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Sunday, June 27, 2021

Tree Stumps on Horton Street Tell Us How Politics Works In Emeryville

 

The Stumps Are Telling Us How Broken City Hall Is


Emeryville Needs Tree Ordinance Reform 

The Ordinance is Too Weak to Save Trees


News Analysis

Tuesday June 15th 2021 has to go down in history as one of the low points in Emeryville politics.  That’s the date the City Council finally agreed to let the developer Lennar Corporation, kill every public street tree abutting their Sherwin Williams Horton Street project.  But this isn’t just a matter of a developer cutting our trees down.  That’s so common in Emeryville, it’s not even newsworthy.  Why the loss these particular trees is so notable is how revealing of the sycophantic culture at City Hall was the two year circuitous path that led to the stumps along Horton Street.  These stumps show us the how the government works at 1333 Park Avenue — how it works for developers, not for us.

Council members Dianne Martinez and Ally Medina
They're featured on one of the stumps their votes produced.
They steadfastly voted to cut all the Horton Street trees
over the years regardless of the wildly changing reasons
the staff has presented to them.

The final City Council vote to allow the developer to cut all the trees was 3-1 (Donahue dissenting).  The swing vote was delivered by the recently resigned Council member Christian Patz who changed his vote, his last vote as a City Council member incidentally, to allow Lennar to cut the trees.  Mr Patz told the Tattler he changed his vote after Mayor Dianne Martinez publicly announced right before the final vote that Lennar had before the Tuesday meeting, gone to the City staff to obtain a special ‘nuisance’ status for the trees that guaranteed the developer the right to cut the trees with or without the City Council.  Mr Patz said he felt at that point the trees were doomed and that the elected officials should take the heat for killing the trees, not the City staff.

Losing these street trees means a loss for the streetscape friendliness, the shade and cooling they provided and all the other benefits that can be said urban trees provide of course.  But it’s not that collectively we didn’t get anything in trade for agreeing to cut them.  What these stumps on Horton Street have bought us is the realization that our values in Emeryville, as codified by our ordinances, are only as strong as we live them.  As simple as it sounds, our ordinance meant to save our trees, the Urban Forestry Ordinance, can only actually save our trees if we vigilantly guard against developers who would cut them by living the life of the tree appreciators the UFO represents.   

That’s what’s missing at City Hall: tree appreciation.

Regrettable Backdrop

In 2018, Lennar went to City Hall seeking permission from the Planning Commission to kill all the street trees abutting their project.   The staff recommended the Commission permit the killing of all the trees along Sherwin Street claiming the existing trees didn’t match the developer’s desire for a different species and that Lennar had a right to a “unified streetscape” near their project (never mind this is not in the UFO).  After Planning Commission buy-in, the Council let that through and the Sherwin Street trees were all cut. 

Then there was the matter of the Horton Street trees, much grander and more visible than the Sherwin Street trees.  For those trees, the staff told the Planning Commission the Horton Street trees were all “unhealthy” and they must therefore all be cut.  But the Tattler pushed back and proved the City’s own arborist said the majority of the Horton trees were “fair” to “healthy”.  

Former City Councilman
Christian Patz

Frustrated by the vote, he said
'If there's a rule, Emeryville
will get around it'.

Undaunted, the staff, representing Lennar, still in 2018, told the City Council at the April 17th  meeting the Horton trees must all be cut because they would be in the way of underground utilities associated with the project.  Again, the Tattler led the drive to prove this was also false.  But not before the staff told the Council they must vote that night on the fate of the trees.  Council member Patz told the staff he resented the Hobson’s choice being offered that night and said he would therefore vote to save the trees. 

The vote that night was 2-2 with Council member Ally Medina joining Mayor Dianne Martinez in approving the cutting of the trees.  Council members Scott Donahue and Christian Patz voted against the cutting (Council member John Bauters is not allowed to vote on this because he lives too close to the project and state law forbids it).  The tie vote meant Lennar could not cut the trees. 

Backpedaling and still representing the interests of Lennar, the staff then reported the vote COULD be delayed and called for another vote at a later date.  

And delayed it was.  At the September 17th 2019 meeting, the matter of the Horton Street trees was back before the Council.  This time, the staff admitted the trees were not in the way of the underground utilities (save for one) and they had been wrong about that.  An “embarrassed” Council member Ally Medina publicly apologized for her earlier vote to cut the trees.  She said she had believed the staff when they said the trees were in the way of the underground utilities.

