A corporation's life: Pixar project needs to benefit rest of Emeryville

A broad range of Emeryville groups is asking Pixar Animation Studios to revise its expansion plans to help address community needs and lessen impacts on surrounding neighborhoods.

Pixar opened its corporate headquarters across from Emeryville City Hall in 2000. Currently 600 employees work there. Pixar now plans to triple the size of the corporate campus to add 1,400 new employees. The land the company plans to expand onto is designated in the Master Plan for construction of 102 townhomes, 20 of them affordable for moderate-income families.

The Northern Alameda County Regional Group of the Sierra Club has recently joined with a range of other organizations concerned about the project. These groups include labor unions, Emeryville residents, housing and social-service providers, and EBASE (East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy). They have asked Pixar to enter into a "Community Benefits Agreement", which would spell out the benefits that Pixar would agree to provide to the community. These would include job training for low-income residents, a commitment to hire locally for a percentage of the new jobs created by the expansion, a contribution to an affordable-housing fund to replace the planned housing on the land, a contribution to a childcare fund to address the increased demand for affordable childcare created by the expansion, and fair employment practices for service workers at the site.

Job training will allow local people access to the new jobs. Local hiring means that people who work at Pixar would travel less to get to their jobs. At a recent meeting of the Emeryville City Council, Jonna Papaefthimiou spoke on behalf of the Sierra Club, saying, "We support efforts to create livable urban communities, where people spend less time in their cars and are able to participate more in civic life."

The City Council has been considering the project and appears poised to approve it with limited revisions. If this happens, community members are preparing to referend the City Council's decision. They will have 30 days from the Council's action to gather the needed signatures for the referendum petition.

What You Can Do

If a referendum is needed, we will need volunteers right away. To be available to help, contact Jonna Papaefthimiou at (510) 848-0800, ext. 312, or:

Kirsten Cross, EBASE