Wareham Development: Sterile, Banal, Corporate

The New EmeryStation Greenway: feels very corporate.

Corporate landscaping, banal architecture:

The Uninspired Wareham Emeryville Development Portfolio

Opinion/News Analysis

"Lick 'n stick" brick on a massive, non-
pedestrian friendly building.
It feels phony because it is phony.  This
building replaced genuine load bearing masonry
buildings waiting to be rehabilitated as the
General Plan dictates.

Wareham Development Corporation, a major developer in the heart of Emeryville, is finishing out their newest property here, 'EmeryStation Greenway' on Hollis Street, giving residents a chance to see how this building will impact the neighborhood: the pedestrian experience, the psychological sense of public space and the overall created general sense of livability for local inhabitants.  Unfortunately what is already evident is that EmeryStation Greenway will just be another Wareham development offering Emeryville residents a sterile and banal corporate street-scape.

The problem is that there is a decided lack of real planning here.

Leftover 'Second International Style' glass boxes
juxtaposed with curtain wall lick 'n stick brick.
Kentucky blue grass and corporate
"Turd-in-a- Plaza" sculpture
completes the picture.

One only needs to observe non-tenant pedestrians as they transect a Wareham building to see the problem:  people don't wish to linger, they're voting with their feet, the (corporate) fountains and flowers notwithstanding.  The experience is one of getting past, usually quickly.  Compare this to a newly redeveloped commercial zone in Berkeley on San Pablo Avenue near Dwight Way.  There, pedestrians stop and interact with each other and with the built environment, a sense of intimacy, even discovery for pedestrians.  There's a sense of funkinesss that's critical to human scale development.
Alas, it's anathema to Emeryville's corporate land use ethos.

Other than the tenants, people walk on by the
parking garage fronted by Kentucky blue grass.

Perhaps being cognizant of the stultifying nature of the architecture here, Wareham has thrown in some details one normally associates with the idea of lingering: along the margins of several of their buildings there are planted flowers, offering a chance to stop and smell.  But it's not working.  Even the planted flowers have a regimented corporate feeling, demoting them to a cookie-cutter developer placed tenant amenity; placed to bump up rents.

EmeryStation Greenway is but the latest of Wareham's 13 developments in Emeryville.  Indeed, the whole center of town, the swath of land bounded by Hollis Street, the railroad tracks and the Greenway heading north is now thrown over utterly to Wareham... and more buildings are on the way.

Wareham's politically connected CEO Rich Robbins has built Warehamland with City Hall's help by seizing private property and tearing down the existing buildings, often of architectural and historic merit, all with taxpayer subsidies. And Mr Robbins' political clout at City Hall has enabled him to build Warehamland with extensive use of planning variances from the Building Department due to the fact that his buildings are too tall according to Emeryville's General Plan.  A less connected developer would not be allowed to so flagrantly and frequently violate our General Plan.

 It's all been very profitable for Mr Robbins but it has helped contribute to the $250 million debt, left over from the former Redevelopment Agency, that must be paid back.

This second floor "park" in the center
of a Wareham building was sold as a public
amenity for the residents of Emeryville with
guaranteed public access 24/7.  The Planning Commission
was impressed.  Ever been to this "park"?

Other large development in Emeryville has generally involved single parcels of land bordered by public streets and sidewalks.  In Warehamland, the public thoroughfares, the major arterial of Hollis Street and the side streets, bisect through the Wareham realm, creating a feeling of the public commons yielding to a private developer's whims.

 The Planning Commission too has abdicated its planning authority to Mr Robbins.  The result is the undemocratic Warehamland; one single man's vision for the very heart of Emeryville.  Rich Robbins has become the defacto designer of the vast center of our town, and the primary function is to serve as a profit center for Wareham.  It has the feeling of a town driven by external ideology, a town without pride or a sense of responsibility to the public commons.  

