Councilman Solomon Proposes National Bike Safety Organization Expunged From Emeryville's Bike Plan

 Nation's Premier Bike Safety Organization No Longer Good Enough for Emeryville, Says Solomon

Nationally Recognized Expert Policy Best Practices Should Be Cut in Favor of Emeryville City Hall Staff Opinions 

City Council member Matthew Solomon recently announced a surprising new proposal that would elevate the Emeryville city staff’s opinions as the highest authority on bike safety for our town, overturning the City’s decades long existing deference to the experts at NACTO, the nation-wide transportation authority and their use of rationally based industry best practices.  The radical policy shift proposal would represent a retrenchment on bike safety according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), the organization the City currently uses to set bike and pedestrian safety protocols.  

Matthew Solomon Emeryville City Councilman
Ironically, he ran for Council on a pro-bike platform.

Every neighboring city as well as most of the rest of the nation uses NACTO protocols and guidelines in designing their bike and pedestrian infrastructure. 

Solomon's proposal, if enacted, would turn Emeryville away from NACTO safety guideline expertise in favor of opinions from city staff non-experts and would likely result in compromised bike safety.  It would also place Emeryville in higher litigation jeopardy should a bicyclist get injured in Emeryville it should be noted. 

In a telephone interview with Matthew Solomon, the Councilman specifically said he would not vote for and he would encourage his colleagues to not support NACTO protocols for counting the number of vehicles using Emeryville’s bike boulevards, a practice the City conducted every two years for a decade before 2019.  Further, he said does not agree with NACTO's delineated traffic volume allowable for bike boulevards (maximum number of vehicle trips per day).  NACTO (and the City of Emeryville) recognizes that bike boulevards are streets that vehicles and bikes share and that the number of vehicles using the street must therefore be limited for bike safety.  The way any city knows it is following the NACTO rules is by occasionally counting the vehicle traffic and then working to limit the number of vehicles as per their guidelines, keeping it below the upper safety limit.  

The City of Emeryville used to conduct bi-annual traffic counts as NACTO dictates until business representatives complained in 2019 when the practice was abandoned.  At the time, all five bike boulevards in town had more traffic than NACTO and Emeryville's General Plan allows.  The amount of vehicle traffic in Emeryville has risen substantially since 2019, putting more vehicles on the bike boulevards and bikers in even graver danger, a fact Council member Solomon was unimpressed with in our telephone interview.

After telling the Tattler NACTO’s influence should be removed from Emeryville’s bike plan (known as the Active Transportation Plan (ATP), the Councilman said he would be amenable to amending the ATP at the Council level to achieve that goal.  Currently, the ATP defers to NACTO best practices for bike boulevards and other bike corridors in town as well as pedestrian infrastructure.

Lifted directly from Emeryville's 
Active Transportation Plan (page 39): the law
of the land in bike policy.

Councilman Solomon told the Tattler Emeryville’s city staff knows how to design, plan and build bike boulevards and that they are the ones the City Council should listen to, not a nation-wide member organization committed to bike and pedestrian safety best practices promotion.

The City Council has always had the right to amend the ATP by fiat and if Mr Solomon is successful in convincing a majority on the Council to remove NACTO and the bike boulevard vehicle traffic limits from the ATP, it would be legal but unprecedented.  It would represent the first time in Emeryville history the Council voted to amend the bike plan instead of ignoring it (as they done on our bike boulevards up to now).

Before 2019, the City conducted bi-annual traffic counts on the bike boulevards but then, despite the requirement to do so as spelled out in the General Plan, the counting stopped at former Mayor John Bauters’ insistence.  The City never achieved the bike boulevard traffic volume goals stated by the City’s Bike Plan (and NACTO) it should be noted.  

Several business owners in town, including Wareham Development’s CEO Rich Robbins, have long complained about how bikes hamper tenants getting to and from their buildings.  Businesses have quietly lobbied sympathetic Council members to remove or at least ignore the boulevards, pleas Mr Bauters seem to have listened to as he hamstrung Horton Street bikers by quitting the vehicle counts and ignoring the duty to reduce vehicle traffic.  Mr Robbins publicly supported a plan to remove the Horton Street Bike Boulevard and instead route bikers alongside the railroad tracks behind his buildings.  In the intervening years, the City extended the Emeryville Greenway ped/bike path behind the buildings as Mr Robbins insisted they do but the bike boulevard still remains on Horton Street (albeit with too much vehicle traffic).

Mr Solomon is self described as a pro-bike Council member, having served on the Bike Committee for years.  Supporters claim he is the biggest advocate for bicycling on the Council however Council member Kalimah Priforce, also a bike advocate who uses his bike or public transportation exclusively, doesn’t own a car and he has never even had a driver’s license.  Mr Priforce, for the record, has stated he is in favor of limiting the number of vehicles on the bike boulevards as the ATP (and NACTO) says.  

The Tattler invites Councilman Solomon to explain, in his own words, the dichotomy between his incongruent statements made to the Tattler and his claims of bike advocacy by use of the Tattler’s unedited ‘My Turn’ feature.

2024 (a million years ago):
On the campaign trail, candidate for Council Solomon was
unabashed in his support for bikes and the ATP.  He was
not past going a little puerile and high-handed in his zeal.

Is Planning Commissioner Sam Gould the Seneca Scott of Emeryville?

 Sam Gould / Seneca Scott: Pugilists for Conservative Causes

Both Attack Progressives in Their Respective Communities, 

Both Win Free Speech Law Suits Over Their Respective Tormentors

News Analysis

Emeryville Planning Commissioner, Sam Gould, has won a court decision from litigation initiated by Councilman Kalimah Priforce for ‘targeted harassment, intimidation, and racially charged retaliation’ against the council member.  The judge’s decision, delivered following the civil harassment hearing in Alameda County Superior Court, found that Mr Gould’s assailing actions and speech directed against Mr Priforce that prompted the litigation did not rise to a level that would justify a nullification of the citizen Planning Commissioner’s free speech rights.

Emeryville's Progressive Black Councilman
Kalimah Priforce
The object of scorn from Planning Commissioner
Sam Gould.

