Neighbors United Urge Citizen Attendance at Critical Sutter Hospital Meeting

 Sutter Makes their Pitch for their Billion Dollar Emeryville Hospital Complex Tuesday

Tuesday evening, July 21st, Sutter Health, will present their proposal for a controversial billion dollar hospital to be located at 53rd and Horton streets for the Council’s consideration. The Council will hear a lengthy presentation from Sutter but they will also allow citizens one or two minutes to opine on the 1.3 million square foot proposed trauma center complex.  

Emeryville’s newest citizen activist neighbor group, Neighbors United has been alerting the community about the impending meeting, putting up some 200 flyers around Emeryville and the surrounding community.  However most were quickly taken down by unknown vandals, probably in a coordinated effort, some members of Neighbors United report.

Emeryville resident Laura McCamy, a Neighbors United member, told the Tattler she is concerned that this Sutter project is being fast tracked to approval with the aide of legislation out of Sacramento, AB 2231. That legislation, currently  being fast tracked itself, would allow hospital projects to skip environmental review through the California Environmental Quality Act  (CEQA).  Notably, Sutter Health themselves has helped AB 2231 through by use of their lobbying arm.  At the moment Emeryville is one of two large hospital proposals in the Bay Area (Santa Clara is the other) Sutter is rushing for approval.  The lobbying in Sacramento stands to pay dividends to Sutter by greatly reducing its costs and shortening its approval and construction timeline.

Laura McCamy 
Long time Emeryville resident, community
activist and Neighbors United 
founding member.

 

Speaking about the rushed nature of the Sutter proposal, Neighbors United member McCamy said “The proposed hospital will have significant and potentially unmitigated negative impacts and should be given a full environmental review, with adequate time for residents to participate in the process.”

McCamy urges community members to call or write State Senator Jesse Arreguin to request AB 2231 be held back so Emeryville community members can get a proper accounting of all the environmental impacts.  She noted the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Sabrina Cervantes should also be contacted by concerned citizens.

Fast tracking has been the modus operandi for Sutter.  Of note is the fact that Sutter began lobbying the California Legislature for the creation of the AB 2231 deregulation scheme well before it publicly announced its plans for the Emeryville site, an indication the corporate health giant wanted to catch any concerned neighbors flat footed and unaware.  

Sutter will bring an extra 20,000 vehicle trips per day to the Emerville site.  The main building will be 330 feet tall, Emeryville’s tallest and will feature a heliport with daily helicopter flights.  Emeryville's Planning Commission Chair Jordan Wax called the Sutter proposal "car focused" and a "broken promise" to the people of Emeryville.

The community meeting will be at Emeryville City Hall at 6:00 PM Tuesday and all members of the public will be afforded one or two minutes (at the Mayor’s discretion) to say their piece. 

New Citizen Activist Group in Emeryville Emerges

 Neighbors United

Scrappy Group of Citizen Neighbors Taking on the Billion Dollar Sutter Juggernaut

Problems with the planned Sutter hospital center for 53rd Street in Emeryville has citizens in Emeryville and North Oakland concerned enough they are coalescing into a new activist group called Neighbors United.  The 30+ member group, open to all, has several members of the former activist group RULE (Residents United for a Livable Emeryville) among its founders.  The group invites all who are concerned about the Sutter project to the meetings (the next one will be tomorrow).  

Sutter Health proposes a new 200 bed facility, about the same size as Kaiser Oakland, in a 330 foot tall tower with a heliport on the roof with 20,000 project generated car trips.  The hospital plus administration buildings will total approximately 1.3 million square feet in a footprint half the size of Kaiser Oakland.

The 200 bed, 330 foot tall hospital with accompanying administration and parking structures totaling 1.3 million square feet and will present “traffic gridlock” as Neighbors United presented it, generating thousands of daily car trips as well as heliport noise and risks from all the low altitude helicopter flights to and from the proposed rooftop helipad. Several Neighbors United members state the project should move elsewhere because it is too large for the site and too constrained by it (being right up against the rail road tracks west of Horton Street) and so it will have an unnecessarily deleterious effect on the whole neighborhood.

A Neighbors United organizer and former RULE founder, Tracy Schroth pointed out the irony of Sutter Emeryville being a “trauma center creating trauma for the neighborhood”.

Sunday’s meeting, the group’s second, will be at 11:00 AM at Stanford Park at the corner of Stanford and Hollis streets.. 

  

Neighbors United flyer making the rounds in the neighborhood.

 

 

Planning Chair: Sutter Hospital Unacceptable -Too Many Cars and Destruction of Bike Boulevard

Planning Commission Chair Calls Sutter Proposal "Car Focused" and a "Broken Promise" to the People of Emeryville

New Citizen Activist Group 'Neighbors United' Forms to Push Back

Planning Commission Chairman Jordan Wax told representatives from Sutter Health Hospital last Wednesday their planned construction of a billion dollar hospital on 53rd Street that requires the destruction of Emeryville’s Horton Street Bike Boulevard would constitute “breaking a promise” to his constituents and people in the greater East Bay region.  Two other Commissioners joined with Chair Wax expressing dismay over the Sutter announcement of the destruction of the bike boulevard, a three vote majority that sends a strong message to the hospital giant they may have to negotiate to get their proposal approved by Emeryville’s planers. 

