Rob AriasThe agenda for the July 15, 2025 Emeryville City Council Meeting contained the following discussion items:
- A Study Session by the EPD providing City Council guidance to Disaster Operations
- A Public Hearing to modify A Noise Ordinance Waiver for EBMUD Sewer Rehabilitation
- An Action Item accepting funds from HUD for the 40th Street Multimodal Project
- A spirited attempt to request a discussion of the use and sharing of Flock ALPR Data
STUDY SESSION
City Council Guide to Disaster Operations [08:11]
The evening began with a presentation from Acting Police Captain Fred Dauer outlining the City Council’s legal and operational responsibilities during disasters. He described Emeryville’s emergency management structure, emphasizing the importance of coordination with state and federal systems like SEMS (Standardized Emergency Management System) and NIMS (National Incident Management System).
“In addition to the legislative duties, one of your main roles will be as a conduit between the city and the public,” Dauer explained to Council. “That means in assisting in public outreach efforts, serving as a liaison with community groups, surveying problem sites, visiting shelters, hosting VIPs and government officials, and also serving as a liaison with those county, state, and federal representatives.”
Councilmembers asked about preparedness for cyberattacks, relocation of city infrastructure, and the potential use of drone technology during emergencies. Dauer confirmed a drone policy discussion is slated for September and added that cybersecurity readiness efforts include a “tabletop exercise” to simulate a breach scenario. “We are working with CISA and IT staff to prepare for a cyberattack,” he said
Public Comment [41:36]
Prior to the Study Session, AC Transit external affairs representative Ryan Lau provided a reminder to Council and staff that the transit agencies “Realign” service changes would be going into effect August 10th.
Representatives from SEIU United Healthcare Workers questioned whether the 225-bed Sutter Health hospital planned for Emeryville would be sufficient for regional needs, citing the comparison to Alta Bates in Berkeley and underscoring the implications for capacity and staffing should the project fall short.
Owners and operators affected by the 40th Street Multimodal Project continued to raise objections t o the design of the project that involved the closure or partial closure of several streets. They contended that current plans provide insufficient accommodation for freight vehicles and limit access for delivery trucks. The group expressed concerns about inadequate outreach to stakeholders and warned that traffic rerouting could displace truck flow into nearby residential streets, such as Park Avenue, creating safety and congestion concerns. Deborah Cohen of Rug Depot Outlet criticized the City’s outreach and said the redesign would “cut off legacy Emeryville businesses.” “I request that you hear our concerns and implement needed modifications to the plan,” she said, adding that the project “threatens to compromise the safety and utility of Park Avenue” by rerouting truck traffic.
CITY COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING
Announcements and City Attorney Report [55:39]
Vacancies announcements on Local Boards, Commissions & Committees included a resignation from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) and the Commission on Aging. The City Attorney announced the City had settled a license tax dispute with Grocery Outlet for $771,000.
PUBLIC HEARING: Noise Ordinance Waiver for Sewer Rehabilitation Project [58:33]
Council held a public hearing to consider a waiver from the city’s noise ordinance for a scheduled sewer rehabilitation project. With no public comment or objections, the Council unanimously approved the waiver and adopted the ordinance amendment.
ACTION ITEM: Acceptance of HUD Grant for 40th Street Multimodal Project [59:56]
Prior to discussion of the item, Councilmember Kalimah Priforce announced his recusal due to campaign contributions from stakeholders potentially impacted by the project’s design.
Senior Civil Engineer Ryan O’Connell presented the acceptance of an $850,000 HUD grant for the 40th Street Transit-Only Lanes and Multimodal Enhancement Project, bringing total external funding to $31.9 million toward the project’s $32.6 million budget. He recognized the assistance of federal lawmakers in securing the grant and noted that an additional $500,000 in federal funding was still pending.
During Council deliberations, Vice Mayor Sukhdeep Kaur requested updates on stakeholder engagement since the Sutter Health campus announcement and whether the City had revisited traffic forecasts. O’Connell clarified that while coordination with consultants continues, no new traffic modeling reflecting the hospital’s development has occurred. Kaur requested a follow-up memo addressing these questions.
City Attorney John Kennedy stepped in to reaffirm that the agenda item was specifically about accepting funding for the project and that discussion over design and updated traffic studies should be refrained.
Public comments from local businesses during the item emphasized logistical impact concerns cautioning that the proposed street closures could hamper access to businesses including Pottery & Beyond and Motivate who help operate the region’s bike share program. They also urged modifications and consideration of alternative bicycle routes to ensure safe mobility.
Businesses opposing the project have launched the website reconsider40th.com to help organize opposition to the project and propose alternatives.
Council unanimously voted 4–0 to accept the HUD funds.
Future Agenda Items Requests [01:24:57]
Kaur formally requested staff to return with a future agenda item containing an updated traffic analysis considering the Sutter Health campus and exploring design modifications to the 40th Street corridor. The request did not garner enough support and was not scheduled for a future meeting.
Councilmember Priforce additionally proposed forming a citizen oversight committee to review surveillance technology policies, specifically the City’s use of automatic license plate readers (ALPR) and Flock Safety cameras. He referenced recent findings in Oakland where data had been shared with federal agencies including ICE. “We must not allow Emeryville’s ALPR system to become a pipeline for federal immigration enforcement or unaccountable policing practices,” Priforce attempted to.
Police Chief Jennings responded that Emeryville operates under state law (SB 34 and the California Values Act), which restricts ALPR data usage and prohibits sharing with immigration enforcement.
Priforce’s motion failed to receive majority support.
This meeting was adjourned at 8:16 p.m.
Links to PDFs for the Study Session and Regular Meeting agendas provided here. A complete transcript of the meeting can be read below:
Way to go Council Member Priforce! Always fighting for the little guy. Council Member Kaur looks like she’s got a little bite in her too.
Several police departments have flagrantly disregarded SB34 with no consequences.
https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/06/california-police-sharing-license-plate-reader-data/
We need to stop gathering that data at all for the privacy and safety of our residents. We need to stop just giving our lives away to surveillance capitalists and paying our tax dollars for the privilege.
Of course SB34 has been ignored by authorities, which is why I’m guessing Kalimah Priforce wanted oversight over the data, but according to your blog, you’ve been anti-priforce for years. Your friends John Bauters, Courtney Welch, and even Sam Gould tells us that you’ll be more of the same.
I don’t know those folks personally, yet. I’ve met a few at local events, but I don’t think they’d remember me. But even if I did, don’t you disagree with your friends? And don’t you find common cause sometimes with people you disagree with in other matters? Isn’t that what responsible governance demands of us?
Thanks for reading my blog though!
Another recent local news story that I wanted to share in support of this:
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2025/07/21/alameda-county-scaap
It is scary to see just how dysfunctional Emeryville City Council has become. Disgusting that, in light of very reasonable concerns shared by the public and seconded by the Vice Mayor, the response of the Mayor, the Senior Civil Engineer, and the City Attorney was to argue whether or not the matter could even be discussed or not as opposed to trying to honestly answer a very simple question and potentially improve their plans in the process.
I hope that the State and Federal funders of this project were watching (Congresswoman Lateefah Simon’s team appeared to be there) and saw for themselves how amateur this team is. Trusting them with over $30M dollars… what could possibly go wrong?! The aggravating part is that this money came from all of us! I sincerely hope that someone puts the brakes on this ASAP and the project is reconsidered. I’m sure that we can all agree that bus, pedestrian, and bike infrastructure are worth continued investment — but after reading through the facts here it is obvious that the 40th Street Multimodal project doesn’t achieve those goals, and that it in fact destroys so much in the process.