Oakland's Neighborhood Law Corps

Problem Liquor Store

We recently got a rather slick brochure from Oakland's Neighborhood Law Corps with City Attorney John Russo and Staff looking rather imposing on the front cover. The brochure was sent out to educate the community about the Neighborhood Law Corps which is intended to take on slumlords, shut down problem liquor stores and help make neighborhoods safer.

The Neighborhood Law Corps is an innovative program that bases lawyers and resources in our toughest communities to solve difficult neighborhood problems. Inspired by the Peace Corps, Oakland City Attorney John Russo created the Law Corps in 2002 to put lawyers out in the streets to work in collaboration with residents, neighborhood groups and merchant organizations to improve the quality of life in our community. This is the first program of its kind in the nation.

The Neighborhood Law Corps asks residents to identify and prioritize problems and concerns. Attorneys canvas neighborhoods, conduct town hall meetings, and attend living room gatherings. The program focuses on educating residents about their rights and how to navigate government bureaucracy.


Berkeley Police Making a Stop in Oakland

The Law Corps was created because too many Oakland neighborhoods face public safety, economic and residential social challenges. The overwhelming majority of residents in these neighborhoods are hardworking decent people trying to make a good life for themselves and their families under difficult circumstances. Often, residents who live in these challenged neighborhoods are unaware of their rights under the law. As a consequence, Oakland's more challenged neighborhoods suffer from dangerous and substandard housing, blight, dumping, toxic pollution, and other illegal conditions that provide a crucible for violent crime.



Blighted Commercial Property

The Neighborhood Law Corps improves the community by abating chronic problems such as crack houses, slum housing, problem alcohol outlets and other health and safety issues. If there is a problem with drug dealing, blight, or dangerous housing conditions in your neighborhood, please call John Russo, Oakland City Attorney, at 510-238-3601.

We Fight Blight--Geographic Scope and Focus

Several people interested in fighting blight have asked me to clarify the geographic scope and focus of the Fight Blight in South Berkeley-North Oakland effort. Understandably, the terms South Berkeley and North Oakland are a bit amorphous. To start, we have limited our geographic focus as follows: (1) Ashby to the north; (2) Telegraph to the east; (3) Sacramento/Market to the west; and (4) 52nd Street to the south. We picked this area for several reasons. The most important being that we live and travel within this area and became increasingly dissatisfied with the blighted conditions that were affecting the quality of life in our community and the apparent lack of community knowledge or interest in fighting blight. Because of our desire to create a safer community, we also wanted to address the connection between crime and blight, something that did not appear to be actively and comprehensively addressed by any of the existing community groups or neighborhood associations.



Within this geographic area of South Berkeley-North Oakland, we want to provide resources and tools for residents to address blight themselves. Essentially, by arming residents with information on the city processes and giving them an understanding of the laws governing blight, residents will be able to solve blight issues on a block by block basis. Importantly though, this requires an interested citizenry. In addition, we have several people who are actively identifying and reporting blight issues within this geographic area.



Our primary focus at the moment is to identify all the abandoned and inoperable vehicles within South Berkeley-North Oakland and have them removed by the owners or the Cities of Berkeley and Oakland. We are also identifying the most blighted single family dwellings and apartments. This mostly includes those residences with peeling paint, deteriorated siding, large amounts of debris/litter in their yards and on their porches, and overgrown weeds. Next, we will work on commercial properties with deteriorated facades. Of particular interest are the large number of liquor stores/markets that serve as a magnet for loitering, littering, public drunkenness and drugs. BAPAC, the Berkeley Alcohol Policy Advisory Coalition, has been working tirelessly to address the oversaturation of alcohol outlets in South and West Berkeley and to provide the City of Berkeley with the tools that will allow it to systematically and quickly address alcohol-related public nuisance problems before they get out of hand. Our efforts are not intended to supplant those of BAPAC, but to be complementary by actively monitoring and reporting code and blight violations. This will help BAPAC and others develop the evidence for shutting down nuisance alcohol outlets.



