Why Family Friendly Housing?

The Primary Reason We Want Families is Being Ignored

News Analysis/Opinion
The Emeryville Tattler has long chronicled the radical dysfunction surrounding family friendly housing in our town.  We've noted how everyone says they love family friendly housing and they want family friendly housing and how it's past due to get family friendly housing.  Developers too say they want family friendly housing and each residential project they build they assure us is family friendly (even though families aren't moving into them).  The City Hall staff says they're all about family friendly housing.  The internal planning guidelines at City Hall, the General Plan and the Housing Element,  direct the decision makers how to get family friendly housing.  The City Council says it's imperative we build family friendly housing.  They put it in their campaign literature; 'vote for me and I'll deliver family friendly housing' they say at election time.  And so we elect them and yet we still can't seem to get family friendly housing built in Emeryville.  When it comes to family friendly housing, Emeryville is so pathologically dysfunctional, it's the little city that can't.
Either that or there's an anti-family friendly hidden agenda lurking at City Hall.  The Tattler certainly has hinted as much over the years.

But let's take everybody at their word for sake of argument.  Let's say the oft repeated sentiments are real and everybody wants family friendly housing built in Emeryville (but City Hall is presumably just too inept and incompetent).

Nobody has ever asked why though.  Why do we want family friendly housing?  It's just taken as a given that families are inherently good things to have in your town.
Aside from a few WC Fields style naysayers, people would want families in Emeryville for two primary reasons; one is for diversity, because it's stultifying to have too many adults.  Children can be uplifting and life affirming.  But the primary reason we want families is to support our public schools.  We want to support the schools because of the general belief in continuing on and helping the next generation like we were helped, surely.  But in Emeryville we also want to support the schools because we're so heavily invested in them.  We've borrowed money up to the hilt to build the Center of 'Community' Life and we don't want to see our investment squandered.

Understanding all this, there's a specific existential problem here.  The problem is an irrational municipal code.  City Hall has correctly identified the problem of the lack of family friendly housing but hasn't correctly identified a critical metric for how to deliver more children to the schools.  The problem is Emeryville's municipal code and planning guidelines don't make the vital connection between family friendly housing and affordable housing.  As it stands now, family friendly housing in Emeryville needn't be affordable.  This assures that even if we did start to build family friendly housing, we would subvert the primary reason for building it.  And that's because wealthy and upper middle class families, the only ones that can afford to buy in Emeryville now, won't send their children to our public schools.  Those kids go to private schools. That's been well documented.  Only the desire for diversity part of bringing families to Emeryville is being addressed by our polity.  The biggest part, supporting the schools, is left out of consideration entirely.

We know why Emeryville is set up for failure with this.  It's because developers don't want to build affordable housing of any kind, let alone family friendly affordable housing.  This placating of the desires of developers is a relic left over from before our newly elected City Council majority.  The new Council can fix this irrational piece of tautological incoherence at City Hall.  We may not be able to force developers to deliver affordable family friendly housing as much as we would like but we should at least stop deluding ourselves and craft a cogent and rational polity surrounding it.  From now on, affordability should be part and parcel of being family friendly; the two are inexorably connected.  If it's not affordable housing, it's not family friendly housing and if it's family friendly, it's affordable.

Let's get to work.  First we need to fix the documents, then we can start bringing in the families.  Kids are nice to have around, it's true, but more importantly we've got hundreds of millions of dollars in public money being spent on the schools at the Center of 'Community' Life that needs supporting.

Imagine
the future of Emeryville

Sherwin Williams Project to be the Densest Residential Development in Emeryville History

Ultra Density: Sherwin Williams Project to Break 100 Units Per Acre

Pacific Park Plaza
At 30 stories, less dense than
Sherwin Williams.
Built by Lathrop Construction:
a bunch of pikers compared 
to Ernst & Dorfman.

Opinion
As Emeryville's Sherwin Williams development project is fast tracked through the approval process, having completed the Environmental Impact Report scoping requirements this week, Emeryville residents have been introduced to a new concept: ultra density, the greater than 100 units per acre residential development.  The developers for the project have pulled out all the stops and tweaked their plan to cash in on Emeryville's generous "density bonus" accommodations, pushing the project past the never before achieved in Emeryville greater than 100 units per acre boundary.   The developers have not released exactly how dense they intend the project to be.
The ultra dense project at over 500 all rental units will allow the developers, Joe Ernst Principle at SRM Ernst Development Partners and Bruce Dorfman of Thompson/Dorfman Partners to maximize their profits but it will massively impact the entire city of Emeryville with thousands of extra vehicle trips per day clogging up our streets.

