Non-Profit 'Operation Dignity' Says Emeryville Police Removed a Homeless Man, Police Deny It

 Somebody is Lying:

Police Department Says They Didn't Remove a Homeless Man

Emeryville Non-Profit Contractor Says They Did

Police Sergeant Says She Can't Remember 

Planet Fitness Says They're a Judgement Free Zone*

*Except For Homeless People

News Analysis

Regardless of strongly asserted public denials over the years, the police have been and continue to roust homeless people camped on public property in Emeryville before and after a 2024 US Supreme Court decision legalizing it.  The proof recently came as a result of a Tattler public records request that denied any records about a specific man formerly camped alongside 45th Street near San Pablo Avenue who has since been removed by the police against a countermanding statement about it from the local homeless shelter non-profit organization that contracts with the City of Emeryville.  

Oakland based emergency shelter, Operation Dignity, says Emeryville police, operating at the behest of Planet Fitness Inc, forced the man who had been camped nearby, to leave Emeryville against his will.  The police are denying a public record exists that would document the removal.  It is a crime for a municipality to deny public records requested via the California Public Records Act and a public agency that played a part in a removal of a camped individual would be required to document it.

Inside Emeryville's New Planet Fitness
They call the police on homeless people camped 
nearby on public property: That's a judgement.

 

In an email to the Tattler, Operation Dignity Executive Director Tim Evans says the Emeryville Police Department indicated that the man, who had been camping on public property alongside 45th Street near the Planet Fitness exercise facility location for months, would no longer be allowed there at the insistance of that corporation.  Mr Evans stated that Planet Fitness was readying a grand opening for their new Emeryville facility and that was the reason for their call made to the police.  Operation Dignity did not say whether they were able to provide a bed for the man but shelters across the Bay Area have indicated there are not enough beds on any given night and women with children usually get preference.    

In 2024, the Supreme Court found that municipalities may henceforth remove or arrest people caught sleeping on public property even if no shelter beds are available.  However Emeryville has not changed its municipal code or its stated intension to allow for the police to arrest or remove such people that way.

You belong at Planet Fitness Emeryville!*
*Unless you're homeless
Then we call the police on you.

In an email to the Tattler, Operation Dignity Director Evans, stated their organization had reached out to the man in question several times as a result of EPD requests and “The individual expressed hesitancy about engaging in services and declined ongoing assistance at that time”.  Evans added, “Unfortunately, due to a new business moving into that location, he could not continue camping there.”

A manager at the Planet Fitness has denied anyone from their facility made the call to the police.  

The Tattler began its investigation after EPD Sergeant Michelle Shepard said she had no recollection of a man camped at that location over the last many months.  Because we had direct knowledge of the man in question and we were aware of the Planet Fitness opening, we initiated a public records request for all documents regarding a man camped at the 45th Street location from ‘November 27th to today’ (the time the man would have been forced out).  The City responded with a blanket “no disclosable documents” statement.  The curious lack of memory of Sergeant Shepard also prompted us to inquire about the homeless man from a different police department employee who stated off the record, “Of course we noticed him”.  Observation and situational awareness is a central job description of police work.

After the man was removed from public property, the $9 billion corporate giant hosted their grand opening at the facility located at 45th Street and San Pablo Avenue.

EPD Sergeant Michelle Sheperd
She is paid to be observant but
she didn't notice a man camped in
plain sight for four months on 45th Street.

 

So the story stops at an intriguing impasse: the police department and Planet Fitness representatives both deny they interacted in any way with the man in question but the non-profit homeless advocacy organization Operation Dignity, who are contracted by the City of Emeryville, says both did interact with the man. The Emeryville police have denied rousting homeless people for years regardless of any Supreme Court ruling but the Tattler has found evidence they lied about past rousting and encampment clearances.  People who have noticed that Oakland and Berkeley both have a lot of encampments but Emeryville has had almost zero have been left wondering against loud proclamations from both the police and the City Council saying rousting just doesn’t happen in Emeryville.  The police, if they played a part in rousting this 45th Street man in addition to violating the California Public Records Act, will be revealed to have violated their own stated policies.

Emeryville has an official 'no clearances' policy as far as homeless encampments go.  The policy has always been to direct campers to shelters if beds are available and if the person is willing to go.  After it became legal for cities to clear out encampments regardless of shelter bed availability as was made clear by the Court's decision in 2024, the City of Emeryville never changed its policy.  Then and now, City Hall has always loudly and proudly taken the humane and compassionate way dealing with encampments.  Any clearances the City has done over the years have been despite the official policy.     

Three of the four claims presented in this story appear to be dubious and a skeptic would note that a police sergeant, who's job it is to be observant, would fail to notice a man camped in plain sight for more than four months in a town as small as Emeryville.  Further, said skeptic would note that a profit seeking corporation has an interest in lying to protect their PR and their shareholders while the police department has an existential interest in lying, to protect their image in the eyes of the public.  An emergency shelter non-profit has no discernible interest in lying about their bailiwick.

The law allowing cities to arrest people for public camping stems from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which ruled that cities can enforce bans on sleeping and camping in public spaces without violating the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, even if no shelter beds are available.

The public has a right to know how the least fortunate in our community are treated by government but unfortunately, governments have been known to lie.  Distressingly, any mistreatment is done in our name.  

The Tattler reached out to former mayor David Mourra, current mayor Sukhdeep Kaur and City Manager La Tanya Bellow about this story but none returned our inquiries.

