Minimum Wage: Emeryville at a Crossroads

After 25 Years of Development Featuring Service Jobs,

Will Emeryville Move to Mollify That Model's Rapaciousness? 

Opinion/News Analysis
Emeryville's business community is assembling their forces to push back against a City Council initiated Emeryville minimum wage proposal, set to be decided by the Council in May.  The City will hold a public study session on the subject April 7th.  If these meetings are to be anything like previous meetings when the business community has been asked to pay anything more in our town, they promise to be drama filled evenings.  The Emeryville Property Owners Association is jumping into the fray; they're planning a public town hall style meeting of their own on the subject March 16th, a chance to "educate" the public sponsored by the business community.

 But as these epic Council meeting dates approach, what should Council members expect from our businesses here in Emeryville?  The Council will be asking them how they'll do with an increase in the minimum wage.  It's not against the law for the business community to lie about the effects the minimum wage hike will have on their businesses, if they even know what the effects will precisely be.  Since it's not against the law for them to lie, should we expect them to, especially if by lying they think they might not have to pay as much?  Should past behavior by the business community when they have been asked to contribute more in Emeryville, inform us in any way?  If they have been found to have lied in the past about the effects of City Hall policy on their businesses, should their credibility be at all effected?
How about the working poor in our midst?  Should their plight be considered by the government?  Does City Hall have a responsibility to help the poorest people among us?  Is exacerbating wealth discrepancy and record inequality OK for a government to do?  The City Council has spent a generation saying YES to developers, adding lots of minimum wage service sector jobs in our town; a workforce that can't afford to live here and must commute in from poor parts of Oakland and farther flung locales.  Does Emeryville City Hall have any duty to help the legions of these poverty stricken people they brought to work here?  If the City has the right to do something about it, should they exercise that right?  Is it the government's charge to address this higher calling?  Or should poor people in Emeryville just be left to their own devises?

Bucci's:
A premier local restaurant.
The haters among us tell us
 we can't have nice 
stuff like this without selling our 
soul to the devil.
So what's it gunna be Emeryville?
Redwood trees or jobs?
Bucci's or minimum wage?

Any reasonable person that's not an ideologue knows the answers to these questions.  And that's why we think Emeryville will move forward and do the right thing by the poorest among us, because the new Council majority is just that: reasonable and not ideologues.

How High?  What Logic?
But how high should the minimum wage in Emeryville be?  Some are saying we should set our minimum wage the same as our neighbor Oakland: $12.25 per hour.  There is a certain compelling logic to that...but it's a logic based in business marketability.  Of course this business marketability argument means we should be driving DOWN the minimum wage, not raising it up.  Oakland, it should be noted, is considering another rise in their minimum wage soon.
Again, we need to keep our focus where it belongs; the problem is poverty, not marketability.
Another logic could be Emeryville's minimum wage should be set so a person working in our town could actually live in our town.  With sky-high rents in Emeryville, the wage would have to be at least $20 per hour (that's $800 per month at 25% of income at 40 hours per week).

So how high should the minimum wage be?  The answer for Emeryville is $14.42 (Consumer Price Index raised from $14.03 after July 1st).  That's the minimum amount a person has to make working 40 hours per week, to be ineligible for government assistance; food stamps, housing assistance, et cetera.  Anything less than this amount is effectively a wealth transference rate: money being transferred from the taxpayers to business owner employers.  It's yet another government subsidy for business.

Poverty Wages or Sub-Poverty Wages
A wage of $14.42 is a poverty wage, let's not mince words.  A person making this wage will almost certainly not be able to afford to live in our town.  Every cent is earmarked for basic survival.  This person is not making enough to provide for a family.  If Emeryville sets the minimum wage at less than $14.42, we are delegating a class of us to exist in sub-poverty conditions, surviving on government handouts.  Sub-poverty; that's the badge of dishonor we're going to have to wear regardless of any vows we may have made regarding the responsibility of government.

Is Emeryville a City of Non Viable Businesses?
As one would expect, this talk of raising the minimum wage has caused the business community in Emeryville to run around with their hair on fire.  The talk has been pretty heated; they're going to have to lay off their workers or go bankrupt they're now telling us.  They're forming coalitions to fight the wage hike, with big business hiding behind small business.  We heard it, full throated at a recent Council meeting, the minimum wage on the agenda; $14.42 will kill them they say.  By this, what these businesses really mean is they can only afford to pay sub-poverty wages to their workers.
But any business in our midst that can't afford to pay anything but a sub-poverty wage to their employees is not a viable business.  By definition; that's not a viable business.  They're in effect saying  they have business plans that lock them in and they must oppress their lowest paid employees.  Emeryville, they want us to believe, must be a locus of suffering and oppression.  If this is true, these are the kinds of businesses we don't want in Emeryville.  This is a description of a sweat shop.
After a generation of our City Hall bringing lots of development with lots of low wage service sector jobs like fast food and retail, we must remember we created this mess ourselves.  Are we going to now make it a one two punch; first community busting development then oppression against workers?  Is that who we are in Emeryville?

