End Oakland Skid Row Now. Demand rights for the homeless!

  • by: Keneda G
  • recipient: Officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com
currently, my community is being populated with what started as 1 small tent city. I'd try to be of service by giving food and care packages. Over the past couple years, I've watched the community triple in size and it worries me that as time progresses, very little is being done By the local government in order to get the situation under control. Some people in the community as well as local churches and organizations have been working together to make sure people have assess to food, clothes and water. As the tent community continues to grow, I have noticed a considerable hike in theft and dangerous altercations in the surrounding neighborhoods. Tents are beginning to appear along back streets and in some residential areas- bringing with them, trash, waste and needles. In some areas, the smell of urine is so strong and unbearable, making it difficult for parents and children to walk to the local elementary school... or to the post office, or church... It hurts my heart to see so many displaced people's... even families are out there struggling to survive. I'm at a fork in the road though, because it hurts my heart to see the neighborhood that I grew up in and once felt so safe in- decenegrate. There is an enormous part of me that resents the tent communities and another part That feels disappointed and disheartened that it's so easy to turn a blind eye to such inhumane conditions. Many of the people living out there right now are likely considered mentally ill and are products of failing government systems which left them relying on money that can't even sustain their basic needs for shelter and without proper medical treatment. At first, I felt a sense of obligation to help- rspecially if I am able but now I am finding myself feeling unsafe in my own back yard, uncomfortable with all the shiftiness and noise, worried about things coming up missing. When it really comes down to it, I choose to feel safe. The tent communities have to move away. I do have a logical solution.. I propose that the city provide a space (could be a vacant lot in the area... the community could vote on an appropriate space) to allow volunteers to organize a team of people to build tiny homes with communal bathrooms. Materials can be obtained by applying for grants and/or accepting donations. I can't sit around and do nothing, watching my neighborhood suffer and watching people be treated inhumanely. I am beginning to feel despirate In need of help. Please save east Oakland from becoming The new skid row. Specifically, international boulevard from 82nd avenue to 92nd avenue. If things go well, it could expand and soon we will have a more viable handle on the situation. Give the people back their sense of humanity and let's observe together the change that it'll create and the difference it will make to everyone's quality of life. When we speak up together, our voice is louder.
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