The Secret News

Two of Three Buildings Slated for Demolition Designated by City as “Architecturally Significant”

by Tracy Schroth and Marc Albert

City Hall is poised to issue a flurry of building demolition permits to ring in the new year, hastening the extinction of Emeryville’s architectural and cultural past — for a future filled with — you guessed it — more retail, residential rental units, and parking.

Plans for three particular projects have much in common. Each violates one or more city laws restricting density, building size, and height. Each is being pushed by three of the city’s most well-connected developers. Each requires the destruction of some of the city’s few remaining architectural gems.

Two of the endangered buildings are designated as “architecturally significant” buildings worthy of protection under Article 67 of the city’s own preservation ordinance. Adding insult to injury, the proposed projects turn prime locations for a pedestrian-centered renaissance into more auto-centric development, exacerbating Emeryville’s traffic woes.

For what it’s worth, preservation figures prominently in the city’s General Plan. The document declares that historic industrial-warehouses found “in many parts of Emeryville should be preserved,” and that, “the City strongly endorses the reuse of heritage buildings.” These buildings, if saved, not only provide a tangible link to the past and an aesthetic sense of place lacking in much new development, they serve as affordale space for small, entrepreneurial ventures for which Emeryville has long been known.

Many Emeryville residents have asked the City Council again and again for development that cultivates real neighborhoods and provides services to the community — independently owned retail and restaurants, light industrial, and small start-ups. To no avail.

The Alder Building at Powell and Hollis

One of the three buildings slated for demolition is the Alder Building at Powell and Hollis streets. It will be torn down to make way for a 139,000-square-foot office building and parking structure to be constructed by Wareham Development. The property has the dubious added distinction of being acquired in a hostile land grab, orchestrated by the city. The property was sold by the owner only after the city had begun legal proceedings to take the property through eminent domain and give it to Rich Robbins, owner of Wareham, the city’s biggest and most influential developer. The property was sold to Robbins and eviction notices were served to the occupants — a small law office and an architectural firm.

While the Alder Building is not designated by the city as “architecturally significant,” the other two buildings are — the brick building at Doyle and Powell streets (photo, top left), and 3908 Adeline Street, at the intersection of 39th Street (photo, top right).

The building at Doyle and Powell streets will be torn down to make way for 14,000 square feet of mixed use including retail (10,500 square feet) and “flex space” (about 3,500 square feet) which can be office or retail, and residential (170 rental units), which exceeds the density allowed by city ordinance. The developer also wants to chop down 12 mature street trees.

The building at 3908 Adeline, which straddles the line between Emeryville and Oakland, will be replaced by more than 100 apartment units and 1,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space. The height of the new building will reach 49 feet in areas where 30 feet is the maximum height allowed. The project also requires a parking variance to allow 6 guest parking spaces where 23 is the required minimum. The building to be destroyed has also been designated as “historically significant” by Oakland’s Cultural Heritage Survey.

For more information on these and other projects, click here.

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The City Council is sacrificing pieces of Emeryville’s past for a future of more retail and rental units. Didn’t they get the memo?

On the evening news last night:

Emeryville Struggles As Shopping Lags
EMERYVILLE (CBS 5) ― The economic downturn has spelled trouble for many Bay Area cities, but one of the hardest hit has been the shopping enclave of Emeryville. Click here for the story.

by Marc Albert

A lengthy story on the front page of the business section of today’s New York Times suggests that Emeryville’s renaissance as a big box mecca may backfire — as worried consumers drastically cut spending.

The story, A City That Shopped Till it Dropped chronicles the waning fortunes of local retailers and the repercussions for a city dependant on sales taxes.

The Times describes Emeryville as having “hitched its wagon over the last several decades to what seemed like the limitless ability of American shoppers to spend money.” The strategy is suddenly a poor bet. The Times said 25 percent of the city’s revenue comes from sales taxes and “‘collections fell 23 percent in the third quarter this year from the same period last year, among the steepest drops in the state.”

With the expansion of the Bay Street mall (pictured above) looming on the City Council’s agenda, the article asks, “Did a city that worked so hard to clean up the mess left by abandoned steel mills and rubber plants ultimately trade one kind of urban blight for another, more modern variety?”

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The City Council majority continues to promote big development (and millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to build these developments) with promises of big tax revenues in return — to pay for parks, child care, sidewalks, and better youth and senior programs. All of those promises may turn out to be nothing more than pie-in-the-sky.

