Court Rejects Woodfin Demand

By Marc Albert

A California appeals court rejected a demand by the Woodfin Suites Hotel that Emeryville taxpayers pay the hotel's growing legal fees.

The hotel company, owned and operated by Sam Hardage, a Republican Party activist from San Diego, has fought the city's living wage ordinance for hotel workers since before it was codified.

The ordinance, Measure C, was approved by Emeryville voters in November 2005. While other hotel operators, including Sheraton 4 Points, Courtyard by Marriott and Holiday Inn (now Hilton) have complied fully with the law, Mr. Hardage, Woodfin's owner has stubbornly refused. Hotel workers have faced a string of retaliatory actions, including summary firings. Woodfin has instead launched a string of lawsuits to avoid paying back wages to the workers and seeking to have the measure overturned.

One of the hotel's lawsuits sought to force city taxpayers to reimburse the company for its recalcitrant legal strategy. That suit was rejected. An appeal of that decision was rejected in an 11 page decision by the Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District on March 15.

You can read the entire document by following this link to a pdf file

Gun 'Nuts' Reload for Showdown Tuesday

By Brian Donahue

They're Going To Have Every Council Member Removed

High noon will come at precisely 7:15 P.M. Tuesday. That's when the final showdown is scheduled in an epic battle pitting the National Rifle Association, an organization devoted to preserving one of our Constitutionally guaranteed rights, versus the Emeryville city council, a group hell bent on eviscerating that right.

At least that's how NRA members are characterizing the proposed gun store ordinance. The city council, for its part, sees a set of reasonable and rationed regulations similar to rules applied to other businesses. The regulations have the backing of the City Attorney and the Chief of Police.

The proposed ordinance forbids those under age 18 from going inside any store selling firearms in Emeryville, requires criminal background checks of store employees and other limited regulations. Residents at a March 16th council meeting on the subject called the proposed ordinance 'benign' and 'reasonable.' At the same meeting, gun rights advocates chastised the proposal as 'invasive' and 'draconian,' a 'government usurpation of Second Amendment rights.'

The council's second and final reading of the ordinance is scheduled for Tuesday night April 6th. Gun lovers have promised to double their numbers from the first reading (see the Tattler story on March 16). Firearms enthusiasts have threatened, if the council goes through with the ordinance, to unseat every one of our council members either by recall or by getting pro-NRA candidates to replace them in future elections.

The city council will take up the issue at 7:15 Tuesday night.