tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post6669216977799993267..comments2024-03-28T16:54:44.319-07:00Comments on The Emeryville Tattler: Scheme Nixes Election With Stroke Of PenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-81635191700942757402011-07-26T11:49:47.373-07:002011-07-26T11:49:47.373-07:00Council member Bukowski's motives for his invo...Council member Bukowski's motives for his involvement in the City Attorney ballot initiative are not germane to the question of the people's desire to vote on the issue. Even if Mr Bukowski were somehow benefitting financially from his involvement in this issue (not proven), the people have spoken and they have said they want to be able to vote on this issue. The County agrees and Mr Bukowski has nothing to do with it from this point forward. <br /><br />Having said that, councilman Bukowski's motives, if they can be proven to be nefarious is a legitimate story that the people need to know about. At this point however, proclamations as to his motives are speculation.<br /><br />Perhaps in the future, I'll write an opinion piece about my perceptions of his motives here. I suppose you can wait for that opinion peice if you're so inclined..Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-79412193115044293022011-07-26T11:29:51.733-07:002011-07-26T11:29:51.733-07:00Brian, the 7/25, 7:33 commenter seems to be mostly...Brian, the 7/25, 7:33 commenter seems to be mostly siding with you and you are attacking him/her. I don't get it. You are putting words in the commenter's mouth. I don't see a scrap of what you have attributed to him/her from what he/she has written. <br /><br />For you to say Ken Bukowski's motives are not germane is just naive. Of course an initiative sponsor's motives are germane. When PG&E and Mercury insurance financed Propositions 16 and 17, their sponsorship was germane. If Amazon gets a measure on the ballot to cancel the recent online sales tax law, their sponsorship will be germane. Bukowski may not stand to gain financially from this measure, but he stands to benefit politically and that is absolutely relevant and part of a healthy debate on the measure. Rather that attacking people who seem to seem to mostly agree with you, why don't you try to flush out the legitimate concern that there is a lot of conflicting information floating around regarding this measure. <br /><br />If you'd stop giving us information that was so shamefully biased toward YOUR point of view and give us information that was factual, I think you would win a lot of good will and gratitude from residents on an issue like this. (And don't give me your line about how you represent the interest of residents - you don't represent the views of any of the Emeryville residents I know.) Instead of giving us information we can actually use, you just perch on this blog, waiting to pounce on anyone who raises concerns they have. By telling people their concerns are not legitimate, you further turn people off and alienate yourself. If that is what you were trying to accomplish, nice work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-65444608077810131992011-07-26T09:43:41.193-07:002011-07-26T09:43:41.193-07:00How about if Bukowski and Biddle have a pillow fig...How about if Bukowski and Biddle have a pillow fight?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-55757740234732416652011-07-25T22:16:27.163-07:002011-07-25T22:16:27.163-07:00Conspiracy theory 101 Brian- My point is that the ...Conspiracy theory 101 Brian- My point is that the City Council has been aware of several items that may end up on the ballot- Bukowski's hatred of Bittle, The business license cap etc. Everybody knows that the August 2nd meeting is the deadline for ballot initiative approvals for a November election soooooo!!!! Good luck getting them to convene at this point. They have already made plans to be unavailable! As far as Bukowski's motives are concerned, germane maybe but still disingenuous in my opinion. As far as the Council deciding on this matter- I think it's clear they have made their choice and since the good citizens of Emeryville elected them to office, I guess you have to live with it!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-45337140535196188422011-07-25T20:36:01.913-07:002011-07-25T20:36:01.913-07:00To answer the above question about who knows if th...To answer the above question about who knows if the council was aware in December about the City Attorney ballot initiative: Well I know. The answer is NO they didn't know. What is your point?<br /><br />The city council could convene a meeting on August 2nd to allow the people to vote in November. It's their choice. No laws will be broken if they choose to meet and forward the ballot initiative. If they believe in democracy, they'll grant the people the chance to vote. The Emeryville city council majority so far shamefully, is attempting to stop the people of Emeryville from deciding for themselves whether the City Attorney should be fired.<br /><br />As to Mr Bukowski's motives: How does that change whether the people should control their own destiny? Mr Bukowski's motives, whatever they are, are not germane.<br /><br />The commentor above seems to take the position that the council should decide about this since they are smarter than the people. To this I say all comments are welcome here even those that call for the suppression of democracy. However I add that it takes all kinds.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-39784663341547388772011-07-25T19:33:21.733-07:002011-07-25T19:33:21.733-07:00It certainly seems as though the Council has thwar...It certainly seems as though the Council has thwarted Bukowski once again. They cancelled the City Council meeting scheduled for August 2nd way back in December. Did they know something then? Who knows! I do however question Bukowski's motives and I also question whether or not the Citizens have enough accurate information to vote on the issue. I know the City Manager prepared a staff report that is public record indicating it would be much more expensive to the taxpayers to Contract out all Legal services and get rid of Biddle. Bukowski says the opposite. So who do you believe when it comes time to vote? Where do you go for accurate information on the issue? I guess you try to determine which side has the most integrity, Bukowski or the rest of the Council and the City Manager. Might as well flip a coin!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-40636984191752548652011-07-25T17:54:12.906-07:002011-07-25T17:54:12.906-07:00Sacramento makes the policy here. Here's how ...Sacramento makes the policy here. Here's how a citizen ballot initiative is made: First the County has to notify the city that the proper number of valid signatures have been garnered. Then the city council must vote to certify that an election is to be held in that city. Only the city council is authorized to do this.<br /><br />If the city itself wants to put something on the ballot for the voters, they may do it by fiat, skipping the signature drive. That's what the problem is with the business tax cap...the council stopped a citizen ballot initiative to get rid of the cap by informing the citizens who initiated the drive that they (the council) were willing to place the issue on the ballot by fiat. Then after it was too late, they reneged on their deal and so now the people of Emeryville will not be able to vote on whether there should be a business tax cap. You can thank council members Kurt Brinkman and Nora Davis for that.Brian Donahuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12705682112476904502noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-85229540476898416172011-07-25T13:14:12.739-07:002011-07-25T13:14:12.739-07:00Brian, can you please explain the process for gett...Brian, can you please explain the process for getting a referendum on the ballot at the municipal level? Why does the City Council even need to certify it? I don't think most people understand this process. I can't formulate an opinion on this matter at this time becasue there is so much information missing is this article.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-89828967427541749692011-07-25T10:33:32.603-07:002011-07-25T10:33:32.603-07:00We may not have Chicago-style pizza, but we sure h...We may not have Chicago-style pizza, but we sure have Chicago-style politics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-89436976563362735802011-07-25T08:55:21.337-07:002011-07-25T08:55:21.337-07:00This whole thing shows how sick the Emeryville Cit...This whole thing shows how sick the Emeryville City Council is! Bukowski is just doing this because he wants to get re-elected and the council is trying to stop the people's vote because they see this as Bukowski's thing and they hate him. They don't want to let him have a victory even if it means screwing us over.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8394711926853801811.post-76625702644847971482011-07-24T23:24:48.318-07:002011-07-24T23:24:48.318-07:00I think the Council should put their distaste for ...I think the Council should put their distaste for Bukowski and affection for Biddle aside and let the people decide. They're not behaving as adults. This is starting to become an embarrassment for the city.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com