Citizen's Oversight Chairman Resigns In Protest

Crisis at center of Center of Community Life:

Second Resignation At Oversight Committee

At Thursday night's City/School Committee meeting, the Chair of the
 Measure J Citizens' Oversight Committee, Emeryville resident and parent Brian Carver, indicated that he does not intend to seek an additional term on the Committee due to his
 having "lost faith" in the Center of Community Life project and in the School Board's
 management of it.

  The action makes the second such resignation in less than a year for the embattled Oversight Committee.

  

Mr Carver, an attorney and professor at Cal Berkeley's School of Information, gave his monthly report on Oversight Committee activities in
 which he described the Committee's continuing frustration with trying to
 work with the District Staff and Board on even mundane issues such as 
the structure of the Committee and member term lengths and also
 explained that his one-year term as Chair would be expiring making this 
his last report as Chair to the City School Committee.  



Schools Superintendent Debbra Lindo and Council member Nora Davis followed his
 monthly report by praising Mr Carver's work on the Committee over the last
 year, acknowledging the difficulty of the task.
  



Mr Carver then told the Committee that he had also
 prepared a public comment to express his own personal view of the last
 year's work of the Oversight Committee.  

At that point he told shocked attendees he would not be inclined to continue serving on 
the Oversight Committee because he had lost faith in the Center of Community Life project
 and in the District's handling of it. 

  

Mr Carver said he could not summarize a
 year's worth of issues but would highlight three:



First, he argued that the Board should have a clearly articulated
 long-term plan for all three of the School District properties, Emery High School, Anna
 Yates Elementary School, and the abandoned Ralph Hawley Middle School.  He added that it was “irresponsible” for 
the School Board not to clearly communicate to the public such plans for all
 three properties, instead of focusing $95 million  of bond
authorization that will take 20-40 years to pay off all on a single
 property.



Secondly, Mr Carver argued that the Board should be open to alternatives to 
the Kindergarten through 12^th grade co-location model that the Board favors. He explained that
 parents and a former school board president have repeatedly asked the
 District to seriously consider such alternatives but the District
 instead carries on blindly with a single-minded devotion to the K-12
 silver bullet.   Mr Carver argued that even if the K-12 model were 
educationally superior, which he disputed, he said that the finances 
and the space available “don't pencil out” and that the District would be 
better able to achieve its goals if they were not trying to cram
 everything onto the single High School site.



Lastly, he said that it should not be so hard to contribute one's
 opinions on what one would like to see in a future school and community 
center.  He said he has felt ostracized for expressing a different 
opinion than the District staff and Board.



He concluded by highlighting for the public what he thinks is a 
looming mistake on the horizon. He said that the District will likely
 soon finalize its decision to enter into a “lease-leaseback” arrangement 
with Turner Construction for the construction of the Center of Community Life, likening it 
to writing Turner one big check and hoping for the best.  Mr Carver argued
 that in this economy, the District should instead put the project out 
for competitive bidding, a process he said could save the District 
millions of dollars.



Later that same meeting the City/Schools Committee blithely approved the Center of Community Life’s
 conceptual design, placing K-12 and Community Services all on the High School 
site, without so much as a word in response from a school board or city 
council member to the (former) chairman of the Citizen’s Oversight Committee, Mr Carver's concerns.

Mr Carver's resignation in protest makes the second time for the Citizen's Oversight Committee; last September, committee member Shirley Enomoto resigned from her position in protest citing an unsupported and recalcitrant School Board.  Ms Enomoto was serving as the State mandated taxpayer's representative to the Oversight Committee.


Brian Carver lives in the Triangle neighborhood with his wife, council member Jac Asher and their two children who both attend Emeryville public schools.

