Tree Stumps on Horton Street Tell Us How Politics Works In Emeryville

 

The Stumps Are Telling Us How Broken City Hall Is

Emeryville Needs Tree Ordinance Reform 

The Ordinance is Too Weak to Save Trees

News Analysis

Tuesday June 15th 2021 has to go down in history as one of the low points in Emeryville politics.  That’s the date the City Council finally agreed to let the developer Lennar Corporation, kill every public street tree abutting their Sherwin Williams Horton Street project.  But this isn’t just a matter of a developer cutting our trees down.  That’s so common in Emeryville, it’s not even newsworthy.  Why the loss these particular trees is so notable is how revealing of the sycophantic culture at City Hall was the two year circuitous path that led to the stumps along Horton Street.  These stumps show us the how the government works at 1333 Park Avenue — how it works for developers, not for us.

Council members Dianne Martinez and Ally Medina
They're featured on one of the stumps their votes produced.
They steadfastly voted to cut all the Horton Street trees
over the years regardless of the wildly changing reasons
the staff has presented to them.

The final City Council vote to allow the developer to cut all the trees was 3-1 (Donahue dissenting).  The swing vote was delivered by the recently resigned Council member Christian Patz who changed his vote, his last vote as a City Council member incidentally, to allow Lennar to cut the trees.  Mr Patz told the Tattler he changed his vote after Mayor Dianne Martinez publicly announced right before the final vote that Lennar had before the Tuesday meeting, gone to the City staff to obtain a special ‘nuisance’ status for the trees that guaranteed the developer the right to cut the trees with or without the City Council.  Mr Patz said he felt at that point the trees were doomed and that the elected officials should take the heat for killing the trees, not the City staff.

Losing these street trees means a loss for the streetscape friendliness, the shade and cooling they provided and all the other benefits that can be said urban trees provide of course.  But it’s not that collectively we didn’t get anything in trade for agreeing to cut them.  What these stumps on Horton Street have bought us is the realization that our values in Emeryville, as codified by our ordinances, are only as strong as we live them.  As simple as it sounds, our ordinance meant to save our trees, the Urban Forestry Ordinance, can only actually save our trees if we vigilantly guard against developers who would cut them by living the life of the tree appreciators the UFO represents.   

That’s what’s missing at City Hall: tree appreciation.

Regrettable Backdrop

In 2018, Lennar went to City Hall seeking permission from the Planning Commission to kill all the street trees abutting their project.   The staff recommended the Commission permit the killing of all the trees along Sherwin Street claiming the existing trees didn’t match the developer’s desire for a different species and that Lennar had a right to a “unified streetscape” near their project (never mind this is not in the UFO).  After Planning Commission buy-in, the Council let that through and the Sherwin Street trees were all cut. 

Then there was the matter of the Horton Street trees, much grander and more visible than the Sherwin Street trees.  For those trees, the staff told the Planning Commission the Horton Street trees were all “unhealthy” and they must therefore all be cut.  But the Tattler pushed back and proved the City’s own arborist said the majority of the Horton trees were “fair” to “healthy”.  

Former City Councilman
Christian Patz
Frustrated by the vote, he said
'If there's a rule, Emeryville
will get around it'.

Undaunted, the staff, representing Lennar, still in 2018, told the City Council at the April 17th  meeting the Horton trees must all be cut because they would be in the way of underground utilities associated with the project.  Again, the Tattler led the drive to prove this was also false.  But not before the staff told the Council they must vote that night on the fate of the trees.  Council member Patz told the staff he resented the Hobson’s choice being offered that night and said he would therefore vote to save the trees. 

The vote that night was 2-2 with Council member Ally Medina joining Mayor Dianne Martinez in approving the cutting of the trees.  Council members Scott Donahue and Christian Patz voted against the cutting (Council member John Bauters is not allowed to vote on this because he lives too close to the project and state law forbids it).  The tie vote meant Lennar could not cut the trees. 

Backpedaling and still representing the interests of Lennar, the staff then reported the vote COULD be delayed and called for another vote at a later date.  

And delayed it was.  At the September 17th 2019 meeting, the matter of the Horton Street trees was back before the Council.  This time, the staff admitted the trees were not in the way of the underground utilities (save for one) and they had been wrong about that.  An “embarrassed” Council member Ally Medina publicly apologized for her earlier vote to cut the trees.  She said she had believed the staff when they said the trees were in the way of the underground utilities.

Undaunted, the staff, still working for Lennar in 2021, accepted the developer’s claim the Horton trees were “nuisances” before the final Council meeting on the 15th.  The nuisance designation meant that the trees would actually have to be cut by order from the City of Emeryville as an abatement against Lennar (never mind it was Lennar’s idea).  The nuisance designation also meant Lennar would not have to plant equal replacement trees as the UFO mandates.  The final deal was all the trees would be cut and a two inch sapling would be planted for each tree as well as five other small saplings planted elsewhere.

None of this stopped the two Councilwomen from claiming victory for the people of Emeryville.  Council member Ally Medina said the five saplings would make for a “greener and more beautiful city” while Mayor Martinez, told her colleagues she would not listen to their deliberations in the matter of the Horton trees, she said she had already made up her mind to kill the trees before the debate, “Let me indicate for you tonight, how I’m going to vote” she said.  Later, before the 3-1 vote, Mayor Martinez told everyone that despite her 2018 vote to kill the trees and despite her earlier in the meeting admitting she had already made up her mind, she told a shocked crowd, “Before, I was on the side of doing everything we could to save the trees, but now I’m on the side of having the healthiest and most vibrant trees we can”. 

The staff, working in the interest of Lennar Tuesday said the roots of the trees were close to the surface and that’s why they lifted the sidewalks there and that’s why they should be killed (the nuisance abatement notwithstanding).  The two Councilwomen seized that argument and ran with it but Christian Patz was incensed.  He admonished his two colleagues for their votes to kill the trees because there were no new facts presented Tuesday night he said, “The arborist said [back in 2018] these are known facts” he told his colleagues.  

It was after that, the Mayor, feeling the vote could be another 2-2 affair like the 2018 vote announced, “If we deadlock tonight,  the developer has the opportunity to go straight to our city administration and ask for waivers.  I just want to put that out there.”  And then Christian Patz changed his vote to a YES to allow Lennar to cut all our trees, his last vote as an Emeryville City Council member.  

