Emery's Failing Schools Again Urge Voters to See the Urgency Required

 Emery School District Drops to Last Place in Alameda County (Again)

News Analysis

Every two years Emeryville voters are given a chance to force leadership change at the city's failing school district.  Each time incumbents are re-elected.  The schools in Emeryville continue to slump.

There are 16 public school districts in Alameda County and academically, Emery Unified School District is in last place.  At the same time, in the category of district spending per student, Emery is in first place.  Thus, Emeryville is in a unique but unenviable position: we spend the most money on our schools but we get the worst results. 

Every two years, before Emeryville’s school board elections, the Tattler checks with the California Department of Education to see how our little school district is doing because we don’t want to take the word of the board members seeking re-election.  What we find this year is Emery has slid from second lowest place academically two years ago to now last place.  Six years ago, Emery was also in last place academically.  During all the six years and before, Emeryville schools have maintained the highest spending per student of all districts, now at $17,598.  Piedmont comes in at a distant second at $15,965. 

In terms of revenue per student per year, Emery also is easily in first place at $27,613, beating the second place finisher Albany at $19,648.

The State of California reports students are tested in English and math proficiency and Emery comes in at 39% for English and 23% for math.  Those numbers are very low but it should be stated that test scores have been found to select for student family affluence, meaning, the more affluent the families in the district are, the higher the test scores generally.  Emeryville is considered relatively affluent among towns in the county but Emery Unified School District also takes in the highest number of transfers from other districts.  The student transfers generally come from low income families and that is tracked by the State and puts Emery at 68% on the low income families metric. That number is high, but it’s not the highest in the county.

To get a fair assessment of how the district is doing, it’s important to also acknowledge the numbers of students that are what the Department of Education calls ‘English learners’.  If a student’s first language is not English, they are expected to not score as well in the testing for English proficiency.  In this English learners category too, Emery has a relatively high number (14%).  This high number would tend to bring down the English proficiency level for the whole district (39%).

Unsurprisingly, the five lowest scoring school districts in Alameda County all share high percentages of English learners and high percentages of low income families.  There is a lot of poverty in the families of the children in these districts and they tend to suffer from chaotic home life associated with poverty that tends to be less conducive to student learning. The five from fifth lowest to lowest are:

12th place Newark School District

13th place San Leandro School District

14th place Oakland School District

15th place San Lorenzo School District

16th place Emery School District

Conversely, the five highest scoring districts are all much wealthier and spend a lot on their schools (but not as much as Emery spends) and they all have lower English learner numbers except Albany Unified School District that has 12% (almost as high as Emery).  These districts feature high income families with lots of private tutoring of the children to augment the public education.  Also, these families tend to have high functioning family dynamics that are supportive of children’s learning. The five, from highest to fifth highest, are:

1st place Piedmont School District

2nd place Sunol Glen School District

3rd place Dublin School District

4th place Pleasanton School District

5th place Albany School District

It is important to know Emery did not score last in English proficiency.  At 39%, Emery scored higher than Oakland (34%) and higher than San Lorenzo (31%).  However, both Oakland and San Lorenzo have considerably higher numbers of English learners (32% and 31% respectively).  Emery’s lower number of English learners (14%) must be factored in.  Emery scored the lowest in math proficiency (23%) but that low number is shared with San Lorenzo.  Mollifying San Lorenzo’s low math proficiency is its low income score of 74% (compared to Emery’s 68%).  Oakland’s low income score is 68%, the highest in the county.

The numbers in the aggregate show how Emery is falling behind comparable districts.  Our ranking over two years from second worse to last place, regardless of the mountain of money Emeryville citizens throw at its schools reveals a lack of leadership at the district.  It can be argued that for all the money Emeryville residents lavish on their schools (in the form of high parcel taxes we have volunteered to pay), we should not be in last place and we should not be getting worse over time. 

Another interesting bit of data from the Dept of Education illustrates how Emery spends its money.  Statewide, school districts spend on average 52% of their budget on classroom instruction.  Among Alameda County districts, the average number is close to the State average.  However at Emery, only 19% of the budget goes to classroom instruction and that’s by far the lowest number of all districts in the county.  The next lowest district is Castro Valley who spends 42% of their budget on instruction.  The bulk of Emery’s money goes to the category of “other” spending and that number too is by far the largest of all districts county wide.  ‘Other spending’ includes paying for corporate educational consultants which Emery does more than any district as a percentage of students enrolled.  Additionally, Emery, being such a small district at about 590 students, spends a greater percentage of its budget on administration salaries.  

One criteria where Emery shines is with the 16:1 students per teacher ratio, and there, Emery is tied with Albany for the lowest among all 16 districts in the county.  Statewide the average is 22:1.

To arrive at our rankings, we tracked the following categories (tracked by the Department of Education):

-Academic performance (English and math)

-Students per teacher

-Low income families

-English learners

-Average revenue per student

-Average spending per student

-Percentage of revenue from local sources

-Percentage of spending on instruction

-Percentage of spending on ‘other’ (unquantified) things

Student Academic Progress
Emery has a larger number of schools whose students are
making less academic progress than their peers at other
schools in the state. 

Source: CA Dept of Education

Emeryville pays more money for its schools per student
than any district in Alameda County.
Virtually all the money over the other lowest scoring five districts 
comes from parcel taxes the people of Emeryville have so 
generously given to Emery Unified over the years.

                                                                  Source: CA Dept of Education

 

Sutter Hospital Says NO Community Benefits Agreement For Their Emeryville Project

 Sutter: Willing to Meet With The City of Emeryville Directly But Not The Community

Local residents will have no say in what, if anything, they'll receive in exchange for welcoming a new hospital complex in Emeryville.  A high level Sutter Health official announced last week the firm will not participate in a Community Benefits Agreement concerning the proposed campus along Horton Street.  

Sutter Health Vice President of External Affairs, Melissa White surprised community leaders when she announced the corporation will not take part in a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) associated with their proposed billion dollar Emeryville hospital project proposal.  The surprising announcement places the City of Emeryville in the hot seat after City Hall's Senior Planning Manager Miroo Dessai assured community members earlier a CBA for the project would in fact be expected.

Melissa White
Sutter's Vice President
of External Affairs
Sutter will not negotiate directly
with the community.

While a community benefits agreement is not mandatory, these types of covenants have become common with large development projects and assure local residents are compensated in some way for perceived burdens.

