Pixar's Broken Promises Affect Schools, Affordable Housing

 Pixar Said it Would Fund Our Schools...

Where is the Money?

Tattler Protest Causes Pixar, Schools, City to 

Unite in Resistance 

City Hall, Schools Don't Seem to Want the Promised Money

Emeryville’s schools and affordable housing problems are worse today because two decades of broken promises by a local successful and beloved company that’s become one of the biggest corporations in the world.  In a deal made two decades ago for a corporate campus expansion that failed to deliver for local residents, Pixar, now a division of Disney Corporation told Emeryville voters they would fund Emeryville’s schools and give $700,000 yearly to help pay for affordable housing, neither of which has materialized. 

An election, held on November 2nd 2004, concerned whether Pixar, who wanted a major campus expansion, should be subject to a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that would bring improvements to the Emeryville community.  Pixar, who didn't want to be beholden to a CBA said its promises to fund the schools and provide money for affordable housing were enough.  To help assure victory, Pixar told the City and residents, they would pack up and leave Emeryville if the two ballot measures allowing for the expansion didn't pass.  

The promises were not a part of the development agreement but Pixar spent more than $200,000 and went around the City of Emeryville, making their promises directly to the Emeryville voters in their 'Yes on T&U' campaign mailers sent to every household.  The majority of voters said yes, handing Pixar a victory and as a consequence, there was no CBA but the promises to fund the schools and to fund affordable housing are still in effect.    

The Tattler will continue the protest against Pixar's 
broken promises over the next few months despite the 
threats from the City of Emeryville.

The campus expansion agreement gave Pixar a very large parcel of land that was previously earmarked in the General Plan for housing and also an entire public street, the former Emery Street between Park Avenue and 45th Street.  The land consolidation made in the agreement created Emeryville’s largest ‘super block’, stretching all the way from Hollis Street to nearly San Pablo Avenue.  Super blocks are antithetical to pedestrian activity and other goals of mixed use zoning.   They are generally seen in planning circles as a hallmark of broken public policy. 

Since 2004, Pixar has failed to fund the school district at all and it has failed to pay the City for affordable housing at a rate any higher than it did before the campus expansion.  The promises were made in campaign literature mailed to every voter by the ‘Yes on T&U’ campaign committee registered with the State of California.

As the 20 year anniversary of Measures T&U approaches, the Tattler has stepped up the pressure on Pixar with a 12 foot protest banner placed at the main gate on Park Avenue.  The protest will continue on occasionally and unannounced through the summer and into November.

Pixar spent $200,000 to convince Emeryville voters, threatening
to leave if they didn't get everything they wanted.

Noteworthy in the protest, nobody from the City of Emeryville or the School District has shown any interest in getting Pixar to honor their promises.  Odd because those two agencies stand to benefit from Pixar paying the money they said they would.  In fact, the City has ‘sided’ with Pixar in the imbroglio.  In a January 19th letter obtained in a public records request, City Manager Paul Buddenhagen told Pixar Facilities Manager Patty Bonfilio, the impending protest banner would be considered a “threat to property” and he added, “we will be on alert to him”, referring to the Tattler editor.

We reached out to the School Board and the Superintendent of the District for this story but our letters and calls were not answered.  Also, Paul Buddenhagen was contacted but he did not return calls or emails.  Rounding out blanket refusals to comment was Pixar’s Director of Public Relations, Eric Zerton.  

We tried to hand out literature explaining about the broken promises to employees driving in
in the morning but none would take a flyer.  One employee expressed fear of reprisals from Pixar,
"There are cameras out here", they said.
One interesting thing we learned: Virtually EVERY Pixar employee
 drives to work.  We saw zero bikes and only one pedestrian in the hour and a half we were there.

Emeryville’s then City Manager John Flores sells the Pixar expansion to the Planning Commission (above).  

He said the suburban style development “will better meet the City’s vision for providing a more dense, vibrant urban city”.   In fact Pixar has not provided community vibrancy at all, locked away as they are in their sealed campus, with no community interaction whatsoever.  But he saved the biggest canard for last; “Pixar has been and will continue to be a major benefactor to the community, supporting the schools”, he told the decision makers.  No City Manager since then has explained the broken promise and what should be done about it.

A Guy With A Camera Causes Most of City Hall To Be Permanently Closed

Really Emeryville?  You're Going to Permanently Close Swaths of the People's Hall to the People Because of a Guy With a Camera?

Emeryville: Imagine Democracy, Accountability

News Analysis / Opinion

A man with a camera came to peacefully, quietly and legally make a video of the publicly accessible portions of Emeryville’s City Hall.  Would the public servants we hire who work at City Hall allow him unmolested, to use his camera?  Or would they panic and call the men with guns to come and remove the videographer?  The answer is of course, the latter as the Tattler reported back on July 28th.

Now, large portions of our previously open City Hall have been quietly closed off forever.  Fully 2/3rds of the old part of Emeryville City Hall are now closed to the public indefinitely.   The grand front steps and front doors of the beautiful Beaux Arts people’s hall are no longer accessible.  Inside, the entire lower level, the main floor and the Council Chambers all used to be open but are all now closed to the public (the Chambers are open during meetings only).  

This is what counts as accountability
for Vice Mayor Courtney Welch
A majority of City Council members
refuse to be held to account:
John Bauters, Courtney Welch and 
the newly appointed Sukhdeep Kaur.   

This closing of our democratic hall of governance was done because of a peaceful man with a camera and an interest in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.  So says City Manager Paul Buddenhagen who told the Tattler after repeated inquiries, the man with the camera caused him to reconsider open government in Emeryville.  It is closed he said because of “security” but also because of “Covid”.

After several Tattler attempts, Mr Buddenhagen refused to elaborate what he meant by “security” and “Covid” as legitimate reasons to close our City Hall to us.

Before the mystifying closures, the public could walk all around the open areas of our hall as the man with the camera did.  The only difference was the camera.   However cameras are perfectly legal.  It is legal to film in public.  Somehow in Emeryville though that basic freedom we all enjoy is seen as a security risk.  

