Thank you for reporting. The City will look into the issue and take action if warranted.

The longer it stays there the more the cleanup costs will grow. It will be Emeryville tax payers fitting the bill for this and costs tens of thousands to clean. These are funds that I want to go into schooling and infrastructure. Not supporting the cleanup operations because of local government neglect.

Local businesses must be thrilled to see the regular smoke and fires starting there.

The encampment is literally just a few feet from one of the SAE Expression College classroom windows. They cannot hold classes in that room due to the proximity. The lack of communication from Emeryville and Caltrans is astounding.

There are no bathrooms, trash receptacles, or sanitation stations at this encampment. Waste is all over the area and spreads to the community. The danger to public health grows by the day. This needs to be addressed.

This issue is still occurring and getting worse by the day. Its getting very unhealthy and out of control.

This encampment is going to be a bit of a disaster for Emeryville/CalTrans/Berkeley (not really for Berkeley as its out of sight for them and they already kicked out the squatters from their border).

Recently the a court case was won that prevents CalTrans from arriving and cleaning up their land, they now have to give squatters notice of intention to clear and provide space & storage before they cleanup. If Caltrans finds personal belongings they have to store it so that the squatters can come to claim in the future.

Its out of this world. Ultimately this will mean either CalTrans simply does nothing (squatters goal, waiting for free land/housing) or they will act and go through the expense but will ultimately start heavily fencing off every area that is squatted on.

The last issue is east bay counties have hundreds of free rooms available under the Roomkey program for homeless - hundreds. None of the squatters want to take advantage of this free program living in a hotel because it would mean having boundaries and rules.

While a couple portable toilets and one washing station have been added, the area remains extremely unsafe. The environment suffers from the excessive litter and dumping in addition to the nightly burning of trash and other questionable materials. How much of this litter and human waste makes it into the bay? How much does the burning of chemically treated wood and garbage impact air quality? Motorists often come within inches of members of the illegal encampment or vehicles that have illegally parked on the off ramp to interact with the encampment. Has CalTrans deemed this an acceptable risk? Pedestrians can no longer access the sidewalk on Shellmound as they walk from Emeryville to the Berkeley Aquatic park. Has Emeryville determined that it is okay for certain individuals to take ownership of public property? This encampment continues to expand and the danger to public and environmental follows.

Public and environmental health*

https://sanjosespotlight.com/fire-victims-say-san-jose-caltrans-failed-to-heed-warnings-to-clear-debris/

Thank you for sharing this article UnionWorker. It shows the ongoing problem of cites pointing the finger at CalTrans. Then CalTran's negligence causing issues for the city. It looks like this situation is heading in the same direction. I can see a fire happening from the encampment area. And the fire possibly spreading to local businesses located on Ashby and 67th Street. Fires seem like a nightly occurrence at the encampment. It is only going to get more dangerous as we get into the dryer months ahead. We need a way to get the city of Berkeley and Emeryville to sit down and deal with this. CalTrans has chosen to turn a blind eye, it seems.

As the encampment has grown they now have brought in outdoor gas heaters which restaurants use situated between the tents. Berkeley is supporting the encampment by providing services daily even though this encampment is not within Berkeley - they already fenced off the available land on their side of the road.

Here is an interesting website from San Francisco where residents and business have worked with the City on a similar situation.

https://www.tentfreezone.com

Businesses*

Thank you for reporting. The concern can be directed to CALTRANS http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/msrsubmit/ OR by calling (916) 654-2852.

This issue is not closed, this is a problem the Emeryville businesses and residents expect the city of Emeryville to resolve (work with CalTrans). Please stop passing the buck to an agency that ignores us. If this continues you will be losing your tax stream (or your jobs) as residents and businesses relocate. I'm still stunned this isnt even an agenda item on any of the city meetings.

Likewise Shaun. Incredible how easily this is ignored when it is occurring within City limits at this point as the footprint continues to expand. CalTrans has no business relocating people or providing housing services. It is easy just to say “direct this issue to CalTrans” but the sad reality is that the City of Emeryville and other local governments know that CalTrans is powerless since they have been relentlessly attacked and sued for cleaning up these areas. Local agencies will need to work with CalTrans to solve this but it appears Emeryville, Berkeley, and other cities have no interest in doing so. The only people that benefit from this going unsolved are the local governments who can continue to pass new tax bills in the name of solving homelessness.

I agree that nothing is closed about this problem at all. I have lost count of how many times I have called and gone online to submit a complaint to CalTrans. They were at first sending out teams to clean up the area. This all happened about two years ago when the encampment first moved to its current location. Since then, CalTrans has been non-existent.

A city meeting with Caltrans, Emeryville, and Berkeley would be the best place to start. We could allocate some tax money from each entity. This money could be used to erect a fence around this area. The same fence setup that the city of Berkeley put up across the street towards the Aquatic Park. The encampment used to be located there. The city of Berkeley pushed them out and set up a fence, and they never returned. It just forced the encampment across the street to its current location.

The city of Berkeley had a solution, and it worked. The only problem is that it forced the issue onto a worse managed organization, CalTrans. Nothing will ever get done as long as both the City of Emeryville and Berkeley claim they have no involvement. How can we get this conversation started between the two cites and CalTrans? This will be our best chance of making progress towards any solution.

Encampment continues to encompass more City sidewalk and bike lane. Please do not defer action any further.

The current Emeryville council is up for re-election, unfortunately they're unopposed. The other reason they may be taking zero action is because they all live on the opposite side of Emeryville and hence never have to deal with the fall out from this end of Emeryville. Eventually the local shopping areas are going to experience issues just like Home Depot did.

I was able to find the general contact us forum on the City of Emeryville's website. Perhaps we start here and start submitting complaints to the city directly?

Complaining here on See Click Fix might not be enough to cause the city to do much.It might need a more direct approach.

http://emeryville.org/forms.aspx?FID=42

Some Emeryville council members can be reached on Twitter:

John Bauters: https://twitter.com/JohnBauters
Ally Median: https://twitter.com/EvilleAlly

Thank you for reporting this issue. We will review the situation and take action as warranted. If you have any questions please contact Emeryville Public Works at (510) 596-4330.

Not to mention, their are cars that turn into the off ramp going against traffic to turn into the homeless encampment. This is a huge safety hazard, so now the city is okay with cars driving the opposite way into the intersection and have cars on the shoulder?! It’s ironic because there are 1000$ littering fees when it’s covered in trash. There are countless homeless walking around, there is a dolly in the bike lane and now they have made signs for the camp. Putting porta potties and washing stations isn’t a solution!!! It causes more safety issues for people coming off the ramp more safety issues for family members and people who walk around emeryville and go near the public market. Not only that but there are numerous break ins for the apartment complex with stolen packages, cars, and people digging in trash!

I’m tired of this situation being brushed off or “closed.”
Numerous members of the community are upset and want this matter fixed, pretty soon this camp will grow to the point that this portion of emeryville will be deemed unsafe and unloveable. Affecting the housing in the apartments, the businesses, and even customers who go to the Public Market.

Thank you for reporting. The issue has been addressed.