Or is Emeryville a City of Viable Businesses?
So far, the businesses in Emeryville have been pretty adamant; they say they can't afford to pay their workers these higher wages.  We must consider that these businesses might be lying (or they don't really know).  It's not like we've never seen business in Emeryville lie before.  Indeed, the loudest screamer against this among business owners so far has been John Tibbets, the owner of the Oaks Club gambling casino on San Pablo Avenue.  He's told the Council he will be driven out of business by a $14.42 minimum wage.  Driven out of business... interesting... that's also what he told Emeryville voters in 1997 when he railed against Emeryville's Measure B, the card room tax increase ballot initiative.  Of course, that turned out to be a lie.
Then of course there's also Measure C, the 2005 'living wage for hotel workers' ballot initiative. Emeryville's hotels all said they would be driven out of business if they had to pay their workers more money.  Incidentally 2005 is when there were four hotels in town, now, after Emeryville voters passed Measure C, we're starting construction on hotel number five.  The hotel owners we now know, were lying.

When it comes time for businesses to pay more to their workers, lying is the default go to place for many.  It's no shocker.  But what will really happen if Emeryville raises the minimum wage to $14.42?  There have been many academic studies done on this subject over many years.  We're not suffering from a lack of scientifically obtained data.  We know that there will be some difficulties for businesses at first as they adjust to the new wage standards.  Prices will likely go up for some of the customers of some of the businesses as they re-coup the higher wages and then a stasis will again be achieved...  except the new paradigm will mean people in Emeryville will be making more than sub-poverty wages and our values won't be undercut.  We also know people have seen enough oppression of the working poor; higher minimum wages and raising up the lowest paid among us is very popular with voters, both in Emeryville and across the Nation.

Hucksters Selling False Choices
Whenever it comes time to do something for the least fortunate among us, the oppressed, the dispossessed, you can count on it there will be those lecturing us on how unrealistic it all is.  We're told we need to be pragmatists; sure we may want to do something about the terrible inequality brought on by a sociopath's view of the role of government and a rapacious private sector, but we're always told not now, not in this way and not if it may cause inconvenience to business or even worse, money.   This time in Emeryville has been no different.  Besides all the poor business owners, some citizen ideologues too have piped up:  This will kill small locally serving business we're being chided.  Raising the minimum wage will be a boon to the biggest businesses because they can afford it.  The small desirable resident friendly businesses, some might say competition to the big business,  will be driven out they say.  So raising the minimum wage presents a choice we're told.  We can have Bucci's restaurant or we can have a raise in the minimum wage.  We can have Farely's coffee shop or we can have a raise in the minimum wage.  We can't, apparently, have both.

Redwood Trees or Jobs,  Bucci's or the Minimum Wage
Emeryville of late is feeling a little like the days of capitalist junk bond financier Charles Hurwitz who in the 1980's acquired Pacific Lumber Company and then said the debt incurred by the leveraged buy-out made the clear cutting of all the rest of the old growth redwood on Pacific Lumber's vast holdings necessary.  Californians were given a Hobson's choice by Mr Hurwitz: jobs or redwoods.

1980's Junk Bond Financier
Charles Hurwitz
He brought it down to a choice:
We can have redwoods or we can
have jobs.  We can't have both.
It was an effective tactic that
dramatically increased his bottom line.
It's a tactic now being repeated
by some in Emeryville. 

This is the oldest trick in the book.   We can't listen to scientists and academicians, about what they have to say about raising the minimum wage.  They're just selling facts.  Instead we're told we have to listen to lying business owners and their army of minions who give us phony false choices.  It's funny we never can seem to get the resumes of those offering the false choice.  How do we know what they know?  We're supposed to simply have faith.  Take them at their word.  Just don't take scientists at their word... because...why exactly?  This is never answered.

We have our own choice we'd like to forward: Should we listen to scientists on the effects of raising the minimum wage?  Or should we listen to the people with money at stake and their apologists?   Who's more likely to be lying?

