More than 100 students and faculty attended a vigil at Emeryville Secondary School Monday night for slain 16-year-old student Najon Jackson, according to Emery Unified School District Superintendent Debbra Lindo.
Jackson, who would have been a junior at the school this fall, was killed in a shooting in the 9300 block of Sunnyside Street in East Oakland at about 11:15 p.m. Saturday, according to Oakland police. They say they do not yet know the motive for the slaying.
Jackson’s family members, who also participated in the vigil, asked the news media to respect their privacy and not attend, Lindo said.
School board president Miguel Dwin said the fact that so many students attended the hastily organized vigil at a time when school is not in session shows how popular Jackson was.
“He was a cheery, bubbly kind of kid, and everyone liked him,” Dwin said.
Lindo said she did not personally know Jackson because she has only been in her new post for three weeks but said she’s been told that “he was a bright student who had a promising future ahead of him.”
Lindo said Jackson was interested in engineering, liked sports and was planning to try out for the varsity football team this fall.
She said most students knew Jackson because he had been attending Emeryville schools since kindergarten even though he lived in Oakland, as he was an inter-district transfer student.
“Our hearts go out to his family, and our students are really affected by this,” Lindo said.
She said counselors and psychologists were on hand at the school tonight to provide “social and emotional support” to students who are coping with Jackson’s death.
The school “is a place where students can gather and be with caring adults during this difficult time,” Lindo said.
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Introducing The North End by Richard Ambro. This occasional column will feature news and events happening in and around the north end of town.
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The 64th Street neighborhood recently held its Third Annual Block Party and about 100 or so neighbors stopped by throughout the sunny day to chat, eat, and enjoy the day-long event. A permit to close the street between Vallejo and Doyle Streets was obtained from the City of Emeryville, and no-parking notices were posted to free the space for the amusements, tables, and circulating neighbors.
North End residents Joy Kent and Michael Ashe bought their house at 1262 64th St. four years ago, when there was little neighborhood cohesiveness. Joy and Mike conceived of a Block Party as a way of bringing the neighborhood together—at least for one day a year. They created an event that brings adults and kids together with food, music, and play. It’s been a great success; water slides and a bounce house for the kids, and food, music, lively conversation (and competitive ping pong!) for the adults. Joy, a caterer, provided wonderful pasta salad, meats for grilling, and other foods; and neighbors brought out their tables, chairs, and grills, and also added their own dishes to the mix. Hamburgers, chicken, pork, sausages, steaks, and even crab were served, along with beans, salads, fruit, bread, crackers, cheese, dips and chips, sodas. And more food continued to appear throughout the day. City officials, notably City Council members Nora Davis and Ken Bukowski, and School Board Member Joshua Simon were among the participants.
The 64th Street Block Party is now a tradition! Thanks Joy, Mike and the neighbors along 64th Street! I’m looking forward to next year!
(To comment on this story, click on the headline to go to the story page. Scroll down to the bottom to comment).
(Reprinted from the Emeryville Tattler)
by Brian Donahue
Nora Davis and Kurt Brinkman holdout to the end
Barraged with calls and e-mails from constituents, councilwoman Ruth Atkin finally relented today and agreed to permit a November ballot initiative to eliminate the position of Emeryville City Attorney to move forward. Ms. Atkin’s change of heart marked the culmination of a week of high drama in the City Attorney election fight that started with a solid wall of opposition among her colleagues but ultimately withered, leaving Ms Atkin as the swing vote and exposed to the resident’s wrath.
The initiative began last April as a petition to replace the City Attorney with subcontracted legal work for the city, mostly as a cost cutting measure, by council member Ken Bukowski. Mr Bukowski submitted the signatures to the County Registrar of Voters for certification and it was announced on Friday that the election could move forward if the city council OK’ed the County certification in time. Problems arose when the rest of the council demurred on a required August 2nd certification meeting, citing long held vacation plans, regardless of council protocol permitting voting by telephone. Failure to meet on August 2nd would sink the whole thing, owing to a State mandated time schedule.
