City Attorney Ballot Measure Signature Drive Finishes

City Attorney Petition Drive Crosses 551 Signature Threshold, 

Dirty Tricks Alleged

Council member Ken Bukowski reports to the Tattler that the petition to abolish the city attorney as a paid staff member, circulating around the city for the last several weeks, has surpassed 551 signatures; enough to place the measure before Emeryville voters in November despite allegations of signature suppressing dirty tricks .  If the petition is certified by the County Registrar of Voters, citizens will be able to decide for themselves if the city of Emeryville should subcontract out its legal services as most cities our size do or to continue to retain the paid city attorney position and its staff.

Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that the petition drive, a grassroots effort conducted by many concerned Emeryville residents, has netted 773 signatures total and of that amount 202 are probably invalid due to errors he detected, leaving 571 valid and acceptable signatures for the County.  The County has indicated that a minimum of 551 valid signatures need to be verified to place the measure before voters in November.

  

Dirty Tricks

Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that two Emeryville resident signature solicitors, who might have had a change of heart about the petition drive midway through their signature gathering efforts, failed to submit all their collected signatures, a prosecutable crime he says.  Many signatures may have been discarded by the two he says.
Mr Bukowski said he will be talking to the District Attorney's office about this breach of public trust by the two unnamed citizens, with the intent of filing a complaint.

Petitions for ballot initiatives must have the proper number of signatures and the signers must accurately and legibly provide their printed names as it appears on their voter registration card on file.  In addition, the proper address as it appears on the voter registration card must also be entered.  Any mistake invalidates a signature.

Although the city attorney ballot initiative has been taken up by many Emeryville citizens, it's been associated most strongly with council member Bukowski as he was the progenitor and its most vocal supporter.   

Pre-Fab Home Bucks Living Wage Goal

Downward Pressure on Local Construction Wages:

Emeryville Embraces 

Pre-Fab Home Idea

Opinion
The Planning Department was out in force on Beaudry Street, in support of and witnessing the erection of Emeryville's first prefabricated single family residence last Saturday. A small crowd gathered to watch the spectacle: a crane lowering pre-constructed rooms onto the rapidly growing house.  With this scene in the background, Charlie Bryant, head of the Planning Department, told cameras that Emeryville is supportive of this style of home construction.  Left unsaid by Mr Bryant though is how this style of building is a subversion of living wage policy: This comes at the expense of local Bay Area builders in the custom home building trade.

Middle Class Wealth Transfer
Some have previously argued that this style of building will help keep housing affordable but at $275 per square foot, there's no cost saving, at least not for the owner of the new house.  The contractor on site says the Beaudry Street house will be cheaper than a custom home but the price of $275 per square foot is the same as a comparable custom built house in the Bay Area (regardless of his claims to the contrary).  This style of building is a way to cut out more expensive Bay Area construction laborers since low cost factory workers actually build the houses, the parts being shipped in by truck.  This is just a shift in profit from workers to corporate fat cats and is another point of downward pressure on local tradesman's wages.

Emeryville needs more family friendly housing to be sure but not at the expense of fostering a climate where blue collar people could afford to live here.  This whole idea is counter to oft made claims emanating from City Hall about livability for all.  Our public policy shouldn't be encouraging this sort of wealth transfer especially since Emeryville is already losing working class people.  We should be making a REAL town.

Below is a San Francisco Chronicle article about the new home:

Prefabricated homes go upscale Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer Saturday, July 16, 2011 IMAGES Paul Chinn / The Chronicle A module of Simpatico Homes' prefabricated house is lowered into position at the construction site in Emeryville.  View All Images (8) EMERYVILLE -- Prefab houses aren't just for trailer parks anymore. Two Bay Area startups are crafting factory-built homes and rooms for the high-end market, the kind of people who want an architect-designed custom house with all the latest green features. Simpatico Homes in Emeryville and hybridCore Homes in Santa Rosa both have partnered with architects. Each has a proof-of-concept model home and both are now on the verge of building for clients. They say their approaches cut costs and reduce construction time while incorporating high-quality finishes and designs. "Within the past few years, we've seen a number of very talented architects become interested in the possibilities of prefabrication to bring architect-level design to people who don't have time or resources to develop a unique design for a custom home," said S. Claire Conroy, editorial director of Residential Architect magazine in Washington. The two companies take different approaches. Simpatico builds the entire home in a factory as several giant modules that are assembled at the home site. HybridCore factory-builds the house's most complex portion - kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room - then places them on the site and "stick builds" the rest of the home around them. Market void "I really love quality architecture and saw a real void in the market for people who want it" but have more limited budgets, said Simpatico founder Seth Krubiner, who grew up in an Eichler home. Early last Saturday a convoy of flatbed trucks carried five modules from a factory in San Jose to a pre-built home foundation in Emeryville, where Simpatico is erecting its first structure. It will serve as a model house for potential clients and builders to tour, as well as a residence for Krubiner. A crew of 25 worked from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. as about a hundred curious neighbors watched giant cranes lift the modules into place as if they were building blocks. By evening, a 2,400-square-foot modern dwelling was in place, the modules bolted to the foundation. It will take another six weeks to "button up" the home, finishing such tasks as tying in the utilities and seaming the modules together with a "marriage line." All told, construction should take about 18 weeks - 12 in the factory and six on the site. (The foundation was built concurrently with the factory prefabrication.) Green features The house incorporates such sustainable features as a solar array to provide all its power, hydronic radiant floor heating, a living green roof and a rainwater catchment system. "My partners (Swatt Miers Architects) are very established, high-end modern architects who build multimillion-dollar designs," Krubiner said. "We want to take that level and quality of architecture and put it into a system for people who have more modest means. Through prefabrication, we can standardize and make it faster and more affordable." Chrissy Schwinn and her husband, David Cherry, both self-described fans of prefabrication and of modern architecture, have hired Simpatico to build a four-bedroom house for them and their two young children in Orinda starting this fall. "It fit our aesthetic and level of customization and our budget," she said. "The house will have a lot of green features, which we wanted. We don't have the final cost, but our hope is that it's about 20 percent less than a custom-built house." The shorter construction time is another plus, both in having fewer carrying costs on their current house and having less impact on their new neighbors. For Simpatico's first house in Emeryville, construction costs, excluding land and permits, pencil out at $275 per square foot, Krubiner said, versus about $375 per square foot for a comparable house built from the ground up. That's still not cheap. But Krubiner said the company can get costs as low as $225 per square foot. "It takes a lot of scale - multiples of prefab houses - to deliver the economies that are promised by manufacturing houses instead of site-building them," Conroy said. Economies of scale Santa Rosa's hybridCore Homes hopes to achieve those economies of scale by working with giant home builder Champion Home Builders of Troy, Mich., which has 27 factories nationwide and will both build and market the modular cores. He said the cost savings over complete ground-up construction are about 20 to 30 percent. The company offers 100 floor plans with nine variations and styles of each, such as Mediterranean or Craftsman. It built a 1,600-square-foot demonstration home in Santa Rosa last fall, with construction costs of $147,000, or $92 per square foot, he said. The home is open for visits by interested clients and developers. Faber's architecture firm, Farrell Faber, was approached about designing a manufactured home a couple of years ago. "Typically our firm does high-end stuff, so we weren't interested," he said. "But then we two partners, along with two developers, started playing with the idea, and after numerous studies developed this concept of manufacturing the core of the home." Now hybridCore is gearing up to build proof-of-concept homes in North Dakota and Maryland that are being considered for large developments. A 213-home project in Santa Rosa is on tap for next spring. Harold Robinson, who develops homes in Los Altos in the $1 million to $2 million range, hopes to use hybridCore's modules. "There is a lot of design flexibility, and the final product will look just like a traditional, high-quality custom home," he said. "At the same time you end up getting higher-quality construction and it's a really green way to do construction; there's a lot less waste by building offsite in factories that are controlled environments. Being able to build faster is a big benefit in high-end neighborhoods because the whole construction process has a lower impact." E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page D - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/15/BUUK1KA3RS.DTL&ao=2#ixzz1SJINkdBf

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/15/BUUK1KA3RS.DTL#ixzz1SJHuCzwf

