small child’s revelation is quickly embraced by the crowd, but the emperor will not acknowledge his error.  He walks more proudly than ever.  So, too, in Emeryville.  At the first City Council meeting on the elevator-stairs bridge design, I stated the obvious flaws in its design, and suggested that the design should model Berkeley’s bridge of gradual, open ramps.  Could we learn from Berkeley’s success?  ‘No’, came the answer from city government.  At the next City Council meeting, the city manager presented an alternate design which eliminated the elevators, but added narrow, steep, stacked ramps with sharp turns, and blind spots.  

2003 City commissioned design by Mark Thomas & Co

I realized that to kill this bad idea would take more than stating the obvious.  I looked up the federal regulations regarding spanning railroad tracks and then went to the Bay Street mall with my 100-foot tape measure.  Lo and behold, it would be possible to replicate the Berkeley Bridge ramps’ five-percent slope with a there-and-back ramp configuration (between mall parking garage and RR tracks), while still providing a generous open-ramp width of ten feet.  On the east side, there was plenty of room for a straight-shot ramp to the bridge span.  I produced very rough sketches of an open, gradual, wide ramp design.

In talking up the alternate design with neighbors, it soon became obvious that my hard-to-read sketches weren’t telling a thousand words.  I needed help.

        .                                  .                                 .  

Look! Up in the sky!  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?  No, it’s Philip Rostonovitch!  

From: Philip Rostonovich Sent: Wednesday, Jun 4, 2003 10:41 AM PDT To: John Fricke Subject: question about Pedestrian bridge designs

Hello John,

My name is Philip.  I'm on the Triangle Neighborhood mailing list.  

You've probably seen me around the neighborhood - big guy, long hair, beard, backpack.

Anyway, long intro short: I'm aware of the recent proceedings about the 

proposed pedestrian bridge, but I'm unsure of its current status.  My reason 

for asking is that I have some new free time (recently laid off), and I 

might be able to contribute some 3D computer graphic renderings.

Perhaps my skills can be applied in some helpful way to this or future endeavours.

Thanks for your time, John.  Let me know if I can still be of help.

Sincerely,

Philip Rostonovich

Philip and I went to the site to take photos, and then Philip worked his magic:

These renderings of Philip's told a thousand words.  I met with various groups in Emeryville who endorsed this alternative.  I kept adding neighbors to my email distribution list.  

At the next City Council meeting, several neighbors and I spoke up in favor of the gradual ramp design.  But the emperor kept parading around in his new clothes.  Years later, I was told by someone in the room where it happened that the city manager instructed his city staff members to see to it that my design be undermined.  I was invited to a meeting at city hall with the city engineer, the chief building inspector, and the city’s building code compliance consultant.  Each in turn raised technical objections to my proposed ramp configuration.  I was not good at sketching, but my law degree came in handy in researching the building code, fire code, and RR regulations.  I refuted each of their objections.  

At several City Council meetings throughout 2003, more neighbors advocated for the open, gradual ramp design.  By December’s meeting, the City Council cried uncle.  The bad design was shelved, for lack of funding.  The emperor took his ball and went home.  

Two years later, I was sworn in as a member of the City Council, having included in my campaign platform a promise to fund livability projects like the bridge, the public park at Doyle and 61st streets (now called the Doyle/Hollis Park) and the bike lanes plus traffic calming measures on Adeline Street.  One year later, the Council voted to fund these projects.  I chaired the design committee that selected the engineering firm and the architect, sponsored community meetings, and eventually approved a detailed design that was finally constructed.  

Despite the design-by-committee aphorism, the bridge survived the design process.  My fellow committee members were a pleasure to work with -- they deserve credit:  Ken Bukowksi, Charles Debbas, Brian Donahue, Joseph Mudd (Novartis representative), Tim Doran (Novartis representative who replaced Joseph on the committee), John Scheuerman, Ann Weber, and Cedric Young (Bay Street mall representative).  The city staff member assigned to the committee, Ignacio Dayrit, was excellent.  Lastly, the chief engineer, Mahvash Harms, and the architect, Rick Phillips, were outstanding.  They produced a great bridge.

