An innovative program to offer secure storage containers for the possessions of Berkeley’s homeless could cost nearly $350,000 a year in staffing, along with $50,000 in start-up costs. Interim City Manager Dee Williams-Ridley provided the City Council with the estimates in a Feb. 26 memo that has been posted on the city website. Read more coverage of […]
Liberty City
Posted inOpinion
Op-ed: A night in Berkeley’s Liberty City
I wanted to camp at least once at Liberty City when I learned how it had formed, partly because I wanted to see what was really up, and partly because I wanted to meet the participants I had heard so much about, and partly because I had been hidden homeless two years, myself, and the […]
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley homeless encampment at Old City Hall packs up under city orders
Update: Three arrests were made while the encampment was packing up, according to Berkeley city spokesman Matthai Chakko. Chakko said he expected all three to be cited and released today. Three truck-loads of belongings associated with the camp were removed by the city, he said, and services were offered to the campers. Campers were told […]
Posted inCommunity, Crime, Crime & Safety
Police make arrest after homeless camp stabbing
Berkeley police responded to a stabbing at the recently established Old City Hall homeless encampment and arrested a man late Thursday morning. According to a post on the “First they came for the homeless” Facebook page, which has been documenting happenings and efforts at the camp, “Shortly before noon, one of the protesters was stabbed in […]
Posted inCity
Berkeley council enacts street behavior regulations
Tuesday night’s council meeting ended abruptly with a split vote to adopt new laws proponents say will help clean up Berkeley streets and provide storage and improved restroom facilities for the homeless. Opponents of the laws say they will criminalize the homeless and have been protesting their adoption after a preliminary vote in November. About 30 […]
Posted inCity, Crime & Safety, Housing & Development
The lowdown: Berkeley council on affordable housing, PRC protest report, homeless services, protest march
At its Dec. 1 meeting, the Berkeley City Council is set to kick off with a special 5:30 p.m. session on affordable housing, followed by the regular meeting at 7 p.m. The action calendar includes two appeals related to a Durant Avenue housing project, a look at the Police Review Commission’s report about last December’s protests, […]
Posted inCommunity
Berkeley orders new homeless tent city to disband
The city of Berkeley issued a cease and desist order Tuesday to residents of an encampment that popped up at Old City Hall on Nov. 16 in reaction to new homeless laws the city is seeking to enact. The memo, distributed by police to about 50 people living in the approximately 22 tents on the front […]
Posted inCity, Crime & Safety, Opinion
Op-ed: An open letter to Berkeley on homelessness: You are being scammed by the City Council
Do storage lockers magically appear on Tom Bates’ order? Do angels from on high descend with public restrooms on Linda Maio’s wish? Is it common for shower facilities to construct themselves from piping and tile without human intervention? If you answered “yes” to these questions then you’ve entered the mindset of the Berkeley City Council […]
Posted inCrime & Safety, Opinion
Op-ed: Being poor is not a crime
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates was quoted on Channel 7 News as saying, “It’s not an effort to criminalize people, it’s an effort to try to make things more civil.” Yet the new homeless ordinance that passed 6-3 early Wednesday – nearly one week before Thanksgiving Day – does in fact criminalize the homeless and poor […]
Posted inCity
Berkeley imposes new laws on homeless behavior
The Berkeley City Council passed a series of measures early Wednesday morning to address issues raised by the behavior of some members of the homeless population, including a new rule that will limit the amount of space on which people can spread their stuff on the sidewalk. Under the new law — which won’t go […]
Posted inCrime & Safety, Opinion
Op-ed: New homeless proposal accelerates ethnic and social cleansing
It is zero hour for the defense of the right of homeless people in Berkeley to simply be. This Tuesday, Mayor Bates and Council members Maio, Droste, and Capitelli are proposing, for the nth time in 25 years, to add new status offenses to the docket. These new “crimes” will result in fines and jail […]