With our new City Council majority seated, we're not going to listen to these nattering nabobs of negativity.  Emeryville is going to increase our minimum wage so the working poor no longer earn a sub-poverty wage at one of the many retail and fast food establishments we've built over the years here.  And we're not going to leave anyone behind with special exemptions or carve-outs in our new polity.  All are going to be lifted out of sub-poverty.  We may allow small businesses in town some extra time to ramp up to our new minimum wage.   But we're all going to get there because while we may have made terrible choices in Emeryville in the past, the choices we make now are not going to be the one's ginned up by the business community, they're going to be the real choices for the betterment of our whole town.

New City Manager: Will Secret Dealings Continue?

No More Back Room Deals at City Hall

With New Manager

Lobbyists Should be Barred From Secret Access

Opinion
Emeryville turns a page with the retirement of City Manager Pat O'Keeffe on Tuesday, and as the City Council hires a replacement, the people of Emeryville should interject themselves at this critical juncture and demand a new regime of transparency at City Hall.  We should use the opportunity of a change in leadership to upset the culture of benevolence historically shown by the Emeryville City Manager to grant secret private privilege at the people's house.

Pat O'Keeffe
We won't see this face
around City Hall anymore.
But will we still feel his
presence after he's gone?

The Emeryville Property Owners Association (EPOA) is leading the charge for transparency at City Hall with a recent opinion piece from their blog.  The article slams Mr O'Keeffe for conducting private meetings with the Chamber of Commerce, a private organization and John Gooding, a private Emeryville political power broker.  
From EPOA:
"The City Manager should not attend closed door meetings on a monthly basis with any organized group.  We believe it violates the City Manager Code of Ethics.  We also criticize on-going weekly meetings between City Manager Pat O'Keeffe and John Gooding, the person who provides money for city council candidates in every election.  He is known to make 'back room deals'.  The subject of their weekly conversations is never disclosed.  The Code of Ethics says this is an action which undermines public confidence."
 Indeed, Tenet 7 from the International City Management Association Code of Ethics says city managers must refrain from all political activities which undermine public confidence in professional administrators.  And to that we'd like to highlight Tenet 4 which mandates the function of local government at all times is to serve the best interests of all people.

Pat O'Keeffe came to Emeryville after serving as President of the Board of Directors of the California Redevelopment Association, an organization dedicated to the centralized application of city planning power, a world view antithetical to grassroots democratic participation (loud proclamations to the contrary notwithstanding).

Co-Owner of The Quadric Group, 
a political consulting firm.
He meets with our City Manager
 behind closed doors every week.
What do they talk about?

We say we've had enough of this.   After two consecutive terms of city managers in Emeryville conducting the people's business in darkness like this without the knowledge of or oversight by the people, we join with the Emeryville Property Owners Association's insistence that we indeed turn the page in Emeryville.  We need to make sure our new city manager is not made like our previous city managers.  We want a manager who'll include us at the table for a change.
The City Council, itself not a body taken to inclusion of the rabble in City Hall business, must recognize there's a new day in Emeryville.  We say we're finished with Emeryville city managers with an economic development background and all the anti-democratic baggage contained within.  As the Council makes their decision on our new employee, they need to know we expect a city manager with a city management background to take the reins at our City Hall.

Parking Crisis In North Emeryville

After 25 Years Of Unfettered Development Residents Can't Find A Place To Park 

& Now They're Angry

Who Could Have Guessed This Would Happen?

Opinion

The Emeryville city council majority has welcomed a 25 year reign of unfettered development, a 'hands off developers' philosophy that has earned the town the reputation in the region of being extremely business friendly.  The council majority that enabled this pro-business culture have always denied any associated negative impacts for residents as they carried on with their 'what's-good-for-business-is-what's-good-for-Emeryville' agenda.  But those days may be coming to an end.

After  the Emeryville Property Owners Association (EPOA) recent town hall meeting on parking in the north Hollis Street area, there's no longer any way it can be denied: residents and now even small businesses that rely on street parking can no longer reliably find parking spaces... and they're angry.  It's been an increasing quality of life reduction for residents that promises to get worse as the council moves to start charging money for on street parking.

Where's The TDM?
The problem stems from the rampant rate of development over the last couple of decades combined with a lack of Transportation Demand Management (TDM) practices to mitigate the problems brought on by all the cars associated with the new development.  Transportation Demand management practices are paid for by the developers and they lower the use of cars generated by the development by expanding transportation alternatives, providing incentives and rewards for employees for undertaking alternative transportation, imposing full-cost pricing on automobile use and other such measures.  These measures have been considered best practice solutions for urban parking by city planners since the 1970's...except in Emeryville.
It should be noted that councilwoman Jennifer West has been calling for mandatory developer paid TDM measures over the last couple of years.