When I was elected to the City Council on a campaign platform of improving access for pedestrians, bicycles, and public transit riders, I proposed a number of other public works projects to make it easier for future parents with strollers to safely and comfortably walk to the Emeryville Marina from any Emeryville neighborhood.  These proposals included two bridge spans across I-80:  one at Temescal Creek, and another just south of Ashby Avenue.  The Temescal Creek bridge would complement the Bay Street bridge.  (Without a Temescal creek bridge across I-80, pedestrians heading west are still relegated to negotiating the Powell Street freeway interchange to get to the marina.)  For the proposed bridge near Ashby, an additional design committee was formed and held meetings.  When the City Council chose not to fund further design work (over my dissenting vote), the committee was disbanded.  

My daughters are now seniors in college.  I look forward to crossing the new span with them and their brother, Dean, and not having to hold our noses in an elevator.  Maybe someday, we will make it all the way to the Emeryville marina on foot without stepping into the Powell Street vehicle vortex.  

John Fricke is a longtime Emeryville resident, father of three, husband, lawyer, former Chairman of the South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge Committee as well as a former member of the Emeryville City Council.

South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge Grand Opening Celebration Slated for December 3rd.

Long Wait For Bike/Ped Bridge Finally Over

Completed Bridge Set to Open December 3rd

More than 25 years after it was first seriously proposed, Emeryville’s second bike/pedestrian bridge over the much cursed and city-bisecting Union Pacific railroad tracks, will finally be opened to the public December 3rd in a gala grand opening public ceremony planned for 6:00 PM.  

Former City Council member and Bridge Committee chair John Fricke, who as an outspoken critic of an early design of the bridge that didn't include bicycles, was outwardly sanguine but more likely sardonic about the December 3rd opening when he told the Tattler dryly, "Good things come to those who wait".

Not just a basic and prosaic over-crossing
Our new $21 million bridge is not without its charms,
even flirting with a sense of the dramatic.

The long awaited opening will finally silence a growing chorus from apprehensive residents about a boondoggle 'impossible bridge' and 'never bridge' and other such epithets.  

As with any large infrastructure project, this bridge, formally known as the South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge but called the Bay Street Mall Bridge by some, had its share of setbacks and colliding egos associated with its implementation.  Arguably more than its share.  

Madison Marquette, the Washington DC based developer of the Bay Street Mall, was an early promoter of a bridge at this location.  Seeing better connection for East Emeryville shoppers as a booster to its corporate bottom line, Madison Marquette pushed the City to build the bridge straight into their mall.  The City of Emeryville was listening and its Redevelopment Agency approved $8.4 million in 2003 to construct a pedestrian only bridge with elevators.   Mr Fricke cried foul to that concept, rallying instead for a multi-modal design with stairs for pedestrians and ramps for bikes (and wheelchairs).  Former City Council member Nora Davis and City Manager John Flores however fought against bikes on the bridge, insisting at first ramps not be provided.  Mr Flores, reiterating Ms Davis' concerns about unruly bicyclists, famously stated they represent a "ruffian element".   So Mr Fricke took his bike friendly design idea directly to the people.  The City responded with a ramp design that would have bicyclists dismount at switchback corners that would be too sharp and in conflict with wheelchairs, pedestrians and other bikers. 

The City, buckling to public pressure for a real bike/pedestrian bridge in response to a rising John Fricke who had subsequently been elected in a landslide victory to the City Council, finally appointed him as Chair of a newly commissioned South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge Committee in 2008.  Meanwhile, the cost had risen to $12 million and then $13.9 million owing mostly to delays associated with the redesign to accommodate bikes.  Councilwoman Davis and City Manager Flores finally gave up on their insistence on a pedestrian only bridge after they started receiving a lot of public support for Councilman Fricke's pro-bike design.  

The dissolution of the Redevelopment Agency, legal concerns with Union Pacific Railroad and City Council priority drift caused the bridge project to languish for years after Council member Fricke stepped down.   Finally in 2018, then mayor John Bauters, attempting to follow through on a campaign promise to voters, pushed the issue and convinced his colleagues to make the Fricke designed bridge a City priority issue.  By then the price tag had risen substantially and the Council finally signed a construction contract at $21.4 million (not including the eastern 'Horton Landing' approach from Horton Street).

The ballooning cost will likely soon be forgotten however when pedestrians and bikers begin using the long awaited infrastructure.  With this much needed bike/ped connection from East Emeryville to the Bay Street Mall, our town is on the cusp of being able to state with earnestness the oft repeated but heretofore glaringly unrealized proclamation of being a 'connected place'. 

The City will host a parade from City Hall to the bridge starting at 5:30 culminating in a ribbon cutting ceremony at 6:00 (ish) at the bridge followed by a party open to the public at the Bay Street Mall.