In our efforts, we are always trying to partner with neighborhood associations and crime prevention councils. Naturally, these organizations are a great way to help educate the community on the existing tools for fighting blight as well as the necessary policy reforms to assure fair, efficient, and effective reduction of blighted properties.

Urban Litter Forum Examines Links to Crime and Economic Development

By Jennifer DeLong

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"Litter and illegally dumped materials attract crime and repel economic development in urban areas" concluded a group of more than 80 attendees at an Urban Litter Forum. They agreed that blighted areas in the nation's cities are more impacted by crime and economic decline.

The Urban Litter Forum, which convened in Hollywood, Florida, January 11-12, was sponsored by the recently established Urban Litter Partnership between The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) and Keep America Beautiful (KAB). Commissioners, solid waste directors, enforcement officials, educators, and KAB staff, representing more than 20 cities, came together to address the impacts of urban blight and share solutions. This forum, the second of two conducted by the partnership, was designed to exchange information about urban blight and develop best practices for urban litter prevention programs.

On the first day of the forum, attendees participated in two roundtable discussions to explore the impacts of litter and illegal dumping in urban areas. Participants identified several impacts they had observed in their cities, including the following economic and crime-related problems:

* Litter repels economic development, investment, and location of businesses

* Litter decreases property values and increases urban decay

* Decreased tourism in certain communities due to litter and urban blight

* Decline in revenue for littered business districts

* Increasing costs for cleanup programs requires additional financial resources taken from revenues received by businesses, local governments, taxpayers, and property owners

* Related crime activities are more likely to occur in blighted areas (drug deals, prostitution, gang violence, loitering, vandalism, etc.)

* Litter & illegal dumping are often committed by those wanted for more serious crimes

* Littered areas indicate lack of concern and loss of local pride in obeying the law

Participants discussed the need for additional research to measure both the impacts of urban blight and the improvements that are made through prevention and cleanup programs. John Schert, Executive Director of the Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management at the University of Florida, discussed their research program to analyze the economic impacts of blight to businesses and municipalities. He emphasized that both social and economic indicators will be assessed carefully for accurate measurement of the impacts to urban areas. Once the real costs of urban blight and benefits of cleanup are measured, additional resources could be allocated to provide effective solutions for it.

During the two-day discussions, attendees identified components to help prevent litter and illegal dumping and establish cleaner, more livable cities. Participants emphasized that clear lines of responsibility must be established for identification, response, and clean up of litter and illegal dumps. Cooperation among city agencies, the private sector, and residents is helpful in developing a coordinated approach for prevention of urban blight.

Participants pointed out that separate approaches should be developed for litter and illegal dumping, claiming that litter is primarily driven by behavior, while illegal dumping is driven by economic costs of disposal. Education and media campaigns help prevent littering, while strong enforcement programs help decrease the occurrence of illegal dumping in urban areas.

Attendees agreed that a combination of factors contribute to successful urban litter prevention programs. These factors include establishing partnerships, setting up coordinated local sanitation services, garnering stronger enforcement of local ordinances against litter and illegal dumping, educating residents about local programs, providing rewards and incentives, and measuring the effectiveness of programs.

Philadelphia Deputy Commissioner Clarena Tolson, Keep Houston Beautiful Executive Director Robin Blut, and West Palm Beach Commissioner Jeff Koons introduced local programs to address urban blight and shared their successes in enhancing livability in their communities.

The Urban Litter Partnership includes supporting partners from the American Plastics Council, Anheuser-Busch Companies, EIA Foundation, Florida Center for Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, Grocery Manufacturers of America, ITW Hi-Cone, McDonalds' Corporation, National Soft Drink Association, Philip Morris U.S.A., Polystyrene Packaging Council, Procter & Gamble, and Tenneco Packaging. The Urban Litter Partnership plans to unveil its Best Practices Guide to mayors at a National Summit scheduled for late October of this year.