Oakland Police Partner with the Community to Remove Abandoned and Inoperable Vehicles from North Oakland

The We Fight Blight Team indicated earlier that one of its primary goals was to eliminate all abandoned and inoperable vehicles from a designated area in North Oakland. Abandoned and inoperable vehicles contribute to blight, present safety problems for children, and eliminate valuable off-street parking. During these difficult times in the real estate market, abandoned and inoperable vehicles as a component of blight also contribute to the downward spiral in real estate values. Communities punctuated by blight are less desirable as areas to relocate or live thereby directly affecting the demand and property valuations.

The We Fight Blight Team has partnered with the Abandoned Auto Detail of the Oakland Police Department to remove approximately 80 vehicles within just the past three months. The list below gives you an idea how widespread a problem abandoned and inoperable vehicles are within our North Oakland Community. The vast majority of theses vehicles were tagged and towed by the Abandoned Auto Detail. A very small percentage were removed voluntarily by the property owner and even a smaller percentage were made operable.

Jointly, the We Fight Blight Team attends lots of community meetings. We hear lots of negative comments about the City of Oakland and the City of Berkeley. Some local activists even go to great lengths to discourage others from partnering with City staff claiming that they are trying to keep the community in a condition of crime and blight through the City's inaction. Frankly, our experience is just the opposite. We have found that there are City staff that are interested in partnering with the South Berkeley-North Oakland Community to address the issues of crime and blight and want to work with respectful, thoughtful and positive people who appreciate the limitations and the opportunities the Cities present.

We want to personally thank Oakland Police Sergeant Steinberger who oversees the Vehicle Enforcement Unit of the Traffic Operations Sections for being responsive, dedicated and helpful to the North Oakland Community in dealing with abandoned and inoperable vehicles. Without his effort and that of his staff we could never clean up North Oakland of abandoned and inoperable vehicles. We are close to our goal of eliminating abandoned and inoperable vehicles in North Oakland and with the continued assistance of Sergeant Steinberger we are confident that we can reach that goal soon and begin to focus on blighted houses.

Successful reduction of crime and blight in South Berkeley-North Oakland requires partnerships and collaboration among various community groups, City staff and the Police Department. We are amazed at how effective we can be working as a small group. We can only imagine the success if all residents of South Berkeley-North Oakland could coalesce together under common values to fight blight and crime.

Abandoned/Inoperable Vehicles Resolved

533 Alcatraz. Tan Honda Accord. 2VWT643. Gone

541 Alcatraz. White Audi. 4SKG854. Side driveway. Gone

618 Alcatraz, Red Ford Sedan, 2LSJ014. Side driveway. Gone

570 63rd Street. Gray Chevy Van. 570 IJUT271. Front Yard. Gone

541 Alcatraz, White Audi 4SK6854 Gone

6518 Wheeler Silver Toyota Camry 2PPF885, Black Nissan PU 4K54304. Both Gone

600 61st (across from 609) behind the Asmarina Cafe, Silver Mercedes 2ELT706. Gone

Tremont Street, Brown BMW Gone.

65th Street, Camaro. Gone

Flints BBQ SUV Gone

735 Alcatraz. White Westphalia VW Van. No plate in side driveway. Gone

565 63rd Street, white Ford Futura, 1FKY160. Gone

636 63rd. Blue Honda Civic 1PEY331. Gone

659 63rd. White Toyota tercel EZ, 2NCE150, June 07. Gone

570 63rd, Grey Chevy Van IJVT271 Gone

Fairview/Berkeley two vehicles. Gone

727 Alcatraz. Abandoned, white Volkswagen Vanogan. No plate. Also White pickup behind Vanogan. Plate not visible. Side yard. All three Gone!!

658 63rds Street. Toyota Corolla, silver 047ZGL. Gone. Van behind it. Side yard/driveway. Both Gone

567 63rd, Brown BMW, Partial 683. Gone

636 Racine, 2 vehicles in Driveway. Blue Honda, White Van behind garbage cans. Both Gone

65th Street at Shattuck, Blue Chevrolet East Bay Smog Center, No rear plate. Gone

588 62nd Street. Blue Ford, IRZY023 on blocks and a second vehicle behind it. Gone

731 60th Street Blue toyota PU in side yard. Gone

5948 Racine. White Cadillac damaged front. Removed voluntarily

761-763 61st Street, White American Van, Side Yard under Bouganvillia. No plate visible. Gone

Between 581-577 must be 579 63rd Street (white house/blue trim), White VW passat. No plate. Also White sedan and red/orange sedan. All three gone

