Arts and Culture

Advocates and Unhoused Residents Protest Outside Mayor Libby Schaaf’s Home

Published

6 years ago

December 26, 2019

Three unhoused residents living near Wood Street in West Oakland and around 15 advocates representing six different organizations left what advocate Dayton Andrews described as a “sarcastic care package” at Mayor Libby Schaaf’s home. They also tapped a list of demands for services on her door if housing could not be provided for Wood Street’s residents. Photo by Edie Klyce

Unhoused residents living on a tract of land just west of Wood Street in West Oakland and their advocates participated in a holiday protest outside of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s home on Dec. 19, 2019.

Three Wood Street residents and about 15 people representing six different activist organizations met at Rocky’s Market grocery store. Then they walked together to Schaaf’s home in the Oakmore neighborhood of Oakland and delivered a letter of demands from Wood Street residents as well as what Dayton Andrews, who’s part of the United Front Against Displacement (UFAD), which helped organize the protest, described as a “sarcastic care package.”

“The package was a symbol of what the City of Oakland has been offering homeless people,” said Andrews. “There was an orange, an apple, a handful of tampons and a cheap toothbrush.”

The package also included a bottle of water, a pair of socks, a pair of underwear and hand sanitizer.

Andrews said that the city is delivering care packages like these through the non-profit Operation Dignity, instead of providing housing, alternative places to be, or adequate services.

In addition to the UFAD, representatives from Tenants and Neighborhood Councils, the Poor People’s Campaign, the Homeless Advocacy Working Group, Abolish ICE SF, and the Coalition to Close the Concentration Camps also participated in the action.

Wood Street residents, like other unhoused residents, say they can’t afford the high cost of Oakland’s rent. Oakland’s point in time count has shown a 59 percent increase of Oakland’s unsheltered population since 2017. If unsheltered and sheltered homeless are combined, those living in shelters and those living on the street, the count rose 47 percent.

The Mercury News has recently reported that while Oakland’s rent costs have increased 108 percent since 2010, median income has only increased 59 percent. Although Schaaf set a goal in 2016 for Oakland to contract with developers to build 17,000 new housing units by 2024, and that 28 percent of those units would be affordable, so far less 8 percent of new units have been affordable and the rest were priced at the market rate.

Even those units defined as affordable by Alameda County are unaffordable for most unhoused residents as the “affordable” low income rental prices are based on a percentage, sometimes as high as 80 percent, of Alameda County’s median income, which is over $80,000 for an individual and over $110,000 for a family of four.

Although Schaaf began a program to collect impact fees from market rate developers who build in Oakland to help fund affordable housing development in 2016, the San Francisco Chronicle reported earlier this month that no affordable housing units have yet been built with the money collected.

In the midst of a dearth of options for low-income residents, unhoused residents and advocates are complaining about harassment from the City of Oakland. City documents show more than 133 city enforced closures of unhoused communities in 2019, up from 35 closures in 2018.

“The residents of the West Oakland Wood Street Community are demanding an end to harassment at the hands of the City of Oakland,” reads the letter Wood Street residents and their advocates delivered and read to Schaaf. The letter also asks for portable toilets, electricity, clean water, improved trash service, and improved shower and laundry service if the city can’t house Wood Street’s residents.

“We’re actually standing up for all of the displaced Oakland residents” said Natasha Noel, a resident of the Wood Street community, speaking outside of Schaaf’s home in a video posted to Twitter. “We’re asking you to please acknowledge [Oakland’s homelessness crisis] because it’s your job to acknowledge it.”

Andrews says that the residents and advocates went to Schaaf’s home because they had tried to meet with her in the past by emailing her and visiting her office but were ignored. He claims she was at home as the protesters saw her crack her window open briefly but she didn’t answer her door when they knocked.

“She knows what residents want and she also knows that residents want to meet but she’s refused,” said Andrews.

The Oakland Post emailed the Office of the Mayor to ask about whether Schaaf’s plans to meet with Wood Street residents and their advocates. We also asked about the city’s impact fees. The mayor’s spokesperson, Justin Berton, didn’t say if the mayor was willing to meet with Wood Street residents and their advocates nor did he answer questions about impact fees.

Instead he released a statement highlighting meetings that he claims the mayor’s staff and service providers have had in the span of a little over a year.

“City of Oakland staff and fellow service providers have met with unsheltered residents at Wood St. for more than a year,” said Berton. “Professional outreach workers and facilitators have held meetings at the site to update all partners, including the property owners, on plans to upgrade conditions at the site. This is a conversation that is ongoing, making progress, and will continue.”

