The Secret News

By Tracy Schroth, Marc Albert and Brian Donahue

Emeryville Mayor Ken Bukowski owes at least $2,000 in business and property taxes and the fines continue to stack up.

The City sent Bukowski a certified letter several months ago demanding that he obtain a business license and pay the business tax on his Doyle Street rental property, which he has failed to pay every year since the tax law was enforced in 2004. But Bukowski said he doesn’t have the money, and is concerned that the law would allow the city to inspect the property “at any time, 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week,” which he said he is not comfortable with.

Meanwhile, Bukowski says he was unaware of his property tax debt – more than $1,700, according to the Alameda County Assessor’s office.

Emeryville’s Business License Tax

“I didn’t pay the thing,” Bukowski said of the business license tax, explaining that he voted against it when it came before the Council in 2004. “I was against it.” He added that he was one of many residents who didn’t pay the tax, arguing that the ordinance should be amended to exempt property owners earning less than $100,000 in gross rents. He said he would see if the Chamber of Commerce would support such an amendment.

Bukowski estimates that he owes a few hundred dollars and said he will pay it when he can. “I’m having financial problems and it’s a low priority. Do you want to see a list of my creditors? Right now, my PG&E bill is more important,” he said. “Is it a crime to be broke in America?” City Finance Department officials did not return calls asking how much Bukowski actually owes.

He said he gets income from his rental property and a monthly stipend of $1,100 as a City Council member.

Bukowski owns two residential structures, a six-unit building at 5876-78 Doyle Street, and a two-unit next door at 5880, which he claims as his primary residence. He said he currently rents six of the eight units but would not say how much rent he collects.

The business license tax is calculated based on the amount of gross rent. For most businesses, the tax is equal to the greater of $25 or .0008 % of annual gross receipts. Business license taxes declared delinquent are subject to a penalty of 5% a month up to a maximum of 25%. In addition, anyone who fails to pay the business tax is subject to interest at 1-1/2% per month on the amount of tax and penalties from the date on which the business tax first became delinquent.

Property Taxes

According to the Alameda County Assessor’s office, Bukowski has fallen behind on his property taxes for the structure at 5880 Doyle Street, but is current on the property taxes levied against the second, larger rental structure next door. He owes $1,719.56 and counting.

Subsidies to Developers Will Cost $7,000 per Resident — Three Times that of the Federal Bailout

Edited version of Council Member John Fricke’s Letter to Emeryville Residents
(sent via email on Sept. 28, 2008)

The Bush Administration’s $700 billion bailout of Wall Street has been characterized as the largest government bailout of private enterprise in U.S. history. The bailout will cost about $2,300 per man, woman, and child in our country. That sounds like a lot, but from the perspective of an Emeryville resident, this figure is quite modest.

The Emeryville City Council majority has expressed support for granting tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies to developers for a series of projects likely to be approved in the next year or two. By my count, total subsidies for these development projects will reach at least $70 million – $7,000 for each and every man, woman, and child in Emeryville, three times the amount per person of the federal bailout.

Here’s the tally (these numbers are estimates, as the City Council has refused to divulge the actual amounts):

Bay Street Mall Site B ————– $48 million (based on 2006 figures)
30-story hotel, chain department
store, and parking garage slated for site

Public Market Expansion ————- $10 million
Office space, 52,000 square feet
of retail, and up to 340 new
housing units

Transit Center ———— $3-6 million

EmeryStation Triangle ————- $3-6 million

Gateway —————– Unknown

“Upgrade” of Pac & Save to
Safeway —————– Unknown

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.

This Tuesday, September 16th at 7:15 pm, the City Council will be voting to extend the Exclusive Right to Negotiate (ERN) for Madison Marquette, the developer of the future Bay St Site B project. An ERN gives a developer the exclusive right to a site and requires that a City not solicit other developers in the time allotted by the ERN. A typical timeline for an ERN is 6 to 9 months. Madison Marquette has repeatedly extended theirs for the last 3 to 4 years.

