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City work crews plan to spend the entire month of April removing all of the homeless camps around Lake Merritt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bright pink notices went up last week on telephone polls, declaring \u201call parks, city assets and walkways\u201d around the lake uninhabitable and ordering people living in tents and cars there to leave.
Some of the camp closures, at Peralta Park on either side of the Lake Merritt Channel, were scheduled in anticipation of a fencing and tree-planting project, according to the city. The entire park will be closed until the fall, said Oakland spokesperson Jean Walsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The work is required by regional and state water quality agencies, Walsh said in an email. \u201cThis\u2026project protects water quality, improves habitat for wildlife and provides enhanced opportunities for active and passive recreational activities.\u201dThe Lake Merritt Channel connects the lake to the Oakland estuary and the San Francisco Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never miss a story.<\/strong> Sign up for The Oaklandside\u2019s free daily newsletter.<\/strong>Email<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 15-20 people living in tents along the channel, under the Lake Merritt Boulevard overpass and further out. Some have been there for multiple years. Outreach workers are offering the residents services and shelter at city programs, including the St. Vincent de Paul group shelter in West Oakland and the Community Cabins tiny homes, Walsh said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She could not provide information on how many days they\u2019ll be offered at St. Vincent, a drop-in shelter that does not usually guarantee long-term residences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Around noon on Tuesday, a few of the Peralta Park residents were sitting on couches by their tents, eating sandwiches dropped off by volunteers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was fine, then all of a sudden it\u2019s \u2018we can\u2019t be here anymore,\u2019\u201d said Trevonne Moore, who\u2019s been unhoused and living by the lake for about a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moore said that, counter to some assumptions from housed residents, he\u2019s eager to accept any shelter the city offers him. But hardly anyone except occasional healthcare workers comes by, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI would go to a tiny home \u2014 it\u2019s better than being outside,\u201d said Moore. \u201cEven if it\u2019s a hotel room, it\u2019s something. I just really hope they have the resources for us.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wherever he goes, it\u2019ll have to be somewhere that can also house his dog Snow, a husky who\u2019s been his loyal companion through a tumultuous year. On Tuesday, she was napping on the concrete underpass as the unseasonable temperature climbed toward 80 degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When homeless people are made to leave their homes and reestablish somewhere else, it \u201csucks\u201d for everyone, Moore said, since they often end up moving somewhere more public and visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting moved around \u201creally fucks you up\u201d mentally, said Annette Bussey, who\u2019s lived at Peralta Park for three years. At 61, change is not easy, Bussey said, but she\u2019s resigned to go along with what\u2019s coming in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI just do whatever they tell you to do, or you get in trouble,\u201d Bussey said. Jail, she said, which some unhoused residents often cycle through, \u201cis not an answer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with closing off Peralta Park, the city plans to clear the many other tents and vehicle residences around the lake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some housed neighbors and park visitors were pleased to see the pink notices go up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHallelujah!\u201d wrote Steve Heimoff, whose Coalition for a Better Oakland<\/a> group has long pushed the city to take a more aggressive stance against homeless people. Writing in his newsletter, Heimoff said that encampments have led to a deterioration of conditions at Lakeside Park, on the opposite end from Peralta. He said he knows many neighbors who\u2019ve repeatedly called city officials, asking them to clean up the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Peralta Park, some cyclists have criticized both the city\u2019s fencing plans and its allowance of encampments for obstructing bike and pedestrian<\/a> commuter paths there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An estimated 5,485 people<\/a> lack permanent housing in Oakland, a majority previously housed in the city or elsewhere in Alameda County. There are thousands fewer shelter beds available in the city than there are homeless residents. And last week, Oakland announced that two prominent shelters in West Oakland will close at the end of June<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oakland\u2019s Encampment Management Policy<\/a>, the city\u2019s rules for how it deals with camps, declares most public space off-limits to habitation. But the policy requires the city to offer shelter to residents before clearing their encampments. Another recent ordinance permits city crews to establish \u201csafe work zones<\/a>\u201d around encampments during closures, arresting anyone \u2014 residents, their advocates or journalists \u2014 who violate orders to stay out. However, it\u2019s likely that April\u2019s operation \u2014 encompassing the entirety of Lake Merritt and all the city infrastructure surrounding it \u2014 will demand a different approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n natalie@oaklandside.org<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Natalie Orenstein is a senior reporter covering City Hall, housing and homelessness for The Oaklandside. Her reporting on a flood of eviction cases following the end of the Alameda County pandemic moratorium won recognition from the Society of Professional Reporters NorCal in 2024. Natalie was previously on staff at Berkeleyside, where she covered education, including extensive, award-winning reporting on the legacy of school desegregation in Berkeley Unified. Natalie lives in Oakland, grew up in Berkeley, and has only left her beloved East Bay once, to attend Pomona College.More by Natalie Orenstein<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Residents at Peralta Park \u2014 which the city plans to landscape \u2014 said they hope they\u2019ll get a chance to move indoors. by\u00a0Natalie Orenstein March 25, 2025 (Oaklandside.com) City work crews plan to spend the entire month of April removing all of the homeless camps around Lake Merritt. Bright pink… Continue reading ![\"Pink](\"https:\/\/assets.citysidejournalism.org\/asset\/050f2fbf-2cc7-438d-96ec-27f658ad3d1b\/large\/Lake-Merritt-encampment-sweep.jpg\")
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s decision in the Grants Pass case<\/a> found that it constitutional for local governments to ban camping \u2014 and to penalize people who violate those laws \u2014 regardless of whether there\u2019s other shelter available. Some Bay Area cities have responded to the ruling with more aggressive sweeps and new anti-homeless laws<\/a>. It remains to be seen whether the City Council will update Oakland\u2019s encampment policy in response, loosening the shelter requirement. Already many homeless people criticize the type of shelter that Oakland offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNATALIE ORENSTEIN<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n