The Broken Record Twins

Councilwoman Nora Davis:
Broken record

Councilman Kurt Brinkman:
Broken record

Opinion
We can't afford livability for Emeryville.  We have to make sure the biggest businesses pay less Emeryville tax than the smaller businesses.  We've got to give the developers everything they want.  It won't pencil out.  No comment.  We can't let the citizens decide for themselves about the business tax cap.  We've got to widen the streets to allow more traffic.  We don't have the money.  Emeryville's not good enough to ask more from developers.  We can't quiet traffic to keep bicycling safe on Horton Street.  We're not in the position to ask developers to build housing for families.  We can't afford livability for Emeryville.  We have to make sure the biggest businesses pay less Emeryville tax than the smaller businesses.  We've got to give the developers everything they want.  It won't pencil out.  No comment.  We can't let the citizens decide for themselves about the business tax cap.  We've got to widen the streets to allow more traffic.  We don't have the money.  Emeryville's not good enough to ask more from developers.  We can't quiet traffic to keep bicycling safe on Horton Street.  We're not in the position to ask developers to build housing for families.  We can't afford livability for Emeryville.  We have to make sure the biggest businesses pay less Emeryville tax than the smaller businesses.  We've got to give the developers everything they want.  It won't pencil out.  No comment.  We can't let the citizens decide for themselves about the business tax cap.  We've got to widen the streets to allow more traffic.  We don't have the money.  Emeryville's not good enough to ask more from developers.  We can't quiet traffic to keep bicycling safe on Horton Street.  We're not in the position to ask developers to build housing for families.

We need to get up and put on a new record, this one keeps skipping and playing the same thing over and over.

The Visioning Thing

It's Thursday, Another Day We Can't Afford Livability

Opinion

With much fanfare, Tuesday night's City Hall 'Visioning Workshop' drew a large crowd of residents keen on weighing in on and hearing about Emeryille's future in a post Redevelopment Agency dystopia.  Three council members made it clear: the collapse of Redevelopment funding need not mean the end of pursuing livability for our town.  The other two were not as sanguine; now is the time to throw in the towel when it comes to livability they warned.

The two council member naysayers, predictably, are Nora Davis and her sidekick Kurt Brinkman.  These two are the same ones that have for years let developers walk all over us, even during the go-go years, refusing to negotiate on our behalf, instead giving in to the "it won't pencil out" histrionics from developers about how they can't afford to build anything nice in Emeryville.  The pedagogy is remarkably consistant: the Davis/Brinkman team always feels the developers pain.

Now there's a whole new paradigm with the Redevelopment Agency gone and we're going to need to rethink how we develop and to hear Davis/Brinkman giving the same old prescription as they did on Tuesday night removes all doubt: listening to them now is a little like listening to the Fox News commentators didactically lecture about how to prosecute the Iraq war even after the whole 'weapons of mass destruction' lie they forwarded was revealed.

Livability is not something we can afford now the Emeryville Two say.  It's going to be public safety and public works and nothing else from City Hall...oh and we're not in a position to ask developers to build family friendly housing, thank you very much.  Nora Davis detoured for a moment to explain that we don't even need family friendly housing anyway since families will locate here no matter the housing stock supply since the schools are going to be so good.  We're wondering why she bothered to rationalize beyond the standard line that family housing 'won't pencil out'.  Could it be that Davis/Brinkman feels a little exposed on this in front of hundreds of onlookers?

Still, it shouldn't be surprising that a massively destabilizing contraction like the demise of the Redevelopment Agency should net anything substantively different from these two; the broken record twins.  The idea it would seem is to keep your copy of Machiavelli's The Prince close at hand, stay on message, patronize, co-opt when you need to and smile, smile, smile.

School Board Votes To Lay Off Teachers

Board Makes First Move Towards
Teacher Layoffs

Tonight the Emery School Board voted to start a State mandated process to lay off teachers at Emery High School.  The unanimous vote to fire at least six teacher positions came after the Board heard impassioned pleas against the action from several parents.  The action initiated tonight will culminate in a March 12th finalization vote by the Board and the actual layoffs would happen in June according to School Superintendent Debbra Lindo.
Board members inveighed against the negative fiscal effects of the cessation of a rental agreement with the Piedmont Unified School District for their use of Emery's middle school facilities, a major source of cash for Emery over the last couple of years.

