tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post502895833740196609..comments2024-03-28T16:54:44.319-07:00Comments on The Emeryville Tattler: More Demolition in Emeryville's "Area of Stability"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-6832557024801113932017-02-19T15:53:39.438-08:002017-02-19T15:53:39.438-08:00Why someone would key the car of a renter because ...Why someone would key the car of a renter because the landlord is selling the house to a developer who wants to tear it down (in violation of the General Plan) is obtuse to say the least. I'd say you're dealing with overly emotional neighbors that lack critical thinking skills. Alas, this kind of thing seems to be trending nation-wide at this point. Xenophobia isn't part of a rationally based polity and I think you're intersecting with a few 'bad apples'. I understand your well placed dismay about your car being vandalized but we're going to continue on here insisting on a democratic polity for Emeryville in the face of these base affectations. Dialogue is good, vandalism isn't but we're going to continue A even as B rears its ugly face. Good luck and sorry you got caught in a fight you didn't ask for.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-91621813162088727862017-02-16T20:25:12.796-08:002017-02-16T20:25:12.796-08:00Hello,
My husband and I are currently "renti...Hello, <br />My husband and I are currently "renting" 1270 Ocean Ave. (Ok, it's air bnb, but we still have a 6 month lease while we look for houses and jobs in the bay area). We are from Denver, an up and coming city as well, going through much of the same situation as your town of Emeryville. We are relocating to find something a little better for our growing family. This rental is kind of a jumping off point if you will, to look at different towns/areas/communities that we think would be good for such a family.<br />A couple weeks ago, a paper sign was posted on the fence of the rental house. We kept it up, no big deal. We understand what your issues are and think it is important to be heard. Then, a couple days later, a GIANT wood sign was screwed to the fence. Again, we understand. However, we were getting cars stopping out front, people stopping and staring. We have unfairly had the anger of the community placed onto our shoulders. So, we decided to change what the sign said so people would stop staring. We put up a nice message, and requested that people take their agenda somewhere else other than the fence of the rental property (mind you, the owners are 100 percent aware what is going on. Your message is getting through to them.). Then, when that message was defaced we decided to just take the sign down. We are not here to harass anyone, and it's not our fight (again, we're just the renters). The night we did that, our car was keyed. No other car on the entire block or any surrounding the block had any similar damage. <br />What is really upsetting about this, is that we have also worked hard for what we own and love. Someone vandalized our vehicle, from what we can assume is because of THIS. <br />I can assure you, that for the organizing and work that goes into keeping this a 'welcoming' community, it is the opposite of such. We have felt targeted and we have had our personal property damaged because of this. Emeryville is not a place I would like to call home, especially in this neighborhood. I am disappointed that your sense of 'community' means keeping others out. <br />We will be changing residences, and take our money that we would be spending in your community elsewhere. I will also inform anyone and everyone who asks me about this neighborhood, about the unfriendly and hostile neighbors they will live with. We wish you well with your endeavors.justtherentershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00636463447560555833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-24226940880942769712017-02-12T17:57:56.325-08:002017-02-12T17:57:56.325-08:00I live at 1274 Ocean. Here is the letter I sent to...I live at 1274 Ocean. Here is the letter I sent to the city.<br /><br /><br /><br />Hello again,<br /><br />Below is the copy of the letter I sent you on December 17th. Since then I have gotten details of the proposed 1270 Ocean Ave. condo project, and it's worse than I thought. They are proposing a three-story condo with four three-bedroom units. Here are my concerns:<br />Solar blocking. It will eliminate my solar access with large shadows cast over my property. Lack of Sunlight will sicken and kill my chickens, make my garden plans. currently in development obsolete, make my solar energy plans obsolete, potentially kill existing plants, trees, and grass, and lower my property value, unless I'm willing to sell so another condo can be built. My home is a family home. It was given to me by my parents and was planned to give to my son for his children. <br /><br />Privacy. My privacy will be further eroded as condos from both sides will be looking down into my yard. The condo on the west already broke this promise to me with large balconies overlooking my yard. This new condo proposes 3 stories of windows overlooking my house and yard. <br /><br />Parking. Parking is already an issue. The condo to the west only allowed for single car residents who could potentially have 2 cars each, which will further impact parking. This new condo development could potentially add 12 more cars to the neighborhood with a garage for only 3 of those 12.