From: Jeu De Mots
To: CityCouncil-List
Subject: [EXTERNAL] 9/5/23 CITY COUNCIL MEETING COMMENT - Agenda Item 7-F (2023-3308) Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 1:21:49 PM
Attachments: Alameda City Council agenda item 7-F (2023-3308)__Pyka__9-5-23 meeting .docx Dear City Council,
I am a long-time resident of Alameda. Attached is my written request to deny authorization of a lease for Pyka Inc at 950 West Tower Avenue, by choosing option #3 from the Alternative Actions listed in City Manager Jennifer Ott's explanation of the Alameda City Council 9/5/23 meeting agenda item 7-F (2023-3308).
Thank you for recording my opinion,
Mary Nordman
re: City Council Meeting 9/5/23, Item 7-F (2023-3308)
“Introduction of Ordinance Authorizing the City Manager to Execute a Lease for Building 39 with Pyka Inc. Located at 950 West Tower Avenue at Alameda Point, Alameda, California, for a Term of Eight Years with a Three-Year Extension Option”
Hello Alameda City Council,
As a longtime resident of Alameda I request that you deny authorization of a lease for Pyka Inc at 950 West Tower Avenue, by choosing option #3 from the Alternative Actions listed in City Manager Jennifer Ott's explanation of agenda item 7-F (2023-3308):
Alternative #3: “Choose not to approve the first reading and direct the City Manager to terminate negotiations with Pyka. In this scenario, City Council should identify why Pyka is not a suitable tenant for Alameda Point so that staff directs its pursuit of a new tenant that is suitable for Alameda Point and Building 39.”
I understand why supporters of the proposed lease are glad to see Pyka developing low-flying autonomous electric aircraft that run without fossil fuels. Avoidance of jet fuel is laudable. But this is not enough to offset the point that many of Pyka’s “green” drones will be used to spray petroleum-based pesticides on crops. The net effect is clearly not an environmentally sustainable activity. Synthetic pesticides contaminate farm soil and seep into watersheds. Pyka partners with a company (Grupo HAME) that plans to use Pyka’s aircrafts to spray pesticides in sensitive rain forest regions in Guatemala and Costa Rica. Alameda’s own “Climate Action & Resiliency Plan” (CARP) expressly claims that we as a city are committed to avoiding this kind of action.
CARP includes Alameda’s “Climate Emergency Declaration,” signed in 2019 by the mayor and council members. It states that we understand our responsibility and interconnectedness to local and global environmentalism (see excerpts below).
Our city has committed in writing to these ethical goals, and shouldn’t just drop them when tempted with substantial lease income. Alameda can find better avenues for economic development than a company that makes it easier to spray toxic, petroleum-based chemicals. Please deny authorization of a lease for Pyka Inc, and pursue a more suitable tenant for 950 West Tower Avenue.
Mary Nordman
Excerpts from Alameda’s Climate Emergency Declaration: “…BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that an urgent global climate mobilization effort to reverse global warming is needed as quickly as possible towards zero net emissions no later than 2030, and that the City of Alameda should actively participate in an effort to safely draw down carbon from the atmosphere, and accelerate adaptation and resilience strategies in preparation for intensifying climate impacts; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Alameda commits to educating our residents about the climate emergency and working to catalyze a just transition and urgent climate mobilization effort at the local, state, national, and global levels…”
From: Trish Spencer
To: Lara Weisiger
Subject: Fwd: Pyka lease and Alameda values
Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2023 10:20:52 AM
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: [email protected]
Date: Sep 5, 2023 9:32 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Pyka lease and Alameda values
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft <[email protected]>,Malia Vella <[email protected]>,Tony Daysog <[email protected]>,Tony Daysog <[email protected]>,Trish Spencer <[email protected]>,Tracy Jensen <[email protected]>
Cc: Dan Correia <[email protected]>,'Carol Fairweather' <[email protected]> I entered an apprenticeship at NAS Alameda to become an electronics mechanic in the 1970’s. After more than 20 years, I was an employee development specialist there when the base closed. At the end, I helped base workers find new jobs and move on.
After the base closed, dirty secrets came out. In the mission to repair aircraft (which NAS Alameda did very well), the environment was left in tatters. The final days hid actions like workers driving around the base with containers of mixed chemicals with holes in the bottom so the contents would empty along the path. (One person who participated confessed that mission to me long after it was done.) The base was left a mess.
Then came the cleanup.
Twenty-five years later, Alameda can be proud of embracing the green economy, entering the future with clean hands. Preparing for climate change.
We proudly show off the former base.
We can be proud again. DO NOT inviting Pyka to bring their dirty business to Alameda Point. Their pesticides, used around the earth, will add to the harmful chemicals on land and sea. In our food.
