This site was deleted upon our move from West Oakland. Given the news of the candidates for the most recent City Council election, it's important that at least the images are given the opportunity to be seen.
Many of the original images have been lost and will need to be reposted (see newer posts), but some of the original post contents are available through archive.org.
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July 12, 2006
15 Minutes
Perhaps you're here because you saw the recent piece on channel-7. If so, please pause, read some of the older posts and ponder it before you jump to any conclusions — one way or the other.
No doubt, homelessness, blight and urban-development are complex issues that need to be looked at from many angles. This is just one. I started this website after a recent Oakland Tribune article that I found to be inaccurate and sensationalistic. I decided to put forth another point-of-view... and I hope other folks with divergent points-of-view will do the same. I'm not claiming to have all of the answers... I don't even have that much wisdom on the topic, but I do have a few questions... most of which are asked on the site.
Some other folks have had questions, too:
Q: What do you hope to get out of this?
A: A clean and safe neighborhood. This might start with some attention being paid to the area which might come from folks looking at pictures of piles of rotting trash in a public park and hypodermic needles on the sidewalk. Currently, the City Council and other civic offices are on the weekly update list. Hopefully, the squeaky wheel can get some grease.
Q: So, you're not on camera. Why?
A: I park on the street. My wife walks home from the bus. We've had over $10K in damages to our home and car over the past year. I'm not necessarily hiding — you can easily contact me through this site — but I can't really afford to become a target by someone who has lots less to lose.
Q: Did you happen to look around before you decided to move here?
A: Yes, we did. Quite a lot, actually. The park and areas around it have gotten much worse in the past few months. Thus the impetus to show it in pictures through this site.
Q: Are you against folks getting help? Getting fed?
A: Of course not. Everyone needs a hand now and again until they can get back on their feet. That's our social contract. At the same time, the contract also includes simple things like: pick up after yourself and leave a place cleaner than you found it... also in the above is "until you can get back on your feet". The current system seems to enable chronic homelessness, which is an issue. The system doesn't seem sustainable if the folks that are receiving help today aren't the ones providing help tomorrow. Many social programs like unemployment and disability insurance and require the recipients to provide evidence that they are putting forth effort to better their own lives. Is there something here that can inform homeless outreach?
Q: Don't you think the City and Police have more urgent issues to tackle?
A: Of course. However, that doesn't detract from the fact that the issues on this site deserve attention, too.
Q: Then why don't you get out there with a shovel and broom rather than with a camera?
A: Quite frankly, I don't feel safe doing it. I also believe that folks who make (or enable) the mess should be the first to step up to clean it up. I also feel that I will have more systemic and long-term success trying to initiate change through the website... rather than simply attacking the side-effects by picking up what landed on the sidewalk today.
Q: This isn't any worse than other parts of the city, what's the big deal?
A: This is my home. It's also my website. If folks want to start up quainteastoakland.com or happyhunterspoint.com, I think it'd be a great idea.
Thanks for reading this far.
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July 09, 2006
Not Sure This HMOP-thing Is Working
Folks come into our neighborhood with good intentions. They feed the homeless. Then they go home. The homeless get full. Then they (some, not all) get high. Then one passes out in front of my house twitching and groaning for a while. Not sure this on-site services thing is working -- at least it's not working for me... especially when the police non-emergency line is busy.
Am I against feeding the homeless? Of course not... but, please, if you create an incentive for people to remain on the streets (i.e.: on-site services, lack of shelter space, etc.), please make a plan to clean up what's left behind. Although outreach providers have good intentions — without follow-through, they leave the tax-paying, law-abiding residents of West Oakland to deal with it... which just doesn't seem fair, does it?
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July 06, 2006
The Day After
A day after the chilling discovery, customers line-up and shack-up in front of Alliance Metals creating an environment that prohibits many residents of West Oakland from visiting Alliance Park (the stench of pee and a picnic are not generally a good pairing)... at least the trash boxes aren't overflowing with rotting garbage.
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July 05, 2006
Irony
Tomorrow evening (Thursday, 6-8PM), there will be a meeting regarding the homeless issues in West Oakland at the Poplar Community Center. Tonight... on the baseball field of the center, a homeless encampment is setting up. Sigh...
(Update) Thursday, 6:30AM: The morning after, the camp had disbanded after a few calls to the police. Around the corner, in the bushes along Peralta Street, it looks like another camp had disbanded, but didn't leave a very tidy area.
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Short-term Benefit
The efforts of the OPW team were short-lived as the dumping continues adjacent to the Lightner Group's new development at Peralta and Hannah Streets. Hopefully, when construction begins and a guard is posted, this will cease... or more likely move to another location.