Emeryville Deserves a Mayor “who strives for solutions, not one who stoops to excuses,” says Examiner

Ken Bukowski’s failure to pay business taxes to the city of which he is now vice-mayor and formerly mayor has received a place among the San Francisco Examiner’s “Worst Ideas of the Week” for the week of Dec. 7, 2008.

Here’s what the Examiner said (for full list of the week’s Worst Ideas, click here):

Bad example

Emeryville mayor doesn’t pay his business taxes

The details: The mayor of Emeryville, a small city on the east side of the Bay Bridge, says he can’t — and won’t — pay his business taxes. Mayor Ken Bukowoski has told reporters that he is not only opposed to Emeryville’s business tax license fee, but he couldn’t pay it even if he wanted to. Bukowski, a 21-year-veteran of the City Council, is apparently trying to live off his small stipend for being a city official and some rental income. He says he’s a victim of the poor economy, but Emeryville deserves a leader who strives for solutions, not one who stoops to excuses.

Comment re: Emeryville City Council to Developers: The Laws We Make, We’ll Break for You:

This seems to be a ongoing theme from the city council. It seems John Fricke is the only one not in the back pocket of developers. Why can’t the other council members stand up and represent the people who actually elected them? They are carving the city’s history up into little pieces and serving it on a silver platter to whichever developer comes along, ignoring critical quality of life concerns which the municipal code was created to protect. Emeryville has a long history of corruption and it seems to be continuing on unabated.

I, for one, have had enough. When are the people of Emeryville going to stand up and throw out those elected officials who care more about helping developers increase their profit margin than the quality of life for people who actually live here? I am sick and tired of the constant pandering that goes on from the majority of the city council to developers who are only interested in making money while Emeryville residents suffer.

We need to recall those council members who betrayed our trust.

We need a municipal code that is strong enough not to be simply swept aside whenever a developer comes around and sheds a tear.

We need to make ourselves heard by complaining to the media and marching in the streets to embarrass those rascals into stopping their attacks on our quality of life.

If you all want to organize a demonstration, count me in.

If anyone wants to read more about the two projects, here are the links:

Project at 39th and Adeline:
http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/ceda/revised/planningzoning/MajorProjectsSection/39th-and-AdelineEIR.html

Papermill Project:
http://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/planning/majorprojects.html

Doug Bright

Developers Get to Make Noise, Chop Down Trees, Demolish Historic Buildings, and Exceed Height Limits – Despite Laws That Say They Can’t

Here’s a list of the laws recently ignored by the City Council majority (edited excerpt from Nov. 19 email to residents from Council Member John Fricke):

Significant commercial structures shall be preserved
Ordinance adopted by the City Council in 2007. However, each time a developer has sought to demolish a significant commercial structure, the Council majority has said yes. At last night’s meeting, this happened with two structures (pictured above), one at Doyle & Powell Streets (above, left) and the second at Adeline & 39th Streets (above, right).

Strict Height Limits on New Buildings
The City’s zoning ordinance places strict limits on the height of new buildings to be constructed. However, in addition to allowing the demolition of the historic brick building now located at Adeline & 39th Streets, the Council approved the new project proposed for the site, even though it exceeds the maximum building height allowed.

Limits on Density (residential units per acre) allowed in certain neighborhoods
The Council last night approved the project at Doyle & Powell even though the project exceeds the density allowed, and significantly exceeds the residential density at the nearby Elevation 22 and Doyle Street condominium projects.

Street trees must be preserved
At last night’s meeting, the Council postponed a decision on the developer’s request to remove 12 mature street trees at Doyle & Powell until an arborist’s report is prepared.

Construction noise is strictly limited to weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
At last night’s meeting, the Council voted to allow construction at the Bay Street shopping mall on 10 Saturdays (7 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and 10 Sundays (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) through the holiday shopping season. These 10 Saturdays and Sundays are in addition to 10 Saturdays already granted and that the contractor has used. The second waiver granted last night was to the City’s public works department to dredge the marina boating channel on Saturdays (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) through December, and to work 24 hours a day on weekdays until completion of the project.
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No wonder developers propose projects in flagrant violation of the City’s zoning laws. They know those laws are meaningless.

East Bay Express Calls Mayor’s Explanation of Financial Hardship “Suspicious.”

The latest issue of the East Bay Express features Mayor Ken Bukowski’s failure to pay Emeryville business taxes for the past four years.

The article also reports that Bukowski is being sued by the widow of a man he accidentally hit and killed while driving his SUV on a rainy night last December. The victim, Michael Smela, a Novartis security guard and former San Francisco police officer, was struck and killed by Bukowski’s vehicle while walking across Hollis Street in Emeryville the evening of Dec. 6. Bukowski had just left a community meeting held at the Novartis complex. The city is paying Bukowski’s legal fees in connection with the wrongful death suit.

