Pixar's Broken Promises Affect Schools, Affordable Housing

 Pixar Said it Would Fund Our Schools...

Where is the Money?

Tattler Protest Causes Pixar, Schools, City to 

Unite in Resistance 

City Hall, Schools Don't Seem to Want the Promised Money

Emeryville’s schools and affordable housing problems are worse today because two decades of broken promises by a local successful and beloved company that’s become one of the biggest corporations in the world.  In a deal made two decades ago for a corporate campus expansion that failed to deliver for local residents, Pixar, now a division of Disney Corporation told Emeryville voters they would fund Emeryville’s schools and give $700,000 yearly to help pay for affordable housing, neither of which has materialized. 

An election, held on November 2nd 2004, concerned whether Pixar, who wanted a major campus expansion, should be subject to a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that would bring improvements to the Emeryville community.  Pixar, who didn't want to be beholden to a CBA said its promises to fund the schools and provide money for affordable housing were enough.  To help assure victory, Pixar told the City and residents, they would pack up and leave Emeryville if the two ballot measures allowing for the expansion didn't pass.  

The promises were not a part of the development agreement but Pixar spent more than $200,000 and went around the City of Emeryville, making their promises directly to the Emeryville voters in their 'Yes on T&U' campaign mailers sent to every household.  The majority of voters said yes, handing Pixar a victory and as a consequence, there was no CBA but the promises to fund the schools and to fund affordable housing are still in effect.    

The Tattler will continue the protest against Pixar's 
broken promises over the next few months despite the 
threats from the City of Emeryville.

The campus expansion agreement gave Pixar a very large parcel of land that was previously earmarked in the General Plan for housing and also an entire public street, the former Emery Street between Park Avenue and 45th Street.  The land consolidation made in the agreement created Emeryville’s largest ‘super block’, stretching all the way from Hollis Street to nearly San Pablo Avenue.  Super blocks are antithetical to pedestrian activity and other goals of mixed use zoning.   They are generally seen in planning circles as a hallmark of broken public policy. 

Since 2004, Pixar has failed to fund the school district at all and it has failed to pay the City for affordable housing at a rate any higher than it did before the campus expansion.  The promises were made in campaign literature mailed to every voter by the ‘Yes on T&U’ campaign committee registered with the State of California.

As the 20 year anniversary of Measures T&U approaches, the Tattler has stepped up the pressure on Pixar with a 12 foot protest banner placed at the main gate on Park Avenue.  The protest will continue on occasionally and unannounced through the summer and into November.

Pixar spent $200,000 to convince Emeryville voters, threatening
to leave if they didn't get everything they wanted.

Noteworthy in the protest, nobody from the City of Emeryville or the School District has shown any interest in getting Pixar to honor their promises.  Odd because those two agencies stand to benefit from Pixar paying the money they said they would.  In fact, the City has ‘sided’ with Pixar in the imbroglio.  In a January 19th letter obtained in a public records request, City Manager Paul Buddenhagen told Pixar Facilities Manager Patty Bonfilio, the impending protest banner would be considered a “threat to property” and he added, “we will be on alert to him”, referring to the Tattler editor.

We reached out to the School Board and the Superintendent of the District for this story but our letters and calls were not answered.  Also, Paul Buddenhagen was contacted but he did not return calls or emails.  Rounding out blanket refusals to comment was Pixar’s Director of Public Relations, Eric Zerton.  

We tried to hand out literature explaining about the broken promises to employees driving in
in the morning but none would take a flyer.  One employee expressed fear of reprisals from Pixar,
"There are cameras out here", they said.
One interesting thing we learned: Virtually EVERY Pixar employee
 drives to work.  We saw zero bikes and only one pedestrian in the hour and a half we were there.

Emeryville’s then City Manager John Flores sells the Pixar expansion to the Planning Commission (above).  

He said the suburban style development “will better meet the City’s vision for providing a more dense, vibrant urban city”.   In fact Pixar has not provided community vibrancy at all, locked away as they are in their sealed campus, with no community interaction whatsoever.  But he saved the biggest canard for last; “Pixar has been and will continue to be a major benefactor to the community, supporting the schools”, he told the decision makers.  No City Manager since then has explained the broken promise and what should be done about it.