Casting his last vote, Council member Patz, clearly pained, announced "I'm frustrated by the nature of Emeryville, which is, there's a rule, but we'll get around it".  And those were the final parting words to the people of Emeryville from the former Councilman.

The Former Sherwin Williams Horton Street Trees (on left)
The staff, working in the interests of the developer, falsely told the Council the trees
were unhealthy and in the way of underground utilities.  Those arguments weren't enough 
to convince the Council majority.  Only after the staff said the trees were designated as
"nuisances" and legally required to be cut, did Councilman Patz join his two women
 colleagues and vote to kill the trees.

Breaking News: Councilman Christian Patz Announces He Will Quit the Council

 Breaking: City Council Member to Quit Position

Christian Patz
Will leave his position as
City Council member.

Tonight, Emeryville City Councilman Christian Patz announced he is "formally stepping down" from his position on the City Council, effective as soon as is practical as he has accepted employment out of the Bay Area.   Mr Patz shocked his colleagues at the Council announcements section held at the beginning of the meeting.  Member Patz expressed he has lived in Emeryville for 18 years and that he is "truly saddened" at his leaving the City Council. 
He indicated he will keep his home in Emeryville but he and his family will be moving to Redding where he will be Executive Director for Shasta County 's special education program.   Mayor Dianne Martinez, after expressing she is "shocked and saddened" by the surprise announcement, stated future Council agenda items will address how the vacant position will be filled.  She stated she expects there will be "no gaps" on the Council as a result of Council member Patz's leaving.

Mayor Christian Patz, Lacking Leadership and Drive Gets a D+

Mayor Christian Patz

Continuing our tradition of looking back on each year-long mayorship of the rotating Emeryville City Council members/cum mayors, with Christian Patz now moving aside to make way for Dianne Martinez, we take this opportunity to look back on Mayor Patz’s shambolic tenure as Emeryville's highest elected official.  This year, the Tattler adds a new feature to these mayoral wrap-ups; the assignment of letter grades for each mayor—and to that end, we report Christian Patz has received a disappointing D+ for his efforts as our mayor.

Opinion

The most noteworthy aspect of Emeryville's mayor Christian Patz was his lack of energy and lack of follow through.  

Emeryville 2020 Mayor
Christian Patz 

Each mayor tends to assign for themselves some scope of work that can fairly be described as their signature issue.  Usually, it's introduced and brought to fruition during their year long term.  For Mr Patz, the defining issue of his term as mayor was the renaming of 47th Street after Steve Dain, a former teacher-of-the-year who was subsequently fired in 1977 by Emery Unified School District for being a transgender person.  But after introducing early in his term, the idea to rename the street to honor the teacher specifically and inclusivity in general, Mr Patz seemed to lose interest in the issue and he failed to follow through.  It was a noble thing Mr Patz proposed, but after Transgender Awareness Week and then the Transgender Day of Remembrance quietly passed in the weeks before his term as mayor ended, it became clear Mayor Patz had no intention to follow through with his own good idea. 

An item Mayor Patz had a hand in that actually got done was last March’s Measure F, a quarter cent sales tax passed by Emeryville voters that will help fund the Emeryville police department's quest to hire more officers as well as pay to hire a new staff member at City Hall to operate code enforcement.  Mr Patz, who was a strong supporter of the tax increase, cast himself as the leader in the push for the measure.  To the mayor's chagrin, this election victory came right before the very public murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department in May, making for terrible public policy optics if not demonstrable furtherance of the police culture dystopia. 

Beyond these two issues, one squandered and the other feckless, Mayor Patz's record was one of mostly ignoring problems.  Below is the roster of shame:

-Mayor Patz didn’t deliver a public library or even start to explore the building an Emeryville library after he officially placed this task as one of the top ten 2020 priorities for the City Council at the beginning of his term.  

-He refused to implement traffic calming for the 45th & 53rd street bike boulevards as required by the City’s Bike Plan.  He even refused on his watch, to conduct a traffic count for all bike boulevards as the City is supposed to do, once every two years so we can know how bad it is for bicyclists.  

-He refused to call out Lennar Development before the Council to explain their misdeeds after a high level Department of Toxic Substance Control whistleblower revealed a regime of cheating the cleanup at the Sherwin Williams toxic soil clean up site on Horton Street.

-Mr Patz failed to act on Emeryville’s deplorable lack of public parks, the worst of any East Bay city.  Regardless that the General Plan calls for three acres of park for every 1000 new residents, Mayor Patz couldn’t be bothered to do anything about this emerging quality of life concern for Emeryville residents.  Incidentally, the plan, if followed, would move Emeryville from the worst to the second worse East Bay city for parks in ten years.  

 -Not big on accountability and sloppy with records, the Mayor missed his FPPC campaign filing deadlines, making it impossible for citizens to see who funded his political campaigns.

-More recently, the Mayor has sat by idly and unconcernedly as City Hall has implemented a policy shift, weakening it’s duty to enforce COVID-19 mask wearing regulations.  The staff has relaxed the enforcement protocols for developers and their construction workers who are supposed to be wearing masks.  But Mayor Patz has not joined with citizens asking why the City would lower the safety guidelines even as the virus has been exploding in the community.

-He is thin skinned and cannot countenance citizens criticizing his job performance as mayor.  He has acted in a childish and impetuous manner, lashing out at citizen critics asking for accountability.

Christian Patz has served as the source of levity on the Council, using his position to offer up rations of bad puns, funny asides and humorous anecdotes.  These make for more enjoyable meetings to be sure.  He seems good natured (except when he feels attacked) but the most salient thing about Mr Patz as our mayor overall was his simple laziness.  He didn’t really put in any effort to get anything done, the pro-cop Measure F notwithstanding.

We may be a bit harsh with regards to Mayor Patz and his inaction on parks in the bullet point list above.  While it is true he did not taken action to implement the General Plan's park dictates, in his defense, neither have any other City Council members.  But as we look back, we remember what citizen Patz gallingly said about bike boulevards in 2016 when he was asking for our votes.  He made this specific campaign promise: “What makes a Bike Boulevard is more than just Vehicle Trips per Day (VTD), it has more to do with optimizing bike traffic.  As VTD approach and surpass 3000, more separation between bikes and cars should occur.  Ideally, this would be done by reducing and diverting traffic, but can also be achieved by dedicated and protected lanes.”  Christian Patz ignored this subject utterly both as our City Council member over three years and as our Mayor over the last year.  And for that, plus the litany of failed policy highlighted, we give Mayor Patz a D+ (and we’re being generous).