Emeryville has allowed some very dense residential projects in the past, but none have eclipsed the 100 units per acre level.  Here is a breakdown of the five densest residential developments in Emeryville:

Bruce Dorfman
"We build high quality
urban development."
That's why instead I live 
in Mill Valley.

1. Christie Park Towers   100 units/acre
2. Pacific Park Plaza   99 units/acre
3. 1401 Park Avenue   92 units/acre
4. Emeryville Warehouse Lofts   69 units/acre
5. Courtyards @ 65th Street   68 units/acre

Traffic generated by the Sherwin Williams project, a so-called Planned Unit Development located in the Park Avenue neighborhood, will likely forever gridlock 40th Street and Hollis Street but Mr Dorfman and Mr Ernst will build a small park in the project as compensation.

Joe Ernst
We wouldn't live in any of
 our residential developments
but trust us, you'll really
like it, Emeryville.

Bruce Dorfman, a resident of Mill Valley in Marin County was asked about the extreme density proposed at Sherwin Williams this morning and he ducked the question responding simply, "We build high quality urban development".  That may be but if this level of density is an inherent good, we're left wondering why he himself lives in a town that allows only 7 units per acre for single family residences and no more than 29 units/acre for multi-family residential projects.
Bruce's partner for this project, Joe Ernst lives in a "1919 bungalow" in Alameda.  That's a town that allows only up to 8.7 units/acre for residential Planned Unit Developments.
Interesting, these guys don't live in any of the projects they've built and they prefer to live in such low density environments.

We should consider these developers aren't looking out after our best interests.
Emeryville residents should decide among themselves how much density is good for our town.  We shouldn't simply leave it up to a couple of profit seeking developers from Mill Valley and Alameda with a cock and bull story about how great it's gunna be when traffic is gridlocked in our town.  We need a debate around this issue and now that we've elected a new City Council that will listen to us, we say let's get the conversation started.  Sorry Joe 'n Bruce; we're going to not just take your word for it how wonderful this level of density you're proposing for us is.  We're taking control of our town.  Stay tuned.

City-Wide Minimum Wage is Coming to Emeryville Says Councilman

Emeryville Set to Lead on Minimum Wage

The Emeryville City Council Tuesday night unanimously expressed their desire to explore imposing a city-wide minimum wage ordinance setting the rate at $14.03 per hour possibly as early as July, an eventuality Councilman Scott Donahue chose to clarify today. "City-wide minimum wage is coming to our town and Emeryville's rate should not be less than Oakland's new minimum wage" he said, expelling any notions he would balk at the idea as reported by the East Bay Express last week.
"As long as there's no harm to the workers, I'm amenable to creating a pathway to a $15 per hour minimum wage" the Councilman added.  Oakland's rate approved by their City Council starts at $12.25 effective March 1st but won't hit $15 until sometime after 2021 if at all.

Councilman
Scott Donahue
Wants a path to $15
per hour minimum wage.

Mayor Ruth Atkin proposed the $14.03 city-wide rate Tuesday to match Emeryville's existing 'living wage' ordinance for City employees and City vendors.  The Council agreed in principal to the Mayor's proposal with added worker protections and an annual cost of living increase baked in. They ordered the staff to put together an agenda item to that effect for future consideration.  The $14.03 rate, if implemented this summer, would place Emeryville's minimum wage rate as the highest in the nation, but presumably only for a few years until eclipsed by San Francisco's new law that will set that city's minimum wage at $15 in 2018.  It's now set at $12.25.  Seattle will hit $15 in 2017 for companies with more than 500 employees.  Emeryville would hit $15 per hour at an undisclosed date, depending on increases pegged to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rate.

Council member Donahue, reported by the East Bay Express to be the only naysayer among the Emeryville City Council members said he needs to see the studies that show how workers will benefit to be convinced precisely where to set the minimum rate.  The business community's vocal concerns wouldn't be as compelling he said, accepting a rate high enough to possibly drive out some businesses that currently pay poverty wages, "There might be some loss of marginal businesses in town" he noted, "but overall we're looking for a net gain for workers with this".  He added, "We need to find the right balance".