CBAs are legally binding contracts signed by community groups and a real estate developer that requires the developer to provide specific amenities and/or mitigations to the local community or neighborhood.  They can be construed as coming from a loss of full faith by the community in the local government as a partner.  Thus, cities are not signatories on CBAs and they are not supposed to have any influence in negotiations between the community and the developer.

Accordingly, if Sutter refuses to take part in a community benefits agreement, there will be no community benefits agreement associated with the Emeryville Sutter Hospital.

Emeryville resident Brandon Soublet, who is running for city council in November expressed shock by the directness of the Sutter email, “I’m shocked but not surprised. I’ve been in every public meeting about this project and saw no desire from the Sutter team to meaningfully engage with the community” he said. 

Sutter began to back away from the community benefits agreement idea in August when Ms White claimed her corporation could not even enter into a community agreement if they wanted because of internal structures at Sutter, “A CBA is intended for developers and for-profit development projects. We are neither, we are a nonprofit organization, not a developer; our role is to provide healthcare services to the community” she said in an August 28th email.   After that, on September 2nd, Sutter confirmed there will be no CBA for the Emeryville hospital.

However, non-profit status doesn’t preclude a corporation from entering into a CBA and in fact it is quite common.  The claim that Sutter Health is not the developer of the Sutter Emeryville project is also factually untrue.  It is unlikely Sutter is unaware of these conditions and so their refusal to meet with the community to negotiate a CBA is probably their preference.  They would rather negotiate only with the City of Emeryville through a Development Agreement (DA), the document produced through standard negotiation processes between developers and municipalities.  Development Agreements are between cities and developers whereas CBAs are between the community and developers.  Both DAs and CBAs run concurrent with each other. 

Brandon Soublet
City Council Candidate
Shocked but not surprised
at the Sutter decision to
exclude the community.

CBAs usually arise when the community loses faith in the city to produce a DA that faithfully represents the community’s interests.  Over the years, Emeryville has earned a reputation for being business friendly and the Sutter CBA pull out represents a marginalizing of the community that will likely produce blowback.

Indeed, the local citizen activist group Emeryville Neighbors United (ENU) is already weighing in on the Sutter announcement.   Judith Timmel, a 34 year Emeryville resident and founding member of the group told the Tattler,  “This is not a response that one would hope to get from a  developer partner for the City of Emeryville. While I am opposed to the Sutter proposal for a 330 foot tower tucked away in a small corner of my city, if such a thing were to come to fruition, I would expect that the community, the residents, the workers would have a voice in measures to help remediate the overwhelming consequences of such a decision on the part of the city.”

Lillian Schroth, also a founding member of ENU said, “Sutter’s response is unfortunate and seems very disingenuous. Call it a community benefits agreement or something else – the principle behind it is the same: that Sutter is willing to work with the community to mitigate some of the huge impacts that this project is going to have on our neighborhoods.”

Council candidate Soublet indicated he is having trouble understanding Sutter’s ‘no CBA’ goal, he questioned, “Will pride in having a state-of-the-art nonprofit medical center cut our city’s budget deficit, help our housing problem, or improve the quality of life for the average Emeryville resident without a CBA?”

Plans to strengthen parts of Berkeley Alta Bates Hospital against earthquakes and add new facilities have long been stalled by Berkeley neighbors over construction, noise and traffic, prompting the non-profit hospital chain to study relocating to a medical center proposed at Horton and 53rd streets in Emeryville.  Sutter also operates facilities on Oakland's Pill Hill.

Emeryville Neighbors United Launches Website

 The citizen activist group Emeryville Neighbors United (ENU) announces the launch of a website designed to assist the public as a central repository for disseminating information about the proposed Sutter Hospital for 53rd Street.  The project contains controversial proposals that would negatively affect Emeryville and the surrounding community and the new website chronicles these effects.  Neither Sutter nor the City of Emeryville has committed to providing the community with information that would tend to put the hospital proposal in a bad light.  As such, ENU provides some much needed transparency and accountably surrounding the project.

The new website is HERE.   

https://emeryvillenu.com/

Emeryville Neighbors United Meeting Announced: All Are Welcome

 The citizens' activist group Emeryville Neighbors United announces its next community meeting on Monday the 24th at 5514 Doyle Street across from the Doyle Street Cafe at 7:00 PM.  The meeting will take place in the ground level Community Room and is open to all members of the public. The proposed Sutter Hospital project will be the topic of discussion.

Questions Any Emery School Board Candidate Should Be Able to Answer

Election '26:

 Here Are 17 Questions That Should Be Answered By The School Board Candidates

As the campaign season gets ready to heat up, Emeryville citizens who normally only vote for city council members should consider how their vote can have a bigger effect in ameliorating government dysfunction at the school district board race than the city council race.  That’s because a large majority of voters don’t pay attention to the school board because they don’t have children enrolled in Emery schools.  But they should pay attention because their one vote makes a much bigger difference in a school board race than a council race.  Also, for as dysfunctional as Emeryville city hall is, it’s no match for the government dysfunction at Emery Unified. 

Emeryville citizens without children enrolled at Emery schools with a modicum of civic mindedness should have no patience for government dysfunction in a general way of course but true as well they should find objectionable their (forced) financing of it.  All citizens, home owners and renters, pay for Emery schools.  Help can be only one election away.  At Emery, there’s a rare combination of great need and possible great effect: the dysfunctional culture has a great need for democratic electoral oversight that your one vote has the power to deliver.  

Owing to the ignorance of the average Emeryville citizen in school affairs, the Tattler presents here 17 essential questions for anybody running for the board.  These questions are mostly specific to Emery.  Because the Tattler editor is running for the school board, we don’t feel it’s fair for us to put these questions we authored to the other candidates on our own.  However Emeryville citizens can ask these questions (and more of their own) of the candidates. Citizens should ask these questions any way they can during the campaign season and vote according to how the candidates answer.   The best thing we can do for Emery and for the children under its care is to demand good governance through transparency and accountability that only can come from citizen involvement.   

The Questions:

1). Emeryville spends more per student than any school district in the East Bay.  Why is it so expensive to run our schools?  Can we run it more efficiently?

2). Emery has the highest number of inter-district transfers of any district in the East Bay, meaning Emery takes the most students from other districts in order to fill our schools.  Why is that?  What can be done to lower the number of inter-district transfers if you think we should do that?

