Monday Night, School Board To Answer About Closure Of Elementary School

School Board Finally Talks

After first denying an audience, the Emery School Board has agreed to openly discuss the demands of signers to a city-wide letter about the closure of the elementary school and other concerns at the regularly scheduled School Board meeting at 6:00 PM Monday.
The letter, sent to Emeryville residents last month and signed by some 70 people, challenges the School Board to not close Anna Yates Elementary School and to inform the citizenry as to the Board's intention as to the fate of the (elementary school) and the Ralph Hawley Middle School site.  The letter also seeks to force the Board to tell the people how they intend to maintain an operating budget for the Center of Community Life.

School Board Meeting

Monday 6:00 PM

Emery Theater

4727 San Pablo Avenue

The Board is intent on closing the elementary school on 41st Street and pushing the children onto the San Pablo Avenue campus at the Center of Community Life to be shared with the high school students.  Despite years of citizen inquiry, the Board has not revealed what they intend on doing with the two soon to be "surplus" properties.  Some residents have expressed alarm that the School District plans on selling the properties off to private developers as the Tattler reported last week.

The Emery Theater is on the High School campus behind the parking lot on San Pablo Avenue near 53rd Street.  Walk through the parking lot and go to the left through the gate.

Tattler Poll: Should We Sell Off The Elementary School To A Developer For Lofts & Condos?

This weeks Tattler readers poll: Should we allow a developer to tear down Anna Yates Elementary School to build lofts & condominiums?  How about if it helps secure money from the state to build a planned community center as part of the Center of Community Life?
It's a topic much in the news in Emeryville after the City Attorney prepared a resolution for the council to vote on, as covered by the Tattler.  The City Attorney subsequently rescinded the section about the sell off of "surplus" school properties but instead of subterfuge and smoke and mirrors, maybe the people should decide for themselves about this.   Tattler readers can vote at the upper right hand column.

Defunct Chamber Newsletter Gets School District Nod

A Weird Way To Look For A New 
School Board Member

Opinion / News Analysis
After the May 10th resignation of Emery School Board president Cheryl Webb, the School District went to work distributing notice of the vacancy in area newspapers including the defunct Chamber of Commerce newsletter the Emeryville Connection the Tattler has learned.   The public notice of a school board vacancy and search for replacement is mandated by the State Board of Education for any school board that would appoint a replacement of a resigned board member; it's part of the requirement to "widely circulate" the search for a viable candidate.  The Tattler received a document that shows Emery School District sent request to advertise in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune and the Chamber of Commerce defunct news blog.

A review of the Emeryville Connection shows that the newsletter stopped publication in April 2009 but it briefly started back up in March 2011 after the Chamber of Commerce received $25,000 from City Hall in early 2011 to advertise the city's Economic Development Program in the news letter blog.  The Emeryville Connection has not published any material since March 2011.  The newsletter has a circulation of zero.

If the School District's goal is to widely circulate the search for a new School Board appointment, as the law requires, we wonder why they selected an organization with a defunct news blog with no circulation.  We wonder why, if the School District is not just playing politics, wouldn't they advertise the search request with the news blog with the largest circulation in the city?  Is it because the news blog with the largest circulation is also the one that has been critical of School District policies?  Is it because the proper news blog to sent notice of the search is the Emeryville Tattler, and the School District is ready to subvert its mandate to properly conduct the search instead of heaven forbid, acknowledge the existence of the Tatter?  We think that's the case here.

The Chamber of Commerce, a private company, has received money from the city for many years including $40,000 per year to produce The Emeryville Connection and ten years of free rent for their office.  In May, the city council gave the Chamber another $15,000.  They've obviously earned the respect of this council...enough to engage in a little mutual pay to play.

It's illuminating that of the two Emeryville organizations, the Chamber of Commerce and the Emeryville Tattler, the one that carries water for the city council majority, the one that gives re-election money to the council majority through its political action committee, versus the one that's critical and offers a dissenting view; it's the one that's a sycophant for the council majority that's routinely offered cash from the public coffers by this council.  That political patronage model may be an efficient way to maintain power for the council majority but it's not a proper way to conduct a widely circulated search for a school board appointee.

City Attorney Quietly Removes Provisions To Tear Down Elementary School

City Hall/School District Rescinds Offer To Allow Developer To Build Lofts On Elementary School Site

Tonight the Emeryville City Council and the Former Redevelopment Agency now known as the Successor Agency voted on a resolution that had been quietly purged of a previous section that offered up Anna Yates Elementary School and Ralph Hawley Middle School to the highest bidder for new condo and loft construction.
The resolution was changed sometime after the Tattler reported on its earlier incarnation on Sunday.  The City Attorney Mike Biddle and the council members refused to comment on the last minute change other than to acknowledge the fact that it had been changed.  Mr Biddle refused to answer specifically why the resolution had been re-written.  The new document makes no claim as to the fate of what had been formerly referred to as School District "surplus property".