Democratic Citizen Accountability Program Suspended at City Hall: No Explanation Given

Once Popular 'Coffee With the City Manager' Program Suspended 

Emeryville Citizens Used to Be Able to Speak Directly With Their City Manager Under the Program

No Longer

Emeryville’s new City Manager, La Tanya Bellow announced she would not be re-starting the former citizen engaging ‘Coffee With the City Manager’ program after having pondering over it during the first 100 days of her job as city manager.  The democratically minded program was discontinued in 2020 because of Covid but before that, the popular program enabled normal citizens to engage face to face with the most powerful government official at their City Hall.  Ms Bellow told the Tattler that while she has shuttered the Coffee Program indefinitely, she is not necessarily averse to someday re-starting it.  She did not say why she would not meet with citizens through the program.

Emeryville City Manager
La Tanya Bellow
Not a fan of transparency or 
citizen engagement. 

The government in Emeryville has long made proclamations regarding the inclusionary and democratic existential nature of City Hall and they proved it in 2014 when the popular program was initiated under former City Manager Sabrina Landreth.  Under the program, citizens could just drop by without making an appointment and speak freely with the city manager in the city manager’s office during the three hour period once a month.  

Despite ending the once a month citizen engagement, Ms Bellow, who makes $315,0000 per year, has made statements touting her approachability for regular people.  Before her hiring in January, she told the City Council she was a “committed public servant” who could be counted on to lead Emeryville’s government “with transparency, with integrity and with collaboration…with the members of this community”.  That may have been what she was thinking at the time but after settling in at her Park Avenue corner office, apparently she seems to have had a re-think.




Lack of accountability has a long tradition at Emeryville City Hall.  Before the democratically minded City Manager Landreth, Emeryville’s City Manager John Flores, for years, regularly scheduled closed-to-the-public meetings in the city manager's office with the Chamber of Commerce board president, every Monday morning at 9:00 to discuss anything that the Chamber, a private corporation, wanted to discuss.  The Chamber of Commerce, who received large amounts of money and favors from City Hall, likely discussed that and more at these regularly scheduled private meetings in the City Manager’s office.   

Former City Manager 
Sabrina Landreth
She had a democratic view
of government.  She liked to 
hear from regular citizens.

Uncomfortable with the lack of accountability and transparency, the Tattler suggested that perhaps regular people should also have a regularly scheduled time to interface one-on-one with their government.  The idea was forwarded that every month, regular citizens could freely express their ideas, suggestions or complaints directly to the city manager at their seat of government.

Although the secretive John Flores was not fond of that idea and he refused it, the democratically inclined Sabrina Landreth agreed with the Tattler and she began the program that ultimately became very popular with Emeryville citizens.  Notably, the Emeryville Police Department initiated its own "Coffee With a Cop' program patterned after the success of the city manager program, building it into their 'community policing' policy.  EPD still continues on the popular program.


The Coffee With the City Manager Program continued until Covid and the manager at the time, the former Paul Buddenhagen, did not restart it after Covid had passed, regardless of citizen requests.  Ms Bellow continues on with the refusal, despite all her highfalutin citizen engagement rhetoric.  

After she was hired, the Tattler inquired about Coffee With the City Manager and Ms Bellow indicated she would decide and make an announcement about it in the “first 100 days” of her administration. Announcing her refusal to re-start the program, she assured the Tattler she is “focused on meeting the community where they are to foster a more inclusive and responsive dialogue” after noting that her contact with the Tattler was a violation of the City Attorney’s order that no government officials may communicate with the Tattler in any way.  “I am making this one time exception” she said. 

City Throws in the Towel on Graffiti Tags

 The City of Emeryville and PG&E Celebrates 'Junior' and Hundreds of His Friends

Commentary

By Brian Donahue

A couple of months ago a few graffiti tags appeared on the wall of the PG&E building on Holden Street.  Citizen complaints were received by the City who is required by statute to let the owner of the building know about it and to remind the owner they are required by law to remove the tags.  Despite numerous complaints over many weeks, PG&E refuses to remove the tags and because graffiti is self propagating, one tagger’s efforts are repeated by another and another, now the whole building is covered and it is spreading to neighboring buildings. 

This could be a primer in how not to conduct public policy.

For years Emeryville did a pretty good job combatting graffiti (the CVS building notwithstanding) but now the process seems to be broken.  We don’t know the precise reason for the dysfunction but the City of Emeryville doesn’t seem capable of handling a problem like graffiti removal anymore.  Tellingly, the police report to us that the City has informed PG&E about the problem but they have so far rebuffed any directives from the City to fix the problem. In frustration, we offered to do it ourselves.  We said we will voluntarily paint over the tags free of charge but later, the police told us they spoke with PG&E and they said they will sue anybody that tries to paint over the graffiti tags on their building. The police, for their part, say they will arrest anyone who tries to paint over the PG&E graffiti tags if they catch them in the act.

PG&E will not obey Emeryville’s graffiti law and they will not let us do what they refuse to do.  That lets us know all we need to know about the lack of community mindedness of this giant corporation in our town.

But then something changed.  The police informed PG&E that the Tattler knows about their lawsuit threat. Quickly, PG&E told the police to inform us that they have had a change of heart.  Now apparently they will not sue anybody that tries to paint over the graffiti on their building, and they want us to know that.  

So now we know PG&E doesn’t care about our laws but they do care about bad press. 