Emeryville Summer Music Performance Series

City of Emeryville FREE Summer Concert Series The City of Emeryville is pleased to present the 2011  Summer Performance Series.  Come celebrate some  of the area's diverse local talent at Christie Avenue Park  this summer.  This summer’s line-up includes funk, R&B,  Neo-Soul, and 60’s British Rock.    JULY 14  SUMAC'S SOUL HEAVEN BAND (Soul, Blues, R&B)  JULY 21  PULSE (Neo-Soul, R&B, Rock)  JULY 28  THE RAVE UPS/THE RAVING ANIMALS (Yardbirds & The Animals 60's British Rock Tribute) All performances will be held from 6:00-8:00 pm. at  Christie Avenue Park (6200 Christie Avenue), located  right behind Emeryville’s Public Market and are FREE.   The market offers over 20 unique international food  retailers representing the diversity of San Francisco  Bay Area.  So, buy a delicious take out dinner, bring  your blanket or lawn chair and join your friends and  neighbors for an entertaining dinner and show!!! The City of Emeryville would like to give a special thanks  to Intrepid Electronic Systems, Inc. for helping to sponsor  the City’s Summer Performance Series. If you or your  company is interested in future sponsorship opportunities  or for more information on the Summer Performance Series  or any other Community Special Event, please contact Kevin  Laven, Community Special Events Coordinator  at klaven@emeryville.org.

The Secret News Launches 'E-VILLE LEAKS'

The Secret News Announces 

'E-VILLE LEAKS'

Tracy Schroth, long time Emeryville resident and editor of The Secret News announced the launch of 'E-VILLE LEAKS' a new ongoing feature that will highlight public documents that Emeryville City Hall might not be so keen on the public scrutinizing .

Ms Schroth told the Tattler she sees a need for these documents to be circulating in the public realm, "A big part of what The Secret News is trying to do is get at the truth- a truth that the people in power often don't want exposed.  So, even though much of what we print is public, it's not publicized.  And because we print verbatim documents, we're letting the people evaluate more directly what the city is and isn't doing".   She intoned, "We're not acting as the middleman (or woman) or interpreter, and thus be accused of distorting 'the facts'."

Asked about the obvious connection to the international whistle blowing website WikiLeaks, Ms Schroth said, "What ever its problems, WikiLeaks broke the most important stories in the past two years.  So, I see real value in what they are trying to do".  She added,  "And at the The Secret News, this is just one approach we're taking; we will also continue to report and interpret the news as we see it".

E-VILLE LEAKS will appear on an occasional basis at The Secret News.

The Secret News is here: www.thesecretnewsonline.com

School District Counsel Investigates Possible Misuse of Bond Money

Not On Voter Approved List:

"Fellows Program" May Be Violation Of School Bond Funds

The Emeryville school board may be preparing to violate Emeryville voters trust and possibly the law by spending school bond money on stipends as part of an unsanctioned program according to school bond Citizens Oversight Committee members who wish to remain anonymous. 

At a contentious June 15th meeting, the Measure J mandated committee discussed the possibility that the school board is overreaching and improperly dispersing part of the $95 million school bond on salaries, creating jobs for people who would serve as "ambassadors" to the Center of Community Life, the school/community center project made possible by Measure J. 

The money for salaries plan may be illegal, the committee members said.

Last fall Emeryville voters overwhelmingly approved Measure J, a school construction bond. Voters may recall that the ballot measure provided that a Citizens' Oversight Committee would be formed "to ensure that bond proceeds are expended only on the school facilities projects" that were listed in the bond project list. 

Measure J also provided that annual performance and financial audits will be conducted to ensure that the bond proceeds are expended only on the school facilities projects listed on the bond project list.

On Wednesday June 15th the Measure J Citizens Oversight Committee held its fourth monthly meeting and already a concern was raised by a member of the Oversight Committee that the School Board was planning to misuse Measure J bond funds for projects that are not school facilities projects and are not listed on the bond project list.

voters were told no fewer than seven times

on the Measure J ballot that bond funds would 

only be spent on the project list.

