Celebrate Art! Friday, October 5, 6-9 pm, 5890 Christie Ave.

Friday, October 5 is one of the best nights of the year! This year that evening is the opening night of the annual Emeryville Celebration of the Arts exhibition, which will run (free of charge!) from October 6-28. Please come to 5890 Christie Ave. to see the wonderful collection of art made by people who live or work in Emeryville.

The artists of Emeryville are passionate about what they do, and the variety at this exhibit never disappoints. I love spending time with my children gazing at the art, and then enjoying the magic of turning and meeting the artist who created the piece, and discussing the work with him/her. There will be music, snacks and drinks, and all the community turned out to celebrate. My appreciation to all the volunteers who make this event one of the best all year, every year! More information is here.

Oversight Board - where are we now?

For those of you who have followed the end of Redevelopment in Emeryville, the Oversight Board has been meeting since April 2012 to oversee the unwinding of the Agency. See my previous posts here (Feb. 29) and  here (May 17) on the work we do and who serves on the OB. To read about the end of redevelopment read my January 17 post.
 
Next Tuesday, October 2, at 5:30 pm at City Hall, there will be a public comment session.
The following Wednesday, October 10, at 5:30 pm at City Hall, the Oversight Board will meet.

With the new state budget passed in June 2012, there have been some modifications to our process of "unwinding." Emeryville is undertaking a "due diligence review" of all of the redevelopment funds and assets in two parts. First, all of the Low and Moderate Income Housing Funds are being audited (to be completed and released to the public by Monday, October 1), and second all other funds are to be scrutinized (by December 15). At the end of these reviews, any unencumbered cash will be redistributed to the taxing entities (who are represented on the Oversight Board and are listed on your property tax bill), and the remaining enforceable obligations will be paid from cash on hand or future tax increment money. Only enforceable obligations listed on the ROPS and approved by the Department of Finance are allowed. The public meeting next Tuesday is for people to weigh in on the first of the two "due diligence reviews." At the 10/10 meeting, the Oversight Board will review the document as well. The public is welcome at both meetings.

At the end of this process, the state is allowing the Successor Agency (which took over the unwinding of the former Redevelopment Agency) to use unspent bond proceeds that are still being held. For Emeryville, that means that there are $24.5 million from previous bond sales (most recently 2004) to pay for projects such as the Center of Community Life, to which we have committed $21.2 million. The remaining $3.3 million will be decided on in the spring of 2013.

Zoning Ordinances being considered, Saturday, September 29 at 10:00 am

Emeryville is nearing the end of the process of updating the zoning in town. After adopting a new General Plan in October of 2009, Emeryville has worked with many dedicated people to update the Emeryville Planning Regulations: those serving on the Zoning Update Steering Committee, the staff who support their, and consultants as well .

This Saturday, September 29, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at City Hall (1333 Park Ave.), there will be a public workshop on the zoning ordinances. Please consider attending. The public is welcome at all of these meetings at City Hall. After this public input session, the regulations will come to the Planning Commission and City Council for a joint study session on October 30, 2012 at 6:00 pm. Then the Zoning Update Steering Committee will meet again on November 15, 2012 at 6:00 pm. The Planning Commission will consider the zoning update with a public hearing on (tentatively) December 13, 2012 at 6:30 pm and the City Council (tentatively) on January 15, 2013 at 7:15 pm. This means that the public will have 5 more opportunities to weigh in on decisions for how the General Plan will be implemented including what uses are permitted where, density of development, and design guidelines. The chart of all the meetings scheduled can be found here in the E-News (which you can opt into receiving twice per month).

Trees Study Session, Planning Commission, Thursday, September 27

At the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27, there will be a study session discussing street trees in Emeryville. It is toward the end of the agenda. The meeting begins at City Hall at 6:30 pm. In my opinion, the City is not doing enough to preserve mature trees when developers want to cut them down. Here is an open letter from me to the Planning Commissioners:

I have long been concerned about how well we are maintaining our trees in Emeryville. To me, mature trees are a real asset and make a tremendous difference in the feel of a place, the quality of life, and in the property values. I would much rather live on a street with tall, healthy trees, than without. We all know it takes years to allow trees to reach their full maturity, and patience!