We don’t get it.  If a person can be in a public place, they can film in that place.  The Supreme Court has been very clear on that.  Cameras are not menacing and the public, especially public employees have no expectation to privacy in public.  In fact, we are expressly allowed to check up on our government and our public employees.  It’s the first law of the United States.  But our City Manager takes a dim view of this most basic right we Americans enjoy.  

And then there’s Covid.  Why, we asked, when the State of California lifted the Covid emergency order did the City of Emeryville then invoke this as a reason to close our hall of government?  Why did City Hall remain open for months before the man with a camera came, when the State of California still had the emergency order in place?  Again, the City Manager refuses to explain. 

Emeryville City Manager Paul Buddenhagen
Men with cameras are so scary, City Hall
must be closed to stop them.  Lack of community 
access to their government is a small price
to pay to stop cameras.

Put bluntly, phony unqualified Covid and security scares are not good enough reasons to close our property off to us.  This is an abuse of power.  We were told our old City Hall would be open to the citizens after the City moved back to the original City Hall site in 2000.  Before that, Emeryville’s City Hall unceremoniously occupied the 12th floor of a private tower at Watergate for decades.  One of the worst features of the Watergate City Hall location was the not-so-subtle message of closed back room politics sent out to the citizenry.  After the LaCoste corruption scandals of the 1970s and 1980s, reformist civil servants wished to highlight a new day and a new democratic vision for our town.  Reopening Emeryville’s beautiful turn-of-the-century Beaux Arts City Hall was central to the new vision.  So was the ample use of glass in the new addition.  It was to be transparent, literally and figuratively.  The grand front stairs were once again to be open to the public in a nod to the salve of democracy and openness for Emeryville.  But this noble vision has now been taken from us not because of the corrupt former police chief John LaCoste but because of a guy with a camera.

In Trump’s America, there’s a paranoia that has settled in.  Democracy has taken a hit.  In Emeryville, too.  A cult of personality has taken over the mayoralty, resulting in groupthink and homogeneity on city committees, accountability and transparency are in retreat as most City Council members now refuse to talk to the local press and now our beautiful City Hall is closed not because of security or Covid but because of a guy with a camera.

This is why we can't have nice things in Emeryville.

Emeryville City Hall Finally Recognizes the Fourth Amendment

 Emeryville Will Now Allow You to Do Business With City Hall Anonymously As The Law Guarantees

After 22 years violating the people’s Fourth Amendment rights at City Hall, the City of Emeryville has recently joined with other Bay Area municipalities (and beyond) who honor the United States Constitution.  Formerly, people in Emeryville who wished to do business with their government were required to surrender their identification, a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Brown Act.  With a little bit of help from the Tattler and some tape, we happily report that after about a week tearing off our corrective signs, City Hall has finally given up and joined Team Constitution.  Way to go Emeryville!  

The sign has been removed from the lobby after the City was threatened with a lawsuit.  The City Manager probably realized the City standing its ground in its violating the Constitution would not be looked upon favorably by any judge.  The illegal sign is gone.  This is how progress is made in our town….a lot of activism and then baby steps. 

This sign remained in the lobby at City Hall since the building was
constructed in 2000.  Some people over the years, not knowing their rights,
probably gave in and allowed the government to intimidate them.

The Tattler had a correction to the violation. We 
returned many times over a week to replace our
paper sign.  The police were summoned but 
EPD allowed the paper sign to stay put.  No arrests
were made even though a charge of 'vandalism' was bandied.

'Safe Routes to School'? Maybe, But Not After the 'Flashing Beacon' Lightbulbs Burn Out

Q: How Many Public Works Employees Does it Take to Screw In a Light Bulb?

A: More Than 13

Opinion
Emeryville City Hall tells us they care about children.  But how much do they really care?  They care enough to apply for a $500,000 grant to install crosswalk flashing warning lights as part of a "Safe Routes to School" federal program.  Unfortunately, they don't care enough to change the lightbulbs when they burn out.  Changing lightbulbs is not a task the 13 employees at Emeryville's Public Works Department is adroit enough to handle.

Safe Routes to Schools?
43rd Street at San Pablo Avenue-
The existing in-pavement flashers are
being removed but the flashing sign
beacons will remain.
Safe....until the light bulbs
burn out.

After securing the grant money, the City is directing the work now starting on three intersections along San Pablo Avenue at 43rd, 45th and 47th Streets in anticipation of the eventual completion of the Center of 'Community' Life at 47th and San Pablo.  These are the crossings children will be using to get to school and button activated flashing beacon signs are the central part of the scope of work.

The problem is we've seen this story before and it doesn't end well...
Simple maintenance and follow through is not big at the Public Works Department.  Consider the crosswalk at 43rd Street and San Pablo.  Ten years ago, anguished parents appealed to the City to help children safely cross that busy street near Anna Yates Elementary School.  The City responded with a $20,000 program to install button activated flashing beacons on signs and in asphalt pavement embedded lights at that intersection; a vast improvement.
(On a side note, now, only the flashing beacon signs will remain at the 43rd Street crossing; the pavement embedded beacons are being removed as part of the new Safe Routes to Schools program, leaving the claims of improved safety in question, at least for that intersection.)
The last flashing beacon light bulb finally burned out a couple of years ago at the San Pablo Avenue/43rd Street crosswalk leaving parents and citizens attempting the traverse at the mercy of busy California State Route 123 (aka San Pablo Avenue) drivers.  Complaints to the Public Works Department over the years about burned out lightbulbs have fallen on deaf ears, all the hyperbolic talk of child welfare and safe routes to schools notwithstanding.

We're not sure why the Emery Unified School District was so insistent to place our new elementary school directly on the busiest street in Emeryville; San Pablo Avenue with its 1600 vehicles per hour speeding through these intersections, but now we're stuck with it.  Presumably, with the new flashing beacons provided by the federal government, children will be able to safely cross (so says the School District)....safe until the light bulbs start burning out.
Unfortunately again, the safety of our children is placed in the hands of the can't-be-bothered-to-change-lightbulbs Public Works Department and its Director Maurice Kaufman.  Too bad we can't get the feds to commit to changing the bulbs...then maybe we really would have safe routes to schools.  All these new lightbulbs being installed is going to be too much for Maurice Kaufman to handle.

