{"id":1691,"date":"2012-05-31T17:05:02","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T17:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=1691"},"modified":"2012-06-03T20:33:10","modified_gmt":"2012-06-03T20:33:10","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-rethink-eccl-get-community-input-dont-waste-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=1691","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor: Rethink ECCL, Get Community Input, Don&#8217;t Waste Money"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"yiv1915951715\">\n<div>The  State Department of Finance,  charged  with seizing the assets of  former redevelopment agencies, has determined  the $25  million ($4  million of which has already been spent) set aside for  the\u00a0Emeryville  Community Center of Life (ECCL) is not an enforceable  obligation. That  decision  means the  money to build  the City portion of the project &#8212; recreation\/community  center, social service offices &#8212; is  likely to be lost.<\/div>\n<p>That essentially means it is no longer a  joint-use (school and city) project. Accordingly, the design of ECCL needs to be  revisited. Does it make sense  for the School Board to revise this project and simply rebuild the high  school? Could some of the bond money be used for  the Anna Yates Elementary School? For  those of you who think you can challenge the  State on this issue,  think again. They are the ones who make the laws and, if needed, they   will change the law to be able to take the money. We  are not just losing $25 million. We  are  losing 10 years of staff  time, and lots of community expectations.  I urge the Emeryville City  Manager, Patrick O&#8217;Keefe, and the City Council to examine\u00a0reality and ask  the community to weigh in on this  latest turn of events. I suggest  creating a community forum on this issue and inviting people to raise  their concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Careful consideration should be given before using any existing funds for a legal challenge against the State.<\/p>\n<p>Future shortfalls in the school budget are  not likely to be covered by additional taxes from property  owners.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ken Bukowski<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Emeryville Property Owners  Association<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(If viewing this story from the homepage: To make a    comment,  or to read the comments of others, click on the headline to go    to the  story page, then scroll down to the bottom.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Courier New;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span id=\"yui_3_2_0_1_13384920391693378\" style=\"color: #000080; font-family: Courier New; font-size: x-small;\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0;float:none;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesecretnewsonline.com%2F%3Fp%3D1691\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"true\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The State Department of Finance, charged with seizing the assets of former redevelopment agencies, has determined the $25 million ($4 million of which has already been spent) set aside for the\u00a0Emeryville Community Center of Life (ECCL) is not an enforceable &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=1691\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1691"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1781,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions\/1781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}