Bay Area

Unhoused Wood Street Residents Prepare for Vehicle Clearance

Published

5 years ago

October 31, 2019

This trailer, parked at the Wood St encampment, is the home to 22 year old life long Oakland resident John Sing. He was gifted it by his uncle, Karlton Conley, to help keep him safe. The city is clearing trailers and vehicles that serve as people’s homes from the site on Nov . 5 and 6.

Unhoused residents living on a field, just west of Wood Street between 24th and 26th Streets in West Oakland, are anxious as the City of Oakland plans to clear all vehicles from the site on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6. Many of the cars serve as people’s homes.

“The idea of losing my community is really traumatic,” said Lydia, who has lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years. “I know the people here and they know me and I feel like I belong here more than I’ve felt anywhere in a long time.”

Lydia has lived in a trailer in the Wood St. encampment since May, after she said Oakland Police told her it was a place where folks who lived in vehicles would not be bothered.During an interview with the Oakland Post, her trailer overflowed with possessions strewn out of her door and all around it in an unorganized manner.

Although she said she doesn’t need much of her possessions, she’s lost almost all of her things in previous Oakland evictions. The memory of that loss has caused Lydia much anxiety, and in anticipation of the upcoming eviction she has resorted to hoarding belongings. The Mayo Clinic defines “hoarding disorder” as a medical condition.

Previous city run evictions of RVs and vehicles have resulted in some residents losing their vehicles and all their possessions inside them because if vehicles can’t be moved in a timely fashion on eviction days, the city tows them. Unhoused residents then often don’t have the resources to get them out of impound lots.

The City had originally planned to remove the vehicles on Oct. 18 but pushed the date back. Lydia says the uncertainty of when exactly residents will have to leave makes the situation more difficult.“It snarls a lot of people like me into a PTSD hoarding frenzy,” she said.

Other Wood St. unhoused residents have also lost most of their possessions during city run evictions. Ramona Choyce, a lifelong Oakland resident sleeps outside in the Wood St encampment because she said the city towed her Subaru on Sept 25th, because she didn’t have the money for registration. She claims it was her fifth vehicle lost to city towing.

“I’m not safe,” said Choyce. “I don’t feel safe. My safe place is gone.”Choyce said she woke up recently to a man she didn’t know laying down beside her. She worries about being harmed by men in the future.

“If I get in my car and lock myself in I know it’s going to be a struggle for them to get in,” said Choyce, “but now I’m in the open and I’ve vulnerable.”

Many Wood St residents arrived there after the city forced them out of other areas. Jessica Huffman, who used to live in a parking lot bordering the bay at Union Point before the city evicted her and dozens of other residents, moved her bus to Wood St. She said the instability of being forced out of her previous community has caused her to drop out of medical school.

Oakland currently has two city run safe parking sites for those who live in vehicles that have security guards, bathrooms, and running water which can serve up to 45 vehicles. The city’s recent point-in-time homeless count showed 1430 people living in vehicles.

City documents show plans to add an addition West Oakland site that would serve “approximately 48 vehicles” in the fall of 2019.

“The city has been reviewing the idea of converting this privately owned lot to a safe RV parking area that would serve West Oakland RV dwellers, but the owner would need to clean it thoroughly first before it could be developed into such a use,” said Assistant to the City Administrator Joe DeVries.

The owner is Mike Bonifer, who runs GameChangers, LLC and lives in Los Angeles. The Oakland Post has attempted to reach him for comment but was unsuccessful.

Some residents of the Wood St encampment are skeptical that they’ll have access to the program. The Oakland Post counted around 85 vehicles at the site, and while some vehicles are abandoned, others showed evidence that people live in them. Most residents living in vehicles are unclear where they will go if they have to leave and some don’t know if they’ll be able to tow their inoperable vehicles off of the site.

DeVries claims the vast majority of the vehicles are abandoned but Wood St residents disagree and claim that no city census has been done there to find out how many people on site live in vehicles.

“The City is hoping the operation does not cause anyone to lose a vehicle they actually live in,” said DeVries, who also claimed spots would be offered in a West Oakland Safe Parking site near Target. But the site, which can hold 17 vehicles, currently appears half full.

Many Oakland Residents have lived on Wood St site for years, some for up to five.

Zack Haber

Posts by Zack Haber

Related Topics:City of Oakland Homeless Eviction Oakland Homeless Wood Street Encampment Zack Haber

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Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of December 25 – 31, 2024

Published

3 hours ago

December 26, 2024

Oakland Post

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Bay Area

Glydways Breaking Ground on 14-Acre Demonstration Facility at Hilltop Mall

Glydways has been testing its technology at CCTA’s GoMentum Station in Concord for several years. The company plans to install an ambitious 28-mile Autonomous Transit Network in East Contra Costa County. The new Richmond facility will be strategically positioned near that project, according to Glydways.