The School District duly and legally noticed the agenda for tonight's meeting but some parents cried foul for the lack of notification for such an important issue.  Indeed, the notification seemed to have been not enough for any of the parents in attendance; they railed against the lack of transparency and candor from the Board regarding the layoffs.

Board member Josh Simon, jarred by the rancor from the crowd tried to mollify the parents, "We're starting a conversation" he intoned.  Board President Cheryl Webb highlighted that some of the layoffs are being done in response to "programmatic changes" prompted by the impending start-up of the Center of Community Life building project.

It's Not That Bad, It's Only A 'PKS Reduction'
The crowd, while larger than a typical School Board meeting, would likely have been larger still if parents knew ahead of time, the meaning of "Administrative PKS Reductions" listed in the official agenda made public for the meeting.  To the uninitiated, "PKS Reductions" means 'Particular Kinds of Staff' Reductions; a euphemism for teacher layoffs.
The PKS gobbledygook may serve as a diversion from the job at hand tonight but it was noted at the meeting the District had satisfied the minimum legal posting requirements for a public meeting.

Outrage Erupts: Property Owners Association Forms

Lack Of Transparency At City Hall: New Group Forms 

Former city councilman Ken Bukowski recently announced the formation of the 'Emeryville Property Owners Association', a group risen up organically he says, in response to a lack of transparency at City Hall. The organization, meant to serve as a conduit of information between property owners, the School District and City Hall is so far made up of property owners in the north Hollis Street area and is concerning itself at the onset with the North Hollis Underground Utility District.  The District is a new special tax assessment area set up by City Hall, effecting property owners there.  Mr Bukowski explains the organization is attracting property owners, many of whom are business owners, who's interests have been under-represented by City Hall and the Chamber of Commerce.

The North Hollis Underground Utility District has been set up to get rid of unsightly power lines along Hollis Street primarily by Wareham Development, a well connected prime mover and shaker developer in that part of Emeryville.
Mr Bukowski noted that a special assessment district such as North Hollis must be initiated by property owners in a democratic fashion but a lack of transparency from City Hall combined with a desire to help Wareham has resulted in a steamroller project.  Mr Bukowski claims the proposed undergrounding work will be a costly tax for a majority of property owners in the North Hollis area, some of whom were caught unaware by the whole deal until the recently sent city notices of the amount each owner will owe.

Mr Bukowski also noted the interest to be charged the property owners for the undergrounding work is onerous: 6-8% and this is unwarranted.

In the case of North Hollis, Wareham's holdings are so vast that only one other property owner's OK was needed, combined with three holdings of the City of Emeryville, to greenlight the whole undergrounding project.  The city's assessment to itself for the undergrounding work would amount to more than a million dollars, paid from the General Fund according to Mr Bukowski.

The former councilman said out of 21 owners, as few as two were aware the special assessment district was being created and that these affected property owners are clamoring for the collective representation that the Property Owners Association will bring.

At their first meeting, the Property Owners Association also discussed the Emeryville Center of Community Life and the Measure J bonds they must pay.  Mr Bukowski told the Tattler that of the 16 property owners that attended, only three had even heard of the Center of Community Life and the tax they'll have to pay for the bonds.  "This organization is going to be all about transparency" he said, "The people that pay the money should be appraised of the situation" he added.

The group will be open to all Emeryville property owners and will have a website opening soon.

'Visioning' Workshop To Be Held

From the City of Emeryville:

Special City Council Meeting: Visioning Workshop

What are the challenges and opportunities in achieving the City's vision?

How does the elimination of the City's Redevelopment Agency impact the community?

What should be the City's priorities over the next five years?