How many Public Works employees does it take to screw in a light bulb?  We wish it were merely a bad joke.  The actual truthful answer to that question; more than 13, isn't funny.

Vexing for the likes of Emeryville
Now what do we do?

How Do Emeryville's Municipal Neighbors Inform Their Citizens?

City Hall
Alameda California
The City thinks it's good if the people
know what their government is doing.

The City of Emeryville has received many criticisms over the years from residents wanting more transparency from City Hall.  Infamously, developers with pending projects, large corporations in town and others among the politically connected have traditionally found a welcoming City Manager's office for private closed door planning sessions.  After last November's progressive sweep in the City Council elections, there has been a move to upset this convenient and discreet access for the powerful at City Hall in Emeryville.
Here's something else that could be done to give residents more power and increase citizen engagement: post notices about public meetings and other community interest information in front of City Hall, just like real cities do.  How about it Emeryville City Hall?  Is this idea dangerous?

City Hall
Berkeley California
30 linear feet of transparency.
An informed and engaged citizenry is 
how democracy works, says Berkeley.

City Hall
Emeryville California
No need to post anything for the public.
 'Trust us, we're working on your behalf'
says City Hall.  'It's probably best if you
just let us take care of business in here, go
home and watch TV or something'.

City of Emeryville Shows Off Its Accomplishment

Disney/Pixar Fence: A Source of Civic Pride

Opinion
The City of Emeryville has redesigned its website!  And for the new and improved look, City Hall decided to highlight the things it's most proud of.  Front and center on the new site is a photograph of the half mile long Disney/Pixar fence right across from City Hall.  That's the fence that sternly reminds everyone that Disney/Pixar isn't interested in Emeryville and keep the hell out...the fence that runs the entire perimeter of the corporate campus, six blocks by two, along Park Boulevard from Hollis all the way up to San Pablo, right through the heart of Emeryville.
We don't need two point perspective in Emeryville; to illustrate it, just make a vanishing point and two lines emanating from it in the form of an inverted V, signifying the edges of the sidewalk...and a fence along the side of it.

Evidently, City Hall thinks getting the Disney/Pixar fence was a big score for Emeryville.  A real coup d'etat in the realm of city planning for our town.  If they weren't proud of the fence, why else would they showcase it as the premier photograph in the new official website representing our town?

The fence cordons off the super block that the City made when they gave Disney/Pixar Watts and Emery Streets to the corporate giant as a gift to help them consolidate their campus.  It's the same fence that blocked the Spur Alley bike path from its planned connection to City Hall.

To those who might not feel that the Disney/Pixar fence is civic pride in steel and thorns, realize, this City is looking out for you in more than just the erection of a fence, the multi billion dollar Disney/Pixar also contributes taxes to our city: $8000 per year.

Other cities may have super blocks, but Emeryville has super duper blocks!  If you're headed north or south, you have to walk an extra mile to get around Disney/Pixar.  You'll have a long walk but not to worry, we've got an eight foot steel fence running the entire length, proving to everyone how much clout Emeryville has; a physical manifestation showing everyone just what our values are.

Vanishing Point:
Civic Pride in Thorns and Steel 
We've got super duper blocks and a half mile long
fence in the heart of Emeryville!

City Hall Releases Community Message in the Wake of Protests

After a fourth night of protests in Emeryville, City Hall released the following community message:

Wednesday, December 10, 2014 – Community Message

Last night, at approximately 11:50 pm, a group of demonstrators estimated to be between 300 and 500 participants entered Emeryville. The demonstration originated in Berkeley earlier in the evening, moved into Downtown Oakland, then proceeded into Emeryville via San Pablo Avenue.

The Emeryville Police Department initiated its operational plan, designed to safely and effectively facilitate the movement of the peaceful demonstration through the City, in anticipation of the demonstration moving into Emeryville.

Up to the point the demonstration entered Emeryville, there were relatively very few reports of vandalism along the route; however, as the crowd moved northbound on San Pablo Avenue in Emeryville, small factions of the crowd damaged and looted several businesses including the Pak-N-Save, CVS, Bank of America, and 7-11.

The crowd then moved onto 47th Street, where several vehicles were vandalized, before moving out of Emeryville and into the City of Oakland where the crowd ultimately dispersed. The Emeryville Police Department is working with other police agencies to identify and arrest those demonstrators responsible for the vandalism that occurred last night.

The City of Emeryville wants to assure Emeryville residents and businesses that our Police Department is prepared to address any disturbances that may arise from these continuing demonstrations, while reiterating that the mission of the Police Department is to focus on facilitating the peaceful and safe movement of demonstrations in our City.

To aid our Police Department, the City asks that Emeryville businesses make sure to update their emergency contact card and be prepared in case of vandalism to have someone available to respond to secure your business. Please contact Emeryville Police at 596-3700 for non-emergencies and 911 for emergencies.

Sign of the Times

A sign of the times on the front lawn of Emeryville's City Hall:

Developers Complain About Proposed Emeryville Impact Fees

Billionaires Don't Want to Pay Taxes:

World's Smallest Violin

Opinion
Emeryville is so unfair to developers!  That's what John Nady, gazillionaire CEO of Nady Systems told the City Council on Tuesday.  He's not happy with all the government largess already poured on him from his friends at Emeryville City Hall.  Now they want to raise taxes on him.  It's sooo unfair!  Can you imagine?  If the City Council raises the developer impact fees like they're investigating doing, Mr Nady may have to pay money.  He told the Council he doesn't like paying money.  Now he might have to pay almost as much as he would in other neighboring cities like Berkeley or Oakland.

Emeryville is so mean!  
Developers like 
John Nady
need one of these.