The city council majority has been adverse to asking for developers to provide any TDM measures as they have approved project after project.  Twenty five year Councilwoman Nora Davis and her friends on the council have historically characterized any such requirements as anti-business and therefore illegitimate.  The parking crisis has been built up over the years in this way.

It's valuable to identify those public servants who have contributed to this mess. In addition to Ms Davis, councilwoman Ruth Atkin has been a reliable YES vote for the developers over the years as has newcomer and now mayor Kurt Brinkman.  EPOA founder and 20 year former councilman Ken Bukowski also shares in the blame even as he now screams from the sidelines about the parking fiasco in north Emeryville. 

No TDM, No Parking
It must be stated clearly, had a different council majority been in power over the decades, a council interested in leadership without an overt pro-business ideology, the residents wouldn't be in this fix.  Residents that may feel compelled to shake their fists at businesses and all the cars they bring as they search for a parking spot or as they start to pay for parking should know the real culprit here....  it's because the council didn't force developers to mitigate the negative impacts their projects have on the limited supply of on street parking.

Any idiot can sit back at the dais and say YES to what developers request.  Without a newspaper in town, it's the easiest thing in the world for a city council member to do.
We look for an accountability moment as residents circle for parking and start paying for parking, beginning in north Emeryville and spreading out from there.  Bad public policy should have consequences.

Councilwoman West Addresses Parking Issues In Anticipation Of Big Saturday Meeting

Councilwoman West Offers Counter Narrative To Property Owners Group On Parking

In anticipation of this Saturday's Town Hall meeting sponsored by former councilman Ken Bukowski and the Emeryville Property Owners Association (EPOA), councilwoman Jennifer West offers alternative ideas about the contentious issue of parking in North Emeryville.  EPOA has been arguing for among other things, more free parking for businesses and residents, something we can no longer and should no longer supply according to Ms West.  

The following is from two entries about parking from the councilwoman's blog.  The bottom entry is about Saturday's meeting specifically:

Parking or "Where do we put all the cars?"

By Councilwoman Jennifer West

When I decided to run for City Council, I had lots of conversations with people in Emeryville concerned about traffic. I have written a few times about this, and yet, after 3 years on the council, I am not sure that the average person thinks things have improved. Consider that within the next 20 years, it is projected that the number of residents in Emervyille will increase from 10,000 to 16,000, according to our General Plan. Where are we/they going to put all those cars?

I have found a strong consensus through the transportation planning world about how plentiful, free parking actually encourages people to use cars when they otherwise might not; free parking is like a car magnet. Emeryville is different from our immediate neighbors to the north and south, in that public parking is free here. (Note that some private parking, like at our hotels and at Bay St. is not free.) I believe that free and unrestricted parking is part of the reason we have more cars here than we like. You should also know that we have 20,000 people working in Emeryville each day. They weigh many considerations as they decide how they will get here, including the direct cost to them of driving.


Several years ago (before I joined the council) Emeryville commissioned a study of the North Hollis area to look at parking issues and solutions, as the streets in this part of town are very often completely "parked up" on a weekday. Restaurants and businesses with customers who come and go have complained people can't find a place to park, and that this could impact their number of customers and sales. With off-street parking required to be provided for employees, why is the on-street parking so full all the time?

Wilbur Smith Associates, who completed the study, found that people will park where it is most convenient. With free unrestricted street parking, people will park there first, and when it is full, find another spot (maybe in a garage). Some people don't have access to off-street parking as it is private or don't want to park there as it is costly, and find themselves circling, looking for a spot on the street. With no time limits on the street, during the day there is very little turn-over of spots.

By limiting street parking in non-residential areas with a time limit, we can help people find spots that are meant for them. This is about managing parking, not just providing it. We can manage it with time limits or fees. Our hope is to first put limited time parking zones in places planned out by the study. Eventually, if the city puts in paid parking on the street, we could use the revenues (once capital costs are covered, which would likely be within 2 years) to fund additional pedestrian or bike improvements that would enhance the area for everybody. This is called a parking benefit district, where the use of cars and paid parking actually helps to pay for direct improvements. Right now we taxpayers are all subsidizing those who drive here and park for free.

Residents need to be protected from other users spilling over into the areas they depend on for parking. We have some areas with residential parking permit programs, and the city can support more if it is warranted.


