Why is Emeryville Prospering while Berkeley and Oakland Flail?

Pro Commerce advocate, Michael Phillips, has an interesting piece on how promoting commerce can make a city prosper.

The question of whether government policy can fortify commerce or stultify commerce has a very simple answer: it can.  The empirical proof is the town of Emeryville.

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The difference: Berkeley is run on the principles of Cuba, by Left wing ideologues and Oakland is run on the systems common in Nigeria, corrupt-cronyism.

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There you have it: empirical, visual evidence of what works and what doesn't work.  Pro commerce is prosperity, anti-commerce is crime, depression, boredom and malaise.

And a nice fly over video of Emeryville:

Candidates Debate: this Tues., Oct. 30th, 8 p.m.

From John Fricke:

Dear Emeryville neighbors,

There is an upcoming election on Tuesday, November 6th for three of the five seats on the Emeryville city council.  The local chapter of the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a candidates debate:

Tuesday, October 30th, 8 p.m.
City Hall, 1333 Park Avenue (@ Hollis St.)

The debate will be open to the public.  Those who attend the debate will have an oportunity to submit written questions to the moderator who will combine/distill similar questions and ask the candidates to respond.

The debate will also be televised live and re-broadcast on cable channel 27, Emeryville's public access channel.  In addition, a DVD of the debate will be available from the city clerk.
Information about the candidates is available at the following website:
http://www.smartvoter.org/2007/11/06/ca/alm/race/01/

The Emeryville ballot includes a ballot measure (Measure A).  Information about Measure A is available at the following:
http://www.smartvoter.org/2007/11/06/ca/alm/meas/A/
http://www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/news/utility.html

Best,
John Fricke
www.JohnFricke.com

Emeryville City Council Election

In Emeryville, incumbents Nora Davis, Ruth Atkin and Ken Bukowski as well as challengers Thordie Ashley and Shilen Patel are vying for three positions on the City Council.

Patel, an environmental consultant, says she wants to support transit options to reduce gridlock and increase pedestrian safety in Emeryville, retain and recruit public safety employees and strengthen the relationship between city government and Emeryville's schools.

Bukowski says he wants to adequately staff police and fire services and increase alternative transportation access and connectivity.

Davis says she wants to make Emeryville a leader in the fight against global warming, keep the budget balanced, improve essential city services and improve the quality of life for families and seniors.

Atkin says she wants to improve neighborhood and pedestrian safety and implement a regional response to traffic congestion and support public transit.

Ashley, a retired registered nurse who has been active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, didn't submit a ballot statement.

Source: CBS5

New Emeryville Biofuel Research Center

As part of the nation's quest to combat global warming, the federally funded Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) brings together scientists from three federal labs and three academic institutions to find more effective ways to break down cellulose and convert plant matter into air-friendly fuel.

"This is a great time to change how we produce transportation fuels in the United States," said the institute's head, Jay Keasling, a bioengineering scientist at both UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The research is driven in part by the limitations and disadvantages of the current generation of corn-based ethanol, he noted.

The institute, funded for five years with $135 million from the Department of Energy, will be housed on the top floor of a new four-story building, EmeryStation East, on Hollis Street in Emeryville's burgeoning cluster of bioscience firms and labs.

Emeryville was chosen as a convenient location for the six partner institutions. Led by the Lawrence Berkeley lab, the group includes the UC campuses at Berkeley and Davis, the Lawrence Livermore and Sandia national laboratories, and the Carnegie Institution of Science.

This article appeared on page D - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bay Street Apple Store Doubling in Size

You mean people in the Bay Area love their Apples so much they need to double the size of the Apple Store? And by Apples I mean iPods, iPhones, and iBooks.

Well it's happening, the new half of the Apple Store on Emeryville's Bay Street should be open soon so you can buy even more iStuff.

Here's a photo of the new construction (old store on the left):

Source: ifo AppleStore

New Condo Development: Vue46

A 79 unit condo development, called Vue46, is going up in an 83 year old building that used to house a company called Aluminum Cooking Utensils of America. Converting old factory buildings into lofts is pretty common in Emeryville making for some interesting, one of a kind places to live.

Another interesting new development is Blue Star Corner, while not a conversion, it is very unique for the bay area.

Emeryville Signs on to Anti-Bottled Water Campaign

Emeryville joins Corporate Accountability International and others to promote tap water as safer and more environmentally conscious. The campaign encourages cities to stop using public money to buy bottled water for its offices and to press for greater disclosure of where the water comes from that goes into the bottles, though the pledges vary based on what each city decides.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said, "When I see people at the airport go over to a vending machine and waste their money buying bottled water at the vending when it's standing right next to a water faucet, you really have to wonder at the utter stupidity and the responsibility sometimes of American consumers."

Others who have joined the campaign include Boston and Salt Lake City, San Leandro, and Chez Panisse restaurant, run by celebrity chef Alice Waters in Berkeley, Calif.,

Source: Business Week