758 61st Street. Orange Saab Convertible with damaged front end at end of driveway. Removed voluntarily

664 62 Street, White Jaguar PRCSLRB. Gone

627 Alcatraz, White Camry 5NE6789, In front of it a Brown Sedan. Both Gone

668 Alcatraz. White Jeep. Side driveway. No plate. Gone

809 Aileen. White VW Truck, 3SEK837, Onstreet, Yellow VW Van, 5UFJ290. Gone

833 57^th Street. Red VW No Plate. Gone

724 56^th Street. Blue Volkswagon. No Plate. Gone

771 56^th Street. Sedan on blocks with cover in front driveway. Gone

621 58^th. Black Honda Accord. Gone

623 58^th, White Ford, 2UZB587. Gone

767 59^th Street, Brown Buick Sedan, 042YPB. Gone

5941 MacCall Red PU, behind blue blazer. Operable

651 Poirer Street, 300 Turbo, Brown Mercedes IFCP125. Gone

5926 Whitney. White Toyota PU, SD33785. Gone

5814 Dover Street (behind gate). Tan Sedan, no plate. Possibly Toyota. Gone

5832 Dover Street. Silver Honda, IMVY394. Gone

819 Arlington Avenue. Blue Volvo. No plates. Gone

818 Arlington Avenue. Blue Toyota. 5FXV749. Gone

822 60^th. Grey Sedan, White Sedan in driveway. No plates. Gone

5930 Genoa. White VW Van in Driveway. No plates. Gone

5599 Genoa. Green Nissan, 3FCU030. Gone

843 56^th (next door). Tan Acura Legend, 5XZC407, White Ford Sedan with Black Top. Gone

5520 Shattuck Avenue, Brown Sedan, American. In front of Garage. Gone

5414 Genoa. Green Datsun, 297AMH. Gone

707 53^rd Street. Brown PU with couch in it at end of driveway. No plates visible. Gone

732 53^rd Street. Silver Lexus. No plates visible. Gone

754 53^rd Street. Onstreet. Blue Saturn. No Plates. Gone

830 53^rd Street. Red Jaguar, 2XXW851. Gone

836 53^rd Street. Red BMW 5DUG566, Tan Toyota 5CAP716. Both Gone

551 54^th Street. Blue Toyota Celica GT., IFA5195. Gone

626 54^th Street. Silver Honda Civic, 607YGG. Gone

639 54^th Street. Red Toyota Sedan, 3BBC931. Gone

859 55^th Street. Dark blue foreign sedan. 3SKB762. Gone

544 57^th Street, Red Volvo sedan. No plates. Gone

583 57^th Street. Brown/Yellow Ford Bronco, 4XLJ423. Operable

597 59^th Street. Blue Toyota Van, 2TDF019. Gone

5942 MacCall Blue Volvo IRHL 989. Gone

607 55^th Street. Blue Volvo, 3XWU882. Gone

750 55^th Street. Blue American Sedan, 4YIK681. Gone

5715 MaCcall (onstreet). Saturn Station Wagon, 3RS6385. Gone

751 Aileen. Red Toyota PU with Camper Shell. Gone

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.

Asbhy BART Station to Undergo Possible Modernization

Bart Plaza Along Adeline Avenue


BART recently announced that it is holding a public meeting to address potential modernization of the Ashby BART Station. This is an exciting opportunity for the Community to step forward and identify positive ways to improve the Ashby BART Station. The meeting is to address: (1) security; (2) customer convenience; (3) cleanliness; (4) and other priorities.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday August 19th from 6-8 pm at the Philips Temple CME Church on 3332 Adeline Street, Berkeley. For more information you can contact June Garrett, BART Community Relations, 510-464-6257.


Dead Landscaping at West Parking Lot

Hopefully, this process to modernize the Ashby BART Station will not become derailed as was the Ashby BART Task Force that was investigating options for developing the west parking lot, including mixed uses. In addition to the current modernization effort, the east parking lot is being shut down starting August 18th for 18 months to allow for the development of the Ed Roberts Campus.