What is important is to hear from the community regarding this pending change. I want residents to have residential parking, I want employees to have employee parking, and customers to be able to find customer parking. It is great if we can share parking, but I know we can manage the parking we already have better to be sure each type of user can have parking when and where they need it.

Emeryville is special in that we have a free shuttle provided by businesses, property owners, and our city government that gives us a ride to and from BART, the Emery-Go-Round. With over 1.3 million riders each year, Emery-Go-Round certainly keeps some cars off our streets. We can build on this service to further encourage people to get to Emeryville without driving their cars.

More Parking discussions, Sat 1/12 and Tues 1/15

By Councilwoman Jennifer West

The Transportation Committee meeting on December 11 at the Fire Station on Hollis Street was very well attended, thanks in part to the efforts of Ken Bukowski. We had about 30 people there: residents, property owners, and business owners. Many points of view were expressed, and quite a bit of concern about changes, as well as frustration about the current situation.

This issue is not an easy or obvious one to solve. Emotions run high when it comes to parking. Some expressed the "right" to park for free in front of homes or businesses. Some pointed fingers at other property owners who have not handled parking needs correctly. Some said that we do not want to be like Oakland or Berkeley where parking is too hard or too expensive. Others said that permit parking will be the future, sooner or later. Some said there are too many empty parking garages, perhaps because of the fees charged there. Some say that the public doesn't respect private parking for customers, disregarding signs. Although many say that these problems already exist, there was real fear that any changes will make them worse, not better.

I recognize that parking management is very complex. I do not believe that Emeryville has a parking shortage. I think that we have a parking management problem, and that we should try to make sure that each street has spaces for the users who have priority for that area. If you are allowed to park for free all day long in front of your house or business, then it will be very hard to prevent anyone else from doing so as well, or worse, instead of you.

On Saturday, January 12 at 10:00 am, Ken Bukowski is hosting a community meeting at the Ralph Hawley School site at Doyle St. and 61st St. to have the opportunity to talk more about parking issues in Emeryville. I am grateful that he is allowing me to address the gathering for 10 minutes. Please consider attending and sharing your point of view as well. His flyers talk about a parking plan in a limited part of town that the City Council is considering implementing, and will be discussing on Tuesday, January 15, City Hall, 7:15 pm. The plan has been waiting on the shelf for 3 years. It is a sensible plan with a phased approach and monitoring in place to see how changes that are put in place impact availability. It does not include paid parking in the first year or two, only later in the plan. The initial changes include limited time parking, with the painting of green curbs on certain blocks. Later in the plan there is also the possibility of residential parking permits and business/employee parking permits, if there is a need to support these uses.

I know that we all need to do our part to reduce reliance on cars, not only in Emeryville, but in the region, in the state and the world. It is a hard change to make for many of us. We have already committed to these changes with our state laws, such as SB375. Regulating on-street parking is one way to change people's behavior. Free parking actually costs all of us a lot of money in the long run.

Please consider joining me on Saturday morning, or on Tuesday evening. I welcome your comments.

Property Owners Group Calls Town Hall Meeting

The Emeryville Property Owners Association has released the following notice advertising the Town Hall meeting they are hosting next Saturday.  The group wishes to alert the residents to possible negative effects of a new parking plan City Hall wishes to implement.  

510-214-5111 EMERYVILLE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION www.epoa.us

TOWN HALL MEETING TO CONSIDER IMPLEMENTATION OF AGGRESSIVE

PARKING ENFORCEMENT PLAN

COUNCIL MEMBER JENNIFER WEST TO SPEAK IN SUPPORT OF THE PARKING IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 11:00AM MEETING BEGINS - ENDING AT 12:30PM (OPTIONAL 10:00AM TO WATCH A VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THE PLAN)

RALPH HAWLEY SCHOOL - 1275 61ST STREET - EMERYVILLE Complete Details of the event, a copy of the Parking Implementation Plan, the video presentation of the Plan, and other associated documents are available at www.epoa.us

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Emeryville Property Owners Association (EPOA) invites you to attend our first community meeting on an important community issue. The Parking Implementation “Plan” will have a major impact on the City which has not been properly considered.

Parking policies have substantial economic impact to affected businesses and residents, and other levels of inconvenience which should be considered prior to implementation. Council Member Jennifer West has accepted our invitation to explain why everyone should pay for street parking.