Mr Gould, appointed to the Planning Commission by a City Council majority vote in March, has long directed a steady stream of social media invective against Mr Priforce, the lone progressive on the city council for his minority views.  A long time former member of Emeryville’s Bike Committee, Mr Gould’s vituperative attacks on Mr Priforce over the years violated Emeryville’s Code of Ethics for employees and committee members but neither the City Manager nor the City Council acted to enforce the code in support of Council member Priforce.  Since Mr Gould has been elevated to the position of Planning Commission, the public abuse from Mr Gould seems to have stopped Mr Priforce said.  “He [Gould] stopped on the day before he got on the Planning Commission”, Priforce told the Tattler.  Perhaps Mr Gould thought such partisan attacks against a sitting Council member by a sitting Planning Commissioner would appear unseemly enough that the Council majority would be forced invoke the punishments prescribed in Emeryville's Code of Ethics.
   

Commissioner Gould has not revealed why he seems to have stopped the public haranguing of the Council member however by March, the damage had already been done, prompting the Councilman to bypass the feckless and politicized Code of Ethics to make a case against Gould in Alameda County Superior Court.

Emeryville Planning Commissioner Sam Gould (on right)
Not a fan of Black progressives in Emeryville.
He ran for City Council (and lost). 
Pictured also is Council member Sukhdeep Kaur
and establishment Dem Igor Tregub, Chair of the
Alameda County Democratic Central Committee.

The charged public spectacle of the bellicose Sam Gould’s near constant haranguing of the Councilman has drawn comparisons with the infamous and truculent Oakland conservative activist Seneca Scott who for years has engaged in a scorched earth campaign against all progressive comers across Alameda County, especially former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price.   Mr Scott, has served as a ‘hit man’ for conservative pols who have sought to appear above the fray.  Mr Gould has taken on that same role, essentially offering his services to the conservative majority on the Council who have desired to attack their colleague Priforce but who have thus far not been entirely comfortable appearing unseemly or partisan.

Interestingly,  Mr Scott also just beat an attempt to restrain him by use of the Alameda County court exactly like Mr Gould (they both had the same judge).  Mr Scott, a central organizer behind the recall of former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao drew the ire of Brandon Harami, a former Thao aide who sought the restraining order in April, accusing Mr Scott of harassing him online.  The judge in that case also ruled in favor of ‘free speech’ rights, for private citizens over elected officials.  Mr Scott, the darling of the East Bay corporate elite, has amassed a war chest to defend himself against many legal actions taken against him by many pols and private citizens who have come under his assailing taunts.

Both Sam Gould and Seneca Scott lost elections, Gould for Emeryville City Council and Scott for Oakland City Council and both then turned to attacking former opponents—Scott on a citywide activist stage, Gould locally targeting Mia Esperanza Brown and Calvin Dillahunty, two progressive Black council candidates associated with Mr Priforce.  Both Gould and Scott focus criticism on local (Black) progressive leadership: Scott broadly but mostly laser-focused on Oakland Council member Carol Fifie; Gould specifically on the progressive Council member Kalimah Priforce.  Scott and Gould endorsed and participated in and continue to participate in the astroturf network of establishment, centrist Democrats and right wingers.

Hired Gun Right Wing Oakland Community Activist
Seneca Scott
He ran for City Council and lost.  Now he works 
for deep pocket right wing pols in Oakland.

One of the main points of attack by Mr Gould against Council member Priforce has been his complaints he filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) alleging a failure to disclose funds donated to Priforce by businesses along 40th Street who feel the planned Emeryville 40th Street Multi-model Project will drive away customers.  Mr Priforce says changes he has championed for the 40th Street plan reflect community input and concerns over eminent domain takings by the City.  Mr Gould sees only corruption and he has been using social media to charge Mr Priforce, action the judge sees as an example of a citizen’s free speech right.  

However Mr Gould’s inconsistency, his laser‑focus on one official while ignoring others who benefited from the same project—raises questions about motives and selective concern.  He did not raise equal scrutiny toward Vice Mayor Sukdeep Kaur, who accepted monetary contributions from business leaders who are negatively affected by street closures associated with the project.  Mr Priforce voluntarily recused himself on all 40th Street Council decisions as the law mandates while Ms Kaur continued to vote on the project despite her campaign donations from the business owners.  Ms Kaur’s transgressions are known by Mr Gould Priforce says and the selective outrage by Mr Gould gives away a partisan bias rather than a concern over proper procedural policy making.
  

Mr Priforce is a progressive, the lone progressive on the Emeryville City Council and that’s at the center of the attacks by Planning Commissioner Gould who is a conservative.   The same conservative-calling-out-a-progressive motives apply to Seneca Scott, the East Bay conservative attack dog.

We reached out to both Commissioner Gould and Council member Priforce who supplied quotes for this story that are posted verbatim here:

Commissioner Gould recounted the court hearing: "While it was frustrating to have to go to court to defend myself over unfounded claims, I did not end up having to say more than a sentence or two.  The judge mostly focused the forty-five minute discussion on the fact Mr. Priforce brought this complaint forward with no real evidence supporting it.  While he may make up whatever he wants about me online, in a courtroom you must support your claims with evidence and he was unable to do so.” 

Council member Priforce said: “The judge acknowledged that a civil harassment order wasn’t the appropriate legal remedy - not because the harm didn’t happen, but because pursuing a civil suit would better address my needs - which remains on the table.  In the meantime, I’ve established a legal defense fund to fight back against the escalating attacks and politically motivated FPPC complaints - many of them anonymous, but all of them familiar...which he [Gould] admitted to.  During the hearing, Sam Gould made it plain: he wants my city council seat.  What he fails to understand is that I was elected to serve the people of Emeryville, not to satisfy the ambitions of astroturfing bullies.  This is the people’s seat - not his, not mine - and the people are prepared to defend it.”