City/School District Fails on Acknowledgment of Wrongdoing Against Transgender Teacher

 What To Do About Steve Dain?

Emeryville Settles on Inaction 

Opinion/News Analysis

Hey Emeryville!  November 20th was national Transgender Day of Remembrance.  A day that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.  What did you do to observe it?

The answer is nothing.  Nothing was done by our government in our name to observe the date or even to set its own terrible record right with regard to the mistreatment of transgender people.  Regardless that in 1976, Emeryville fired a transgender teacher for who he was and with lots of recent talk about that not representing who we are emanating from our government, nothing is being done.

Still 47th Street
The City of Emeryville said this sign would 
read 'Steve Dain Drive' by this time.

The just passed national Transgender Day of Remembrance November 20th, followed Transgender Awareness Week November 13th through the 19th; an auspicious time for a ribbon cutting ceremony if there ever was one to reassert our Emeryville values.  But that was not enough to get Mayor Christian Patz to follow through with his pledge to re-name 47th Street Steve Dain Drive.  Mr Patz, who’s mayoralty ends on December 1st, took up the charge for the City, promising the name change after Emery School District failed to acknowledge the wrongdoing of the firing of Mr Dain.

Call it just another failure to honor Steve Dain, who was humiliated by the government here in Emeryville, for being transgender.  That humiliation goes on today following his 2007 passing.  With neither government agency able to do the right thing by Mr Dain and therefore all transgender people, the humiliation is on us, the people of Emeryville.  Indeed, WE fired Mr Dain for who he was and WE refuse to apologize here and now for that act of public cowardice. 

Transgender Flag Flying
at Emeryville City Hall
As far as Emeryville is 
ready to go at this point.

Surprisingly, Mayor Patz claims that 47th Street is already named Steve Dain Drive (it is not).  He says he has done it and he was given an award for it in September.  At the 8th annual East Bay Stonewall Pride Awards ceremony on September 13th, Mr Patz, accepting the award, told the group,  "I worked with the School Board to honor Mr. Dain, but just as in the 70s, there are too many bigots in public office.  Thankfully, I work with an amazing City Council and together, we were able to rename the street in front of the school Steve Dain Drive."

It's all talk now in Emeryville.  Two elected officials, Christian Patz of the City Council and Susan Donaldson of the School District, rode in to set Emeryville right but both dropped the ball.  Mr Patz let his mayoralty run out and Board member Donaldson wrote a public letter, posted in the Tattler in May, stating that the Board would finally and officially apologize for the firing of Mr Dain.  But without any interest among her School Board colleagues, Ms Donaldson has also quietly dropped the issue.

The electeds in Emeryville (at least two of them) have a message for you Steve Dain: The people of the City of Emeryville didn’t care about you when you were alive and we sure don’t care about you now.  And with that, it seems it's time for Emeryville to move on.  With this unpleasant issue forgotten, it’s back to brunch in Emeryville apparently.

Lack of Guidelines on Fines, City Policy Arbitrary

City Violates Sacramento Election Law

Fails to Fine Late Filing Council Members, Report Council Late Filings

Arbitrariness, Favoritism Rears Its Head at City Hall

Sheri Hartz
Emeryville City Clerk
She failed to notify the FPPC
of Council members' delinquency
and failed to levy fines
against the two Council
members as required.

The City of Emeryville has failed to report City Council election misconduct to the Fair Political Practices Commission and miscarried its duty to fine two delinquent Council members as is required, the Tattler has learned.  In the run up to the 2020 election, Mayor Christian Patz and Councilwoman Ally Medina were negligent in their duty to file political campaign donor information with the FPPC and a Public Records Request revealed the City failed in its duty to report that to the FPPC and to levy required fines against the two procrastinating Council members.  

City Clerk Sheri Hartz told the Tattler it is “generally the City’s practice to work with filers toward compliance rather than to assess fines”.

However the FPPC is clear that barring any municipal guidelines permitting fines to be waived or reduced, the fine schedule defaults to the State suggested $10 per day for every day a candidate is late on filing the proper disclosure forms.  Because the City did not disclose the existence of any such municipal guidelines in the Tattler Public Records Request response, the City is presumed to not have any guidelines and is therefore not free to ‘work with filers’ and waive the fines, lest public policy at City Hall descend into capriciousness.  

Mayor Christian Patz
He owes $1010 in fines
for late filing his campaign
contribution forms.

Following a November 8th Tattler story on the late filings and the assessment of fines to be applied against the two Council members, City Attorney Michael Guina cited government code §84200.8 that unequivocally permits the City, at its pleasure, an exception to waive a portion of the fines the Tattler quoted specifically because the Council members ran unopposed in the election.  Without the exception taken, Mr Patz and Ms Medina would owe $3130 and $1310 respectively, as reported by the Tattler.  With the exception taken and the City invoking §84200.5 (its right to forgive the Council members), Mayor Patz who filed his late Forms 460 the day after the November 8th Tattler story, now owes $1010 for his 101 days late filing at $10 per day and Councilwoman Medina owes $30 for her three days late filing.  Owing to a lack of existing municipal guidelines delineating how late fees are to be assessed, the City is supposed to fine the City Council members these amounts and failure to do so would represent a breach of FPPC protocol for the City of Emeryville and would raise the specter of capriciousness and political favoritism extant at City Hall.

Ms Hartz did not answer in the Public Records Request as to why she failed to report the Council members' late FPPC filings as she is required to do.

The FPPC may levy additional fines against the two Emeryville City Council members at the rate of $5000 per violation, at their discretion.  The Tattler will be reporting to the FPPC, the Council members’ and the City Clerk’s failures to disclose the required filings. 

Councilwoman Medina has acknowledged her late filing of her Form 460.  Responding to the November 6th Tattler story, she said she had “whiffed”, whereas Mayor Patz's acknowledgment of his culpability in his late filing came solely in the form of his rush to file the forms the day after the Tattler story.  Mr Patz refused to comment for this story. 

 

OOPS!  Mayor's Math Error!
A screen shot of Mayor Patz's late filed Form 460.
The day after the November 8th Tattler story, Mayor Patz finally turned in his late campaign contributions form.  He shows his major contributors to be the politically connected CEO Rich Robbins of Wareham Development and political lobbyist/schmoozer, the oily John Gooding. 
In his flustering rush to file his form, Mayor Patz didn't add up his numbers correctly.  Ending Cash Balance should read $4542.04, not $5964.30. 