Cry Me a Friggin River
In the wake of the loss of the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency and the accompanied loss of revenue for the City, starting last April the City Council has been entertaining the idea of raising developer impact fees, in an attempt to recover costs incurred by the City attributable to new development.  As it stands now, Emeryville has the lowest such fees of all the neighboring towns and as a consequence, developers here have enjoyed what amounts to a large taxpayer funded subsidy.  It is this subsidy Mr Nady told the Council members he wishes to reap as he develops Avalon Bay, a large residential project on the Berkeley border.  Mr Nady has entered into an agreement with Avalon Bay Communities, a Virginia based REIT development corporation to build the 200 unit project and any increase in fees will scuttle the deal he says.  It would seem Mr Nady's profits are going to be cut into.  Mr Nady instead likes the idea that Emeryville taxpayers help him out with a gift of tax relief.   He wants us to pay for his project. Isn't that special?
A representative of SRM Ernst, the developer of the Sherwin Williams project also spoke out against the idea that Emeryville raise the impact fees at Tuesday's meeting.  It would seem that the sky will fall if Emeryville charges (almost) as much as other cities charge and developers will be crushed, bringing down the whole economy with them, it will be thus or so they say.

John Nady in happier times
Now he wants us to 
cry him a river.

Realize, John Nady has already been the recipient of a huge gift from the Emeryville City Council majority in the form of a lifting of the constraints of the General Plan back in 2009.  The whole city had engaged in a two year, four million dollar process of rewriting our General Plan.  A guiding principle ensconced in the Plan is the idea there be a "central core" of tall buildings radiating out from the Christie/Powell area, building heights lowering as they move away from the core area.  This idea was vetted by the Emeryville residents in a series of town hall meetings.  As a result of the central core concept, John Nady's property, being on the extreme north end of town, was subject to a 55 foot height limit.  But Mr Nady wanted to maximize his profits and sell his land to Avalon.  The height limit would cut into his profits so he appealed to the City Council to help him out.  So Councilwoman Nora Davis and her colleagues in the pro-developer Council majority changed the new General Plan to allow for unlimited height on Mr Nady's parcel.  No findings of fact were presented.  It was simply a gift from the people of Emeryville to John Nady to the tune of millions of dollars in property value enhancement.   They gave this gift, against the wishes of the people of Emeryville to a developer on his way out of Emeryville.

But he's still not happy.  That gift of property value increase as it turns out, only meant to serve as an appetizer for Mr Nady.  Now he wants more from the taxpayers of Emeryville.

Police guard the gated Nady 
mansion in Piedmont.
1%'ers have it so tough!

It's not the first time the private desires of John Nady have crashed into the domain of the greater public.  In 2011, in the style of a bad Hollywood movie script, Mr Nady brought on the ire of the Elem Pomo Indians as he sought to build a vacation home complex on Clear lake's Rattlesnake Island, a Native American sacred site including burial ground.   After Mr Nady purchased the island by dubious means with intention to develop it, his Piedmont mansion was picketed by Native Americans.

While Mr Nady's childish antics at City Hall last Tuesday were certainly entertaining and as the City Council continues to deliberate impact fees moving forward, we've got a novel idea for them both to consider:  If a developer can't make a go of it without (another) government bailout like Mr Nady is saying he needs, they can't make a go of it at all and they don't deserve to be in business in the first place.  This is especially true if the developer in question wants to build a residential project (as opposed to a commercial development) since those projects have been shown to be net revenue neutral  for City Hall: it pays out in resident services as much if not more than what it receives in residential taxes.
  We're tired of the kind of pro-developer favoritism that's been the culture at City Hall and we say to the natty suited John Nady and the other developers who will surely step forward looking for more handouts, we're not listening to billionaire whiners and complainers and their childish claims of entitlements anymore here.
Let's recoup everything we have to pay for these developers.  It's time we raise the impact fees to at least as much as what our neighbors charge.

Video courtesy of the Emeryville Property Owners Association

The People Are Welcomed Into the People's Hall

Ordinary Emeryville Citizens Walk Where Only the Rich and Powerful and Connected Once Tread

News Analysis / Opinion
This city is going above and beyond the legal minimum in terms of public access.  And that means extraordinary things are about to happen.
Never before in modern Emeryville history has the public been granted the same status, the same access as the rich and powerful.   But starting Thursday at noon, the last will be first and the first will be last at Emeryville City Hall.  The City Manager's office, the historic locus of true power in our town, the seat of business and development legerdemain is being transformed; the shades are to be flung open, the window sashes hoisted, the smoke cleared out, the stately doors chocked open and ordinary Emeryville citizens will be in there, amidst the dark wood paneling expressing their opinions, their desires, their musings on all things Emery to the Emeryville City Manager.  Just another Thursday in Emeryville...not!

Emeryville's previous city manager Pat O'Keeffe
called himself "pro developer".  He used his
office to negotiate directly with developers
and businessmen (public not invited). 

It's being called "Lunch with the City Manager".

We like to imagine the spectacle of dozens of dastardly developers scurrying like roaches once the shaft of noonday sunlight penetrates that office Thursday as Emeryville citizens, once seen as the rabble,  stroll in.   And sadly, that cartoonish image might not be far off the mark.  For as long as we can remember and quite possibly for the entirety of Emeryville history, the City Manager would work out development deals from his office...dickering with developers seeking project approvals.  By the time the public was allowed to weigh in at Planning Commission or Council meetings, it was too late; the all but the most innocuous details of the proposed development had long been decided...behind closed doors.
The new city manager, Sabrina Landreth is different.  For one, she's a woman; probably the first in Emeryville history.  When we first met her at her first City Council meeting, she seemed cut from a different cloth.  Now, there's no denying it: business as usual in Emeryville is gone.

The City Manager's office has gone from this...

to this.

Ms Landreth is inviting the public into her office...on a regular basis, a democratic counter point to the previous two city managers that held weekly meetings with Emeryville business lobbyist and political power broker John Gooding every Monday at 9:00 AM for an extended closed door session.  Topic of discussion?  Whatever John Gooding wanted to talk about.  The meetings may have helped Mr Gooding's bottom line but was the public's interest being addressed?  We'll never know because the weekly meetings were closed to the public.  Business interests and developers would routinely meet with the City Manager...in his office...behind closed doors.  If you asked, you would be told the public's interests was the only concern of the City Manager in these closed door meetings.  We had to take them at their word.  No records of the meetings were ever kept.

