An Editorial
Tuesday night’s City Council meeting on the proposed Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) library tax initiative felt less like civic deliberation and more like a three-ring circus.
Council members appeared unfamiliar with the very Citizens’ Initiative before them. Initiative organizers spoke confidently while glossing over foundational gaps. City staff filled airtime with conceptual slides. And notably absent were representatives from Related California, the development partner at the center of the proposal.
That absence matters.
Related’s founder and chairman emeritus, Stephen Ross, is a billionaire New York developer. Yet the company that stands to benefit most from this project was nowhere to be found to answer basic questions about cost, risk, construction logistics, or long-term obligations.
A Library Without a Plan
The Contra Costa County Librarian spoke briefly in support of a 20,000-square-foot library but offered no meaningful details about operations, staffing, parking, or how such a facility would function inside a six-story apartment building. These are not minor omissions. They are core issues.
Meanwhile, Citizens’ Initiative organizers—at peak form—rebranded the likely ballot measure as a Library Special Tax, urged immediate passage, and downplayed the inconvenient truth that no Disposition and Development Agreement (DDA) exists. There is also no finalized site, no construction contract, and no agreed-upon governance structure.
Without a DDA, everything about this project—construction sequencing, cost allocation, risk management, and City ownership of the first-floor condominium—is conceptual. That is not opinion; it is the position of Griffin Structures, the City’s own owner’s representative.
The $37 Million Question
Councilmember William Ktsanes raised a critical issue: the City’s General Plan calls for the library to be located in TOD C West. That is not incidental. The library is the anchor tenant in the proposed C West apartment building and the linchpin justifying roughly $37 million in bonds financed by parcel tax.
This is not simply a library project. It is the keystone of a long-planned downtown redevelopment vision and the capstone of the City’s Downtown General Plan.
And yet, despite that centrality, the City maintains it has no financial risk.
That claim does not withstand scrutiny.
Subsidy by Another Name
When the issue of subsidies arose, Councilmember Rebecca Saltzman was quick to state that the City is not subsidizing Related. Technically, that is true.
But functionally, the City’s $37 million or more in cash equity makes Related’s financing feasible now. Without that public investment, alternatives such as structured parking or additional units would produce weaker returns. This may not be a subsidy per se, but it decisively shifts risk onto taxpayers while improving the developer’s financial position.
Parking Logic That Defies Reality
The irony of the evening came when Griffin Structures argued that a parking garage would be required at the Stockton Avenue site, while simultaneously claiming no dedicated parking is needed at the most congested location in El Cerrito—Plaza Station TOD.
That defies lived experience.
The Stockton location already accommodates school buses and Veterans Building events without congestion. Fairmont Elementary is out of session 133 days a year, making Liberty and Stockton ideal for library parking during evenings, weekends, and summers. The TOD site offers none of that flexibility.
Even more telling, Griffin presented examples of 20,000-square-foot libraries in the Contra Costa County system—none of which could be built at the C West site. A library confined to the first floor of a six-story apartment building will have low ceilings, limited light, and the feel of a bank branch—not a civic landmark.
Timing, Control, and Why It Matters
The City now proposes to form a citizen financial impact committee—yet to be convened—and present findings on February 19, just weeks before deciding whether to place the measure on a June special election ballot or the November general election.
What is left unsaid is that this committee could be convened now, before any election, before ballot placement, and before taxpayers are asked to approve a tax with no fixed scope or cost.
The City Manager has chosen not to do that.
Waiting until after an election allows staff—not residents—to define assumptions, frame tradeoffs, and control outcomes. That is not transparency; it is sequencing designed to manage results.
June matters because the 50 percent plus one initiative, currently on the ballot for repeal, would restore the voter approval threshold for special taxes to 66⅔ percent, the long-standing standard for approving local tax increases. A June election allows the City to move forward on a new parcel tax before voters have fully weighed that threshold question.
The rush is not about libraries. It is about leverage.
Zero Skin in the Game
So here we are: a project with no binding agreements, no fixed costs, no parking plan, and no operational clarity—where the City bears zero downside risk.
The City gets a downtown showpiece.
The developer gets a financeable project.
Staff gets a completed General Plan vision.
Residents get the bill.
As a long-time El Cerrito resident, I am not opposed to libraries. I am opposed to being asked to approve a tax before the facts exist, under a timeline designed to limit scrutiny, and in a deal where the City has nothing to lose.
That is not a partnership.
That is not good governance.
And it is not a good deal for El Cerrito residents.
Call to Action
This process will not be slowed. The train has already left the station.
Residents are being asked to approve a new tax before there is a finalized site, a binding development agreement, a real construction budget, or a clear operating plan—and in a deal where the City bears no financial risk.
At this point, the only meaningful safeguard residents have is their vote.
Vote NO on another tax.
Vote no on a parcel tax that locks in permanent revenue first and answers questions later.
Vote no on a project where all the upside flows one way and all the risk flows to taxpayers
Learn more at https://nomoreforevertax.org/
El Cerrito Committee for Responsible Government (ECCRG) 