Mayor & Councilwoman Failed to File Campaign Finance Documents; Fines Possible

Election 2020:

Mayor Patz, Councilwoman Medina Fail to File Campaign Finance Accountability Forms

City/State Could Levy Fines

Mayor Christian Patz and Councilwoman Ally Medina, re-elected to their respective City Council seats on Tuesday, failed to file several periods of required campaign finance election forms with the City of Emeryville the Tattler has learned.  The required form, issued by the State of California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Form 460, delineates campaign contributions critical for electoral campaign accountability.

A quick perusal of the City’s website shows Ally Medina missing her last two filings of the last five required and Christian Patz missing his last three filings.  Council member John Bauters, who also ran for re-election on Tuesday, is shown to have filed every Form 460 required of him on time. 

The missing forms, called the Recipient Committee Campaign Statement Form 460 are filed under the California Political Reform Act and are considered public records, available for public inspection.  There are no provisions for extending deadlines according to the FPPC, the body tasked by the State with overarching enforcement.  

If a candidate’s election committee fails to file a Form 460 campaign statement, the FPPC may levy a fine of up to $5000 per violation according to the FPPC website.  Additionally, the State provides that the City of Emeryville may fine candidates $10 per day for every late filing.  As of today, Councilwoman Medina is late some 131 days and could be fined $1310 while Mayor Patz, at 313 days late, could be facing a $3,130 fine from the City of Emeryville.

The City is required by the FPPC to keep guidelines that dictate how election fines for delinquent local candidates are to be levied but none could be found on the City’s website.   Failure to provide the required guidelines could result in penalties issued against municipalities the FPPC website noted. 

The Tattler has made a Public Records Request with the City of Emeryville for information regarding these election violations and we will report as we are made aware.

What Happened To Election Accountability?
Screen Shot From the City's Website
Only Council member Bauters has fulfilled his required FPPC election obligations.

School Board Looks at Raising Administrators' Pay After Promising Voters They Wouldn't

Board Considers Raising Admin Pay After Passage of Measure K 

Emeryville Measure K Parcel Tax Passed Last Spring Promised No Money to Admin

The Emery Unified School District is pondering raising the salaries of non-teacher administration employees after assuring Emeryville citizens considering Measure K, a school parcel tax passed by voters last March, they would not.  Despite strong ballot language guaranteeing that there would be no increase in administration salaries from the March 3rd election, the School Board has hired a consulting firm to look into increasing administration salaries, just as taxpayer money from Measure K is beginning to flow into the District's coffers.  

The Board took up the item at their meeting last Wednesday with a power point presentation from School Services of California, a Sacramento based consulting firm paid by the District.  After reporting that Emery administrators' compensation is "significantly below" teacher pay, the consulting firm suggested the District should first raise administration compensation before increasing teacher pay.

Board Member
Lauren Salazar
We cannot commit to honor
our pledge to not raise
admin salaries at this time.

Concerned Letter From the Mayor

The Board's agendized discussion/action item was enough to prompt an October 28th letter from former School Board Trustee and current Emeryville mayor, Christian Patz who challenged the Board to not raise administrator's salaries until new revenue sources could be secured to pay for it.  Mayor Patz, noting the fungible nature of money, raised the idea that the District could tap the pot of Measure K money, expressly not for administration compensation, to pay for administrator pay increases nonetheless.  The Mayor challenged the Board directly, "Commit to not adjusting administrators' salaries until you identify new revenues to pay for those increases.  This means not just shifting teacher salaries to the parcel tax income but actual new income." 

The Mayor's letter was not well received.  Board members universally expressed their displeasure, especially President  Brynnda Collins who chastised Mr Patz for his questioning of the Board's promise to not misuse Measure K money, "I find it hard to believe leadership [on the City Council] can't be on Team Emery" she said.  She called the letter "sad".  Outgoing Board member Cruz Vargas was even less circumspect, bringing up Mr Patz's lack of support for Measure K last March, "People who could have supported us [during the Measure K campaign] didn't.... and it's not worth our time to respond to them now" he said, adding anything that's done with Measure K funds would be done "for the kids". 

Board member Lauren Salazar put it most succinctly stating she has faith in the process.  Responding to Mayor Patz's request for a Board commitment to not violate Measure K funding promises made to the voters, Ms Salazar spoke for the Board indicating all options would be retained, saying "Making any commitments now is inappropriate."  

Asked to clarify, Board President Collins later told the Tattler any notion that the Board is considering raising administration salaries in any incorrect way is "full of shit".

Mayor Patz however made it very clear he doesn't trust the Board will honor their pledge to the voters.  He told them, "This past spring, you put forth and passed a parcel tax with the promise 'no funds for administrator salaries.'   That is a direct quote from the ballot language you put to the voters.  At the time, I said the Board could not be trusted with the voters' money and was not being honest about how they would use the funds.  Now that the funds are available, the groundwork is being laid to prove me right."

After hearing the consultation presentation from School Services of California, the Board voted to push the issue of raising salaries, administrators' and/or teachers', off to a future meeting.

Measure K levies 12 cents per square foot of residential and commercial building area, taking in an additional $1.8 million per year for Emery Unified.  That amount represents a 37% increase in cost for an average home from $405 to $555 annually according to the San Jose Mercury News who urged Emeryville voters to reject the measure in the run up to the March 3rd election.   

A previous iteration of Measure K, also a school parcel tax passed by voters in 2014 was supplanted by the new 2020 Measure K.  The Tattler reported in February that Emery Unified had deceived voters in the 2014 election after it was found that the District had increased administrators' salaries after also promising they wouldn't. 

Emeryville Transit Center's $8.4 million in Public Funds Fails to Help Transit

No Transit at Transit Center

City Won't Say When Bus Bays Will Be Operational

More than ten years after the City Council OKed it and after Emeryville taxpayers were later tapped for an economic subsidy of $4.2 million to help build a private development laboratory/office tower near the Amtrak station on Horton Street known as the Transit Center, citizens still wait for the publicly accessible bus bays that were touted as the primary reason for the Center and the public subsidy.  A year and a half after completion of the Transit Center, City of Emeryville officials are now admitting negotiations between the developer, the City and Amtrak are "not progressing as expected".  An agreement should eventually be reached and the bus bays made available for public transit use, the City added.