Workers Picket Oaks Card Room: No Contract, Low Wages, Unaffordable Healthcare

Workers assembled in front of the Oaks Club card room Wednesday to agitate for a contract that would increase wages and lower employee health care costs.  Unite Here 2850 organizers, a service workers union, noted the Oaks Club has not offered a contract to employees for several years and employees have to pay an ever escalating contribution for health insurance, now pegged at $533 per month for family coverage.  The protest drew some 75 picketers including Emeryville's newest Council members Dianne Martinez and Scott Donahue who addressed the workers via the PA system, assuring the throng the City Council supports them and that the Council will deliver a city-wide minimum wage soon.  Protesters told the Tattler dishwashers at the Oaks Club make only $11.17 per hour. 

The Oaks Club has been in hot water with the law recently.  The card room, in business since the 1890's, has recently been the site of  FBI stings for loan sharking and money laundering.  
Even though the gambling establishment has famously attracted a criminal element to Emeryville, the Oaks has for years paid very little by way of taxes to the City.  In a move to rectify that, in 1997, Emeryville voters overwhelmingly passed Measure B which increased the gross receipts tax on the Oaks Club to 9% from 6.5 %.  The increase however still left the Oaks with a lower municipal tax than any other card room in the Bay Area (which charge up to 13%).  Measure B was hotly contested and the owner of the Oaks Club, John Tibbetts told voters before the election, the proposed card room tax increase would likely drive him out of business, forcing him to fire all his employees and close down his 100 year Emeryville family run business.  The tax increase for the Oaks passed by 63% of Emeryville voters needing only at least 50%.

Campaign Donation: Quid Pro Quo?
The current labor strife has been brewing for several months and Council members Martinez and Donahue interceded on behalf of the workers recently in a meeting between Oaks Club managers and workers the two new Council members report.  Councilman Donahue noted a manager at that meeting asked incredulously and overtly why he and Ms Martinez were siding with the workers since Oaks Club owner John Tibbetts had donated money to the two Council member's election campaigns in November.  

Emeryville Whole Foods Labor Dispute

Whole Foods Emeryville corporate headquarters
on Friday.

Workers set up a protest command at Emeryville's Whole Foods regional headquarters at 5980 Horton Street Friday to draw Emeryville resident's attention to unfair working conditions at the grocery chain.  Management at the Emeryville headquarters refused to comment to the Tattler Friday but protesters said Whole Foods is not operating in good faith with regards to their workers especially as it pertains to wages. 
Whole Foods, an Austin TX based grocery chain has 406 stores worldwide with 87,000 employees.  The corporation made $14 billion last year. 

The following article, from The Nation magazine, notes the Emeryville connection in the labor dispute:

Surprise: Whole Foods Is Not the World’s Greatest Employer

Michelle Chen 

With its dazzling array of exorbitantly priced eco-friendly products, Whole Foods Market fosters a love-hate relationship with customers who’ve gotten hooked on its cornucopia of guilty-liberal indulgences. But the company’s labor relations are even more sour, as workers grow increasingly frustrated that their workplaces aren’t nearly as progressive as the green-branding rhetoric.

Going beyond the usual grumbling about hipster commercialism, some rank-and-file workers are challenging the management to live up to the company’s purported values when it comes to treating its workers fairly.

Last week, dozens of Whole Foods employees in San Francisco partnered with the radical union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to protest a labor system that they say degrades workers while catering to wealthy consumers, and contributes to the city’s economic polarization. This Friday, they are taking their grievances to the regional corporate office in Emeryville, California. Their demand is simple: “a $5 an hour wage increase for all employees, and no retaliation for organizing their union.” Their message for Whole Foods—to live up to its brand’s much-hyped enlightened capitalist values—is more complicated.

The campaign kicked off at the South of Market Whole Foods, where workers rallied and presented a petition, signed by about fifty employees, demanding better working conditions. Like other retail workers, they say that their earnings, at $11.25 to $19.25 per hour, lag behind the exploding cost of living (about $30 an hour is needed to afford a regular one-bedroom apartment in the area). Today, they plan to threaten further job actions if the management did not heed their concerns.

Whole Foods declined to comment to The Nation. But evangelically libertarian CEO John Mackey has historically taken an anti-labor stance, comparing unions with “herpes.”

Campaigners say that while sustainability is on display on many of the store’s labels, it’s in short supply for employees whose wages cannot provide for their basic needs, even as the company champions green capitalism as a path to prosperity for workers and consumers alike.

“It’s basically impossible to live in the San Francisco area or in many parts of the country on what people get paid at Whole Foods,” says Tim Maher, an organizer who used to work in the specialties department at the Bay Area store and now works for Whole Foods in Boston. “The long-term trajectory is even more frightening. Just seeing people who’ve been there eight or ten years, and knowing that they’re making just a couple dollars more, makes it really difficult to think about having a family, or supporting more than just myself.”