Nearly all Commissioners expressed some concerns over the proposed 330 foot tall hospital project but Mr Wax, who called the whole project flawed and “car focused”, leveled the hardest criticisms against Sutter.  Sutter will have to issue an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that would cite the destruction of the bike boulevard as an unmitigated and significant impact and get City Council approval to proceed. The Council can override a Planning Commission rejection based on the destruction of the bike boulevard but it would require a Statement of Overriding Concern that provides compelling reasons in the form of findings in the public interest, not just a disagreement.

Emeryville Planning Commission Chair Jordan Wax
The Sutter proposal is "car focused" and its required
destruction of the Horton Street Bike Boulevard is "breaking 
a promise" with the people of Emeryville.

 

Horton Street is required to be a quiet street according to Emeryville's Active Transportation Plan with no more than 3000 vehicle trips per day.  The last time the City of Emeryville measured the traffic volume on Horton Street was 2019 when 4127 vehicle trips per day were recorded.  The Sutter project will place far too many vehicles on Horton for bike boulevard compatibility and for this project to go forward as planned would require the ATP to be amended, removing the Horton Street Bike Boulevard from the City's bike boulevard network.  Horton Street is currently used by a great number of regional bicyclists and the only other planned north/south bike passage in town is Shellmound Street, a non contiguous corridor that doesn't connect with Emeryville's Greenway as Horton Street does.  As such, the loss of Horton Street for safe bike transportation would represent a region-wide loss for bicyclists. 

The public Planning Commission meeting netted many concerned comments from members of the public and also the announcement of a newly formed activist group, 'Neighbors United' born out of frustration with the Sutter project. Two Neighbors United members, both founding members of the former Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), a powerful citizen activist group, spoke out expressing concern for the demise of the bike boulevard and other problems associated with the development.  The formation of a new grassroots RULE type group could spell trouble for Sutter as they seek their City approvals.  

Sutter hosted an earlier public meeting where they hinted that the Horton Street Bike Boulevard diverter at 53rd Street might have to be destroyed and they notified the attendees Sutter would make themselves available to the community to answer questions from the community in the days and weeks ahead promising accountability, transparency and partnership with the Emeryville Community.  They expressed desires to be good [corporate] neighbors.  However, it should be known Sutter has reneged on that promise, refusing to answer repeated calls and emails from the Tattler.  

The proposed Sutter Health center will feature a 200 bed, 330 foot tall hospital with accompanying administration and parking structures totaling 1.3 million square feet and will present “traffic gridlock” as Neighbors United presented it, generating thousands of daily car trips as well as heliport noise and risks from all the low altitude helicopter flights to and from the proposed rooftop helipad.

The Horton Diverter at 53rd Street
After more than ten years of planning in response to too many cars on the bike boulevard
the street was closed to through traffic last year.  The diverter is required by the City's Active Transportation Plan.  
The reason cited for the diverter is bike safety.  The City of Emeryville concern for bike safety will be removed if the diverter is removed by Sutter.

Private Business Advocacy Organization to Receive Emeryville Taxpayer Public Money (Again)

 Corruption Journal:

Gift of Taxpayer Money Going to the Private Chamber of Commerce (Again)

If the Recent Past is a Guide, the $30,663 is Just the Camel's Nose Under the Tent

Former Mayor Assured Residents This Day Would Never Come

New Council Is Nonplused: 'What Could Go Wrong?'

At the May 19th city council meeting, the Emeryville council politicians unanimously agreed to issue a government check in the amount of $30,663 to the Emeryville Commerce Connection (ECC), a replacement organization to the former Chamber of Commerce, in order to promote dues paying restaurants in town; the money representing a public to private exchange former City Councilman John Bauters notably said was never going to happen again.   The controversial taxpayer payment to the private and exclusive ECC organization funds a ‘Restaurant Week’ event in Emeryville this October.  By way of transparency, the private organization says they will show the City how they spent taxpayer's money at a later date. 

The private ECC organization taking public money was debated in 2024 when the organization was newly forming amid assurances from then Councilman Bauters who offered that the group would never get any public money like the private Chamber of Commerce did before them.  Mr Bauters used his argument as a way to take away from Councilman Kalimah Priforce’s publicly made concerns about possible conflicts of interest if the group ever was in a position to take public money.  It is ironic that Mr Priforce, who has now two years later voted with his colleagues to give a tranche of public money to ECC, is receiving push back from his colleagues for again expressing worry about possible conflicts of interest he made before the vote.  In that vein, Mr Priforce expressed reservations about the private ECC receiving taxpayer money at both the 2024 meeting and also at the May 19th meeting, even though he ended up voting with his colleagues to fund the ECC in the end.  

