“Efficiency” Touted as Reason Why What Formerly Was Public Must Now Be Behind Closed Doors
“That is Not Democracy, That is a Closed Loop”
By Kalimah Priforce
What this Council was asked to do on September 9th is not just a matter of “efficiency.” Let’s call it what it is: a quiet consolidation of power.
We are being told that committee appointments will now be screened in small rooms, by just a couple of Council members, and then slipped onto the consent calendar for approval. No debate. No discussion. No public scrutiny.
That is not democracy. That is a closed loop. And Emeryville knows this story - we lived through it in the John Bauters era. The back-channeling, the rubber-stamping, the chilling of dissent. We paid the price for it.
Now we are told this is about “streamlining.” Well, let me tell you: corruption is always streamlined. Inequity is always streamlined. When you cut out public process, when you silence debate, when you bury decisions in the consent calendar - you are greasing the wheels for insider politics and shutting the public out.
The Brown Act is crystal clear. Ad hoc committees are supposed to be temporary, narrow, and dissolved when the job is done. If they meet every year, if they take on standing jurisdiction, they must be open to the public. Period. Pretending otherwise is playing with fire.
Look at Anaheim. Look at Bell. Both cities thought they could cut corners, centralize decisions, and keep the public in the dark. And what did it lead to? Scandal. FBI raids. Corruption. Broken trust that took years to rebuild.
And now Emeryville is flirting with the same mistake.
Enough is enough. If we care about equity, if we care about diversity, if we care about trust in this city, then we cannot funnel power into fewer hands. Keep appointments at the full Council. Let the public see who we choose and why. That’s how you build faith in government. That’s how you expand democracy.
Anything less is a Trojan horse. Anything less is a step backward.
Kalimah Priforce is an Emeryville City Council member. He was elected to office in 2022.
Thanks for this Kalimah.
ReplyDeleteCan we get someone from Sacramento to stop this? I watched the meeting. The council didn't explain why this had to be done.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr. Priforce,... and Brian for bringing this important matter to our attention.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Priforce, why the sudden need for efficiency? They didn't answer that. To make it more efficient they have to take away our ability for us to be a part of the decisions or at least see our government as it decides. They need to show us how it's worth it to trade that in for efficiency.
ReplyDeleteMUY LOCO!!
ReplyDeleteWhy do they need to even do this in secret when the commissions and committees have been rubber stamps for decades. Are local residents still outnumbered on commissions by people that own a business or work for one that happens to with an office in Emery ille?
ReplyDeleteI think the answer to your first question is that some on the Council majority want to select committee members without their fingerprints on it. This would suggest there is a desire for committee members that are even more conservative then they are now (as you note in your question). Perhaps too conservative for any single Council member to want to be associated with in the eyes of the public. This new secret way, conservatives in the majority can shift committees to the right without paying any penalties. So as it is now, committees are generally more conservative than Emeryville residents are. With the secret selection as they propose, they can make the committees disposition even more divergent from the citizenry than it is now. To you second question; I believe the committees are made up of a disproportionate number of business community representatives still. On top of the fact that business reps tend to be more conservative than the average resident, there’s also a lot of apathy among the citizens. Average people don’t want to cooperate with the Council very much. Probably because they know it’s a waste of their time.
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