City workers active in recall effort City workers active in recall effort (August 29, 2001)

Sharifa Wilson is targeted by union members

by Don Kazak

The strike of East Palo Alto city workers is over, a new contract all but ratified - the City Council will do that Sept. 4.

But the fallout from the strike continues.

Before the strike, a group of residents had mounted an effort to recall three of the five City Council members, largely over dissatisfaction with the city's redevelopment policies and efforts.

During the five-day strike earlier this month, anger towards one of those three, Sharifa Wilson, mounted among workers, who decided to take to the streets with petitions in hand, joining the recall effort.

There are also recall petitions circulating against Vice Mayor Duane Bay and City Councilwoman Pat Foster. But the city workers who are members of the Service Employees International Union, Local 715, are only working on the effort to recall Wilson.

Lori Brown, a senior planner for the city and member of the union negotiating team, said that Wilson has been singled out for a reason.

"Ms. Wilson has been unresponsive to employee needs," Brown said. She explained that while Bay and Foster were willing to talk to the union members to hear their concerns, Wilson "declined to meet with us or talk with us."

Wilson said that a union negotiating team "came to my house three times when I was (away) at work. They never called me." She said she did speak to individual workers.

The 28 SEIU members settled on a new contract for what amounts to about 6 percent in pay raises, although there could be a cost-of-living contract "reopener" next April, Brown said.

Those circulating recall petitions, including SEIU members, have until Sept. 15 to gather more than 1,600 signatures of registered East Palo Alto voters to qualify for a recall election. That means the city could end up with one, two or three recall elections, depending on the number of signatures gathered.

"I'm guardedly optimistic," said Dennis Scherzer, one of the leaders of the recall effort. "It's no problem getting people to sign," he said, adding that the effort is now focused on coordinating with the SEIU members who are circulating petitions.

Scherzer also believes the recall effort should have more time than has been allotted by the city. By law, petitioners have 90 days from the start date, once the city validates the petition wording. That start date was June 15, but Scherzer said he didn't receive notice until 8 p.m. June 18, so he believes the start date should be June 19.

But City Manager Monika Hudson said that the city made repeated attempts to fax Scherzer the official notice, starting at 4 p.m. June 15, but his fax machine was busy. The city finally sent a copy via registered mail. Hudson did say she would check with City Attorney Michael Lawson about the June 15 start date.

Duane Bay, one of the three targeted City Council members, said that he is hearing concern about the recall from his constituents. "There is concern about stability and what it means for city government," Bay said of the recall.

One question he is asked, he said, is whether there is going to be an organized effort to campaign against the recall, should enough signatures force an election. "Certainly, if it materializes," Bay said.

And it won't matter if one, two or three council members are forced into a recall election. "From my point of view, the three of us are in it together," Bay said. "The gauntlet has been thrown down for all three of us. We're taking it seriously." - E-mail Don Kazak at dkazak@paweekly.com