The project that raised this issue is an Emeryville Center of Community Life (ECCL) 'Fellows Program' that would train students and perhaps other community members to be ambassadors for the ECCL project and provide these fellows with a stipend. The project's annual cost would be $72,000, for a six-year total cost of $372,000.

Superintendent Sugiyama said that clearly the voters were told that community engagement will be an integral part of this Measure J project and as a result they feel it is appropriate to use Measure J funds for   any efforts or strategies involving community engagement.

So, this issue goes well beyond the appropriateness of this particular Fellows project, but instead raises a more general question of whether bond funds may be used for any "community engagement efforts" or whether these funds must be strictly used for the school facilities items listed on the bond project list.

The School Board took up this issue at its meeting on June 27th. The staff presentation took a new tack and emphasized that the Fellows Program would allow staff to address not only community engagement, but also partnerships, equity, wellness, and sustainability policies adopted by the City/School Committee earlier this year.

The only public comment was a suggestion that these items, while important, were not on the bond project list and hence were an improper use of Measure J funds and so the speaker suggested that this (and similar) programs should be funded either through the City's $25 million contribution to the ECCL projector through the regular District budget.

Former schools chief 
John Sugiyama:
It doesn't matter 
what the ballot said

The School Board's discussion of this item echoed Dr. Sugiyama's earlier argument, namely that it does not matter that the ballot language of Measure J repeatedly said funds would only be spent on items on the bond project list, because the ballot language also mentions that, if the bond measure passed, the District would adopt a plan for soliciting community input and participation which would include holding meetings,and sending out mailings and notices. 

The Board's view appears to be that this addendum trumps the earlier promises to spend strictly on the items on the bond project list.

The School Board decided in a 4-1 vote to conditionally approve the Fellows Program, on the condition that its legal counsel look specifically at this program and conclude that it was a permissible use of bond funds.

Not discussed by the school board so far is the appropriateness of 'community engagement' being solicited by"ambassadors"; essentially an admission that the real agenda will be propaganda dissemination.    It could be reasonably argued that the voters last November had no intention of approving bond money for a propaganda program, claims of "community engagement" notwithstanding.

The Tattler will continue to watch this issue and will report again when the School District staff announce the conclusion of legal counsel. While we wait, here's Measure J's bond project list for readers to reach  their own conclusions on whether a community ambassador program fits into one of these categories:

a) Construct, furnish and equip leased and owned facilities, including but not limited to classrooms, science labs, and schools.

b) Replace, demolish or renovate District properties to meet current seismic safety standards;

c) Replace outdated portable buildings with permanent classrooms;

d) Construct school-site support including libraries, physical education facilities, multipurpose rooms, food service facilities, health and recreation facilities and play fields for joint school and community use;

e) Upgrade and replace classroom technology infrastructure and improve access to computer systems;

f) Acquire available real property as needed to construct facilities;

g) Provide appropriate and sufficient parking facilities including but not limited to pick-up and drop-off access for students;

h) Provide for costs associated with interim housing as needed during the period of construction;

i) Make additional repairs and upgrades as needed to educational facilities;

j) Perform necessary site preparation/restoration in connection with new construction, renovation, demolition, or deferred maintenance of educational facilities including off-site facilities as required;

k) Address unforeseen conditions revealed by construction or emergency repairs (e.g. plumbing or gas line breaks, seismic, structural, asbestos and other hazardous materials);

l) With written consent from neighbors, mitigate items identified by the Environmental impact Review as appropriate;

m) install energy efficient systems including but not limited to solar electrical systems and related infrastructures.

Tattler Draws Anonymous Criticism Against City Hall & Tattler

Why The Tattler Solicits Anonymous Comments

Since its inception, the Tattler has been taken to task for allowing anonymous comments at the end of each story.  Some have questioned the value of an anonymous comment.  Does it really have any value?  We debated this among ourselves at the onset and decided that it is better to allow this and reap more public comment than to force commentors to reveal their identity and garner fewer comments.  We feel this is appropriate because Emeryville City Hall is notorious in its culture of prohibition against dissenters, council member Nora Davis being the chief progenitor.  There is a palpable fear of Ms Davis among people who would participate in governance at the citizen committee, commission and task force level.  We feel these people and others who may also feel intimidated for any reason, should be given a chance to comment freely.
Readers may note that for all the anonymous comments posted against City Hall and its supporters, many anonymous comments are frequently leveled against the Tattler.  We take this as a vindication of the value of allowing anonymous comments.  That being said, we encourage commentors to identify themselves.  While an anonymous comment does have value, a comment made by a self identified author has that much more value.

