Berkeley business-owners are taking city rot and lawlessness into their own hands

Berkeley, Calif., once a bastion of liberal idealism, currently mirrors the lawlessness of the Wild West.

Its streets resemble an open-air drug den, overrun by homeless encampments. Tents block streets and parking, making sidewalks impassable for pedestrians with disabilities.

Human waste, syringes and hazardous materials spill directly on private property and in waterways, polluting them.

Open-air fires in the middle of public thoroughfares offer scenes more reminiscent of the Great Depression than the prosperous, innovative community associated with the Berkeley name.

This June, the US Supreme Court decided Grants Pass v. Johnson, a ruling that empowers local governments to enforce camping bans in public places, even if there are no alternative spaces available for campers. 

Since the decision, many elected officials have been slow to use their newfound authority to clear street encampments.

Years ago, Berkeley City Hall decided that it would handcuff its police force, restricting officers from enforcing laws like those against public nuisances that are designed to protect the health and safety of those living and working in the area.

Streets today are so unsafe that city staff often refuse to deal in-person with the issues created by these policies, one city representative going so far as to suggest this author carry a gun.  

Nearly 500 days ago, the Berkeley City Council gathered to receive feedback from the community. 

Only half of the council bothered to visit the adjacent encampment before hustling inside.

After innumerable emails, calls, public meetings, photos and pleas for help from hundreds of Berkeley stakeholders, the council failed to authorize city workers to clear tents and RVs.

Despite eventually claiming they were waiting for the Supreme Court to decide Grants Pass before acting, some of Berkeley’s leaders immediately rebuked the decision and stressed the need to maintain the status quo.

Ironically, the property that hosted that first community meeting was recently damaged by an out-of-control encampment fire. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, despite filing an amicus curiae brief in Grants Pass in favor of greater enforcement powers and his recent calls for “no more excuses” to remove homeless encampments, didn’t help either.

In response to a request for help, his office responded that funding for cleanups and care for those who desperately need safer and more compassionate living arrangements must come from Alameda County, not the state.

The county, in turn, claimed that it had no funding and pointed to financially strapped Berkeley as the responsible entity.

Those local residents and business owners have repeatedly tried to offer humane and practical solutions.

They waited nearly two years for City Hall to relocate illegally parked RVs to a leased lot which could provide health services.

Fed up with the city’s lack of motivation and success, a group of residents identified a comparable site within weeks, at an annual cost of $200,000.

City Hall declined the offer, saying, “We are now flat broke.”

Meanwhile, it gave the long-time city manager a $600,000 going-away present.

Mayor Jesse Arreguín said that he preferred to keep the proposed site for his distant future dream of medical lab space, despite no concrete plans or interest for this development.

Today, only weeds occupy the site.

In a final act of desperation to save Berkeley, business owners and other stakeholders filed a lawsuit earlier this month.

University of Minnesota law professor Ilan Wurman, who successfully sued Phoenix to clean up its notorious 1,000-person encampment known as “The Zone,” represented the plaintiffs.

Last Tuesday evening, just hours after being notified of the lawsuit, Berkeley’s council voted 8-1 to pass a new ordinance allowing city workers to remove encampments.

Though it remains to be seen whether or how Berkeley will enforce the new law, it marks a major victory for the area’s long-suffering and hard-working businesses and property owners.

While it shouldn’t have taken a lawsuit to get city leaders to finally act, the quick development should give citizens in similar situations, like in nearby Oakland, hope.

Local governments that refuse to remove nuisances from public spaces — for whatever reason — are on notice. 

No more excuses. 

Jeff DeMartini was born in, attended college in and is the third generation of his family to work in Berkeley, Calif. He works in property management and holds an undergrad from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.