Community

Homeless Need Trash Removal and Toilet Services

Published

5 years ago

July 4, 2019

The city of Oakland requires Richard Milton, who’s lived in an encampment behind Home Depot since the mid-1990s, to vacate with all his belongings for bi-monthly cleanups. But Milton finds vacating burdensome and says workers don’t clean much.

Residents in homeless encampments in Oakland complain that inefficient trash services and lack of access to toilets makes it impossible for them to live in a sanitary manner.

“I’ve never seen rats this big in my life,” said Nichole, who’s lived in a tent on Kirkham Street near West Oakland BART for five months. “They look like rat-squirrel hybrids.”

She said city officials refuse to provide a dumpster to her and the approximately 20 other residents at her encampment, so residents organize trash into piles for pick up. But the piles attract rodents and cause other problems.

Nichole’s experience is not unique. Homeless residents living near Wood Street and Raimondi Park in West Oakland, 23rd Street in downtown, and near the Home Depot in East Oakland all report that although they have asked for dumpsters, city officials instruct them to organize waste into piles.

“The trash goes everywhere once the wind starts blowing,” said Diablo, who’s lived in a tent by 23rd Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way for two years. When he and others who live near him bought a trashcan and put it on the street for trash pick-up, he reports city workers threw it away as it wasn’t city issued.

Toilet services vary from site to site. Larry Coke, who has been homeless for seven years and lives next to Raimondi Park, reports that within the last few weeks the city has finally provided him with portable toilets that are emptied and cleaned regularly.

But the several dozen people living in the nearby Wood Street encampment no longer use their portable toilets because they are overflowing with feces. A form on the door of one toilet shows it hasn’t been serviced in over a month.

Markaya S, who has lived in a tiny home she made near Home Depot in East Oakland for five years, reports that about 100 unhoused people live with her in The Community of Grace. But the city has only provided them with three portable toilets.

Although the city received $8.6 million in Homeless Emergency Aid Program funding last year, about $5 million went to Tuff Shed housing and RV parking sites.

However, many homeless people don’t want to move into those sites, and by the city’s own numbers they can only house a small portion of the homeless population.

Councilmembers Nikki Fortunato Bas, Sheng Thao, Loren Taylor and Council President Rebecca Kaplan have allocated $400,000 in their Oakland Together budget for mobile showers, restrooms, storage, and trash removal for homeless. But the City Council does not directly control how those funds are managed.

City administrator Sabrina Landreth and Assistant City Administrator Joe DeVries manage how city funds are used for homeless services.

They have faced many challenges as homelessness continues to surge in Oakland and the city tries new approaches to deal with the problem. “It’s a work in progress,” said DeVries. “I don’t know of other cities that have supplied portable toilets in the way we have.”

DeVries says that residents have moved toilets to locations that make them impossible to service and that although the city has provided trash receptacles, individuals have moved them and/or used them for other purposes. He has also suggested more mental health funding from the county.

Many homeless people find that the help the city claims to offer is not helpful.

“Every other week we have to pack up all our stuff and leave, but they don’t clean sh*t,” said Richard Milton, who has lived in an encampment behind a Home Depot on the Emeryville/Oakland border since the mid-1990s.

Although the city pays for city workers to clean the site, they require Milton to move all of his belongings during the cleaning, which he finds burdensome.

“There is a difference of opinion in terms of how the city administration says they’re managing homeless encampments and the direct experience of homeless residents and their advocates,” said Councilmember Bas.

Zach Haber

Posts by Zach Haber

City Government

San Pablo Appoints New Economic Development and Housing Manager

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo. Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Published

16 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Kieron Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the City of San Pablo

The Richmond Standard

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo.

Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Before that he was an associate planner in the City of Richmond’s Planning and Building Services Department from 2007-2015.

San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez lauded Slaughter’s extensive experience in economic development, housing and planning, saying he will add a “valuable perspective to the City Manager’s Office.”

Slaughter, a Berkeley resident, will start in his new role on Nov. 12, with a base annual salary of $164,928, according to the City of San Pablo.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

City Government

Aaron Osorio Rises Up Ranks to Become Richmond’s Fire Chief

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10. “I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.” Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Published

17 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio. Courtesy photo

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10.

“I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.”

Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Osorio is a San Francisco native who rose up the ranks in the Richmond Fire Department over the last 21 years before being elevated to chief.

