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.
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
November 19, 2008
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
By Cecilia VegaEMERYVILLE, 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
Tracy Schroth is an Emeryville resident who believes in honest and transparent government that is accountable to the people it serves. She is concerned that the City Council majority is putting monied special interests before the needs and desires of the community.
Marc Albert has been a reporter at three radio stations and seven newspapers over the past 20 years. An
Mysterious Local Activist Slings Mud at City for Stalled Park Project
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, 61st, Doyle and 62nd 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
Marc Albert has been a reporter at three radio stations and seven newspapers over the past 20 years. An
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.)
After an unscrupulous grifter bankrupted the
The San Francisco Chronicle says it spent a total of $40 uncovering what the District’s $7,000 background check could not. That most of the degrees and credentials claimed by Stephen Wesley, hired in November as Superintendent of Schools in Emeryville, were made up out of whole cloth:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/03/BASK12IO7K.DTL
Within hours of the story hitting the streets, Wesley was hitting the bricks. The school board accepted his resignation: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/04/BA0O12O1UM.DTL
The current “reform” school board, elected after the former board was purged, has proven itself as incompetent as those they replaced. While Wesley didn’t have the District pick up the tab for a trip to China, leather furniture, or daytime hotel lodging, as his predecessor, J.L. Handy, is alleged to have done in published reports, (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/22/MN28570.DTL) it is inexcusable that the current board gave the District’s $150,000-a-year top job to a fraudster.
When they ran for office, the reformers said they knew better. Now they are hiding behind the California School Boards Association, an executive search firm paid $7,000 to" find" Wesley (he was an assistant superintendent for the District when he was chosen for the top post) and presumably verify his background. They said the same mistakes wouldn’t be made twice.
For those students of Shakespeare, consider this: The first time is tragedy, the second time farce. The board is expected to release a statement tomorrow. We’ll be watching.
For more background on J.L. Handy click here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/04/MN168452.DTL
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.
by Brian Donahue
There has been a lot of talk in Emeryville lately about all the new development, and whether or not the community has benefited. Mindful of growing public concern, the City Council is moving to head off public disapproval -- not with a change in direction, but with a pricey public relations campaign aimed at convincing voters that the Council’s development-at-any-cost strategy is paying huge dividends to residents.
The campaign, by the way, is being paid for with your tax dollars . At a Council meeting June 17th, the Council voted (4-0) to spend $15,500 on a PowerPoint presentation extolling the virtues of all the new development and, perhaps more ominously, to smooth the way for increasing the pace of development to come. Helen Bean, the city's Director of Economic Development and Housing, urged the Council to craft the presentation to “hone in on certain messages”.
City Council Member Ruth Atkin stressed that residents need to know how they have benefited, and characterized the PowerPoint as an educational tool. The comment came just moments after Mayor Ken Bukowski and City Council Member Dick Kassis debated whether the proposed presentation should include any mention of the negative impacts recent development has had on the city. Kassis wondered aloud whether the public should receive a more balanced report for their money. However, Bukowski was unequivocal:
"The purpose of this is to put out the positive. What are we going to do, start criticizing ourselves?”
Mayor Ken Bukowski
Siding with Bukowski, Council Member Nora Davis took umbrage at the idea of producing an objective ‘product’ for the taxpayers money: “EBASE (the local community benefits/labor alliance group) will be glad to provide the criticism. We don’t have to do that ourselves,” she said.
Once again, disinformation won the day at City Hall. Educational outreach efforts by EBASE were cited by City Council members as justifying their decision to omit any negative impacts of development in the presentation. During deliberations, this reporter asked council members: If all this development is so great, why would the Council need to spend taxpayer money to convince the taxpayer of something that should be readily apparent? Kassis complained that “EBASE has been running around all over town” telling people they should expect more community benefits from development than they’ve been getting.
City staff recommended hiring the Oakland-based public relations firm, The Place Making Group, to produce the ‘product’, citing their expertise in effective ‘branding’ and advertising. The PowerPoint presentation will be played repeatedly on ETV Channel 27 in lieu of other programming, and will be presented at various civic events the City Council is planning to further this pro-development campaign.
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.
Developer To Get $10 Million and Street Widening
Residents Might Get a Park – in 20 Years
Known officially as the Emeryville Marketplace, the current site is bounded by
Council Member John Fricke, the lone dissenter, voiced three major concerns:
