The Emeryville Tattler
The Emeryville commons, from the residents' perspective
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Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Nikki Bas Declares Victory in the County Supervisor Race Over John Bauters
Monday, November 18, 2024
Council Hypocrisy: Mayor Welch's Ethics Violation Ignored
Refusing Welch Charge, City Council Majority Politicizes Code of Ethics
Weaponizing the Code Against Political Enemies, Council Majority Uses New Law to Make Themselves Unaccountable
Welch Guilty But Cannot Be Touched
Meanwhile
Priforce To Be Brought Down
In September, after the City Council received a citizen complaint against the Mayor for violations of Emeryville's Code of Ethics described by the City Attorney, the Council majority chose to ignore it and instead they have taken up a complaint of their own against their colleague, Kalimah Priforce, for what the Mayor says are violations of the same Code. This City Council politicizing of our Code of Ethics was predicted and warned against in 2023 by the City Manager, the City Attorney and ironically, Council member John Bauters who joined in at the time, cautioning the rest of the Council about “weaponizing” the Code as the Council prepared to certify it. Council member Bauters is one of the gang of four Council members now weaponizing Emeryville's Code of Ethics. Mayor Welch violated the Code by engaging in name calling against a citizen from her social media account, a specified prohibited act according to the City Attorney.
Mayor Courtney Welch She is not constrained by the Code of Ethics but her political enemy on the Council is. It's an enviable amount of power she's been granted by her friends on the Council. |
Emeryville citizens are now privy to antics at City Hall around this new law - they are going to see minority Council member Priforce censured by the Council for violating the Code of Ethics, but not the majoritarian Mayor Welch for doing the same thing; the very definition of politicizing.
The violations committed by Mayor Courtney Welch are direct and clearly identified by the City Attorney John Kennedy, author of the Code, but the charges against Council member Priforce have not yet been named by the Mayor, who brought the charges at the November 5th Council meeting to be followed through at the December 3rd Council meeting. The City Council voted 4-1 (Priforce dissenting) to forward the Mayor's charges to censure Mr Priforce. The charges against Mayor Welch on the other hand were brought by the editor of the Tattler and ignored by the Council majority, the favor of even an acknowledgement of receipt of the complaint, was not received.
Council Majority Weaponizes New Law
In September 2023 when the Council was voting to adopt the new law, then mayor John Bauters joined with the City Attorney and the City Manager, apprising his colleagues against the temptation to “weaponize” the new Code of Ethics in order to damage political opponents. Mr Bauters told his colleagues, “The Code of Ethics is not intended to create winners and losers.”
This Council majority have succumbed to the allure of using the Code to hold a political adversary to account while at the same time refusing to be held to the same standard themselves; a clear politicization and weaponization of the new law. Without a check or a balance that could be gotten from an independent ethics commission as other cities have, Emeryville’s Code of Ethics has been revealed to be flawed law, flawed to the point that it is stoking discord, something the City Attorney specifically warned the Council against.
Mayor Welch Violates the Code
City Attorney Kennedy and City Manager Paul Buddenhagen produced an instructional video (see below) for the Council (and other City officials) to assist them in how to not violate the Code. Mr Buddenhagen was explicit, “We don’t want this [Code of Ethics] to be weaponized. We don’t want this to be a thing that initiates discord.”
Mr Kennedy went on to describe exact prohibitions in the law violated by Courtney Welch against members of the public, “When they are acting in social media, they [the Council] are acting in their roll as a city official”, Mr Kennedy said in the training video. He continued, “The Code of [Ethics and] Conduct is intended to show there is a certain threshold you have to follow here. One is that you need to practice civility and decorum in discussion and debate. So name calling, personal attacks, all of those things could potentially violate the Code.” (italics added)
The Code of Ethics is explicit and implicit in its description of unacceptable behavior like what the Mayor frequently exhibits. From the Code: "Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other Members, the public and staff. This requirement is applicable to Members at all times."
After the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct was certified by the Council, Mayor Courtney Welch went on a rampage of name calling from her Twitter/X account, (cw4emeryville) calling the Editor of the Tattler a “misogynist” and a “liar” added to the earlier epithets “fuck boy” and “racist” (the latter two names were issued before the Council certified the new law and so she can’t be held accountable under the law for those two).
An independent ethics commission, like Emeryville’s neighboring cities have, would not likely have let the Mayor off the hook for so blatantly violating the Code in this case and fittingly, it was Council member Priforce that did try for a commission to be set up simultaneously with the Code of Ethics. But the Council majority refused Mr Priforce’s request at their September 2023 meeting. Vice Mayor David Mourra said he was not against the idea of an independent commission but he thought the Code should be certified first, “As a first step, it makes a lot of sense” he said. However, the Council has not moved on setting up a commission and in fact, Mr Bauters subsequently said NO to the prospect.
Mayor Welch was contacted for comment on this story but she did not reply.
The 'Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed City Officials' (Resolution 23-125) strangely, cannot be accessed at the City of Emeryville's website but the citizen activist group Emery Rising has provided a URL to it HERE.
