El Cerrito’s City Manager Karen Pinkos often touts her commitment to transparency and public engagement. On paper, her administration checks all the boxes: public hearings are held, presentations are given, and decisions are announced. At first glance, this may appear as the textbook definition of participatory government. However, a deeper look into her leadership practices reveals that these hearings and discussions are merely performative. Decisions are often made in advance, leaving public input without influence on the city’s policies or budget allocations.
Public Hearings: A Check-the-Box Exercise
Pinkos has built a reputation for hosting public hearings to give the appearance of transparency. Yet these meetings are increasingly characterized by their superficiality. Residents are invited to voice their opinions, but those opinions rarely seem to influence the city’s decisions. For example, despite robust community feedback during budget hearings, the final decisions often mirror the original proposals with minimal, if any, adjustments based on public input.
This approach to governance raises critical questions about the utility of these hearings. Are they genuinely intended to involve the community in decision-making, or are they staged exercises to fulfill procedural obligations? For many El Cerrito residents, the answer seems clear: their voices are not being heard.
Ignoring the Financial Advisory Board (FAB)
Remember when FAB meetings were recorded? Even after the pandemic FAB meetings were recorded. The City Manager put a hard stop on recordings. Here’s more:
One particularly egregious example of this disregard for input is the city’s treatment of the Financial Advisory Board (FAB). This board, which is supposed to provide independent oversight and recommendations on budget matters, has seen its guidance repeatedly ignored under Pinkos’s leadership.
The FAB has often emphasized the importance of cost-benefit analyses and sound financial planning. However, based on Pinkos’s recommendations, the city has disregarded these warnings, opting instead for budgets and policies that lack detailed financial analysis or transparency. This dismissal of the FAB undermines its purpose and calls into question the city’s commitment to fiscal responsibility.
Opaque Decision-Making
Under Pinkos’s leadership, the city has consistently avoided conducting comprehensive cost-benefit analyses for major decisions such as the purchase of the church building at $1.5 million, and amount that exceeded the value of the building.. This omission of course benefit analysis LLC not only jeopardizes the city’s financial health but also leaves the public in the dark about how taxpayer money is being spent.
Consider recent budget decisions, where critical details about financial trade-offs were absent from public discussions. The lack of transparency leaves residents wondering whether the city’s priorities align with their needs—or if the decisions are being driven by other motives.
The Illusion of Leadership
Karen Pinkos’s management style reflects a broader trend of creating the illusion of transparency without delivering substantive accountability. Hosting public hearings and disregarding input, sidelining the FAB, and omitting financial analyses all point to a leadership approach that prioritizes optics over outcomes.
El Cerrito residents deserve better. Transparency is not about appearances; it is about meaningful engagement, accountability, and trust. As the city faces mounting financial challenges, the need for genuine leadership—one that listens, analyzes, and acts in the public’s best interest—has never been more urgent.
It’s time for El Cerrito to demand more than box-checking from its leadership. Karen Pinkos’s tenure highlights the pitfalls of performative governance and serves as a reminder of the importance of holding public officials accountable.
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El Cerrito Committee for Responsible Government (ECCRG) 