New Report On Emeryville School Reveals Failure of Management

Points to "Lack of Efforts to Address Problems"

Independent Report: "Alarmingly High Percentages Of Students Are Failing" 

A May 11th independent audit of Emery High School performed by the National Center for Urban School Transformation  concludes that school management is failing on a number of critical fronts and they're failing to address the problems.

The Center identified a general "lack of standards-based instruction" at the school and students tasked with "busy work" with a "significant percentage of students [that] are being allowed to fail".  The audit, called the 'High-Performing Schools Audit Report', also concludes  that "trust levels among adults at the school are low" and reports the existence of "multiple cliques among the adults".

School board president

Miguel Dwin: Report 
merely shows "strengths 
and weaknesses"

School board
member 

Josh Simon: 
Report is 
"important"

School Board member Josh Simon, jarred by the audit, called for an implementation program to make sure the conclusions are properly addressed and not swept under the rug.  He told the Tattler that while the study compares Emery High with the best schools in the nation, a very high bar, certain intolerable inadequacies are highlighted that need to be corrected.  He called the study "important".  

School board president Miguel Dwin on the other hand seemed to take the whole audit with a grain of salt, "the report shows strengths and weaknesses at the school" he quipped.  He declined further comment.

50% Failure Rate

The auditors, Dr. Lynne Perez, Director of Research at NCUST and Dr. Joseph Johnson, the NCUST Executive Director visited the school and made observations as well as conducted interviews with teachers, students and parents.  

They found several classrooms where students were observed "sleeping, sitting with their backs to the teacher, or continuously engaging in off-task behavior"  Teachers were observed allowing this aberrant behavior "as long as the students did not interrupt them".

Dr. Joseph Johnson
Executive Director
NCUST

Teachers and administrators the report noted, expressed concern about "high course-failure rates that exceeded 50% at some grade levels".  This, the report concludes is a result of insufficient objectivity related to grading, leading to a "lack of clear, written, and enforced grading policy [that] is eroding parent trust".

Teachers also reported that often there is not a common understanding of critical course content resulting in a school that has no capacity, "no way" the report says, "to ensure that students are prepared to meet state learning expectations or to succeed in more advanced courses".

The report finds an "alarmingly high" percentage of students are failing classes, and concludes there is "no evidence of systematic efforts to address the problem".

Two Conflicting Studies

By coincidence another report recently made public is the "Self Study" of the High School; a periodic self examination of the school required for state accreditation.  This other report offers a detailed, if contradictory conclusion about the academic culture at the school.  The Self Study titled 'Focus On Learning', conducted by the school district as a self examination of academic achievement concludes the school is in much better shape than the independent audit surmises.  Noted in the Self Study is the finding that the school is an "orderly place that nurtures learning" and the existence of an "atmosphere of trust and respect in the school".

The Self Study finds "all course curriculums [sic] are standards-aligned", a direct contrary finding from the independent study.

School board president Miguel Dwin told the Tattler that the self study "shows strengths and weaknesses", the same as the independent study and was not impressed by the two inconsistent conclusions from the two studies.  He added, "No conclusions can be made, both reports are complimentary to each other, both show strengths and weaknesses at the school" noting no greater understanding flows from comparing the two studies.

The Self Study, 'Focus On Learning', was submitted to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges on April 11-13 for consideration to continue accreditation of the High School.