3). Emery spends more on consultants than any district in the East Bay.  Why?  Should we be spending more or less on consultants?

4). The current school board members don’t return calls of parents with children enrolled in our schools.  Is that ok?  How can this be rectified? 

5). Because the Brown Act forbids the superintendent of the schools and the school board from answering citizen’s questions at public meetings, should they hold press conferences from time to time so the public can ask questions about their district?  If NO, why?  Is there another way questions can be answered?

6). What does the school district owe the public (if anything)?

7). Test scores at Emery are low.  More importantly, our ranking among other school districts in the East Bay is very low.  This has been the case for decades.  How can this be improved?  What specifically needs to change?

8). Emery teachers are paid about average for the East Bay. Should they be paid more?  If teachers should be paid more, how do you propose raising or allocating the money to do that?

9). The ratio of administration pay to teacher pay at Emery in terms of the total budget is skewed towards the administration more than any school district in the East Bay.  Why is that?  Should it be changed?  How?  

10). What is the best way to stop bullying among the children?  Is the current system acceptable? How will you implement your ideas if they differ from the current system?

11). Should the school board be answerable to the press?  To the extent they are not now, how will you change that?

12). How important is school security?  Because the public should not be able to enter the campus during school hours on their own without checking in with the front desk, is the school district (and the school board)  responsible for keeping the children safe?

13). The City of Emeryville is responsible for keeping the children safe at the ECCL but the City is failing to always keep the children safe because they fail to keep security doors locked.  If elected, will you personally step in to demand and make sure the doors are secure?  How will you change the current lax safety culture to accomplish that?

14). What should be done with all the surplus school property in town (the Ralph Hawley and Anna Yates sites)? 

15). How has this school board done a good job? How have they done a bad job?

16). Emeryville has the lowest number of children per home in the East Bay.  Is it a part of the job of the school board to try to improve this low number?  If elected, will you appeal to the city council to build more family friendly housing?  How? 

17). Do you currently have your own children or have you ever had your children enrolled at Emery?

The Candidates:

CHRISTOPHER KEITH ALLEN 

Parent

email: keith2allen@att.net 

REGINA CHAGOLLA 

Incumbent

web: chagollaforemery.com 

BRIAN DONAHUE 

Businessman/Journalist/Parent

email: sophbeau@yahoo.com

DAVID RIDLEHUBER 

Parent/Contractor

6251 SHELLMOUND ST. 

EMERYVILLE, CA, 94608 

email: dridlehuber@yahoo.com 

KIMBERLY SOLIS (formerly served on the Emery school board)

Student 

email: soliskimberly@proton.me

Why I'm Running For The Emery School Board

 The Tattler Should Be Reporting on the School Board Election, Not Running In It...

Right?

Opinion/News Analysis

By Brian Donahue

Voters may notice and wonder why the editor of the Tattler, Brian Donahue, is on the ballot this election.  Again, like last time, two years ago and two years before that, I have run for Emery Unified School District Board of Trustees in order to force an election so that Emeryville citizens may be able to cast a vote for the candidate of their choice and to force the candidates to face the voters, making their case for why they should be trusted running our schools.

The above sentence may seem fatuous but let me explain:  I’ve lived in Emeryville for 44 years and during that time there have been only been a handful of school board elections.  Most commonly, there are no elections at all.  What commonly happens is incumbents run unopposed.  And when that happens, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters cancels the election and the incumbents are automatically re-upped without having to face the voters.  No League of Woman Voters candidate debate, no media vetting of the candidates, no media reporting fact checked election claims, no candidates meeting the voters door to door presenting their case to the people.  Without elections, democracy is not served and the whole school district suffers as a result.

No Elections? Don’t We Have Them Every Two Years?

It is important to know how this sorry state in Emeryville perpetuates.  Unfortunately, the much vaunted incumbent advantage is especially strong for the Emery school board elections owing to Emery’s small size and the lack of an engaged citizenry in its schools.  School board races are much less popular than city council races here in Emeryville as it turns out.  So existing school board members who are tired of the job quit and their friends on the board appoint a replacement member of their choice, skipping the voters.  Then when the next election cycle comes, the replacements are incumbents with the incumbent advantage and this process thus repeats ad infinitum.  Would be candidates from the community don't run when incumbents are in the way because they know they will lose.  This is how it is nearly impossible for change to happen at Emery and why solvable problems tend to become systemic problems here.

The group-think culture at this unchecked and sclerotic school board means the children’s educational prospects are dimmed at Emery.  Virtually every vote on the school board has been 5-0 unanimous over the decades and that's not good for a school district with very low academic performance such as Emery.  The children themselves of course bear the brunt of this entrenched and homogeneous culture on our school board.

It is noteworthy that since I registered to run this election, two of the three incumbents dropped out of the three seat race, upsetting the normal way this plays out.  The two probably didn't want to have to do the work of actually running as a result of me being in contention.  That has set off a flood.  Seeing a real election about to happen, three new never before been on the board candidates have entered the contest (and one former board member who felt compelled to throw their hat in it).  That makes a total of five candidates for three board positions.  There could be an incumbent win and one or even two new faces on the school board.  Democracy is flowing freely at Emery this year.

I will weigh in on what is wrought by the lack of democracy at Emery later on in the campaign season but suffice to say that school board candidates facing voters, as they will do this election, can only be good for the district and the children.  

This season at Emery, candidates will seek money for their respective elections and the Tattler will report on where they’re getting it.  We will chronicle and fact check what they say on the campaign trail.  The only thing that won’t happen is there will be no Tattler candidate questionnaire this time because of the unfair advantage that would be gained by me as a candidate posing the questions.  So the citizens will have to ask questions of the candidates themselves.  We will suggest what we think voters should be asking the candidates. 

So that’s it.  After 40 years of mostly undemocratic unaccountability at the Emery School Board, this is the new Emeryville where voters will be able to decide who has the best ideas for how to run our public schools.  I will run for school board every time from now on to assure the old way, the no election way, is relegated to the dustbin of history.  After I’m gone, someone else should pick up the task.  

Democracy has come to Emery Unified and that’s a good thing.  Maybe school board elections will become as popular as city council elections around here.