Madison Marquette has already asked for a significant amount of subsidy – an estimated $47 MILLION of your tax dollars (see story below: “What the City Doesn’t Want You to Know”). We have a right to know what the returns are on the City’s investment of our money. If we don’t say anything, the City will continue with business as usual– MORE SPENDING of public money, with NO REAL BENEFITS for the community.

The RIGHT to be meaningfully engaged in every step of the development process. We have a RIGHT to know the amount of the subsidy Madison Marquette is asking for.

Real benefits for a significant investment of public dollars. We have a RIGHT to determine those benefits.

A commitment by the City to negotiate a Community Benefits Agreement with stakeholders if the City chooses to extend Madison Marquette’s ERN.

Mysterious Local Activist Slings Mud at City for Stalled Park Project

by Marc Albert

Who did it remains unclear. But after scores of flyers (pictured, left) were pinned to a fence around the future site of a park on Emeryville’s north side, City officials sprung into action. Within 10 days of the flyers being posted – seemingly mocking the City’s lack of progress on the park – residents living near the site received postcards from the City announcing that construction was imminent. The City even launched a park-naming contest. See http://emeryonbay.blogspot.com/

The site, bordered by Hollis, 61^st, Doyle and 62^nd Streets, was declared blighted by the City about 18 months ago. The City seized the property through eminent domain and quickly demolished the building on the site. Dutro Company, a Utah-based maker of hand trucks, employed more than 40 workers at the site before the City shut them down. Now, 1 ½ years after the City took ownership of the property, the only visible improvement is a chain-link fence to keep the public out.

While the flyers were taken down by city employees, according to http://emeryonbay.blogspot.com/, they appear to have had an impact on City Hall. Soon after, neighbors of the site received notices that park construction was indeed beginning soon, and the city launched a web-based naming contest which has now concluded. Formal banners have been attached to the fence.

As for those boys and girls of summer looking vainly over the fence hoping to swing a bat or lay on some grass, it’s time to learn that Oakland A’s refrain, “Well, maybe next year.”

Marc Albert has been a reporter at three radio stations and seven newspapers over the past 20 years. An East Bay resident since 1987, he lived in Emeryville from 1997 to 2008 and is still keenly interested in a community he considers home.

A Letter from Council Member John Fricke
(Sent to residents via email on Sept. 4, 2008)

Dear Emeryville neighbors,
Another large development project is moving toward city council approval. Informally referred to as “Site B,” the project would expand the Bay Street shopping mall to the north with a department store, a 30-story hotel, and a parking garage. This project is one of several to which the city council will likely give millions of dollars in subsidies to the developer. I would like to report to you the amount of the subsidy contemplated, but the other city council members refused my request to make this information public.

Before I was elected to the city council, I often wondered what occurred in closed session city council meetings (held just prior to the public meetings). After two years of attending these closed meetings, I have observed that the details of development deals are ironed out over several months, and that the eventual city council vote in a subsequent public session is somewhat of a formality.

Given the large subsidy and the scope of the Site B project, I feel that the public should be informed about how much the developer is requesting as a subsidy, and how much the city council is willing to grant. At the end of last night’s closed session, I requested that these two pieces of information be made public. The other city council members present (Ken Bukowski, Nora Davis, and Dick Kassis) did not support my request to make this information public. (Ruth Atkin was excused from the meeting.)

We are now in a period of ironing out the broad details of the Site B project, what amount of retail/hotel/residential will be constructed, how long the developer will have to construct the project, how much subsidy the developer will receive, etc. During this period a developer can hold private meetings with each of the council members, hoping to obtain support of the project by the individual council members. The eventual vote to approve then becomes a formality.

There is an agreement that governs the negotiation between the developer and the city. The agreement includes a confidentiality clause. (I have included this clause at the bottom of this message.) I did not request that we reveal confidential financial information that the developer has disclosed. I simply want to make public the amount of subsidy that the developer is requesting, and the amount that the city council is willing to give as a subsidy.

If we value vigorous public debate, then waiting until the final city council vote to grant the subsidies and entitlements is too late. The public should be able to weigh in now about the merits of giving millions of dollars in subsidies for a project that will exacerbate traffic congestion, and provide no concrete community benefits in return. The other council members prefer to keep this information confidential.