The independent audit report, called the 'High-Performing Schools Audit Report' was designed to identify how Emery High deviates from "high performing" urban schools in the nation, and was released to the public on June 27th.  The National Center for Urban School Transformation is a San Diego State University based public policy group.
The independent report is here:http://scr.bi/lG6bhe

Redevelopment Agencies Ready To Fight Back

Re-printed from the Contra Costa Times:
East Bay cities vow to fight plan to end redevelopment agencies

Officials fuming after Brown authorizes raid on urban renewal funds

By Hannah Dreier
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 07/02/2011 09:50:18 PM PDT

Updated: 07/04/2011 06:43:02 AM PDT

East Bay cities are vowing to fight a plan signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last week to use money earmarked for local revitalization to plug the state deficit.

Brown endorsed two bills: One dissolves the state's nearly 400 redevelopment agencies and the other allows individual agencies to remain if they "pay to play," handing over their share of the $1.7 billion in givebacks and making smaller payments in perpetuity.

City administrators around the East Bay are calling the move "coercive" and "disastrous" and many have pledged to support the California Redevelopment Association and the League of California Cities in bringing a suit to the state Supreme Court.

Advocates argue the law violates Proposition 22, an initiative approved overwhelmingly last November that bars the state from raiding funds used for redevelopment and other local services.

"Under Prop. 22, what the governor and the legislature have done is clearly illegal," said Steve Duran, community economic development director for Richmond, where property tax receipts for redevelopment were $18 million last year. "He is basically throwing the cities under the bus."

Cities have been fighting for months to preserve the 66-year-old urban revitalization program, which helps communities eliminate blight and create affordable housing by reinvesting property tax revenues that would otherwise be shared with counties and schools.

Flagship redevelopment projects around the East Bay include new offices at the reopened Ford Assembly Plant on Richmond's waterfront, the historic restoration of the Fox Theater in Oakland and Pittsburg's Vidrio housing and retail complex. Future big-dollar developments would be shelved if the agencies end, officials say; there aren't enough general fund revenues these days to finance large-scale projects.

Opposition to the bill is particularly fierce in Oakland, where the agency plays a part in roughly half of all City Council business, according to Mayor Jean Quan.

"They're trying to use very small legal loophole to get away with this by saying the cities are voluntarily giving back the funds to keep their redevelopment agencies," she said. "But if you have a gun to your head, it's not voluntary."

If the law withstands legal challenges, Contra Costa cities will face steep payments, according to the redevelopment association. Those include Oakland at $40 million; Emeryville at $13.2 million; Richmond at $10.4 million; Fremont at $9 million; Pittsburg at $6.6 million and Concord at $6.2 million. Cities with smaller agencies such as Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill and Livermore would have to make payments of more than $1 million.

Some cities are confident that they can buy into the new plan, unpleasant as it may be. Fremont's agency, for example, recently paid off all of its debt and negotiated an increase in revenue, according to redevelopment director Elisa Tierney.

"It's a lot easier for cities like us that have a little bit of cash on hand," Tierney said. "For some agencies that already have debt, it's the death knell."

The state already took back a portion of redevelopment funds last year to ease the school budget crisis. Cities such as Pittsburg and Hercules that failed to make the required payments would remain millions of dollars in debt even if they could find the required "pay to play" funds.

At least five East Bay cities have told the Redevelopment Association that they cannot make the payments.

In Antioch, councilwoman Mary Rocha called Brown's actions, "devastating," and said she felt like the city's state representatives had committed a betrayal.

The take-away could mean more tax dollars for other public agencies such as schools and fire departments. Cities argue that in the long term, redevelopment agencies make back the funds they use by boosting property tax revenues and creating jobs.

"The economy's in the toilet and this is the last economic tool cities have to do job creation and construction in their communities," said Matt Rodriguez, city manager for San Pablo, which plans to support the legal challenge to the bill. "I think this is just a money grab and it's going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of folks"

Contact Hannah Dreier at 510-262-2787. Follow her at Twitter.com/hannahdreier. Staff writers Paul Burgarino, Rick Radin, Sean Maher and Tom Lochner contributed to this story.