Toxic Lead Exposed Tenants Organize to Fight Developer, City

Tenant Blood Testing Reveals 300% Over Federal Safety Limit for Toxic Lead Contamination at Emeryville Residential Building

New Hollis Street Tenant Coalition Arises, Action by City Hall Demanded

Wareham Development Complicit in Urgent Health Issue Tenants Say

Tenants at 6221 Hollis Street have been doused with airborne toxic dust from a remodel project by Wareham Development Corporation causing widespread lead blood contamination up to 300% over the federal safety limit  the Tattler has learned.  The blood work done via a physician's order on some tenants at the building was performed after initial test results showed high levels of lead contaminated dust that had bypassed any mitigation measures by Wareham and settled into residential units and communal spaces in the General Cable Building, as it is known.  New testing of more comprehensive dust collection in tenets' units show the lead levels to be worse than originally had been suspected, with many locations over 1000% in excess of federal safety limits and one residential unit showing 2680% beyond the safety limit. 

The General Cable Building on Hollis Street
A biohazard says tenants.
Calls are for the building to be "red tagged".

The formation of a 19 member coalition of concerned tenants at the building has been announced in a July 15th letter to Council member Kalimah Priforce, a City representative that members say has shown determination and resolve to help.  The sole function of the coalition is to fight against an uncooperative Wareham Development and a recalcitrant City of Emeryville that has so far not risen to sufficiently address the contamination urgency one member of the group said.  Mr Priforce for his part, said he will continue to drive the City to better assist these and all renters whom he said are sometimes “treated like Emeryville’s invisible second class”.

The group has expressed a desire to have their members not be made public at this time, a request the Tattler will abide. 

In response to the increasing imbroglio, the City has issued a 'stop work order' against Wareham while the lead issue is investigated.  Tenants claim however Wareham has already violated the City order.  

The group, the 'Concerned Tenants of 6221 Hollis Street', say they want the City to ‘red tag’ the building, meaning all those living and conducting business at the building must stop until the issue is resolved.  Council member Priforce is attempting to help by getting the City to commit to an urgent temporary relocation assistance ordinance in addition to other city wide tenant protections he has been pushing for over the last year and a half.  So far, the rest of the City Council majority has flummoxed Mr Priforce's attempts by steadfastly refusing to entertain even any discussion of any new city-wide tenant protection policy.   

The Concerned Tenants' letter exposes a litany of abuses by Wareham so far including demolition activities such as jackhammering, wall and ceiling removal, and other heavy dust-generating construction,  “...all undertaken without visible or verifiable use of dust containment or mitigation measures, in clear violation of federal EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule guidance and CDPH protocols triggered by the building’s pre-1978 construction.” the letter reveals.   “The violations are flagrant, ongoing, and extremely troubling”, they add.  Expanding on the previous lead dust testing done by two residents in the building and reported in a May 7th Tattler story, the group states, “Numerous laboratory-confirmed dust wipe tests, taken by multiple tenants, now show widespread lead contamination throughout both inside residential units and throughout common areas. These samples far exceed federal safety thresholds and show clear evidence that airborne lead dust has saturated the building over time due to uncontained construction activity.” 

Many of the health effects of lead exposure,
particularly those related to
 brain damage, are not reversible.

The letter excoriates Wareham, attributing efforts to rectify the situation more to attempting to placate the tenants: “…no comprehensive abatement has been proposed, and Wareham Development has refused to cease operations or fully vacate the building during this ongoing hazard.” The letter continues,  “It is clear from their [Wareham’s] recent conduct that their plan is to abate ‘piecemeal’, cleaning one unit at a time, while leaving the rest of the building contaminated and active construction zones ongoing, thus exposing both current and future tenants to serious health risks.”

Sending their concerns to Council member Priforce over anyone else at City Hall, the tenants recognize a singular council member with empathy for renters, a fact Mr Priforce acknowledged to the Tattler, "No one should have to breathe in poison just to keep a roof over their head." he said.   I'm fighting for actual tenant protections for Below Market Rate and affordable housing residents because right now, they don't exist."  Mr Priforce celebrated the Hollis Street tenants organizing themselves and promised to support them.  They have a right to organize he said, "...without fear of retaliation from landlords or city hall."

Wareham Development and its CEO Rich Robbins, is long considered Emeryville City Hall's most favored developer, having secured more than its share of government largess over the years.  Even this specific project saw a roll back of parking regulation to Wareham's advantage in 2022 after then Emeryville mayor John Bauters intervened on Wareham's behalf at Mr Robbins' request.  

Mayor David Mourra did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

Lead Contamination in Human Blood Cells
Basophilic stippling is shown, characterized by
the presence of small, dark granules
(ribosomes and RNA remnants)within the cytoplasm.

Council member Courtney Welch Violated FPPC Rules

 Courtney Welch: Latest City Council Member Found to Have Violated FPPC Rules

City Council Waits for the Next Shoe to Drop

After Mourra Fail, Will Accountability Come This Time?

Emeryville City Council member Courtney Welch recently failed to file a required political campaign disclosure form for elected officials with the California Fair Political Practices Committee it was revealed.  Following a second warning notice sent to the Councilwoman from the Emeryville City Clerk, Ms Welch appears to have made good with the FPPC for the transgression shortly after, the Tattler learned.

 The FPPC, a state sanctioned agency charged with ensuring all California elected officials are bound by the same election laws fairly, determined that Ms Welch had not filed her Form 460 as the law dictates, the same as her colleagues Mayor David Mourra and Council member Kalimah Priforce who the agency determined both to be in violation earlier.

Emeryville City Council member
Courtney Welch
She's violated FPPC rules.

Council member Welch, who did not return calls from the Tattler for this story, appears to have corrected her transgression with the FPPC in March, sometime after City Clerk April Richardson’s second attempt to notify her.  

Ms Richardson is tasked with ensuring  Emeryville’s elected and appointed officials are in compliance with FPPC law.

Over the decades, many Emeryville City Council members have failed to keep 100% current with the multitudinous required FPPC fillings and many have failed to file on time as is the case with the most recent Welch violation.  Transgressions have generally been seen as a technicality as far as the public and the press are concerned.  All of that changed however, in 2024 when the City Council majority used a late filing to try to bring down Council member Priforce by use of a censure and sanction against him.  

