Council Disregards Residents’ Concerns about Bay Street Development

by Sandra Stewart and Reem Assil

About 20 residents and workers packed Emeryville City Hall for the Sept. 16th City Council meeting to urge the Council to guarantee more community benefits out of the future (Site B) Bay Street project. The project is an extension of the Bay Street Mall on Shellmound Street. The developer, Madison Marquette, is proposing a 30-story hotel — the city’s sixth hotel — condos, and more retail, including a chain department store.

The Citizens’ appeal to the Council was coordinated by a group of concerned residents and the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), a social and economic justice organization committed to responsible development in Emeryville and the East Bay. Residents expressed concern with the City’s approach to the development, including private promises to developers of tens of millions in public money to fund the project, and giving them exclusive rights to the site. On September 16th, Madison Marquette requested an extension of their Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA), which guarantees that the City will not open bidding to other developers. While the usual timeline of an ENA is 6-9 months, Madison Marquette has repeatedly received extensions from the Council for the past 4 years.

Residents demanded more tangible benefits of public investment and asked the Council to prove how the community will directly benefit from the development relative to what it will cost them in taxpayer dollars — an estimated $47 million — and quality of life.

“I’m not anti-development,” said Ruth Majors, a Watergate resident of 24 years, “ We need developers to pay the bills, but show us how they are going to pay the bills.”

Many residents expressed concern about City officials’ willingness to accommodate developers at any expense to the taxpayers. North Emeryville resident Judy Timmel noted that Emeryville has become one of the most desirable locations for development in the East Bay. It is no longer necessary to lure developers with big subsidies (the $47 million, for example).

Residents defended their right to be involved in every step of the development process and expressed disappointment in the Council for conducting agreements with developers behind closed doors. Most recently, the city met with Madison Marquette to discuss subsidy amounts but refused to disclose them publicly.

“This is our money. This should be above-board and transparent. We’re trying to make a community here,” said Brian Donahue, a 28-year resident.

To ensure meaningful community engagement in development decisions, residents asked that the Council require Madison Marquette to enter into a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). Such an agreement is a legally enforceable contract negotiated between the developer and the community. In exchange for a series of benefits, the developer would receive the community’s support for the project.

Hilton Garden employee Elijah Esquival, who spoke on behalf of hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 2850, urged the Council to ensure that future workers have a right to organize a union without intimidation and/or retaliation from employers. Community member Juanita Carrol Young reminded people of the spectacle that transpired at the Woodfin Hotel in Emeryville. The management retaliated against housekeepers who stood up for their rights by firing them and refusing to pay them nearly $250,000 in back wages. Young, who was living at the Woodfin with her young daughter while their nearby condominium was being repaired of a construction defect, was evicted for standing in solidarity with the housekeepers.

“Workers should have a peaceful process; they should not be subjected to the working conditions Woodfin workers had to experience. We don’t want to see picket lines, we don’t want to see boycotts,” Esquival said.

The only union shop in Emeryville, Hilton Garden workers receive wages above $10/hr (higher than other hotel employees in Emeryville), health benefits, pension, and provisions like a new diversity program to hire more African American workers. However, Esquival noted, being the only union in town poses great challenges because of the difficulty in negotiating wage increases because of the low wages paid by competing Emeryville hotels. He said this project is an opportunity to raise standards for hotel workers in the City.

City Council members Nora Davis, Dick Kassis, and Ruth Atkins responded to residents’ concerns by espousing the virtues of Reagan trickle-down economics — that massive amounts of money given to wealthy developers will eventually trickle down to residents and workers. The three councilmembers refused to acknowledge the economic and social costs of their decisions around various developments in the city. Nora Davis boasted about Emeryville’s low and moderate income housing, even though the average working person, particularly a retail or hotel employee, cannot afford it.

The Council’s message was loud and clear: we know best and the residents should be thankful. Mayor Ken Bukowski revealed that “this project was not meant to be local anyway,” admitting that the Madison Marquette project was simply a regional mall. Despite residents’ concerns, the Council voted 4 to 1 (with Councilmember John Fricke dissenting) to grant Madison Marquette continued exclusive rights to the site.

Council member Fricke (who was interrupted six times by Mayor Ken Bukowski while trying to speak to residents) called for a critical evaluation of the Bay Street Site B development, which the Council ignored.

Reem Assil is a community organizer for EBASE. Reem is inspired by both her love for community and her understanding of the importance of building power in the labor movement. Her formative experience with coalition building and community organizing comes out of organizing in the Arab American community, in which her heart lies.

Sandra Stewart has lived in Emeryville for 19 years. After attending a neighborhood meeting in 1999, she became interested in the issues of the North Hollis area. She realized that Emeryville’s government needed more transparency in addition to a better response to the opinions of the residents and is now working towards these goals.