City Hall, PG&E and the Police Department: all are here to make sure we can’t have a nice place to live anymore.  So we’re expecting more tags…..and more and more and more.  Graffiti tags everywhere is what you get with the civic dysfunction that embodies the new Emeryville.  

This is not the kind of thing that's solvable anymore,
says the City of Emeryville.
‘Junior’ wants us to know he was here
and who are we to take that away from him?

UPDATE: Today 1/6/25 workers from PG&E painted over the graffiti.  Problem solved!

Tattler Forced to 'Lawyer Up' To Get Public Documents

 New Culture of Secrecy Descends on City Hall

Citizens Wanting Accountability Must Lawyer Up

Public Records Illegally Denied

Emeryville Illegally Disregards California Public Records Act

News Analysis

Over the last eight months, the Tattler has been attempting to get three Emeryville police body worn camera documents due in accordance with the California Public Records Act but the City of Emeryville has been actively fighting the law that requires they hand over the public documents.  After the City said NO, they will not release the video documents, the Tattler obtained the services of a lawyer, prompting the City to announce after eight months, they are finally going to stop fighting and cough up the documents.  In this and other recent fights for public documents illustrates the extent of a growing culture of secrecy at City Hall versus the public’s right to know the doings of their government.  

City Attorney John Kennedy
Not a fan of accountability, he's been a
good fit with the City Council majority.

Fifteen years of Tattler public records request attempts have made it clear that transparency and accountability at Emeryville City Hall have never been as rigorous as they claim they are but a growing ‘next level’ of records denying puts City Hall and its Police Department now squarely into the realm of law breaking.  The new culture of secrecy at City Hall dovetails with a culture of unaccountability among some members of the City Council led by the nabob John Bauters, raising questions about who’s leading whom in Emeryville's governance.

The Records Act is how the Tattler and many other news sites obtain public records to inform stories for public consumption and to the extant municipalities violate the Act, the public will be less informed as a consequence.  The new City Hall obstinacy raises the specter of citizens and the press ‘lawyering up’ if they want transparency and accountability from Emeryville.

On March 3rd 2024, the Tattler first requested the police body worn camera documents of a trespassing event via a Public Records Act Request.  The City has ten days to respond to such requests according to law but Emeryville commonly misses the deadline or ignores the first request altogether.  This has been happening with greater frequency over the last few years and the City did begin by ignoring our March 3rd request.  After nudging, finally, the City responded on March 18th, five days late. However, in their responce, the City Attorney, John Kennedy, invoked a clause granted by the State that municipalities may cite to avoid disclosing requested public documents under the auspices of Times Mirror Co. v. Superior Court (1991), case law that posits greater public harm will come by the government disclosing the public documents than is caused by the government not releasing the documents.

The Tattler asked Mr Kennedy to elaborate on his refusal to disclose the documents because the Times Mirror case invocation was improper and we threatened to sue the City in court if we did not get a responce.  Days after that, EPD responded that upon “re-consideration”, they will release the requested documents after all, but the Tattler would have to pay the City of Emeryville $656 for the Police Department to redact sensitive personal information from the videos.  The State of California requires municipalities redact people’s personal information such a social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and the like.

However, the City of Emeryville is expressly NOT allowed to charge the public for redaction of documents obtained by public records requests as delineated by California Supreme Court case law National Lawyers Guild v. City of Hayward (2020).  The Tattler notified Emeryville of the 2020 case in a September 13th letter to Mr Kennedy and again threatened to sue if the City didn’t cough up the public documents.  The City finally responded they will hand over the police videos without overzealous redacting (that would also be against the law) and without charging illegal fees on October 3rd, eight months after the first request that ultimately required multiple letters from the Tattler and the retention of an attorney.

Public documents ensconced at City Hall or the police station belong to everyone in the community, they are NOT the sole possession of the government.  The government serves as the custodians of our documents and they MUST surrender them upon request according to California law.  Insofar as this Tattler records request debacle may be emblematic of the new obstinacy at City Hall and among undemocratically minded City Council members, the City has effectively put the citizens on notice that if we want our documents, we’re going to have to ‘lawyer up’ to get them.

The Tattler will report if the City improperly redacts the videos when/if we receive them in October.

Emeryville Police Let a Shoplifting Suspect Walk Free

Emeryville Police Let a Shoplifting Suspect Walk Free

BevMo Store Manager Wanted to Press Charges But EPD Said NO

Citizens Reporting Crimes Should "Mind Their Own Frickin' Business" Says Sergeant

Officer body worn camera footage released by the Emeryville Police Department reveals how two officers and a sergeant recently let a shoplifting suspect walk free, ignoring the store manager’s request to prosecute. The minor shoplifting event happened on May 19th at the BevMo liquor store, 5717 Christie Ave in the Powell Street Plaza shopping mall, when a checkout clerk noticed a man walk out of the store without paying for a bottle of vodka.  Police were summoned and the man was apprehended behind the store on Shellmound Street, drinking from the stolen bottle.  After handcuffing the detained man and confiscating the stolen liquor, Emeryville Police Officer Andrew Selby attempted to return the bottle to the store clerk.  After the clerk informed the officer BevMo could not take back an opened bottle, the officer poured out the vodka.  Shortly after that, all three cops were alerted the store manager wished to press charges but ignoring that, the police removed the suspect from detention and released him.

