The city of Oakland’s encampment ‘sensitivity areas’ map perpetuates a long legacy of injustice by once again placing an inequitable burden on West and East Oakland.
So what's the plan for permanently chasing away the "performative altruism and suicidal empathy" that's become an anchor of the our (global) Fake Left Party mindset (or be cancelled)? How do we create and implement a transparent, locally managed persistent meritocracy that is effective because it doesn't waste money or time, improves constantly and sets the bar for local community participation without being something nasty? Against the epic flow of garbage, noise, ignorance and hate from all around us? And the GOP probably won't help...
I imagine that if they pass that unfortunate Strong Mayor charter amendment, we might have a small window of opportunity to install either you (Seneca) or Loren as Mayor? I guess we've got some time to plan this in a bit more detail, but, just saying... maybe post-partisan America really does start in Oakland, if that's what we decide.
I have a plan and have been executing it as best as I can for 5 years. Including forming Neighbors Together Oakland. No one was saying “We Deserve Better” or “Oakland Deserves Better” before we made that our slogan. As you may know, Bonta shut us down with lawfare over minor reporting violations that multiple NGOs that he’s connected to, with millions of dollars are guilty of….
Next up is Oakland Taxpayers Association and a lawsuit over Measure NN. But to be real with you Duncan - it’s time for other people to step up and join and be counted. Everyone being scared and letting a few of us take all the hits for speaking out about corruption is not sustainable.
For example, I have seen very few post pushing back on the trolls who smear me nonstop. I understand why, but that’s a low level pushback to call their deflections out…and that doesn’t even happen.
It takes a lot of personal sacrifice to take the amount of attacks I do. I’m not expecting everyone to be as Stoic as I am, but it would be nice to see more people stand up to the bullying and call it out for what it is.
It’s time for oakland voters to grow a spine and stand up against this obvious corruption.
I agree, far from being aWake, so many seem to be in a default groove and somehow unreachable, maybe stuck in that first phase of loss: denial? Or just tribalism gone mad? I dunno. I like to think that you and Sean and Rajni and Sanford and Steve H and a few others are the harbingers of better times to come. And also a sign that there is real community and real action that wants to happen here, but it's just fractured over all the zillions of channels and apps we've inflicted on ourselves. Or maybe it's just early days still.
I believe and have some limited empirical data to suggest that eventually all good work pays off. Maybe not in exact compliance with any of our personal agendas or inner narratives, but you guys are cultivating something good and real here, so thank you and bravo y'all and don't even think about quitting: Watch that SEALS series on Netflix or something for inspiration. You know all that famous stuff was just regular folks doing their thing until it worked. 😉🤙🙏👍
It seems easy access to drugs has enabled a lot of people to endure living in encampments. Not sure recriminalizing is the answer but if you faced jail time periodically for using, selling, or possessing drugs like fentanyl maybe continuing to use them would be less attractive and more would seek treatment to stop.
As long as the Homelessness Industrial Complex is funded by $Ms and $Bs of taxpayer dollars, the problem will only get worse. I hate seeing this portrayed as a race and equity issue. It is not. The perverse incentive of paying growing bureaucratic NGOs to "solve" the problem just means the staff get 6 figure paychecks while enabling the substance abuse practiced by a large majority of the homeless. Humans respond to incentives. The current incentives are malignant. Allowing people to wallow in filth which breeds medieval diseases while encouraging their addictions is corrupt. Not all homeless are in this category, but the ones who aren't would be much better served if the addicts were put in rehab or jail if they refuse treatment.
Thank you for the extensive work. Please carry on placing those irresponsible city officials on the spot. Home owners have had it. Not only the have to deal with increased crime, they also have to bear the burden of paying for all kinds of stuff for the city. The City collects 60% of its income/revenue from Oakland real estate properties and ZERO income from the beneficiaries of all those extraneous services the City is providing UNNECESSARILY. The City needs to eliminate various ineffective city departments and increase the police force.
Kyle — Thank you for your comment. It’s not our job to come up with solutions for the city’s (often self-inflicted) problems. That’s the city’s job. The city government exists to serve Oaklanders, not the other way around. And as this commentary asserts, the city is failing to do its job— again. Thank you again for your comment; the engagement is appreciated.
Great article! I have a mentally challenged adult child who is missing and could be homeless. The mentally ill have a choice to get help or not! Mentally ill persons NEED HELP! They are not in a position to get help on their own. Something has to change.
Being forced into getting help must be established. However receiving help for 3 days doesn’t work!
I wish full long term help for mentally ill was available.