Now Ms Landreth has turned all that on its ear. Starting Thursday at noon, the public is invited in to talk about whatever is on their minds.  And Ms Landreth intends to make it every 3rd Thursday (exact times after this coming Thursday may change depending on how accessible it is for people).  For the time being, she's calling it "Lunch with the City Manager", or possibly (jokingly?) "Beer with the City Manager" if a later time period is settled on.  Watch this space for developments (pun not intended).

We called on Ms Landreth to do this some months ago.  We thank her for this public access she has provided to the people's hall.

City Looks at Increasing Impact Fees

Emeryville's Anemic Impact Fees

Existing Residents/Business Subsidize New Business

News Analysis
Last week, the Emeryville City Council engaged in some very unusual behavior when they conducted a study session with an eye to possibly raise the City's fee schedule on new business and development, known as impact fees.  The April 1st meeting was the first time since 1998 the Council has looked critically at its compliment of impact fees, a turn of events brought on by the demise of the Emeryville  Redevelopment Agency and the resultant hit the City has taken on its finances.
Any rise in these impact fees would bring Emeryville closer to closing the considerable gap that's grown between what's charged here versus neighboring cities.  Every city in the Bay Area charges impact fees and the study session revealed that Emeryville as it stands now, is the cheapest place around to do business... by far.

Paid at the time of development by the developers, impact fees offset costs associated with providing public services to new development and paying for capital improvement expenditures due to population growth (for residential projects).  These fees provide a way for municipalities to ensure new comers not financially burden those here already.
As with so many other of its other business generated revenue streams, business friendly Emeryville has the lowest impact fees around; putting existing businesses and residents on the hook for helping provide public services for these new arrivals.  The result is a depleted capital improvement fund, making it more difficult for Emeryville to pay for existing services let alone provide new services citizens (and businesses) want.
The services impact fees pay for in Emeryville are earmarked for transportation, parks & recreation and affordable housing.

Ultra Low
Emeryville's ultra low Impact Fees are not a accident.  They're the conjoined work of the the Emeryville City Council majority and the Chamber of Commerce.
A manifestation of the Council's pro-business, pro-developer ideology, the impact fee schedule at City Hall falls behind neighbors Oakland and Berkeley in every single category.  Not just behind in most cases but far behind.
The staff presented the Council at the April 1st study session, with information that was revelatory.
Among the findings are the following impact fee comparisons with our neighbors:

Existing Emeryville Impact Fees*
(dollars behind average of Berkeley, Richmond and Alameda based on per unit/square feet/or room)

Housing Blocks:
-Multi Family  $13,543 per unit less than neighboring cities
-Town Homes  $22,668 per unit less

Hotels:
-$2,377 per room less

Office Space:
-$7.50 per square foot less

Research & Development:
-$5.34 per sq ft less

Retail/Mixed Use:
-$5.80 per sq ft less

Of course impact fees are just one way in which Emeryville charges business far less than what neighboring cities charge.  When it comes time to leave Emeryville, businesses get a nice parting gift from City Hall with its business friendly real estate transfer tax.  At $.55 per $1000 of value of real estate, the anemic transfer tax, paid primarily by business, falls far below all the neighboring cities including Oakland and Berkeley who charge $15 per $1000; some 2700% more than Emeryville, enabling those cities to pay for public amenities such as sidewalk repair and new parks.

The April 1st presentation is found HERE
 *page 13 of introductory staff report to City Manger Sabrina Landreth from Director of Economic Development Helen Bean and head of Planning Department Charlie Bryant

Emery-Go-Round at a Crisis Point

Is Emeryville Finally Going to Grow Up?

Opinion
Emeryville's free bus service,  Emery-Go-Round has been in the news a lot recently.  It was featured on National Public Radio today after a crisis point was reached last week when Watergate neighbors erupted as the buses stopped servicing their area.  A nadir seems to have been reached at EGR and as the NPR piece illustrated, everyone seems to think change is inevitable for the popular bus service.  We agree, change is coming to Emery-Go-Round but we want to make sure the looming change is to the benefit of the residents.
To make sure there's this kind of beneficial change, first we need to dispense with a popular meme, uniformly forwarded by business elites and so pervasive in our culture that it seems to be simple common sense. We're talking about the idea that the private sector is more efficient than government and somehow better at delivering public services.  Without getting bogged down with a civics discourse at this point, suffice it to say some things are best taken care of by government, perhaps not widget manufactory but certainly public mass transit delivery.  The breakdown at Watergate last week should be seen as a persuasive buttress of this non-radical idea.  We think more of this kind of service disruption is coming even as the EGR Board of Directors has agreed to a temporary fix at Watergate.  As this bus service has grown over the years, EGR now can't seem to provide the service Emeryville residents need and are expecting.

A Little Emery-Go-Round History
Against a backdrop of ever increasing traffic jams brought on by Emeryville's incessant development, the free buses were started in 1995 by Emeryville businesses looking to speed transit and convenience for their workers, their clients and customers.  A transit authority with taxing authority was set up, run by the businesses and paid for primarily by them (City Hall and the School District also pays some).   But like a newly widened freeway drawing more cars by easing the commute to far-flung suburbs, EGR's popularity became an engine in itself for more growth in our town. The City Council members started seeing EGR as a green light for more intensively developed residential projects.  Traffic studies for proposed residential mega-projects could tap into the Emery-Go-Round to show a lighter impact on our streets, giving the Council all the cover they needed to approve more and more development.
And develop Emeryville has.  At this point, like it or not, we're totally dependent on the Emery-Go-Round; without it our streets would be hopelessly clogged and business here would take a big hit.  Where neighboring cities can ameliorate their traffic problems with reliance on traditional buses (and BART), Emeryville's massive growth makes AC Transit insufficient.