Mr Priforce, the sole progressive on Emeryville’s City Council, has earned animosity from the more conservative Council majority for his center left politics and they have have used every opportunity to try to discredit him in the eyes of the public for it.  Accordingly, his late FPPC filings were seen as a way to discredit him but they may have failed to realize the Tattler would thereafter see all Council member failures to file all FPPC forms in a timely manner as a hot ticket news item and that they would soon run afoul of the FPPC’s byzantine filing schedule themselves.  The Tattler has vowed to highlight each Council member’s violations as we find them.  

Before the Council majority, especially members Welch and Mourra, so sanctimoniously went after Council member Priforce for his violations, this was seen as something not newsworthy because most elected officials would run afoul of the FPPC from time to time.  The Tattler never reported on these violations because it was not seen as something nefarious, rather just an honest mistake anybody but a lawyer would be expected to occasionally make. 

So perturbed were the conservative Council majority,  they even spent public money to send a US postal service stamped letter to every Emeryville household to notify the public of the disciplinary action the Council majority took against Priforce.   Later, after the Tattler showed Mayor David Mourra was also guilty of recent FPPC filing violations, the Council majority pulled back and opted to do nothing, no public rebuke, no stamped letters, no hair on fire sanctimony, chalking it up rather as a simple oversight by the mayor.

It is not known if the council majority will now rise up in indignation at Ms Welch’s FPPC filing violations made public here by the Tattler like they did with Mr Priforce or if they will let this pass like they did with Mayor Mourra’s violations.  The Council has treated Welch (and Mourra) with kid gloves up until now.  The Tattler will report. 

The hubris smashing FPPC, now 50 years old, makes sure all elected
officials are transparent in their public works.  

Planning Commissioner Sam Gould Served Court Order for Harassment of Council Member

Age of Trump in Emeryville:

Planning Commissioner Gould Draws Civil Harassment Court Order From Council Member Priforce

Emeryville City Hall Continues Breakdown of Collegiality and Decorum Amid Continuing Attacks

Vanquished Culture of Collegiality Lands Commissioner in Alameda County Superior Court

Emeryville Planning Commissioner Sam Gould was served this week with an Alameda County Superior Court notice to appear for a civil harassment court order brought by City Council member Kalimah Priforce.  The action is being taken against Mr Gould for “targeted harassment, intimidation, and racially charged retaliation” among other charges, according to Mr Priforce.  Mr Gould began a campaign of publicly made charges, including smears against Mr Priforce from the beginning of Priforce’s 2022 City Council electoral victory, a free speech right for a private citizen, but he (Mr Gould) has been making the attacks as a member of an official City committee including also after he was appointed by the City Council to the Planning Commission, a violation of the Emeryville Code of Ethics, according to the Emeryville City Attorney.  Mr Priforce is requesting a restraining order against Mr Gould at the hearing in civil court, Department 105, scheduled for July 23rd.

Emeryville Planning Commissioner
Sam Gould

As part of a conspicuous anti-Priforce campaign, Commissioner Gould has made several official complaints (including a sworn complaint) to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) for alleged rules violations by the Council member.  Of the three complaints received by the FPPC by Commissioner Gould against Kalimah Priforce, Calvin Dillahunty, and Mia Esperanza Brown (Two Afro-Latine - All Black), one was dismissed, one resolved and one, a duplicate from an “anonymous” complaint, is still being investigated.

For his part, Council member Priforce is positing that Commissioner Gould has been disproportionately targeting Black individuals in Emeryville civic life.  “This pattern is not isolated” Priforce told the Tattler, “It reveals a broader issue of racialized political hostility masked as procedural concern”, he said. 


The spectacle of Council members publicly attacking colleagues and now Planning Commissioners joining in the fray, is a new cultural affect for Emeryville, one that the hidebound City Council has been loath to acknowledge, much less address.  Concurrent with the New York City mayor election, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani taking hits from the Democratic elite for being too progressive, the culture of public attacks against progressive Council colleagues in Emeryville pre-dates the NYC state of affairs.  But the culture of anti-collegiality at the Council arguably began when voters overwhelmingly elected the progressive candidate for Council, Kalimah Priforce in 2022.  Emeryville has almost always had one or two progressives on its city council that were disliked by the pro-business majority but the culture of wholesale attacks and publicly ‘airing of dirty laundry’ by the council majority only began when Mr Priforce took office. 

Perhaps the most damning claims born of the Gould allegations comes from Council member Priforce, who has admonished the City for failing to act to check a “hostile environment for Black progressive leaders and residents”.  The attacks amount to what Priforce has called a “vendetta”, amid the barrage of unethical Gould missives.  Despite being a sitting Council member, Mr Priforce has received no protection from the City he says.  Notably, City officials, including new City Manager LaTanya Bellow and HR have failed to intervene—even after multiple complaints from the Councilman.  Meanwhile, Mr Gould—an appointed Planning Commissioner—has faced no accountability.

Mr Gould was hand selected and forwarded for a Planning Commission position by the influential former City Council member John Bauters, a primary Priforce antagonist, it should be known.

Mr Priforce notes that Sam Gould is acting in a manner that would tend to allow him to escape some level of accountability from the City.  For instance, Sam set up a publicly accessible blog to innumerate his charges against Councilman Priforce on the day before he took his oath as a Planning Commissioner, presumably done to escape the Emeryville Code of Ethics' prohibitions against a Commissioner making such attacks.  However, it would seem Mr Gould didn’t realize his status as a member of Emeryville’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, of which he was previously a member, also precludes such attacks, according to City Attorney John Kennedy.

Commissioner Gould was contacted by the Tattler for this story but he did not answer several offers to respond.  As an appointed government official, Mr Gould is also extended the courtesy to submit a ‘My Turn’ story for publication in the Tattler, unedited and in his own words for the people of Emeryville if he wishes.

Planning Commissioner Sam Gould gets served 

in the Planning Commission chamber

Priforce: Protect Press Freedom in Emeryville - Stand With Local Journalism

 Council Member Priforce Weighs In -

My Turn

Council Member Kalimah Priforce

The Tattler has always made itself available to all elected officials in Emeryville to use as a platform to reach out to the citizens for whatever reason they wish.  We call it 'My Turn'.  All electeds are always invited at any time to submit information in the public interest and the Tattler will post it verbatim.  Council member Priforce has requested a Tattler space in kind and we accommodate all Emeryville elected officials in this request.   This story submission was not suggested by the Tattler in any way. 