Neighbors United Public Meeting

 The citizen's activist group Neighbors United announces their next community meeting, open to all including Emeryville and North Oakland residents:

Neighbors United will meet this Saturday August 1st, 11 AM at 5514 Doyle Street, first floor common room.  We have a lot to talk about regarding the next steps in the process with the Sutter hospital proposal.  And let’s report on what has worked and not worked in our various activities so far.  If you weren’t at the last city council meeting we can fill you in. 

Let’s do this!!

Sutter Hospital Proposal Draws Neighbors United Group to Release poster Ahead of Council Meeting

 The citizen activist group, Neighbors United, released this poster to the press ahead of the Tuesday evening City Council meeting where Sutter Health will present their hospital proposal idea to the Council.

Neighbors United Urge Citizen Attendance at Critical Sutter Hospital Meeting

 Sutter Makes their Pitch for their Billion Dollar Emeryville Hospital Complex Tuesday

Tuesday evening, July 21st, Sutter Health, will present their proposal for a controversial billion dollar hospital to be located at 53rd and Horton streets for the Council’s consideration. The Council will hear a lengthy presentation from Sutter but they will also allow citizens one or two minutes to opine on the 1.3 million square foot proposed trauma center complex.  

Emeryville’s newest citizen activist neighbor group, Neighbors United has been alerting the community about the impending meeting, putting up some 200 flyers around Emeryville and the surrounding community.  However most were quickly taken down by unknown vandals, probably in a coordinated effort, some members of Neighbors United report.

Emeryville resident Laura McCamy, a Neighbors United member, told the Tattler Sutter Health had lobbied the California legislature to pass AB 2231, a bill that would fast track hospital construction by removing environmental regulations but pushback from multiple sources, including State Senator Jesse Arreguin, makes an immunity from environmental regulation claim in Emeryville by Sutter unlikely.

Laura McCamy 
Long time Emeryville resident, community
activist and Neighbors United 
founding member.

 

Speaking about the rushed nature of the Sutter proposal, Neighbors United member McCamy said “The proposed hospital will have significant and potentially unmitigated negative impacts and should be given a full environmental review, with adequate time for residents to participate in the process.”

Sutter will bring an extra 20,000 vehicle trips per day to the Emerville site.  The main building will be 330 feet tall, Emeryville’s tallest and will feature a heliport with daily helicopter flights.  Emeryville's Planning Commission Chair Jordan Wax called the Sutter proposal "car focused" and a "broken promise" to the people of Emeryville.

The community meeting will be at Emeryville City Hall at 6:00 PM Tuesday and all members of the public will be afforded one or two minutes (at the Mayor’s discretion) to say their piece. 

NOTICE: This story was updated Monday at 8:45 PM after Ms McCamy clarified her information supplied by her to the Tattler.  The story reflects the changes.

New Citizen Activist Group in Emeryville Emerges

 Neighbors United

Scrappy Group of Citizen Neighbors Taking on the Billion Dollar Sutter Juggernaut

Problems with the planned Sutter hospital center for 53rd Street in Emeryville has citizens in Emeryville and North Oakland concerned enough they are coalescing into a new activist group called Neighbors United.  The 30+ member group, open to all, has several members of the former activist group RULE (Residents United for a Livable Emeryville) among its founders.  The group invites all who are concerned about the Sutter project to the meetings (the next one will be tomorrow).  

Sutter Health proposes a new 200 bed facility, about the same size as Kaiser Oakland, in a 330 foot tall tower with a heliport on the roof with 20,000 project generated car trips.  The hospital plus administration buildings will total approximately 1.3 million square feet in a footprint half the size of Kaiser Oakland.

The 200 bed, 330 foot tall hospital with accompanying administration and parking structures totaling 1.3 million square feet and will present “traffic gridlock” as Neighbors United presented it, generating thousands of daily car trips as well as heliport noise and risks from all the low altitude helicopter flights to and from the proposed rooftop helipad. Several Neighbors United members state the project should move elsewhere because it is too large for the site and too constrained by it (being right up against the rail road tracks west of Horton Street) and so it will have an unnecessarily deleterious effect on the whole neighborhood.

A Neighbors United organizer and former RULE founder, Tracy Schroth pointed out the irony of Sutter Emeryville being a “trauma center creating trauma for the neighborhood”.

Sunday’s meeting, the group’s second, will be at 11:00 AM at Stanford Park at the corner of Stanford and Hollis streets.. 

  

Neighbors United flyer making the rounds in the neighborhood.

 

 

Planning Chair: Sutter Hospital Unacceptable -Too Many Cars and Destruction of Bike Boulevard

Planning Commission Chair Calls Sutter Proposal "Car Focused" and a "Broken Promise" to the People of Emeryville

New Citizen Activist Group 'Neighbors United' Forms to Push Back

Planning Commission Chairman Jordan Wax told representatives from Sutter Health Hospital last Wednesday their planned construction of a billion dollar hospital on 53rd Street that requires the destruction of Emeryville’s Horton Street Bike Boulevard would constitute “breaking a promise” to his constituents and people in the greater East Bay region.  Two other Commissioners joined with Chair Wax expressing dismay over the Sutter announcement of the destruction of the bike boulevard, a three vote majority that sends a strong message to the hospital giant they may have to negotiate to get their proposal approved by Emeryville’s planers. 

Nearly all Commissioners expressed some concerns over the proposed 330 foot tall hospital project but Mr Wax, who called the whole project flawed and “car focused”, leveled the hardest criticisms against Sutter.  Sutter will have to issue an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that would cite the destruction of the bike boulevard as an unmitigated and significant impact and get City Council approval to proceed. The Council can override a Planning Commission rejection based on the destruction of the bike boulevard but it would require a Statement of Overriding Concern that provides compelling reasons in the form of findings in the public interest, not just a disagreement.

Emeryville Planning Commission Chair Jordan Wax
The Sutter proposal is "car focused" and its required
destruction of the Horton Street Bike Boulevard is "breaking 
a promise" with the people of Emeryville.

 

Horton Street is required to be a quiet street according to Emeryville's Active Transportation Plan with no more than 3000 vehicle trips per day.  The last time the City of Emeryville measured the traffic volume on Horton Street was 2019 when 4127 vehicle trips per day were recorded.  The Sutter project will place far too many vehicles on Horton for bike boulevard compatibility and for this project to go forward as planned would require the ATP to be amended, removing the Horton Street Bike Boulevard from the City's bike boulevard network.  Horton Street is currently used by a great number of regional bicyclists and the only other planned north/south bike passage in town is Shellmound Street, a non contiguous corridor that doesn't connect with Emeryville's Greenway as Horton Street does.  As such, the loss of Horton Street for safe bike transportation would represent a region-wide loss for bicyclists. 