Emeryville City Manager Announces He's Quitting

 Paul Buddenhagen Lasts Less Than Two Years as Emeryville City Manager

Is City Hall Dysfunction a Reason For His Departure? 

And so another Emeryville City Manager bugs out.  

Paul Buddenhagen announced to the people of Berkeley yesterday he will be leaving his Emeryville job where he’s been for less than two years, to take up the position of Berkeley City Manager.  While he will take a much larger salary than the $280,000 he receives in Emeryville, that fact was not mentioned as a contributing factor.   Mr Buddenhagen is familiar with Berkeley, having served as Berkeley’s Deputy City Manager before his Emeryville stint.

During his short stint in command at Emeryville, Mr Buddenhagen’s governing style dovetailed with the City Council majority.  One of his first acts was to close down Emeryville’s formerly popular ‘Coffee With the City Manager’ program that invited average citizens to come to City Hall to freely ask questions and solicit ideas.  Coffee With the City Manager has been a once a month scheduled event since 2015 (with a break during Covid), started by then Manager Sabrina Landreth.  Every Emeryville City Manager up until Paul Buddenhagen continued on with the tradition. 

Paul Buddenhagen
Emeryville's newest former City Manager.
Despite a guiding philosophy matching the 
City Council majority, he departs in September.

 

The curtailing of citizen engagement has not happened in a vacuum.  The City Council majority, led by the two termer John Bauters, has largely forgone accountably, commanding a government famously unresponsive to its constituents.  Mr Bauters and now Mayor Courtney Welch have tightly controlled citizen participation, disallowing constituents or the local press access.  Unlike previous Council members, they are not available - not by phone, emails or any other venue.  The only way the Tattler has been able to get any answers to questions at all from Mr Bauters has been as a result of rushing him with our camera as he is caught in public.  Mr Buddenhagen has also governed with a ‘no public access’ policy, probably taking his cues from Mr Bauters.  Notably, two Council members do make themselves available to answer constituent’s questions, Vice Mayor David Mourra and Council member Kalimah Priforce.

Mr Buddenhagen has managed City Hall with an illiberal undemocratic guiding philosophy with timidity as a default.  In response to a man with a camera, he permanently closed down more than 90% of the people’s building in 2023.  More recently he closed down the popular Zoom capability for citizens to remotely speak at meetings because of some Nazis who had called in with racist comments. 

While it is compelling that the City of Berkeley is offering Mr Buddenhagen more money than Emeryville is willing to pay, we can’t be sure that's the only or even the primary reason for his leaving.  For the last two years, the Council, controlled by Mr Bauters and gladly taken up recently by Ms Welch, has been a locus of uncivil and boorish behavior.  Recriminations are routinely handed down from the dais against citizens as well as against the dissenting Council member Priforce.  The dysfunction and turmoil may have contributed to Mr Buddenhagen’s decision to depart.  

City Manager Buddenhagen will leave for Berkeley in September.  He did not answer calls for this story.

Apple Gets Free Use of Emeryville Police Cars in Security Deal

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

EPD Officers Get Overtime Pay for Security, Courtesy of Apple 

But

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Promised "Destination Restaurant" Site Sits Empty For Nine Years

 Developer/City Scams Emeryville Citizens 

"Non-Chain Destination Restaurant" Promised for Parc-on-Powell Project Was Never To Be 

5700 Hollis Street
This was going to be a non-chain restaurant 
serving the community.  Instead, for nine years it has been
vacant like so many other Emeryville storefronts.

With promises of a non-chain destination restaurant made to the public from City Hall and a very visible prime central Emeryville location opening directly onto a park, people may wonder why the storefront retail at the ‘Parc on Powell’ project at 5700 Hollis has remained empty since the site was developed as a mixed use project more than nine years ago.  The storefront, over 3000 square feet in size sits below a large apartment block and has been ready for a tenant for almost a decade.  But it remains vacant like so many other empty storefronts in Emeryville, a festering wound on the town’s retail streetscape.  A recent Tattler investigation found there was never any intention to bring a restaurant here despite all the promises from the developer and the City.

A quick check reveals money is the primary reason this has not rented out to any retail tenant.  At $13,000 per month and the encumbrance of a minimum five year lease, so far no retailer feels they can turn a profit at this location at that price.  On top of that, we found out recently the space was built back in 2015 in such a way as to preclude a restaurant, so says Megan Basso of Walnut Creek’s Lockehouse Realty, the retail broker assigned to the address.  Ms Basso has been trying to rent out the space to anybody for years, it’s just that no takers have surfaced she says. 

