By Diana Montaño/inEmeryville

February 14 is the day for pink teddy bears, roses, and chocolate hearts. But for some homeowners and tenants in Emeryville and the East Bay, “there’s not a lot of heart out there right now.”

That’s the message expressed by Wanda Remmers, the executive director and fair housing specialist at Housing Rights Inc., at a recent foreclosure intervention workshop held in the Emeryville Senior Center. The workshop, sponsored by the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency, was one in a series meant to educate homeowners and tenants about their rights in the case of foreclosure. Read the full story

By Will Jason

The Woodfin Suites Hotel and the city of Emeryville are set to make final arguments Jan 15 in a dispute over up to $220,000 in back wages that the city says Woodfin owes current and former hotel employees.

The dispute between Emeryville and Woodfin arises from a voter initiative, passed in 2005, that sets minimum wages and work conditions for employees of large hotels. Four Emeryville hotels were subject to the initiative, called Measure C, but Woodfin is the only one still challenging its enforcement.

At issue is a requirement that workers be paid overtime if they clean more than 5,000 square feet of hotel rooms per day. The city is asking Woodfin to pay more than a dozen workers who allegedly worked above that limit for a year after the measure went into effect.

In an interview, Woodfin employee Maria Martinez said she used to clean about 16 rooms per day, and that this number was eventually cut by almost half in 2007 because of Measure C. But she said it took the hotel more than a year to make that change, and that it owes her $12,000 in overtime for extra rooms she cleaned in 2006.

“The reality is that they owe us money and we want them to pay us,” Martinez said, referring to more than a dozen co-workers who are also allegedly owed back pay.

The hotel is appealing the demand for back wages, and is challenging the city’s formulas used to measure working conditions. It is arguing that housekeepers like Martinez receive help from other hotel employees, and that the city is not taking that into account when it measures their workload.

“You cannot say that there’s only one person who is cleaning a room at one time when you have a team of people that are cleaning the room,” said Woodfin spokesman Tim Rosales. “We think we’ve been in compliance with [Measure C] from the time it was enacted to now.”

The Emeryville City Council has been holding a multi-day hearing on Woodfin’s appeal since November. On Jan 5, the council heard testimony from current and former Woodfin employees called by the hotel to describe their working conditions.

Three workers, speaking through an interpreter, gave varying accounts of the way cleaning duties are split between housekeepers and other employees. They said they could not precisely define the amount of time they spend cleaning rooms, a question that is crucial to calculating the wages that would be owed.

“I can’t give a percentage,” said Maria Corona, who has cleaned rooms for Woodfin since 2007.

In an interview after the January hearing, Emeryville City Manager Patrick O’Keefe said that while his staff initially asked Woodfin to pay up to $220,000 in back wages, it didn’t know details about its housekeeping process and may now back off that number. He is frustrated that the city is being asked to become involved in the details of hotel houskeeping.  “I don’t think that is a very good use of the city’s time and resources,” O’Keefe said.

The hearing is scheduled to continue Jan 15 at 7 p.m., and the City Council is expected to start deliberations after hearing final arguments from city staff and the hotel.

BY SHALEECE HAAS // The mayor of Emeryville, who describes himself as “tired of being broke,” is under investigation by the city attorney for accepting a consulting contract with a company recently hired to provide Internet service to five municipal buildings.

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BY KATE KILPATRICK // Local entrepreneurs say they want Emeryville’s north side to be a destination for small, independently owned businesses. But with tough economic times ahead, it’s hard to stay optimistic. Read the full story

BY SHIKIRI HIGHTOWER AND ALBA MORA // LeapFrog Enterprises Inc., a local company known for their technology-based toys, has fallen victim to a harsh economy like many other businesses.

On Friday, the Emeryville based manufacturer, announced it was slashing 10 percent of their global workforce.

“We had to reduce operating expenses” said Mischa Dunton, the LeapFrog spokesperson. “We are proud of LeapFrog’s people and so this action is one we would prefer not to have undertaken.” Read the full story

BY KATE KILPATRICK // Shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday night when it was announced Barack Obama would be the next president of this country, an impromptu celebration took place at the intersection of 35th St. and San Pablo Ave. Read the full story

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Read the full story

Residents surrounding Anna Yates Elementary School rallied Saturday morning between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. to protest what they called the city council’s illegal waiving of the ordinance prohibiting construction on Saturdays. VIDEO STORY COMING SOON. For back story read more.

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Photo by Ariel Luckey.

BY KATE KILPATRICK // Residents worried about foreclosure on their homes can attend a free educational workshop this weekend at the Emeryville Senior Center.

A panel of housing advisers will discuss the foreclosure crisis—the scope of the problem and pending litigation—as well as warn against predatory lending and foreclosure rescue scams. HUD-certified counselors will also be on hand for individual guidance.

The workshop, sponsored by the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency, is part of the city’s eight-point strategy adopted in January to address the financial industry’s credit crunch and the rising number of homes being foreclosed.

A report released recently shows U.S. foreclosure filings soared 71 percent in the third quarter of 2008 (July through September) compared to the same period last year. RealtyTrac, a foreclosure-tracking service, predicts that by the end of the year one-third of all homes for sale nationwide will be foreclosed, bank-owned properties.

California alone makes up more than a quarter of all foreclosure filings nationwide. According to a 2007 article in Realty Times, high home prices in California can force buyers into loans they can’t afford. The article also cites California as third in the nation for mortgage fraud, behind Utah and Florida.

Emeryville’s HomeBuyers Program coordinator Janet Anderson has been tracking foreclosures locally. She’s found 94 properties in Emeryville that have entered some stage of foreclosure since December. Of those, 20 have been foreclosed.

“Most of them are condos because most of the housing stock in Emeryville is condos,” said Anderson.

Recent studies suggest a rise in foreclosures in a neighborhood can decrease property values, reduce city revenues, displace communities and increase crime.

“The city’s trying to be proactive and let people know there are resources out there,” said Anderson.

Katrina Vizinau, senior housing counselor at the Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC), and a guest at Saturday’s panel, warns at-risk homeowners against wasting their limited funds on foreclosure rescue scams.

“There are a number of HUD–approved counseling agencies homeowners can get counseling from. And most of these agencies offer the service for free. So why pay when you’re already struggling? You may need that money to actually get into some form of agreement with your lender,” said Vizinau.

Vizinau also encourages home buyers, owners and renters to get educated on the issues.

“A lot of the legislation coming out is very vague,” said Vizinau. “It’s only going to help a handful of individuals, and in order for more assistance to come to them, [people] need to understand what exactly is being voted on and really advocate for themselves. Because nobody else is going to do it for them—not to the degree they can do it.”

Predatory Lending Prevention and Foreclosure Intervention Workshop
Sat., Oct. 25, 1-4pm. Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem St. Free. Guests are encouraged to pre-register to speak with a housing counselor. For more information contact Janet Anderson at janderson@emeryville.org

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. Read the full story