The meeting where the Mayor will bring charges against Council member Priforce for violations of the Code of Ethics and Conduct is Tuesday December 3rd at a 'Special Meeting' in the Council Chambers at 6:30 pm. Anyone can attend.
Friday, November 15, 2024
Bauters losing ground in County Supervisor's Race, Now Trailing Bas
Breaking News
The latest tranche of votes were just released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters and they show Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters now trailing Nikki Fortunato Bas 68,630 to 68,736 votes in the Alameda County Board of Supervisor's race (district 5). According to sources in the Bas campaign, a "few more hundreds' of votes still need to be counted. The County Registrar has not said from what regions within the district the last few votes that remain to be counted are. Today's tranche leaves Mr Bauters 106 votes short in the 49.96% to 50.04% race.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Breaking: City Council Majority Votes to Agendize Censure of Council Member Priforce
Breaking News:
Tonight at a special Emeryville City Council meeting, Mayor Courtney Welch moved to censure her colleague Kalimah Priforce for “numerous violations” of Emeryville’s new Code of Ethics to be voted on at a future City Council meeting. The vote was 4-1 to agendize the item (Priforce dissenting).
This is the first use of the Code of Ethics since it was certified by the City Council last year.
The Mayor did not describe what ethics violations she thinks Mr Priforce violated but even without any general description, her three colleagues voted to place the item on a future agenda. None of the three Council members who voted with Ms Welch to agendize a censure, not David Mourra, John Bauters or Sukhdeep Kaur, publicly asked the Mayor what violations they were being asked to vote on, raising the specter of a possible private pre-discussion by Council members. If such a discussion happened behind closed doors, that could constitute a Brown Act violation.
The City Attorney, John Kennedy, gave a presentation to the City Council some months ago wherein he described that Council members or even City committee members are proscribed by the Code of Ethics; among the violations he listed is “calling people names” on social media. Because the Mayor Courtney Welch (and Planning Commissioner Dianne Martinez) both violated this mandate, the Tattler submitted a complaint to the Council in October but they refused to hear it. This fact plus tonight’s opaque misadventure shows how the new Code of Ethics has already been politicized by this Council majority. The Tattler will report on how the Code of Ethics is being abused by the City Council in a future story.
Council member Priforce responded to the Council's action tonight, telling the Tattler, "None of this is a surprise to me or should be a surprise to anyone who has been following the hostility of this council towards me since before I took office with their collegiality pledge, the attacks I received on the evening I took office, and on multiple occasions they've attempted to silence or trivialize my presence on the council. They are afraid of my voice. They are afraid of the people's voice. It's not about me, it's about what I represent. So rather than laugh at their theatrics, I focused on the task at hand, support Calvin and Mia in their campaign to be our future council members and return city hall back into the hands of the people."
Cryptocurrency Titan's Last Minute Money Dump to Mayor Welch for Her Re-Election Bid
Breaking News:
Cryptocurrancy Bro Jesse Pollak He sees a good investment in Courtney Welch. |
Councilwoman Welch has flat out denied allegations of being a corporate Democrat from many progressives in the East Bay and she has publicly punched back against any making the allegation.
Mr Pollak is part of a group of very wealthy right wing campaign donors who are funding the anti-labor candidacy of John Bauters for County Board of Supervisors and to swing the recall campaigns against the Alameda County DA and the Mayor of Oakland.
After the election, Ms Welch will presumably have a harder time denying she is a corporate Democrat (unless she goes with a Trump style double down).
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Mayor Welch Says She's a Targeted Victim of a Green Party Typo
Election Nuttiness:
Fueled By 'Outrage Porn', Emeryville's Mayor Says Green Party's Typo Was Done On Purpose
Mayor Claims Victim Status Regardless of Apology
She Made the Same Error Herself in 2021, But Her Error
Was Just "A Simple Mistake" She Says
Emeryville’s mayor is crying foul over a typographical error made by the Green Party in their voter guide that she says was purposeful and meant to demean her and she is refusing to accept an official retraction for the error offered by the Greens. Instead, she is repeating the slight all over social media despite the fact that she made the same mistake in her official candidate’s statement run up for her 2021 City Council run.
The Green Party error came in their Green Voter Guide that left out the word ‘non-incumbents’ in a block of text. So the original stated, “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.” As corrected, it was changed to “Council member Priforce’s slate of two, the only African Americans non-incumbents running for council, are Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty" (our italics).
But in 2021, Council member Welch was on the other side of the same error, an error SHE made. In her official Alameda County Candidate Statement from 2021, candidate Welch stated she is “…the first Black woman in 34 years to seek a seat on the Council.” In fact, a Black woman, Brynnda Collins, sought a seat on the City Council in 2016. After her statement was shown to be factually incorrect, the statement Ms Welch submitted to the County Registrar under oath as being factual, Ms Welch was forced to file voluminous legal paperwork with the County, correcting the mistake.
Candidate Welch admitted she made a mistake with her false claims in 2021. She admitted it only when Alameda County forced her to correct the error. |
At the time, the Tattler didn’t report on the story because we took Ms Welch at her word it was a simple mistake. However, after she won the 2021 election, Council member Welch has been shown to be a petulant vulgarian, quick to lay accusations on and name call her constituents who disagree with her policies and her dissenting City Council colleague, Kalimah Priforce.
Not satisfied with the Green Party’s apology and retraction of the typo, Mayor Welch has continued to bring up the issue on social media, claiming without evidence, the first version of the voter guide was not a mistake. She is not mentioning to her followers that the Green Party has corrected the error.
What Mayor Welch is claiming is that the Green Party of Alameda County, by their typo, they're trying to take away her 'Blackness', the same thing, exactly, that candidate Welch did in 2021 to Brynnda Collins with the typo in her Candidate Statement when she tried to take away Ms Collin's 'Blackness'.
Perhaps sensing further political gain that could be made, Mayor Welch, who is Vice President of the organization Black Elected Officials of California (BEOC), released a public letter of condemnation against the Green Party of Alameda County stating the typographical error by the Greens had “deliberately misled” the people and they had therefore “undermined the democratic process". Further, BEOC claimed, without providing evidence, “We are especially troubled by what appears to be a pattern of targeted disinformation against people of color and women.” However, BEOC refused to provide any examples that would bolster their claim of such a pattern created by the Green Party, a political party that has anti-racism and anti-sexism among its Ten Core Values. Finishing up their letter, BEOC demanded another public apology from the Greens.
However, the Greens were having none of that. After calling the hyperbole from Mayor Welch a "political tactic", Green Party County Council member Greg Jan wrote a responce to the BEOC that explained they had already publicly apologized for the typo error and made the correction in their Voter Guide the same day they were alerted to it. Mr Jan's letter shamed the Mayor and even connected Council member John Bauters into the Welch fabricated imbroglio, stating: “We do ask that Courtney Welch refrain from using her position as Vice-President of your body from further bullying the Green Party of Alameda County and our electorate with baseless attacks just as she and John Bauters have done with their elected positions against their council member colleagues.”
Seemingly incapable of shame, Mayor Welch has continued on with her attacks on the Green Party, inferring bad faith in their motives, prompting a response from Mr Jan who told the Tattler yesterday, “This Mayor doesn’t seem to want to accept our apology we publicly announced for the typographical error (in our Green Party Voter Guide). It’s strange since the Mayor herself made the same error in her Candidate’s Statement last time when she ran for Council. We apologized for the typo and we’re moving on. We think the Mayor should too.”
Mayor Welch did not answer our requests for comment.
Outrage porn (also called outrage discourse, outrage media and outrage journalism) is any type of media or narrative designed to use outrage to provoke strong emotional reactions for the purpose of expanding audiences or increasing engagement. |
Tuesday, October 29, 2024
Election '24: Elsie Joyce Lee Represents a Change for Emery Unified School District
Change Needed at Emeryville's Schools:
Elsie Joyce Lee For Emery School Board
Vetted by the People, Not the School Board
Opinion
By Tattler Editor Brian Donahue
The Tattler has long reported on the dysfunction at our little school district and this year it’s no different. Because we should not let dysfunctional government continue and because Emeryville’s schools are highly dysfunctional, we should vote for a new face with new ideas to break up the ossified insularity here. We should vote for Elsie Joyce Lee for Emery Board of Trustees (School Board) because she represents the change that’s needed.
Emery School Board Candidate Elsie Joyce Lee A new voice for EUSD, vetted by the people, not the School Board. |
There are two Board seats in contention. The incumbent running for re-election and the husband of the existing Board member Regina Chagolla, who’s also running, represent the status quo, the ‘no change team’. Challenging them is Ms Lee, the change agent.
My name, Brian Donahue, also appears on the ballot but I don’t want to be on the School Board. I don’t want to win. I only ran to force an election and give voters a chance to have a say in how their schools are governed. Because I don’t want to be on the School Board this year, I’m directing anyone that would vote for me to vote instead for Elsie Joyce Lee and only Elsie Joyce Lee, a classic ‘bullet vote’ strategy. This 'one vote only' strategy provides pro-change voters the best chance to get Ms Lee elected.
Because I entered the race and forced an election, my job is here is finished. Now it’s the job of the electorate to put a new face with new ideas on our School Board.
Emery Unified School District is academically the second worst school district in Alameda County (when controlled for the percentage of student English learners) and Emery gets the most funding, by far, over any other school district in the county. Emery is funded at almost $28,000 per student per year. The second highest funded district in Alameda County is Piedmont Unified at about $18,000 per student.
Low scores and high funding: that’s a unique level of dysfunction that highlights Emery's unique level of mismanagement.
Shockingly, the existing School Board members are defending the dysfunction, stating inexplicably, that we need to “keep Emery on track” . They excitedly point to the fact that two years ago, Emery was the school district with the worst academic results of all 15 districts in Alameda County but now we’ve moved up to second worst, and that’s somehow worth rewarding them with your vote. What they're not saying is at this rate of improvement, Emery will finally be a good school district in half a century hence.
