City Council Candidates Q&A: Final Answers
November 8th, Emeryville voters will decide on two new four year City Council members who will replace Scott Donahue and Dianne Martinez, both of whom decided to not run for a third term. This election, voters will select between Sukhdeep Kaur, David Mourra, Kalimah Priforce, Eugene Tssui, and Brooke Westling.
The Tattler has come up with 10 questions we think the people of Emeryville would like to ask their prospective new council members and all but Brooke Westling responded to our questionnaire. We released the first three questions from all four candidates October 16th and we now follow with questions four through seven. The first three questions may be seen HERE and the second set of four questions can be seen HERE.
The order of presentation is random.
Here then are the last three questions:
First up is David Mourra. The candidate's website is HERE.
8) Emeryville has the East Bay’s lowest number of people per housing unit at 1.7. This number shows we have the fewest families per capita of any city in the East Bay. Presuming you don’t like this, what should be done that hasn’t been done to make Emeryville more family friendly?
David Mourra: I agree that new developments should better accommodate families. This means more 2 and 3 bedroom units. Developers respond to economic incentives. We should look closer at how the city allocates development bonus points and look at potentially more favorable weighting of family friendly units.
9) Some 25 years ago, Emeryville was a city of majority homeowners. Now we’re a city of majority renters (71%). Is this a good trend? If not, what would you do differently that the current City Council hasn’t done to solve this?
David Mourra: This problem is not unique to Emeryville. California has seen an increase in rental units vs units for purchase. The economics of housing has favored rental construction in recent years. There are different explanations for this including the favorable economics of rentals due to the difficulty of affording a down payment amid record high home prices. Increasing the overall stock of housing, rental or otherwise, will reduce housing costs across the board and bring balance to housing options. After decades of underbuilding housing in California, we are finally starting to address the housing crisis in a meaningful way– by building more housing.
10) Emeryville is one of the last cities in the East Bay to still have all public meetings conducted by Zoom. All other cities (except Oakland) are now doing ‘hybridized’ meetings, meaning open to the public as well as available by Zoom. When should Emeryville allow public meetings again (including hybridized)?
David Mourra: The ability to participate in public meetings via teleconference tools like Zoom has greatly expanded access and given voice to people who otherwise would not have been able to participate due to demands from work or family obligations. A hybrid approach seems sensible in the future. However, the question of how to structure a hybrid approach and the costs and logistics associated with this needs to be assessed.
Next up is Eugene Tssui. The candidate's website is HERE.
8) Emeryville has the East Bay’s lowest number of people per housing unit at 1.7. This number shows we have the fewest families per capita of any city in the East Bay. Presuming you don’t like this, what should be done that hasn’t been done to make Emeryville more family-friendly?
Eugene Tssui: We need to recognize that Emeryville is a starter community for many working in the local businesses. What will encourage these Millennials to stay in Emeryville and start businesses and families? How do we involve singles in our school community? We will work with intergenerational individuals, to develop the skills needed to enter the career of their choosing or to upgrade the profession they are already in.
However, to make our urban landscape attractive, we need to hire the best-paid teachers in education in our schools! Better education programs that create jobs! Families congregate and are attracted to cities with the best schools, and parents look for schools with the best ranking and reputation. Emeryville schools and government need to pay attention to this and do what it takes to reach for excellence and exceed the ranking mentality of the State and nation and
excel beyond the expectations of the status quo! We must encourage experimentation!
We must welcome and nurture the likes of the great modern revolutionaries of education, such as A.S. Neill, Marva Collins, Jaime Escalante, and Friedrich Froebel, among others.
But we must also embrace the post-COVID education technologies that allow our students the best project-based skills and opportunities.
If Emeryville, home to Disney/Pixar, had these facilities available to all of our families, many would stay, and many would join us! If these high-tech and innovative companies worked together with the City the schools could dramatically improve. It is a three-way dialogue unifying schools, businesses, and the local government as a team that works together to create the compassionate and imaginative residents of the future.
9) Some 25 years ago, Emeryville was a city of majority homeowners. Now we’re a city of majority renters (71%). Is this a good trend? If not, what would you do differently that the current City Council hasn’t done to solve this?
Eugene Tssui: EDUCATION! QUALITY EDUCATION! QUALITY RECREATION AND SOCIAL PLACES OF CONGREGATION!
I have been a resident of Emeryville since 1989. Thirty-three years I bought into Emeryville as a small business owner to develop my architecture profession and rented an apartment at Watergate. I stayed in Emeryville because of the location and convenience to all parts of the Bay Area. As a small, malleable city of artists, entrepreneurs, and small businesses, the most significant business was the Oaks Card Club!
Emeryville was a community of people that could easily reach out to one another, traffic was generally sparse, and walking and biking were safe and efficient. Emeryville High School had a range of programs and vocational services such as automotive repair facilities and a strong drafting program for industrial jobs.
The city has become mostly renters because very few people want or can afford to stay in Emeryville. The young come into Emeryville as a temporary stopping point to somewhere else. At best, the young start a family here, biding their time to move to the suburbs to raise a family in better schools with extensive sports and academic programs, where they can have a rambling home of their own with their own expansive yard.
If we are to solve the majority renter phenomenon, we must radically change the quality of our schools, our support for local and start-up businesses, and our recreation facilities, and upgrade our social resources for homeownership. And that means we must fill the city with excitement, anticipation, daring, and the spirit of reaching for the impossible! Together, we must demand a new vision!
