Logs line Poplar Street between 18th Street and West Grand Avenue except at a fire hydrant where a gap has been left
Posted on 12/02/2019 7:40:40 PM PST by RightGeek
OAKLAND — They mysteriously appeared about a year ago — dozens of logs the length of cars, plopped in front of industrial businesses in a two-block stretch along West Oakland’s Poplar Street, between West Grand Avenue and 18th Street.
If the purpose behind the logs was to drive away the homeless who parked their RVs and other vehicles there, the strategy worked for the most part.
City officials say the logs have prevented crews from cleaning up the two blocks, yet they’ve done little to get them removed: Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney said she reached out to local business owners to find out who put the logs there, but no one would tell.
The city’s Public Works Department considers the logs an “intentional obstruction of the public right of way,” which is illegal, spokesman Sean Maher said. But Public Works has not reached out to the local business owners who may be responsible.
That’s because the city enforces certain code violations only in response to complaints, and it hasn’t received any official complaints about the logs, Maher said. Though homeless advocates have criticized the logs, nearby business owners — some who have complained about overnight campers in the past — apparently don’t mind them.
East Bay Community Law Center attorney Osha Neumann, who represents and advocates for homeless people, wonders if the city would treat RV dwellers with the same indifference as it does the logs.
“There are all kinds of rules and city ordinances about illegal dumping, but I guess it’s OK to dump and obstruct if you’re doing it to obstruct homeless people from being there,” Neumann said.
(Excerpt) Read more at eastbaytimes.com ...
Logs line Poplar Street between 18th Street and West Grand Avenue except at a fire hydrant where a gap has been left
The real resistance.
Boy that was scary. At first I thought it said legs.
Time to hit the eye doctor.
When the city won’t enforce its own rules, the rules the citizens actually agree with ARE made effective BY those same citizens.
Tell me again how do these folks represent us?
Meh...People have been dropping logs in front of San Francisco businesses for years.
!
LMAO!
There is a growing community of van dwellers/RVers who are living FT in their vehicles. CA is systematically outlawing these vehicles on streets overnight.
It seems they would rather have people living in tents and p00ping on the sidewalk than living in self-contained vehicles which can be moved far away when the owner chooses.
I see whut you did there.
I don’t know about Oakland but across the bay in San Fransicko they got rid of one law against dumping.
It is perfectly legal in SF to take a dump on the sidewalk.
Maybe that’s why the logs are in the street. Maybe these businesses got tired of the campers dropping a log on the sidewalk in front of their business.
Where’s a tree hugger when you need them?
when government fails people take matters into their own hands.
Looks like they need to change the street name fro “Poplar Street” to “Eucalyptus Street.”
Boulders in San Francisco sidewalks. Logs on Oakland streets. At some point, you’d think the City Fathers would wake up.
I once lived for 6 months out of my car. It wasn’t bad once you get used to it. As you say, self contained, heat, air, electricity, internet from my phone.
I had a few different parking places to sleep to mix it up and move around. Picked safe, well lighted places where I didn’t bother anyone. And I never left a mess or peed or pooped outside. For showers I had a cheap gym membership.
I saved up w lot of money during that time and I gotta say part of me missed the simplicity and freefom of it.
We know of construction workers who live in North Idaho who commute to the Bay Area for work and live in RVs while here. We also know of Paramedics who live in Utah and commute to the Bay Area for night shift work and live in an RV up on Skyline Drive during the day.
It seems like this is a growing phenomena and is the only way to get people here who aren’t paid exorbitant tech salaries.
I once lived for 6 months out of my car. It wasn’t bad once you get used to it. As you say, self contained, heat, air, electricity, internet from my phone.
I had a few different parking places to sleep to mix it up and move around. Picked safe, well lighted places where I didn’t bother anyone. And I never left a mess or peed or pooped outside. For showers I had a cheap gym membership.
I saved up w lot of money during that time and I gotta say part of me missed the simplicity and freefom of it.
Poorly. Very poorly.
“when government fails people take matters into their own hands.”
How vigilantism gets started.
Most of the responsible citizenry have since moved away or died off. Even Harvey Milk would be considered too right-wing now for San Francisco. One of the few things he did in office during his brief tenure on the Board of Supervisors was to implement a law to make sure people cleaned up after their pets. I think he would be horrified and disgusted human turds were all over the city today and nobody was punishing the perps.
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