I am therefore limited to reiterating information that the city manager provided two years ago; information I shared with you in my progress report at the end of 2006. Two years ago, the subsidy that was contemplated from the city to the developer was $47 million. (The developer was willing to pay $10 million for the land after toxic remediation. The city expected to pay $17 million to acquire the land, and $10 million to do toxic remediation. The department store was to receive a $22 million subsidy, the hotel $8 million.)

The subsidy money would be drawn from the city’s budget for capital projects. Here is a partial list of projects that the city council has identified as worthy projects, for which no money has been set aside (2006 estimates):

Railroad Quiet Zone, $2M
Park Avenue Park, $3M
Replace police station, $15M
Cultural/Performing Arts Center, $14M
Recreation Center, $5.5M
Improving pedestrian access on Powell Street Bridge, $15M
Bridge over Interstate 80 at 65th Street, $10M
Bridge over Interstate 80 at Temescal Creek, $10M
Extending Bay Trail south of Powell Street, $2M

At a June meeting, the city council voted (4-0) to spend money to create a PowerPoint presentation focusing on the benefits of major development projects while excluding the negative impacts. (I missed the meeting because I was on vacation with my family.) I doubt that the PowerPoint presentation will mention the tens of millions of dollars that the city is doling out in subsidy money. Here is the staff report:
http://www.johnfricke.com/StaffReport17june2008.pdf

See The Secret News story, “All This Development IS Good for You: Just Ask the City Council’s Pricey PR expert.”

The city council has hired a PR firm to provide one-sided information to the public, but refuses to make public the subsidy amount that will likely be granted to the Site B developer.

John Fricke

by Brian Donahue

Now that Stephan Wesley, Emeryville’s disgraced School Superintendent, has resigned after news broke of his faked resume, the critical question is how will a replacement supervisor be named?

Despite attempts by Mayor Ken Bukowski to downplay the severity of Wesley’s offense, referring to a possible ‘rallying around’ Wesley by the School Board and City Council, the Board appropriately accepted Wesley’s resignation. Here’s the coverage in the SF Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/04/BA0O12O1UM.DTL&hw=stephen+Wesley&sn=003&sc=400

It is hoped that the same flawed process often used by the City of Emeryville when selecting city staff and school officials will be abandoned for a more transparent and professional process. Historically, cronyism has been the driving force in the political culture here and is often how City officials move up the ranks. Two years ago, $20,000 was spent by the City Council on a nationwide search for someone to replace outgoing City Manager John Flores. But it appeared that the Council planned to select Flores’ number two man, Pat O’Keeffe (who was serving as interim City Manager), all along. The nationwide search was just a show, at taxpayer expense.

This pattern repeated itself when Maurice Kaufman, a Public Works Department employee, was appointed Director of the Department after another nationwide search at taxpayer expense. It should be noted that Wesley served as Assistant Superintendent before being promoted to the top position — after a nationwide search that cost the City $7,000.

Emeryville residents deserve a REAL search for qualified administrators at the school district and at City Hall, not the sham searches we too often get. A higher level of transparency and professionalism and the elimination of cronyism is required here.

Brian Donahue has lived and worked in Emeryville for 28 years. He and his wife, and young daughter, live in the Emeryville Artists’ Cooperative. Brian has been a longtime activist, working for transparent government and better of quality of life for the residents; he’s not very popular with the City Council majority.

by Sandra Stewart

Teachers and staff of Anna Yates Elementary School had a pleasant surprise last Tuesday when they were treated to lunch by Albert Repola, owner of Ruby’s Cafe. It was the final prep day at the school’s temporary location before the doors opened to hundreds of students.

Principal Jag Lathan thanked Repola, owner of the Hollis Street eatery, for his generosity. Repola provided lunch for 21 teachers and 10 staff members.

Repola, a 23-year resident of Emeryville, said he wanted to welcome the school to its temporary home at Doyle and 61st streets, the site of the former Ralph Hawley School. Anna Yates, at 41st and Adeline streets, is undergoing a major renovation.
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Photo: (from left) Principal Jag Lathan, Albert Repola, and support staff Jessica Odon and Pamela Helsel.