Protect Press Freedom in Emeryville—Stand with Local Journalism

By Council member Kalimah Priforce

Emeryville may be small, but we’ve always dreamed big—community kindness, safe and clean streets, mobility in our lives and on the road, and the power of everyday people - creating and innovating.

But none of that works without a free press - our collective voice.  Journalists like Brian Donahue of the Emeryville Tattler and local news hub, the E’ville Eye, shine a light where others won’t.  Whether you love his reporting or can’t stand it, Brian challenges our leaders to be honest.  And that’s something we all benefit from.

But today, that vital freedom—the right to know—is under attack.

For over 15 years, Mr Donahue has reported on Emeryville politics, exposing the stories that matter.  From toxic waste sites to addressing the genocide in Gaza, his annoying tenacity has rattled some powerful cages, and now those forces are striking back.

City Attorney John Kennedy is trying to silence him and the Emeryville Tattler — first with a "communication plan" barring city staff from speaking to him and threatening legal action just for asking questions outside public meetings to now pursuing a permanent restraining order against him.

It’s not unlike my own censure and sanction.  Both were pushed through during a time when Emeryville was without a permanent city manager—a vacuum where the city attorney had too much power from a majority of the city council and no one to rein him in.

This kind of overreach doesn’t just happen in closed sessions—it’s happening right here, out in the open. And it’s expensive: the city’s push for a restraining order against Mr Donahue has already cost us taxpayers over $50,000 and could easily double that when it's over. That's money that could be going to essential city services, alleviating rent burdens, or our public arts.

If we had a public ethics commission watching over City Hall, these abuses of power would be prevented.

And this isn’t the first time Emeryville has battled corruption.  In the 1920s, Chief Justice Earl Warren called us “the Rottenest City on the Pacific Coast” because of widespread corruption.  In the decades that followed, Police Chief John LaCoste ruled unchecked until the community demanded reform.  We’ve been here before.  And we’ve fought back.

The rights of journalists are under threat, across the country, freedoms we once took for granted are being chipped away.  I took an oath to defend the Constitution and to democratically serve the people of Emeryville.  I’ve had my share of disagreements with Brian Donahue, but this fight isn’t about liking a reporter or not.  It sets a legal precedent that can suppress the information flow of local news coverage stretching beyond Emeryville - and that hurts democracy.  It’s about protecting the right to hold power accountable.  If they can silence him and the Emeryville Tattler, they can silence any voice that challenges the status quo.

This is bigger than Brian Donahue and the Tattler.  It’s about who gets to speak truth to power.  You do.

I know asking for help isn’t easy for any of us and especially for Brian Donahue—it can sometimes feel like an admission of weakness.  But let me remind you: every time you've come to me about an eviction notice, a broken park seat, or a threat to your small business, I show up because asking for help is strength. That’s how we take care of each other. That’s how we win, by being stronger together.

These are our taxpayer dollars, our neighborhoods, our roads and parks.  Emeryville isn’t just buildings. It’s the people who call this city home.

I’m asking you to stand with me and protect what makes Emeryville special.  Show up.  Speak out.  Send your statements of support to priforce@emeryville.org and attend Mr Donahue’s court hearing on May 22, 2025, at 1:30 PM.  Let’s remind those in power that we won’t let journalism—and accountability—be silenced in our city.

Local journalism is about more than headlines. It’s about lifting every voice.

Let’s show this city what we're made of -

In solidarity,

Kalimah Priforce

Councilmember, City of Emeryville

FPPC Reports: Emeryville Mayor Guilty of FPPC Violations

 Mayor Mourra is Guilty of Violating FPPC Regulations

Double Standard on Council FPPC Rules Called Into Question

After investigation as a result of a Tattler inquiry, Emeryville’s mayor has been found guilty of violating California Fair Political Practices Commission regulations, the FPPC recently announced.  The investigation found Emeryville mayor David Mourra guilty of “violations”  but they found the violations were “de minimus” and because the mayor had since corrected his violations, they would not take action against him.  Earlier, the FPPC had also found Emeryville City Council member Kalimah Priforce guilty of violations that he (Priforce) had also corrected.  Like Mayor Mourra, the FPPC dropped their investigation against Mr Priforce because he had also since corrected his violations. 

Emeryville Mayor David Mourra
Guilty of violating FPPC regulations. 

Regardless of the guilty verdicts from the FPPC against Mr Mourra and Mr Priforce, the finding against Mr Priforce was cited as a reason to conduct an investigation of him by the City Council and ultimately to censure and sanction him for violations of Emeryville's  Code of Ethics.  The City Council was notably aware at the time of the censure and sanction against Councilman Priforce he had corrected his FPPC violations.

The letter about Mayor Mourra from the FPPC to the Tattler by James M Lindsay, the Chief Enforcement Officer for the State sanctioned agency, was unequivocal: Emeryville’s mayor is guilty of rules violations but because Mr Mourra had corrected his violations after the agency received a Tattler complaint that sparked their investigation, the FPPC would “not pursue an enforcement action in this matter”.   Mayor Mourra for his part, diminished the FPPC letter the Tattler received and to which he was cc’ed, when he was asked to comment for the public’s benefit.  He has made no statement on the matter since.

After Mayor Mourra failed to complete all his FPPC required filings, the Tattler filed a complaint with the agency resulting in a February story where it was reported he had an ongoing FPPC investigation against him.  Council member Priforce's late filings on the other hand, were made public by Mr Priforce himself, it should be noted.

No City Council member has yet initiated an inquiry into Mayor Mourra’s FPPC violations, drawing questions about the propriety of the Council’s Priforce investigation and action.  Because FPPC violations were used as the primary reason for the Priforce Council investigation and punishment, notably the same violations that the Mayor is guilty of, citizens would have a natural reason to inquire about the seeming double standard but the Tattler could not get a responce from any Council member, the City Manager or the City Attorney for this story.  

Because a double standard with regard to FPPC violations by Council members would be unethical and possibly illegal , the Tattler will continue to investigate this story.