Council member Nora Davis did not refute that the resolution had morphed, but she denied the previous language in the document that referred to the schools sell off ever existed, calling any mention of it "misinformation".  Tattler readers can view the previous resolution on their own, complete with the section on selling the elementary school and the middle school off to developers for demolition, HERE (please go to page four).

The City Council and the Successor Agency are comprised of the same people.

RULE Meeting

From Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE):

       Residents      United      for      a      Livable      Emeryville

Come and meet with other progressive Emeryvillians.  
We'll decide the agenda just before the meeting, so Steering Committee members, please arrive 20 minutes early!

Monthly Meeting
Sat. June 23, 10:00 - 12:00
Doyle St. Cohousing community room
5514 Doyle St. (between Stanford and 55th)


I hope to see you then!
For information, email or call Judy at 601-6521

Emeryville CFO New Finance Director Of Benicia

From the Oakland Tribune:

Emeryville chief financial officer named as Benicia finance director

By Tony Burchyns Vallejo Times-Herald

Posted:   06/18/2012 05:53:38 PM PDT

Updated:   06/18/2012 05:54:07 PM PDT

BENICIA -- The city has named Karan Reid, the city of Emeryville's chief financial officer, as its new finance director.

Reid, 49, is set to start her new position July 23, replacing interim Finance Director Bill Zenoni. She is the fourth new addition to Benicia's executive management team in the past 20 months following a series of retirements.

"The city was very lucky to get someone with Ms. Reid's extensive background and experience," City Manager Brad Kilger said. "Her management perspective is an ideal fit with the city's needs. We look forward to having Karan on board."

Reid brings with her more than 21 years of city finance experience. Her career in Emeryville spans 14 years as chief financial officer and accounting manager.

She began her public sector career with the city of Napa.

Benicia has been without a permanent finance director since Zenoni's predecessor, Rob Sousa, retired nearly a year ago. Retirements also have resulted in leadership changes within the city manager's office and the parks department.

Emeryville's $29 million general fund budget is about the same size as Benicia's, even though Benicia has nearly three times more residents. About 70 percent of Emeryville's revenues, Reid said, are derived from its robust business sector.

Reid, who lives in Walnut Creek, is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers and the Governmental Finance Officers Association. She holds a degree in business administration from the University of Arizona.

Parental Dissenters Given Warning By Oakland School District

The following posting from Oakland North and dated today, reveals a depth of depravity embodied by the Oakland Unified School District that is enough for the Tattler to forgive its 'Emeryville only' news policy.  It should be noted that Oakland's School Board, under the thrall of its Superintendent Tony Smith, formerly Emeryville's superintendent, is philosophically aligned with Emeryville's School Board.  This alignment is under-girded by the rubric of educational entrepreneurism with its laying off of teachers, cutting educational programs, wiping out public schools while setting up charter schools, and a top down metric with a reliance on private contractors spouting the need for this kind of radical rethinking.  This story of the Oakland Unified School District, a Galactic Empire with its Supreme Commander crushing parental dissenters, is a harbinger of how such a protest would likely play out here in Emeryville.


The absurd irony of peaceful protesters being warned about 'interfering with the good order' of a school the District has recently closed down is probably lost on the Oakland Unified School District.  If Oakland history is to be a guide, next will come the truncheons, pepper spray and concussion grenades as they drag anyone left off to jail. 

The following is what happens to parents and citizens who dissent  in Oakland:


Lakeview Elementary School encampment protesters given warning notice

A photo of the notice posted by the Oakland Police Department Monday morning. Photo courtesy of the protest group.

By: Yirmeyah Beckles | June 18, 2012 – 12:29 pm

More stories about Oakland school closures

• Concerned citizens protest school closures at OUSD board meeting
• At Oakland schools on the closure list, distraught pleas to reconsider
• Students and parents seek to stop school closure
• Outraged parents confront OUSD board over school closures
• OUSD school closures vote Wed follows years of creating small schools, then having to pay for them
• At OUSD school board meeting, parents and students rallied against proposed school closures
• OUSD meeting turns into emotional protest
• Oakland parents, teachers march to protest school closures
• Oakland parents on school closures: Where do we go?
• Reacting to closures, 3 Oakland public schools ask to become charters
• Parents to march to school board meeting, petition for recall of 5 board members
• Parents build tent city at Lakeview Elementary with help from Occupy Oakland protesters
• Lakeview Elementary School encampment protesters given warning notice

Protesters at an encampment that has Protesters at an encampment that has been growing for the last four days at Lakeview Elementary School, just off Grande Avenue, have been served with notices from the Oakland Unified School District to leave the school immediately and not return for 30 days. The notices were distributed Monday morning by Oakland Police Department officers who posted them over the outside gate of the school, the outer grounds and the school building.

