“There’s no accountability, that’s the problem,†said resident Mike Pirsch, referring to the City Council. Pirsch, who led the protest, said he is incensed that Mayor Ken Bukowski refused to allow public comment on the issue at the City Council meeting last Tuesday. More than 50 neighborhood residents have signed a petition asking the Council to enforce the noise ordinance, which prohibits construction work on weekends.
Said Pirsch, “Ken Bukowski has been in office for 21 years and he doesn’t have a clue about parliamentary procedure.“
Local police made a strong showing to keep watch over the protest, at times outnumbering the actual picketers, who lined up on the 43rd Street sidewalk outside Anna Yates. In an apparent attempt to appease the protestors, Wanda Stewart, public information officer for Emeryville Unified School District, offered free tickets to a nearby movie theater.
Neighbors said contractors began firing up their heavy equipment at 7:25 am Saturday, more than an hour and a half before the start-up time granted by City Manager Patrick O’Keeffe’s waiver. Neighbors cited numerous other noise violations, including two occasions when diesel power generators rumbled through the night. Extensive remodeling has been underway at the school for months. School officials hope to have construction work completed in time for the start of classes in January.
When residents tried to present their complaints to the City Council last Tuesday, they were told that because the Council lacked a quorum, citizens would not permitted to speak. Then, City Manager O’Keeffe granted contractors a waiver of the City noise ordinance, allowing Saturday construction. O’Keeffe explained at the meeting that “administrative†waivers are warranted when an “urgent situation†exists.
At the onset of construction, School District officials assured the City that work would be completed on time and that there would be no need for weekend construction. However, they now say that contractors must work every Saturday in order to meet the January deadline.
Once again, Mayor Bukowski shows his disdain for Emeryville residents who don’t agree with him. Look, if the Council is going to ignore citizen complaints after hearing them out, then that’s the Council’s decision to make (one they will be accountable for in elections). But to bypass Council accountability by refusing to hear the public, and by having the City Manager issue the waiver, is irresponsible and undemocratic. The City Council isn’t listening to the public.
Maybe they can’t hear us over the noise.
It doesn’t surprise me that Mayor Bukowski is totally unsympathetic to Emeryville residents who are sensitive to construction noise. This is the same guy who called people “whiners” because they asked the City to fund the train silencing project. And he’s the same guy that tried to waive the noise ordinance for Avenue 64 construction, when the contractors there made up a bogus story about not being able to complete work on time. (In reality, they just didn’t want to pay their workers overtime on weekdays.) Thankfully, in that case, the Council took Public Comments, and in the end, Mayor Atkin was the swing vote against granting the waiver. Perhaps Mayor Bukowski is worried that he would lose that vote again, so he found a better solution – let the City Manager do it.
Please take note of the times that the workers start. If they are starting before the allowed hours, you can note and file suit in small claims court. Nuisance. This usually makes the contractor reconsider starting before the allowed time.
Hey Keith-
Phil Gramm calls us a nation of whiners… Ken Bukowski hasn’t said anything about the nation but he’s pretty sure we’re a city of whiners.