Emeryville Public Works Operations Manager - DG assigned this issue to Emeryville Community Development - CH

Walked by this today. It is beginning to look permanent.

Bigger. Every. Day.
Our tax payer dollars “at work”
I’m curious why it seems like every year my taxes go up to support local programs in Emeryville including helping the homeless and getting them off the street and yet it takes six months to a year or longer for any kind of response to happen.

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for your comment. We have been in contact with those residing under the bridge, as of now they have refused services including a bed in our partners shelter, by law we are not allowed to bulldoze them off the property. We are following a documentation process to ensure the city isn't sued by homeless advocates, recently the city just settled a case for this exactly. I am sorry the process doesn't fit your timeline but we are asking for patience to ensure we can avoid a legal battle. Thanks

Thank you for the response. I’ve lived here for over 6 years and I can safely say this is the most detailed response I have ever received outlining past and present efforts. That being said, can the city of Emeryville not institute an ordinance/law or have a vote on such an item that would allow postings of signs/warnings that inhabiting such property will result in a fine/removal from the area? Similar to what we have for parking meters? Or signs that say if you litter your fined $1000? Anything that will send a message that Emeryville will not tolerate this type of nuisance that continues to trash our neighborhood that we pay to upkeep? Something that is voted on by the people of Emeryville and allows police to enforce without fear of being sued by “homeless advocates”? It’s incredible to me that people can live and trash our neighborhood with no repercussions… the rest of us follow the rules… why shouldn’t others?
How would we introduce such an ordinance to be voted on?
PS- bulldoze is a bit of an extreme example… no one is advocating for such a thing… but as a taxpayer and resident, I expect a higher set bar than what has been demonstrated…
I think we have all been very patient with these types of matters… but if the voters of Emeryville vote to not allow such encampments to occupy city property, would there not be a case to dismiss future fear of being sued? I’m genuinely asking for my knowledge and I’m sure many others who would like to know/Vote on the matter. Thank you!

Hi Patrick,

I would ask that you and anyone else interested bring these concerns to the city council meetings where you can voice your frustrations and solutions. You can come in person or online, I believe this can be a good space to explore some of the more complicated matters including deterrents such as signage. As of now it is not illegal to be homeless in the Bay Area and outside of that it is really hard to stop people from living on the street, people who often might actually refuse any city services for various reasons. From what I know with working with this population they are often not living in the same society as the rest of us mentally, which makes sense when you are living on the street for years and sometimes decades.

Our hope is public works can come by and grab the trash left behind that isn't clearly the property of the homeless even if it looks like trash to us.

I urge you and those who share your views to bring this issues to the city council, from my understanding few if anyone brings these issues up there where solutions can be created.

It has been two weeks and yet the problem persists. What is the timing of the steps that the city must take to facilitate the removal of the encampment?
What impact if any does the presence of stolen goods take - Target and Home Depot carts?

Thank you for your comment.

The process can be as quick as a chat with the individual they accept services including shelter. Often times it takes much longer, they may refuse services for weeks or months. What can expedite the process is if they are a threat to others, have they assaulted you verbally or physically? We understand they are an eyesore to many in the area but unfortunately being homeless is not illegal in the state of California. We have told them they will need to vacate the premises and are documenting our interactions with them in hopes we can build a strong legal case to move them if they continue to refuse services.

I have not heard of possession of stolen goods, namely shopping carts have any impact in any city in the Area.

I see someone else has posted regarding this issue. The situation is not improving.

Shocker. The city should do what they did behind city hall last year… clear out the area and put giant rocks and boulders in place… worked like a charm and no one has set up camp there since.
I Vote to have my tax dollars go toward the “let’s Boulder everything” cause cuz that’s the only thing that seems to work and deter encampments.

Hi Anonymous,

Thank you for your comment.

Our goal is to provide services to give this person the opportunity to not live on the street under the bridge through permanent housing. It seems the public would like the city to force this person from under the bridge and there will be a time for that but we should also keep in mind that when that day comes this person will likely move to another area in Emeryville where residents will use this platform to call them an eyesore and the process just starts over again.

We have been in a rain storm for months and for now they have taken shelter under the bridge to attempt to keep themselves dry, we are in communication with them about their options including a shelter bed which they have refused. We have not gotten any complaints about this person posing a threat or bothering anyone beyond being an eyesore on their walk. Please let me know if that changes. I invite you and your neighbors to bring these concerns to city council as it will be a much better place to have a dialog about your concerns regarding the person living under the bridge.

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for your solution. City council will be a great place to offer this solution, I look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on 3/21.