Here is the story in the Express:

A Mayor Who Doesn’t Pay Taxes

Emeryville’s Ken Bukowski disagrees with a city tax and is behind on property taxes. And that’s just part of his problems.

By Robert Gammon

November 19, 2008

Ken Bukowski.

The mayor owes property taxes on his home (above, left) and city taxes on his rental property (above, right).

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Emeryville is the Little City That Could. Over the years, it has built a retail and high-tech business juggernaut along Interstate 80 and has become the envy of cities throughout the East Bay. Emeryville’s tax revenues from all that retail also have kept the city afloat, while other cities have floundered, and will help it weather the current recession. But there is one Emeryville leader who is not doing all he can to contribute to the city’s financial well-being — Mayor Ken Bukowski.

Bukowski, who has served on the Emeryville City Council for 21 years, has not paid his city business license taxes for the past four years, according to City Manager Patrick O’Keeffe. The 56-year-old Bukowski said in an interview last week that he hasn’t paid the tax because he’s broke, although he acknowledged that he has publically opposed the tax and thinks it’s unfair. Public records also indicate that although Bukowski has fallen behind on his property taxes and is by no means a wealthy man, he has managed to pay some of his other bills over the years — just not to the city he serves and leads.

Bukowski’s beef with the city business license tax began in 2004. In September of that year, city officials decided to start enforcing the tax on residential property landlords without informing all of the city council. The tax itself had been approved by the council in 1986, but the city had only enforced it on commercial property owners for its first eighteen years. Bukowski, who owns and rents out a modest six-unit building next to his small home on Doyle Street, immediately protested the decision. “It may be legal, but it’s not right,” he said at a council meeting, according to a report at the time in the Oakland Tribune. “I disagreed with how the tax was implemented,” he told Full Disclosure last week.

Still, the mayor maintained that his failure to pay the tax is not some sort of protest. “I’ll pay it as soon as possible,” he said. Bukowski’s income consists of the rent he collects from his tenants and the $800 stipend he receives from the city for serving on the council, although he said he recently got a new job as a telecommunications consultant.

According to O’Keeffe, Bukowski hasn’t paid the city business license tax since Emeryville officials began enforcing it in 2004. The tax is only $25 a year, and as of last week, Bukowski owed $100 plus interest, O’Keeffe said. Public records also show that the mayor didn’t pay his property taxes on his home last year. According to the Alameda County Assessor’s Office, he owes $1,719 in back property taxes, including late fees. The mayor’s tax problems were first reported last month on The Secret News, a blog that covers Emeryville.

Yet despite his unpaid debts, Bukowski’s claim that he hasn’t paid the city’s business license tax because of monetary problems — and not because he opposes the tax itself — is suspicious. After all, the tax is minimal, and public records show that his financial problems haven’t stopped him from paying his other taxes, including his property taxes on his rental property. A public records search found no liens against him for failure to pay state or local income taxes or any other bills. In addition, records show that while he wasn’t paying the $25 he owed the city each year, he somehow had enough money to pay about $3,000 annually to the county for his property taxes on his rental property — on time, without incurring penalties.

At least one of Bukowski’s colleagues on the city council is concerned about the message the mayor is sending by not paying his city taxes. “That troubles me a lot — the fact that he apparently has not paid because he doesn’t agree with it,” said Councilman John Fricke. “I believe it encourages others to not pay the tax.” According to public records, the city placed liens on thousands of pieces of rental property throughout Emeryville, including Bukowski’s, for not paying their business license taxes. That’s a lot of tax scofflaws for a city with only 6,815 residents, according to the 2006 Census estimate.

But Bukowski’s taxes are only part of his problems. Prior to last year, he was best known as the East Bay’s leading advocate for adding a rail line to the new Bay Bridge. After he lost the battle in the late 1990s, he receded into obscurity until late 2007 when he suddenly shot back into the headlines after striking and killing a pedestrian while driving his SUV. On the evening of December 6, Bukowski killed Michael Smela, 56, of Oakley, on an Emeryville street during a light rain.

Bukowski had just left a community meeting that night at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. The mayor was driving on Hollis Street (not far from this newspaper’s office) when his SUV slammed into Smela, a security guard at Novartis and a former San Francisco police officer. Smela, who was wearing a brightly colored jacket, appears to have been crossing the street outside of the crosswalk. Bukowski told police that he didn’t see Smela and that he was driving below the speed limit. Bukowski was not arrested, and according to published reports, police did not test the mayor for drugs or alcohol.