Privately however, a City official told the Tattler that the COVID pandemic has brought down Amtrak to such a degree (Amtrak ridership down a whopping 95%), it is unlikely the rail service even has any use for the bus bays anymore and any agreement for their use may be a long way off.   

The Transit Center, built by Wareham Development is also known as ‘Emery Station West’, and was approved for construction  in 2010 with a toxic soil clean up.  Wareham received its final occupancy permit in April of 2019 and with the Amtrak serving bus bays, Wareham also secured an additional $4.2 million in State of California Transportation Fund money ($8.4 million total public expenditures).  

Emeryville Transit Center
For all the taxpayer subsidy,
it's supposed to have a transit component.

The public largess given to Wareham for the Transit Center has been substantial. Notably, the City will receive no taxes by agreement for 12 years after the issuance of the occupancy permit.  This 'tax increment'  forgiveness is a relic from the days of the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency (RDA) and was commonly used by other RDAs up and down the state until they were all ordered shut down by then Governor Jerry Brown in 2012. The idea was that developers would get a tax break for a certain number of years in order to spur development. Critics noted that RDA financing came at the expense of local school districts and contributed to California’s public education slide beginning in the 1980s.  

However Wareham, unlike most other private developers from the redevelopment era, got an exemption from the State shuttered RDA money after the City of Emeryville convinced Sacramento of the extraordinary public benefit of the bus bays.  It is notable that the bus bays were added as an afterthought by Wareham and were meant to juice public money for the Transit Center who's primary function was always Emery Station West, the laboratory/office tower.  

Emeryville also gave Wareham a $208,000 tax rebate in 2017 for the project after CEO Rich Robbins convinced the City Council that since the bus bays represent a public benefit, he should get relief from the standard developer impact fees. 

The 165 foot tower also required the City Council in 2010 to amend the then newly certified General Plan to increase the allowable hight in that specific area from 55 feet to 165 feet.

The Mayor of Emeryville, Christian Patz was contacted to comment on when the public can expect to get the bus bays they paid for, but he declined.

Free Parking at the Transit Center
Private vehicles are using the bus parking  
that Emeryville taxpayers provided.
Why not?... since buses aren't using the spaces.

School Board Member Proposes Official District Apology for Steve Dain Firing

School Board Member Donaldson: District Needs To Apologize for "Unjust Firing"

1976 Termination of 'Teacher of the Year' Still Isn't Resolved 

at Emery

A week of rapidly moving events at the Emery Unified School District including bad press from the Bay Area's LGBTQ community have culminated in a board member announcing she will propose the district draft an official apology for the 1976 firing of an Emery teacher who after gender confirmation surgery, transitioned to a man, ending in his termination for what the district called at the time, “immoral conduct”.  School board member Susan Donaldson said she will propose to her colleagues at the beleaguered district they write an official letter of apology to acknowledge the wrong done by the district against its former employee, Steve Dain in his “unjust firing”.

Emery School Board Member
Susan Donaldson

The announcement comes after the Emeryville City Council last week pledged to rename the street fronting the high school where he taught, Steve Dain Drive’.  The City was moved to action a year after the School Board failed to act on promises to honor Mr Dain in some other capacity following a board vote against naming the school gymnasium after Mr Dain.
Mr Dain died in 2007.

Current board president Brynnda Collins drew the ire of the LGBTQ community and the news outlet, the Bay Area Reporter during the naming debate last year after she reprimanded her colleague, then board president Barbara Inch for proposing the district honor Mr Dain with the gym name at all, calling it abjectly “political”.  She proceeded to call down Mr Dain, telling her colleagues that instead they should name the gym after “a pillar of the community”.  It was a comment that City Council member Patz called “transphobia”.
Ms Collins refused to elaborate or clarify her ‘political’ charge for purposes of this story.

The idea for honoring Mr Dain initially came some six years ago from then board member Christian Patz who learned of the fired teacher that earned ‘teacher of the year’ commendation from the district the year before they fired him.  Mr Patz proposed naming the newly rebuilt gym after Mr Dain who had been a PE teacher at Emery.  The concept did not go over well with his colleagues who subsiquently deep sixed the idea.  It wasn’t until later, after Mr Patz was elected to the Emeryville City Council and his spouse, Barbara Inch was elected to the School Board, the idea was brought up again.  The board however still resisted the idea of naming the gym by fiat with a simple up or down vote as they could have.  Instead the board members voted to consider other people to name the gym after and then do ranked choice voting.  That vote allowed three choices and Steve Dain lost to a former coach at the high school, Elio Abrami.

Board President Brynnda Collins
Naming the school gym after
the former gym teacher
Steve Dain is "political".

Steve Dain came in second place in a field of 12 choices.

Board member Brynnda Collins voted for Mr Dain as her third choice while member Cruz Vargas didn’t vote for Mr Dain at all, offering instead a vote for Steph Curry, a person who has no association with Emery Unified School District.
Mr Vargas refused to return calls from the Tattler.

President Collins, aware of a public relations kerfuffle stemming from last year’s rejection of Mr Dain followed by last week’s City Council street renaming, has been contacting local leaders (and the Tattler) to let them know she is happy the City is renaming 47th Street Steve Dain Drive.  However, she refused to comment to the Tattler whether the District would go ahead with their promise to honor Mr Dain in some other way as they promised they would last year.

Here is a portion of the text of Board Member Donaldson’s letter proposing an official apology from the district:

I will be proposing to the school board that we issue an official letter of apology to Steve Dain’s family regarding his unjust firing in 1976.  I am in support of the city naming a street after him and am so happy to see that honor, but I would like the school board to officially apologize for the action it took many years ago.  As a board, we have updated our policies to reflect that we will provide a "Safe, Nondiscriminatory School Environment for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming” students and staff.  Now we must be the change that we ask our students to be by acknowledging this wrong from our past and apologizing for it.  There is more work to do, but an apology is a start.

Susan Donaldson
Member, Emery Unified School District Board of Trustees

Elio Abrami Gym Name: Not Political (presumably)
However, the newly named Elio Abrami Gymnasium
will have a Steve Dain Drive address.