Jamil, Bobby and team... thanks for any continued help you can lend to clean it up for good.
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June 30, 2006
Progress?
Last night at 11PM, I drove past Alliance Park. While the sidewalks were still a urine-soaked mess and there were several people sleeping—and not sleeping—in the park (mind you, it's very, very dark in this park at night, so it's not really a social venue)... the trash boxes were emptied and replaced with new ones. Granted, they were overturned, but at least not overflowing with rotting food and garbage. I hope it can remain decay-free until the time when I can go back with a camera and snap a few pictures.
Thanks for at least a first step. A firehose, a broom and some bleach might be a good next step. Some lights, curfew-signage and monitoring would be a great one past that.
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June 29, 2006
Scout's Honor
As of Thursday, Alliance Park grows more and more foul. Rotting food, urine-soaked clothing, random footwear... Would the City let this happen at Lake Merritt? Would conditions ever get this bad in Dimond Park?
Fortunately, Tuesday found positive correspondence with Alex McElree, director of Operation Dignity, a City sponsored Homeless Mobile Outreach Program (HMOP), who seemed to agree it was a bit unfair to the residents of West Oakland for anyone to bring materials into a neighborhood and not see it through to clean-up. Seems even the Boy Scouts figured that one out a few jamborees ago. However, Alex will need a lot of help—hopefully from Alliance Metals themselves who ultimately attract this malaise—and profit from it.
Tuesday also found only semi-positive correspondence with Susan Shelton of the Department of Human Services who seemed to deflect the notion that the trash in the park was a result of her office's (and HMOP's) activities: "Just an fyi: the sandwiches given out from the HMOP van use sandwich bags, not Styrofoam plates. The only Styrofoam we use is the cup of soup noodles."... Ummm. (see below, from a few weeks ago).
While Oakland certainly has many, many issues facing its future, there is already obviously (by the presence of more than a few discarded cup-of-soup cups) momentum for assistance and outreach through agencies and programs such as Operation Dignity and others... We ask that these efforts follow-though with cleanup of the areas that they serve so as to not simply be aid to the homeless, but also to be responsible to and respectful of the hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying residents of the neighborhoods they visit.
Simply put, be good Boy Scouts.
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June 27, 2006
Tuesday in the Park with (more) Garbage
These images were shot at 8:30AM, before business-hours at Alliance. Note the lack of traffic. The garbage here is from the day previous (and the day before that) left to fester and rot. During the day, the park is filled with the loiterers who create this mess—most of whom become agitated and violent when seeing a guy with a camera.
I've been threatened enough to know not to come here during the day... and that really sucks as it's my taxes that help to support public lands like this. Ironic, isn't it... why can't I enjoy the park I pay for? If it were a gang overtaking a park, would the OPD and the OPW have a different POV?
And, again, the mobile homes are back to help to litter the area and add to the malaise around Alliance Park.
Sigh.
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Handouts Trash our Neighborhood
Once again, Alliance Park is littered with the styrofoam food containers passed out by on-site food providers. Yuck.
Please either stop the on-site handouts or dedicate some time to clean up after the customers... Enough is enough. West Oakland is littered enough without the outreach programs contributing to the problem. While the intentions are certainly good, what's left over is, well... just garbage.
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June 19, 2006
Thanks OPW
Driving back from West Oakland BART this evening, I passed the "Palm Tree Site"... the string of palm trees at Hannah and Peralta adjacent to a lot destined to become new housing by the Lightner Group. The trees are a sort of landmark in the area, as they're nearly the tallest things around.
This site is a notoriously bad spot for illegal dumping. In fact, many of the shots from today's earlier post "Fingers Crossed" and last month's "(B)lightner Property" were taken at this site. Today was the worst I've seen—refuse strewn into the roadway and really bad Early-American furniture broken into pieces.
As of 8PM (and 8AM, when these picures were taken), the site is mostly clear. It could use a sweeping, but... wow... Thanks, Bobby McConnell, Jamil Blackwell and the OPW team. I hope you're able to keep it that way. Fingers crossed again...
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Fingers Crossed
Today while taking pictures, I ran into litter abatement officer, Bobby McConnell— a nice guy trying to stay on top of the growing mounds of trash in the neighborhood. From the looks of things he has his job cut out for him. While I'm rooting for him, I'm also expecting the City to stay on top of the issue and make some proactive efforts to stop the illegal dumping. Fingers crossed.
For the record, that's not Bobby in the El Camino.