<br /><br />Unity and Harmony. This push to fill our block with condos is eroding the culture of the neighborhood replacing homes and yards, with super blocks of bulky condos. If Emeryville is going to maintain its architectural unity and harmony then the ideal development would be a 1 - 2 story house with a small front yard and a large backyard. I ask that you respect Emeryville history and support the existing neighborhood character by denying this condo proposal.<br /><br /><br />Dec 17, 2016, at 12:50 PM, <br /><br />Hi, <br /><br />I live at 1274 Ocean Ave. when I moved in this was a neighborhood of houses. Slowly condos have attempted to encroach on our block. We are the block that separates the condos to the north from the houses to the south.<br /><br />The condo that was recently built next to me is much larger and more intrusive than promised. Now I'm told that the neighbor on the other side of me wants to build condos as well. If this happens it will open the floodgates for more condo development and we will continue to lose the culture of our neighborhood. <br /><br />In addition with all the nearby businesses parking is already becoming more and more of a problem. My disabled neighbor had to park two blocks away the other night. While the condo next to me has a parking spot allocated for each condo, it does not take into consideration people who have more than one car. I only see this problem getting worse in the future if condos are allowed to continue to encroach upon our neighborhood.<br /><br />Please help us keep the neighborhood family friendly and full of quaint houses full of inviting yards.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15232310170711845618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-31358978345261402162017-02-07T18:29:46.336-08:002017-02-07T18:29:46.336-08:00Brian, they are really trolling you hard on this o...Brian, they are really trolling you hard on this one. they must be scared. the old neighborhoods are quite charming and human scale. it will be a grave mistake to lose that to what they are doing, which is upzoning. however, since there are already apartments sprinkled throughout the neighborhoods, the four-plexes are very likely conforming with the code. <br />The project will encourage others, and with the profit potential, it will pervert the housing market, as speculators, hoping to reap those profits out-bid any actual families. FUBARAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-66679916798275641702017-02-06T10:25:35.576-08:002017-02-06T10:25:35.576-08:00Good trade for whom?
And if it's good to move ...Good trade for whom?<br />And if it's good to move from one to four then is it good to move from four to 100? How about 1000? How should it be decided what's a good trade? Who should decide?<br /><br />Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-34856877158921306272017-02-05T12:47:06.045-08:002017-02-05T12:47:06.045-08:00One-family unit removed to make room for three mor...One-family unit removed to make room for three more. Good trade! hueyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14282005569500658284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-33549761874379305042017-02-05T00:03:58.183-08:002017-02-05T00:03:58.183-08:00You're proud Emeryville is kicking families to...You're proud Emeryville is kicking families to the curb and transforming the town to a city of (techie) renters? Responding to demand? What demand? They're responding to the demand developers have to maximize their profits. Emeryville has doubled its population in the last ten years and families are leaving in droves as prices keep escalating (now $3000 per month for a one bedroom apartment). Emeryville has provided more than 200% of market rate housing recommended by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the rent keeps skyrocketing. The housing demands of ordinary people is going unmet...it's only the demand of developers who want to build luxury apartments that's being met. And this makes you proud, why exactly?Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-55703738915480023592017-02-04T23:59:30.876-08:002017-02-04T23:59:30.876-08:00It's funny how I see things: I'm in favor ...It's funny how I see things: I'm in favor of democracy...people getting the town they want. Hilarious.