Emeryville passed an Urban Forestry Ordinance (UFO) in 2003 and updated it in the past couple of years, but it alone is not enough. It is up to the decision-makers in town to remember the time required for trees to mature, and to value those trees more than saving a developer money. We all know that clearing a parcel before building is cheaper. We know that designing a park on a blank piece of paper is easier. But it is simply not worth it!

Trees can be preserved and incorporated into new developments in Emeryville, and the Planning Commissioners and the City Council members are the ones who can make that a priority. I hope that staff will also encourage or require developers to consider existing trees in their plans, but until they do, it is the appointed and elected members of the Commission and Council who must protect the community from the continual cutting down of mature trees.

The UFO has some good protections in place. Now folks must pay a penalty when street trees are cut down. Now developers are required to replace the cumulative circumference of trees cut down with new trees (which can be hard to do with limited space for all those trees, but encourages planting large replacement trees). But the City is exempt from the UFO. The City doesn’t HAVE to follow these rules. And as a result the city has been inconsistent in the application of the UFO.

At Parkside (formerly PaperMill) on Stanford between Doyle and Hollis, more than 40 mature trees are being removed as part of a project building 164 apartments. I cannot vote on this item as it is close to my residence, but I feel that no public body properly considered alternatives to cutting down these trees. We were shown a design for a new park and commented on details, glad to see something other than a parking lot! Yes, there were public community meetings, and no one asked for the trees to be preserved. There were study sessions at the Planning Commission, and no one asked for the trees to be preserved. The council considered the Park Design in February 2012, and no one asked for the trees to be preserved. The arborist report (prepared after the community meetings and the Planning Commission approvals and which was not required because the City doesn’t have to follow the UFO), was commissioned by the Developer Archstone. It had 2 sections removed from the report by suggestion of the City staff: 1. the value of the trees slated for removal and 2. the steps needed to preserve the existing trees. I think that those sections should have been retained. At least for the City to know in monetary terms what is being taken away by the development proceeding according to the plans, and to help all decision makers and the public know what is feasible in terms of preservation.

These are the 20 year old trees to be removed for a park

When I spoke to a member of the community who attended the public meetings, I heard that no one in attendance had mentioned, talked about, or asked about the removal of all the trees on the site. All comments were focused on the new park plan – no one even thought about considering what is currently there. Not the City staff or the developer. She, too, is excited about the new park, but devastated to think that all the mature trees are being cut down to build it.

This developer was asked to build a public park as a condition of approval for the City. Good for the city to ask for something back for the community! But next time, ask for a park WITH the existing trees incorporated into the design! No one did, and we didn’t get a park with mature trees – we will get a lovely park with brand new trees and wait 20 years for them to grow to be like the trees that are there now.

Please consider the following points as new development projects come forward: 

1.  What trees are already on the site? Can they be preserved? What is their value?
2.  Ask for more benefits from private developers, even if it might increase the cost of the project.
3. Visit the site and look at what is there now.
4. Require the City to follow its own UFO unless it is an emergency situation.
5. Post notices on all trees to be removed, and do so early in the process, before plans have been settled on.
6. Get our City Arborist to review private arborist reports.
7. Use the fund we have created under the UFO to maintain and preserve existing trees and to plant new trees.

If we have the foresight to do right by trees in Emeryville, 20, 30, and 50 years from now the residents and people who work in Emeryville will thank us!

Drop off prescription drugs at Police Dept this Saturday

This Saturday, September 29, you can take any medications to the Police Department between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm to drop off. Please, for the environment's sake, do not flush any old medications down the toilet. Clean out your medicine cabinet and bring it to the Police Dept. this Saturday.

Emeryville Police Department   

2449 Powell St., Emeryville    (across from Watergate)

Register to Vote by October 22

Yesterday was National Voter Registration Day! Barbara Lee had a rally to remind people of the importance of voicing our vote in our democracy. We need to do all we can to get people registered and ready to vote. Too many states are dealing with voter suppression laws. Now Californians can register to vote online (as of last week), and October 22 is the deadline for registering for the November 6, 2012 election. If you have moved, you must update your registration.

I heard that on Monday Governor Brown signed into law a bill that will allow Californians to register on election day, but not until 2015.