We Emeryville residents are very generous to the schools. Our school parcel tax rate is legendary among districts around the Bay Area. Other districts are jealous of the money Emeryville property owners lavish on their schools. But while it's imperative for voters to adequately fund public schools in the community as we have done, we can't then just walk away. We can't just continue to throw money at the school district and expect our job to be done. We also need to hire good stewards for all the money we're investing. The existing Board is remiss in their duty to the taxpayers, yes. But more importantly, they are failing the students at Emery. We need a change here in this locus of dysfunction. Candidate Elsie Lee provides a chance for such a change.
Ms Lee was not informed about this opinion piece before posting.
Please see Ms Lee's impressive performance at the League of Woman Voters Candidate's Forum: School Board Forum HERE
https://youtu.be/Zs7RTtnwhFA?si=CcEKXHqj--czjX34
Emery's test score results are the second worst among Alameda County school districts (when controlled for percentage of English learners). Source: California Department of Education |
Saturday, October 26, 2024
The Tattler Delivers to the People of Emeryville, a Choice in the Governance of Their Schools
The Tattler Brings You
An Election!
Emeryville Citizens Will Be Able To Vote For School Board This Year Because of the Tattler
Commentary
By Tattler Editor Brian Donahue
I’ve lived in Emeryville for 42 years and during that time, the citizens here have been able to vote for their school board only a few times. Usually, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters does not hold an election in Emeryville because nobody seems to want to run for the school board position if incumbents are running, which they almost always are. This year is different. Because I decided to run, there will be an election and the people get to have their say about who runs their schools, a rare occurrence in Emeryville history. Insularity is the thing at Emery Unified School District, democracy, generally not well-received.
How individuals rise up and become new Emery School Board members is by appointment by the Board rather than by election by the people. It’s all legal. Insularity is locked in at Emery.
Here’s how it works in six steps:
1) A Board member tells their colleagues they want to resign before their term is up.
2) The rest of the Board appoints a favored replacement for a short term (until the next election).
3) The appointed new Board member announces they are running as an incumbent in the next election, benefiting from the incumbent advantage.
4) Nobody rises up to challenge because of the well known incumbent advantage.
5) The County Registrar of Voters does not hold an election.
6) The friend, newly appointed by the Board, gets to be on the Board for a full new term (unless they too quit early) without ever facing Emeryville voters.
This year I threw a monkey wrench into all that.
Here’s how I forced an election this year:
1) The two incumbents indicated they were going to run for re-election to the two seats in contention.
2) I waited until two days before the deadline to see if anybody registered to challenge the two incumbents (which I hoped for but doubted would happen).
3) Sure enough, nobody registered to challenge the two incumbents.
4) I quickly registered, thereby forcing an election.
5) The incumbent, Kimberly Solis, who was herself earlier appointed to the Board, withdrew her registration to run for re-election. She obviously was waiting to resign until right after winning a second term with no election, enabling the Board to appoint her replacement (until I messed that up). Her withdrawal forced step 6 to happen.
6) The Alameda County Registrar extended the deadline to register by one week as they legally are required to do when this happens.
7) During the extended registration period, with two seats up and only one incumbent, a new challenger who wants the seat and who would be good at it (Elsie Joyce Lee), quickly registered. Democracy flowered.
8) The Board quickly found a favored replacement to run for the open seat against Elsie Lee (and I); the Board's choice is the husband of an existing Board member (who will get something close to an incumbent advantage in the election with the whole Board’s endorsement).
Elsie Joyce Lee was not going to run for the Board until she saw a seat open without an incumbent. As a result, now there are four people running for two seats; one a straight incumbent, one, the husband (a near incumbent who may not get the full incumbent advantage), Elsie Lee and I. This brings the possibility of the rarest of things, a new face and new ideas at Emery Unified, vetted by the people instead of the School Board.
Seeing how Ms Lee, a very good candidate for any school board, is trying for the one open seat against two competitors (me and the husband of the existing Board member), I will make an announcement about this soon.
Emery schools are terribly run, just as they have been for years. We’re the second worst school district in Alameda County (more on that in a future Tattler story). At the same time, Emery is the best funded school district by far, in the county. To be second from the bottom and at the top for funding means the management is terrible. The culture that enables this terrible condition at Emery to continue for decade after decade is the cynical insularity promulgated by the School Board, their friends and family members. A real election with the people of Emeryville deciding, could be the beginning of much needed change.
Thursday, October 24, 2024
My Turn: Council Member Kalimah Priforce
Council Member Kalimah Priforce Weighs In-
Council Member Kalimah Priforce
The Tattler has always made itself available to all elected officials in Emeryville to use as a platform to reach out to the citizens for whatever reason they wish. We call it 'My Turn'. All electeds are always invited at any time to submit information in the public interest and the Tattler will post it verbatim. Council member Priforce has requested a Tattler space in kind and we accommodate all Emeryville elected officials in this request.