The problem is that the City Council bought into the line that Emeryville's business sector could take care of the traffic problem. Now that it's been shown that they can't, we're going to have to fund EGR the old fashioned way; by government.

Why Did EGR Falter?
For years this bus service has worked fine.  So why is it not working now?
As more and more people started using the service, costs started going up.  This has recently been a source of irritation among the business property owners that pay for the buses.  An EGR Board of Directors shakeup finally resulted in a revolt of a sort.  The Tattler recently reported how the new Board drew a line in the sand: the EGR buses are for payers, not the general public they said.  Watergate residences, being non-payers were cut out.  But the Board of Directors, wishing to stave off a public relations disaster, tried to blame City Hall for the disruption in service because of recent sidewalk improvements.  They tried to forward the canard that due to this City Hall "negligence", the buses could no longer turn around at Watergate. The Tattler revealed the sidewalk argument was nothing but a red herring, meant to draw attention away from the Board's own draconian decision to ace Watergate residents out of the bus service.

Emery-Go-Round at Wareham Development's
Emery Station East 
Wareham CEO Rich Robbins wants Emeryville
taxpayers to pay but he wants to continue to control the bus service.  
If City Hall takes over, he might have to pay more.

Businesses Aren't Charities
Some of the more forthright Emery-Go-Round Board members will publicly state the obvious: the businesses that fund EGR aren't operating a charity; they're trying to look after their bottom line all the City sidewalk work obfuscation notwithstanding.  The EGR service has been morphing into a bus service primarily for non-payers, they'll remind us.  We agree with this sentiment; it's foolish to assume the business community will volunteer their resources for the greater public good.  We should always assume they're looking out for their own bottom lines.  That's why it was a fools errand to allow the business community to run the Emery-Go-Round to begin with.  The City Council massively developed our town and they're responsible for any negative impacts, not the business community.  City Hall must now take over this vital service and fund it the old fashioned way: with taxes.

Who Should Pay?
Back before the advent of supply side economics and phony rational market mania took over Washington, glazing the eyes even of Democrats, there used to be an axiom when it came time for government to raise revenue; the notion of 'the ability to pay'.  The idea was that those with the greatest ability should pay the most, those with less ability should pay less.  This is a philosophy that got us out of the Great Depression and helped built our great American middle class.
With regard to the Emery-Go-Round, those with the greatest ability to pay are the business community.  We must remember, they're here at our pleasure (insofar as the Constitution allows us to craft our city to our liking), not because we like them but because we want them here to pay for stuff we want.
Businesses don't count in this equation.  They literally don't count:  they can't vote.  Only residents can vote.  It's the residents who drive what our town will become and it's the residents for whom the town is built. We need to remember this as we turn a page with the Emery-Go-Round.
The private business sector can't be trusted with this public service, but they're the ones that should pay for it.  It should be seen as the cost of doing business in our town. We need to start selling our town for what it's worth instead of constantly selling it short.  We've had it with the hand wringing "win-win" phony declarations from this Council when it comes time to make business pay their share.  Win-win usually comes to mean win for the business community and lose for the residents.
Regarding the Emery-Go-Round, we say it's time for Emeryville to put away this childish argument about businesses being responsible for the public infrastructure.  It's time for Emeryville to finally grow up.  We the public are the responsible party for public transit here.

Developer Seeks to Privatize Emeryville's Sidewalks at the Public Market

Private Grab of Public Commons

Opinion
Who owns Emeryville's streets?  In an earlier, more progressive era the answer would have been easy; it's us, the people of Emeryville.  Now, with the help of the Emeryville City Council the answer is increasingly; it's private business concerns that owns the streets.
Take Shellmound Street at the Public Market.  As of right now, if you want to walk along the sidewalks there, you're free unconditionally to do it.  It's a real public space.  But that's all going to change if the developer for the proposed Public Market expansion, City Center Realty Partners LLC gets its way.
The developer wants to seize control over our sidewalks on Shellmound, making them their own private property.
City Center Realty Partners is busy shopping this proposal around town to Emeryville decision makers right now.  The Council will decide about this in coming months.  If the Council is in a giving mood, like they were when developer Madison Marquette asked for and received control over the sidewalks on Bay Street, then chalk up another victory for the forces of privatization in Emeryville.

Welcome to Emeryville's great new manifestation of civic alienation: the faux sidewalk.  It looks like a real sidewalk but try using it like a real sidewalk and it's off to jail with you.

"Public" Sidewalk at Apple Store on Bay Street
Customers are free to line up to buy the latest gizmo
but if one of them pulls out a sign protesting Apple's
abuse of it's manufacturing workers in China,
it's private property... and it's off to jail.

City Center Reality Partners wishes to be able to control 'undesirable' traffic on Shellmound Street's sidewalks in order to increase the value for future corporate tenants in their planned expansion.  From their perspective it's all very understandable.  If they rented to a commercial tenant that engaged in unethical corporate behavior let's say, they would have financial interest in stopping a ready remedy the public has to show their displeasure at times like that; the protest.  Now it's going to be, 'Sorry, no protesting on our property in front of any businesses'.  Corporate tenants would really appreciate such an arrangement.  Probably willing to pay a premium to City Center Reality for it.

Got a lingering homeless person on the sidewalk?  No problem.  He has no right to be there!  How about some protesters?  Off they go!  It'll only be shoppers on Emeryville's formerly public sidewalks if City Center Reality Partners gets their way.
It's a wonderful way to ratchet up the corporatist notion that we're not really citizens, rather consumers to be sold to.  And so far the City Council is on board.

Funny thing is this Emeryville privatization juggernaut is happening at the same time City Hall is proudly proclaiming it's affinity for so called "complete streets", the city planning concept glommed onto by staff and the Council that claims that streets are public spaces at their core and that all forms of transportation are given equal treatment and even non transportation, as in lingering or what some might call transience.
Emeryville has received planning awards for it's promulgating of the complete street idea, just as we have for our Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan at the same time that the City Council has moved to eliminate bike and pedestrian paths.   Let's hope this Shellmound public land grab give-a-way isn't going to be another example of this kind of duplicitous nexus.