I don’t believe a pesticide drone company is the way to the future that Alamedans want. We’re better than that.
Carol Fairweather
And husband
Dan Correia
From: Richard Bangert
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft; Tony Daysog; Tracy Jensen; Trish Spencer; Malia Vella Cc: Lara Weisiger; City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Public correspondence - Agenda Item 7-F Pyka lease Building 39 Date: Monday, September 4, 2023 8:22:24 PM
Attachments: Agenda Item 7 Pyka lease Building 39.docx
Richard Bangert
Photo site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/63740093@N03/ Blog: https://alamedapointenviro.com/
Agenda Item 7-F – Pyka lease - Building 39 - Alameda Point
Dear Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcra�, Vice Mayor Tony Daysog, and Councilmembers Tracy Jensen, Trish Herrara Spencer, and Malia Vella,
I urge you to vote to reject the proposed lease of Building 39 to Pyka because their drone aircra� designed for spraying pes�cides sends the wrong message about Alameda’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The Earth’s ecosystems are already overburdened by chemical pollu�on, some of which comes from the applica�on of pes�cides and herbicides to agricultural land.
Based on the reac�ons of Instagram users to my commentary on this subject on the Alameda Post, it appears the community agrees with me. Included below is a screenshot of the Instagram post from six days ago showing 114 likes for my viewpoint, which is a big number of likes for an Alameda Post Instagram post. None of the six comments spoke in favor of leasing to Pyka.
I recommend direc�ng staff to seek out a different tenant for this hangar and u�lize a screening process that takes into account how the company’s product effects the environment. At least it should not be demonstrably harmful as is the case with aerial spraying of synthe�c pes�cides.
Yours,
Richard Bangert
Alameda Point Environmental Report
From: Trish Spencer
To: Lara Weisiger
Subject: Fwd: [EXTERNAL] Lease for Building 39 with Pyka Inc.
Date: Monday, September 4, 2023 1:23:02 PM
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kelley Cope <[email protected]>
Date: Sep 4, 2023 10:08 AM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Lease for Building 39 with Pyka Inc.
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft <[email protected]>,Tony Daysog <[email protected]>,Tracy Jensen <[email protected]>,Trish Spencer <[email protected]>,Malia Vella <[email protected]> Cc:
Dear Mayor Ashcraft, Vice Mayor Daysog and City Councilmembers Jensen, Spencer and Vella,
I hope this email finds you well. I'm writing regarding Agenda Item 7-F for the City Council meeting on Sept 5. I ask that you decline to lease Building 39 to Pyka. Although having the income and a tenant in that building would be beneficial, I think that it is more important to prioritize our environment and decline to lease to companies that have a large negative effect on the environment.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Kelley Cope
(Alameda Resident)
From: [email protected]
To: Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft; Malia Vella; Tony Daysog; Trish Spencer; Tracy Jensen Cc: City Clerk
Subject: [EXTERNAL] City Council Agenda Item 7F Sept. 5,2023: Lease w/ Pyka Date: Monday, September 4, 2023 9:15:10 AM
Dear Mayor Ashcraft and City Council Members Vella,
Daysog, Spencer, and Jensen,
I am writing to urge you NOT to approve the ordinance
for a lease of Bldg. 39 with Pyka, a company that makes autonomous aircraft for spraying pesticides on
agricultural crops. Pyka is a drone company whose
drones release pesticides in both the US and in sensitive agricultural areas in the global food chain. Pyka recently announced a deal with a company which owns non-
organic banana plantations in Guatemala and Costa
Rica.
This drone company’s pesticide drone flies in the face, literally, of all the city’s policy statements about
sustainability. If we agree that we all want a sustainable Alameda, why aren’t we extending that philosophy to the rest of the country and the world?
Ask yourselves this: If the Alameda Point Collaborative farm was 100 acres, would you sanction aerial spraying
of pesticides at Alameda Point? If not, then why stay
silent and collect revenue from a company whose product is used to spray synthetic pesticides in Central and South America, or on farmland in the U.S.?
This is a critical decision- if our communities don't hold corporations responsible there is little chance of them changing their business practices. This is an incredible opportunity to stand up for the health of our planet -
please seize this opportunity and say NO to this lease
with Pyka.
The following links provide additional information :
Here is the link to the Alameda Post story regarding
Pyka
https://alamedapost.com/op-ed/pesticide-drone-
manufacturing-is-not-a-green-business/
More information from the Pesticide Action Network’s
report
https://www.panna.org/wp-
content/uploads/2023/02/202308ClimateChangeEng.pdf
Sincerely,
Pat Lamborn
Alameda Resident