Breaking News: Council to Name 47th Street 'Steve Dain Drive'

Council Moves to Honor Former Emery Teacher After School District Twice Fails

Breaking (City Hall):
Tonight the City Council moved to change the name of a portion of a street in town after an Emeryville PE teacher that was fired by the Emery Unified School District for “immoral conduct” in 1976 after he had gender confirmation surgery, transitioning to a man.  The unanimous vote  to rename 47th Street between San Pablo Avenue and Doyle Street ‘Steve Dain Drive’, came after the Emery School Board failed to name the school gymnasium honoring Mr Dain last summer following a tumultuous public debate there.  The vote tonight directs the staff to bring the issue back to the Council for the final OK at a future meeting that hasn’t been announced.  Emery High School and the gymnasium are located on 47th Street, a piece of infrastructure owned by the City of Emeryville.

Council member John Bauters was the most animated among his colleagues during tonight’s discussion, stating he found the School Board had “reached a new level of disappointment” and that he was “very unhappy” over their refusal to make amends for the unpropitious firing of the Emery teacher, “terminated for who they were” Mr Bauters said.  However the lone School Board supporter of the naming of the gym to honor Mr Dain last year, Board member Susan Donaldson, expressed support for the renaming of the street in a phoned in comment to the Council tonight.  “I was on the losing side” Board member Donaldson told the Council recalling last year’s School Board retrenchment on the Steve Dain issue, but she praised the Council’s vote to “right this wrong” done by the district to the former Emery teacher.

Former Emery Teacher of the Year Steve Dain
His courage will finally be remembered for all
time with the naming of our street in his honor.

The short section of 47th Street to be renamed has the AC Transit’s bus yard facility and the Emery gym and high school on it, fittingly the same address where Mr Dain was a teacher for ten years.  Notably, during his time at Emery, Mr Dain was elected teacher of the year before he was terminated by the district.  He died in 2007 at the age of 68.
There are no residents or businesses located on the portion of the street to be renamed.

After the school district balked on naming the gymnasium after Steve Dain last year, Board members announced they would seek to honor him in some other unspecified way but they failed to do that, a fact noted by Council member Bauters tonight.  Councilwoman Dianne Martinez raised the issue of Emeryville’s legacy with the renaming of the street, recalling that Steve Dain is “an important part of our history.”
But it was Mayor Christian Patz that seemed to best capture the mood of the Council, “you should be allowed to be who you are” he said as he cast his YES vote.

The City Council will make the vote official at a subsequent meeting followed by a street sign replacement, probably this summer.

Council Chastises Developer, Moves to Save 47th Street Homes From Wrecking Ball

Invoking 'Emeryville Values', Council Excoriates Developer's Actions

Destruction of 47th Street Homes Deemed 'Detrimental' to Emeryville 

In a historic and unanimous decision, the City Council moved Tuesday night to disallow a developer’s request to demolish four contiguous single family homes in the Triangle Neighborhood to be replaced with more dense market rate duplex rental homes, Emeryville's first ever ruling against a proposal to tear down existing homes in one of the City’s so called ‘zones of stability’. The remarkable event was capped by Councilman John Bauters and Mayor Christian Patz, both of whom invoked an impudent developer, calling him out for his deviousness and lack of honesty.

A 99 year old company, F.E. Forbes has owned
homes and been a landlord in Emeryville for
decades.  Hearing tenant testimony, Councilman
John Bauters said the company's failure to provide
heat for renters for seven years was "against the
law" and constituted "landlord neglect".

The project proposal to demolish four existing craftsmen homes and replace them with duplexes called ‘47th Street Homes’, sailed through the Planning Commission’s October study session effortlessly, only to be stopped Tuesday by the Council who said the destruction of the existing homes would be materially detrimental to the housing needs of the City and not in the public interest.  This finding singularly precludes the Council from approving the project according to the General Plan, leaving the developer, Mark Forbes CEO of F.E. Forbes Inc without a clear path forward for the 47th Street Homes.  After hearing the City Council’s strong rebuke, Mr Forbes and his team left the meeting without indicating if or how they would proceed with the project.

The Council found the actions of F.E. Forbes, an out of town mortgage brokerage firm and its CEO to be not in sync with “Emeryville values”, pointing to the public testimony at the October Planning Commission study session.  Long term low income tenant families of Forbes testified their corporate landlord had deferred maintenance at the homes for decades resulting in what Mr Forbes said is now a general state of disrepair, a condition he claimed as a primary reason for the demolitions.  He also said the craftsman houses at 100 years, are too old and past their useful lifespan.
Several tenants testified that Forbes had recently offered $5000 to families to vacate the premises and imposed a 95% rent increase to drive out the two families that didn’t take the initial cash offer.

The Council heard tearful testimony on Tuesday from a remaining 20 year tenant and grandmother detailing how the Forbes corporation had not repaired the furnace in her home, leaving a multi generational family without heat for seven years.  Councilman Bauters, an attorney, chastised CEO Mark Forbes for that transgression, characterizing his company’s failure as “landlord neglect” and “against the law”.
Mr Bauters added that he didn’t necessarily believe Mr Forbes’ claims of deterioration in the four homes, “We’re just being asked to believe the homes are in disrepair, and I have not seen any evidence of that” he said.  He called Mr Forbes' presentation "insincere".  Mayor Patz also expressed his disfavor in the CEO’s presentation, stating he felt the applicant had not been honest or straightforward with the Council.

Mark Forbes CEO
F.E. Forbes Real Estate Investment Trust
'Not honest or straightforward; insincere'
according to the City Council.

Adding to the consternation in the council chamber brought on by the testimony of the applicant’s tenants and the Council's reactions, it was revealed the company's contiguous Triangle Neighborhood real estate holdings, some 15 homes in all, were being proposed for a lot line adjustment in effort to game City Hall.  Mr Bauters accused Forbes of deviously attempting to take advantage of City regulations to escape requirements to provide affordable housing.  The proposal asks for the City to recognize a moved property line so that only the four (of the 15) homes would be in a newly drawn parcel, a number that brings Forbes under the wire, negating a City requirement to provide affordable housing when proposing home demolition and replacement.  The corporation would be free to again move the property line in the future and demolish the remaining homes, four at a time, without having to provide affordable housing.  It was a plan the CEO said he had no intention of doing "at this time".
Mr Forbes offered no response to any other allegations Tuesday night as he left the building.