Thank you Andre and Oakland Report. This article gets to the heart of the matter. We need new leadership to solve this problem, and we need to get rid of the non-profits, NGO's that are making money off homelessmess. I propose we need major drug treatment and mental health facilities. Second, we need apprentice trainging in skilled jobs. For example carpentry, electricity, and machine shops. Think about how we can rebuild East and West Oakland to carry out this training. Mindy Pechenuk, for Oakland Mayor 2026
When I first started working for the city, I thought, “This is easy. Just move folks to low sensitivity areas.” Then I had trouble determining low sensitivity from high sensitivity. So, I asked my team to map it. I’m a visual person and needed to see a map. I’m happy to see the DOT map has been a useful tool in this discussion. My conclusion after first seeing the map was that the entire city is high sensitivity. When everything is high sensitivity, nothing is high sensitivity. This is not a statement of city policy or position. It’s just something I’ve observed and struggled with. We have human beings living on our streets in deplorable conditions. I’ve gotten to know John and his wife who I see regularly in Chinatown. John hurt himself at work and lost his job. John’s wife has an alcohol problem. They have been living in a car in Oakland for ten years. John seems genuinely happy that I acknowledge him and spend a few minutes speaking. How do we get these folks some help? I do not have an answer. I keep envisioning campgrounds with medical facilities, addiction treatment, job readiness, library, gym, shelter, and proper sanitation. I believe the challenge Oakland has is we are too urban and don’t have the physical space, but Alameda County has plenty of space for this type of supportive living solution. One of my favorite books about Oakland is American Babylon. I agree with the author that the East Bay’s history post-WWII was focused on containing the problems of poverty in Oakland (that’s code for redlining). The inequity isn’t an Oakland thing. It’s an Alameda County thing. What is the best help/support/treatment we can provide to the humans living on the street? I do not know, but I do know Alameda County has the space for it. The days of dumping issues (literal and figurative) in Oakland need to come to an end.
It's wildly disappointing to see their map of "High Sensitivity" areas that covers 95% of the city & largely constitutes a race/income map trace. If everything's "High Sensitivity", you're really labelling the remaining areas as "who cares".
This also doesn't differentiate the type of living situation, since RV vs Car vs tent can change their willingness & likelihood to accept help/shelter.
My problem with the article is the lack of solutions / solution evaluation? You list one program that was effective, but not the scale/cost/scalability of the program. Your criticism of the programs come right near your loose references to crime & OPD - is your answer simply criminalizing homeless so they're in jail instead of on the street?
Kyle — Thank you for your comment. It’s not our job to come up with solutions for the city’s (often self-inflicted) problems. That’s the city’s job. The city government exists to serve Oaklanders, not the other way around. And as this commentary asserts, the city is failing to do its job— again. Thank you again for your comment; the engagement is appreciated.
Thank you for speaking up Andre. We need a better city council person for starters. Fife is a abject failure in every way possible.
So what's the plan for permanently chasing away the "performative altruism and suicidal empathy" that's become an anchor of the our (global) Fake Left Party mindset (or be cancelled)? How do we create and implement a transparent, locally managed persistent meritocracy that is effective because it doesn't waste money or time, improves constantly and sets the bar for local community participation without being something nasty? Against the epic flow of garbage, noise, ignorance and hate from all around us? And the GOP probably won't help...
I imagine that if they pass that unfortunate Strong Mayor charter amendment, we might have a small window of opportunity to install either you (Seneca) or Loren as Mayor? I guess we've got some time to plan this in a bit more detail, but, just saying... maybe post-partisan America really does start in Oakland, if that's what we decide.
I have a plan and have been executing it as best as I can for 5 years. Including forming Neighbors Together Oakland. No one was saying “We Deserve Better” or “Oakland Deserves Better” before we made that our slogan. As you may know, Bonta shut us down with lawfare over minor reporting violations that multiple NGOs that he’s connected to, with millions of dollars are guilty of….
Next up is Oakland Taxpayers Association and a lawsuit over Measure NN. But to be real with you Duncan - it’s time for other people to step up and join and be counted. Everyone being scared and letting a few of us take all the hits for speaking out about corruption is not sustainable.
For example, I have seen very few post pushing back on the trolls who smear me nonstop. I understand why, but that’s a low level pushback to call their deflections out…and that doesn’t even happen.
It takes a lot of personal sacrifice to take the amount of attacks I do. I’m not expecting everyone to be as Stoic as I am, but it would be nice to see more people stand up to the bullying and call it out for what it is.
It’s time for oakland voters to grow a spine and stand up against this obvious corruption.
I agree, far from being aWake, so many seem to be in a default groove and somehow unreachable, maybe stuck in that first phase of loss: denial? Or just tribalism gone mad? I dunno. I like to think that you and Sean and Rajni and Sanford and Steve H and a few others are the harbingers of better times to come. And also a sign that there is real community and real action that wants to happen here, but it's just fractured over all the zillions of channels and apps we've inflicted on ourselves. Or maybe it's just early days still.
I believe and have some limited empirical data to suggest that eventually all good work pays off. Maybe not in exact compliance with any of our personal agendas or inner narratives, but you guys are cultivating something good and real here, so thank you and bravo y'all and don't even think about quitting: Watch that SEALS series on Netflix or something for inspiration. You know all that famous stuff was just regular folks doing their thing until it worked. 😉🤙🙏👍
It seems easy access to drugs has enabled a lot of people to endure living in encampments. Not sure recriminalizing is the answer but if you faced jail time periodically for using, selling, or possessing drugs like fentanyl maybe continuing to use them would be less attractive and more would seek treatment to stop.