In the past couple of years, the Emeryville community has adopted a new General Plan and related plans, such as the Climate Action Plan and Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan to frame the City's vision for the next 10-20 years. Now is the time for the City Council and community to come together to prioritize what are the most important projects, programs, and initiatives to be accomplished in the next five years- in the context that the State's elimination of redevelopment will make realizing the community's vision more challenging. The City's 2012-13 and 2013-14 operating budget and capital improvement (CIP) budget will incorporate the priorities set through this facilitated workshop-with the City Council conducting a final review of the operating budget (programs and initiatives) for adoption in late May/early June. The proposed CIP budget (construction projects, such as parks and  pedestrian/bicycle improvements) will be adopted later. 

Visioning Workshop

Tuesday, February 28, 2012: 5:30-8pm.  

Emeryville Civic Center: 1333 Park Avenue

Sandwiches, beverages and snacks will be provided as well as childcare for children 5+ years old. For more information, contact the City Clerk's Office.

Anonymous Tattler Writer Sparks Furor

An anonymous written comment to a Tattler story about the School District last week has the town abuzz with speculation over the identity of the author but more pressingly, the allegations of corruption contained within it.  The writer seems to be an insider at the School District, with an extensive knowledge of the workings there.  In addition to stirring up much consternation around town, the written comment has drawn in at least one council member according to sources close to City Hall.  The unnamed council member is indicating the need to "firm up disclosure standards" at the School District in the event that the allegations made by the anonymous commenter are found to be true.  The writer of the comment piece is invited to contact the Tattler privately to help investigate these allegations, with the pledge that their anonymity will be respected if so desired.

The original Tattler story  dated February 15th, should be read first.  Here then is the anonymous comment piece dated February 16th:

     .             .             .             .

During the search for a new [schools] superintendent, Emery Unified School District (EUSD) staff asked the School Board for someone who would give the district a fresh start.  They were tired of the old ties and backroom politics. Instead, the School Board hired a superintendent who came in the door pushing through a $200,000 contract for the National Equity Project (NEP), formerly known as the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools, i.e. BAYCES - the same group that was here just a few years ago doing school improvement work that failed.  Keyword: “FAILED.”  Who got blamed?  The same people who asked for a fresh start: EUSD staff. The School Board doesn’t care about their morale. 

So what do they care about? Reinforcing the same old ties, the stinking crap we’ve lived with for years.

[Former Emery school Superintendent] Tony Smith worked for NEP when he came to EUSD after the State of California took over [running the School District].  The Emeryville Center of Community Life is his legacy.  As a superintendent, he left behind a mess.  Three superintendents later and this small community is still struggling to make sense of that over-sized project.  According to NEP’s website, John Gooding, the architect of Smith’s appointment as superintendent, has been an NEP board member since 2004.  Anakarita Allen, Emery Secondary School Principal, has been on NEP’s board since 2006.  Current superintendent Debbra Lindo also served on NEP’s board up to the point when she was hired by EUSD.  Do you see the ties?  Obviously the School Board wasn’t interested in a fresh start or hiring a superintendent capable of leading change.  If they were, they would expect Lindo and Allen, the two highest paid “educators” in the district, to apply what they’ve learned from NEP instead of our having to pay “their” organization $200,000.

Let’s add up the cost of this scam game: $200,000 contract to pay NEP for school improvement; $170,000 (est) Superintendent Lindo’s salary and benefits; $140,000 (est) ESS Principal Allen’s salary and benefits; and $110,000 (est) AYES Principal Lathan’s salary and benefits.  That’s roughly $620,000 to pay administrators and consultants to improve school culture in a district that serves less than 750 students at two sites that sit three blocks apart.  Although Lathan doesn’t appear to be involved in this scam game, her salary matters in the overall scheme of things.

Here’s an alternative: spend $200,000 to hire a kick ass K-12 school leader who knows what they’re doing, who can build trust by giving the district the fresh start it deserves, and $120,000 to hire someone to assist them.  That’s an annual savings of $100K in administrator salaries alone.  Forget the $200,000 in consulting fees.  That money would be better spent on a community bonfire of the whole ECCL project.

