City Council takes steps to tame weekend chaos around Lake Merritt

OAKLAND >> In response to residents’ growing concerns about traffic jams, raucous crowds and dumped trash around Lake Merritt, the City Council promised Tuesday to crack down on the disturbances and authorized police to beef up their presence there over the next few weeks.

While neighbors living along Lakeshore Avenue have complained for several years about noise and late night crowds around the lake, some residents, council members and staff say the problem has only gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic as people seek some outdoor relief and fun.

Things have turned dangerous over the last three weekends, some said at Tuesday’s council meeting, noting emergency responders had trouble getting down certain streets around the lake where cars were parked three abreast and traffic snarled block after block.

“The situation this past Sunday was out of hand,” said a speaker who identified himself as a Lakeshore Avenue homeowner. “We could not get out of our home … there were cars triple-parked.”

He said he had been waiting for his daughter’s medication to arrive but because of the intense traffic congestion he had to walk her four blocks to meet the delivery driver. “This is a true public safety issue,” he said.

Joe Devries, Oakland’s director of Interdepartmental Operations, said some city departments have tried to tackle the problem. Last summer, for example, the city deployed “park ambassadors” to promote social distancing and other COVID-19 precautions.

The city also closed streets around the lake back then to reduce car traffic and create more space for pedestrians and bicyclists. And it sanctioned a program that aimed to provide some structure for the vendors there selling jewelry, art, clothing and other goods.

But doing all that and more takes money, and until they can figure out where that would come from, some council members said Monday urgent steps must be taken to tame the lake activity right now. That includes beefing up police presence at the lake, which the council authorized. Though it’s unclear how much money that would cost, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas told City Administrator Ed Reiskin the council would “rectify” the budget to accommodate any police overtime hours spent at the lake this weekend and next.

“It is my strong position that because we are in a situation where fire trucks cannot even go through, we need to take that action,” Fortunato Bas said during the meeting.

But she pointed out there needs to be long-term investment to solve the issues at the lake and other parks.

“We need to find locations for a number of events that can help people recreate, enjoy art, enjoy other types of events in a safe manner,” Fortunato Bas said.

She supported recommendations to increase parking and traffic enforcement, add more trash bins, install portable toilets and handwashing statements, bring in more park ambassadors and allow vendors to operate under a permit program run by the Black Solidarity Market.

Other council members said similar attention should be paid to all parks.

“This is an example of what’s going on throughout the city of Oakland,” District 5 Councilmember Noel Gallo said, especially the crime and trash dumping. “Look at parks in East Oakland, where we have the highest concentration of children and families.”

Conflict among vendors, lake visitors and residents has persisted for decades, often touching on issues of gentrification and appropriate police response. The discussion has reached a boiling point at various times, including in 2018 after the so-called “BBQ Becky” incident, in which a White woman called police to report a few Black men using a charcoal grill at the lake, sparking backlash and a subsequent movement.

A community survey of about 2,200 people conducted by the city showed that a majority of the respondents agreed that the neighborhood around the lake had declined in the last two years, with many citing crime and violence, illegal dumping and homeless encampments as some of the big issues. The vast majority of survey respondents were White, Devries acknowledged.

District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife urged the city to do a more thorough survey to ensure that nonwhite Oaklanders, as well as a broad swath of people along age and income lines, are heard.

Some lake area residents urged the council to consider they are a diverse group, too, and that leaving health and safety issues unchecked is itself an equity problem.

One person who identified herself as a person of color and a resident whose apartment overlooks the lake pushed back on what she called a “stereotype” that only White people are concerned about the current problems at the lake.

“Many people of color live near Lake Merritt. The rapidly deteriorating conditions have had a substantial negative impact on us and are driving us out of the community,” she said, noting that she has temporarily relocated to get away from the chaos.

“I love our diverse community. I love seeing people who look like me experiencing joy at places like Lake Merritt. But living here is now an unsafe nightmare.”