The notice reads: “Safety, healthy and supportive schools require good order and peaceful conduct. Willful interference with the good order of a school is a misdemeanor. You are interfering with the good order and peaceful conduct of this school. You are directed to leave this school immediately and you may not return for 30 days. WARNING: if you return during the period you have been directed to stay away or if you violate this Notice, you are guilty of a crime under California Penal Code Sections 626.8, and you will be arrested.”

Parents, teachers and community activists have relied on the help of Occupy Oakland protesters to build their tent city and supply food for the crowd of approximately 30 peoplewho have been camping there since the protest began on Friday, June 15. The encampment is an effort to keep open five elementary schools—Lakeview, Lazear, Marshall, Maxwell and Sante Fe—that OUSD board members voted to close at the end of this school year. By Sunday, there were approximately nine tents set up by protesters on the school’s grounds. The group held a rally on Saturday that drew over 100 people. Read more about the weekend’s events here.

Teachers are holding garden activities with kids at Lakeview Elementary despite being served a notice to leave the grounds. Photo courtesy of the protest group.

So far the Lakeview protesters have not heeded the warning notice. According to an Alima Catellacci, an afterschool teacher at Lazear Elementary, teachers have opened the school’s doors and are holding classes inside the building with a curriculum that focuses on social justice issues. There are plans for children’s activities throughout the day that includes arts, sports and gardening.

As 12:15 p.m. no police enforcement was present on the campus, according to Catellacci. The protesters plans on having another rally in front of the school Monday at 4 p.m.

You can see Oakland North’s complete coverage of Occupy Oakland here. 

Connect with Oakland North on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

City Hall Reveals Plans For Anna Yates Elementary School : Sell To Developer

Elementary School To Be

Torn Down

Sold To Highest Bidder

A question much on the minds of Emeryville citizens has finally been answered by a new posting on the city's website. Citizens have been asking City Hall and School District officials what is to become of Anna Yates Elementary School after it is closed to makeway for the new Kindergarten through 12th grade school at the Center of Community Life? The answer has been revealed by the City Attorney in a staff presentation packet for a meeting at City Hall on Tuesday: It is to be torn down and sold off to a developer to build 43 lofts and condos.

The packet goes on to reveal the other surplus School District property, former middle school Ralph Hawley, is to be demolished and turned into 35 condo units.

Erosion Of Trust For School District

The School District has for years expressly told citizens selling off of the two schools will not happen after the Center of Community Life gets built. They refused to say however, even when asked directly, what would be the fate of the two properties...that is until now. The revelation of the plan to sell off the properties is likely to stoke an increasing erosion of trust with the public for the School District. It will likely empower the nascent grassroots group formed recently to save Anna Yates Elementary from the School District's formerly announced plan to abandon the popular school...it's one thing to abandon a school and quite another to demolish it. 

The City Attorney Mike Biddle has made the calculations to build lofts and condos as part of the appeal the city is making to Sacramento's Department of Finance from an earlier decision denying some $22 million in funds to help build the community center part of the Center of Community Life. After the break up of the State's redevelopment agencies, so-called 'successor agencies' were set up State-wide to wind down the redevelopment agencies and to finish up the work started but interrupted by the ruling from the Governor disbanding the agencies.

On the docket for Emeryville was the Center for Community Life's community center part to be paid by Emeryville's Redevelopment Agency and submitted by the city for the Department of Finance's consideration to continue funding it. The city of Emeryville lost that initial decision but it's now appealing and the decision that the "surplus" School District properties will be sold to developers is being forwarded to the State in order to show them they will receive increased tax increments from the new condo properties if they fund the Center of Community Life.

The city slated $25 million in city Redevelopment funds to be spent on the Center of Community Life, added to what was to be $95 million from voter backed Measure J school bond funds. Some $3 million of the city funds has already been spent before the State shut down and a plunging assessed valuation in Emeryville properties has lowered the Measure J bond raising capacity to about $40 million.