Former Mayor John Bauters
'The new chamber of commerce, the 
Emeryville Commerce Connection, is a private
organization that will never receive public money
like the old chamber of commerce did.' 
Until on May 19th they did.

In the intervening two years, the tax exempt A 501(c)(6) organization ECC has made something of a name for itself for its opacity, drawing out the line of questions from Mr Priforce who told Mary Lou Thiercof, the organization's CEO he was not comfortable giving public money to the secretive group.  As a condition of his support, Councilman Priforce asked the CEO if she could reveal who sits on the Board of Directors, noting that information is not on the ECC website.  In response, Ms Thiercof assured the Councilman she would email him the list of Board members privately.  Notably, the other City Council members expressed no concerns about a secret Board of Directors for the organization they were about to give public money to. 

Finally delivering his YES vote to the ECC (with reservations), Council member Priforce said he thought Restaurant Week delivered good value for the City's brand and he doubted the City's public Economic Development Advocacy Committee’s (EDAC) capacity to pull that off effectively.

Perhaps sensing this day would come and recognizing the checkered past of the former Chamber of Commerce and all their gifts of public money bestowed on them by the City Council, former Mayor John Bauters notably told his colleagues on March 19th, 2024 that the ECC would not ever get any public money from Emeryville.  Pushing back against a questioning Councilman Priforce, who even then was concerned about possible conflicts of interest from the newly formed ECC that might arise as a result of them taking public money, Mr Bauters issued a strong rebuke to Mr Priforce.  Mr Bauters assured everyone that the ECC is not getting any public money and they won’t in the future.  He lectured his colleague Priforce,  “Chambers [of commerce] aren’t supposed to be run by the City.  A group of business owners and residents came together [to form ECC] and there’s no City money in that….zero dollars.  So there’s no conflict.”  Bauters pointedly took issue with the Priforce concerns, “There’s nothing wrong with a group of private individuals or businesses choosing to associate and work together [as long as they don’t take public money]” said Mr Bauters (brackets added by the Tattler).  

The private recipient of Emeryville taxpayer's money
is not transparent. 
Membership in the secretive organization at first was
by invitation only.  Now membership can be taken away
based on 'team player' unquantified capriciousness.   
  

It is interesting that Councilman Priforce who was prescient in his concerns about possible conflict of interest by ECC in 2024, now two years later is still being reprimanded by his colleagues for raising concerns about possible conflicts of interest when it is no longer a possibility that ECC will get public money but now a reality. 

As the ECC announced its formation in 2024, CEO Thiercof assured the Council the organization, like the Chamber of Commerce before, would be “open to all Emeryville businesses”, a claim that has since been quietly retracted.  After at first allowing membership to businesses by invitation only, the ECC now says membership is not granted to all, businesses can be permanently excommunicated if they offer any public criticism of the ECC, Ms Thiercof told the Tattler, “a lifetime ban will result”.  Notably, businesses that are represented by the City of Emeryville’s own public Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC), namely every business in Emeryville, are free to criticize the workings of the committee or even the City Council in any way they see fit.  That illustrating a primary difference between the private sector and the public sector.

Council member Priforce noted the ECC grew out of the EDAC and that committee, still extant, is publicly accountable and transparent, its meetings open to the public.  The new private and secret ECC business support organization getting public money is a source of concern for Council member Priforce who stands alone in his concern.  The other four Council members did not question Ms Thiercof about receiving public money in 2024 or on May 19th.

Emeryville Commerce Connection CEO
 Mary Lou Thiercof 
She told the City Council
ECC is open to "all Emeryville businesses "
but later she quantified that, closing the organization
to some Emeryville small businesses.
 ECC is taking public money regardless. She warned 
noncompliant business members will face a 
"life time ban" if they criticize the ECC.

The $30,663 given to the private ECC has been taken out of the City’s Economic Development Fund that the EDAC uses and so this gift demonstrably comes at the expense of public accountability.

Gifts of public money to private organizations can sometimes turn bad, commonly morphing into ongoing support after starting with a well meaning one time gift.   Notably, the former Chamber of Commerce started as an independent self sustaining organization but after receiving public money for specific projects, morphed into unconditional and ongoing free rent of a large City rented office space and a monthly stipend of $45,000 per year for its periodical newsletter called the Emeryville Connection that was printed and sent to every Emeryville residence.  Infamously, the Chamber’s newsletter was highly partisan, to the point that they even told Emeryville voters who to vote for in Council races….audaciously all done with taxpayer money.  That violation of public trust was illegal and after the Tattler reported on it, the City Council stopped giving taxpayer money to the Chamber for the Emeryville Connection.  Eventually City Hall stopped the free rent too, ultimately causing the Chamber to file for bankruptcy.  