The submittal from Mr Priforce this time is a little unusual in that he requested the Tattler ask him questions regarding the November election and his run for changing the mayoral selection process in Emeryville. He said he would respond for the Tattler's My Turn feature. Here then is the result of that, for your edification:
The Tattler: Emeryville voters don’t elect our mayors and yet you were endorsed to be mayor by Our Revolution East Bay and Igor Tregub, Chair of the Alameda County Democratic Party recently accused your voter guide mailers as confusing voters. Can you elaborate?
Kalimah Priforce: Emeryville’s mayor is selected, not elected. It’s a broken system that can be fixed with this Nov. 5th election by voting for Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty. If you aren't registered to vote in Emeryville, you can still vote in person at the voting booth. Just bring proof of residence with you just in case.
When Mae Jamison became the first Black woman to be in space on the Endeavor shuttle in 1992, she was approached about what this history-making moment meant for her. Her response was that it was an opportunity to bring more seats to the table.
The problem with our politics in Emeryville is that the table is shrinking as the city is growing. That table is the affordability to work, live, and thrive in Emeryville. The table is the ability to own a residence as a first time home buyer. The table is the ability to move into Emeryville and stay in Emeryville.
As we were designing the voter guide mailers that had drawn so much attention, I labeled the ideas and feedback from the Emery Rising Neighborhood Group into a folder on my computer as “Project Folding Chair.” The mailer would be a folded piece that featured Mia and Calvin as the candidates to vote for, and allowed me to remind Emeryville voters what is at stake with this upcoming election by sharing how I was skipped as their next mayor. If it can happen to me, it can happen to all of us.
Shirley Chisholm is popularly quoted as saying, “If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” The most important table that is shrinking in Emeryville is how decisions are made and how city planning is directed by the city council. That is why we are facing a budgetary shortfall. The same ideas are being circulated because they are generated by the same special interests.
So, no - no one can “vote” me as mayor, but as I shared in my blog (www.votepriforce.com) about this controversy, my running for mayor is about supporting candidates who have the vision and character to restore what was broken and will return us to our rotational mayorship model but codified to give everyone a fair chance to be mayor, including myself - the lone dissenting and progressive voice on this council. I’m Haitian. I never have a problem standing up to colonizers and their sycophants.
I’d like to thank Our Revolution East Bay for endorsing my mayoral run and all those who believe in my work in Emeryville, including Van Jones who also endorsed my mayorship run. For some reason, they get it, but Igor Tregub of the Alameda County Democratic Party doesn’t. But then again, he’s just looking out for his friend, Courtney Welch, and turning friendship into politics at a time when our local party is facing not one, but two recalls.
Tell our readers more about Emery Rising. Is it like Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) that helped elect council members into office?
Emery Rising is very different from RULE. We are a neighborhood group spun out of the Emeryville Tenant Union which is based on the Berkeley Tenant Union. Calvin and Mia are members of the ETU that grew out of the Courtyards 65th Tenant Board. The basis for the growth of community organizing was our recognized need for single-family homeowners, workers and small businesses, and even churches to have a seat at the table.
If you aren’t at the table, you’re on the menu. These groups have all seen the corporatization of Emeryville and how planning decisions are being made without community input - just surveys city hall sends out that are barely responded to in a city of 13,000. Just as the Berkeley Tenant Union is helping to guide the Emeryville Tenant Union, REP-SF which stands for Race and Equity in all Planning Coalition have been successful in San Francisco at bringing diverse voices together to build collective power at the city planning level that prioritizes the dignity, health, stability, and aspirations of our communities, by placing the needs of the people over profit.
Emery Rising is coalition structured so we can not accept individual members. We can only accept groups. Group membership can be as small as five people and as big as a thousand. This encourages grassroots organizing within pocket communities in Emeryville, and we will soon be set up so that these groups will be non-profit fiscally sponsored so they can raise their own tax-exempt funds, take out insurance, and operate as legal entities but without being over-burden with paperwork. That is what makes us a neighborhood group that can transform our politics, because Emeryville needs it. We will be hosting workshops and events after the November election.
Although it was my FPPC ID on the mailers, it was designed with community input by the Emery Rising community.
There has been controversy surrounding the Green Party of Alameda County endorsement of Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty and of you as mayor with their distributed voter guide and Courtney Welch’s claim that her race wasn’t acknowledged. Can you address this?
Yes, and Igor Tregub “denounced” and called on everyone in the Alameda County Democratic Party to denounce the Green Party’s typographical error. There are only so many times a person can “cry wolf” before people get the idea of what is happening and tune out. I'm glad Emeryville is getting this attention, so I thank Igor for that.
Currently of the six candidates for city council, only three have been endorsed by a local political party, Courtney Welch (Democratic Party), Mia Esperanza Brown (Green Party), and Calvin Dillahunty (Green Party). All six candidates are registered democrats vying for three city council seats, two of them incumbents.
In order to be endorsed by the Democratic Party, there had to be a voting threshold to be met by its voting body - none of whom live in Emeryville. Only Courtney Welch met that threshold, and there’s a reason why. Voting members were called and instructed to only vote for her. Some of them refused, others were outright disgusted by their request (gentle threats) and informed me, while others, those closest to her, capitulated.