Here is the meeting (start at 41:41):

Twice Burned 'Maz' Project Developer Burned by Council: Noise Ordinance Waiver Denied

Historic Vote:

City Council Majority Says 'NO' to Developer's Noise Ordinance Waiver Request

'Maz' Developer Used Past Fires as Excuse to Work Weekends
-------------
Neighbors Told to Give Up Their Quiet Weekends 
Because Developer Wants to Save Money on Security

The Emeryville City Council made history Tuesday night when they voted to deny a noise ordinance waiver request, only the fifth such denial in more than 15 years, after the developer applicant offered an unorthodox argument that his noisy construction project needs to be completed quickly to make for a smaller window of opportunity for arsonists to set fires there.  The peculiar offering failed to convince the Council majority (3-2 Medina, Martinez dissenting) to ask residential neighbors around the apartment project at 3800 San Pablo Avenue, to give up their peace and quiet weekends from now until April 2020, the duration of the request.

Developers commonly ask for waivers to Emeryville’s noise ordinance based on the weather or other ‘unforeseen' complications but the fire vulnerability angle was the first such waiver request made by any applicant.  Since every construction project is vulnerable to fire until suppressive water sprinkler systems can be installed, a waiver granted by the Council on Tuesday would have set a sweeping precedent, potentially nullifying the whole ordinance.

Council Members Dianne Martinez & Ally Medina
Together they feel the public has no expectancy of
weekend peace and quiet in Emeryville...
not if a developer says he wants to
save money on security.

The City staff, continuing their near perfect record of recommending waivers, told the Council it is prudent for them to make the residents suffer through seven day per week construction noise until the project’s completion.  Planning Director Charlie Bryant said the Council should grant the waiver to the developer carte blanche, calling it “reasonable” because, “…the site was burned twice” in 2016 and 2017.

At least four City Council members seemed to agree, at least initially.  Council member John Bauters, who ultimately voted NO, indicated he thought the request was tough to turn down, “This is a hard one for me” he said.

Councilman Scott Donahue indicated he thought the fire vulnerability excuse was a good one but the modular construction technique the developer is using means wood framing members will arrive at the site with fire retardant already applied and consequently, neighbors should be able to expect weekend peace and quiet he said.  Councilwoman Dianne Martinez was less circumspect, “I don’t love weekend work but I’m inclined to grant the waiver” she said after she told the developer she felt his pain; the fires at the project were “very bad” she added. 
Mayor Ally Medina, acknowledging that it wasn’t up to the City of Emeryville to ask that the developer provide better security in the future, tried to strike a compromise.  She moved that the construction noise be limited to Saturdays.  Mr Bauters however said that condition was “not specific enough of a request for me to grant approval at this time” as he joined Mr Donahue and Vice Mayor Christian Patz in their historic noise ordinance waiver NO vote.

Council Member John Bauters
He struggled with the decision:
should developers be asked to spend
more money on security to help
neighbors have quiet weekends?
"This is a hard one for me" he said.

The developer’s representatives Tuesday night happily took up their narrative that adding security at their site isn’t a thing for them and Emeryville residents should instead take up the slack and do them a kindness by allowing seven day a week work.
Regardless of their 3-2 vote, notably, no Council members or the staff suggested the developer spend more money on security to protect against possible future arsonists, instead letting the developer’s narrative stand.

Emeryville's noise ordinance, enacted in 2003, has been seen as an irritation for developers who are rarely required to abide by it but usually have been required to provide a reason why they shouldn't have to follow it.  Many developers have shown their displeasure in having to appear before the City Council to go through the sometimes humiliating spectacle of presenting a plausible explanation for why they shouldn't be constrained.
While most developers settle on using rain delays as a reason to ask for a waiver, more brazen reasons have been stated such as "complicated nature of the work" or that the public, expecting quiet weekends will get them sooner if the developer can "finish faster".  Remarkably, that developer, City Center Partners at the Public Market, got caught when they couldn't even abide by their waiver, taunting the Council by starting their granted Saturday work before the agreed to time.  After twice being warned, the Council finally revoked the waiver in an unprecedented sanction in 2017.
In an even more audacious request, the developer of the Transit Center, Wareham Development, successfully trotted out the most unabashed reason we've heard a couple of years ago; "because we really want it".  No other developer has used the 'we really want it' excuse for a waiver request since.
The City Council itself got into the act last April one upping Wareham when they granted a developer's waiver request inexplicably by waiving the waiver request, saving the developer and the citizens the bother of conducting a public hearing at all.

The Maz project, also known as "The Intersection" with its unit mix heavily skewed towards studio and one bedroom apartments together with zero affordability, has been controversial since it was approved by a divided Council in 2013.  In a 2013 opinion piece, the Tattler’s editor Brian Donahue famously called the project a “men’s dorm” owing to its anti-family unit mix attractive to techies, drawing an accusation of felony arson in the two fires by Rob Arias, the editor of Emeryville’s business friendly blog, the E’Ville Eye.

Sherwin Williams Tree Fight Over, Trees Saved

Two Year Fight: Sherwin Williams Trees Saved

Staff Reverses Finding that Required Removal

"Embarrassed" Mayor Medina Apologizes for Earlier Vote to Cut All the Trees 

An entire block of street trees at the Sherwin Williams development project on Horton Street have been saved from the developer's chainsaw by a unanimous City Council vote on Tuesday September 17th following a standing recommendation from the city staff to cut the trees dating back from April 2018. Up until the latest vote, it’s been a divided Council with two wanting to save the trees and two wanting to cut them.
A year and a half after Emeryville City Hall and the developer of the Sherwin Williams project together determined that every street tree alongside that nascent development project would have to be cut down because of ‘undergrounding’ of utilities necessary under the sidewalk, at the newest Council meeting, the City staff suddenly reversed their finding.

At the 2018 Council meeting, without giving evidence, the staff told the Council they really had no choice on the trees.   Planning Department Chief Charlie Bryant and Sherwin Williams developer Kevin Ma, said the 11 existing street trees fronting the project, the entire block, would have to be removed because the underground pipes would have to be placed under the sidewalk owing to the fact that space under the street is “too crowded” with other utilities.
Inexplicably, the staff added that if the Council voted to save the trees alongside the project (on the west side of the street), the undergrounding of the utilities in the street could result in a cutting of trees on BOTH sides of the street.  The Council never asked for a clarification of that logic and the whole Sherwin Williams tree issue was continued.