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Bad Neighbors
Alliance Metals wonders why the neighborhood is not happy with it's presence... Day and night, the park and streets adjacent to Alliance Metals are filled with shopping carts and trash... Our homes are vanadalized and stripped of building materials later sold as "recycling"... Their presence sustains—if not fosters—the malaise in the community. A few pretty solid reasons, wouldn't you think?
Put another way: Would you let your kid run across the street to play in "Alliance Park"?
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Yellow Is the New Black
Cecliy Burt strikes again with biased, marginally-factual, sensationalistic reporting. The images on this site go further to illustrate the impact of Alliance Metals on the West Oakland community than any article she's written so far.
I find it humorous how she buries the trafficking of stolen goods, theft and vandalism in a run-on sentence: "Longtime neighbors may not like it, but they are less likely to publicly complain about the loiterers and shopping cart recyclers who dig through their trash in search of cans or bottles or, in some cases, steal pipes, fixtures or building materials from their homes and property."
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June 13, 2006
Apples and Trees
Apples don't fall far from trees. These pictures were snapped less than a block from Alliance Metals. When will the city hold Alliance accountable for the trash, crime and malaise that they foster? It's summertime, a block and a half away from this, there's a dozen kids playing basketball... Sigh.
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Litter, Litter Everywhere
A few months ago, Oakland City Hall sought legislation fining fast-food restaurants for the litter their patrons create.
Who's fining the chuckwagon when the homeless folks trash our neighborhood?
City Hall, I ask that you hold Operation Dignity and the providers of on-site food services to the same standard that you do the local fast-food extablishments... at least Burger King pays taxes and collects sales tax. The chuckwagon only helps to perpetuate the trashing of West Oakland and the homelss condition in general by providing little incentive to help oneself.
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What's with the Wig Hair?
... Except for the fact that it's ultra-gross, what's up with the wig hair? These samples found at "Alliance Park"...
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Johnny Come Lately?
Last Saturday morning @ 11AM a fella was having sex with a prostitute outside my parking gate... about 15 feet from my neighbor (fortunately on the other side of the fence) playing with his 2 year old son... nice. When I came back with my camera, he pulled away as she was buttoning up her pants and steadying herself on her shopping cart.
Be on the lookout:
5AHP289 (CA License Plate)
Silver Toyota Prius (first model)
White male
Late 40's/early 50's
White, wavy hair
Tall (6'0) / Thin (180lbs)
"Professor" look
We reported the crime, gave the dispatcher the plate number and asked that this be formally followed up on. I was never called back. Again... nice.
If you see him, remind him to take a shower, wear a condom and stay the hell out of West Oakland.
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April 09, 2006
Back to the Old House
It took less than 2 weeks for the homeless camps to begin to reform... under the freeway where it all began (image one) and in a few spots around the neighborhood.
... The second picture below is at Hannah and 32nd — the site of a fatal shooting the night of April 8th — the police activity didn't seem to bother the campers (and the police didn't bother to roust the campers either). The site at Hannah and Peralta Street is under development by The Lightner Group who have reached out to the community for ideas and help in keeping the site clean and safe prior to construction.
... Good thing there's a pile of computer monitors at the corner of the park across from Alliance... some kids at the Community Center might need them to help with their homework.
... A generally disheveled house on 35th and Adeline, a common dumping ground for junk, finds an old box spring outside.
... The park across from Alliance seems to serve as someone's closet (or trash can... or both) — clothes, trash and other belongings strewn across the picnic table originally installed for families to enjoy a pleasant Sunday picnic...
... A tan Volvo (i.e.: mobile home) has been parked in one spot or another for over a month. This weekend found it parked on Peralta Street.
One step forward, one step back. Welcome to Beautiful West Oakland...
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March 27, 2006
A Step in the Right Direction
While the clean-up will be ongoing, this weekend found a debris-free Peralta Street underpass... Thanks to all involved for making this happen. There's still quite a bit of nastiness about — nothing I'd want my dog or children walking through... some empty cans, some wig hair, some pee... you know... But this is definitely a good move.
On another note, the abandoned house on Fitzgerald Street seems to be a haven for "activity" and is currently the new parking spot for the large mysterious box... Can we get this removed, please? Thanks...
And the weekend saw it's usual share of questionably-legal Alliance activity — folks pushing carts down the center of the street with little regard for safety, etc...
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March 23, 2006
Oakland In Action or Inaction?
After the most recent email by Jamil Blackwell refering to a second cleanup of the Peralta Street site, over 200 square feet of garbage remains -- still blocking the sidewalk and still extending into the roadway... and a large dumpster-like box was pushed back under the underpass by a camper. Sigh...