Though Whole Foods boasts of socially responsible business practices—including support for farmworkers’ rights campaigns and fair-trade growers abroad—the campaign says its own shop floors “reflect the low industry standards that dominate food and retail industries.” They complain of “constant understaffing, inconsistent hours” and “[c]ondescending managers who prioritize ‘growth’ while slashing labor.” Their day-to-day jobs involve “uncreative, emotionally destructive, and irrational work,” and more direct hazards like “repetitive motion injuries [and] customer abuse,” which all adds up to a workplace climate rife with the demoralizing stress and high turnover typical of many low-wage sectors.

The campaigning workers demand regularly scheduled raises, more comprehensive healthcare and retirement plans, and more paid time off, which “allows us to live a life beyond work and to participate with our families and communities.” This call for work-life balance is surely something slow-food lifestyle enthusiasts would appreciate, right?

But can Whole Foods customers appreciate the real value of the labor of overworked cheese department staffer, who cuts back on time spent with her kids while juggling evening and weekend shifts? Because workers are also fed up with the store’s scheduling practices. Despite the management’s past promises to offer more stable shifts with advanced notice, Maher says, the San Francisco store would keep both full-time and part-time workers in limbo by giving them only a few days lead time when posting the following week’s shift schedules, which left him “not knowing, basically, three days ahead of time what my schedule is going to be like, and knowing it could change at any moment. And there’s just no consistency.”

Workers also claim the company is driving to expand part-time positions to displace full-time work, which would make working conditions even more precarious. Meanwhile, however, the company just launched a campaign to market its corporate morals, trumpeting credos like “Employees need more love,” and “Values Matter.”

Whole Foods, which has been accused of monopolistic practices in its dominance of green-agriculture markets, has previously thwarted attempts by workers to organize. (A campaign to formally unionize workers in Madison, Wisconsin, crumbled in 2004 after the management launched a hostile propaganda campaign.)

But the San Francisco activists hope to bank on the perfect storm of economic pressures in the Bay Area: massive gentrification hollowing out the city’s working-class communities; neoliberal labor market driving workers in all sectors toward harsh and unstable working conditions; and rising public consciousness about holistic sustainability, based on equity across the food chain, from the farm to the produce aisle.

With its radical syndicalist ethos, the IWW has been working to organize the unorganized laborers of this new precariat, including that other yuppy icon, Starbucks. Still, with the Whole Foods empire spanning hundreds of stores in the United States, Canada and Britain with 80,000 employees, the San Francisco campaign has plenty of retail organizing to do, store by store.

According to Maher, a formal union election, under the federal certification process, seems unnecessarily arduous, because already, “We have an organized group of workers willing to take job actions to win our demands, and that’s all we need to be a successful union.”

The San Francisco store actions might spark a movement that spreads to other regions, but Maher says it depends on whether veteran workers maintain faith that they can improve conditions by building solidarity inside the workplace: “If any real changes are going to happen, it’s because the people who have been there the longest are going to stand up and fight and continue that struggle.”

Maybe Whole Foods employees have taken the “values matter” credo to heart in ways that their boss didn’t anticipate.

Emeryville Wins Court Appeal on Three Redevelopment Projects

Bike/Ped Bridge & Art Center Back on Track 

Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Bldg
by Coolcaesar. (Wikimedia Commons)

The California Court of Appeal in Sacramento today affirmed a lower court's ruling in favor of Emeryville regarding three challenged redevelopment projects. The State Department of Finance had sought to block the projects and return the related money to state coffers. The on again off again projects were intended to fund the 53rd Street bridge over the railroad tracks to Bay Street known as the South Bayfront Bike/Ped Bridge, the Art Center, and the so-called "Transit" Center next to the Amtrak Station.

The Court of Appeal's decision interprets the relevant state statutes in Emeryville's favor, finding that Emeryville, as Successor to the Redevelopment Agency, was entitled to re-enter the agreements necessary to continue pursuing these redevelopment projects. These agreements were also agreed to by the Oversight Committee and the court concluded they were within their rights to do so.

While the former Redevelopment Agency's contributions to the Bike/Ped Bridge and Art Center might not be enough to fund these projects completely, this win certainly puts those projects on a sounder financial footing. The so-called "Transit" Center with its overwhelming commercial purpose and backers was likely to be built regardless of this outcome, but now we can rest easy that a developer will likely get one last giveaway from Emeryville's former Redevelopment Agency.