The public Planning Commission meeting netted many concerned comments from members of the public and also the announcement of a newly formed activist group, 'Neighbors United' born out of frustration with the Sutter project. Two Neighbors United members, both founding members of the former Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), a powerful citizen activist group, spoke out expressing concern for the demise of the bike boulevard and other problems associated with the development.  The formation of a new grassroots RULE type group could spell trouble for Sutter as they seek their City approvals.  

Sutter hosted an earlier public meeting where they hinted that the Horton Street Bike Boulevard diverter at 53rd Street might have to be destroyed and they notified the attendees Sutter would make themselves available to the community to answer questions from the community in the days and weeks ahead promising accountability, transparency and partnership with the Emeryville Community.  They expressed desires to be good [corporate] neighbors.  However, it should be known Sutter has reneged on that promise, refusing to answer repeated calls and emails from the Tattler.  

The proposed Sutter Health center will feature a 200 bed, 330 foot tall hospital with accompanying administration and parking structures totaling 1.3 million square feet and will present “traffic gridlock” as Neighbors United presented it, generating thousands of daily car trips as well as heliport noise and risks from all the low altitude helicopter flights to and from the proposed rooftop helipad.

The Horton Diverter at 53rd Street
After more than ten years of planning in response to too many cars on the bike boulevard
the street was closed to through traffic last year.  The diverter is required by the City's Active Transportation Plan.  
The reason cited for the diverter is bike safety.  The City of Emeryville concern for bike safety will be removed if the diverter is removed by Sutter.

Private Business Advocacy Organization to Receive Emeryville Taxpayer Public Money (Again)

 Corruption Journal:

Gift of Taxpayer Money Going to the Private Chamber of Commerce (Again)

If the Recent Past is a Guide, the $30,663 is Just the Camel's Nose Under the Tent

Former Mayor Assured Residents This Day Would Never Come

New Council Is Nonplused: 'What Could Go Wrong?'

At the May 19th city council meeting, the Emeryville council politicians unanimously agreed to issue a government check in the amount of $30,663 to the Emeryville Commerce Connection (ECC), a replacement organization to the former Chamber of Commerce, in order to promote dues paying restaurants in town; the money representing a public to private exchange former City Councilman John Bauters notably said was never going to happen again.   The controversial taxpayer payment to the private and exclusive ECC organization funds a ‘Restaurant Week’ event in Emeryville this October.  By way of transparency, the private organization says they will show the City how they spent taxpayer's money at a later date. 

The private ECC organization taking public money was debated in 2024 when the organization was newly forming amid assurances from then Councilman Bauters who offered that the group would never get any public money like the private Chamber of Commerce did before them.  Mr Bauters used his argument as a way to take away from Councilman Kalimah Priforce’s publicly made concerns about possible conflicts of interest if the group ever was in a position to take public money.  It is ironic that Mr Priforce, who has now two years later voted with his colleagues to give a tranche of public money to ECC, is receiving push back from his colleagues for again expressing worry about possible conflicts of interest he made before the vote.  In that vein, Mr Priforce expressed reservations about the private ECC receiving taxpayer money at both the 2024 meeting and also at the May 19th meeting, even though he ended up voting with his colleagues to fund the ECC in the end.  

Former Mayor John Bauters
'The new chamber of commerce, the 
Emeryville Commerce Connection, is a private
organization that will never receive public money
like the old chamber of commerce did.' 
Until on May 19th they did.

In the intervening two years, the tax exempt A 501(c)(6) organization ECC has made something of a name for itself for its opacity, drawing out the line of questions from Mr Priforce who told Mary Lou Thiercof, the organization's CEO he was not comfortable giving public money to the secretive group.  As a condition of his support, Councilman Priforce asked the CEO if she could reveal who sits on the Board of Directors, noting that information is not on the ECC website.  In response, Ms Thiercof assured the Councilman she would email him the list of Board members privately.  Notably, the other City Council members expressed no concerns about a secret Board of Directors for the organization they were about to give public money to. 

Finally delivering his YES vote to the ECC (with reservations), Council member Priforce said he thought Restaurant Week delivered good value for the City's brand and he doubted the City's public Economic Development Advocacy Committee’s (EDAC) capacity to pull that off effectively.

Perhaps sensing this day would come and recognizing the checkered past of the former Chamber of Commerce and all their gifts of public money bestowed on them by the City Council, former Mayor John Bauters notably told his colleagues on March 19th, 2024 that the ECC would not ever get any public money from Emeryville.  Pushing back against a questioning Councilman Priforce, who even then was concerned about possible conflicts of interest from the newly formed ECC that might arise as a result of them taking public money, Mr Bauters issued a strong rebuke to Mr Priforce.  Mr Bauters assured everyone that the ECC is not getting any public money and they won’t in the future.  He lectured his colleague Priforce,  “Chambers [of commerce] aren’t supposed to be run by the City.  A group of business owners and residents came together [to form ECC] and there’s no City money in that….zero dollars.  So there’s no conflict.”  Bauters pointedly took issue with the Priforce concerns, “There’s nothing wrong with a group of private individuals or businesses choosing to associate and work together [as long as they don’t take public money]” said Mr Bauters (brackets added by the Tattler).  

The private recipient of Emeryville taxpayer's money
is not transparent. 
Membership in the secretive organization at first was
by invitation only.  Now membership can be taken away
based on 'team player' unquantified capriciousness.   
  

It is interesting that Councilman Priforce who was prescient in his concerns about possible conflict of interest by ECC in 2024, now two years later is still being reprimanded by his colleagues for raising concerns about possible conflicts of interest when it is no longer a possibility that ECC will get public money but now a reality. 

As the ECC announced its formation in 2024, CEO Thiercof assured the Council the organization, like the Chamber of Commerce before, would be “open to all Emeryville businesses”, a claim that has since been quietly retracted.  After at first allowing membership to businesses by invitation only, the ECC now says membership is not granted to all, businesses can be permanently excommunicated if they offer any public criticism of the ECC, Ms Thiercof told the Tattler, “a lifetime ban will result”.  Notably, businesses that are represented by the City of Emeryville’s own public Economic Development Advisory Committee (EDAC), namely every business in Emeryville, are free to criticize the workings of the committee or even the City Council in any way they see fit.  That illustrating a primary difference between the private sector and the public sector.