In May of this year, Smela’s widow, Lynda Lopez-Smela, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bukowski and the city. The city is paying Bukowski’s legal bills, and according to court documents, lawyers representing the mayor and the city maintain that Smela was responsible for his own death. “There was no question that this was a tragic accident,” attorney Mark Hazelwood told Full Disclosure. “It’s apparent from the evidence that Mr. Smela was jaywalking in the middle of the block.”

Lynda Lopez-Smela has yet to reveal how much money she’s seeking in damages. The two sides tried to settle the case with the help of mediation, but got nowhere. Lopez-Smela adamantly denies that her husband was to blame. “We are confident,” her attorney Daniel Crawford said in an interview, “that the facts will show that this was caused by the negligence of the mayor.”

Channel 7 Reports Mayor Failed to Pay Business Tax

One of the top stories on Channel 7 ABC News at 6 p.m. last night was Mayor Ken Bukowski’s failure to pay business tax on his Emeryville rental units. The story was first broken by The Secret News on October 20.

The text and link to the video are below:

Video

Emeryville Mayor Can’t Pay Business Taxes

By Cecilia Vega

EMERYVILLE, CA (KGO) — One East Bay mayor is refusing to pay his business license tax. It’s an important source of revenue for any city, but the Emeryville mayor has a reason for not paying — one that many people around the Bay Area understand all too well.

Mayor Ken Bukowoski opposed Emeryville’s business tax license when it came before the city council four years ago.

“I do think it should be changed,” said Mayor Bukowski.

And ever since then, he hasn’t paid a cent on the tax. Even though, as a landlord who owns rental units, he is required by law to do so. Exactly how much Mayor Bukowski owes is unknown. It’s likely a few hundred dollars.

“I don’t encourage anybody not to pay the biz license tax,” said Bukowski.

It’s not his opposition to the tax that’s keeping him from paying. The mayor is like thousands of others around the region. The property he lives in and those rental units are on the brink of foreclosure.

“It’s embarrassing to have a financial hardship especially in my position where people, I guess, expect that a mayor is supposed to have a lot of money,” said Bukowski.

He says it’s been a rough year. Just days after he became mayor last December, he hit and killed a pedestrian crossing the street while driving on a rainy night. And Bukowski lives off his rental income and the small stipend he gets for being on the city council. He says he fell behind on his mortgage after a series of vacancies.

Emeryville is predicting it got could lose about $500,000 in revenue in coming years and the city council is currently debating whether to raise taxes for business and property owners here.

“I would be uncomfortable saying, ‘Look we need to raise revenue,’ if for example I was not paying the business license tax,” said John Fricke, on the Emeryville City Council.

Others say they pay their share and the mayor should too.

“It does kind of make me mad to see that someone is not paying their business taxes,” said Sebrena Flennauch, owner of It’s A Breeze One Hour Photo.

The business license tax brings in about $2.5 million a year for Emeryville. The city attorney’s office has warned Bukowski he needs to pay up.

“I really feel sorry for people out there who have a similar condition. It’s a crime to be broke in America,” said Bukowski.

(Copyright ©2008 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

March for Woodfin Hotel Workers’ Back Wages
Monday, Nov. 17 at 5 pm

Join the march from the Woodfin Hotel at 5800 Shellmound, Emeryville to Emeryville City Hall (1333 Park St., Emeryville).

by Reem Assil

It’s been close to three years since Woodfin owner Sam Hardage refused to pay about $200,000 in back wages to dozens of hotel housekeepers. Meanwhile, Hardage’s business has spent about twice that on largely unsuccessful lawsuits trying to throw out Emeryville’s living wage law. Next week, on Mon, Nov 17, the latest chapter in this struggle opens with a hearing at the Emeryville City Council and a 300-person march called “Let justice roll down.”

One worker, Lorena, had this to say about conditions before the living wage and fair workload law went into effect: “Sometimes I couldn’t even stop to get a glass of water. I would get home with my feet very swollen, my hands swollen, and with a headache. When we couldn’t finish, they made us punch out after 8 hours and told us to finish. I even started wondering if we were living in times of slavery.”

Go to for the http://www.workingeastbay.org/woodfinblog for the full story.

Please join the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) on Monday, November 17th at 5 PM at the Woodfin Suites Hotel (5800 Shellmound, Emeryville) for a march from the hotel to Emeryville City Council before the hearing. For more information or to RSVP, visit www.workingeastbay.org/Woodfin_hearing.

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.

(Photo courtesy of EBASE, www.workingeastbay.org)