Einstein said it best folks: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”  If bringing NEP back to EUSD isn’t doing the same thing all over again, what is?  It would be different if NEP was productive during their last stint at EUSD.  They weren’t!!!  How much did EUSD pay in consulting fees for NEP when Smith was here?  That’s why none of the officials, including Ruth Atkins, who authorized the new NEP contract, who’ve been shoving ECCL down our throats for years any way they can, can complain about anything.  It’s all one big pile of stinking crap and all of their hands are in it!  The only way we can get beyond this era of insanity is to elect people who will put education first, who are free of these old ties or at least willing to end them once and for all.  Until then, [what] we should expect is failure.

It’s time to revolt. Enough is enough!

Guest Column: Art Hoff

Save Our Elementary School

A longtime Emeryville resident, business and community leader, Art Hoff is a former Planning Commissioner and former president of the School District Advisory Board of Trustees.

Mr Hoff has long concerned himself with the success of the schools in Emeryville and he has been a major philanthropist to the school district, generously giving both his time and money for the betterment of our schools.

Mr Hoff is concerned that the decision makers adjust their planning properly and be open to new iterations as the Emeryville Center of Community Life school/community center is buffeted by large Measure J bond funding perturbations in the wake of Emeryville's skidding assessed valuation.

.             .              .              .    

IF IT AIN’T BROKE DON’T FIX IT

Anna Yates Elementary, a jewel of a school, just renovated at a cost of $8 Million Dollars, should remain in its present location and not be re-built as part of the Emery Center for Community Life (ECCL).  This would not only provide a better elementary school, it would make available funds to properly complete the ECCL Campus.

Because of the sluggish economy, only $70 Million of the authorized $120 Million will be available for Phase I of the ECCL construction.  Estimates vary, but it could take 10 years for the additional funds to be available.

As a result ECCL will not contain a teaching theatre, a second public gym, a K-3 building and landscaping on the north and south boundaries of the complex. K-3 classes will be held at Anna Yates effectively splitting the elementary school in two.

The School Board is optimistic that they will find the additional money, but it depends on the assessed valuation of the District increasing at an annual rate of 7%.  Last year the assessment role decreased by 7%. 

When the ECCL proposal came before the Planning Commission, a majority of the commissioners thought the site was too small for all the desired uses.  Two telltale items pop up: 1) there is insufficient separation of outside play fields for the lower and upper grade students and 2) the running track which is traditionally a quarter mile oval is in the form of a trapezoid, not suitable for competitive races.

Anna Yates should be retained in its present location and the saved money used to complete the ECCL complex sooner rather than later.  Time is of the essence.  The School District’s enrollment decreased from 802 in 2006 to 718 in 2011 (10%).  And beginning next year the District will have a $1,500,000 deficit (15%) in its annual operating budget.

Art Hoff

2/19/12

Emeryville's New Planning Commissioner

New Professionalism On The Planning Commission?

Opinion/ News Analysis

Emeryville's Planning Commission is well known in the Bay Area as being a friend to developers.  The record is one of business getting more than a fair shake, often at the expense of residents.  This has not been an accident; the city council majority has shown it prefers commissioners to be overtly pro-developer and would-be commissioners who thus find themselves in the good graces of the council majority are the ones that have gotten the appointment.

The February 7th city council selection of Emeryville resident Sean Moss to the Planning Commission seems to be a deviation from the norm.  Mr Moss, a city planning expert, has said that it is imperative for commissioners that there be objective and transparent processes that rely on findings of fact.  A stickler for detail, Mr Moss will likely be a commissioner that insists that the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted. 

Some council members have made public their appreciation for Mr Moss' likely high level of professionalism on the Planning Commission.  But if residents believe their interests will be placed above developer's interests by Planning Commissioner Moss, they may be in for a disappointment.