Before forwarding the money to ECC, City Council members David Mourra, Courtney Welch and Sukhdeep Kaur all praised the private membership organization, Mr Mourra stating, “I can’t think of a better organization to invest this [public] money into”.

 The Emeryville Commerce Connection posts that their goal is to “bring [certain favored] people together” on their website (Tattler added brackets).  They indicated they would let the Council know how they spent the public money at some later date.

The old Emeryville Chamber of Commerce and their corrupt receipt of public money is HERE,  HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Former RULE Member Announces Sutter Emeryville Hospital Complex Is Ill-Suited For Proposed Site

 Letter to the Tattler: City Council Should Reconsider Approval of the Sutter Hospital Proposal at Hollis Street Site

The Tattler offers citizens with news worthy stories about Emeryville to submit letters for publication for the 'Letters to the Tattler' feature.

Judith Timmel, a 34 year Emeryville resident and co-founder of the former resident activist group Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), opines about the proposed billion dollar Sutter Health 325 bed hospital proposed for a 12 acre site on Hollis Street (at 53rd).  Sutter recently purchased the former bio-tech site by use of a City Council initiated change to Emeryville’s charter.  The hospital and its administration complex will host the tallest building in Emeryville if Sutter completes its build out.  The “temporary infusion of cash into our city coffers” that Ms Timmel refers to is the $11 million one time real estate transfer tax the City imposed upon the sale. 

To the City Council members-

 I attended the meeting Sutter recently held regarding their proposed project.  I have to say I was shocked and dismayed to find that the city council members had given a preliminary approval to this totally unacceptable development in our neighborhood.  What I appreciate about my neighborhood is livability and small-scale development which fosters community and a sense of safety.  This project is totally outside of any precepts in the General Plan and the hopes I have for our community that I thought that you all shared.

The looming presence of a huge tower would destroy our sunlight, our sense of neighborhood and aesthetics that we now enjoy.  The ambulances, shuttles and helicopters, not to mention the 4 years of construction noise, would destroy our peace and quiet, seriously disrupt our streets and destroy our bike boulevard.  Students going to and from school on 53rd St would be endangered and residents become even more inconvenienced by the increased traffic.  The streets surrounding the proposed project are not meant for this level of traffic and would become over-burdened.

It seems you have been swayed by the temporary infusion of cash into our city coffers.  I submit that this gain is short-lived and short-sighted.  What will be gained by the city after the project’s completion? Sutter’s non-profit status renders them exempt from many taxes.

I support Sutter’s taking over and re-purposing the existing buildings for medical uses. I would support a small-scale building on the vacant property.  What I will not support is a huge hulking monstrosity wedged into an inappropriate space in an incongruous neighborhood.

Alternative location for this hospital? Why not Site B?  Could a trade be made? As long as the height is reduced, and it could be with a larger footprint, it seems a more accessible and less disruptive location.

I urge you to reconsider, and I will be spending considerable time and energy to inform the residents of Emeryville of this impending disruption in their lives.

Respectfully submitted, 

Judith T, resident

Sutter hospital site at Hollis and 53rd Street looking northwest.

Iran War: Council Violates Its Own Sanction Against International Proclamations

City Council Breaks Pledge Against Passing Resolutions Addressing International Problems

Council’s Record: 

Ukraine War is Not Acceptable

Gaza Genocide is Acceptable 

Iran War is Not Acceptable

Breaking News

Tonight, the City Council attended to business they have in the Middle East by a condemnation of President Trump’s war in Iran in the form of an official City of Emeryville resolution.  The unanimous decision tonight was a remarkable and newsworthy event after the same council majority said in December 2023 that international proclamations such as this are outside the scope of the Emeryville City Council's work.  Now these same council members, without explanation, have voted for a City of Emeryville international proclamation.

As remarkable as it is, tonight’s 180 degree council turn around is even more confounding; before their refusal to vote on the Israel/Gaza war (because the proposal was an “international proclamation”) the Council voted unanimously for an earlier international proclamation, the Russia/Ukraine war.  Got that? 

Here’s a step by step synopsis of the wild pendulum swing:

1)   May 16, 2023: The Emeryville City Council unanimously said YES to a resolution condemning the Russian war against Ukraine, an international proclamation.

2)   December 5, 2023: The Council Majority said NO to a single council member’s proposal for Council support for a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel war against Gaza.  The council majority said NO because it would be an out-of-bounds “international proclamation”.

3)   May 19, 2026 (tonight): The council unanimously said YES to a resolution condemning the US war against Iran, another international proclamation.

Emeryville citizens would be forgiven their confusion given the council majority’s ambiguous lack of cogency on this score.  These three points, taken up by the same politicians, beg explanation.  But they’re not talking, except for the council member that supported all three resolutions, Kalimah Priforce, who stated simply, “Human lives matter and any time we have an opportunity to recognize the sanctity of human life we should take it.”  