The sad part about this privatization of the public commons is it's all so unnecessary.  As at the Bay Street give-a-way, City Hall isn't getting a thing in return from City Center Reality Partners.  It's just another gift to the developers by this Council...if they give in to their usual pro-developer proclivities.

The Late Great Sidewalk
Formerly a dynamic and interactive public arena, 
a democratic space available for real civic engagement.
Now, a corridor for shoppers.

An Open Letter to Emeryville's New City Manager, Sabrina Landreth

Monday Mornings at 9:00

To Emeryville City Manager, Sabrina Landreth-

We congratulate you as you settle in as Emeryville's new City Manager.  We look forward to many years of service on your part, assuaging the desires of the people of Emeryville as we work together crafting the town we residents want to live in.  No doubt by now you have learned a lot about the culture at City Hall and how politics are played here in Emeryville.  And this is why we write to you now.

The city manager position in Emeryville is not simply an office running job.  This position historically has been used to bend the trajectory of development in the town, regardless of the official job description.  The city manager has not merely fulfilled the will of the City Council, scurrying about as a automaton-like servant.  No, the person in your seat has been the most powerful figure in Emeryville, forming power coalitions, working with a development agenda, for good or bad.

Over many years we have watched with dismay as your office, under your predecessors and behind closed doors, has been used by developers and other business concerns, to conduct business without transparency and without accountability to the people.  The way this has traditionally been done in Emeryville is that development deals are made within your four walls before the public is even informed.  Later, when a development proposal is moved into the public arena, overseen by the elected officials, all the decisions of consequence have already been settled.  The public has been effectively shut out of the process.  With business and developer friendly city managers at the helm up until now, this is how Emeryville has come to be known as the East Bay's business friendly city.

Our new City Manager, Sabrina Landreth

But even as you now assume your position and begin your duties as our new city manager and we turn a page in Emeryville history, we want to make sure we really do turn a page in Emeryville history.

A great place to start we think, is Monday mornings at 9:00 in your office.  Because that is the time and the place one private Emeryville citizen has had reserved for private closed door meetings for more than 10 years.  That citizen is of course John Gooding, the Chamber of Commerce political power broker and business consultant/lobbyist.

Mr Gooding would meet with former City Manager Pat O'Keeffe in Mr O'Keefe's office for a private closed door meeting, Mondays at 9:00.  We're told that time was permanently set aside by Mr O'Keeffe for Mr Gooding.  And before Mr O'Keeffe, it was former City Manager John Flores meeting with John Gooding.  Again, Monday mornings at 9:00, private one-on-one meeting with the man running City Hall.  What was discussed at those hundreds of meetings?  We'll never know. But what was notable was that no other private citizen or even group of citizens ever got equal treatment from the city manager.  The rest of us were locked out.

What we want from you Ms Landreth, is a similar time set aside.  We'd like Monday mornings at 9:00 to be set aside again....only this time we want the door to be open and we want Emeryville residents in your office.  Any of them...hopefully all of them (in one way or another) over the years.  We want you to meet with resident groups such as Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE).  We want you to hear OUR concerns, not just business/developer interests.  We want 9:00 Monday mornings in your office reserved for US.

We think this would help serve as a powerful balm for much of what ails Emeryville.  It would help connect the heretofore alienated public with their City Hall.  We like the 9:00 time slot specifically.  It would serve as a beautiful, symmetrical and just counterpoint.  It would go far to show everyone that a page has indeed turned.

Community Center's Operational Costs Shock City Council

Other Shoe Drops at Community Center

Massive New Costs to City Revealed

400% Increase in Operating Expenses
100% Increase in Maintenance Expenses
City's General Fund to be Put at Risk
$11 Million Gamble

After the smoke had cleared at last Tuesday evening's City Council meeting, the contentious Emeryville Center of Community Life had been transformed from a self-proclaimed fiscally prudent money saving school/community center project into a budget busting money pit festooned with poison pill hidden trap-doors ready to bankrupt City Hall.  Even long-time apologists for the project appeared stunned by the cascade of devastating numbers revealed.

Nora Davis
400% increase?!
We're supposed to be
LOWERING costs.

After waiting for years, the City's portion of the actual estimated operational costs of the Center of Community Life (ECCL) were finally revealed by the Staff leaving the majority of the City Council dumbfounded.  After having publicly pronounced "efficiencies" and "economies of scale" inherent in the new Center,  the revelations Tuesday made it clear these promises were never going to materialize and instead the project will actually increase the City's costs dramatically, the announcement of which drew loud exclamations from an incredulous Nora Davis, "The whole idea with this was to LOWER our costs" the Councilwoman said.

Under discussion was an agreement between the City of Emeryville and the Emery School District that would define many of the Center's operational arrangements. Known as a 'Memorandum of Understanding' (MOU) this would be the third such agreement in the ECCL design and development process, thus it is referred to as "MOU #3."

The City Staff Report revealed three major fiscal impacts if the City enters into MOU #3:

1. The agreement would require the City to make the District “whole” even if the City's former Redevelopment Agency's approximately $21 million is taken away by the State via pending litigation.
2. The City will assume significantly increased Operations and Maintenance costs for Community Services--the Staff Report estimates a cost increase of nearly 400%. 
3. The City will assume significantly increased annual allocation for Capital Replacement costs--estimated at a cost increase of over 100%.

$11 Million Gamble
The first point brought looks of dismay from the Council, as Staff explained that if the State Department of Finance succeeds in its efforts to challenge the City's ECCL contribution of approximately $21 million, then MOU #3 would still require the City to cover approximately $10-11 million of ECCL expenses.  The School District is in effect saying to the City, 'If you win your lawsuit, we want your money, and if you lose your lawsuit, we still want your money!'   Of course, the problem with this is the source of that $10 to $11 million is uncertain and would almost certainly jeopardize other projects on the City's Capital Improvements wish list.

Jac Asher
$20 million and we're 
NOT going to get 
our bike/ped path?