An E-Mail Record

The Internet, it has been said, never forgets.  And Planning Commissioner Sean Moss has left a written record on his ideas about the role of city planning in a series of public e-mails written in 2009.  In these e-mails, Mr Moss offered musings on the proper role of the Planning Commission with regards to two contentious development proposals at the time: a convenience 'mini-mart' store proposed for the Triangle neighborhood and Wareham Development's Transit Center on Horton Street.  These are musings that the council majority may wish that Mr Moss had not made public in light of their selection of him as Emeryville's newest Planning Commissioner but they're matters of public record.  When viewed discreetly against Mr Moss' normally trenchant planning knowledge, the analysis in these e-mails adds a new dimension to Emeryville's newest Planning Commissioner.   

The Triangle Mini-Mart Controversy 

In 2009 the Planning Commission approved an application to locate a 'mini-mart' convenience store in the Triangle neighborhood.  The decision was reversed by the city council in a highly charged appeal by Triangle neighbors who packed the council chambers to the rafters.

The store was advertised to sell vegetables and convenience items but the residents instead saw a clandestine ghetto liquor store of the type proliferating in West Oakland.  Residents didn't believe the City Hall staff report that claimed liquor sales would not be permitted at the proposed Emeryville store.  And well they shouldn't have for the staff report was simply wrong.  

Your friendly neighborhood corner store:
wilted lettuce, malt liquor, car fresheners

The Triangle appellants had done some sleuthing and found the owner of the proposed mini-mart was the same person that owned several liquor store mini-marts in Oakland; a man guilty of countless infractions perpetrated by his mini-marts that the police had to frequently be summoned to.  West Oakland neighbors were being victimized by patrons of his stores.  The owner had been hauled up before the Oakland city council and at least one of his mini-marts had been shut down.

Who's Misinformed?  

In response to the roiling controversy, Mr Moss noted that past applicant behavior is no basis to inform government planning bodies including the Planning Commission.  Further, he looked to the staff report that clearly stated "no alcohol would be sold."  Mr Moss also noted in a June 24th e-mail that, "This is exactly the kind of mixed-use development we need around here" adding, "I'm surprised it even needs a use permit".  Regarding alcohol sales at the mini-mart, Mr Moss was adamant, "The conditions that were approved contained a prohibition on alcohol sales" he maintained. 

So according to now Commissioner Moss, the rabble that descended on City Hall in 2009 was misinformed but in fact, it was Mr Moss himself that was misinformed.

Honey, can you pick up a forty 

from Emeryville's new mini-mart 

on your way home?

No Alcohol?  Really?

Any Planning Commissioner should not look to a staff report to make final a decision since a staff report does not carry legal weight.  It is the Conditions of Approval that dictates the parameters of a development and Mr Moss was mistaken about alcohol sales in that document.  The Conditions of Approval for the Triangle neighborhood mini-mart said nothing about alcohol sales and the applicant could have started selling MD 20-20 and "forties" by simply applying for a liquor licence after opening the store.  

Emeryville senior planner Miroo Desai said that the store was not prohibited from selling liquor, contrary to the staff report.  Ms Desai was unequivocal in this, "The conditions of Approval for the Triangle mini-mart do not state that alcohol sales are prohibited" she definitively told the Tattler recently.

At the Tattler, we're left wondering; why is it that the Triangle residents, certainly not planning experts themselves, uncovered the fact that the staff report on liquor sales was bunk but Mr Moss couldn't?  Was it a question of a lack of diligence or something else?

In his own defence, Mr Moss now states that in addition to the staff report, the minutes of the Planning Commission meeting show that the commissioners believed alcohol sales would not be permitted,  "I believe what the official adapted Planning Commission minutes state and there is a discrepancy between the two [the minutes and the Conditions of Approval] and with only these two accurate primary sources I can't say which is correct."