Pro-Israel Lobby Take Over of Local Democratic Party Delegate Group Despite Emeryville Councilman Priforce ADEM Victory

'Progressive Populist' Priforce Manages to Beat Back Conservative Tide in Local ADEM Election

Northern Alameda County Democrats have selected Emeryville City Councilman Kalimah Priforce to serve as a delegate for the state party in Assembly District 18, the lone progressive among a field of 13 other winners backed by Washington DC based Israel lobbying concerns.  Mr Priforce was the only candidate to win from the ‘People’s Slate’, a group of 11 progressive candidates in the 18th District ‘ADEM’ race.  The other group of candidates, called the ‘Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate’, was backed by the pro-Israel lobby.  A much more conservative slate than the People’s Slate, the ‘Housing’ group won every delegate seat except Mr Priforce, a marked difference in the race run two years ago when the Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate won only one delegate to the People’s Slate's 13, a near total victory for progressives.  In 2022, Assembly member Mia Banta, an elected official characterized as a 'corporate Democrat' by some, endorsed the losing conservative slate. 

Emeryville City Councilman Kalimah Priforce
Progressive Populist Winner in ADEM Election Again
The sole progressive and independent to win the
18th Assembly District ADEM election. 
The rest of the winners are endorsed 
and supported by the Israel lobby.

White Faces

Council member Priforce will sit on a much changed 18th Assembly District ADEM delegate board moving forward.  Notably, he will be the only man of color on the new 14 member delegate board representing northern Alameda County, a remarkable change over previous 18th District ADEM boards.  

The near total victory for the white conservative slate this election, compared with the near total victory for the progressive slate last time, calls into question the influence of the nation-wide Israel lobby inserted into local Alameda County politics. 

The remarkable two year shift to the right demonstrated by District 18 Democrats as characterized by the vote this year has been challenged by at least two voting Democrats; a rank and file member, Paola Laverde, as well as David Weintraub of the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Coordinating Committee, both of whom registered complaints with Democratic Party of Alameda County honchos highlighting campaign irregularities that would tend to benefit conservatives in the election.  Responses to election integrity complaints have not been widely distributed by party officials if they came at all. 

The ADEM boards control what the Democratic Party statewide will prioritize, and as such, they are considered very influential within the party that controls politics in California.  The ADEM delegates help select the Democratic Party platform, among other duties.  Here, they serve under the statewide Assembly member representative Mia Bonta, for District 18. 

Illegal Campaigning and 
Unattended Ballots 
The conservative slate placed campaign
flyers directly on the table where voting 
happened, a violation of the rules.  Also, ballots
are not filed and are out in the open. 
Progressives registered complaints about
the rules violations, after the fact.

The Tattler reached out to Emeryville resident Sam Gould, who ran with the Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate and won, but he didn’t respond to our queries.  Mr Gould was selected as a new Planning Commissioner last Tuesday by the City Council in a 4-1 vote (Priforce dissenting).  Emery School Board member Regina Chagolla, who also ran in the “Housing” slate, also won an ADEM position.  Emeryville City Council member Courtney Welch ran with the conservative Bonta backed slate in 2022 and lost, as did Ms Chagolla.

Council member Priforce, having won the delegate race in the two lopsided elections, speaks to his ability to transcend partisan politics, at least outside of Emeryville.  Here in highly partisan Emeryville, Mr Priforce has been frozen out by his more conservative Council colleagues, even suffering a censure and a sanction for violating Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) rules, the same violation as the anti-Priforce Mayor, David Mourra, who also violated FPPC rules.  The fact that the anti-Priforce majority on the Council has not censured and sanctioned Mayor Mourra for the same violation, is particularly informative as to the partisan culture that has seized control of and degraded Emeryville politics.

The 18th Assembly District is comprised of Oakland, Alameda and Emeryville.  It is considered one of the most progressive assembly districts in the United States.   Emeryville, now having three ADEM board members, is represented far over its population in the District it should be noted.

The Democratic Party election just completed for ADEM representatives for the 18th District, is now represented by seven men, six of whom are white; the highest albedo level for an 18th Assembly District ADEM board in more than a generation.

Council Member Priforce to Force Election on Unfair Small Business Taxes

 Council Member Priforce Says Small Business in Emeryville Is Taxed Unfairly

Snubbed by Council Majority, He Says Voters Should Now Decide

Big Business Pays a Much Lower Tax Rate Than Small Business

Council member Kalimah Priforce announced today he is beginning a campaign to lower the tax rate on small business in Emeryville by forwarding a direct ballot initiative for voters, bypassing the City Council.  If successful, the small business tax ballot initiative would culminate a citizen drive begun in 2011 to finally address Emeryville’s infamous business tax cap, a regressive structure implemented by a pro-business City Council in 1993 that allows the largest corporations in Emeryville to pay a much lower tax rate than small businesses do.  Mr Priforce's announcement comes on the heels of a rejection in December by his colleagues to even discuss the business tax cap at the Council level.  The City Council could get rid of the cap by fiat but they have steadfastly refused and they even actively worked to stop an incipient citizen's ballot initiative in 2011 that would have removed the tax cap.  Emeryville is the only city in Alameda County that has a business tax cap.

Council Member Kalimah Priforce
He says helping small businesses thrive in
Emeryville should be more than just platitudes.
Small businesses in Emeryville should not have
a higher tax rate than big businesses do.

Council member Priforce, who calls himself a 'progressive populist', announced at the Council's December meeting that the lack of equity in Emeryville’s business tax code is troublesome and that the Council needs to finally do something about it especially seeing how they (individual Council members) often publicly exclaim how they want to help small business, he said.  As it is now, the small businesses in Emeryville are effectively subsidizing the big businesses by paying a rate higher than they need to for the City to collect the same amount of money.  A ‘flat tax’, that being every one paying the same rate, would be more fair than the current tax cap scheme and it would enable the City to charge all businesses at a lower rate to collect the same amount of money.  Small businesses would pay considerably less money under a flat tax.

Mr Priforce is correct: Emeryville’s business tax cap is unprecedented.  In fact, no other city in the entire East Bay has such a tax cap.  For small businesses, the business tax rate in Emeryville is .1% of gross receipts.  Large businesses pay a much lower effective rate, and it’s a rate that goes down the bigger the business is.  This is because big businesses, those with revenue that would be taxed above the $450,997 capped total, don’t have to pay any tax at all on any receipts above that.  Small businesses on the other hand, must pay tax on all of their revenue, making for a much higher tax rate; small businesses must pay the full .1%.