It is not yet clear whether the State will seek to appeal this decision to the California Supreme Court.

The roller coaster ride of these project's approvals can be viewed:
South Bayfront Bike /Ped Bridge HERE and HERE
Art Center HERE and HERE
"Transit" Center HERE and HERE

RULE Meeting

Emeryville City-Wide Minimum Wage on RULE's Agenda

Residents United For A Livable Emeryville

Come and meet your progressive neighbors and make Emeryville what 

you want it to be!

Saturday January 17

Meeting 10:00 -12:00Doyle St. CoHousing, 5514 Doyle St., 1st floor common room

Agenda*

-Minimum Wage and workers' rights
-Sherwin Williams Update

-Representation on the Transportation Committee

-RULE in 2015

Facilitator:  Lillian Schroth

Note-Taker (minutes):  April Atencio

*subject to additions and changes

Restoration Hardware "Pop-Up Sale" Causes Horton Street Traffic Mayhem

Traffic came to a standstill on Horton Street this weekend when a major luxury furniture retail chain held a "pop up" warehouse sale resulting in a gridlocked street; "traffic mayhem" as one Emeryville police officer described it.  With discounts of up to 85% advertised, horns were blaring, profanity was shouted and threats were issued after a swarm of frenzied shoppers double and triple parked, blocking the street as drivers attempting to negotiate the street were caught unawares Saturday.  Police were summoned when the action got particularly intense.
It was a case of shoppers engaging in bad taste boorish behavior to buy their furniture in order to show their good taste refined aesthetics.

With no parking made available, an unidentified police officer noted the event coordinators didn't provide adequate planning including traffic monitoring and flag personnel.

The sale is being conducted by publicly traded RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware), a Corte Madera based 3000 employee retail giant with 68 stores across the nation.  An RH manager employee at the Horton Street event refused to comment on the pandemonium, "What can we do?" he said.

A check on their prospectus showed RH net $487 million last quarter, not enough apparently to spend a little to run their sale in an orderly manner to not cause mayhem in our town.

Last weekend was called "round one" for the three week sale according to a company e-mail blast.  Next weekend will be the final in the event; what they're ominously calling "round three" in the RH / Emeryville traffipocalypse.  This weekend it almost came to blows between drivers with threats of fisticuffs in the streets.  Let's hope round three is not going to result in a TKO for Emeryville.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Announces Retirement

Bob Canter

Bob Canter, Emeryville Chamber of Commerce President & CEO, announced at the City's Economic Development Committee today he will be retiring from his position at the Chamber at the end January to seek "a new path" in his life.  In an accompanying  press release, the Chamber noted Mr Canter has been at the helm there for 13 1/2 years but, "the time to retire comes for everyone."
Mr Canter was appointed as the first-ever President and CEO of the Chamber in 2001 and he ushered in a period of growth for the 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation during his tenure.
Mr Canter told the Tattler, "The search for my replacement hasn't begun" but he said the Board of Directors will conduct a search.

Mr Canter noted he is approaching 64 years old and it is in the best interests of Chamber of Commerce and himself and his family for him to step down at this time.
Long a resident of Martinez California, Bob will relocate to northern Florida with his wife upon retirement.

Emeryville Becomes a National Model for Social Justice

Los Angeles Looks to Emeryville

for Inspiration

News Analysis
Ten years ago, two opposing forces in Emeryville began gearing up for an epic battle that would culminate in a November election, testing the voter's will for social justice.  That election battle, Measure C, also known as the 'living wage for Emeryville hotel workers', resulted in the first industry specific minimum wage law in California history.  And it's been hugely influential as municipalities across the West Coast and the Nation start looking to Emeryville's lead.
After two unsuccessful lawsuits were brought challenging the new law, Measure C has moved on, as it was designed to, providing Emeryville hotel housekeepers with significant wage increases and other benefits while also serving as impetuous for similar such laws protecting hotel workers in other cities such as Long Beach in 2012 and Los Angeles in 2014.  Seattle and nearby Sea Tac Washington used the Long Beach and Los Angeles law as a model for their respective city-wide minimum wage laws recently passed.

EBASE's
Jennifer Lin
"Emeryville has
been very
influential."

Measure C comports Emeryville's values but it also has shown the Nation as a whole how cities can serve as loci for their community's values.
"Other cities are looking at what happened in Emeryville, with increased worker wages that ripple to the rest of the economy" said Jennifer Lin, Deputy Director at East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), a local community organization working for economic justice issues for working families, "Emeryville's been very influential" she added.  EBASE's efforts and the efforts of UNITE HERE-Local 2850 in 2005 were essential to getting Measure C before Emeryville voters.
Ms Lin noted that Emeryville, despite its small size, shines as an inspiration to other, larger cities, "Living wages for hotel workers caught on with other cities...they took the Emeryville model and scaled it up" she said.

