The survey on the new City Manager is posted! Take 10 minutes to fill it out and help the City Council select the best candidate. The city’s future depends on it! Click here to go to the survey (the link to the survey is on the homepage of the City of Emeryville website).The City Council expects to consider finalists in March and appoint a new City Manager by April. The current City Manager, Patrick O’Keeffe, is leaving April 19.
(To comment, or to read the comments of others, click on the headline to go to the story page, then scroll to the bottom.)
Thank you for this opportunity to input into the process for defining our new Emeryville City Manager.
For very understandable (and even laudable) reasons, the path Emeryville is on, has gotten out of balance. In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the town’s obvious and desperate need to renew itself (including the need for revenue to do this job), led to a decidedly pro-business stance which attracted new businesses, new revenues, a tax base, and many physical improvements.
However, being “pro-business” has turned into a religion in Emeryville. And the town, ironically, has (thanks to its tax-based financed physical improvements, has become one of the most desirable, close-to-San Francisco places in which to life and/or work. Yet our present City Council majority (abetted by a similarly “religiously pro-business staff), has not noticed this huge shift: Namely, what we have achieved in the town NOW MAKES IT NOT ONLY UNNECESSARY, but an anachronistic “give away” to continue over-incentivizing developers and businesses to participate here. If we continue living in the 1990’s, do not change this “religion” or bias, and keep over-incentivizing business — developers and business will OF COURSE keep taking the over-generosity that is offered. SO, my first criteria for a new City Manager: Someone with new vision for a prosperous town which ALSO PAYS MORE THAN LIP SERVICE to citizen lifestyle and cultural needs. Money is NOT the only “religion” that should drive Emeryville. How about a new City Manager with more balanced values?
Secondly and lastly — it MUST be a non-negotiable requirement of the new manager that s/he and her/his family LIVE IN EMERYVILLE. Being physically part of the community will help the new manager “remember” that quality of life is as important as apparent physical prosperity. I would be very pleased to discuss this further in person.
unable to locate the online survey… do you know how to get to it?
agree with your sentiments… okeefe is stonefaced and reveals nothing other than what is politically expedient ie in his interest.. he also took responsibility for only good news that he had a hand in and refused any for the problems of the city…
someone not like that would be welcome…
best wishes
Walt – go to the Emeryville city website. The link to the survey is on the homepage.