I will add the voting results to my blog so everyone can see that she was bullet-voted several times when there were three possible picks out of six. That tells me several things: (1) the people who chose to only vote one person don’t give a damn about us in Emeryville, especially since they don’t live here and are not vulnerable to their voting-outcomes, and (2) the other candidates who she endorsed and have endorsed her never had a chance for an endorsement and were essentially sabotaged.
Some people voted ideologically or were persuaded by the endorsement forum to support Mia and Calvin because they strongly oppose what is happening in Emeryville and stand with the Emery Rising movement, but those who decided to only vote for her when Sukhdeep, Matthew, and Sam agree with the mayor on practically everything - shame on them. At the end of the day, no matter the beef, tension, or outright opposition I have with Sukhdeep, Matthew, and Sam, all three are still Emeryville (Sukhdeep alone has lived here two more years longer than I have), so when you mess with Emeryville, you mess with me (well maybe not Sam…I’ll go into details as to why with one of the next questions). Growing up in Brooklyn taught me that.
The Green Party of Alameda County responded to my request that they correct their endorsement text. They explained to me that “non-incumbent” was unintentionally not included and that they would rectify it and produce a statement to address the outrage theatrics that were being performed by my fellow democrats. I took them by their word and they did what they said they would do. From what I know the Green Party takes a lot of cues from the Tattler, but the people I messaged were separate and kind enough to make those changes. You didn’t write that endorsement and I don’t think it’s fair for anyone to allude that you did.
There are three seats available for City Council, would you consider a third candidate besides Mia Brown and Calvin Dillahunty?
Out of the remaining four, I’d be open to consider Matthew Solomon for the third seat. I think Matthew can better listen to constituents once he finds his bearings as a leader. My impression of Matthew is that of a follower. If caught between choosing to side with the people versus the status quo, I think he would buck to convention. With all the housing committee meetings I’ve attended, I study body language and Matthew seemed to always look towards Ned Resnick, the California YIMBY policy director, for approval. He considers himself a YIMBY which raises several red flags.
For example, when John Bauters pushed for Emeryville to have the East Bay’s tallest high-rise (dubbed Mount Bauters) with the Onni Group that would have had 638 apartments and only 55 of them three bedrooms - all rentals, would he have sided with the people or Bauters? Or when Bauters pushed for the Trader Vic’s development by Trachtenberg Architects that would have placed a rental property next to a condo haven without community input. When the people of Watergate stood up for themselves and rejected the plans, would he have sided with Bauters or the people of Watergate?
Or when John Bauters invited an electric scooter competition to race through our streets but could not raise the sponsorship to pay for it and thus if we would have pursued it, our taxpayers would have footed a million dollar bill, would he have sided with the people or Bauters? I just don’t see him as a strong candidate but a repeat of the last ten years of the YIMBY takeover of our city, but he has potential to be more.
I couldn't even see Sukhdeep Kaur’s 'pizza bribe' mailer coming from a mile away. Last week I had to deal with two resident evictions in Emeryville. The last thing the people of Emeryville need is a pizza discount and it's disappointing that she thought it was okay and not tone deaf when people are struggling to pay their own bills. It delivered a, “let them eat pizza/cake,“ message to neighbors of mine who didn’t take it kindly and tossed them in the mailroom trash.
If Ally Medina hadn’t intentionally held on to her seat until after the November election, Brooke Westling would have been a council member. Unfortunately, Emeryville lost out on a brilliant woman with a lot of love for Emeryville who would have been strong enough to stand up to the status quo.
From the 49 minute video mark on the December 19, 2023 meeting to the 2 hour 2 minute mark, Emeryville residents can view on YouTube an opportunity for city council to enact better-than-ADA policies around easier door access and mobility for our seniors and differently abled - get flushed down the drain. And for some reason, Sukhdeep Kaur blames others for why the legislation did not pass rather than take responsibility for not getting it through and I made a lot of effort for it to. Sometimes Sukhdeep can stand on her own, but it's extremely rare because she looks for her power to come from the top and not from the people.
While I was collecting signatures for Mia and Calvin at the Emeryville Public Market, I was with my sister and her trivia team when I was approached by Sam Gould. He asked me who I was gathering signatures for and I told him it was for city council candidates. He asked me if I were able to gather them on behalf of the other candidates. I directed him to speak to the city clerk if he had any elections-related questions or to schedule office hours with me - as his council member, and ended the conversation.
I was sitting down and he was standing over us - this unhinged White man questioning a diverse table of people that included women, Black, queer, and differently-abled just off of work and wanting to have a relaxing time. You and I have had conflicts about why I don’t approve or excuse when it’s done by you.
He then turns to my sister and asks her who I am gathering signatures for. My sister, a Black woman from Brooklyn, looked at me with an uncomfortable expression on her face, and so did everyone else at the table. I got upset and demanded he leave us alone. He wouldn’t. Another friend of ours at the table told him to go away and that he was creeping everyone out. I suggested that they take out their cameras, and that was when he walked away.