A few points:

- The delays /are/ the cause of this. Knowing that you don't move aggressively to remove an encampment immediately communicates to them that they can do this anywhere in the city for months without being compelled to move. And stop putting words in people's mouths, you know we're not saying homelessness is illegal which is why we should offer shelter and support services. But for sure it's not legal to camp out and litter all over public property repeatedly for months.

- I've spoken in city council meetings before, so I have to call BS on this as a viable option for the regular citizen. City Council meetings are often weekdays in the daytime and frequently going through the agenda takes HOURS, which is a huge ask for people with job and family obligations. I either have to take unpaid time off or make up the time to do this. Meanwhile advocacy groups do this /as/ their full time job and overwhelm public sentiment. You've seen several repeated complaints. It's YOUR job as a public servant to relay this to your leadership and be an advocate for the people that work hard and pay taxes to maintain a clean and livable city.

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Bravo, Mike and K. I appreciate your responses. It’s ironic to me that we are being asked to “bring this to the town hall”… why? Everything we are asking for is here on the app.. how about review what citizens are concerned about via Click It/Fix it and get sht done. Already takes effort to report something here… and to K’s point, we don’t all have the luxury like our elected officials to join every meeting to “bring solutions and express concerns”… already inked here on the app so why not take a note? Food for thought. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Thank you for your staunch support of one another on this issue. Our city council meetings take place in the evenings and you are not required to attend the entire meeting. When I mentioning attending a city council meeting it was in hopes we could have a conversation about just how complex the issue of homeless is.

Emeryville is situated in between Oakland and Berkeley, two areas with large homeless populations as you might know, so we are likely to get folks passing through and or setting up camp as they try and figure out how to survive living on the streets, the city moving aggressively will not change the fact that these are people without housing. The assumption is for the city including Police to try move them along which isn't a solution because they still don't have housing and until it becomes illegal to be homeless they really don't have any deterrent. The city pushing homeless people from block to block only temporarily solves your problem as they just go from park to park. Our goal is to offer them services with the goal of them exiting the program with housing and there is a pathway to that if they choose to accept.

Unfortunately, the gentlemen under the bridge continue to refuse services and we have documented that to ensure that the city is in good position to clear this camp. We are hoping to do that within a week. It is my understanding that there were no homeless people in that direct vicinity prior to the bridge being built? My fear is that without any real solutions we will be having this same interaction in a month because the stair well provides a safe haven from the rain in the same way a person might use the shade as safe haven from the sun.

I can tell you're not interested in having a real conversation because you won't for a single moment acknowledge that this 'gentleman' is breaking the law: No camping on public property. No littering. If we're supposed to have a 'conversation', we have to stay the whole time, not just hop on zoom to enter a comment and leave. There's no reliable indicator of when they'll get to an agenda item you're interested, and the terminology is frequently confusing. There might be an item 1.10 or 16.10 and an item 10. It's never clear where they're at. Even on an evening, it's difficult because of family obligations, which may be even more difficult to get out of.

You're using the tone and rhetoric of an activist, not a public servant. You care only about your cause, no concern about the people who work and pay taxes to maintain this city. Unbelievable.

Is anybody forwarding these tickets over to a sympathetic representative on the city staff? The tone and obstinacy is unacceptable.

Thank you for reporting.

You are welcome to submit an Online Speaker Card to the City Council which will be read into the record at the next City Council meeting. You can find the link to the form at www.emeryville.org/citycouncil.

Well this tool is supposed to be a path into effectively communicating with city staff so that residents are engaged and the city addresses issues and problems. We all want what is best for Emeryville.

I too am disappointed by the tone coming from the staff employed by our city. No one is saying homelessness is illegal but they certainly can take action that is illegal including trespassing, littering, possessing stolen property etc. it is clear that the city staff is only willing to address the homeless issue and by their own statement the csmpers have actually REFUSED a housing/care solution. This is no longer a homelessness issue.

On the state website it says the local governmental agencies may abate homeless encampments on public property by using existing statutes and local housing, health and safety, water and penal codes.

We are asking that the city fulfill that responsibility.

Issue 14227820 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

Issue 14202464 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue.

Shopping carts now common along the promenade. These problems don’t sit still. They grow bigger and more expensive to clear out and restore. And they become normalized because people learn you’ll let them do this for months. As a new park/trail it’s important to establish boundaries, and allowing this to persist communicates for over 3 months now communicates that there effectively are none.

Looks like as of today the camp has been cleared. Thank you.

Nice! I was there this week and was ready to post another photo of how it had gotten even worse from the last time. Looking forward to how it was before and intended.

Thank you for reporting. The issue has been addressed.

Thanks for fixing this request!

Thanks very much for resolving this issue, but please don't take about 3 months to resolve it next time, because there will certainly be a next time.