10) Emeryville is one of the last cities in the East Bay to still have all public meetings conducted by Zoom. All other cities (except Oakland) are now doing ‘hybridized’ meetings, meaning open to the public as well as available by Zoom. When should Emeryville allow public meetings again (including hybridized)?
Eugene Tssui: Emeryville is also one of the last cities to have a Code of Ethics! And perhaps this is a telling aspect of Emeryville’s lagging sense of propriety and accountability and there are aspects of the Zoom meeting mentality that play into this.
Zoom meetings could be seen as a tool of distancing. In a Zoom meeting, you can prevent the audience from responding, and you can control the interaction. As a City Council member, you have a government-controlled position that can limit the interaction of the public. I myself have experienced this, and I am sure that many of us who have attempted to communicate with staff and administration via Zoom have experienced this helplessness in direct and immediate response time. Zoom allows the City Council to control the time, topic, and mode of interaction with the public.
This attitude of control, extends into a larger picture which touches upon the issue of the city’s lack of a Code of Ethics. A Code of Ethics sets out our city government’s guidelines to practice honesty, integrity, professionalism, and accountability, and violating this code can result in termination.
I think we should do test trials and have in-person City Council meetings to see what the results might be.
It is proven that communication is 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only. In Zoom events, the 55% nonverbal communication is reduced to a very small percentage creating a very disabled experience with which to communicate and take questions from those you are communicating with. Nothing can replace one-on-one communication.
Finally, I want to emphasize that my running for City Council is to help create a stellar City Council team that works together to address the substantive topics that directly affect the residents of our city.
Each City Council team member has experiences and interests they are passionate about. We must all work together to find the best solutions to the ongoing problems we all face in these troubled and challenging times. We have all created a legacy on this planet, and we must think and act in optimal ways to create solutions to the issues we face. I intend to be a substantive voice to face these issues as a member of a unified team and to raise the level of meaning, purpose, self-reflection, and excellence in the residents of our City of Emeryville.
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Next up is Kalimah Priforce. The candidate's website is HERE.
8) Emeryville has the East Bay’s lowest number of people per housing unit at 1.7. This number shows we have the fewest families per capita of any city in the East Bay. Presuming you don’t like this, what should be done that hasn’t been done to make Emeryville more family friendly?
Kalimah Proiforce: When I moved to Emeryville, I was told that Emeryville isn’t where growing a family, particularly a family of color, is feasible. I believe that is partly true.
There isn’t enough that the city does to keep families here, especially BMR residents, people of color, and those that I consider society’s underdogs. But it isn’t just race and income. Emerging entrepreneurs and non-profit leaders should be able to find a home in Emeryville and be incentivized to stay here.
Emeryville should be more than a commuter town or be attractive to newcomers because of its proximity to other cities. Emeryville should be a shining city that attracts the best and brightest but we have to earn the respect of their livelihoods to keep them here.
9) Some 25 years ago, Emeryville was a city of majority homeowners. Now we’re a city of majority renters (71%). Is this a good trend? If not, what would you do differently that the current City Council hasn’t done to solve this?
Kalimah Priforce: I’m not sure if it’s a good trend or bad but I would like to see Emeryville renters eventually become homeowners.
10) Emeryville is one of the last cities in the East Bay to still have all public meetings conducted by Zoom. All other cities (except Oakland) are now doing ‘hybridized’ meetings, meaning open to the public as well as available by Zoom. When should Emeryville allow public meetings again (including hybridized)?
Kalimah Priforce: Public meetings should be reinstated, but it may also depend on the meeting. Shorter meetings can be delegated to video conferencing, but important decision based ones should be in person.
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Next up is Sukhdeep Kaur. The candidate's website is HERE.
8) Emeryville has the East Bay’s lowest number of people per housing unit at 1.7. This number shows we have the fewest families per capita of any city in the East Bay. Presuming you don’t like this, what should be done that hasn’t been done to make Emeryville more family friendly?
Sukhdeep Kaur: Families usually prefer bigger more affordable spaces. Most of the people who work in Emeryville commute here and are raising their families in Sacramento or Folsom or Dixon as they can afford a bigger house for the same price. It is hard to raise a family of 2 or 3 children and pet/s in a one bedroom studio or apartment or even a two bedroom apartment.
Many neighbors are annoyed if they hear the baby crying all night or even during the day or the dog barking. Many apartments don’t have the best soundproofing. The current housing stock is not very family friendly in terms of traditional families that include young and growing children and pets. I would like to balance the equation and see more family friendly housing in the area. Families raising children naturally gravitate to more spacious housing, good schools and secure and safer streets. If that can be made affordable to families, it is a possibility that Emeryville could attract families.
9) Some 25 years ago, Emeryville was a city of majority homeowners. Now we’re a city of majority renters (71%). Is this a good trend? If not, what would you do differently that the current City Council hasn’t done to solve this?
Sukhdeep Kaur: I would like to incentivize homeownership in Emeryville and explore ways and programs that could do that like the artists co-op which is good example of affordable, sustainable, ownership housing. Home ownership is a better trend as it makes for a more engaged and involved community.
10) Emeryville is one of the last cities in the East Bay to still have all public meetings conducted by Zoom. All other cities (except Oakland) are now doing ‘hybridized’ meetings, meaning open to the public as well as available by Zoom. When should Emeryville allow public meetings again (including hybridized)?
Sukhdeep Kaur: I prefer Zoom meetings as they are much more accessible, easier to record and access later, they cut out the commute time, reduce the carbon footprint, and one can almost always make Zoom meetings even if one is in another town or country. Above all, they are a healthier, safer option without masks as Covid is still here and lingering.
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