Former Emeryville Mayor John Bauters brought the Russia/Ukraine war proclamation to the council while council member Priforce brought both the Israel/Gaza war ceasefire proclamation and tonight’s US/Iran war proclamation to the council.  The vote for the Russia/Ukraine proclamation was 5-0 in favor, the Israel/Gaza ceasefire proclamation proposal failed 1-4 (Mourra, Kaur and Welch dissenting) and the US/Iran war proclamation passed 5-0.

Council members who voted against the US/Gaza ceasefire proposal publicly explained they could not vote for it because it was “international” and therefore not in the scope of work to be performed by the Emeryville City Council.  Council member David Mourra was especially forceful in his explanation as to why he appeared to be a hypocrite for his reversal.  He told the Tattler it was a “mistake” in retrospect for the Emeryville City Council to meddle in the Russia/Ukraine war and that he would not make that mistake again.  That is why he said he voted against council member Priforce’s proposal to have a proclamation in favor of an Israel/Gaza ceasefire. 

To be precise and so readers understand, we state again: council members Sukhdeep Kaur, Courtney Welch, John Bauters and David Mourra, with their own public statements and actions, have all made it clear they are against the council taking a stand in international politics with international proclamations but they are also in favor of doing exactly that.

The Tattler will attempt to get the four council members who’s voting record has been in direct contradiction with their earlier votes and we will report what they say.

Emeryville's City Council cares about the welfare
of this Ukrainian child.

....but not this child from Gaza.

The City Council wants everyone to know they 
care about this Iranian child.

Emeryville Went The YIMBY Way: Now It Has The Most Expensive Rent In The East Bay

 The More Apartments We Build, The More Expensive It Is To Rent Here

City Council's YIMBY Gambit Failure

Building More Was Supposed To Bring Cheaper Rent

What Happened?

News Analysis

Rising apartment rents in Emeryville have eclipsed neighboring cities, leaving our city the most expensive place to rent in the East Bay amid an unprecedented apartment building binge and calling into question a long standing ‘supply and demand’ master narrative that has seized the housing policy debate here.  According to real estate brokerage and consumer search platforms, rents in Emeryville, formerly middle income affordable, are now shown to be pulling ahead of Piedmont and Walnut Creek, despite having built more new apartment units per capita than any other city in the East Bay; an overturning of overly simplistic supply side economic theory pushed by YIMBY.

In 2024, Emeryville emerged as the top East Bay most expensive city for one-bedroom apartment rentals, with average prices now peaking around $2,790, a 16.3% increase. Emeryville's significant rent growth and apartment building growth made it a standout, often surpassing the most expensive spots in other parts of the Bay Area.  The more Emeryville builds, the more expensive Emeryville becomes as it turns out, in spite of publicly proclaimed YIMBY and Council majority countering dogma. 
 

Similar to President Ronald Reagan’s oft cited claim that wealth will “trickle down” to the middle class as a reason for why rich people’s taxes must be cut, America’s middle class was left waiting for the wealth to trickle down, just as residents here are waiting for Emeryville’s rents to fall amid the ongoing housing boom driven by a didactic YIMBY and schoolmarmish Council majority.

Sky High Rent Increases Despite Unprecedented Housing Boom
According to the search platform Zumper, to which the City of Emeryville defers, on April 1st, an average one bedroom unit in Emeryville rents for $2725 ($2682 according to Apartment finder.com and $3021 at Rent cafe.com).  In Walnut Creek, a one bedroom unit can be had for $2599, while Oakland, Berkeley and Fremont average is $1995, $2295, and $2377 respectively.

All the increasing rent costs in Emeryville have occurred concurrently with a massive housing boom, like no other East Bay city has experienced.  Data shows Emeryville increased its housing stock between 2020 and 2024, with more than 600 new housing units added, making our town one of the fasted growing cities in California according to the SF Chronicle.  At the same time, the Chronicle called Emeryville's City Council "One of the most YIMBY city councils in California".   For decades, Emeryville has beaten the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) recommended housing numbers - something no other East Bay city has done.  All this growth was supposed to drive down rents said YIMBY and their Emeryville City Council sycophants.

YIMBY California is a Sacramento based municipal housing policy lobbying group supported by State Senator Scott Wiener and funded by real estate investment trust corporations and developers.  YIMBY has long advocated for removing local municipalities' ability to set their own public housing policy, deferring instead to YIMBY's laissez faire deregulation model.  YIMBY has praised Emeryville for singularly following their directives, citing former Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters as well as current Council member Courtney Welch and Planning Commissioner Dianne Martinez as especially helpful to their cause.  

The dichotomy between Emeryville’s unprecedented multi-year housing boom and rapidly rising rent prices here should offer a reality gob smack to the City Council majority and other YIMBY apologists.  So far, there has not been any acknowledgement from any pro-YIMBY forces of this inconvenient high building/high rent dichotomy.  Indeed, that stubbornness to accept basic facts and indisputable numbers betrays an increasing zealotry among the Council majority. 