The storefront sits right on a park, with an outdoor seating
area adjacent to the green.  Perfect for a restaurant.

After publicly made verbal guarantees from Emeryville’s former Planning Director, Charlie Bryant to the whole community that a restaurant would rent out the space, we find out nine years later that was never going to happen.  Plumbing, HVAC and other infrastructure necessary for restaurant use with apartments above, was not designed into the space from the beginning, rendering the space unworkable for restaurant use.

Heading off any opposition from the community for the proposed development back in 2015, the City sweetened the pot by dangling a destination restaurant before the public.  The development proposal sailed through the approval process without substantial community objection.  That might have been the only use of the "restaurant" to the City (and the developer).   

This is the green just off the small plaza fronting the 
would-be restaurant.  Perfect for outdoor dining with kids.
But, protecting the developer, the City lied to us.

Restaurant or not, libertarians among us might wonder why the property owners don’t start lowering the rent until they get any taker; the whole supply and demand thing.  In reality, many if not most apartment tower owners in Emeryville (usually large real estate investment trust corporations) are not interested in renting out their storefront retail spaces and they just write it off as a loss for tax purposes.  It’s the same reason why the Sherwin Williams developer on Sherwin Street  (called ‘The Emery’), Lennar Corporation, hasn’t rented out the retail associated with that property.  After years of promising local neighborhood serving retail at both the Emery and Parc on Powell and after the City of Emeryville refused to get the assurances in writing, now these developers are letting the storefronts sit empty, bringing down the neighborhoods.  

This scenario has repeated itself over and over again over the years in Emeryville.  The only reason why there is retail storefront at each new apartment tower is because the Emeryville Planning Department is forcing the developers to put them in so they can sell the project to the public as a General Plan conforming ‘mixed use’ development.  After that planning box is checked, there’s nobody minding the store (so to speak) and the retail sits empty for decades as the developer takes his tax write off.

Director Bryant has since retired and was unavailable for comment for this story.

Mayor Welch Becomes the ‘Candace Owens’ of Emeryville, Lashing Out Against Critics

Mayor Courtney Welch Makes a Slashing Power Play For a Rare Political Opening

Lame Duck ‘Strongman of Emeryville’ John Bauters Leaves Political Vacuum Welch Seeks

Emeryville’s Mayor Goes on Bullying Offensive Against Her Constituents, Colleague and the Local Media

News Analysis

Emeryville residents might be wondering and alarmed at Mayor Courtney Welch’s increasing childish attacks against critics, especially her social media tirades against her council colleague Kalimah Priforce and the editors of both of Emeryville’s online news journals.  Giving away her pugilist and impolitic impulses, many citizens have noted how Mayor Welch finds comfort in unleashing streams of invective rhetoric against anyone with the temerity to challenge her. What many hoped the City’s recently adopted Code of Ethics would temper, Mayor Welch’s increasing attacks have continued undiminished, even increased.  This sort of divisive politics, rampant across much of America, has landed in Emeryville to the dismay of many.

Mayor Courtney Welch: Bully
Ask for accountability and wait for the fireworks.
All chaotic dysfunction mode all the time.
Regardless, she says she's "fighting for the people".
Which people?  Developer people?

The pettiness coming from Ms Welch may be illiberal but it is not without reason as it turns out.

After former mayor and indubitable ‘Strongman Leader of Emeryville’ John Bauters’ announcement in December that he would be seeking an Alameda County Supervisor Board seat, he  automatically vacates his council seat come November. This has created a gaping political vacuum of influence with potentially one of four council members to fill.  Ms Welch appears to be seizing the strongman position with her style of ‘mean girl cheerleader’ rancor against any would-be challengers.

The persistent brashness of relentless attacks by Mayor Welch serves to highlight the rare and seductive power that the unwritten position of ‘Strongman Leader of Emeryville’ embodies. Indeed, there have only been two of this archetype in Emeryville politics over the last 35 years; long term Council member Nora Davis (1987-2016) and John Bauters (2016-2024). Owing to our peculiar and seemingly entrenched political culture, since the mid 1980s, the Strongman Leader of Emeryville exercises unwarranted power over our town with the aid of a compliant, subservient council majority made up of sycophantic minions. 

