The Emeryville City Council affects policy for more than 8,000 residents. But how well do you know the politicians who represent the city?
In Emeryville staff visited with each of the council’s five members. Watch the videos to see what they had to say.
BY SHIKIRI HIGHTOWER // Mayor Ken Bukowski has been involved in city politics for 21 years. He has been mayor for six different terms. In this profile, Mayor Bukowski discusses the importance of economic growth and keeping up the current development of Emeryville.
BY ALBA MORA // Since 1999 Ruth Atkin has served Emeryville as mayor, vice mayor and city council member. As a civic leader she has supported many causes. But lately, her primary project has been working with the city and the school district to build the new Emeryville Center of Community Life.
BY SHALEECE HAAS // Nora Davis has been a member of the Emeryville City Council for 21 years. In this video profile Councilwoman Davis talks about the history of Emeryville and the role business plays in the financial health of the city.
BY SHIKIRI HIGHTOWER // Councilmember Dick Kassis has been on the city council for 16 years and also served an additional term from 1976 to 1980, for a total of 20 years of service. On this video profile he talks about the importance of the Center of Community Life and what he does during his spare time.
BY SHALEECE HAAS // John Fricke would like to see Emeryville become more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. Since he joined the city council in 2005, Fricke has worked to improve bicycle safety and encourage the building of a new public park. But he is often at odds with his fellow council members. Watch the video below to learn more about the issues that matter to Councilmember Fricke.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Nora Davis asked in her video about resident ourcry against development; “The purpose is not clear yet”. Well Nora, I’ll tell you the purpose: people are fed up with all the negative impacts from all the mega development you keep approving.
Ruth Atkin mentioned how she likes to “support the people in town” but fails to mention how she voted to kill the Infant Care program at the Child Development Center. Ruth, Emeryville’s infants are people deserving of support.
Ken Bukowski had the audacity to say in his video that residents should get involved citing, “people have to speak up”. What he doesn’t tell you is he voted to make it against the rules for residents to critisize specific Council Members at the Public Comments section of meetings. He regularly rails against those who express negitive comments about the direction of the City.
October 20th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Hmmm. I attempted to post this comment last week, but it has never showed up. I’d like to request that y’all include formats other than Quicktime formats, because I don’t want to download Quicktime due to the way it takes over other media files on my computer.
December 26th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Mayor Kassis has announced he is running yet again for City Council. Kassis first got on our council in the 1970’s. Mr Kassis would like everyone to know he voted to kill the infant program at the Emeryville Child Development Center just in case anyone was confussed since he commonly makes claims to be in favor of families. This is part of his record and he wants everyone to know this as they enter the voting booth.