In July of 2006, ABC-7 News stopped by to document the malaise in Councilperson Nadel's own neighborhood. Homeless encampments had overtaken West Clawson. Open drug use, urination, defecation, theft, vandalism, prostitution and sexual activity were spread over our sidewalks, streets, youth centers and public parks.
Councilperson Nancy's answer: "You can grow a money tree."
Oakland deserves better leadership.
On most any given day, something bad can be seen happening around Alliance Metals.
One day — after outreach teams came to the area — a junkie decided to pass out and start twitching in front of my neighbor's fence. His 2-year-old kid was playing on the other side and asked with the noises were.
One of the worst issues from 2005-2007 was the number of growing homeless encampments, the largest of which took over 180 days to clean up — when crews finally arrived, they had to call in special Haz-Mat clean-up teams. Weekly emails were sent to to Councilperson Nadel's office and countless State and City officials (including CalTrans who owned much of the property) to no avail.
Illegal dumping in the public streets is an ongoing problem in Dogtown...
The bushes alongside a local kids Rec-Center is used often as a bathroom... as well as the bushes adjacent to Alliance Metals.
Late one morning, a dead infant was discovered in the bushes adjacent to Alliance Metals.
There are a pair of small "pocket parks" in the neighborhood that drew a lot of ire. It took two years to get them "cleaned up"... and still you wouldn't let your kids play there. They are across the street from Alliance Metals — one of the draws for much of the traffic that creates the mess.
Styrofoam plates and food wrappers litter the streets and parks — much of it coming from city-supported and church-based outreach programs.
Councilperson Nadel's latest idea is to pay the homeless folks to clean up the parks... these are the same people who are trashing them in the first place. How much sense does that make? The City pays to feed them. They trash the place. Then the city pays them to clean up the mess they made.
Councilperson Nadel took it upon herself to criticize a local developer's role in the condition of the streets in her own neighborhood: "I know your development company has really cut up a lot of the streets leaving a mess for the city to repave."
The Developer responded with images of the streets and sidewalks around their developments as well as the apparently non-conforming repair that Councilperson Nadel did to the sidewalk in front of her own home: "I want everyone in our neighborhood to know that it is you ... that is in violation of the City requirements. A couple of years ago when you put in the plants in front of your house you patched your front sidewalk with asphalt. Asphalt is not allowed in the sidewalk area under City and ADA regulations. It is not possible for people in wheelchairs to traverse across your asphalt section of the sidewalk. When I take my grandson walking in his stroller I have to go out in the street to avoid your area of the sidewalk. I asked one of the city inspectors how you got away with leaving the lumpy asphalt in your sidewalk for years and I was told that no one wanted to offend a City Councilperson."
Hmmm... "Pavementgate?"
Councilperson Nadel's sidewalk:
The Developer's sidewalks:
Based on this, who do you think is doing more for Dogtown: Developers or the local Councilperson?