Emeryville Police Officer Andrew Selby
When told the BevMo store manager wanted 
to press charges against the shoplifter he
responded, "Negative" and let the guy go free.

The three videos from the three cops reveal that all three heard from the dispatcher on the police radio that the manager of the store wished to press charges on the man, to which Officer Andrew Selby responded “negative” to his colleagues.  The police believed the store manager earlier claimed to not wish to press charges against the suspect but were not interested in hearing from the manager about his change of heart.   

A witness to the theft, the Emeryville Tattler editor produced a voice over narrative video of the crime scene after the police released the suspect and left the scene and sent that video out via email to the City Council members, key City staff and members of the police department.  The Chief of Police, Jeff Jennings, a recipient of the emailed video, hit ‘reply all’ and then he denied the police had let the suspect go free and he reported that the manager of the BevMo refused to press charges, in direct contradiction of the body worn camera objective evidence.  The Chief of Police, who earns over $200,000 per year incorrectly stated in his May 20th email responce, the EPD's hands were tied because “BevMo, the legal victim of this particular crime did not wish to prosecute the individual for the theft”.  The email from the Chief was misleading about the store manager but it is unknown if the Chief was aware that his officers had failed to ask the store manager about his prosecution change of heart.

"Mind His Own Frickin' Business"

Emeryville Police Sergeant Michelle Shepherd
Emeryville citizens who call in crimes
should "Mind their own frickin' business".

The video footage from Sergeant Michelle Shepherd, who was hanging back with the detained suspect while the other two officers were interacting with the store clerk, reveals she clearly told the shoplifting suspect she thought the Tattler editor reporting party to the crime should “mind his own frickin’ business”, a reversal of the common police dictum ‘see something, say something’.  As the suspect was being released, Sergeant Shepherd offered him advice on how to shoplift better without being caught by “these stores around here”.  Noticing store stickers on new clothing the suspect was wearing, Sergeant Shepherd told the suspect he should “remove the stickers [from your stolen clothes].  It’s a tell tale sign.  People see it and they think he’s gunna steal from us”.  

Ms Shepherd later told the Tattler she was being "sarcastic" when she coached the suspect on more effective shoplifting.

Regardless that the videos were released by EPD to fulfill a Tattler public records request, the last minute or so of the incident was cut from all three body worn cameras by EPD and not released.  The expurgated section of the videos show the Tattler editor approaching the three departing officers, informing them that the store manager wished to press charges on the suspect.  Officer Selby spoke for the group and said NO to that and then asked, “Don’t you have anything better to do with your time?”.  The California Records Act requires government agencies to release in good faith, all requested public records, allowing for redaction of certain sensitive information.  The failure of the EPD to release the full record on all three videos barring an explanation, represents a violation of the California Records Act.  EPD has not provided an explanation about why the videos are edited in the way they are.

The Emeryville Chief of Police, Jeff Jennings was contacted for this story but he did not respond. 

Below are two of the three videos the Tattler obtained in our public records request.  The last minute or so of incriminating evidence against EPD was cut from all three videos by EPD but plenty of incriminating evidence remains.   The first is from Officer Selby's body worn camera and the second one is from Sergeant Shepherd.  The sound takes a minute to begin.  Transcripts are posted below. 

Extra Reading:

Below are partial transcripts from the Selby and Shepherd videos. The characters are: the Suspect, the BevMo Store Clerk, the Tattler Editor (the reporting party who made the call to the police and was a witness to the crime, the Police Dispatcher, Sergeant Michelle Shepherd, Officer Andrew Selby and Officer Kyle Rice.

Selby Video

.55-1:05 

Selby to Tattler Editor: They [Bevmo] don’t want to press charges.”

Tattler Editor to Selby: “I’m going to go complain to them.”

2:45-2:57 

Tattler editor to Selby: “I’m going to request they press charges.”

3:08-3:25 

Tattler Editor to BevMo Store Clerk: “Will you press charges?”

BevMo Store Clerk to Tattler Editor: “We probably can’t, to be honest.”

Tattler Editor to BevMo Store Clerk:  “Can you tell your boss [Store Manager] I request you press charges?”  

Convo fades out as Selby moves outside to pour out opened vodka bottle.  

During this time the Store Manager tells the Tattler Editor he will press charges (no police present to hear it).

5:35-5:42 

Rice to Selby:  “Where’d the RP [reporting party Tattler Editor] go?”

Selby to Rice “Into BevMo to complain.”

5:50-6:01 

Dispatcher to Selby (and Shepherd and Rice):  “Apparently Donahue (Tattler Editor) went into BevMo, spoke to BevMo and now they’re reconsidering pressing charges.”

“Selby (to himself or maybe Rice): “Negative.”

6:15-6:25

Rice to Selby:  "You want to cut him [Suspect] loose?”

Selby to Rice: “Yeah”

Shepherd Video:

2:02-2:11

Shepherd to Suspect:  "You've got some nice threads on - nice shoes.  Did you take those?"

Suspect to Shepherd:  "No"

Shepherd to Suspect:  "The price tags are still on."

4:06-4:09

Shepherd to Suspect:  "Hopefully we'll be out of your hair soon."

4:45-5:20 

Shepherd to Suspect: “Was that guy [Tattler Editor] bugging you?  The big white guy?”

Suspect to Shepherd: “No…(unintelligible)”.  He mentioned how the Tattler Editor had offered him money to pay for the vodka.