Mayor David Mourra
He likes the business tax just as it is.
NO to helping small businesses he says.
He won't even allow a debate about it.

The inequity is highlighted by a comparison between a large business in Emeryville and a typical small business.  A small local restaurant with $500,000 in revenue (gross receipts) owes the City of Emeryville the full .1% of their revenue, whereas Grocery Outlet Corporation owes the City a lower percentage of their revenue.  Every dollar the local restaurant makes is taxable versus Grocery Outlet who doesn’t likely have to pay Emeryville any taxes at all for some of their $3,969,549,003 ($3.96 billion) revenue.  If they were taxed at the rate of small businesses, Grocery Outlet would have to pay Emeryville more than what they now pay with the cap.  The cap affects the two businesses this way: the local restaurant owes the City $500 per year and Grocery Outlet owes no more than $450,997 per year.  The cap being a cap, every other large business in town also owes Emeryville only $450,997 per year regardless of their revenue.  That’s the most any business in Emeryville has to pay, no matter how big they get.  Because Grocery Outlet operates some of their stores as franchises, it is unknown how much of their revenue is taxable by Emeryville and City Hall does not reveal that private information.  

The tax cap is a very sweet deal for the large corporations in Emeryville and something much less than that for the small businesses. 

Council Member Courtney Welch
She says she loves small business.  Except when
it comes to taxing them.  Then she's saving all
her love for big business.

At .1%, Emeryville has the lowest business tax of any neighboring city.  Berkeley’s business tax, dependent on the type of business, ranges from .16% to .45%; from 50% over Emeryville to four and a half times Emeryville’s rate.  And Berkeley doesn’t have a tax cap so every business pays fairly and equally.  With a $12 million deficit this year, if Emeryville raised the rate to what neighboring cities charge and removed the cap, the deficit would be taken care of rapidly. 

Mr Priforce says Emeryville could decide how to best tax businesses after a public debate.  Two ideas are presented without a tax cap: money to the City could remain the same (revenue neutral), meaning a large tax rate reduction for all businesses and a big savings for small businesses, or the rate could be kept at .1%, meaning small businesses would pay the same as they do now but big businesses would pay more, giving the City a lot more money to pay down the deficit and have money left over or something in between.    

City Council Tax Double Cross in 2011

Back in 2011, Emeryville residents reached a boiling point with the tax cap because of the unfair taxation on small businesses.  A drive to put the issue before Emeryville voters was started by Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE), a citizen’s activist group.  RULE took out papers and started a door to door signature drive to get the issue on a ballot because the City Council refused to remove the tax cap by fiat as is their prerogative. After they caught wind of the RULE signature drive, the Council intervened and they unanimously voted YES (in principle) to remove the tax cap on their own and they further announced a petition drive would therefore not be necessary.   That Council vote ended the petition drive but at the last minute, after loud protests from Pixar, the conservative majority on the Council scuttled the deal, keeping the cap in place and leaving the citizens no time to finish their petition drive before the election deadline.  Any new petition drive would have to wait until the next election, two years later.   

After the dirty deal done by the conservative Council majority, stopping the will of the people, Council member Jac Asher offered a consolation: an increase in the tax rate while leaving the tax cap in place.  The conservatives on the Council accepted that and the rate was raised from .08% to the current .1%, still the lowest business tax of any city in Alameda County even with the cap.  Ms Asher’s modest deal and the required two year wait for a new ballot initiative petition drive brought about by the Council majority dirty deal, took the wind out of the sails of the citizen petition drive and it didn't rise up again two years later.

And that’s where we are today.  From then to now, no other City Council member other than Councilman Priforce has publicly offered a plan to get rid of Emeryville’s notorious business tax or even talk about the gross inequities built in to Emeryville's pro-corporate business tax rules.

Councilman Priforce is offering the people of Emeryville a chance to return to 2011; a time when it seemed for a moment, public business tax policy would be decided by the public.  Mr Priforce gave his colleagues on the Council a chance to weigh in on this in December but they refused.  

Mayor Mourra was contacted for this story but he refused to comment, presumably leaving his publicly made NO vote to even allow discussion of changing Emeryville business tax policy, to speak for him.  Council member Priforce was also contacted and he told the Tattler he heard all four of his Council colleagues say NO to his business tax equality discussion proposal and so he will go around them and “listen to the people, not the Council”.   

Please read more on the 2010-2011 fight for a fair business tax HERE, HERE, HERE , HERE , HERE and HERE.

The Tattler will report on developments in this story as they come to light.  

UPDATE CORRECTION:  A reader pointed out that Grocery Outlet operates some of its stores as franchises and so some of their revenue is not taxable by Emeryville.  We thank the reader for catching what we missed and we apologize for the mistake.

A Sampling of Emeryville Businesses & How the Business Tax Cap Effects Them
NOTE UPDATE: Grocery Outlet operates some of its stores as franchises and the franchisees share in some of the profit and those numbers are not public.  Because of this, the numbers in these charts are based solely on the total corporate revenue and are not accurate for Grocery Outlet.  We apologize for the mistake we didn't catch.
Leapfrog Corporation has to pay taxes on every dollar it makes just like the Mom & Pop Shop and the local restaurant.  The big businesses only have to pay taxes up to $450,997 regardless of what they make.  Everything they make over that taxable amount is tax free.  It must be nice for them....says Leapfrog and every small business in town.

A Portrait of Emeryville's Business Tax Cap
Actual Tax Rates For a Sampling of Emeryville Businesses

100 = .1% (the tax rate for small businesses).
NOTE: Grocery Outlet pays Emeryville more than this number because some of its
stores are franchises.  This number is based on their total revenue, not Emeryville receipts which are unknown.
The higher the number in this bar chart, the higher the tax rate.
Higher taxes for small businesses is considered 'fair'
by the Emeryville City Council majority. 
Every other city in Alameda County disagrees with Emeryville.