If you have noticed a surge in online negative comments on matters related to Emeryville, Sam Gould creates most of them. I tried warning the Emeryville public that his trolling behaviors were problematic, but it remains his preferred method of attack, by using anonymous postings with pseudonyms.
As a hacker, there are ways for me to uncover this kind of activity, and with a network of friends to help me, all the digital fingerprints lead back to him and his friends. As negative as his postings are, the biggest issue I take with him is a lack of service. I don’t believe he is someone Emeryville voters can trust to fight for them.
At the student’s candidate forum, he gave Emeryville the grade of “A-” for how the city is doing. He not only tows the YIMBY line like Matthew, he sincerely believes in it. If you read his answers to questionnaires, he talks more about trickle-down housing economics or transportation than he does about the people of Emeryville. I believe that if he is elected, he would be Emeryville’s next Ally Medina.
Overall, I don’t care for their group-think politicization of ECAP. Early on as council member, I supported the city investing more into ECAP so that the food bank can be more independent and my plan involved providing them org-to-org mentorship, a residence for Nellie Hannon, and support for a succession plan. They didn’t get that because city staff were directed to lock ECAP into their housing plan. I left it alone because those decisions were being made around John Bauters' ego and that’s never a good thing.
As a non-profit, ECAP is in a vulnerable place to be so dependent on the city for support and then is touted for photos-ops, or in the case of the League of Women Voters (Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville) as a candidate question about food insecurity in Emeryville when a majority of those who use our food bank are not residents of Emeryville. I’ve spoken to the heads of food banks in our region and they have commented on the politicizing of ECAP that prevents the organization from merging with others to provide better services to the public.
What are your politics? You claim to be a progressive and a Democrat but you seem to be non-typical. What can Emeryville voters expect from a Mayor Priforce, should Calvin and Mia win and vote to change our mayorship selections?
I am a Progressive, but in California so many claim to be. I don’t believe in playing the game “who is more progressive.” A woman’s right to choose, marriage equality, Black Lives Matter, don’t ruin the earth - all these things shouldn’t be what makes people progressive. They should be what makes us American, because these values are American values - the bare minimum.
To be a progressive is to see and want progress towards the fulfillment of what our constitution promises but fails to deliver. On the ballot are issues like removing carceral slavery and rent control - in 2024. That means that as blue as our state claims to be, there is something broken with our politics and that liberalism is highly subjective when faced against corporate greed and monopolization forces (neoliberalism).
So I can be considered a progressive populist. Populism right now has been hijacked by the right-wing because the left have failed, with each election, to connect with those who want systemic and structural change - on both sides of the political spectrum. Platitudes don’t keep our lights on or help us find childcare or even feed our babies.
For example, if I were mayor, my first future agenda item would be placing on the ballot box a change to Emeryville’s status from being a general law city to being a chartered city. Not only will this help us financially, but would require us to have an independent public ethics commission.
Why is this important?
Some people have heard of the incident of Mayor Courtney Welch screaming and yelling at me that it reached the entire building. Mia Esperanza Brown was one of the first people to talk to me about it. If she were to make an ethics complaint with the city attorney, it would be rejected. The way the newly formed code of ethics process works is that only a council member can make a complaint against a council member, not a constituent.
If a council member wants to bring a formal complaint against another council member, that council member must first request a future agenda item at an upcoming public council meeting and receive majority support of the council for that matter to be placed on the agenda. The council member bringing the complaint is required to submit to the city attorney the factual allegations and relief requested within 10 days after the council agreed to place the matter on a future council meeting agenda.
The council member against whom the complaint was filed must be afforded notice of any proposed action to be taken by the council and an opportunity to refute the allegations. Finally, any discipline imposed by the council is determined by majority vote of a quorum of council members. This can be found on page 10, Section C of “Council Members” under “Sanctions for Violations of Code of Ethics and Conduct by Members”. This convoluted process was created to keep the power within the city council and thus we don’t have credible oversight.
What’s also not my politics is this trend of delegitimizing. Delegitimizing was a tactic that was made popular by Republicans during the birther controversy created by Donald Trump used against President Obama. Nancy Rosenblum of Harvard U in 2016 wrote “Why Americans Must Resist Delegitimizing Partisan Combat,” which talks about how people are silenced for disagreeing with one another.
Courtney Welch and Igor Tregub launched a “denouncement” attack against the Green Party of Alameda County for their mistake, but Courtney Welch made a similar mistake in 2021 when she claimed she was the first Black woman in 38 years (at that time) to run for office when it was found to be untrue. Do I think she should have been delegitimized for that? No. Less than one year later, Eugene Tssui made a similar mistake by claiming he would be the first Asian on city council, and didn’t acknowledge that Emeryville had a Filipino mayor. He didn’t know, but who jumped on him about that? John Bauters, Courtney Welch, Ally Medina, and Dianne Martinez - the person this offended.