Further, in their rush to support YIMBY, the City Council majority have precluded any chance to get popular parts of Emeryville’s General Plan implemented.  For instance, developers with approved housing projects are supposed to materially help support the building of new parks but the Council majority has stopped even asking them (at YIMBY’s insistance).  Because park acreage is supposed to be based on the number of residents in Emeryville, new housing projects are the mechanism that drives the need for new parks as well as the money for the building of new parks.  However, with YIMBY in charge, every year, Emeryville falls farther behind on the park goals stipulated by the General Plan.  Emeryville is now the worst, most under served city in the East Bay for parks.

Emeryville elected officials should be the kind of people to be able to pivot once it becomes clear their ideas aren’t working.  Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of Council (majority).  It appears these four Council members of ours have been captured ideologically by the materially driven YIMBY.  The people of Emeryville deserve rational public policy that serves them, not real estate trust corporations and developers who seek to double down on their private profit housing policy.  

We reached out to Mayor Sukhdeep Kaur, Vice Mayor Matthew Solomon, Council members David Mourra and Courtney Welch as well as City Manager LaTonya Bellow for this story but none responded.  Council member Kalimah Priforce is a fan of local housing control and the sole YIMBY critic among the Council members.

Emeryville is one of the fastest growing cities in California: HERE

Emeryville's City Council the most YIMBY controlled city council in California: HERE

Emeryville is the 6th most expensive place to live in the Bay Area. Source: Zumper.com

Emeryville has the fastest growing rent in the Bay Area. Source: Zumper.com

Emeryville is now the most expensive place to rent in the East Bay. Source: Zumper.com

City of Emeryville Removed a Community Food Table the Day Before a New State Law Would Have Protected It

Racing the Clock, Emeryville Stopped a Community Food Pantry Just Before SB 634 Became Law

 State of California's Priorities VS Emeryville's Priorities

State Interested in Alleviating Hunger

Emeryville Interested in Maintaining Order

In December, sandwiched between the federal government’s restoration of full SNAP benefits and a new California law protecting the rights of  “good Samaritans" to help feed hungry people, the City of Emeryville moved quickly to remove a community free food table in a rapidly closing window of opportunity to legally stop ordinary citizens from assisting hungry neighbors the Tattler has learned.  The former food table, located at the corner of Horton Street and Sherwin Avenue was removed on the order of John Kennedy, Emeryville’s City Attorney on December 31st 2025 because it was violating the City’s encroachment ordinance, he said.  

Emeryville City Attorney
John Kennedy
He used his $307,000 salary to make
sure homeless people in Emeryville can't 
get access to community donated food.
'We don't see hungry people', his ruling said. 
More important than hunger, Emeryville's
encroachment ordinance is paramount
and must be obeyed.

  

The Tattler food table was set up in November in response to a growing crisis of hunger in the Emeryville community just before the federal government stopped payments through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).   As such, the community was offered an ongoing and convenient place for community members to drop off food for hungry neighbors in need.  However, where many neighbors saw positive attributes of vital community engagement and a rallying around community values, the City of Emeryville and its attorney saw only a violation of its byzantine encroachment ordinance.  

Hunger is still an existential problem in the community even after SNAP benefits have been restored.

The City moved quickly and validated the removal of the food table by initiating a legally required 10 day warning sent to the Tattler on December 21st, 2025, invoking Title 7, Chapter 2 of the Emeryville Municipal Code (the encroachment section) as a legal basis for removing the food table.  That set up a December 31st removal, the day before the State of California  took away the City's legal basis on January 1st, 2026, albeit one day too late to help feed the hungry in the community here in Emeryville.   Victims of this legal technicality, hungry people in Emeryville, have since gone without food assistance from the Tattler community food table because of the City Attorney's quick action removing it. 

Emeryville City Manager
LaTonya Bellow
Community free food tables will not 
be allowed in Emeryville.
Order must be maintained she says.

It is presumed Mr Kennedy did not like the optics of the City of Emeryville removing a food pantry table at the same time President Trump was removing SNAP benefits to all Americans.  By the time a federal judge got SNAP fully restored, Mr Kennedy was left with less than a week to initiate the community food table removal.  The City Attorney refused to comment for this Tattler story but it is clear he had a removal agenda and he was working to beat Sacramento’s clock.

President Trump ordered the federal government to stop all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) payments to hungry Americans in early November of 2025 just as the Tattler set up the Community Free Food Table.  A federal court then ordered the federal food assistance program reinstated on November 6th, a Thursday, setting up a race in Mr Kennedy’s mind, to get rid of the Tattler food table with California's SB 634 breathing down his neck.   The City Attorney got the Emeryville food table removed just under the wire.  