Zack Haber

Posts by Zack Haber

Related Topics:City of Oakland homelessness Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Oakland Protest Zack Haber

Up Next

COTTON BOWL 2019: Memphis and Penn State set for showdown in Dallas

Don't Miss

Financial Consultant Luz Cazares Will Earn $32,000 Per Month to Oversee School District Finances

Zack Haber

Click to comment

Advice

BOOK REVIEW: Let Me Be Real With You

At first look, this book might seem like just any other self-help offering. It’s inspirational for casual reader and business reader, both, just like most books in this genre. Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll spot what makes “Let Me Be Real With You” stand out.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 29, 2025

Oakland Post

Book cover of Let Me Be Real With You and author Arshay Cooper. Courtesy of HarperOne.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Author: Arshay Cooper, Copyright: c.2025, Publisher: HarperOne, SRP: $26.00, Page Count: 40 Pages

The hole you’re in is a deep one.

You can see the clouds above, and they look like a storm; you sense the wind, and it’s cold. It’s dark down there, and lonesome, too. You feel like you were born there — but how do you get out of the deep hole you’re in? You read the new book “Let Me Be Real With You” by Arshay Cooper. You find a hand-up and bring someone with you.

In the months after his first book was published, Cooper received a lot of requests to speak to youth about his life growing up on the West Side of Chicago, his struggles, and his many accomplishments. He was poor, bullied, and belittled, but he knew that if he could escape those things, he would succeed. He focused on doing what was best, and right. He looked for mentors and strove to understand when opportunities presented themselves.

Still, his early life left him with trauma. Here, he shows how it’s overcome-able.

We must always have hope, Cooper says, but hope is “merely the catalyst for action. The hope we receive must transform into the hope we give.”

Learn to tell your own story, as honestly as you know it. Be open to suggestions, and don’t dismiss them without great thought. Know that masculinity doesn’t equal stoicism; we are hard-wired to need other people, and sharing “pain and relatability can dissipate shame and foster empathy in powerful ways.”

Remember that trauma is intergenerational, and it can be passed down from parent to child. Let your mentors see your potential. Get therapy, if you need it; there’s no shame in it, and it will help, if you learn to trust it. Enjoy the outdoors when you can. Learn self-control. Give back to your community. Respect your financial wellness. Embrace your intelligence. Pick your friends and relationships wisely. “Do it afraid.”

And finally, remember that “You were born to soar to great heights and rule the sky.”

You just needed someone to tell you that.

With a willingness to discuss the struggles he tackled in the past, Cooper writes with a solidly honest voice that’s exceptionally believable, and not one bit dramatic. You won’t find unnecessarily embellished stories or tall tales here, either; Cooper instead uses his real experiences to help readers understand that there are few things that are truly insurmountable. He then explains how one’s past can shape one’s future, and how today’s actions can change the future of the world.

“Let Me Be Real With You” is full of motivation, and instruction that’s do-able for adults and teens. If you need that, or if you’ve vowed to do better this coming year, it might help make you whole.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

4 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Mandala: A New Event and Point of Beauty

Led by Oakland resident Mandisa Snodey, a group of artists conceived and painted the mandala on Linden street near McClymonds High School as part of a Black Friday event the day after Thanksgiving to support Black-owned businesses.

Published

1 month ago

December 20, 2025

Oakland Post

Painters put on the finishing touches of the Oakland Mandala on Nov. 28. Photo courtesy Mandisa Snodey.

By Post Staff

The first annual Oakland Mandala, sponsored by Miges Odanes Village Center, Credo Studio, and the Mandala Medicine Movement is on view now until the winter rains wash it away.

“This is a lineage-based community art project, using temporary paint, aimed at community building, neighborhood beautification, and celebration of the arts and all people’s creativity,” Snodey said. “The theme of this year’s mandala was ‘Unified Humanity.’

“We gathered at 7 a.m. on Friday for the Black Friday Block Party and finished painting close to sunset. Our youngest painter was 2 years old and our eldest close to 70 years young: we had families, community members, professional artists, and people who have never painted before all working together.”

Snodey urges residents to come visit and take a picture with the mandala. It’s located between 28th and 30th on Linden Street in West Oakland. If you post on social media, please use the hashtags “#oaklandmandala” and “#mandalamedicinemovement.”

Snodey extends special thanks to the Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP), Few and Far Women, “and other Bay Area Artists who participated and made this first annual mandala a beautiful success.”