Undaunted, the staff, still working for Lennar in 2021, accepted the developer’s claim the Horton trees were “nuisances” before the final Council meeting on the 15th.  The nuisance designation meant that the trees would actually have to be cut by order from the City of Emeryville as an abatement against Lennar (never mind it was Lennar’s idea).  The nuisance designation also meant Lennar would not have to plant equal replacement trees as the UFO mandates.  The final deal was all the trees would be cut and a two inch sapling would be planted for each tree as well as five other small saplings planted elsewhere.

None of this stopped the two Councilwomen from claiming victory for the people of Emeryville.  Council member Ally Medina said the five saplings would make for a “greener and more beautiful city” while Mayor Martinez, told her colleagues she would not listen to their deliberations in the matter of the Horton trees, she said she had already made up her mind to kill the trees before the debate, “Let me indicate for you tonight, how I’m going to vote” she said.  Later, before the 3-1 vote, Mayor Martinez told everyone that despite her 2018 vote to kill the trees and despite her earlier in the meeting admitting she had already made up her mind, she told a shocked crowd, “Before, I was on the side of doing everything we could to save the trees, but now I’m on the side of having the healthiest and most vibrant trees we can”. 

The staff, working in the interest of Lennar Tuesday said the roots of the trees were close to the surface and that’s why they lifted the sidewalks there and that’s why they should be killed (the nuisance abatement notwithstanding).  The two Councilwomen seized that argument and ran with it but Christian Patz was incensed.  He admonished his two colleagues for their votes to kill the trees because there were no new facts presented Tuesday night he said, “The arborist said [back in 2018] these are known facts” he told his colleagues.  

It was after that, the Mayor, feeling the vote could be another 2-2 affair like the 2018 vote announced, “If we deadlock tonight,  the developer has the opportunity to go straight to our city administration and ask for waivers.  I just want to put that out there.”  And then Christian Patz changed his vote to a YES to allow Lennar to cut all our trees, his last vote as an Emeryville City Council member.  

Casting his last vote, Council member Patz, clearly pained, announced "I'm frustrated by the nature of Emeryville, which is, there's a rule, but we'll get around it".  And those were the final parting words to the people of Emeryville from the former Councilman.


The Former Sherwin Williams Horton Street Trees (on left)
The staff, working in the interests of the developer, falsely told the Council the trees
were unhealthy and in the way of underground utilities.  Those arguments weren't enough 
to convince the Council majority.  Only after the staff said the trees were designated as
"nuisances" and legally required to be cut, did Councilman Patz join his two women
 colleagues and vote to kill the trees
.

Monday, June 21, 2021

All The Sherwin Williams Trees Killed Today

The chainsaws started up this morning at 7:00 and by 2:00 they were just a bunch of stumps.  Photos of Mayor Martinez and Councilwoman Medina were nailed on the top of each stump.


Before 







After







Before



After










Friday, June 18, 2021

Come Say Goodbye to the Trees

The last weekend for the Sherwin Williams trees

Chainsaw Looming Next Week After Citizens Lose a Multi-Year Battle to Save the Trees

Emeryville tree lovers have likely lost a multi-year battle to save blocks of public street trees on Horton Street after a contentious City Council meeting on Tuesday night.  Lennar development workers today removed the protective straw wrappings from around the public street trees joining the Sherwin Williams project after the developer, working with the city staff, invoked a little known and never before used ‘nuclear option’ back door in Emeryville’s Urban Forrest Ordinance (UFO) enabling the for profit development corporation to cut down all the people’s trees without oversight from the elected officials.  The removal of the protective wrapping for the trees, running for three blocks along Horton Street, indicated Lennar and the City will likely move forward with their plan to cut down all the trees despite an announced emergency grassroots citizen proposal to save the trees until voters can weigh in on the issue in November.  

In the days to come, the Tattler will report a detailed piece on Tuesday night's last ditch use of the UFO nuclear option by the staff and Lennar.  The option, inserted into the UFO by staff several years ago, has never been optioned and was considered by many to be too bold for a developer to leverage barring some kind of emergency. The Tattler reported that the trees were saved after Lennar lost a split Council vote two years ago to cut them all.  

In the meanwhile come and say good bye to the trees that will likely all be killed to enhance Lennar’s profit margin in the controversial Sherwin Williams housing project.

The corner of Sherwin and Horton Street looking north.