Jail or rehabilitation, should be the choice. Right now it’s jail or the streets…..easy decision for most afflicted.
As long as the Homelessness Industrial Complex is funded by $Ms and $Bs of taxpayer dollars, the problem will only get worse. I hate seeing this portrayed as a race and equity issue. It is not. The perverse incentive of paying growing bureaucratic NGOs to "solve" the problem just means the staff get 6 figure paychecks while enabling the substance abuse practiced by a large majority of the homeless. Humans respond to incentives. The current incentives are malignant. Allowing people to wallow in filth which breeds medieval diseases while encouraging their addictions is corrupt. Not all homeless are in this category, but the ones who aren't would be much better served if the addicts were put in rehab or jail if they refuse treatment.
Thank you for the extensive work. Please carry on placing those irresponsible city officials on the spot. Home owners have had it. Not only the have to deal with increased crime, they also have to bear the burden of paying for all kinds of stuff for the city. The City collects 60% of its income/revenue from Oakland real estate properties and ZERO income from the beneficiaries of all those extraneous services the City is providing UNNECESSARILY. The City needs to eliminate various ineffective city departments and increase the police force.
RV dude outside my door is actively selling drugs and moving stolen merch. OPD won’t even show up. Fife’s assistant when I email just passes the buck.
Kyle — Thank you for your comment. It’s not our job to come up with solutions for the city’s (often self-inflicted) problems. That’s the city’s job. The city government exists to serve Oaklanders, not the other way around. And as this commentary asserts, the city is failing to do its job— again. Thank you again for your comment; the engagement is appreciated.
Great article! I have a mentally challenged adult child who is missing and could be homeless. The mentally ill have a choice to get help or not! Mentally ill persons NEED HELP! They are not in a position to get help on their own. Something has to change.
Being forced into getting help must be established. However receiving help for 3 days doesn’t work!
I wish full long term help for mentally ill was available.
Thank you Andre and Oakland Report. This article gets to the heart of the matter. We need new leadership to solve this problem, and we need to get rid of the non-profits, NGO's that are making money off homelessmess. I propose we need major drug treatment and mental health facilities. Second, we need apprentice trainging in skilled jobs. For example carpentry, electricity, and machine shops. Think about how we can rebuild East and West Oakland to carry out this training. Mindy Pechenuk, for Oakland Mayor 2026
And thanks for writing this article. This is a topic that can devolve into name calling and all sorts of ad hominem attacks.
When I first started working for the city, I thought, “This is easy. Just move folks to low sensitivity areas.” Then I had trouble determining low sensitivity from high sensitivity. So, I asked my team to map it. I’m a visual person and needed to see a map. I’m happy to see the DOT map has been a useful tool in this discussion. My conclusion after first seeing the map was that the entire city is high sensitivity. When everything is high sensitivity, nothing is high sensitivity. This is not a statement of city policy or position. It’s just something I’ve observed and struggled with. We have human beings living on our streets in deplorable conditions. I’ve gotten to know John and his wife who I see regularly in Chinatown. John hurt himself at work and lost his job. John’s wife has an alcohol problem. They have been living in a car in Oakland for ten years. John seems genuinely happy that I acknowledge him and spend a few minutes speaking. How do we get these folks some help? I do not have an answer. I keep envisioning campgrounds with medical facilities, addiction treatment, job readiness, library, gym, shelter, and proper sanitation. I believe the challenge Oakland has is we are too urban and don’t have the physical space, but Alameda County has plenty of space for this type of supportive living solution. One of my favorite books about Oakland is American Babylon. I agree with the author that the East Bay’s history post-WWII was focused on containing the problems of poverty in Oakland (that’s code for redlining). The inequity isn’t an Oakland thing. It’s an Alameda County thing. What is the best help/support/treatment we can provide to the humans living on the street? I do not know, but I do know Alameda County has the space for it. The days of dumping issues (literal and figurative) in Oakland need to come to an end.
Loud and clear Roger, over.
It's wildly disappointing to see their map of "High Sensitivity" areas that covers 95% of the city & largely constitutes a race/income map trace. If everything's "High Sensitivity", you're really labelling the remaining areas as "who cares".
This also doesn't differentiate the type of living situation, since RV vs Car vs tent can change their willingness & likelihood to accept help/shelter.
My problem with the article is the lack of solutions / solution evaluation? You list one program that was effective, but not the scale/cost/scalability of the program. Your criticism of the programs come right near your loose references to crime & OPD - is your answer simply criminalizing homeless so they're in jail instead of on the street?
Your criticism of "housing-first" also discounts clear examples of it working, and encourages scrapping programs in lieu of running them more intentionally / effectively, as modelled elsewhere. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/headway/houston-homeless-people.html
Kyle — Thank you for your comment. It’s not our job to come up with solutions for the city’s (often self-inflicted) problems. That’s the city’s job. The city government exists to serve Oaklanders, not the other way around. And as this commentary asserts, the city is failing to do its job— again. Thank you again for your comment; the engagement is appreciated.