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Operational Indignity
Below is a clip from the charter for the Homeless Mobile Outreach Program (HMOP) operated by Operation Dignity, a non-profit service provider contracted by the City of Oakland to service the homeless population, regularly monitor known homeless encampments for signs of debris and public health hazards, and respond to citizen complaints.
Considering this blog was set up over 40+ days ago garnering scores of hits, the problems associated with the homeless encampment at Peralta and 35th have been known for some time. Countless emails to Mike Church, the PWA and City Council have served as ample notification that things are getting ugly...
The bottom line: What Operation Dignity is contracted to do is not happening.
Why? Contact Mike Church, City of Oakland Department of Human Services at (510) 238-6590 to find out.
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"In addition to providing direct services to clients, HMOP works closely with the Public Works Agency (PWA) and the Oakland Police (OPD) to mitigate public health hazards and nuisances associated with homeless encampments. HMOP also works with outside agencies such as BART, the railroads, CALTRANS and the Port of Oakland. HMOP regularly monitors known homeless encampments for signs of debris and public health hazards, and responds to citizen complaints.
When HMOP identifies an encampment that is in need of cleanup and abatement, the Public Works agency is notified and posts the encampment with notices to quit the area within 48 hours. Homeless clients are advised of the impending cleanup, advised of their rights, and informed that they must remove their belongings by the posted date. During the 48 hour posting period, Public Works confers with OPD and HMOP to schedule abatement activities. HMOP regularly participates on-site with PWA and OPD in encampment abatement activities. 20 encampment sites have received abatement and cleanup activities during the current fiscal year.
For more information, or to report a homeless encampment complaint, contact Mike Church, City of Oakland Department of Human Services at (510) 238-6590."
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March 22, 2006
Morning Has Broken
"After" photos from yesterday's clean-up and abatement effort. Many campers have moved a few hundred yards away.
Sigh.
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Postcards from 100 Feet to the Left
Jamil Blackwell sent before and after photos of the Peralta Street clean-up. While the underpass is tidy, what was there was moved 100 feet to the left into a larger, more perilous clump — spilling into the roadway and not really being all that tidier. Trash and stolen carts are still trash and stolen carts even when moved 100 feet to the left.
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March 21, 2006
You've Got To Be Joking...
We received an email from Jamil Blackwell, Public Works Supervisor II (jblackwell@oaklandnet.com) that read as follows:
"More than likely several of you are already aware, staff abated the encampment again this morning between 10:15-11:30. We did take before and after photos."
... Yet coming home this evening found the entire encampment moved 100 feet to the left with trash and debris completely spilling into the roadway — creating a serious hazzard for passing cars and blocking the sidewalk for pedestrians.
You've got to be kidding... this is almost worse than the encampment itself. Is this the best solution you have to offer? I hope the plan is to come back on Wednesday and finish the clean-up.
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Home Is Where the Trash Is
The Peralta Street corridor is a major thoroughfare through West Oakland and the way many folks I know get from the Emeryville shops to the Bay Bridge (via West Grand). This is what they see driving into my neighborhood... no wonder they're scared to stop and visit. Hell, I'm scared to walk the streets in my own neighborhood.
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Enough Is Enough
We've gone back and forth between the city and the County, but the mess still piles up, carts are still thrust into the roadway and the campers are creating a generally unsafe environment for themselves, passing motorists and the community in general... The area around the underpass, Alliance Metals and the adjacent park are reprehensible (wow, I've used that word twice in two posts...). What's is going to take to get either the City or County to take action — at least a little cleanup or a stolen-cart sting.
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March 17, 2006
A Guiding Voice
I just got off the phone with Valerie Street from the Alameda County Public Health Office... what a great lady. The conversation with her was insightful and she took the time to answer questions that no one else has really taken the time to do. (Thank you, Valerie)...
While there are a few outstanding rhetorical questions like: "In the absence of funding and facilities, what are we going to do?"... she did relay that the question of homelessness and working with the encampments and the situations that surround them (enforcement, cleanup, etc.) "is explicitly a City of Oakland responsibility." Previously, Nancy Nadel has tried to get the County involved in the issue, but perhaps this is either unrealistic — or simply misplaced responsibility. In either case, it points back to the fact the we do need to keep holding the City of Oakland and the OPD accountable for what's going on. Perhaps "accountable" is too strong, but we do need to look to them for proactive solutions.
Valerie did mention the contract that the city has with the homeless outreach organization, Operation Dignity, run by Alex McElree — and that perhaps exploring this avenue might uncover some alternatives in extended outreach and solutions-oriented problem solving. However, if Operation Dignity is only showing up with blankets and food — with no other outreach — it's definitely a misplaced effort... why leave the underpass when you have curbside laundry and catering?
