{"id":1153,"date":"2011-09-08T05:00:47","date_gmt":"2011-09-08T05:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2011-09-12T05:12:49","modified_gmt":"2011-09-12T05:12:49","slug":"shirley-enomoto-quits-measure-j-oversight-committee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=1153","title":{"rendered":"Shirley Enomoto Quits Measure J Oversight Committee"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Artist's rendering of new Emeryville Center for Community Life<\/p><\/div>\n

Enomoto Questions Committee’s Role and Responsibility for Future Emeryville Center for Community Life (ECCL)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Long-time Emeryville resident Shirley Enomoto said she had complained for months that the Measure J Citizen Oversight Committee (COC) lacked a clearly defined role and appeared to have little or no power, or respect, from the educators and city council members who\u00a0 appointed it. To no avail. After getting no meaningful response to her concerns, Enomoto resigned from the Committee “with a heavy heart.”<\/p>\n

“It’s very obvious to me that the City\/ Schools Committee <\/a>still does not know or want to say what the role and responsibilites of the COC are,” Enomoto said in her resignation letter, which she submitted to COC Committee Chair Brian Carver. “They seem very reluctant to give any control to the COC and appear fearful that the Committee wants to “approve” expenditures rather than simply review them, which is one of the committee’s principal responsibilities.”<\/p>\n

Enomoto said that of the five meetings she attended, more focus, time and attention was given to community engagement than to expenditures. There were lots of refreshments, she said, but no meaningful action. Bottled water and pizza or sandwiches were always served, despite the meeting only lasting an hour or two.<\/p>\n

“Half the food wasn’t eaten. It seemed like a waste of Measure J money,” Enomoto said.<\/p>\n

She added that Board of Education Member Cheryl Webb had “chided” COC members for not having a grasp of the issues, yet the Committee has received little or no information ‘to get a grasp of.”<\/p>\n

Measure J requires an oversight committee and according to a separate website<\/a> set up by the City exclusively for the COC, the duties and rights of the\u00a0 Committee are set forth in Prop 39 and include:<\/p>\n