Planters Serving as Garbage Bins

Clearly, the Ashby BART Station, which was put into operation on January 29, 1973, has suffered from its location in an urban area in South Berkeley. Urban abuse along with significant deferred maintenance leaves us with a station that contributes to the problem of blight in South Berkeley and North Oakland. As with many stations, BART has struggled to keep up with maintenance as its highest priorities are focused on seismic safety and upgrades of the track infrastructure, particularly tunnels and the elevated structures, rather than on the aesthetics and comfort of the stations. The Ashby BART station is a pseudo-classic suburban station model with a sea of parking surrounding the station. The development of the Ed Roberts Campus will push the station towards a more appropriate transit oriented site with higher densities and intensive uses. Arguably, the more intensive uses of the station may counter some of the negative activities that often occur at the Ashby BART Station, such as vandalism, public drunkenness, homeless encampments and crime.

In a recent crime summit between the Oakland, Berkeley and BART Police and local community leaders, Captain Toribio of the Oakland Police Department referred to the Ashby BART Station as a target rich environment. BART Patrons leaving work or going to local music venues such as the Starry Plough and La Pena have been targeted by armed robbers in the past several years. The Crime Summit was intended to facilitate better coordination among the three police departments and local community groups to improve public safety in and around the Ashby BART Station.


Overgrown Weeds Along Tremont Street

As of yesterday, there were several BART Employees fixing the long defunct irrigation and assessing the overall conditions of the station in anticipation of the upcoming meeting.

Some of the improvements that we think should be considered as part of a modernization effort include:

• Bulb-outs at cross walks approaching the station to facilitate safer pedestrian access. The BART Station is surrounded by major arterials and crossing them is daunting for children and the elderly.
• Additional bicycle racks to facilitate non-vehicle access to the station. Casual observation indicates that the bicycle racks are heavily used on a day to day basis.
  
• Drought tolerant landscaping and replacement of the dead and dying landscaping. Much of the landscaping has died due to poor maintenance practices and damaged sprinkler systems.
• Installation of additional street trees along the sidewalks along Woolsey and Tremont. Some additional trees may be provided by the Ed Roberts Campus.
  
• Removal of chain link fences and replacement with wrought iron fences, particularly along Ashby Avenue. The chain link fences are damaged from people constantly climbing over them and aesthetically they contribute to an appearance of blight.
  
• Landscaping of the planters at the westernmost plaza along Adeline Avenue with Japanese Maples or other trees tolerant of being in planters. All of the planters have not been planted for years and simply serve as garbage repositories.
• Relocation of formal pathways to the location of informal pathways. Some of the landscaping has been destroyed because patrons take the shortest route to the street and do not use the existing sidewalks/pathways.
  
• Installation of JC Decaux Kiosks, similar to those in downtown Santa Cruz, at the westernmost plaza along Adeline. The Kiosks could be leased to small vendors, coffee shops, cafes etc. to bring additional life and eyes to the Plaza and Adeline Street. They simply need a water and power source, both of which are readily available at the station.
  
• More coordinated and aesthetically pleasing sign program that provides a sense of place to the station. Currently, the signs are outdated, ad hoc or filled with graffiti.
• Tighter parking controls along Tremont and Woolsey including limiting the parking to a 2 hour limit and eliminating overnight parking. This would minimize the overnight parking of large trucks, campers and those storing inoperable vehicles.
  
• A better maintenance program that includes trash, weed and graffiti removal to the curb. For some reason, BART does not provide maintenance outside of its fence line. Most cities, including Berkeley, require that property owners maintain the sidewalk to the curb face.
• Continued support and participation in the ongoing Crime Summit with Oakland and Berkeley Police.

Of course, there will be many other ideas from the community and there will be limitations on what BART is able to do based on the available funding. Combined with the Ed Roberts Campus, we see this as a great opportunity for South Berkeley and North Oakland. Hopefully, this opportunity will not be squandered like the Asbhy BART Task Force effort.

Oakland Abandoned Auto Detail Rocks

The Oakland Abandoned Auto Detail has been doing an outstanding job at tagging and towing inoperable and abandoned vehicles on public and private property. Inoperable and abandoned vehicles are one of the most significant contributors to blight in North Oakland and South Berkeley. In a 2-3 block area centering around Alcatraz Avenue approximately 15 inoperable and abandoned vehicles were recently identified and reported to the Abandoned Auto Detail. Within days, the Oakland Police had tagged the vehicles. Many were voluntarily removed by the property owners while others were towed by the Oakland Police.

For more information on the Oakland Abandoned Auto Detail please see the following:

www.oaklandpolice.com/geninfo/abauto.html

To report abandoned vehicles parked on the street for over 72 hours, call the Abandoned Auto Detail at 510-777-8622 or 510-777-5838 for vehicles on private property. Fax information to 510-777-8880. Or email the location, description, and license number of the vehicle, if known, to abandonedauto@oaklandnet.com