Parking Battle Brewing in E’ville

The City Council unanimously approved to implement the first of a series of recommendations from the controversial North Hollis Short term Parking plan at last Tuesday’s council meeting. The five year old, 69 page Wilbur Smith Assoc. parking study recommends a multiple-solution approach to dealing with our escalating parking scarcity, the first of which is adding 141 short term spaces (mapped below) or 2-hour “green zones” expected to be implemented by the end of February. In addition, signage on Hollis will direct drivers to the fifty free 4-hour spaces that the city has subsidized in the 

Emeryville dumps red-light cameras | KTVU News

Emeryville has joined the growing list of cities (including Berkeley, L.A. and Cupertino) that have decided to end their use of red-light cameras. Citing among the reasons for taking down the devices is that they were too time-consuming to oversee. Many cities see these automated devices as “Cash Cows”. In fact the red-light Camera at 40th & Horton issued 3120 citations in 2011 at $508 a piece (That’s $1,584,960 in revenue!). The reporter in this segment says the city “makes $1,000’s”. If this is the case, where does the rest of this revenue go? Apparently a State Mandate required the

STATE OF THE CITY with Mayor Jennifer West | May 31st

As part of Mayor Jennifer West’s community outreach program, she will be visiting and sharing her “State of the City” report at the Emeryville Warehouse lofts on May 31. Also in attendance will be city manager Patrick O’Keeffe.

Come hear about what’s happening in our town and have a chance to share your thoughts.

Subject matter including:
• Sherwin Williams Cleanup & Development
• Bay St. Pedestrian Bridge
• Park Avenue Beautification
• Greenway Path

This event is hosted by the Emeryville Warehouse Lofts and open to all residents and our neighbors at Icon and Blue Star Corner. To schedule a presentation for your neighborhood, please contact Mayor West directly.

Emeryville braces for life without Redevelopment Funds

City Manager Patrick O’Keeffe likened it to “an Earthquake” at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, and the aftershocks can be felt throughout the 1.2 square miles that is the City of Emeryville. As part of his budget deficit proposal, Governor Jerry Brown abolished state redevelopment money in turn killing the nearly 400 agencies that manage these funds. The subsequent December 29th, 2011 appeal against this decision was upheld, retaining the cut-off for elimination at February 1st. The final fight to be waged will be an appeal to extend this deadline for closing existing projects to April 15th. The Emeryville City Council did not sound optimistic of this happening after traveling to Sacramento to discuss the matter with State Senator Loni Hancock.