The following is the text of the staff presentation to be made to the the Successor Agency meeting on Tuesday at City Hall:

The ECCL Project envisions that grades K-12 will be located at the ECCL Project Site and thus the existing EUSD facilities at the Ralph Hawley Site along 61st Street and the Anna Yates Elementary Site along 41st Street may become surplus. Likewise, by locating the City’s recreation programs at the ECCL Project Site, the City’s existing recreation facility along San Pablo Avenue may likewise become surplus. While neither the City or EUSD have made any decision regarding the future use of these properties, if these sites are declared surplus and were disposed of for redevelopment, the City’s current general plan and zoning regulations would allow, by right, 35 dwelling units of approximately 1,100 square feet at the Ralph Hawley Site, 43 dwelling units of approximately 1,100 square feet at the Anna Yates Site, and 24 dwelling units of approximately 900 square feet and 3,120 square feet of commercial space at the Recreation Center Site. Assuming an average value of $300,000 per dwelling unit, the total estimated value of the 102 dwelling units is $30,600,000 which translates to approximately $306,000 in annual property taxes to be shared by the taxing entities from property that will certainly remain tax exempt if the ECCL Project does not go forward

The full PDF file from City hall can be accessed HERE.

Letter To The Tattler: Ken Bukowski

Former city councilman and progenitor and spokesman for the Emeryville Property Owners Association, Ken Bukowski says we need to rethink the planned bike/pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks at Bay Street called the South Bayfront Bridge.  The popular bridge was removed from consideration for funding by the State after the demise of the Redevelopment Agency, just as work was slated to begin.  Emeryville has already spent more than $2 million on consultants and engineers out of $13 million set aside by the Redevelopment Agency for construction of the bridge.  Mr Bukowski proposes going after Alameda County voter backed Measure B funds to complete the much needed bridge.
Here then is Mr Bukowski's letter:

.                 .                 .                  .

We Need The South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge

Let's Use Measure B Funds To Get It

As we move towards the November 2012 Election, is it possible for the City Council to support Measure B contingent on getting funds for the South Bayfront Bridge and potentially money for the Emery Go Round?

When the Alameda Transportation Authority came to the Council seeking support for Measure B, (extending the additional sales tax for transportation projects in Alameda County)  we still had the Redevelopment Agency.  But now, things are different.

Accordingly, the Council needs to re-examine its support for Measure B.

I will note: There is a huge imbalance of funds allocated for the South County which alone is reason to oppose the Measure.

The Measure includes funding for a Bart Extension to Livermore, (last time I checked BART extensions are about $250 million dollars per mile)  BART is the most expensive rapid rail system on Earth.

The anticipated ridership of the BART extension to Livermore does not justify spending the money.

BART is actually the reason why the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) exists.  A group of people in the Legislature in Sacramento gave the power to control all the transportation funding in the region to MTC instead of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to provide on-going and endless funding for BART.

Since its existence, the MTC robs every other transportation provider to use money for BART.  They have tried to eliminate the transbay bus service many times, and the reason we are replacing the east span of the Bay Bridge (hard to believe but it's true), is to make sure there is never another transbay rail crossing like the old Key Route trains which will compete with BART.  The new east span is being constructed with only one third the carrying capacity of the existing bridge to make sure passengers trains can never run on the bridge again. 

The MTC spends almost $400,000 per year on lobbyists which in turn finds its way back to former legislators who created MTC.  The BART train system they created is non standard gage rail.  Every other train in the world has standard gage rail which means any train can run on any rail line, except BART.

As a consequence every BART rail car must be custom built at the highest price.   The manufactures of BART trains contributed heavily to former Senator Quentin Kopp, John Foran and others.  This region really got the shaft.

In every other region of the United States, the transportation funds are handled by the regional Council of Governments.

Emery Go Round
The BART extension to Livermore and numerous other south county projects are funded with Measure B money.   We should also seek funds for the Emery Go Round to ease the burden of funding for Emeryville property owners.  The success of the Emery Go Round translates into higher property owner assessments.

Many property owners are not happy about the success of the Emery Go Round.  Some of these property owners have limited income, vacant office and warehouse space.  They are not collecting increased rent money from tenants to cover the increasing cost of the Emery Go Round assessments. 

 Over the objection of some property owners, the Emeryville Transportation Management Association is spending resources to look at other alternative modes of transportation, which some feel is inappropriate.

The point of this memo is we should push to fund a portion of the Emery Go Round with Measure B money.  The huge price tag for the BART extension alone would justify both of these causes.

 Many of these south county projects have no value to us folks in northern part of the county. 

There is 8% funding in Measure B for ped-bike projects and the South Bayfront Bridge is one that should certainly qualify.  If this is measure is approved, the transportation authority would have broad power to allocate funds for other projects.

The bridge is a cost effective investment, since we have already spent considerable money on project design and readiness. 


We provide lots of sales tax revenue to the county and state and we are not getting our fair share in return.

When support for Measure B was first considered, we still had a Redevelopment Agency.  We should pursue every possible means to accomplish the South Bayfront ped-bike bridge.

I'm asking the Council to revise support for Measure B, contingent on receiving funds for the South Bayfront Ped-Bike Bridge, and potentially for the Emery Go Round.

Ken Bukowski

www.EPOA.US