Radio from Dispatcher cuts in to all three police; “Apparently Donahue went into BevMo, spoke to BevMo and now they're reconsidering pressing charges.”

Shepherd in responce to hearing that: “No”

Rice heard on radio, talking to Dispatcher: “Negative.  I talked to the store and they do not want to proceed.  And you don’t need to talk to Donahue anymore regarding this call.”

Shepherd to Suspect (continuing convo from before Dispatcher interruption): “No, that guy [Tattler Editor] was here making things worse for you.  He needs to mind his own frickin’ business.”

5:42-5:55  

Shepherd coaches Suspect on how to get away with shoplifting better in the future.  She speaks to him about his new clothing with the price stickers still on.

Shepard to Suspect: “A way not to draw attention to yourself when you walk into these stores around here is taking off the stickers.  People see it and they’re like, he’s gunna steal from us.  It’s a tell tale sign.”

Suspect to Shepherd:  "All right.  Thank you."

Apple Gets Free Use of Emeryville Police Cars in Security Deal

Apple Corporation, Worth $2.8 Trillion, Gets Free Use of Emeryville Police Cars

EPD Officers Get Overtime Pay for Security, Courtesy of Apple 

But

Taxpayers Pick up the Tab for the Extra Wear and Tear on the Cars

The Apple store at the Bay Street mall recently entered into a mutually beneficial security agreement with the Emeryville Police Department wherein the corporation pays the City of Emeryville in full, for any cops who volunteer to pick up overtime pay to guard the store but the agreement does not compensate for use of City owned police cars, the Tattler has learned.  The EPD officers who sign on to become Apple security guards use the same City owned cruisers they use while on regular City time.  Apple mandates the guard duty requires officers to be in the store or to sit in their car in a specially designated police only parking spot directly in front.  For that, Apple is willing to pay for one officer at all times during business hours 10-8 pm M-S and 11-6pm Sunday.  EPD officers, wishing to bolster their income, have been filling up almost every time slot offered by Apple according to officers questioned.

There's an EPD officer and car at the Apple store
whenever the store is open.  What do we call
them when they're working the security detail?
Officer Blart?

Officers wanting to accrue more overtime pay than what they can get through the Department can sign on for Apple duty before or after their Emeryville shifts.  The offer has turned out to be quite popular for the officers who note the job is considerably easier than what the Department expects of them.

One officer who wished to remain anonymous, told the Tattler the free use of the patrol cars is warranted in their opinion because Apple doesn’t have exclusive use of the cars while they are being used for the security detail.  The agreement does provide for free use of the City’s police cars but the police are permitted to go after a perpetrator, with the car, if they see a crime being committed close by, the officer said.  Alternatively, they can take the time to radio other officers on patrol to go after a criminal they see.

A check of rentals for police cars in the Bay Area revealed prices usually start at $300 per day for a retired but still ‘fully loaded’ Crown Victoria police car with lights and sirens.  A currently operational vehicle, like what Apple is getting, would rent for more than $300. 

The costs associated by extra wear and tear on the vehicles for the Apple agreement is paid by Emeryville taxpayers.

Apple, who did not respond to requests for comment about this story has a market cap worth of at least 2.8 trillion dollars according to Google.

Military Culture Permeates Emeryville Police Department

 Emeryville's Militarized Police Force:

A Modest Proposal

Opinion

by Brian Donahue

Grand Poobah / Il Duce

For a hot minute, after officers from the Minneapolis Police Department murdered George Floyd, the nation cried enough is enough and police reform seemed to be on everyone’s lips.  Even here in Emeryville, the City Council passed a proclamation supporting State legislation proscribing police militarization.  All the heated talk ended quickly however and the police went back to being the police.  Here at the Tattler, we didn’t see police reform as a bandwagon to hop on and hop off.  We still think reform is the goal.  For instance, we see no cogent reason why our police should routinely carry military weapons of war on Emeryville's streets as they do.  The police here are adamant: they need more firepower, they need to always be armed with assault rifles with enough power to blast through three house walls and still kill a civilian.

Against that backdrop, we introduced a new, largely symbolic effort to bring our police back into our community, to reflect community values.  We suggested the Emeryville Police Department throw off their military personnel ranking system they use and replace it with a civilian ranking model.  In this way, the Chief would become EPD#1, the Captains would become EPD#2, the Lieutenants EPD#3 and so on.  Current Lieutenant Fred Dauer for instance, would become EPD#3 Fred Dauer or just #3 Dauer.

Field Marshal Dauer

Alas, the police took to this proposal like a cat takes to water: they responded with a full throated NO.  They will keep their military modus operandi including all the trappings, they insisted.  But the United States military, as everyone knows, are liars.  They always lie to get us into wars.  And then they lie again when we inquire as to how well they are prosecuting the war.  The Emeryville Police Department is in the thrall of and wants to be associated with this government agency that can be counted on to lie to the people; right down to their military ranking.   Our police love governmental lying.
 

So after years trying to get a less militaristic, more community friendly police department, we’re ready to throw in the towel.  Let’s give them what they want.  Let’s hyper-militarize the Emeryville Police Department.  If EPD Captain Oliver Collins is feared by the people with the military epithet 'captain', imagine how much better it would be if he were known as Generalissimo Oliver Collins.  Lieutenant Fred Dauer too will be even more fearsome as Field Marshall Fred Dauer.  That a militarized police department is cast as a good thing, why then equivocate Emeryville?  Let's start thanking them for their service, why not?  Let's wallow in military grandeur and idolatry.

