Mayor

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Alameda, an island long resistant to growth, threw a warm embrace around an unlikely suitor last year. The Southern California developer SunCal Companies proposed to build thousands of homes, sports fields, offices and a ferry terminal on 770 acres of a decommissioned naval base.

The project promised to transform the island city, and its leaders lined up in support.

Mayor Beverly Johnson recorded a robo-call that went out to every resident on March 25, 2009: “A plan has been created that deserves our support.”

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The City Council is set to decide tonight whether to deny SunCal’s proposed development plan for Alameda Point, effectively sending the developer packing as its exclusive, three-year deal to negotiate a development deal for the Point expires.

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At Tuesday evening's city council meeting Mayor Beverly Johnson announced that the city is asking Alameda County District Attorney Nancy E. O'Malley to investigate councilwoman Lena Tam. Johnson said that Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant asked the city's outside counsel, Michael Colantuono of Colantuono & Levi, to investigate allegations that Tam violated the Brown Act by disclosing confidential information to SunCal, the Alameda firefighters' union, IAFF Local 689, as well as Alameda bloggers John Knox White and Lauren Do.

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On Tuesday and Wednesday, The Island reported that Councilwoman Lena Tam is facing accusations of officials misconduct for allegedly leaking confidential information to SunCal, the firefighters union and others, and for allegedly violating state open meetings law by emailing groups of council members to discuss city business. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office has been asked to pass the case to a grand jury so they can consider whether Tam should be removed from office. Tam has denied the claims.

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Some City Council members interviewed in the wake of Measure B’s loss at the polls on February 2 are saying they want a development at Alameda Point that has far fewer homes that developer SunCal was asking voters to approve

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Alameda's latest round of robo-calls doesn't have quite the clout of the last one. Last month, Mayor Beverly Johnson, who earlier this year lent her voice to calls urging support for developer SunCal, dropped her endorsement of the company's Alameda Point redevelopment initiative, saying that the measure would have "devastating financial impacts" on the city. With that high-placed defection — coming a few weeks after the Alameda Chamber of Commerce gave the measure its own thumbs down — a bit of hell broke loose on the island.

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It’s official: In an effort to avoid rampant voter confusion, our local government types have convinced the folks at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters to call SunCal’s Alameda Point development initiative Measure BSunCal's ballot measure to redevelop Alameda Point. It was defeated by a vote of 85 to 15 percent on February 2, 2010. .

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The city recently posted Mayor Beverly Johnson statement about SunCal's initiative to develop Alameda Point. In her statement Johnson calls SunCal's ballot initiative one-sided and expressed concern that that the developer has overreached and usurped the city's ability to negotiate any "fair development deal."

"After studying the election report, I've come to the conclusion that (the initiative) is completely one-sided," she says. She points out that the city has issued a two-part election report and says that the report provides a detailed analysis of SunCal's initiative.

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In a recent posting on the city's Web site, Mayor Beverly Johnson has encouraged Alameda voters to familiarize themselves with SunCal's proposed initiative by reading the election report that city staff prepared.

Last March 26 Kathy Moehring, on behalf of SunCal — officially known as SCCSunCal Companies Alameda Point, LLCLimited Liability Corporation — submitted the Alameda Point Revitalization Initiative to the city. On April 21 the city council directed staff to prepare an election report to address the city's concerns.

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But there was another revelation that was just as interesting, that received a lot less elucidation: City staff and SunCal are deep into negotiations that could moot key portions of the controversial business deal contained in the initiative before it ever reaches voters.