By the numbers
If a "pay to play" bill endorsed by Gov. Jerry Brown withstands legal challenges, East Bay cities will face steep payments, according to the redevelopment association. Some of those include:
$40 million: Oakland
$13.2 million: Emeryville
$10.4 million: Richmond
$9 million: Fremont
$6.6 million: Pittsburg
$6.2 million: Concord

The Government Accountability Project

The Emeryville Government Accountability Project

Citizen Access

As part of the on-going effort to strengthen democratic institutions and citizen involvement in Emeryville, the Tattler will publish the telephone numbers of elected officials as they become known.  For decades here politicians made their phone numbers public and would take calls from constituents.  Sadly, this tradition has been waning, and citizen access has eroded.  Meanwhile, developers routinely meet with politicians and city staff in closed door sessions. We are dismayed to see this weakening of citizen access to the levers of power even while corporate access has never been stronger.  Accordingly, we now add the unpublished telephone number of city council member Ruth Atkin to the list of published numbers of Emeryville's elected officials.

Future would be politicians should take warning:  If you win office and try to keep your telephone number confidential, the Tattler will publish it if we can find it.

Here then is the newest contact-

Ruth Atkin, City Council Member:

(510) 915-0167

Here is the list so far:

City Council

Nora Davis -  (510) 652-2199

Ken Bukowski -  (510) 305-0000

Kurt Brinkman - Unlisted

Jennifer West - (510) 420-5795

School Board

Josh Simon -  (510) 601-1480

Cheryl Webb - (510) 654-6012*

Melodi Dice - Unlisted

Pat Hooper - (510) 384-7882*

Miguel Dwin - (510) 381-2023* 

*unlisted but obtained by the Tattler

State Controller Report Shows Emeryville Failed To Redevelop Land As Mandated

This March 7th re-printed story from the Los Angeles Times, highly critical of California redevelopment agencies, is timely considering the Wednesday vote to provisionally abolish redevelopment agencies state-wide.  Emeryville is shown to have spent $48.8 million from FY 2001-01 to 2007-08 but failed to develop land within five years.  State Controller John Chiang uncovered fraud, corruption and ubiquitous bad public policy within redevelopment agencies across the state.  The story was reported in a March 7th edition of the Tattler.  To review Emeryville's part in the LA Times story, please click on the hyperlink below, "How is your redevelopment agency spending money?"

Redevelopment agencies shortchanged California schools $40 million, controller’s review finds

March 7, 2011 |  9:43 am

Redevelopment agencies in California illegally shortchanged schools by at least $40 million last year, forcing the state to make up the money, according to findings released Monday morning by State Controller John Chiang.

The review of redevelopment agencies comes as the Legislature is poised to vote on Gov. Jerrry Brown's proposal to eliminate municipal redevelopment agencies as part of his budget plan. One city, Palm Desert, spent public money meant for improving slums and blight on a luxury golf course.

Times' Data Desk: How is your redevelopment agency spending money?

"The lack of accountability and transparency is a breeding ground for waste, abuse, and impropriety," Chiang said in a statement. "In whatever form local redevelopment takes in the future, the level of oversight and openness must be consistent with the amount of public dollars entrusted to their care."

The report comes as many redevelopment advocates fear that the Legislature is leaning toward abolishing the agencies, which run on $5 billion a year in property taxes. Brown wants to send the money to schools and counties instead, and take $1.7 billion this year to balance the budget. Proponents of the redevelopment agencies, including the mayors of many of California cities, are outraged, arguing that the program generates jobs and builds thousands of homes for poor and working people. Critics say the money could be better used for other services, and that it is often misspent.

Chiang dispatched auditors around the state in January, saying he wanted to provide "factual, empirical information about how these agencies perform and what they bring to the communities they serve." In the past, his office has declined to scrutinize redevelopment.

The review also found that the agencies' outside auditors often did a poor job and that the agencies had used affordable housing money in improper ways.

None of the 18 agencies met all filing requirements for financial reports, the review found. Some filed reports in pieces; some did not file at all. Two agencies -- in Pittsburg and Calexico -- also made questionable loans to their cities' general funds. Pittsburg lent $16.6 million last fiscal year without interest. Most of the money was unspent, which allowed the city to earn interest on those funds.

RELATED:

California to audit 18 redevelopment agencies

Lots of cash and little scrutiny in city redevelopment

Bid to kill redevelopment agencies sets stage for fierce battle

-- Jessica Garrison

Photo: California Controller John Chiang. Credit: Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press