Here’s our modest proposal:

Why No Homeless People in Emeryville?

Homeless Clearances Reveal Emeryville's Policies Are Not Compassionate, Not Truthful

Official Claims Don't Stand Up  

Emeryville they say, is a smart, compassionate and nimble city that quickly matches homeless people with emergency shelter and other services.  With the City so committed, the downtrodden are seldom visible, City Hall explains.  Turns out, reality is far from that image.

This sign was recently placed on Emeryville public
property to stop homeless people, according to the 
City Manager.

In fact, local homeless people report they intentionally avoid Emeryville, saying they are rousted without warning by the police, their possessions confiscated and discarded.  Sharply contrasting with the City's official "all are welcome here" reassurances in the wake of recent right wing attacks on the LGBTQ community, City Manager Adam Politzer last week admitted an on-going and punitive city policy against those most disadvantaged.

Mr Politzer confirmed that a "no trespassing" sign recently placed on City owned public property behind City Hall was intended to prevent a homeless encampment there.  The sign was placed amid a field of boulders placed by a landscaping firm paid for with tax dollars whose contract stipulated that the Emeryville PD clear away a homeless encampment that was previously starting to form there.  Boulders spaced 12 inches apart on the City owned property apparently wasn’t enough to chase away homeless people so the City put up a no trespassing sign for them like a maraschino cherry on top of a cupcake made of boulders.  

"All* are welcome in Emeryville".      *except homeless people

Cleared homeless encampment on Wood St
in Oakland, Friday.  
On Emeryville's border, 300 were sent packing.
Where did they go? 
Why haven't any set up camp in Emeryville?
 

To anyone asking, the EPD, City Hall and the City Council has for years explained the reason there are no homeless encampments here is because they do such a great job helping those people find shelter (and other government services).  Emeryville would have us believe Oakland and Berkeley have cruel policies towards poor people that is evident in all the homeless people encamped in their respective cities.  And to skeptics of this official explanation, the City of Emeryville lets the explanation of ‘no homeless visible is proof of a compassionate local government’ speak without any other supporting information.  Concerned citizens are told to just believe City Hall and the police. 
 

If Emeryville is so good to homeless people, last week’s (and continuing) well publicized clearance of a camp of some 300 people on Wood Street in Oakland near Emeryville will make it plain for all to see.  The City of Oakland freely admits there are not enough beds in local shelters or homes for the massive influx of unhoused people left by the unprecedented clearances.  With a compassionate Emeryville right next door, they would migrate here and we would be seeing many tents going up.   Because there are not enough local shelters to accommodate them, tents should now be proliferating here if Emeryville has been truthful to us.  If not, then everyone will know the City has not been entirely truthful about what it does with homeless people found sleeping in our city.  So far there are no new tents in Emeryville, EPD informs us.

A compassionate city that helps homeless people doesn't place boulders and no trespassing signs on the public's property to stop camps from forming.  The Tattler spoke Sunday with five people displaced by the clearances on Wood Street about what Emeryville is like for people without homes.  A woman who wished to remain anonymous told us what all unhoused people in Berkeley and Oakland know: "Emeryville cops arrest you.  They take your stuff and they throw it away and they arrest you.  They don't play." she said.

Several police personnel and City Hall employees were contacted for this story but all refused to comment.

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal their bread.”

-Anatole France 

Emergency Diarrhea? Tough luck. No Public Bathroom at Emeryville Police Station

 No Public Toilet at the Public Building?

No Shit.

Elderly People, People in Wheelchairs, People With Intestinal Diseases Are All S.O.L.

Have you ever had emergency diarrhea out in public when you’re nowhere near a bathroom?  Yeah, it’s not a nice feeling.  How would it make you feel if you knew there was a public bathroom mere steps away but the police said NO, you may not use it, go find a bathroom elsewhere, you’re on your own.  Good luck with that.  Absurd and cruel though it may be, that’s what people get who go to the Emeryville police station.  The station, built in the 1970s has two public bathrooms, just like every other Bay Area police station, but the police here have closed off the public bathrooms to the public, leaving the public...well, shit outta luck.

That’s right.  Emeryville spent $3.7 million dollars on a remodel of the police station in 2012 but they failed to include even a single bathroom the public can use.  Some remodel.  If you need to use your police station you paid for and you drank too much coffee or you have sudden diarrhea, you will not be allowed to use either one of the original two bathrooms just off the public lobby behind a pair of locked doors.  The police say NO.  Even in an emergency.  NO even with with a requested police escort.  The public was not accounted for when $3.7 million of public money was spent to ‘improve’ the Emeryville police station.

 

Elderly people, people in wheelchairs or with emergency diarrhea are directed to travel three quarters of a mile west on Powell Street to the public bathrooms at the Emeryville Marina.  Again, good luck with that.

We’re making light of it here but it’s not funny actually.  Healthy and robust young people aren’t very inconvenienced by having to hold it while they make a police report or any other police services they’re getting but whole classes of people are not free to use their police station at all because of this.  People like the elderly, wheelchair people or those with any number of conditions or diseases that necessitate them being close by a bathroom.  Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) like colitis or Crohn’s disease alone affect 1.6 million Americans.  2.7 million Americans are in wheelchairs.  Our police station is not available for them unless they’re willing to take a big chance with a terrible outcome. 