People who claim Emeryville’s City Attorney is overpaid at $307,000 per year (plus benefits), need only to look at this case showing his talent in recognizing the significance of and acting with alacrity upon intersecting legal time constraints in order to stop homeless people in the community from getting food.  Had Mr Kennedy not acted quickly and adroitly, homeless people could still be receiving community donated food at the food table.

Berkeley's Private Free Food Table
on McGee Avenue at Oregon Street
For 10 years, the City of Berkeley has said this
food table is OK, 10 years before SB 634
made it legal in every California city.  The City
of Berkeley  has a long record  of
caring about hunger in the community.

Fans of the former Emeryville Tattler Community Free Food Table have noted only Emeryville forbids community food tables (despite SB 634); Oakland and Berkeley have allowed food tables on public property even before the new State law kicked in.  The city attorneys in those two cities had come to the conclusion that their local encroachment ordinances should not trump hungry community members’ ability from getting food.   In Berkeley, city hall publicly condoned grassroots private community food tables set up on public property, including a table located on McGee Avenue that has facilitated free food for more than ten years.  Emeryville is different from Berkeley and Oakland when it comes to community members taking their own initiative in helping with hunger in the community.  Here, order is the coin of the realm, hunger taking a backseat. 

Emeryville's Mayor, Sukhdeep Kaur, the Vice Mayor, Matthew Solomon, the City Attorney, John Kennedy and the City Manager, LaTanya Bellow, were all reached out to for this story but none responded. 

The text of the relevant part of section two of California SB 634 is as following:

53069.44. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a local jurisdiction shall not adopt a local ordinance, or enforce an existing ordinance, that prohibits a person or organization from providing support services, including legal services or medical care, to a person who is homeless or assisting a person who is homeless with any act related to basic survival.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) (A) “Act related to basic survival” includes, but is not limited to, assisting with or providing items to assist with any of the following:

(i) Eating and drinking, including provision of food and water.

(ii) Sleeping, including provision of blankets and pillows.

(iii) Protecting oneself from the elements.

(iv) Other activities and items necessary for immediate personal health and hygiene.

The full text of California SB 634 can be read HERE.

The Tattler set up the food table HERE.

The City of Emeryville took away the Tattler Community Free Food Table HERE and HERE.

The Western Center on Law and Poverty story on SB 634 can be read HERE.

The Tattler Community Free Food Table on Horton Street
before it was shut down by the City of Emeryville.
The City of Emeryville said the problem was the table violated
its encroachment ordinance. 
The City says what's more important than feeding hungry 
community members is assuring the City's encroachment law
is followed to the T.  The State of California disagrees.

Emeryville Small Business Owner Says City Should Help Small Business Owners

 Letter to the Tattler: My Emeryville Small Business Is Under Attack

Emeryville Resident and Small Business Owner, Empress

Small Business in Emeryville Should Be Encouraged

What's Happening Here is Discouragement

The Tattler offers citizens with news worthy stories about Emeryville to submit letters for publication for the 'Letters to the Tattler' feature.

I run a small, street-facing live-work business on Sherwin Avenue at The Emery, on the historic grounds of the former Sherwin-Williams site, where I craft and sell artisan cookies through my company, Choc’late Mama Cookie Co. What I’ve built is more than a cookie business. It’s a community-centered space rooted in culture, wellness, and connection. It’s also exactly the kind of neighborhood-serving storefront the City of Emeryville envisioned when approving this mixed-use development: active, locally owned, and engaged with the public sidewalk.

But since October, my ability to operate has been under coordinated attack.

A neighboring resident, Emeryville Housing Committee member James Brooks Jessup, who occupies an adjacent live-work unit, has led an effort to challenge the legitimacy of my business. He and a group of aligned neighbors have repeatedly claimed, falsely, that I am operating an illegal restaurant rather than a permitted retail cookie business. These claims have been submitted to the City, Alameda County, and property management, triggering investigations and enforcement actions.

The truth is straightforward: I have the permits required to operate my business. The City has confirmed this. And yet, a pattern has emerged where complaint-driven enforcement continues to escalate, regardless of verified compliance.

Through documents obtained via the California Public Records Act, I have uncovered what appears to be a coordinated campaign of complaints, surveillance, and targeted reporting. The result has been an environment of ongoing scrutiny and intimidation, one that no small business owner should have to endure simply for operating within the bounds of the law.

At the center of the current dispute is an attempt by Alameda County to reclassify my business under a Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation (MEHKO) permit. This designation is intended for home-based food businesses not street-facing, mixed-use storefronts like mine. Applying it to my business would impose a cap of just 90 sales per week, effectively making it impossible to sustain operations or grow.

I declined this misclassification and requested a designation that accurately reflects my live-work storefront model. At present, no such classification exists.

This is not just about my business. It reveals a larger systemic failure: outdated regulatory frameworks are being used to govern modern, hybrid business models; enforcement is being driven by complaints rather than facts; and there are no meaningful protections in place for small business owners facing bad-faith reporting.