Mayor Mourra Violates FPPC Rules & Emeryville Code of Ethics

Mayor Mourra Violates FPPC Filing Rules

City Council Majority Recently Censured and Sanctioned Their Colleague Kalimah Priforce for the Same Violation

Planning Commission Chair Also Violated FPPC Filing Rules

Breaking News

Emeryville’s Mayor, David Mourra, has not filed required FPPC political disclosure forms, a violation of state law, the Tattler has learned.  The FPPC (Fair Political Practices Commission), a state agency tasked with ensuring government transparency, acknowledged in a January 24th letter to the Tattler that Emeryville’s mayor is under investigation for failure to disclose as is required by law.  Mr Mourra is very late in his filing as it turns out, having not filed required campaign disclosure forms since his election victory in 2022.  The FPPC investigation comes as a result of a Tattler complaint.  

The California Reform Act of 2024 mandates that all elected officials must continue to file FPPC disclosure forms even in the event that they have been elected and regardless of any subsequent donor contributions or lack of contributions.

The Tattler investigation also revealed Jordan Wax, the chair of Emeryville’s Planning Commission, failed to file a required FPPC 'Statement of Economic Interest' form on time, itself a violation of state law.

Some elected officials have presupposed that an inactive election campaign lets them off the hook for FPPC filings but state law is very clear that filing is still required.  Violations of proper and timely FPPC filing rules have been very common among Emeryville politicians over the years.  So much so that late filings would not normally be considered newsworthy except for the fact that Mayor Mourra and his colleagues on the City Council majority made much ballyhoo of recent late filings by Council member Kalimah Priforce to such an extent that they invoked Emeryville's new Code of Ethics to censure and sanction him for it.  Now Mr Mourra, who seems to have unclean hands, finds himself in the same pickle. 

The Tattler has an open Public Records Request filed with the City Clerk for details that will inform future editions of this ongoing story.

Mr Mourra was contacted for this story but he refused to comment. 

Emeryville Mayor David Mourra
Unclean Hands
He sanctimoniously wagged his finger at
his colleague Council member Priforce for
violating the exact same state law as he did.

Anti-Palestinian Connection Found in Emeryville Democratic Party Delegate Race

Specter of Anti-Palestinian Politics in Emeryville ADEM Race

Breaking News

The Tattler has found an anti-Palestinian, Gaza genocide denying funding and influence connection in the local ‘ADEM’ Democratic Party delegate race reported this week.  Four Emeryville residents are running in two posing slates as the Tattler reported.  One of the two slates, called the ‘Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate’, is paid by ‘California Jobs and Justice’, a Sacramento lobbying entity that itself is funded by the ‘Democratic Majority for Israel’ a Washington based lobbying organization that is Gaza genocide denying and anti-Palestinian.  Emeryville residents Sam Gould and Regina Chagolla are both part of that slate.

The other slate in the ADEM race is the ‘People’s Slate’ and is the more progressive slate of the two, despite the word ‘progressive’ in the Housing and Climate Slate title.  Emeryville residents Kalimah Priforce and Sarah Perez are among the People’s Slate members.  Mr Priforce is an Emeryville City Council member and a current ADEM delegate for the 18th District.  Regina Chagolla is an Emeryville school board member.

The 18th Assembly District Democratic Party delegates are charged with setting the Alameda County Democratic Party agenda and so it has been considered a powerful position and one that reflects East Bay Democratic Party values.  The anti-Palestinian connection has not been reported openly by the Housing and Climate Slate, probably because that is not a popular position for East Bay Democrats.  

Democrats are urged to vote online by January 31st at ademelections.com   

Paid for by.....
That tells you what you need to know.

The top contributors are anti-Palestinian and Gaza genocide deniers.

Emeryville Democrats Urged to Vote for 18th District 'ADEM' Delegates

Four Emeryville Residents in Two Slates of Candidates Seek Local 'ADEM' Positions

Democratic Party members in Emeryville, which make up 59% of the voters, are being asked to vote for party delegates for the 18th Assembly District to help set the direction of the Democratic Party in the future, a race that includes four Emeryville residents.  The agenda delegates, referred to by the acronym ADEMs (Assembly District Election Meetings), are divided into two slates, a conservative and a progressive and the four Emeryville residents running are split into both slates.  

The progressive slate, called the ‘People’s Slate’, is comprised of 11 members including Emeryville residents Kalimah Priforce (a City Council member and existing 18th District Delegate) and Sarah Perez, while the conservative slate, called the ‘Housing and Climate Progressive Democratic Slate’ is comprised of 12 members including Emeryville residents Sam Gould (who recently lost a City Council bid) and Regina Chagolla (a School Board member).  

The conservative slate, despite its name with the word ‘progressive’ in it, is noted for its corporate backers, notably the Real Estate Investment Trust lobbying group YIMBY California.  They put stripping local housing policy to make way for more corporate landlords at the top of their to do list.  Also notable is the fact that zero men of color are represented; very unusual for an East Bay election slate.

The progressive slate lacks corporate underwriting and concerns itself with traditional Bay Area progressive ideas like anti-gentrification, tenant protections, climate justice and a labor-led clean energy economy.  

The Tattler reached out to the four Emeryville candidates for comment but only Kalimah Priforce and Sarah Perez responded.  

Mr Priforce said, “For far too long, 'we the people' have been confronted with a false choice - a vote between fascism on one side and corruption on the other.  The Democratic Party needs to change by winning back the people's trust.  As an elected delegate representing Emeryville to the California Democratic Party as part of Assembly District 18, I'm once again a member of the People's Slate because of our diversity and working class progressive values that place people over profit.”  

Ms Perez stated, “Unlike others whose work is based on self-interest, my commitment for social change is personal and therefore dedicated to people who need help.  I stand in solidarity with the People's Slate. Please vote for all of us because this fight is for you.”

Democrats are urged to vote online by January 31st at ademelections.com 

UPDATE: A mistake in this story regarding the acronym ADEMS has been corrected.  Thank you to the reader for catching our mistake.

The People's Slate
Featuring Emeryville residents Kalimah Priforce and Sarah Perez

The Housing and Climate Slate
Lot's of White men!
Featuring residents Sam Gould and Regina Chagolla