In this way, both Davis and Bauters employed developer-friendly stances with no effective opposition.  Dissident Council members in the minority over the last 35 years have been progressive but ineffective.  Council member Priforce now serves as the lone dissenting progressive voice.  Through the 80s, 90s and 2000s, Jennifer West, Jac Asher, John Fricke and Greg Harper stood where Priforce currently stands, but Mr Priforce’s Brooklyn born scrapper-style bravado seems like a new kind of opposition. 

With a conspicuous onslaught of unprecedented public taunts and attacks against her critics online and in the council chambers, Ms Welch’s combative style is conjuring up the bad girl Candace Owens of Fox News fame - the bombastic political commentator that vilifies progressives and utilizes social media as her most powerful tool.

Notable is a fresh series of tweets against E’ville Eye editor Rob Arias who has been critical of her online behavior.  In the past, Mayor Welch outed Mr Arias online for defrauding Emeryville’s Below Market Rate (BMR) housing program, leaving herself open to investigations into her own BMR rental status to be challenged by the Emeryville Tattler after discovering inadequate reportings of her household income; violations which would have disqualified most people.


Lame Duck City Councilman John Bauters
He replaced Nora Davis as Strongman Leader
but now his star is beginning to set in Emeryville.




Attacks against Mr Priforce’s dissenting voice on the Council have emanated mostly from Council member Bauters, but notable is the co-joining and ramping up of attacks by Mayor Welch of late.  On numerous occasions, Ms. Welch has retweeted (the “X” platform formerly known as Twitter) Mr Priforce’s tweets with spurious charges thrown against him.  Regardless of provocation, Mr. Priforce, it should be noted, has never taken to social media to attack Ms. Welch, and has shown restraint from criticizing his colleague's posts.  

Given our town’s proclivity for enabling the ‘Strongman Leader of Emeryville’ role beyond that which is normal, it is easy to imagine how the Mayor’s recent power play will work out to her advantage.  The barrage of attacks against the local media and her lone progressive council colleague can be interpreted as a show of force directed at her remaining colleagues, Council members David Mourra and Sukhdeep Kaur.  Lacking the audacity of Mayor Welch, Mr Mourra and Ms Kaur are being expected to fall-in-line as her minions, as they did earlier for Mr Bauters.

Calling herself “A fighter for the people,” without specifying which people (corporate developers and landlords are people) and without recognizing the irony, the ambitious Courtney Welch, like John Bauters, is likely using the position of Strongman Leader of Emeryville, as a launching pad for her quest for higher political office beyond Emeryville.

After realizing the path was closed to her by way of the Oakland City Council in the city she lived up until two years ago, Ms Welch saw our town as a place where she could bide her time and build her name. Less than two months after moving to Emeryville she began her campaign for City Council.  Less than a year after winning, she along with former Council members Dianne Martinez and Ally Medina, requested a collegiality pledge from Democratically-endorsed candidates to sign, agreeing to always be respectful and courteous as Council members.  The promise for comity was short-lived after Priforce faced attacks of “sexism,” for suggesting that Welch or Medina be selected as mayor rather than a second term for Bauters.

In an attempt to decrease hostilities in City Hall, an Emeryville Code of Ethics, inspired by Emeryville residents Elizabeth Montgomery and Eugene Tssui, was adopted which all five Council members supported.  Regardless, Mayor Welch sees her next step is to become Strongman Leader of Emeryville now that John Bauters will be leaving us and she feels the best way forward is to publicly attack all critics.

From Emeryville’s Code of Ethics:

“The professional and personal conduct of Council Members must be above reproach and avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other Members, the public, and staff. This requirement is applicable to Members at all times.”

“The constant and consistent theme through all of the conduct guidelines is “respect.” Members are called upon to exhibit appropriate behavior at all times.  Demonstrating respect for each individual through words and actions is the touchstone that can help guide Members to take appropriate action even in the most difficult situations.  In all cases, this common goal should be acknowledged even though individuals may “agree to disagree” on contentious issues.”

Below is just a small sampling of the witty repartee from our Emeryville mayor (dishonor yourself much?).  It's all about punching down and remaining unaccountable.  It's too bad our Code of Ethics has no teeth.