People with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
alone make up 1.3% of the population.
That means 180 people just within Emeryville.
They can't wait to go another 3/4 mile
to the next public bathroom.  Government
buildings open to the public should have
publicly accessible bathrooms according to
the government's own regulations. 

 

The State of California stipulates that all public and privately owned buildings where the public gathers be equipped with enough restrooms to meet the needs of the public.  Except in Emeryville apparently.  The no bathroom thing is another a case of a special lack of minimum accommodation to the public the police here are claiming.   Add this to the lack of a fire escape in the public lobby at the police station revealed by the Tattler in 2018.  In that case, after much City Council and staff deliberation, the police, against the advice of the Alameda County Fire Marshall, just said NO to adding a fire escape, the public will have to take a risk of death when they use the Emeryville police station.  So an existing fire escape was taken away from the public at the police station building in the 2012 remodel.

Of course the lack of a public bathroom at a standalone public building isn’t as dangerous as no fire escape but it is a hallmark of a city that is not sensitive to the needs of all.  In a check to see how bad the police here are, we inquired at several Bay Area police stations and we found Emeryville's police stand alone.  Not one other municipal police department in the East Bay (or likely beyond) fails to provide a public bathroom.  Police personnel in the cities we talked with were shocked that the Emeryville police are so mean.

Private businesses where the public congregates like restaurants, movie theaters, churches and shopping malls are required by law to provide public bathrooms.  The government is the agency that polices this regulation.  Like with fire escape law, businesses must comply with the public bathroom law but not the government itself says Emeryville.  Meanwhile, prudence and good will suggests at least a sign warning about there being no bathroom available to the public be placed conspicuously on the front of the building.

Emeryville Police Station Public Lobby
There are two formerly public bathrooms located just behind the locked doors
on the left.  The doors keeping the public away from the bathrooms were
part of the $3.7 million remodel of the police building.  Also locked behind the doors
are the emergency fire escape stairs.

Boulders: Emeryville Hits on New Way to Clear Out Homeless People

Police Rousts Homeless Camp

$13,000 Spent on Boulder Field

City Hall Refuses to Explain

Accountability and Transparency Vacates Emeryville With the Homeless People

Humane Policies Out, Boulders and Secrecy In

News Analysis

Late in April, Emeryville's police quietly rousted a small group of homeless people camped on a City owned piece of land on 40th Street behind City Hall so it could place $13,000 worth of boulders there.  The uprooted homeless people have not returned, probably because the taxpayer funded boulders are so tightly spaced that a human body cannot recline between them.  We say ‘probably’ because all we've been able to get by way of an explanation from officials at City Hall about this lavishly funded public work is a 'no comment'.  Are the boulders just dumped there, waiting to be assembled in some way?  They're not saying.  Is this field of boulders indicative of a new policy about how the City deals with homeless people?  Again, they're not saying.

Even though the City refuses to say anything about it, the barren, seemingly inconsequential triangular shaped plot of public land along 40th Street at Hollis Street has become emblematic and revelatory of Emeryville’s real policy about homeless people.  The City has long downplayed implications about the lack of homeless encampments within its borders, especially when compared with neighboring cities and they've even gone as far as to claim the lack of encampments here proves the efficacy and humaneness of its homeless policy.  However the April homeless clearance on 40th Street and the accompanying $13,000 boulder field raises questions not easily dismissed by a button lipped City Hall.  

Mohamed Alaoui
Emeryville's Public Works Director
"No comment" he says about the boulder field.
The people don't have a right to know.

Through a State of California enforced public records request, the Tattler was able to find that the police department cleared out the homeless camp on the orders of City Hall.  The clearing out of the undesirable people was the City’s part of a contract with Rubicon Landscaping of Richmond, a company the City regularly uses for its landscaping needs.  For this project, Rubicon billed Emeryville $12,976 for the placement of 21 tons of gravel and 14 pallets of ‘double head’ boulders, the public records request revealed.  Anything beyond that, the City of Emeryville has refused to account for.  The lack of a chain of command paper trail hints the City Council was not likely a direct part in this decision.  Rather, it was probably made administratively by the city manager or the director of the Public Works Department. 

Still, the people have a right to know, especially because they paid for this.  Why are these boulders needed?  Who decided this?  How long will the boulders be on the people's property?  Was any consideration made to how the boulders look?  What happened to the homeless people formerly camped there the public paid to roust?  The City of Emeryville refuses to answer these or any questions about this other than the firm 'no comment' from Public Works Director Mohamed Alaoui. 
 

Welcome to Emeryville: All are Welcome Here
*except homeless people

The stark difference between Oakland and Berkeley versus Emeryville has for years been expressed in the large number of homeless camps just outside the city's boundaries compared with the total lack of camps within Emeryville. Council members and staff until now, have been quick to explain the difference is that Emeryville’s homeless policies are good and effective at gently steering homeless people to government recourses including bed facilities.  The police department here has always denied that homeless people are rousted.  To those who have asked about it, the answer up until now has always been that Emeryville is good and humane, leaving that Berkeley and Oakland, with their homeless encampments, must be bad and inhumane.  However, the April call to roust the homeless people at the 40th Street site and the new field of boulders placed there calls this longstanding explanation into question.