I offered to Dianne Martinez an opportunity for Eugene Tssui to apologize to her and make amends. She refused. I had then suspected that it was because the “outrage” was playing so well on social media. At the next candidate forum, I squashed it by suggesting we all move on from the gaffe. I think that was the moment they all realized I was not like them and never could be. It’s also why I’ve muted them all from my social media, but constituents who find their attacks reprehensible send me screenshots then I apologize to them on behalf of the city for their behavior. I believe that should Calvin and Mia not be elected, this politics will continue.
So it's not surprising all their efforts to delegitimize The Emeryville Tattler. What people don't understand is that if this publication didn't exist, what and who would fill the void of holding elected officials accountable? I don't see anyone else stepping up and unfortunately The E'ville Eye isn't enough. The E'ville Eye serves a different purpose and sometimes a different audience, but some of the breaking news and exposé stories that have appeared here are part of our history as a city.
Do I agree with everything the Tattler does? No. Do we agree to disagree when it comes to your tactics? Yes. But somehow Americans want to feel safe without asking how our military actually does that, or what our police officers actually have to go through. I'm vegan and I see people eating animals without ever stepping into a slaughterhouse and killing livestock themselves. We want the product, not the process.
Some of the Tattler's methods are questionable, but the things you uncover have tremendous value to the people of this city. The Black Panther Party were once considered a nuisance and now they have attained legendary status. So it's not surprising that many of them would prefer The Emeryville Tattler be out of the picture.
I'd like to put to rest this delegitimizing that you are somehow racist or misogynistic because you dare question women or Black people. Fraudulent identity politics is exhausting. You certainly can get obsessed and funnel visioned, but are you the one that plummeted Emeryville's Black home ownership numbers? City Hall did that, and yet you're the racist? God save us all from these political platitudes.
My only request is that you tone down your physical presence in front of people once they have shared that they are uncomfortable and that you don't show up to private events and private spaces asking your questions or while people are working (because you wouldn't want them to show up to your job site) when they reject your questioning. I understand you take these steps because city hall and elected officials have not been responsive in ways that they could not get away with if this was Sacramento or even Oakland.
Just the fact that I can trust you to publish my admonishment of these matters demonstrates integrity. The Emeryville Tattler has an important place in our political accountability discourse. We govern better as public servants because of both publications, the E'ville Eye and the Emeryville Tattler and I'm probably the first elected in Emeryville history to state that on the record. You need to come up with a succession plan!
What if Mia and Calvin don’t win and you don’t become mayor?
I’ll continue to serve the people of Emeryville in my current capacity as council member. Of course, I won’t be able to lead better tenant protections or help institute policies that would make Emeryville nationally renown for public safety and affordability, but I’m still a hacker, so I’ll figure out ways to make an impact, because that is what we do.
The Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party has named me Bay Area Vice-Chair and so my ideas and talents will continue to be channeled politically, but to support progressives regionally and statewide.
I’ve learned in life that when things don’t work out, it’s usually because I was thinking too small and God wants me to go bigger. That is why all those petty social media comments from any of Sam Gould’s fake online personas or by some random astroturfing YIMBY doesn’t land on me and aren’t worth a response.
If anything I find them quite amusing, because my day-to-day world is only local when it comes to addressing the needs of Emeryville residents, businesses, and workers, but my non-municipal life is so much bigger and global in reach. I also have a memoir to finish, “How To Raise A Hacker.”
I do need to work on my self-care admittedly. I showed up to the harvest festival with a catheter attached to me that I hid from public view but needed to inform people in case they were expecting one of my famous hugs. I came straight from the emergency room, napped for an hour, and sat with Our Revolution East Bay's first appearance in Emeryville, along with Calvin.
I also want to be of better support to my baby brother who just got married. In a few days will be the 24th anniversary of our eighteen year old brother who was shot and killed. I just need to take care of myself better. Not being mayor may actually be a relief!
I’ve done incredible work in my life and I’ll continue to do so. I’ve come too far to let anyone stop me.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
City Council Election '24 Questionnaire: Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty
This City Council election season, the Tattler continues its 15 year tradition of disseminating answers put to City Council candidates for the edification of the voting public. The upcoming City Council election features six candidates competing for three seats. The six are: Mia Esperanza Brown, Calvin Dillahunty, Sam Gould, Sukhdeep Kaur, Matthew Solomon and Courtney Welch. Courtney Welch is an incumbent as well as Sukhdeep Kaur (who was appointed to her position following the resignation of Council member Medina). Unfortunately, both Ms Welch and Ms Kaur declined to take part in this opportunity to inform the voters about their ideas for our town. Accountability being an integral part of any democratic polity, voters should take into consideration, candidates who don’t respect the community enough to answer questions.
We thank each candidate that took the time to answer these questions for the voters to consider. Our City Council is improved when democratic norms are followed, when the politicians show deference and respect to the voters. We thank Sam Gould, Matthew Solomon, Calvin Dillahunty and Mia Esperanza Brown.
Each of the other candidate’s answers to these questions will be posted in succession, the names were picked at random. Next up are two candidates running together as a slate, Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty.
Mia Esperanza Brown