Mayor Welch can't stand journalists that hold her to account.

How convenient!  What other pol also trashes journalists?  

Hint: initials are DJT.

Councilman Bauters' Corporate Campaign Donors Enjoy Beloved Status

 

Tough New Tobacco Regulation Belies Emeryville's Lax Marijuana Regs

Bauters Donor Ohana Cannabis Enjoys Lofted Status

News Analysis

Buoyed by data from the American Cancer Society and a push by Council member John Bauters at the March 19th City Council meeting, the City of Emeryville moved to toughen up its anti-tobacco policies with the introduction of a new ordinance making it a crime to sell tobacco products within 1000 feet of any park, playground or ‘youth oriented facility’ including schools.  Marijuana retailers however, face much less restriction in Emeryville, even though its connection to lung disease including cancer, like tobacco, is undisputed.  A major seller of cannabis in the City, Ohana Cannabis, enjoys a central location on Peladeau Street, directly on one park and less than 1000 feet from at least two other parks, a playground and a school.  Ohana is also a major contributor to Mr Bauters’ election campaigns. 

Large Billboard for Ohana on Powell Street
Legal and perfectly fine for children.

Ohana is a large corporate cannabis retailer with several locations throughout California and has been a major contributor to Mr Bauters’ election campaigns including his current campaign to become an Alameda County Supervisor.  California election campaign law forbids any special treatment towards corporate donors by elected officials of course, but it is noteworthy that Ohana has received very favorable treatment from John Bauters and the City of Emeryville.  

Emeryville has determined that marijuana sales are not appropriate near youth oriented facilities including schools or parks and the municipal code forbids any dispensary to be located within 250 feet.  In 2020 however, Ohana, moving to their current location at 5770 Peladeau Street, requested and received a waiver from Emeryville’s prohibition against dispensaries located near parks.  The City considers the Emeryville Greenway to be a park and Ohana is located directly on the Greenway, specifically the ‘Peladeau Park’ section.  Getting around the 250 foot law and approving the deal, the City Council found, “The Greenway, by its design, is not meant to serve all age groups” and therefore it is unlikely to have children present, according to the October 22nd staff report.  And with that finding the Council approved Ohana for that site. 

Billboards for Tobacco: Illegal
Dangerous for children.

 

The Peladeau Park section of the Greenway, completed in 2018, was built as a “gathering/picnic area with a plaza, pathways, synthetic lawn and play area” according to the City’s website. The City constructed the park with $800,000 in California State Parks and Recreation funds as well as funds from Emeryville's Park and Transportation Impact fees. Nothing was made so as to preclude children from using the park because to do so, Emeryville would run afoul of the law that requires public parks to be made for all people.  

And thus, the power of the business lobby is revealed.

Ohana is using its resources to help it conduct business like many other businesses do.  The law in Emeryville reflects the lobbying efforts of favored businesses and so whereas shops selling tobacco will not be allowed to be within 1000 feet of places where children congregate, marijuana sellers must have a 250 foot buffer and Ohana with its political campaign donations, specifically, no buffer at all.  The children don't have a lobby.  

By law, the money given to Council member Bauters over the years can have no relationship to any favorable treatment of Ohana Cannabis, as everyone knows. 

Council member Bauters did not return calls for this story.

City Hall to Shut Down Public Phone-in Comments in Reaction to Nazis

 At City Hall, It's Nazis, 1, the Council, 0

Opinion

Emeryville City Manager
Paul Buddenhagen
Democracy must suffer in order to
go after Nazis or men with cameras.

The Nazis are back!  The same group of five Florida based residents are once again phoning in their special brand of hate to our Council Chambers.  Tuesday night, hoping to make a bigger impact, they kept rotating between themselves, using different names and trying to disguise their voices so they could turn the five of them into 15 commenters.  Mayor Courtney Welch kept playing 'wack-a-mole', cutting their mics at the first whiff of disruptive hate speech but a new one would simply take his place albeit with a new improvised voice pattern.  This childishness flummoxed the Mayor who kept allowing the “new” ones to speak, even though it was obvious it was the same five, taking turns over and over. 