Workers took the protective wrappings off the trees today
(seen cast against the building).


Come Say Good Bye
By Friday evening they'll likely all be cut down.


Sunday, June 13, 2021

Public Meeting Called About Controversial Sherwin Williams Toxic Waste Cleanup

 State Toxic Waste Regulators Hosting Important Update on Emeryville’s Contaminated Sherwin Williams Redevelopment Site


A century of chemical and paint manufacturing left behind dangerous levels of industrial contamination at a large site along Horton Street being redeveloped for housing.

On Thursday, officials from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) will present a “Five year review” of attempts to remove and mitigate contamination, and detail the potential health threats to those choosing to live at the site, or spend long periods of time there. 

DTSC Officials will collect public input at the on-line meeting, though members of the public must RSVP. You can do so here: https://dtsccagov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pwIiJEamSkOhYkqmKkOB4Q

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 17 from 6:30-8 pm

A DTSC employee and former Sherwin Williams project manager has criticized both the developer, Lennar Multi-family, and  DTSC colleagues, accusing Lennar of cutting corners, changing testing criteria in order to reduce costs and speed the project. 

Toxic concentrations of the following compounds have been documented on the site.

Arsenic 

Lead 

Petroleum 

Volatile Organic Compounds 

In the early decades of operation, it was common practice to dispose of such waste in unlined pits. 

Technical issues left from the cleanup include possible VOC intrusion into ground floor residences at the future Sherwin Williams development, the arbitrary changing of soil cleanup levels by DTSC and groundwater arsenic concentrations flowing unchecked from the site according to the former project manager.

Thursday's public meeting is being held in response to citizen complaint about the Sherwin Williams site.

Project related documents: https://www.envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/public/profile_report?global_id=60000189

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Breaking News: City Action Leads to Rob Arias, E'Ville Eye Editor to Sell His Former Emeryville Home

 Breaking: City to Take Back its Affordable Home Previously Owned by E'Ville Eye Editor

Tattler Initiated Investigation Prompts City Action

BMR Program Beneficiary May Have Violated Conditions

Tonight, the Emeryville City Council effectuated the sale of the former home of embattled local gadfly and self styled political pundit Rob Arias who had been enrolled in the City’s Below Market Rate housing assistance program since 2003.  The Council took the action unanimously in a ‘consent calendar’ vote at the regularly scheduled Council meeting.  Mr Arias’ unit was taken back by the City in a responsive action to complaints after an investigation into the legitimacy of the contract Mr Arias had with the City regarding the habitation of his unit.  Under contract, all recipients of BMR ownership assisted housing in Emeryville must sign a yearly contract holding the unit as a ‘primary residence’ for 10 months out of every year, a condition the City may have found to be false in the case of Rob Arias.  A January 11th Tattler story revealed Mr Arias had purchased a two bedroom home in the city of Pleasant Hill in 2019.  Tonight's Council action was initiated by the City of Emeryville and initially challenged by Mr Arias but ultimately agreed to.

E'Ville Eye Editor Rob Arias
He has owned a home with his wife 
and child in the city of Pleasant Hill 
since 2019.
As a result of  tonight's action in the Council chambers, Rob Arias' unit, #322 at 1500 Park Avenue, will soon be wholly owned by the City of Emeryville and will be put back into service as affordable housing for low income people who want to live in Emeryville.  The City will buy back the below market rate unit from Mr Arias for $338,200.  After an inspection of the unit, a list of repairs was issued before the sale happens and the City takes possession. 

The Tattler first broke the story of the Arias residence in Emeryville after it was found Mr Arias and his wife purchased a home in Pleasant Hill in May 2019 for $630,000 while continuing to hold his Emeryville government assisted affordable unit.  The City launched an investigation as a result of the Tattler story and citizen complaints that came from it.  The current value of the two bedroom two and a half bath Pleasant Hill home is $751,000.  

Rob Arias, the editor of the right wing pro-business E’Ville Eye ‘community’ news site, has continued to tell his readers he lives in the Park Avenue district and that his “hyper local” E’Ville Eye is the voice of the community.  

Simultaneous with the Arias unit, the City of Emeryville is reviewing the entire BMR program for compliance city-wide in a process that is ongoing and has not been completed yet.  

The Tattler will continue to file public records requests investigating the sale of unit #322 at Park Avenue and other BMR units in the city and report in the days to come.  Watch this space.