Council member Priforce noted the ECC grew out of the EDAC and that committee, still extant, is publicly accountable and transparent, its meetings open to the public.  The new private and secret ECC business support organization getting public money is a source of concern for Council member Priforce who stands alone in his concern.  The other four Council members did not question Ms Thiercof about receiving public money in 2024 or on May 19th.

Emeryville Commerce Connection CEO
 Mary Lou Thiercof 
She told the City Council
ECC is open to "all Emeryville businesses "
but later she quantified that, closing the organization
to some Emeryville small businesses.
 ECC is taking public money regardless. She warned 
noncompliant business members will face a 
"life time ban" if they criticize the ECC.

The $30,663 given to the private ECC has been taken out of the City’s Economic Development Fund that the EDAC uses and so this gift demonstrably comes at the expense of public accountability.

Gifts of public money to private organizations can sometimes turn bad, commonly morphing into ongoing support after starting with a well meaning one time gift.   Notably, the former Chamber of Commerce started as an independent self sustaining organization but after receiving public money for specific projects, morphed into unconditional and ongoing free rent of a large City rented office space and a monthly stipend of $45,000 per year for its periodical newsletter called the Emeryville Connection that was printed and sent to every Emeryville residence.  Infamously, the Chamber’s newsletter was highly partisan, to the point that they even told Emeryville voters who to vote for in Council races….audaciously all done with taxpayer money.  That violation of public trust was illegal and after the Tattler reported on it, the City Council stopped giving taxpayer money to the Chamber for the Emeryville Connection.  Eventually City Hall stopped the free rent too, ultimately causing the Chamber to file for bankruptcy.  

Before forwarding the money to ECC, City Council members David Mourra, Courtney Welch and Sukhdeep Kaur all praised the private membership organization, Mr Mourra stating, “I can’t think of a better organization to invest this [public] money into”.

 The Emeryville Commerce Connection posts that their goal is to “bring [certain favored] people together” on their website (Tattler added brackets).  They indicated they would let the Council know how they spent the public money at some later date.

The old Emeryville Chamber of Commerce and their corrupt receipt of public money is HERE,  HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Former RULE Member Announces Sutter Emeryville Hospital Complex Is Ill-Suited For Proposed Site

 Letter to the Tattler: City Council Should Reconsider Approval of the Sutter Hospital Proposal at Hollis Street Site

The Tattler offers citizens with news worthy stories about Emeryville to submit letters for publication for the 'Letters to the Tattler' feature.

Judith Timmel, a 34 year Emeryville resident and co-founder of the former resident activist group Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), opines about the proposed billion dollar Sutter Health 325 bed hospital proposed for a 12 acre site on Hollis Street (at 53rd).  Sutter recently purchased the former bio-tech site by use of a City Council initiated change to Emeryville’s charter.  The hospital and its administration complex will host the tallest building in Emeryville if Sutter completes its build out.  The “temporary infusion of cash into our city coffers” that Ms Timmel refers to is the $11 million one time real estate transfer tax the City imposed upon the sale. 

To the City Council members-

 I attended the meeting Sutter recently held regarding their proposed project.  I have to say I was shocked and dismayed to find that the city council members had given a preliminary approval to this totally unacceptable development in our neighborhood.  What I appreciate about my neighborhood is livability and small-scale development which fosters community and a sense of safety.  This project is totally outside of any precepts in the General Plan and the hopes I have for our community that I thought that you all shared.

The looming presence of a huge tower would destroy our sunlight, our sense of neighborhood and aesthetics that we now enjoy.  The ambulances, shuttles and helicopters, not to mention the 4 years of construction noise, would destroy our peace and quiet, seriously disrupt our streets and destroy our bike boulevard.  Students going to and from school on 53rd St would be endangered and residents become even more inconvenienced by the increased traffic.  The streets surrounding the proposed project are not meant for this level of traffic and would become over-burdened.

It seems you have been swayed by the temporary infusion of cash into our city coffers.  I submit that this gain is short-lived and short-sighted.  What will be gained by the city after the project’s completion? Sutter’s non-profit status renders them exempt from many taxes.

I support Sutter’s taking over and re-purposing the existing buildings for medical uses. I would support a small-scale building on the vacant property.  What I will not support is a huge hulking monstrosity wedged into an inappropriate space in an incongruous neighborhood.

Alternative location for this hospital? Why not Site B?  Could a trade be made? As long as the height is reduced, and it could be with a larger footprint, it seems a more accessible and less disruptive location.

I urge you to reconsider, and I will be spending considerable time and energy to inform the residents of Emeryville of this impending disruption in their lives.

Respectfully submitted, 

Judith T, resident

Sutter hospital site at Hollis and 53rd Street looking northwest.

Iran War: Council Violates Its Own Sanction Against International Proclamations

City Council Breaks Pledge Against Passing Resolutions Addressing International Problems

Council’s Record: 

Ukraine War is Not Acceptable

Gaza Genocide is Acceptable 

Iran War is Not Acceptable

Breaking News

Tonight, the City Council attended to business they have in the Middle East by a condemnation of President Trump’s war in Iran in the form of an official City of Emeryville resolution.  The unanimous decision tonight was a remarkable and newsworthy event after the same council majority said in December 2023 that international proclamations such as this are outside the scope of the Emeryville City Council's work.  Now these same council members, without explanation, have voted for a City of Emeryville international proclamation.

As remarkable as it is, tonight’s 180 degree council turn around is even more confounding; before their refusal to vote on the Israel/Gaza war (because the proposal was an “international proclamation”) the Council voted unanimously for an earlier international proclamation, the Russia/Ukraine war.  Got that? 

Here’s a step by step synopsis of the wild pendulum swing:

1)   May 16, 2023: The Emeryville City Council unanimously said YES to a resolution condemning the Russian war against Ukraine, an international proclamation.

2)   December 5, 2023: The Council Majority said NO to a single council member’s proposal for Council support for a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel war against Gaza.  The council majority said NO because it would be an out-of-bounds “international proclamation”.