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Crackhead on My Lawn
This is a "vintage" photo from last year, but interesting nonetheless. It shows a man outside our window lighting up a crack pipe and the subsequent arrest. Note the black splotch on the rear of the car in the third picture — it's a pistol pulled from the driver...
The best (or worst) part is that this derelict car sat for ten days on the street unlocked across the street from Poplar Community Center — with god knows what inside. It took dozens of calls and emails to have it removed.
Having a crack-head parked in front of your house is one thing... but when the crack-head leaves, so should the car.
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March 13, 2006
Getting worse by the day...
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... the sofas, mattresses and table have returned and the camp at Peralta and 35th has grown to epic proportions... spilling into the roadway. Recent developments have found camp inhabitants taking to rolling carts into oncoming traffic and cursing at passing motorists. The city's lack of action is either embarrassing or inexcusable — I can't decide which.
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March 02, 2006
Abatement?
Early this week, we received a note from Jamil Blackwell noting that this morning (Thursday), they would "abate the encampment." We really appreciate the coordinated effort mentioned in the note. Unfortunately, when I returned home Thursday at 9PM, the carts under the freeway are now clumped entirely in the roadway and the camp is still there -- large as ever... There are even new outcroppings elsewhere in the neighborhood.
I apologize for the blurry "night-vision" shots from the car, but I'm terrified to walk the streets of my own neighborhood past dark. Hmmm.
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February 25, 2006
Soup's On
Even more incentive for folks not to leave the underpass... doorstop delivery of food. Not sure if this is an "official" soup kitchen — I was under the assumption that these folks needed to be certified or have some other sort of license to serve food... but, it is a nice contrast to the roach coach less than 100 yards away serving food to the folks who actually work at Alliance.
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Thanks, but...
Thanks to the city for cleaning up part of the enormous mess dumped next to the park adjacent to Alliance Metals (see photo of semi-clear sidewalk). But, you missed a spot -- or more likely, someone dumped a nice stack of tires after you left. Mind stopping by again?
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Friendly Neighbors
This morning, on my weekend walk, I was accosted by a local neigbor who lives under the freeway. See the below picture as he flicks me off while I snap the shutter. More disturbing was the threats and hostilities yelled as I walked peacefully away. Nice to meet you, too.
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Parks and Recreation
The parks across from Alliance Metals make a particularly attractive place for people to illegally camp, dump garbage and partake in other unsavory activities. This morning, a pile of razor-sharp sheet glass was found adjacent to the benches -- just the thing to make local parks more welcoming to children. I'm assuming it was an Alliance reject item. The addition of an empty bottle of gin and furniture make it even more friendly. West Oakland is a wonderful place to raise a family.
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February 18, 2006
... but this Is really gross
The Peralta Street underpass and the park adjacent to Alliance Metals has been particularly problematic. It's become a health and safety hazard and many residents do not feel safe walking to/from the 40th Street stores and public transportation. Looking at these images, you begin to understand why.
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A Disappointing Day
Today, I read an article in the Oakland Tribune that got me thinking... what's the point? In the piece, Cecily Burt characterizes the homeless in West Oakland as entrepreneurial trend setters. Why work in West Oakland when it is perfectly okay to live under the bridge and knock over trash cans for sustenance?
As a resident of West Oakland, I take offense to this — not only because this is not the type of environment that, as a resident, I strive to live in... but this sort of endorsement is an enabling factor to the homeless epidemic in the area. It provides little, if any, incentive to adopt a more sustainable way of life. Gleaning cans from recycling bins is not a transferrable, marketable skill and the Peralta Street underpass is not a place to call home.
What's worse is that Councilwoman, Nancy Nadel, is characterized as supporting the camp — I hope her comments were taken out of context and that her support is actually of the voters and law-abiding residents in the area. The mention of the substance abuse of the area's homeless is only a fleeting footnote in the article, followed up hastily by a reference to a recent homeless gentleman who claims to have simply made a few "indiscriminate choices" — coupled with phrases like "...a homeless man who said he has a degree in banking and finance", one is left to wonder if there was any fact checking done at all prior to press time. If I tell you I can fly, will you print that, too? This is the worst sort of yellow journalism — horribly one sided and devoid of any balanced, proven, accurate facts.
So, I started this blog to serve as a simple photo essay of the stuff we see every day while walking down the street, riding the bus, and hoping for the better.
When I signed up for TypePad, the sample entry was an excerpt from Jayne Eyre. I think I'll keep the title... A Disappointing Day: There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning, but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