After the theatrics finally died down, the City Manager Paul Buddenhagen made a hair-on-fire announcement: all citizen phone-in comments are to be curtailed at council, planning commission and committee meetings “for the foreseeable future” he said.  Take that, Nazis!

It wasn’t supposed to work out this way.  The popular phone-in option at City meetings started in 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic and was continued on afterward, constituting what came to be known as “hybrid” meetings, meaning in-person comments and phone-in comments are both available to the public.   After City Hall noted a substantial uptick in citizen participation, the hybrid meeting format became settled and permanent Emeryville policy by Council fiat.  The idea was that a much greater number of people would attend meetings if they were made more convenient.  And it worked. 

But then the Nazis came to town.

The Emeryville City Council is right to disallow disruptive hate speech and they should cut the mic of anyone doing it.  Racist hate or any speech targeting people for who they are is not public meeting free speech but profanity IS Constitutionally guaranteed free speech.  But City Hall is now taking that out too.  Perhaps seeing the Nazi ‘crisis’ as an opportunity, the delicate Emeryville City government is now also stoping the use of profanity for citizens, so perturbed they are over these four letter word using Nazis.  This is another panic driven over-reaction and we will challenge this.

To react like the City Council is doing is to put the Nazis in the driver’s seat.  With the harsh anti-democratic prohibitions in place, it can fairly be said these Nazis are now driving public policy in Emeryville.  This kind of over the top reactionary response from City Hall is just what the haters want.  The Council needs to calm the fuck down.  The use of profanity is a Constitutional right.  Racists and fascists are everywhere in America now.  We’re not going to let Nazis destroy our city and we’re not going to let the City Council destroy our city (in order to save it).  We’re going to continue on with democratic governance here, just as we always have.  

So City Council, reel in your City Manager and let the Nazis phone-in and speak.  And let the democracy loving people phone-in and speak and let them all use Constitutionally supported free speech.  When the Trump crowd spews their meeting disrupting hate filled venom, cut their mics.  Don’t make Emeryville residents suffer a major loss of access in order to try to strike a blow against Nazis. Nazism should not be on par with our Emeryville government.  We’re supposed to be better than them.    

Emery Sued For School Campus Rapist

 Emery School District Sued For Negligence in Campus Rape Case

A San Jose based law firm announced yesterday they are representing a 16 year old Emery High School girl who alleges she was forcibly raped on campus by a school district employee last November.  The complaint for childhood sexual damages, filed with the Superior Court of California at Alameda County today, seeks damages for sexual assault of a minor, negligent hiring by District employees and negligent supervision by the District.  The perpetrator, Daniel Parham, a 2020 graduate of Emery High School who took employment at the school as a security guard, was arrested and charged with statutory rape according to a press release issued by the law firm Cerri, Boskovich & Allard. He posted bail and currently awaits trial.  

Lax Security at Emery School Campus
This unattended self closing gate was left propped
open Tuesday, something that happens "all the time"
according to a City employee.

The complaint alleges Emery employees breached their duty to protect the safety of the students in their care by “permitting the plaintiff to be isolated [with the perpetrator] in the senior center and/or the science room and/or the gym office behind closed/locked doors and/or failing to detect and deter such isolation.”   Also alleged, Mr Parham “groomed” the girl, discussing intimate topics with her over one-on-one electronic communications. After gaining the Plaintiff’s trust, he went on to sexually assault her (including intercourse) on school grounds on at least three different occasions from late October 2023 through early November 2023.

The security guard had been frequently groping other students and allegedly further sexually assaulted at least one other minor female on “multiple” occasions on campus. 

Emery has been negligent when students have been sexually assaulted on campus before.   In 2017, a previous Superintendent failed to report to the police an incident as is required by California law.

A spokesperson for Emery’s Superintendent, Quiauna Scott, told the Tattler the District would issue a statement “next week”.  

City Manager Will Not Re-Start Regularly Scheduled Meetings With Citizens

Formerly Popular 'Coffee With the City Manger' Program Cancelled Indefinitely

Emeryville’s City Manager, Paul Buddenhagen, has decided to not re-start the popular ‘Coffee With the City Manager’ public events conducted once a month at City Hall before the pandemic, at least for the time being.  The one hour, open-to-the-public sessions were conducted monthly in the City Manager’s office until 2020, allowing citizens to freely interact with and ask questions at the seat of government power in Emeryville.   The program was started in 2014 and continued on for about six years, initiated by then City Manager Sabrina Landreth in response to a Tattler challenge.  Mr Buddenhagen has refused to say if he will bring the program back someday.