Published

2 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Image of planned Richmond facility courtesy of Glydways.

The Richmond Standard

Glydways, developer of microtransit systems using autonomous, small-scale vehicles, is breaking ground on a 14-acre Development and Demonstration Facility at the former Hilltop Mall property in Richmond, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) reported on social media.

Glydways, which released a statement announcing the project Monday, is using the site while the mall property undergoes a larger redevelopment.

“In the interim, Glydways will use a portion of the property to showcase its technology and conduct safety and reliability testing,” the company said.

The new Richmond development hub will include “over a mile of dedicated test track, enabling Glydways to refine its solutions in a controlled environment while simulating real-world conditions,” the company said.

Visitors to the facility will be able to experience on-demand travel, explore the control center and visit a showroom featuring virtual reality demonstrations of Glydways projects worldwide.

The hub will also house a 13,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility to service the growing fleet of Glydcars.

“With this new facility [at the former Hilltop Mall property], we’re giving the public a glimpse of the future, where people can experience ultra-quiet, on-demand transit—just like hailing a rideshare, but with the reliability and affordability of public transit,” said Tim Haile, executive director of CCTA.

Janet Galvez, vice president and investment officer at Prologis, owner of the Hilltop Mall property, said her company is “thrilled” to provide space for Glydways and is continuing to work with the city on future redevelopment plans for the broader mall property.

Richmond City Manager Shasa Curl added that Glydways’ presence “will not only help test new transit solutions but also activate the former Mall site while preparation and finalization of the Hilltop Horizon Specific Plan is underway.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Last City Council Meeting of the Year Ends on Sour Note with Big Budget Cuts

In a five to one vote, with Councilmembers Carroll Fife and Janani Ramachandran excused, the council passed a plan aimed at balancing the $130 million deficit the city is facing. Noel Gallo voted against the plan, previously citing concerns over public safety cuts, while Nikki Fortunato-Bas, Treva Reid, Rebecca Kaplan, Kevin Jenkins, and Dan Kalb voted in agreement with the plan.

Published

2 days ago

December 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland City Council voted on a plan to balance the $130 million deficit at their last regular meeting of 2024. The plan reduces police spending by $25 million, temporarily closes two fire stations, and guts the cultural arts programs. iStock photo.

By Magaly Muñoz

In the last lengthy Tuesday meeting of the Oakland City Council for 2024, residents expressed strong opposition to the much needed budget cuts before a change in leadership was finalized with the certification of election results.

Oakland police and fire departments, the ambassador program, and city arts and culture will all see significant cuts over the course of two phases.

Phase 1 will eliminate two police academies, brown out two fire stations, eliminate the ambassador program, and reduce police overtime by nearly $25 million. These, with several other cuts across departments, aim to save the city $60 million. In addition, the council simultaneously approved to transfer restricted funds into its general purpose fund, amounting to over $40 million.

Phase 2 includes additional fire station brownouts and the elimination of 91 jobs, aiming to recover almost $16 million in order to balance the rest of the budget.

Several organizations and residents spoke out at the meeting in hopes of swaying the council to not make cuts to their programs.

East Oakland Senior Center volunteers and members, and homeless advocates, filled the plaza just outside of City Hall with rallies to show their disapproval of the new budget plan. Senior residents told the council to “remember that you’ll get old too” and that disturbing their resources will only bring problems for an already struggling community.

While city staff announced that there would not be complete cuts to senior center facilities, there would be significant reductions to staff and possibly inter-program services down the line.

Exiting council member and interim mayor Bas told the public that she is still hopeful that the one-time $125 million Coliseum sale deal will proceed in the near future so that the city would not have to continue with drastic cuts. The deal was intended to save the city for fiscal year 2024-25, but a hold up at the county level has paused any progress and therefore millions of dollars in funds Oakland desperately needs.

The Coliseum sale has been a contentious one. Residents and city leaders were originally against using the deal as a way to balance the budget, citing doubts about the sellers, the African American Sports and Entertainment Group’s (AASEG), ability to complete the deal. Council members Reid, Ramachandran, and Gallo have called several emergency meetings to understand where the first installments of the sale are, with little to no answers.

Bas added that as the new Alameda County Supervisor for D5, a position she starts in a few weeks, she will do everything in her power to push the Coliseum sale along.

The city is also considering a sales tax measure to put on the special election ballot on April 15, 2025, which will also serve as an election to fill the now vacant D2 and mayor positions. The tax increase would raise approximately $29 million annually for Oakland, allowing the city to gain much-needed revenue for the next two-year budget.

The council will discuss the possible sales tax measure on January 9.