He joined the department in 2002 and has served in multiple roles including firefighters, engineer, captain, battalion chief, training director and deputy fire chief. He said he truly loves working in this community.

While it isn’t common for a fire department to hire a chief that came up through its ranks, Osorio was credited by the city for serving Richmond well during uncommon times.

The city lauded him for developing internal policies and vaccination clinics during the initial COVID response, for supporting activation of the emergency operations center in response to a potential mudslide disaster in Seacliff last year, helping to draft mutual aid agreements and working to increase fire response capabilities for industrial incidents.

He’s also led departmental hiring and recruitment since 2018.

Osorio said it is an honor to be hired as chief and has big plans for the department moving forward. He said he wants to continue hiring and promoting for vacant positions, and also completing a strategic plan guiding the direction of the organization.

He also aims to replace and renovate a number of fire department facilities placed on the Capital Improvement Plan and create new ways to recruit that will enhance the diversity of the department.

Osorio said his experience within, and love for, the city of Richmond puts him in a good position to lead the department. He says he knows what is needed and also the challenges that are unique to the city.

“I look forward to utilizing that institutional knowledge to move the fire department forward in a positive direction and enhance the services we provide to the community,” the chief said.

Osorio holds a bachelor of science degree in Fire Administration and is also a California State Fire Marshal-certified chief officer, company officer, and state instructor.

He also holds numerous certifications in fire, rescue, hazardous material, and incident command.

The chief has been married to his wife, Maria, for 26 years and they have two sons, Roman and Mateo.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

Published

17 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm:

“As Election Day approaches, I’m reflecting on a few dates and numbers that mean something to me.

Zero: the number of Black members in Congress 56 years ago. Next Congress, we hope to swear in over 60 members in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Three: The number of Black women to ever serve in the United States Senate since the first Congress in 1789.

Two: The number of Black women that will be elected to the Senate this year alone if we do our job.

1972: The first time a Black woman, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in one of the major political parties of the United States.

Zero: the number of Black women to ever serve as president of the United States.

IF we do the work, we can change that with President Kamala Harris.

As I reflect on what would be Congresswoman Chisholm’s 100th birthday next month, I could not help but remember that my first official involvement in U.S. politics was working for her presidential campaign in 1972.

Over 50 years later, I have been involved in every single campaign since. Shirley was my mentor — she was a bold visionary, a progressive woman who understood that working together in coalitions was the only way to make life better for everyone, to build an equitable society and democracy that lived up to the creed of “liberty and justice for all.”

The historic moment we are in today is not lost on me. I have had the privilege to have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over three decades. She, after all, is a daughter of the East Bay. She, like Shirley, truly is a fighter for the people.

And I know she can move our country forward in a new way. As a member of her National Advisory Board, I have campaigned across our country to help take her message, her legacy of service, and her “to-do list,” as she says, to voters who were almost starting to feel hopeless, but are now feeling hopeful once again, captured by the politics joy and the bright possibilities brought upon by a possible Harris-Walz administration.

Recently, I visited churches in North Carolina with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The chair of our CBC political action committee, Chairman Gregory Meeks from New York’s fifth district, eloquently and powerfully presented a vision of what Dr. Maya Angelou wrote in her famous poem, “And Still I Rise:” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

Meeks remarked that on Jan. 20, 2025, we will observe the birthday of our drum major for justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He also described that on Jan. 20, IF we do the work — if we knock on doors, if we make those phone calls, if we spread our message — standing on the podium at the U.S. Capitol will be the first Black speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.

In the wings will be over 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible will be the first African American woman appointed to the highest court of the land, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She will be swearing-in the first Black woman to serve as president, Kamala Harris, in front of the shining white dome of the United States Capitol, built by enslaved Black people.

In front of her and beyond, the tens of millions of Black men and women who voted for her. The world will witness the hope and the dreams of our ancestors ushering in a new way forward.

As I sat in front of the stage this week at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Harris delivered remarks with the Oval Office behind her, I could not help but feel that our country was ready for this historic moment.

We are not only voting for a Black woman as Commander in Chief of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. We are definitively stating that we will not allow the clocks of freedom and justice to be turned back.

We are voting for our ancestors’ hopes and dreams. We are voting for the generations that will come after us, long after we are gone. We are voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Let’s get this done.