Emeryville City Manager Paul Buddenhagen
Democracy can be messy and uncomfortable.
He has not said if he will ever re-start the 
once popular coffee events.

Before Ms Landreth, Emeryville’s City Manager John Flores, for years, regularly scheduled meetings with Emeryville private citizen, the power broker and Chamber of Commerce Board member, John Gooding every Monday morning at 9:00 for one hour to discuss anything on Mr Gooding’s mind.  The content of those years of meetings were off record and kept strictly private.  Uncomfortable with the lack of transparency of that, the Tattler suggested that perhaps regular people, ALL people should also have a time to interface one-on-one with their government.  The secretive Mr Flores was not fond of that idea and he refused it but the democratically inclined Sabrina Landreth agreed and she began the program that ultimately became very popular with Emeryville citizens.  

Every City Manager from Sabrina Landreth up until the pandemic either liked the idea of the Coffee With the City Manager or they felt it would be too costly politically to stop the popular program.  The pandemic appears to have provided the perfect, if quiet reset to secrecy at City Hall for Mr Buddenhagen.   

Mr Buddenhagen has shown himself to be prone to secrecy in his job.  He closed off most of City Hall to the people following a moral panic because of a man with a camera in 2023.  He has refused to say if the people's hall will ever be open to the people again.

The Police Department re-started their ‘Coffee With a Cop’ program after also ending it during the pandemic.  The police coffee program was also started up in 2014, inspired by the ‘Coffee With the City Manager’. 

Ms Landreth, arguably the most progressive City Manager in Emeryville history, famously exalted “A transparent government is an accountable government” as she welcomed people into her office at the opening of her first meeting with the citizens.   

Hate Speech at Emeryville City Council Meeting

Neo-Nazi Hate Fest in Emeryville Council Chambers

It was bound to happen here eventually.  Trump’s America came bursting into the Emeryville City Council chambers in a co-ordinated attack Tuesday, out-of-town neo-Nazis phoning in racist public comments; calling out Jewish, gay, transgender, and Black people.  The group responsible, the ‘Goyim Defense League’ is identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a Florida based hate group.  All manner of hateful epithets including the ’N word’ were used by the speakers in our Council Chambers.

Five people identified themselves with fake names and four were shut down by Mayor Courtney Welch for violating Emeryville’s prohibition for public commenters using “threatening, profane or abusive language which disrupts the orderly conduct of meetings”. 

Mug shot of former Petaluma resident
neo-Nazi leader Jon Minadeo.
Mayor Welch cut his mic.

 

The same five people (sometimes using different names), have been calling in for public comment at city council meetings in Blue States across America including but not limited to San Francisco, Petaluma, Sonoma, Sacramento, El Cerrito, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Laguna Beach, Monterey, Saratoga, Walla Walla WA, Snoqualmie WA, Framingham MA and Norwalk CT.  At the January 24th council meeting in Walla Walla, one of the speakers identifying himself as ‘Andy Zemite’ but in Emeryville went by ‘Rex Yuden’, yelled “Heil Hitler” just before his mic was cut.  That speaker may have been the group’s leader, former Petaluma resident Jon Minadeo. 

Goyim Defense League (GDL) is a small network of virulently antisemitic provocateurs led by Minadeo  who moved from Petaluma to Florida in December 2022. GDL is a parody of the anti-hate Anti-Defamation League’s name by replacing “Anti-Defamation” with “Goyim Defense” -- “Goyim” being a disparaging Yiddish and Hebrew word for non-Jews.

Minadeo was arrested in 2023 and jailed 30 days for illegally distributing racist literature in Florida.

Former Emeryville resident Marc Albert reports on the group disrupting the Petaluma council meeting:  https://krcb.org/2023110793047/news-feed/petaluma-to-weigh-resuming-public-comment-following-racist-disruptions

The Walnut Creek attack can be seen here: https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/neo-nazi-walnut-creek-city-council-white-supremacist-antisemitic/

Watch at your own risk.  Contains extreme hate speech.  City Council Meeting March 5th, 2024  Hate speech starts 1:25:10 and extends to 1:34:50: