Introductions 

1). Tell us where you’re from, what brought you to Emeryville, and how long you’ve lived in the city.

I was born in Oakland, California and raised in Modesto, California. I moved to Emeryville in 2021. In January 2024, I moved again while still staying in Emeryville but this time into a larger space to fit my growing family! I’m a Black Afro-Latina mother of two children (former member of the two/kids under two/years of age club), and like Kamala Harris, a proud HBCU grad.

2). What has your involvement with The City of Emeryville been thus far? Have you served on any committees, commissions, panels, HOAs, or other relevant entities within the city?

When I moved to Emeryville in 2021, I was living on Adeline as a renter. I really loved the community and my neighbors, but not our property manager. We organized a Facebook group for tenants so we could all keep each other abreast of things going on in and around our complex, and find ways to pressure our landlord to make repairs and provide security updates whenever crimes occurred on our premises.

When I moved to another apartment as a below-market-renter (as my family was getting bigger), I learned about the organizing work of “Community Mayor” Councilmember Priforce because we share the same landlord, on top of him also being a leader in my church. I joined the Emeryville Tenant Union when he approached me and stayed in touch. When he shared that he was growing the tenant union into a neighborhood group called Emery Rising, I was really excited and he wanted this election to be how the new group launches.

My family and I are members of St. Columba Catholic Church, a progressive historically Black parish on the Oakland/Emeryville border. I like to get involved in the community activism St. Columbia is known for but it’s been hard to do so lately since getting into politics and raising my babies. We just got through a round of potty training. Lord have mercy, it’s the little things that matter!

3). Tell us what you do professionally. What skills and different perspectives would you bring to Emeryville’s City Council that might be currently lacking?

I work for Swinerton Builders, a General Contractor and I am the Community Relations Coordinator for Northern California. I am an advocate for underrepresented communities. I would bring a different perspective to the Emeryville City Council and could help with the lack of communication there seems to be between the current council and the community.

Since being aware of the political on-goings in Emeryville, I’ve become ashamed to see how our city council behaves; most notably how incumbents Mayor Courtney Welsh and Councilmember Kaur orchestrated that Councilmember Priforce be skipped when he had the most votes over Councilmember Mourra and then now turn around and ask for the people of Emeryville for their votes come November. You just told us our votes don’t matter!

Our votes do matter, and I hope people recognize that and vote for Calvin and I so we can change the culture in city hall.

The thing I worry about most is that as a Black (Afro-Latina/x/e) mother that people think I’m similar to Mayor Welch and that the way she has conducted herself as a representative of our city is how I would treat people. Like calling a member of the Emeryville an expletive on twitter/x.

She does not represent being a strong Black progressive woman in political office that respects the seat she is in and the people she serves. I am not at all like her, I am my own person with a different temperament, and she is definitely not our Madam President-to-be Kamala Harris. I also have been in Emeryville much longer than she was before she ran for city council. I’m running to bring my perspective as a below-market-renter in returning affordability back to Emeryville and it’s time we had someone who can look out for renters and single family homeowners (which I have a dream of becoming).

Qualifications & Priorities

4). By order of priority, what do you see as the top 5 challenges that you’d like to help address in the city during your first term if elected?

Many of the challenges overlap. We need to start listening to the people of Emeryville again, not just the politicians in Sacramento. From what I’ve learned, pretty quickly, we’ve lost that under Martinez, Medina, Bauters, and Welch. So I think the biggest challenge is communication.

Talking to one another in a respectful manner instead of screaming at each other, like last week when Mayor Welch was screaming at Councilmember Priforce for a while in closed session and the only reason why I know about it is because of friends I have in city hall who said you could hear her yelling throughout the building.

I called Councilmember Priforce just to check in with him, and he told me couldn’t tell me what happened in that closed session but that he didn’t match her verbal violence. He stayed calmed. Why as a Black man, a Haitian man, a progressive, everything he’s done for our community, for our city, is he being subject to this?

He is OUR ONLY VOICE as renters in Emeryville and this is how he is treated? I am not confident that any of the people who Calvin and I are running against would have done anything to stop that level of denigration. They do what they are told and that is not being an elected representative of the people.

If we can’t get “respect,” right, how are we going to move forward as a city? No wonder we are having trouble with our running deficit and why it becomes unaffordable to live and stay in Emeryville and for our small businesses to thrive in Emeryville. So much focus is on getting people into Emeryville and not enough on keeping families like mine here. We have several challenges in Emeryville, from climate change to street safety, but if we can’t get decorum right then we can’t address the needs of residents and workers in our city.

5). Emeryville is facing a potential shortfall in the coming budget cycle. The Emeryville Police Department’s budget is the highest in the city. Are you prepared to make cuts to the police force to balance the city’s budget? What other resident amenities or programs are you prepared to cut to fix this shortfall?