After a couple days consideration, councilwoman Jennifer West told the City Manager she would be willing to participate in the required August 2nd and follow-up meeting. She challenged the other council members and invoked a moral duty to democracy, stating, “The council must show that we hear all 567 people who signed the initiative and we should place this item on the ballot in November”.
Ruth Atkin’s change of heart today joined with her colleagues Ms West and Mr Bukowski and crumbled the city council’s wall of opposition. Left standing and resisting the November election, and the people they serve, are council members Nora Davis and Kurt Brinkman.
Special Meeting of City Council Required to Get the Issue on the November Ballot
This process is complicated by the fact that the city council does not have any meetings scheduled before the August 12 deadline that the county has for placing items on the ballot. Like many other cities, Emeryville’s City Council has one summer meeting canceled for our summer recess, and it happens to be the August 2, 2011 meeting. This was decided last December when we determined our meeting schedule for 2011. Our next scheduled meeting is on August 16, which is too late for the ballot measure to be considered for this fall. Our last meeting was on July 19, and the ballot measure had not yet been certified. The circulators of the petition knew that it was due to the city council by the July 19th meeting, and I do not know why they did not make that deadline.
My understanding from city staff is that in order to place this ballot initiative on the ballot, the city council must hold a special meeting first to then schedule a regular meeting, all of this before the August 12 deadline from the county. If 3 city council members request it, staff will schedule a special meeting. Alternatively, the mayor, Nora Davis, can call the special meeting. So far, only two council members have asked for a special meeting to consider this: Ken Bukowski and myself.
Why do I oppose this ballot initiative?
I simply do not think this is the best way to make a complex decision like this. The City Attorney answers to the City Council, and electing a City Council that you trust and that is effective is the best way to control all aspects of the city government, including the City Attorney position. I believe that good decisions depend on complete information.
Additional financial cost to the city?
Some claim that this “outsourcing” of legal work would save the city money, but there has been no evidence presented to me that this is true. On the contrary, the average of the hourly fees most municipal legal firms charge ($282/hour) is approximately twice what we are paying to our city attorney ($145/hour). Please read the staff report from our July 5th meeting for a more detailed discussion of the issue.
More to come …
The Emeryville Police are hosting the annual National Night Out on Tuesday, August 2nd from 5pm-7pm at City Hall in Emeryville. Please come by and visit all of your Emeryville neighbors. Should you have any questions please contact the Police Dept at 510-596-3707 or look at the flyer here.
An Emeryville Security and Safety Event is being presented by Emery Bay Village on Sunday, July 24th from 1-3pm at the EBV Clubhouse located in Emery Bay Village off 53rd Street between Hollis Street and San Pablo Avenue.
There will be representatives from Emeryville Fire and Police to speak about safety issues related to theft, fire, and disasters. Participants will receive packets of information on safety as well as phone and web resources. There will be safety demonstrations and free fingerprinting kits for kids. Refreshments will be served and there will be door prizes donated by local businesses.
This event is open to the public.
The City of Emeryville is finalizing its Economic Development Strategy, a “workplan” that is supposed to capitalize on the strengths of the city’s current economic development efforts, address weaknesses, and pursue innovative ways to support and expand the city’s economic base. City residents are invited to discuss the plan and share their ideas.
When: Tuesday, July 26
Where: Emeryville Council Chambers, City Hall
1333 Park Avenue, Emeryville
The Secret News introduces: E-VILLE LEAKS This section will feature verbatim reports, memos, and other city documents that we believe contain important and useful information. Please let us know if you have a document to share. If you wish to remain anonymous, that’s fine.
Many of these are public documents, but are deliberately not publicized and thus go unnoticed, often by those most directly affected.
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Here is the employment contract for City Attorney Mike Biddle. This document is public record.
Tracy Schroth, EDITOR
Shirley Enomoto, RESEARCHER
CONTRIBUTORS
Scott Donahue
Adrian McGilly
Bill Reuter
Judy Timmel
COLUMNISTS
Richard Ambro
The North End
Greg Harper
Missives & Misgivings
Ruth Major
Children Matter
Tracy Schroth
Whine & Dine
CONTACT: tschroth@yahoo.com
