XXX City of Oakland: Relocate and House the Manila Avenue encampment

The City needs to find permanent housing and supportive services for all unhoused people. Defund the OPD and help our neighbords live with dignity.

Those arguing against the petition: Housing help from Operation Dignity was offered to many of these folks and they did not want to take it b/c of rules around sobriety and drug use. In other words, they wanted to be free to do/sell drugs on the street at their leisure. Should they be allowed to terrorize local residents with their untreated issues of hard drug addiction and severe mental illness? It's a nice idea to help, and people have contacted local nonprofits and homeless outreach and advocacy orgs, but few answers have been given. Not everyone has the time, energy, or skills to "help" a population like this, which professionals are challenged to assist. Many of the local residents in homes are on the edge financially and mentally. Should they be forced to "fix" a problem which the city has not devoted time and resources to solve? Short story: The city has failed and local residents are paying the price. We are pressuring the city to live up to its word.

I live on 38th near Manila. I do not agree with this petition. The unhoused people should not be pushed out of their current location without having housing options provided to them from the city. Mayor Libby Schaaf: Please provide housing and health care for our homeless neighbors, as soon as possible. For my neighbors: Our homeless neighbors are on hard times. No, it's not pretty or convenient for us. But we are lucky to be housed and comfortable, to have a more stable situation than them. Let's use our privilege and free time to work for longer-term, compassionate solutions for our less fortunate neighbors.

Please help us Councilman Kalb re the homeless camp and the stolen water which is costing SGI money that is not appropriate expense

People doing drugs in my yard and neighbors. Street confrontations.

6 years ago Featured

I live a block away. We have also had issues with our front yard being used as a toilet and garbage dump. Last week we had a man, with obvious mental health issues, blocking our driveway stringing garbage all over. He finally moved on, after hours of him yelling and screaming to himself.

Horrible mess that makes this street uninhabitable

We need to fight for real solutions to our city's growing homeless problem and not just "relocate" and move the problem to another neighborhood. I was to see Mayor Libby Schaaf make real movements towards mental health support and affordable housing and safe places for home free people to reside.

This has gone on long enough. You urgently need to do something about the squalor and unsafe conditions festering on this block. DO SOMETHING NOW!

6 years ago Featured

The city needs to help these people they need to get housing. The city Oakland has supposed to put these people in hotels because of C-19. But the area is becoming very unhealthy and not safe and I’m sure most of my neighbors do not have anything against these people but they need help in the area needs to be clean.

Manila Ave#1008127 this area has gotten worse at night time is more activity. I have talk to my neighbors about keeping their doors lock. I work late at night.

I am a resident of North Oakland since 1994 and I do not support this petition. Relying on the police to solve this problem will only put those who are unhoused at risk of harm, violence, and property loss. Our housing crisis is not an issue that will disappear if all you do is remove it from your line of sight. The effort wasted on organizing this set of demands would be better spent helping our neighbors who are not receiving proper access to housing and other necessities. The concerns for safety and care that we so desire for our housed neighbors must be extended to those who are unhoused as well.

Dear folks signing this petition: your lack of humanity is disgusting. These 'encampment occupants' are part of YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. THEY ARE OAKLAND RESIDENTS AND HUMANS. Y'all feel unsafe? I highly suggest you consider the options of what will happen to them next. The violence of losing the only stable and safe thing they may have which is a tent on the street. Meanwhile y'all live in homes. Y'all can apparently afford $1500 worth of bikes. Y'all run businesses. Y'all really have no sense of community beyond your own self-preservation and are an embarrassment to the Oakland community when you look down and ignore cries for help outside your front door. The disconnect from humanity is sickening. You request compassion for their 'removal' which means literally nothing and is a very clear attempt at assuaging your own ego - you know they are suffering, you know these people have quite literally lost everything, in your demands you recognize that they have ASKED FOR YOUR HELP, that they literally have no resources, support, or protections, that there are people are suffering addiction, mental illness, violence, yet the only solution that y'all can think of is request they be forced somewhere out of your eyesight, by a violent institution, THE OPD WHO WERE GUILTY OF MURDERING A HOMELESS MAN IN 2018. I beg you all to consider how you would want to be treated if you were in this position and consider this: "40% of Americans only one missed paycheck away from poverty". The demands of this petition do nothing but further endanger Oakland residents. Your neighbors. Maybe instead of further displacing vulnerable individuals you can step up and 'beautify' your neighborhood by actually helping these people in need by reaching out instead of willingly asking them to be displaced. Consider ways to mobilize in assisting vulnerable people instead of willingly putting them in violent endangerment. Y'all want these already displaced residents of Oakland to clear out o