I don’t think we need to cut anything. We are in this situation because of bad planning. We need to get to the root of the problem in Emeryville and that is why we haven’t increased the Maximum Business Tax cap in a long time for non-small businesses who don’t contribute enough to our economy. When I talk to other politicians and business leaders in other cities they are surprised by our caps and how we don’t have a reinvestment plan in place. So no, I don’t think we need to cut our public safety budget when my car was broken into just last week.

6). Emeryville’s Art Center has not been prioritized by past leaders and is arguably no closer to being built than it was a decade ago. Is this a priority for you and what can be done to get this to the finish line?

Councilmember Priforce when he first talked to me about running in this race he shared that he would want us to prioritize establishing the art center. As a mother, I want my children to enjoy an art community that feels less like marketing the city to outside big businesses and more about celebrating the talent and gifts we have in Emeryville and showcase artists outside Emeryville. So this would be a priority for me and it’s more than just talk, I would work with my colleagues to make it happen.

Ethics & Governing

7). The City recently adopted a version of a Code of Ethics that gives those outside of council almost no tools for fighting corruption in the city. Considering Emeryville’s long history of corruption and the inherent nature of small cities with little oversight, should Emeryville have an independent ethics commission like many other Bay Area Cities?

I mentioned earlier about Mayor Welch’s verbal violence against Councilmember Priforce. If I launched a complaint about it, nothing would happen because Councilmember Priforce would be the only one who could do it and then the other council members would have to vote on it. The same council members that had fewer votes than him but decided to skip him for vice-mayor? That is a broken system and they chose it for a reason. They want to stay in power and do whatever they want.

A code of ethics should include non-elected members of the public just like other cities who can judge if our city council is acting appropriately.

8). A free and active press is regarded as an essential pillar of democracy. Our platform promotes transparency in local government and helps hold leaders, like yourself, accountable. Will you commit to supporting a free press by responding to our inquiries even when they are not flattering?

Yes. This is how I’ve learned a lot about Emeryville and I find it odd that council members running for election or reelection will complete questionnaires when they are running and then refuse to participate in answering questions to the press after being elected, and even talk crap about our local press. I don’t get that. They use us to get elected and then abuse us once they get power. We all have to hold ourselves accountable when we are elected. I know I will.

9). Despite some pressure, the Emeryville Council majority opted to not agendize a “Gaza Ceasefire” resolution as some cities in the Bay Area did. Do you think these symbolic resolutions fit the role of local government and If you were on council at the time, would you have pushed for this?

I don’t think there was any pressure. We didn’t exactly have protestors outside voicing their opposition for or against a ceasefire resolution. Councilmember Priforce was the only one who requested a ceasefire resolution be added to the agenda and not a single other councilmember supported that.

If I were on the council I would have voted for a study session to see how Emeryville residents feel about a ceasefire resolution. I think that was what Councilmember Priforce was pushing for. I also think it shouldn’t just be about Gaza, but Gaza is important. I wouldn’t have been endorsed by Our Revolution East Bay if I didn’t feel that way. I think the ceasefire should include all of the conflicts in the world where babies are being unalived by gun violence and weapons of war. As a mother, that is important to me.

Housing Affordability

10). Emeryville’s latest 100% affordable housing project came in at nearly one million dollars per unit. Can we ever really satisfy the demand for 100% affordable housing at this price tag and what laws or policies need to change to build more economical 100% affordable housing projects? 

Thanks to Michael Barnes I learned that Emeryville failed during the fifth RHNA cycle to provide affordable housing to low-income families. The most recent Dept. of Housing and Community Development (HCD) APR dashboard fifth-cycle figures shows that Emeryville met only 41.7% of its very low-income target, 23.2% of its low-income target, 23.2% of its moderate-income target, and 139.9% of its above moderate-income target.

A lot of cities don’t have these terrible numbers, yet we pride ourselves in being a pro-housing, pro-growth city – but for whom? Not for people who look like me or share similar life experiences that include financial hardship and economic mobility.

11). Emeryville already has tenant protections and the state has an anti-rent gouging law on the books (AB 1482). Are these protections enough and if not, where specifically would you like to see these strengthened?

Emeryville has the worst tenant protections in Alameda County. Our Just Cause eviction ordinances frail in comparison to our neighboring cities and many of them don’t have the median income that we do.

For example, Emeryville does not have any tenant protections for below-market-renters to keep their rent from soaring to the 10% cap that the state has. Many of the Just Cause eviction ordinances don’t apply to below-market-renters. We are vulnerable and it has been that way for a while until Councilmember Priforce made it an issue.

I support a tenant’s right to organize, a tenant’s right to counsel provided by the city, and even a tenant’s right to first refusal should the property they live in is sold.

12). In 2019, the city explored waiving or amending the required “family friendly” unit mix to encourage more highrise construction in the core of the city which is part of the city’s general plan. Is this something you would support and do you have any caveats?

