Emeryville is poised to wipe away criminal penalties from its municipal code
Barbara Lee will be the highest-ranking Black woman in the Dem House caucus
CITY NEWS
EMERYVILLE
—CODE CLEAN-UP—In the summer of 2020, nearly two months after the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, the Emeryville City Council authorized a comprehensive review of its municipal code.
—In September 2020, the council directed city staff to identify all criminal, civil, and administrative penalties that reside in its municipal code. The end result comes to the Emeryville City Council at a special meeting on Monday night.
—City staff is recommending the removal of misdemeanor penalties for 20 items in the municipal code. They include permits and licenses, cannabis, card rooms, hotels, and property maintenance.
—In addition, another three dozen items include recommendations to remove infraction penalties, including those for business taxes, abandoned vehicles, air pollution, dangerous and insanitary conditions, and weed and refuse abatement.
—An entire chapter in the municipal code dealing with fortunetelling is slated to be removed on Monday night.
—Some of the penalties are indeed a bit farcical. Last May, the Emeryville City Council removed criminal penalties for those who do not obtain a bicycle license.
—“Making our cities safer doesn’t come from filling our codes with punishments for every type of human conduct imaginable. It comes from creating space for people to form social bonds,” Emeryville Mayor John Bauters tweeted. “I look forward to completing this journey to make our city a more just community for all.”
—A changing of the guard will be plentiful next week as some mayors and councilmembers take their bow and others take the oath of office.
SAN LEANDRO
—CUTTER BIDS ADIEU—San Leandro will say goodbye to its longest-serving public official on Monday night. San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter will retire after serving the last 24 years in office. Her tenure includes 12 years on the San Leandro school board, four years as a councilmember, and the last eight years as mayor.
—Cutter’s departure might be an end of a era in other ways, too. For the past two years, Cutter’s understated and collaborative style has clashed with a new generation of councilmembers who tend to espouse diametrically different efforts for getting things done.
—It’s no secret that over the past two years, Cutter has often express exasperation with some of the antics seen at the city council.
—Next year’s San Leandro City Council is only getting younger. In addition to Cutter, Councilmembers Deborah Cox and Corina Lopez will leave the council after being termed out of office. Cox will be replaced by Celina Reynes, and Lopez by Xouhoa Bowen.
—The shepherd of this new group is equally green. San Leandro Mayor-elect Juan Gonzalez will take the oath of office on Monday night. The first-time candidate narrowly defeated Councilmember Bryan Azevedo last month in a race decided by ranked-choice voting.
—Gonzalez is expected to sit on the more moderate wing of the next council, which may be a lonely place. Not only will Gonzalez have to steer a very progressive majority going forward, but he may have to also deal with Azevedo and his streak of petulance.
HAYWARD
—NIMBY ALERT—The city’s effort to turn the St. Regis Retirement Center on Mission Boulevard into a campus to serve the those suffering mental health issues received a $250,000 grant from the Eden Health District. The grant was approved by the Hayward City Council on Tuesday.
—The additional money helps close a funding gap $8.45 million for the project. The county previously pitched in $7.5 million.
—The St Regis project hopes to fill a gap for the unhoused in Hayward. Often those transported by Hayward Police to the county’s John George Psychiatric Clinic, and the city’s Homeless Navigation Center are not ill enough to be admitted, said Kelly McAdoo, Hayward’s city manager.
—But there are signs that Hayward residents near the St. Regis facility are readying an effort to deploy the NIMBY playbook at the project. Several public speakers raised questions about the project, including whether the facility will attract the homeless and patients. They also criticized the lack of early public outreach about the project.
—McAdoo acknowledged the city has not yet offered much information on the project. One reason is there is no planning process required because it’s already permitted for the use and exempt from CEQA.
—The facility is not a drop-in center, she said. Some construction, however, is needed, and the center will hopefully open in June 2023, McAdoo added.
—“I would rather see people being treated and having a place to stay than being on the streets and in our neighborhood, McAdoo said.
-PLANNING BOARD EXIT—Zacariah Oquenda resigned from Hayward Planning Commission. In Hayward, the planning commission has traditionally been a training ground for future councilmembers and Oquenda has long been viewed as a top prospect for higher office.
BELTWAY
—LEE HELPS STEER HOUSE—Rep. Barbara Lee will be the highest ranking Black woman in the House Democratic leadership when the next session of Congress rolls around. New Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries reappointed Lee as the co-chair of the Democratic House Steering and Policy Committee.
—Part of Lee’s role is to help assign committees to House Democrats. “Now more than ever, committee assignments within the Democratic caucus will be crucial to combat the antics of Kevin McCarthy and the Republican party in power,” Lee said in a statement on Friday.
—Lee rejoins Reps. Debbie Wasserman Shultz of Florida, and Dan Kildee of Michigan on the steering committee.
—HELP FOR SWALS?—One of the House Democrats that Rep. Barbara Lee might have to fight mightily for a committee seat is Rep. Eric Swalwell, another member of Alameda County’s three-person congressional caucus.
—Likely Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has repeatedly vowed to boot Swalwell from his plum seat on the House Intelligence Committee.
—McCarthy has been critical of Swalwell’s eligibility to serve on the politically sensitive committee following the East Bay congressman’s reported dalliance in 2015 with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang.
—SWALS HAS RECEIPTS—If Rep. Eric Swalwell is deep in the House GOP’s dog house this exchange on Wedndesday with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio isn’t going to help at all. “Will you denounce your tweet praising Kanye West?,” Swalwell asked Jordan.