I want to bring it to the attention of those in this neighborhood—and those thinking about signing this petition—that to be able to afford rent here is a privilege! I sincerely urge you all to work with homeless foundations if you feel the need to displace or move people. Bay Area police departments have a notorious reputation for displacing people, not relocating them. Additionally when you call OPD on homeless people you invite additional scrutiny and harm to black, brown, and queer individuals in these encampments. PD also tends to take people’s belongings when they “relocate” them. So I ask you to stop and think, how would you feel if you were homeless and the police came and took all that you had? Unless those of you who are so willing to call for the displacement of these people, are also willing to do the community work that requires relocating them.... I suggest you mind your own business. Homelessness is NOT a crime! Maybe go and ask if anyone needs help. Maybe work with organizations to get people assistance and access to restrooms or portable facilities instead of writing off an entire group that’s out here trying to survive.

The things you learn. 1. My family lives next to a toxic waste dump 2. My family lives next to a drug alley 3. My families safety and well being are in jeopardy daily. (toilet use on the street, trash everywhere, noise at all hours, harassment, property vandalism) 4. Kasier moved the mosswood homeless to other parts of the city and didn't handle it properly. 5. The city would rather tear gas it's citizens and over police the city than provide social programs to improve the quality of life for the residents.

As a neighbor on the Opal side, I too have felt unsafe due to my proximity to the encampment. I hope that the city can help our community as well as those in the encampment.

I echo everything my neighbors have said. My building has been broken into countless times and I have lost property to theft in excess of $1,500 (between stolen packages and 2 bikes inside the building). Beyond that, I do not feel safe walking down that street for a variety of reasons. I've had dogs lunge at me from an RV in one instance. Beyond all this, the screaming/fighting, uncleanliness (trash, human waste, syringes), and open drug use and dealing is unacceptable. I hope for the encampment to be removed and its residents placed somewhere else as compassionately as possible.

6 years ago Featured

My car was recently stolen out of my garage in broad daylight. My apartment building has been broken into a dozen times in the last year. I do not feel safe + work hard to achieve this peace of mind. This has been and continues to be out of control.

I live in the bldg at 38th and Manila, along with 30 tenants. In addition to all that's written on this petition, you do understand we get ticketed if we impede access to a sidewalk with our cars. We get ticketed if our cars are on the street more than 24 hours (without an A sticker). There are people living in vehicles parked on Manila for months. How is that possible? We cannot walk down Manila between 38th and 40th on the sidewalk. We experienced 6 attempted or actual break-ins in December. Our front door was broken. Replacement cost $5000. OPD called a couple months back and reported they caught the guy living in the tent city on Manila. Thank you to those officers. That said, the OPD dispatcher gave us the name of an officer assigned to the Manila St issue. His contact info was shared with the 30 tenants. I and some have attempted to report the problems listed here. No one has called us back. The fire 3 months back, the knowledge the building involved was already condemned and the building connected to that building is known to have toxic waste in collecting pools within the building, suggests something has to be done with this whole mess. I visited the Ghost Ship site the day after that fire. I listened to various of you speak. Where are you now? Why aren't you dealing with this?

There needs to be a way to help this vulnerable population. Allowing them to use this space in particular, harms their health and puts nearby neighbors, and, I’d argue, the entire city at risk. Someone mentioned bonfires. I witnessed two men tampering with a fire hydrant to get water on a very hot day. That fire hydrant was right next to the toxic Glovatorium, which is right next to the abandoned burnt out building on 38th, which is near homes, the Red Cross, the Children’s Theater space, minority owned businesses, and two gas stations. This block is located right across the street from the Kaiser Hospital complex! Right across the street. It should scare everyone of the potential dire consequences on a a dry windy day. Please help these Oakland citizens move to a safer place with services to help them.