Despite bringing these concerns forward, I have received little support from the City of Emeryville and no support from property management at The Emery. In fact, I was forced to remove my signage and outdoor seating from the patio outside my unit that is clearly designed for such use. With the exception of Councilmember Kalimah Priforce, there has been no meaningful intervention to address the harm being caused or to protect my ability to operate as intended within this development.

What’s at stake is more than one business. If I am forced out, it is likely that my unit will revert to residential-only use, leaving a dark storefront where there was once community engagement. That outcome would directly contradict the City’s stated vision for The Emery as a vibrant, activated neighborhood with locally serving retail at its core.

Instead, I now face housing insecurity, loss of income, and the erosion of a business I have spent years building while the systems meant to support small entrepreneurs remain silent or ineffective.

When I moved into The Emery, I was told these storefronts were meant for businesses like mine locally rooted, community-driven, and accessible to the public. That is exactly what Choc’late Mama Cookie Co. represents.

The question now is whether Emeryville will honor that promise.

BIO: A single-mother and lifelong native of 94608, Empress founded Choc’late Mama Cookie Co., now the only Afro-Indigenous woman-led cookie café and community hub in Emeryville.  For over a decade, her work has used culinary art and hospitality as both nourishment and medicine, intentionally creating spaces that cultivate connection across the Bay Area and beyond.

This moment is about more than cookies, she says.  It’s about who gets to exist, create, and thrive in spaces that claim to support small, local business, and what happens when that support is tested.  

Choc'late Mama Cookies' mailing address is 4310 Hubbard Street but pedestrian access is on Sherwin Avenue between Hubbard and Horton streets.  Phone: (510) 846-1229

Follow @chocolatemamacookies on Instagram to witness the community, culture, and consistency behind her work.

2020-2026: Emeryville Police Make Biking More Dangerous By Choosing Drivers Over Bikers

EPD Refuses to Ticket Bike Lane Blockers

Likelihood of Getting a Ticket Keeps Dropping in Emeryville

Bicycling Twice As Dangerous in Emeryville As Before

The City of Emeryville Police Department is forgiving motorists who park and block bike lanes in 2026 at twice the rate as they did in 2020 internal documents show, a public policy consequence that counters general pro-bike safety claims from the City.  Documents obtained through public records requests reveal a growing police tolerance at EPD for vehicles that illegally block bike lanes and put bicyclists in danger in Emeryville, the Tattler has found.

Illegal Bike Lane Blockage on Hollis Street
Putting up traffic cones doesn't make it OK.
Parking on sidewalk is also illegal.
EPD received a complaint but refused to
ticket this vehicle after a biker was nearly hit,
swerving around this blockage.

The documents show only one citation was issued by EPD for 54 civilian calls about lane blocking for the seven month period ending on February 20th, versus in 2020 when one citation resulted from 27 calls over seven months ending on September 30th of that year.  These numbers show motorists looking for parking spots in Emeryville are only half as likely to get a ticket for blocking a bike lane in 2026 as they were in 2020. 

This sort of condoning of bike lane blocking has real world consequences. Bike safety groups and insurance actuaries show how bikers, crossing the solid white line and swerving out into a travel lane from a bike lane to avoid a parked vehicle to be the most dangerous legal thing a bicyclist can do.  As drivers become distracted by increasing numbers of electronic devises in the car, parked car lane swerving by bicyclists becomes even more dangerous.  According to the Nationwide Insurance Company, surveys conducted in 2024 and 2025 revealed a sharp increase in phone-related distractions. For example, 47% of drivers admitted to texting while driving, a 31% increase from three years prior.  

Many drivers in Emeryville have learned police don't ticket cars for bike lane parking.  Scientific research generally indicates that the certainty of being caught is a powerful deterrent to crime.  So while Emeryville has largely given up enforcement, many other urban areas are adopting new technologies to combat the issue as provided for by a recent California law (AB 361) that allows cities like Sacramento and San Francisco to use forward-facing cameras on parking enforcement vehicles or buses to automatically cite vehicles illegally parked in bike lanes.  Emeryville has balked at using the new law.

In 2024 when he was running for City Council,
Matthew Solomon told us he 
supported bicycling in Emeryville.  Now,
that he's in office, he doesn't care as much.

Even as the City of Emeryville has been retrenching on the enforcement of bike lane law over the last six years, the State of California has risen to the public safety challenge, raising fines considerably.  As such, Emeryville leaves quite a bit of potential revenue for the cash strapped city on the table.  The California Vehicle Code 21211 that prohibits lane blocking, allows for fines of $268 for each violation ($238 plus $30 added as a ‘process fee’).  This represents a significant increase over 2020 when the fine was only $59.  Monies received is split between municipalities and the State.

Vice Mayor Matthew Solomon, who ran for City Council in 2024 on a conspicuous bike safety platform did not respond to our queries about this story as well as EPD who also refused comment.

The 2020 Tattler story on this subject is HERE.