First the bonds, and now the operating budget.
First, the COC (Citizens Oversight Committee) and the School District were told that the available proceeds for the Emeryville Center of Community Life (the joint City/District “all-in-one” facility) would be cut in half from $120 million to $65 million. Since the City’s contribution remained constant, the shortfall comes entirely from the School District’s expected contribution. The shortfall is taking place because neither the City (which was involved in the process - the ballot statement in favor of Measure J was signed by Ruth Atkin, as then Mayor of Emeryville) - nor the School District (Miguel Dwin, Josh Simon, etc.) took into account the likelihood that property tax values would continue to decline in Emeryville instead of rising. Guess that phone call to the Alameda County Tax Assessor to find out how property values were trending would have taken too long to make, huh?
Now, we find out that “The Department released its first interim status report for fiscal year 2010-11 and Emery School District is on the list of “qualified certifications”, those districts that have been red flagged for internal financial problems such that its financial obligations might not be met. Emery Unified joins 96 other school districts statewide on the watch list, nearly 10% of the total school districts in California ”:
http://emeryvilletattler.blogspot.com/2011/10/school-district-might-not-meet-its.html
(Wish we had a “regular” newspaper in E’ville - you know, the kind that seems to be dying out anyway - but I’ll take an occasional tonic of snarkiness as my “subscription fee” for the outstanding “real world” coverage the Tattler provides.)
Well, with most of the City of Emeryville in a “redevelopment district,” that entitles the Redevelopment Agency (a legal “alias” for the City Council) to grab hold of all increases in property values resulting from the redevelopment it sponsors - so the School District, like a fly in amber, is stuck in a moment of time with an inadequate share of property tax revenues. Sort of like running a school district on the taxes that were available 24 years ago before the big redevelopment boom started. Before the City of Emeryville used its large share of the property tax increment (sorry, before the - cough - Redevelopment Agency - to to keep those legal aliases straight) started siphoning off the lion’s share of the rich new property taxes based on the wave of developments to pay for further “bribes” to developers (tax subsidies, outright payments) who would have developed in Emeryville anyway due to its prime location and available large land parcels. (Paying to help clean up toxic waste, to level the playing field with other jurisdictions, was ok, imho - in my humble opinion. So long as we were not subsidizing the contamination caused by the current owner itself!)
So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that at the same time the School District is moving forward on grandiose plans to build the ECCL (Emeryville Center of Community Life) it is also teetering on the verge of operating expense collapse.
Of course the School District is not without blame. This is the same School District that HIRED (under Nora’s watch, and Nora was an executive recruiter, a head-hunter, an EMPLOYMENT specialist) the infamous DL Handy who had run his prior District into bankruptcy by embezzling funds, and guess what, did the same to Emeryville. That THEN went on to hire ANOTHER shady superintendent, Steven Wesley, who simply faked portions of HIS resume, something the SF Chronicle found out with a couple of phone calls to the educational institutions Wesley claimed to have credentials from. Simple resume-checking the Trustees of the Emeryville Unified School District should have done.
Don’t tell me that the School District is separate from the City of Emeryville. I agree that legally, it is, much more so than the Redevelopment Agency. But at the same time, the City, via the Redevelopment Agency, has tremendous power to affect the funds and financing of the School District, and he or she who writes the checks, should take some responsibility for HOW and WHERE the funds are spent. (For example, I think that every City Council Member should sit on the COC - Citizens Oversight Committee - to see how the ECCL - Emeryville Center of Community Life - funds are being spent. NO funds are supposed to be spent on “administration,” since that was a Measure J ballot promise made by Ruth Atkin, Miguel Dwin, and others. (See, a City Council Member was involved in School District affairs in 2010, so the City Council should likewise be involved today.)
Today we are in a quandary. To what extent should the City proceed with the ECCL, and to what extent will it get caught up in the fiscal mis-management that has been a continuing problem at the School District? Last night at the debate, when a question on budgets came up, Ruth Atkin offered that she can read and understand City budgets, but School District budgets are written up in such a way they are very hard to follow. What does that tell you about the risks of linking our fortunes with the School District?
How can we be building a $120 million (now $65 million) project with the School District?
I would like to propose that we scale back the ECCL, for now, to include JUST a renovated Emery Secondary School (it’s physically close to shambles in its current state); a new community theater (which would serve Emeryville residents and not just the school kids); and a new public library (we really need a public library, and it’s focus needs to be on e-books, DVD’s, and internet for adults, with a strong children’s section with “real” books - sort of like a scaled down Berkeley Public Library, Main Branch).
That would let Anna Yates, the jewel of the Emeryville Unified School District, stay open where it is (otherwise you are going to see a mass exodus of parents from Emeryville schools in the K-6 range), and give us a library and a meeting place at the ECCL (the community theater can be our new “town hall” as well). The scale of the ECCL would be reduced, and life will be better for the Emery Bay Residents.
Finally, the before- and after- school center on San Pablo needs to be FIXED. I like its location next Anna Yates, but keeping it in ramshackle temporary buildings is bordering on a public disgrace.
In short, I favor de-centralization, using our existing properties to good value. We just spent $8-9 million to spruce up Anna Yates, let’s not throw that money away.
As always, I would like to ask for your vote on November 8. My literature will be hitting your mailboxes this week and next. I am mailing to voters who vote in “slow years” for my first mailing, and voters who vote in “exciting years” i.e. Presidential election years, for my second mailing. Please email me at michael.webber@gmail.com and let me know when you get your campaign literature from me and what you think about it.
~Michael
Webber for City Council 2011