By September of 2019, Planning Director Bryant’s views had changed.  His staff rechecked and they found out there IS space enough under the street for the cables after all and the trees can be saved he told the Council.  And with that, the City Council voted to place the utility wires under Horton Street and save all but one tree they say that has to be cut to accommodate a specific utility box in the sidewalk.

And so it would appear a very contentious and ongoing issue has finally been put to rest for the Council who had been fiercely divided on the cutting of the Sherwin trees.

"Embarrassed"
Mayor Ally Medina
Misled by the staff.
Initially she voted to cut all the trees.
At the September 17th Council meeting
 she apologized for that vote. 

The tree issue before the Tuesday September 17th meeting has been somewhat of a Rorschach test for the City Council, half the Council eagerly believing the developer and the staff and the other not believing them.
Staff and developer claims that the trees must be cut brought skepticism from Council members Scott Donahue and Christian Patz whereas members Dianne Martinez and Ally Medina simply accepted the staff's findings at face value.  The normally perspicacious Ally Medina indicated she was so eager to cut the trees down, she didn’t even want to accept a continuance of the April 2018 meeting that was ultimately dangled in front of the Councilors by the staff.  No, she said, the trees must be cut down, so let’s get on with it, she said.  The two to two split at that 2018 meeting forced the staff to bring the issue back before the Council a year and a half later (after they initially told the Council a continuance was impossible and the vote had to happen that night).

Councilmember John Bauters lives within 500 feet of the Sherwin Williams project and is by law, not allowed to vote on it.

Mr Patz and Mr Donahue had reason for their disbelieving of the staff.  At the initial April 2018 meeting, the staff publically misrepresented the health of the trees.  Attempting to coerce the Councilors, the staff said the City arborist had determined the trees to be “unhealthy”- a direct contradiction of the actual arborist’s report which indicated the trees were “healthy”.  Planning Director Bryant later apologized for the false statement following a Tattler exposé on the issue.
Additionally, the staff recommended cutting the mature existing trees along Sherwin Street (also abutting the project) offering visual aesthetics as a what for; that the species would clash with the proposed new trees to be planted along Sherwin Street they said.  The actual reason for the removal of the mature trees along Sherwin Street was specified as “hindering the creation of a unified streetscape”, a finding not supported by the City’s Unified Urban Forestry Ordinance (UFO).  The staff’s recommendation thus was improper but helped show their disdain for saving trees….as has been the  79 to 2 record of killing trees over saving them as recommended by the staff since the inception of the UFO.

The Horton Street trees are now saved but staff, leaving the door cracked just a smidge, got the last word.  Once the contractor digs the street up, there's always a possibility they could be wrong in their latest assessment they said and there may not be enough room under the street.  There's a chance the trees may still have to be cut down yet, they cautioned.

The Trees in Question
Saved From the Chainsaw
Developers have to spend money saving street trees.
It's cheaper to just cut them all down and plant lollipops.
The staff has been trying everything they can to get
these leafy profit reducing nuisances removed.  

John Bauters' & Dianne Martinez's High Campaign Contributions Raise Questions

Nexus Between Votes to Cut Minimum Wage/Votes Against Family Housing & Campaign Coffers?

Bauters, Martinez May Be Looking to Expand 
Political Careers Beyond Emeryville

News Analysis
Beginning earlier this spring, Council members John Bauters and Dianne Martinez have been on a tear, working collaboratively to roll back the progressive agenda in Emeryville.  First the two moved to roll back Emeryville's General Plan provisions designed to make housing more family friendly, then they moved to roll back Emeryville’s progressive Minimum Wage Ordinance designed to help the working poor among us.  These two Council members’ attempts at taking down these two central pillars of Emeryville’s progressive framework, represent a curious and abrupt turn around for these self styled progressives. The duel action by these Council members against the progressive Emeryville body politic has drawn ire and concern from citizens and labor groups, some of whom are pointing to evidence the two may be looking to start up respective campaigns for higher political office outside of Emeryville, a charge neither has publicly confirmed or denied.  This shifting to the right could represent the first inklings by these two Emeryville politicians of the classic 'pivot to the center' political tactic well trodden by progressive politicians.

Mr Bauters, elected in 2016, who arrived on the Council after the landmark Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO) took effect as well as the family housing unit mix regulations (both enacted in 2015) has shown us that he considers Emeryville too progressive, at least on these two fronts.  Ms Martinez, now in her second term, is also is showing us she considers Emeryville as too progressive but her advocacy in rolling back the progressive agenda, reveals a change of heart.  The Councilwoman, first voted into office in 2014, personally voted for both the MWO and the family housing unit mix during her first term.
Both these legislative votes at the Council were unanimous, it should be noted.

Emeryville City Council Members'
Political Contributions and Cash on Hand (in dollars)
From most recent Form 460s

The three on the left voted to cut minimum wage workers' pay.
The two on the right voted to save Emeryville's
Minimum Wage Ordinance and protect working poor families.
Is Mr Bauters headed next to the State Senate race? 
Perhaps Ms Martinez too or someplace comparable?

Both these 2015 Council led directives are being vigorously pushed back against by the business community.  The developer of the proposed 700’ Onni apartment tower on Christie Avenue has indicated he is unwilling to provide the family housing Emeryville’s law dictates for his project and he is now seeking relief by Council fiat.  The restaurant owners in town are nearly united against the Minimum Wage Ordinance and they too are seeking relief by City Council intervention.

Rumors have been swirling that these two Council members, who’s voting records have taken a turn towards helping the business community could be setting themselves up for their respective futures in politics.  A check of their Form 460 political campaign records of monetary contributions and cash on hand hints there may be something to the rumors.  John Bauters, the most vocal of the two in mounting anti-progressive policy and rhetoric shows a campaign war chest of $25,399.46 cash on hand as of January and Dianne Martinez shows a total of $12,723 in monetary contributions.  By contrast and taking up the rear, Vice Mayor Christian Patz, who has most vigorously defended family housing and the wages of the working poor against the attacks by Mr Bauters and Ms Martinez, shows $753.17 in his campaign coffers while Mayor Medina, who also voted NO to rolling back the MWO, has just $79 available.  Mr Patz, on a side note, won election to the City Council after raising only about $8300, the lowest by any Council member seeking election in recent history.

The Tattler will continue to follow the suspicious nexus between campaign funding and policy that benefits developer and business interests.  We expect to see these funding numbers change as these proposed policy changes grow more pressing.  Watch this space.