The City Council Appoints a Paid YIMBY Lobbyist to the Housing Committee
Corporate Developers Now in Direct Control of the Levers of Power at City Hall
The Emeryville City Council Wednesday appointed a professional influence peddler for California YIMBY, a Sacramento based corporate real estate developer supported lobbying organization, to the Emeryville Housing Committee. The Council appointee elevated to the Committee, Ned Resnikoff, is employed as the Policy Director for California YIMBY and has lived in Emeryville just two months. The pick is a first for the Emeryville City Council who have so far resisted appointing a paid lobbyist to any Council committees.
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| New Emeryville Housing Committee member Ned Resnikoff He says 'best practices' for housing policy is to remove regulation for developers. The implication being that benefit for average people will then trickle down, Ronald Reagan style. |
Up until Wednesday, many if not most committee appointees have been local community members shown to be in the thrall of the business community but never in modern Emeryville history has there been such a blatant abdication of the City’s autonomy over to purely corporate interests.
It was an action that drew rebuke from Mr Priforce, "How does a lobbyist even survive the vetting process through the Housing Committee he said. “Should a member of the NRA [gun lobbying organization] sit on the Public Safety Committee, he further inquired of his colleagues rhetorically. The Councilman castigated the YIMBY employee for his housing policies as working against the interests of Black and Brown people, “You don’t care if [marginalized] people are gentrified out of their communities, he said.
Relying on a publicly offered argument of 'trickle down' democratic benefit, YIMBY's pro-developer policies have been shown to work in the real world as a gentrifying force against poor people in their communities, all the heated countering rhetoric from YIMBY aside.
Mayor Bauters dropped the gavel on Council member Priforce calling his speech “out of order” for disrespecting a "constituent" even though Mr Bauters himself is fond of doing precisely that from the dais, it should be noted.
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| Council member Kalimah Priforce "Emeryville's reputation of being a rotten city is something we have tried to grow away from. But some of the rotten is still here in how we chose to do things, in who we select for our committees". |
The YIMBY organization (Yes In My Back Yard) is a nation wide pro-housing developer lobbying organization and California YIMBY is the largest cell within the organization. Their aim is to protect developer’s profit margins to get them to build more housing and they do so at the expense of local autonomy. YIMBY pushes back against anything that would impinge on corporate profits including the building of more parks as the Emeryville General Plan calls for or even to deliver more ownership housing. Developers can make more profit by building rental only housing and so that’s what YIMBY uses its power in the service of. Emeryville has in recent years morphed from a mostly home ownership city into a mostly rental city regardless of Emeryville’s General Plan and its direction to increase the ratio of ownership housing.
The Mayor and Vice Mayor have forged ahead recently to deliver Emeryville to YIMBY, much to the delight of the Sacramento based lobbying organization. California YIMBY, showing their appreciation, elevated Mr Bauters and Vice Mayor Courtney Welch to their ‘developer shill’ bracket because of the pro-corporate housing deference the two have shown.
The elevation of the Director of Policy for YIMBY to our Housing Committee sends a signal that the Council now pays total deference to the Sacramento organization, further bolstering the claim from the San Fransisco Chronicle that Emeryville is "the most YIMBY city in the state".
The Tattler reached out to Mayor John Bauters for this story but he refused to answer any questions.
The applicant's innocuous statement begins at 44:10 (below) but the fireworks start at 50:16.
I agree. Every vote will be a conflict of interest. I doubt that will stop him from voting though. He's on the committee for a reason. Tattler, follow up on this.
ReplyDeleteI personally see this as a good pick. I've seen Ned's outstanding resume and it shows he is an expert on housing. Emeryville is lucky to have such a high level of professionalism on its housing committee. He knows all about State housing law and he will help the rest of the committee get up to speed.
ReplyDeleteAgreed
DeleteBot.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteUmmm... more like working for his vested interest. Terrible decision by city council.
DeletePlease note- the comment posted under David Mourra's name has been removed. The statement was provided to the Tattler for the story above but was not used because it was received after publication.
DeleteIn my city, we had the interesting situation where a new City Councilmember was working as an advisor for our local State Senator. Our City Attorney advised us that this was enough of a conflict that the councilmember needed to quit her job and work for someone who wasn't representing our city. This makes sense - what happens when our City takes a position that is opposite to her Boss's position - how does she vote on it? And what happens if she is being paid to present on behalf of the Senator to our city? I think the Emeryville City Councilmember should be asked to quit their YIMBY lobby position if he is to sit on the Emeryville Housing Committee. It's only when the MONEY line is crossed, like in these cases, should the City Attorney step in and make a recommendation if there is a true conflict of interest.
ReplyDeleteThe City Council voted (4-1) to appoint a paid YIMBY lobbyist to the Housing Committee. The YIMBY lobbyist is not on the Emeryville City Council. But he now IS on the housing Committee. Regardless, it probably would be a conflict of interest if he votes to help forward housing while on the Committee that would benefit YIMBY in any way. That means almost any conceivable votes the Committee makes would be a conflict, at least in perception if not in law. It's not a good look for Emeryville City Hall who is already seen as being in the thrall of YIMBY.
DeleteWell-stated, Brian Donahue
DeleteWhy doesn't this article mention that Ned is a newcomer to YIMBY after years of research worker into homelessness at UCSF? If an expert who published some of the Bay Area's biggest reports on homelessness and housing first threw in his hat with the YIMBYs, it doesn't make NIMBYs like Councilmember Priforce and the author look informed or good.
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn’t this article mention Ned Resnikoff also worked to address homelessness? Because the story is about a paid YIMBY lobbyist getting appointed to our Housing Committee. What is your point? I could have also mentioned Mr Resnikoff worked for Sacramento’s Legislative Analyst’s Office on health care policy or that he enjoys active transportation as well as cooking, mixing cocktails and his cat but that is all similarly tangential to the story. Are you trying to say because he has researched solutions to homelessness he should get a pass for being a paid YIMBY lobbyist? I wouldn’t make that leap. Maybe his homelessness solution involves trying to steer government contracts to corporate housing construction clients.
DeleteAnd what is a NIMBY (since you're throwing that epithet around)? Is it someone who thinks paid corporate lobbyists shouldn't be appointed to government office working in the bailiwick of the corporation? Is concern over conflict of interest in government NIMBY?
Council member Mourra's patronizing attitude is exceeded only by his ignorance of state housing issues. He claims the state has "failed abysmally at building enough housing." Actually, during the fifth RHNA cycle, it was Emeryville that failed. According to the most recent Dept. of Housing and Community Development (HCD) APR dashboard fifth-cycle figures, Emeryville met only 41.7% of its very low-income target, 23.2% of its low-income target, 23.2% of its moderate-income target, and 139.9% of its above moderate-income target.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia as a whole performed better in every category except very low-income. San Francisco easily outperformed Emeryville in every category. Even the City of Lafayette, a favorite target of the YIMBYs, far outperformed Emeryville in the moderate and above moderate categories.
As for the new sixth-cycle RNHA, Emeryville's target is 710 housing units affordable to low- and very low-income households. The subsidies to produce that many units will run about $400 million, give or take several million dollars. Good luck to Mourra and his fellow council members finding subsidies in that amount.
As for the Resnikoff appointment, it is distasteful and inappropriate, but it is not clear if it is a legal violation. But the council should have checked with their city attorney before making the appointment.
Finally, I would encourage Mourra and his fellow council members to read the grand jury report considering the Santa Clara city council's illegal entanglement with the 49ers organization. When it comes to pro-development organizations, the Emeryville City Council needs to choose its friends carefully.