I think the trend of removing requirements that encourage more diverse populations, mixed incomes, family-friendly units and many others is the YIMBY policy of gentrification. I didn’t know about YIMBY until this year and now it all makes sense why our city council acts the way they do. I declined to apply for their endorsement, as someone who works in the construction industry helping to build housing units. I want to keep people in their homes just as much as I want to build them.

13). Where do you personally align on YIMBYism and do you support their opposition to Prop 33/Rent Control which they say “will likely worsen housing affordability.”

I support rent control and Proposition 33. I know the YIMBYs don’t, and that is one of the big differences between Calvin and I and other candidates. We both believe in rent control and they are YIMBYs who don’t and want to call anyone who disagrees with them NIMBYs and don’t realize how historically racist that is.

Public Safety & Quality of Life

14). Grappling with increasing levels of street homelessness for over a decade, cities are finally starting to aggressively dismantle encampments following the Grants Pass ruling. Where do you stand on this issue? Should those who refuse services be “incentivized” into shelters and rehabilitation programs?

Grants Pass applies to state property, but I believe the unhoused deserve dignity in how we treat them. I think we haven’t explored ways to include them instead of pushing them away to Oakland or Berkeley.

15). A surge in crime in Oakland led Governor Gavin Newsom to deploy the CHP for a “surge operation” that has thus far led to 803 arrests, 81 illegal firearm seizures, and 1641 stolen vehicles recovered. Since then, crime has significantly declined in Oakland and in Emeryville. What do you glean from this in terms of the safety of Emeryville residents?

It should have been sooner, but I appreciate Governor Newsom supporting Oakland, but I wouldn’t give him the credit for crime going down in Emeryville. Our brave officers at the Emeryville Police Department deserve praise. It also helps to have those ALPR cameras.

16). Criminal recidivism in our justice system is a big topic of conversation and many blame “reformer“ DA Pamela Price for being too lenient on repeat offenders. Where do you stand on this and do you support her recall?

I do not support a recall. That is the position of the Alameda County Democratic Party and Our Revolution East Bay so I’m sticking with them on that.

17). In 2023, the city approved the installation of ALPR technology. Do you have any concerns about the use of these surveillance devices and would you support the approval of additional cameras throughout the city?  

Councilmember Priforce led the charge for us to get the cameras and now it seems like every member of the council wants to take credit. I think it’s unfair, but they are also the same people that skipped him from being mayor. I’m with him on getting more cameras and I know he and Calvin have talked about a citizen oversight board to monitor the program so it doesn’t become a toxic surveillance program that ICE or a number of policing agencies can use. I’m supportive of them in that effort.

Local Business

18). The Biotech/Life Sciences sector is a big source of local jobs is Emeryville and currently struggling with a 37% vacancy rate. Do you see this as an important issue and how can the city help?

It is an important issue and I think we need to investigate ways to diversify our office space portfolio. Building towards one industry rather than multiple doesn’t seem smart. It sounds like we were following market trends rather than taking the lead.

19). Do you believe that vacant storefronts are an issue in Emeryville and if so, what is your policy prescription for remedying this (if any)?

I will be pushing for a vacancy tax. Any resident unit or office space that isn’t occupied will be subject to the tax. Office buildings and multi-unit apartments will have to find ways to incentivize people and businesses to be there. The other cities have and so should we.

Councilmember Priforce told us that he brought it up to the city staff and they didn’t think he had the votes on the city council for it to pass. If Calvin and I become his colleagues, he will.

I also support the legacy business community who will be affected by the 40th Street Multi-Modal project. The proposed full and partial street closures were never part of the original design and then they were added without properly informing and getting input from those businesses. They would close down. I think we need to take another look at how we preserve our small businesses in Emeryville.

20). Bay Street has been the site of some troubling incidents involving juveniles in the past few years including the 2020 Mass-Looting, a 2021 “melee” that led to the closure of a roller skating rink and 2023’s infamous Mall Brawl where 100s of youth engaged in fighting and uncivil behavior (and there are many more). Is it time to discuss limiting unaccompanied youth at Bay Street as they did recently in the city of Torrance?

I don’t think that is necessary. I don’t want any criminalization of our children and young people coming to Emeryville’s shopping centers because it feels safe and offers amenities their cities may not have. I think there is something wrong with the security situation at Bay Street and that we as a city need to take a look at our relationship with them so they can do what they do but work with us a lot better to protect residents and guests.

Learn more about Mia on her website or by contacting her via email at mia4emeryville@gmail.com.

Editor’s Note: Brown’s answers to questions 3 & 4 exceeded the requested 250 word count but we opted to leave them in tact.

Read our questionnaires for other candidates including Calvin Dillahunty, Sam Gould, Sukhdeep Kaur and Matthew Solomon (Incumbent Courtney Welch declined to participate).

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