<br />Other people's money...yes, that's how a civilization is built. And that's a problem because why? You hate civilization? Transfer taxes, yes Emeryville charges almost as much as our neighboring cities charge...again, a problem, why? And your conclusion about the City staff going unpaid if we don't tear down our single family housing....not cogent. They're gunna get paid no matter what gets built (or not built). Show me the contract that delineates how they work on contingency based on new projects being built and I'll retract what I say.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-15611953249433848852017-02-04T17:54:13.055-08:002017-02-04T17:54:13.055-08:00It's funny how you see things. You say Nora D...It's funny how you see things. You say Nora Davis and Charlie Bryant are Right wingers and that you are Progressive. Though you all are liberal with other people's money. Remember, you promoted raising the city transfer tax on real estate transactions, and you are for increased taxes just as Nora Davis was. The City needs more units built and turned over to pay for their salaries, and in Charlie Bryants' case, his costly retirement. Maybe you don't see the logic. This house that they will tear down has a tax base of about $250,000 that reaps about $4000 in annual property tax. Once they build the 4 new units, each unit will sell for up to 1 million dollars each. This will net about $16,000 per unit in property tax or nearly $64,000 per year for the project. This is what they do. Anyways, by no means this city has or ever will be family friendly. The city is not our friend, they only want our money. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-40074330245394078772017-02-04T17:44:42.610-08:002017-02-04T17:44:42.610-08:00This amazing! I'm so glad Emeryville is moving...This amazing! I'm so glad Emeryville is moving towards being a more inclusive community and responding to the demand of housing in our area. So proud of my city!Amandanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-35191224695727719442017-02-04T14:23:01.953-08:002017-02-04T14:23:01.953-08:00Spoken like a politician seeking re-election!
I ...Spoken like a politician seeking re-election! <br />I think you need to reread the story. Nowhere is it claimed families will not move into apartment buildings in Emeryville. What IS true is that single family detached residences are the most family friendly housing type. And we're now preparing to demolition all the remainder (there are 197 now, oops there goes another one... make that 196). Families do not love to live in the housing in Emeryville (outside the remaining single family homes). How do we know this? The marketplace tells us that (and demographics produced by the City of Emeryville and the Census Bureau). People vote with their feet and families are not moving to Emeryville (we're going backwards on that). We're at the bottom of ALL the East Bay towns in terms of attracting families. And Emeryville keeps getting lower. This is not likely to change with the 'family friendly' housing ordinance we enacted last year. It was a case of too little too late. We had 25 years of building what developers wanted to build and now we're stuck with it. We went from a mostly home ownership town to a renter town (now the highest ratio of renters to owners in the East Bay) and from a town with families to the least family friendly town in the whole East Bay.<br />These last single family residences in East Emeryville could serve as a place saver to stop the hemorrhaging of families. We just have to make it a priority.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-42816100449061159432017-02-04T12:52:04.071-08:002017-02-04T12:52:04.071-08:00Wonderful, thanks for sharing the good news! :DWonderful, thanks for sharing the good news! :DMaxwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05535913028418757965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-87671165216652059412017-02-04T11:25:34.524-08:002017-02-04T11:25:34.524-08:00Emeryville is quite tiny. There's only so many...Emeryville is quite tiny. There's only so many single family homes that can fit on such little land, and by your argument then only so many families that can fit in Emeryville.<br /><br />As it turns out, families do love to live in multi-family units! And that makes Emeryville less of an exclusive gated community, since more families can move in!workman161https://www.blogger.com/profile/07250976530351913490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-68540191138727857062017-02-03T07:47:06.343-08:002017-02-03T07:47:06.343-08:00Institutional memory. The head of the Planning De...Institutional memory. The head of the Planning Department Charlie Bryant never got fired. He's left over from the Nora Davis decades when developers were king. He's still there and so we still have a Planning Department doing the developer's bidding.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-79010238906776933442017-02-03T02:14:57.971-08:002017-02-03T02:14:57.971-08:00This seems wrong. The city should do what the neig...This seems wrong. The city should do what the neighbors want. How does the staff benefit by siding with the developers? What's in it for them?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com