Everyone attending the meeting will have an opportunity to complete a “feedback card” to express your concern on this issue. The information obtained will be provided to the City Council for their Jan 15th meeting when moving forward with the implementation of this Plan will be considered. If you can’t stay for the meeting please drop by and complete a feedback card to express your concerns.

This Plan invades your right to the quiet enjoyment of an existing public resource by establishing a fee for such use. Such fee could easily be imposed for the use of a city park, or the cost of any city service now provided to the community.

This City can continue to look at necessary timed parking zones, and other parking controls on an “as needed basis” where each circumstance can be properly considered as it should be.

This is a new form of local taxation being imposed in Emeryville without public approval. It’s true, strict parking would be a new source of revenue. It has been imposed in neighboring cities. However, this is Emeryville where the people who live and is work here deserve more respect. Wilbur Smith was hired to come into Emeryville and prepare a Plan for the City without public input.

At stake here is the integrity of our public process. The City is imposing a plan to manage a pubic benefit essential to the well being of Emeryville businesses and residents without regard to impact and/or inconvenience.

.                        .                           .                   

The impact of this Plan will make it more expensive for employees of Emeryville businesses to work in the City, An unexpected new cost. Will it cause small Emeryville business owners and/or their employees to go elsewhere?

Emeryville enjoys continued added prosperity because of the unfriendly business practices in neighboring cities. Is it possible this Parking Plan could end up costing the City the loss of business and actually become a liability? .

This Parking Plan is being promoted by a major property owner who has abused the city’s ability to minimize the impact of new development on surrounding areas. The City failed to impose a specific requirement that parking, created for the use new buildings, must specifically be used for said purpose.

The environmental review for these new buildings included a false statement which inaccurately reflected these buildings would have “no adverse impact to the surrounding areas.” A statement made on the false assumption approved new parking would be used for the stated purpose.

Said owner provides no parking for tenants. The City has put the building owner in the Parking business. They charge $95 per month for parking to anyone who will pay the price. Employees who work in the new buildings use the less convenient street parking and thereby rob the surrounding areas of available public parking. Something Emeryville residents and business owners and employees have enjoyed since the City was established.

The Council failed to notify affected residents and business owners when the details of this Plan were approved on September 7, 2010. No one from the public was present. We urge you to watch the video presentation or review the Plan to learn the details of it.

Such actions erode public confidence in local government and create uncertainty for business owners and their employees who are forced to deal with the consequence of surprise. This is actually a form of gentrification which is never the subject of public discussion.

A major goal of the new EPOA is to bring businesses and residents together to discuss important issues. both pro and con, in the formative stage of the decision process.

ABOUT THE NEW EPOA- The Emeryville Property Owners Association was created in response to a crisis last November 2011, when 18 property owners received a surprise notice their land was included in a new assessment district.

It seems the owner of the new buildings, in the North Hollis area, and City Staff, worked together behind closed doors for two years, to create the boundaries of a new utility “district” which included 21 separate property owners.

The boundaries of said district were drawn to impose a new $8.3 Million property tax assessment upon 18 unsuspecting property owners without their prior knowledge or approval.

If a new assessment district is created a majority of owners, within the boundaries of the new district, have the legal power to overrule any objection of the minority property owners to pay the assessment.

The ownership of property in this district included 42% of the land controlled by the new building owner. The Staff offered the City owned land at 5% and ONE third party owner with 7% of the land. Collectively only THREE owners to constitute the necessary majority to force EIGHTEEN minority owners to pay.

City Staff and building owner created this new District to impose a surprise $8.3 million assessment with no regard to the financial impact being imposed on these 18 minority property owners, or the 124 businesses which exist on the properties.

After the City Council decided to move forward with the creation of the new assessment district. The 18 affected owners organized the EPOA to fight the assessment. These owners had to endure the threat and the stress of a multi-million dollar new property tax assessment being imposed over forceful objection. The EPOA was able to convince the third party owner to withdraw his support for the new district, and thereby stop it from moving forward.

A horrific circumstance never to be forgotten. We have created the “Emeryville Public Notice & Accountability Initiative.” A ballot measure to force the City to notify affected parties by email, whenever the City is contemplating any action which will specifically impact the use of land, or impose any new tax or assessment. The ballot measure is now being circulated and must obtain enough valid Emeryville signatures to be placed on a future ballot for voter approval . . .

One of the purposes of the Jan 12th meeting is to restore integrity to our public process, and to urge the Council to delay implementation of this Parking Implementation Plan and allow for public participation before moving forward. We urge your participation.
------------------------------------
510-214-5111 EMERYVILLE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION www.epoa.us