3)   May 19, 2026 (tonight): The council unanimously said YES to a resolution condemning the US war against Iran, another international proclamation.

Emeryville citizens would be forgiven their confusion given the council majority’s ambiguous lack of cogency on this score.  These three points, taken up by the same politicians, beg explanation.  But they’re not talking, except for the council member that supported all three resolutions, Kalimah Priforce, who stated simply, “Human lives matter and any time we have an opportunity to recognize the sanctity of human life we should take it.”  

Former Emeryville Mayor John Bauters brought the Russia/Ukraine war proclamation to the council while council member Priforce brought both the Israel/Gaza war ceasefire proclamation and tonight’s US/Iran war proclamation to the council.  The vote for the Russia/Ukraine proclamation was 5-0 in favor, the Israel/Gaza ceasefire proclamation proposal failed 1-4 (Mourra, Kaur and Welch dissenting) and the US/Iran war proclamation passed 5-0.

Council members who voted against the US/Gaza ceasefire proposal publicly explained they could not vote for it because it was “international” and therefore not in the scope of work to be performed by the Emeryville City Council.  Council member David Mourra was especially forceful in his explanation as to why he appeared to be a hypocrite for his reversal.  He told the Tattler it was a “mistake” in retrospect for the Emeryville City Council to meddle in the Russia/Ukraine war and that he would not make that mistake again.  That is why he said he voted against council member Priforce’s proposal to have a proclamation in favor of an Israel/Gaza ceasefire. 

To be precise and so readers understand, we state again: council members Sukhdeep Kaur, Courtney Welch, John Bauters and David Mourra, with their own public statements and actions, have all made it clear they are against the council taking a stand in international politics with international proclamations but they are also in favor of doing exactly that.

The Tattler will attempt to get the four council members who’s voting record has been in direct contradiction with their earlier votes and we will report what they say.

Emeryville's City Council cares about the welfare
of this Ukrainian child.

....but not this child from Gaza.

The City Council wants everyone to know they 
care about this Iranian child.

Emeryville Went The YIMBY Way: Now It Has The Most Expensive Rent In The East Bay

 The More Apartments We Build, The More Expensive It Is To Rent Here

City Council's YIMBY Gambit Failure

Building More Was Supposed To Bring Cheaper Rent

What Happened?

News Analysis

Rising apartment rents in Emeryville have eclipsed neighboring cities, leaving our city the most expensive place to rent in the East Bay amid an unprecedented apartment building binge and calling into question a long standing ‘supply and demand’ master narrative that has seized the housing policy debate here.  According to real estate brokerage and consumer search platforms, rents in Emeryville, formerly middle income affordable, are now shown to be pulling ahead of Piedmont and Walnut Creek, despite having built more new apartment units per capita than any other city in the East Bay; an overturning of overly simplistic supply side economic theory pushed by YIMBY.

In 2024, Emeryville emerged as the top East Bay most expensive city for one-bedroom apartment rentals, with average prices now peaking around $2,790, a 16.3% increase. Emeryville's significant rent growth and apartment building growth made it a standout, often surpassing the most expensive spots in other parts of the Bay Area.  The more Emeryville builds, the more expensive Emeryville becomes as it turns out, in spite of publicly proclaimed YIMBY and Council majority countering dogma. 
 

Similar to President Ronald Reagan’s oft cited claim that wealth will “trickle down” to the middle class as a reason for why rich people’s taxes must be cut, America’s middle class was left waiting for the wealth to trickle down, just as residents here are waiting for Emeryville’s rents to fall amid the ongoing housing boom driven by a didactic YIMBY and schoolmarmish Council majority.

Sky High Rent Increases Despite Unprecedented Housing Boom
According to the search platform Zumper, to which the City of Emeryville defers, on April 1st, an average one bedroom unit in Emeryville rents for $2725 ($2682 according to Apartment finder.com and $3021 at Rent cafe.com).  In Walnut Creek, a one bedroom unit can be had for $2599, while Oakland, Berkeley and Fremont average is $1995, $2295, and $2377 respectively.

All the increasing rent costs in Emeryville have occurred concurrently with a massive housing boom, like no other East Bay city has experienced.  Data shows Emeryville increased its housing stock between 2020 and 2024, with more than 600 new housing units added, making our town one of the fasted growing cities in California according to the SF Chronicle.  At the same time, the Chronicle called Emeryville's City Council "One of the most YIMBY city councils in California".   For decades, Emeryville has beaten the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) recommended housing numbers - something no other East Bay city has done.  All this growth was supposed to drive down rents said YIMBY and their Emeryville City Council sycophants.

YIMBY California is a Sacramento based municipal housing policy lobbying group supported by State Senator Scott Wiener and funded by real estate investment trust corporations and developers.  YIMBY has long advocated for removing local municipalities' ability to set their own public housing policy, deferring instead to YIMBY's laissez faire deregulation model.  YIMBY has praised Emeryville for singularly following their directives, citing former Emeryville City Councilman John Bauters as well as current Council member Courtney Welch and Planning Commissioner Dianne Martinez as especially helpful to their cause.  

The dichotomy between Emeryville’s unprecedented multi-year housing boom and rapidly rising rent prices here should offer a reality gob smack to the City Council majority and other YIMBY apologists.  So far, there has not been any acknowledgement from any pro-YIMBY forces of this inconvenient high building/high rent dichotomy.  Indeed, that stubbornness to accept basic facts and indisputable numbers betrays an increasing zealotry among the Council majority. 

Further, in their rush to support YIMBY, the City Council majority have precluded any chance to get popular parts of Emeryville’s General Plan implemented.  For instance, developers with approved housing projects are supposed to materially help support the building of new parks but the Council majority has stopped even asking them (at YIMBY’s insistance).  Because park acreage is supposed to be based on the number of residents in Emeryville, new housing projects are the mechanism that drives the need for new parks as well as the money for the building of new parks.  However, with YIMBY in charge, every year, Emeryville falls farther behind on the park goals stipulated by the General Plan.  Emeryville is now the worst, most under served city in the East Bay for parks.

Emeryville elected officials should be the kind of people to be able to pivot once it becomes clear their ideas aren’t working.  Unfortunately, we don’t have that kind of Council (majority).  It appears these four Council members of ours have been captured ideologically by the materially driven YIMBY.  The people of Emeryville deserve rational public policy that serves them, not real estate trust corporations and developers who seek to double down on their private profit housing policy.  