This is What Democracy Looks Like
Post Measure C Victory: Woodfin fight 
The battle at the ballot box was only the first; one
law breaking hotel sought to subvert Emeryville
voter's will.  Near daily protests were conducted
 at the Woodfin Suites Hotel.

An easy win at the ballot box for Measure C belied the opposition's tenacity and apocalyptic rhetoric.  The fight for the Measure was fierce and battle lines were drawn, with nine out of ten elected officials in Emeryville warning of a massive economic calamity if the Measure were to pass.  Residents weren't impressed with that argument and Measure C won with 54% of the vote despite a mountain of cash thrown at it from the NO side to see it defeated.  Living wages are very popular with Emeryville residents we've found out.

The NO on Measure C side called itself the "Committee to Keep Tax Dollars in Emeryville" (as in; hotels will flee Emeryville if this passes) raised and spent $115,000, a huge amount for an Emeryville election ($110 for each NO vote as it turned out).  The funding came almost entirely from the hotels and the Chamber of Commerce, who put up everything they had against the ordinance.  Residents were told the sky would fall if Measure C passed; the Emeryville hospitality industry would be wiped out, sending the town's finances into a tailspin they said.  'It's not for a lack of caring, everyone wants higher pay for the working poor but we have to be realistic', the voters were told.
In fact the opposite has occurred over the proceeding ten years; all the hotels from 2005 (except Woodfin was bought out by Hyatt) are still here and a new hotel has even been approved.  The number of Emeryville hotels has gone from four to five since Measure C passed.

John Gooding
He consolidated the
Power Elite in town.
Hotels will leave
Emeryville en masse
if Measure C is passed,
all will be lost!

As the people voted YES on the living wage ordinance, virtually the entire Emeryville Power Elite rallied against it.
Emeryville political power broker and business lobbyist John Gooding took a leadership role in attempting to defeat Measure C.  Mr Gooding joined with the Chamber of Commerce and convinced the entire Emeryville City Council (save Ruth Atkin) to sign their names to the NO side as well as the entire Planning Commission and the entire School Board.

2005 was also a City Council election year and candidates Dick Kassis (incumbent) and his slate mate, Ed Treuting  both conspicuously ran on an anti-Measure C platform while challenger John Fricke endorsed Measure C as part of his platform.  Some election watchers claim that support for a living wage is what gave Mr Fricke the edge he needed to decisively win his election bid as he did.
The debate was heated and Councilwoman Nora Davis went as far as calling Emeryville residents that spoke out in favor of Measure C "dupes for EBASE", a charge she may have wished to take back after the 54% of Emeryville residents said YES to living wages for our town.

Emeryville's Influence:
Less this...

Measure C delivered the goods: In the first five years there were $1.168 million in wage increases for the workers according to a study conducted by EBASE.  Many workers were able to survive on their own and support their families without government assistance after the Measure C passage while the hotels were found to have their costs increase less than 2%.  Many workers got pay increases of up to $5 per hour, translating into an extra $5000 per year to help families make ends meet. Over 100 workers were helped in the new law's first year alone.

...more this.

It's ironic that the politicians at Emeryville City Hall and at the Emery Unified School District, the same bodies that railed against Measure C in 2005 have long boasted about how Emeryville is becoming a national model.  It is clear they are correct, but not in the way they think.  Emeryville's influence is not being felt in terms of schools as community centers as a result of the construction of the Emeryville Center of 'Community' Life as these people would have you believe but rather in labor relations, social justice and the rise of minimum wage law.

As the 10 year anniversary approaches, Emeryville residents would be excused if they felt a little civic pride in the prescience of our very influential landmark minimum wage ordinance: Measure C.
We rock (editorial).

Living Wages for Hotel Workers Started in Emeryville

Now it's Taking Off Everywhere

Here's a source of real Emeryville civic pride: After retaliatory firing of workers, 

the workers successfully forced the Woodfin Suites Hotel to pay their back wages as 

mandated by Measure C.  After the Emeryville Power Elite including the City Council, 

lost their battle against Measure C at the ballot box, City Hall implemented the 

new law, forcing the Woodfin fight.
Wage increases for the working poor among us is the will of the people of Emeryville.