Intransigence On The Transit Center

Mr Moss weighed in on Wareham Development's Transit Center proposal in the 2009 e-mails.  He concluded that the Planning Commission may not consider Wareham's bad record on building low quality development at a condo development on Horton Street called The Terraces, built two years before.  There, leaking windows lead to a toxic black mold problem and brought a massive lawsuit from the home owners association.   Mr  Moss said the people of Emeryville's hands were tied however, we have to consider every project on its merits solely, said he.  Planning Commissioners may not let any applicant's past bad behavior inform any new proposal before them. The law is clear on this he maintained.  

Black Mold in new construction:
  Can City Hall protect us?
Or are our hands tied?

Yet in the real world, government officials both elected and appointed, routinely make judgement calls about the impacts development would have on the community.  It's a critical tool to stop marginally acceptable but nevertheless bad projects from moving forward.  Mr Moss effectively says Planning Commissioners (and council members) are automatons; narrowly deciding about projects from a State mandated checklist.  This simplistic and naive view makes disagreement between government officials impossible and negates the obvious conflict between the two decision making bodies.  The Triangle mini-mart itself, approved by the Planning Commission and rejected by the council, is proof that the merits of a project are not decided by a check list only.

And the check list that Mr Moss said is sacrosanct in the 2009 e-mails is not even complete: the section on visual aesthetics alone contains large holes and is not correlated to any aesthetic cannon.  Nor does the check list concern itself with any intangibles such as the psychology of space a proposed development delivers.  This condition has shown itself to be extremely valuable to creating friendly urban spaces even though it's hard to precisely quantify.  It would take the judgement of a sensitive human being, not operating off a check list to make the proper call in that case.

In a turn around from 2009, now Planning Commissioner Moss states it's not so black and white; he told the Tattler, "There are things the Planning Commission can legally consider and things they can't but that doesn't mean they can only consider facts.  There's room and an important place in the process for discretion and that's why all decisions aren't unanimous.  Planning commissioners aren't technocrats.  As a planning commissioner your own opinion is only a part of the consideration of decision making.  Opinions of the community also have weight and all points of view need to be taken into account when making a decision." 

   

New Culture At City Hall: Professionalism

The selection of Mr Moss, a city planner by trade, to be Emeryville's newest Planning Commissioner is part of a continuing and conscious effort to raise the level of professionalism at City Hall.  Gone it would seem, are the days when abject pro-developer ideologues were routinely appointed to the Planning Commission.  Over the last couple of years there's been a higher bar raised netting a higher level of professionalism on the Planning Commission and on other politically appointed bodies in Emeryville.  The simple ideologues may be out but the need for being politically connected seems to be still in place

and unfortunately a higher level of professionalism doesn't necessarily mean the routing out of dogmatic pro-developer culture there; at the Planning Commission and elsewhere at City Hall, it's bound to go more covert.  We're wondering if the idea of presenting a public face of seeming professionals, City Hall is merely attempting to increase it's street credibility.

We'll watch the decisions made by Planning Commissioner Moss and his colleagues over coming the years; will the new higher level of professionalism net a more resident friendly city as one would expect it to?  We like to think Mr Moss' 2009 ramblings are nothing so much as intellectual musings without clear policy nexus.

However recent statements from Mr Moss are worrysome.  Asked about the need for more family friendly housing he recently told members of Residents United for a Livable Emeryville (RULE) that there's more family friendly housing then there are families in Emeryville, noting there are single people living in two-bedroom units in his building.

In addition he equivocated when asked if he would place residents interests above developers, "yes and no" he told the Tattler.

Mr Moss has shown himself to be articulate, with a firm grasp on city planning precepts and we hope he'll be less rigid and more supportive of resident's interests in his role of Planning Commissioners than the 2009 e-mails (and some recent comments)  would suggest.  We hope Planning Commissioner Moss will be a force for real improvement for the residents of Emeryville, not as the new breed of Emeryville "professionals".