We reached out to Mayor Sukhdeep Kaur, Vice Mayor Matthew Solomon, Council members David Mourra and Courtney Welch as well as City Manager LaTonya Bellow for this story but none responded.  Council member Kalimah Priforce is a fan of local housing control and the sole YIMBY critic among the Council members.

Emeryville is one of the fastest growing cities in California: HERE

Emeryville's City Council the most YIMBY controlled city council in California: HERE

Emeryville is the 6th most expensive place to live in the Bay Area. Source: Zumper.com

Emeryville has the fastest growing rent in the Bay Area. Source: Zumper.com

Emeryville is now the most expensive place to rent in the East Bay. Source: Zumper.com

City of Emeryville Removed a Community Food Table the Day Before a New State Law Would Have Protected It

Racing the Clock, Emeryville Stopped a Community Food Pantry Just Before SB 634 Became Law

 State of California's Priorities VS Emeryville's Priorities

State Interested in Alleviating Hunger

Emeryville Interested in Maintaining Order

In December, sandwiched between the federal government’s restoration of full SNAP benefits and a new California law protecting the rights of  “good Samaritans" to help feed hungry people, the City of Emeryville moved quickly to remove a community free food table in a rapidly closing window of opportunity to legally stop ordinary citizens from assisting hungry neighbors the Tattler has learned.  The former food table, located at the corner of Horton Street and Sherwin Avenue was removed on the order of John Kennedy, Emeryville’s City Attorney on December 31st 2025 because it was violating the City’s encroachment ordinance, he said.  

Emeryville City Attorney
John Kennedy
He used his $307,000 salary to make
sure homeless people in Emeryville can't 
get access to community donated food.
'We don't see hungry people', his ruling said. 
More important than hunger, Emeryville's
encroachment ordinance is paramount
and must be obeyed.

  

The Tattler food table was set up in November in response to a growing crisis of hunger in the Emeryville community just before the federal government stopped payments through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).   As such, the community was offered an ongoing and convenient place for community members to drop off food for hungry neighbors in need.  However, where many neighbors saw positive attributes of vital community engagement and a rallying around community values, the City of Emeryville and its attorney saw only a violation of its byzantine encroachment ordinance.  

Hunger is still an existential problem in the community even after SNAP benefits have been restored.

The City moved quickly and validated the removal of the food table by initiating a legally required 10 day warning sent to the Tattler on December 21st, 2025, invoking Title 7, Chapter 2 of the Emeryville Municipal Code (the encroachment section) as a legal basis for removing the food table.  That set up a December 31st removal, the day before the State of California  took away the City's legal basis on January 1st, 2026, albeit one day too late to help feed the hungry in the community here in Emeryville.   Victims of this legal technicality, hungry people in Emeryville, have since gone without food assistance from the Tattler community food table because of the City Attorney's quick action removing it. 

Emeryville City Manager
LaTonya Bellow
Community free food tables will not 
be allowed in Emeryville.
Order must be maintained she says.

It is presumed Mr Kennedy did not like the optics of the City of Emeryville removing a food pantry table at the same time President Trump was removing SNAP benefits to all Americans.  By the time a federal judge got SNAP fully restored, Mr Kennedy was left with less than a week to initiate the community food table removal.  The City Attorney refused to comment for this Tattler story but it is clear he had a removal agenda and he was working to beat Sacramento’s clock.

President Trump ordered the federal government to stop all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) payments to hungry Americans in early November of 2025 just as the Tattler set up the Community Free Food Table.  A federal court then ordered the federal food assistance program reinstated on November 6th, a Thursday, setting up a race in Mr Kennedy’s mind, to get rid of the Tattler food table with California's SB 634 breathing down his neck.   The City Attorney got the Emeryville food table removed just under the wire.  

People who claim Emeryville’s City Attorney is overpaid at $307,000 per year (plus benefits), need only to look at this case showing his talent in recognizing the significance of and acting with alacrity upon intersecting legal time constraints in order to stop homeless people in the community from getting food.  Had Mr Kennedy not acted quickly and adroitly, homeless people could still be receiving community donated food at the food table.

Berkeley's Private Free Food Table
on McGee Avenue at Oregon Street
For 10 years, the City of Berkeley has said this
food table is OK, 10 years before SB 634
made it legal in every California city.  The City
of Berkeley  has a long record  of
caring about hunger in the community.

Fans of the former Emeryville Tattler Community Free Food Table have noted only Emeryville forbids community food tables (despite SB 634); Oakland and Berkeley have allowed food tables on public property even before the new State law kicked in.  The city attorneys in those two cities had come to the conclusion that their local encroachment ordinances should not trump hungry community members’ ability from getting food.   In Berkeley, city hall publicly condoned grassroots private community food tables set up on public property, including a table located on McGee Avenue that has facilitated free food for more than ten years.  Emeryville is different from Berkeley and Oakland when it comes to community members taking their own initiative in helping with hunger in the community.  Here, order is the coin of the realm, hunger taking a backseat. 

Emeryville's Mayor, Sukhdeep Kaur, the Vice Mayor, Matthew Solomon, the City Attorney, John Kennedy and the City Manager, LaTanya Bellow, were all reached out to for this story but none responded. 

The text of the relevant part of section two of California SB 634 is as following:

53069.44. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a local jurisdiction shall not adopt a local ordinance, or enforce an existing ordinance, that prohibits a person or organization from providing support services, including legal services or medical care, to a person who is homeless or assisting a person who is homeless with any act related to basic survival.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) (A) “Act related to basic survival” includes, but is not limited to, assisting with or providing items to assist with any of the following:

(i) Eating and drinking, including provision of food and water.

(ii) Sleeping, including provision of blankets and pillows.

(iii) Protecting oneself from the elements.

(iv) Other activities and items necessary for immediate personal health and hygiene.

The full text of California SB 634 can be read HERE.

The Tattler set up the food table HERE.

The City of Emeryville took away the Tattler Community Free Food Table HERE and HERE.

The Western Center on Law and Poverty story on SB 634 can be read HERE.

The Tattler Community Free Food Table on Horton Street
before it was shut down by the City of Emeryville.
The City of Emeryville said the problem was the table violated
its encroachment ordinance. 
The City says what's more important than feeding hungry 
community members is assuring the City's encroachment law
is followed to the T.  The State of California disagrees.