Mayor Kurt Brinkman appeared angered by the brazenness of the School District's new numbers, "The whole idea was the School District could run a leaner machine" he reminded Staff and the District employees attending.  Councilwoman Jac Asher also expressed dismay at the new numbers and she invoked an earlier revealed broken promise from the School District, "We shouldn't spend [more than] $20 million to not have a bike/pedestrian path" she reminded attendees, referring to the School District recalcitrance in building a required bike/ped path associated with the school/community center build out.

400% Increase
The basis of much of MOU #3 is a cost-sharing formula that has the District paying 71-74% and the City paying 26-29% of many expenses. In the case of the City's Youth Services this formula yielded a table on page 18 of the Staff Report that shows the City's current Recreation Center annual budget of $80,310 would, once housed at the new gold-plated ECCL, have to be increased to $319,279, an increase of 398%.  Jaws dropped on several Council members' faces, "We were supposed to SAVE money with maintenance and operating", said Council member Davis.

100% Increase
Finally, MOU #3 would require the City to set aside funds annually for major maintenance to the ECCL facilities. The Staff Report explains that currently, "the City contributes $386,500 per year to the Major Maintenance Fund for capital replacement for 139,755 square feet of public buildings and 44.21 acres of parks and open space."  The report continues, "It is anticipated that a like amount of money will need to be contributed on an annual basis for the City’s share of the capital replacement needs of the ECCL Project comprising 129,805 square feet of building space and 233,290 square feet of outdoor space."  That is, the City's annual major maintenance expenses are expected to double once the ECCL project is completed.

Kurt Brinkman
Does the School District
have any idea what
it's doing?

One other moment during the discussion brought the room to an eeiry silence. Mayor Brinkman asked City Staff whether the School District had sufficient funds to complete the project, wondering whether a final cost agreement was in place between the District and Turner Construction, "Does anybody have any idea what is the cost of the project?"  City Staff indicated that, to the best of their knowledge, the District was still in discussions with Turner and so this remained uncertain.   While the rest of the stunned room seemed to be quietly asking themselves whether the ECCL could be built at all, Mayor Brinkman noted that construction costs are currently rising and it would be good for the District to get this finalized, "With prices going up for construction, does the District have the money?" he asked.

The Staff promised to revisit the Council in September so a final MOU #3 agreement with the School District can be struck, "bring us back some better numbers" Councilwoman Davis warned.

City and School District Impose Gag Order on Task Force

Black List Revealed 

Members of the newly formed City Schools Master Plan Task Force, a group set up under the auspices of a paid School District consultant, received notice of an astounding "ground rule" at their first meeting on April 29th: a gag order forbidding contact with the media, including blogs and other local electronic media.

In February the Tattler brought you the story of the School District's decision to pay $170,000 to consultants, MIG and MKThink, to facilitate a Task Force that would determine the fate in a post-Emeryville Center of Community Life (ECCL) world of six public properties that currently provide community services. Only three of those sites, Anna Yates Elementary School , the former Ralph Hawley Middle School, and the San Pablo Avenue dump site that is the future home of the ECCL (aka the former High School) are actually under the control of the School District. The other three sites, the 43rd Street Recreation Center, the Senior Center, and the Emeryville Child Development Center, are operated by the City. The future of only two sites is really in doubt, that of the Anna Yates Elementary site, and the Recreation Center.

$7700 Per Meeting

Not a Big Fan
of  Transparency:
He also had a black list and
a "plumbers unit" meant to
plug media leaks.

The Task Force was eventually created by both the City and the School District at a recent City Schools Committee meeting.  While the Task Force members and the public will be invited to six Task Force meetings, the consultants will conduct more than twice as many private closed door meetings as well.  Emeryville residents needn't fret that the consultants will be over-worked.  If they conduct the originally-planned 22 meetings, then that works out to just over $7,700 per meeting, generously provided by Emeryville taxpayers.  For that price, one might expect that these will be the most well-publicized city-wide meetings in Emeryville history. Not so.

The first of the Task Force's six public meetings was held on April 29th, although one will search in vain for any mention of it on any School District website.  This lack of notice constitutes a violation of Sacramento's Brown Act, which sets the actual "ground rules" for public meetings, Emery proclamations notwithstanding.
The Tattler has obtained the Task Force meeting minutes which speak for themselves (page 1 Section III):

"One Task Force member asked for clarification on the ground rule asking members not to speak with the media, wondering whether this applied to blogs and other local electronic media. Yes, it is intended to cover all media; having Task Force members refrain from speaking to the media ensures that no group member is pushing a specific agenda by exerting media pressure on other members, and helps to build a culture of trust within the group."

The Tattler confirmed that these minutes accurately reflected the discussion at the meeting through a non-member that was present.

As a public service for Task Force members, the Tattler provides the following Black List of those that Task Force Members should be sure not to speak with:

City and School District's Black List:

(partial list)

• Brian Donahue, Emeryville resident and blogger on the Emeryville Tattler
• Rob Arias, Emeryville resident and blogger on the E'ville Eye
• Calvin Rouse III, food critic for the E'ville Eye 
• Tracy Schroth, Emeryville resident and editor of The Secret News
• Shirley Enomoto, Emeryville resident and researcher for The Secret News
• Stefanie Pruegel, contributor to The Secret News
• Richard Ambro, Emeryville resident and columnist for The Secret News 
• Greg Harper, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News
• Ruth Major, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News
• Bill Reuter, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News 
• Jim Thornton, contributor to The Secret News
• Judy Timmel, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News
• Berkeley Fuller, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News
• Scott Donahue, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News
• Adrian McGilly, Emeryville resident and contributor to The Secret News 
• Jennifer West, Emeryville City Council member and blogger 
• Michael Webber, Emeryville resident and former? blogger at Condition: Emeryville
• Ken Bukowski, (provisional) Task Force member and EPOA blogger 
• Daniel Borenstein, Oakland Tribune writer and long-time member of School District "enemies list" after his editorial exposing the Measure J school bond
• The First Amendment, United States Constitution

The Task Force, which meets to decide the fate of properties in the Triangle neighborhood, meets across town at Ralph Hawley on May 20th at 6:30 p.m.