The questions persist.  Why won’t the City be forthcoming about this?  Is this reflective of a new anti-homeless policy or is it the City just got caught this time?  Rubicon Landscaping charged Emeryville a lot of money for this.  Were there other bids to supply the boulders?  Did Rubicon get a sweetheart backroom deal?  Is the City hiding something here?  Where did the money to pay for this come from?  Were federal Covid-19 funds or other such inappropriate funds used to purchase these boulders?  How are these boulders placed on our land representative of Emeryville values?  The answers to these questions about the people's business will not be answered by those doing the people’s business at City Hall.  But the Tattler will keep trying to shed light into this and forcing them to account.

This is how you spent your $13,000.
Just keep paying your taxes and stop asking questions.

'No comment' from
Emeryville City
government earns one
smiling Nora Davis

Reversal: EPD Now Says It's Illegal to Park in Bike Lanes

Police Department Reverses Earlier Decision Legalizing Bike Lane Blocking

While Chief is Away on Medical Leave, Second in Command Announces it's Now Illegal To Park in Bike Lanes

A delivery truck blocking a bike lane on Horton Street in Emeryville last week received a ticket by the Emeryville police.  It’s a normal, everyday thing in cities across the Bay Area, but in Emeryville, it represents a great leap forward in bicycle safety.

Until April 14th, trucks blocking bike lanes didn’t get ticketed because it was a perfectly legal thing according to Emeryville’s Chief of Police Jeffery Jennings and his interpretation of California’s Vehicle Code.  But on that date, an attorney hired by the City of Emeryville to examine Chief Jennings’s claim, determined that, like other cities, Emeryville should consider vehicles blocking bike lanes as illegal.

April 27th, after the new April 14th EPD ruling,
this truck was blocking a bike lane on Horton Street.

A City hired 'special counsel', Christie Crowl, delivered her finding about the California Vehicle Code at an April 14th Transportation Committee meeting during a bike lane discussion item brought by Mayor John Bauters.  Emeryville’s police captain, second in command, Oliver Collins, who attended the meeting later told the Tattler the police department would take up Ms Crowl’s interpretation of the vehicle code, reversing the Chief's ruling, making Emeryville no longer an outlier among Bay Area cities.  Chief Jennings has been out for some weeks on medical leave and did not attend the Transportation Committee meeting.

...moments later, the truck received a parking
ticket for "blocking a bike lane" according to this
EPD employee issuing the citation.

The City of Emeryville and its police department has been flustered at the Tattler’s airing of Chief Jennings’s unique, some might say embarrassing reading of state law over the past months.  With the Chief out on long term leave, acting chief, Mr Collins wasted no time instructing his troops that the department would henceforth follow the ruling made by Ms Crowl, resulting in the ticketing of the truck on Horton Street for bike lane blocking.  The Police Department's actions hint that it wants to move past the imbroglio brought by Chief Jennings as quickly as possible.  The attorney’s opinion was made on April 14th and tickets for infraction were already being written by April 27th.
 

 Chief Jennings could not be reached for comment about this reversal of his edict.

The new ruling will have the effect of protecting bicyclists (when implemented) and it also brings Emeryville’s Municipal Code into compliance with the State's Vehicle Code which had previously been in conflict.  Emeryville’s code (4-9.12) makes it illegal to block bike lanes but the Chief said Emeryville’s law cannot supersede Sacramento law and so it was considered null and void.  Emeryville’s code, which reads, “It shall be unlawful for the operator of any train, truck, or other vehicle to stop or park in such a manner as to block or impede the flow of traffic” included bicycle traffic in the law before Chief Jennings's ruling.  

Emeryville Police Chief Jeff Jennings
Away on long term medical leave, 
Emeryville has moved on past him.

Mr Jennings announced that it's OK for vehicles to block bike lanes (for up to 72 hours) in a letter to the City last November as a result of frustration over mounting calls from angry bicyclists.  The Chief subsequently directed his employees not to ticket vehicles parked in bike lanes.  Publicly, he announced that any vehicles that blocked bike lanes but also parked in red curb zones or with 'no parking' signs would get tickets from his department.

The Tattler challenged the Chief’s red zone exception with a series of calls to the department over trucks parked in red zones  (that also were blocking bike lanes).  What we found was that police would not arrive if the dispatcher was informed that a red zone blocking truck was also blocking a bike lane.  We documented six such cases, waiting for the police for at least 20 minutes and up to one hour.  In no case did police ever arrive, let alone ticket the truck for the red zone violation.

Christie Crowl was hired by the City as special counsel expressly to rule on this bike lane issue for presentation to the  April 14th Transportation Committee meeting.  Ms Crowl served as Emeryville’s interim deputy city attorney before new City Attorney John Kennedy was hired March 2nd.  Ms Crowl is a partner at Jarvis Fay and Gibson, an Oakland based law firm specializing in government law.

It remains to be seen after Chief Jennings returns to his job if he will overturn his employee Captain Collins’s new ruling supporting bicyclists and safe bike lane travel.  For the record, Mr Collins told the Tattler he is confident the department will not go back to the days of legal bike lane blocking.  

The Law Before April 14th:
Each one of the following trucks were blocking 
red zones and blocking bike lanes.  The police were 
called but they never showed up.  No show means no tickets means it's
defacto legal.  The Chief said vehicles red zone blocking would mean tickets,
regardless of bike lanes.  These photos are part of the Tattler documentation that he
didn't mean what he said.  Demonstrably, it's OK, under Chief Jennings's (former) ruling, to block red zones as long as you're also blocking a bike lane.  He isn't fond of bicycling.