The Public Land that’s only for some of the Public
The Albany City Council voted to started enforcing an ordinance against camping in October,to remove the long-time houseless residents from the public commons known as The Albany Bulb.
For the last two decades, houseless residents of the East Bay who wanted to avoid the oppressive structure of shelters, found respite at the Bulb which is an abandoned landfill located on the Albany Waterfront adjacent to Golden Gate Fields and the East bay Shore Regional Park. In the past, city officials have directed houseless residents in Albany and other East Bay municipalities to the Blub because it is out of the way.
The residents of the Albany Bulb have formed a strong community that provide stability for each other. There are approximately 70, residents of the Albany Bulb. According to their supporters the vast majority of the Bulb residents are lacking a steady income, if evicted from the Bulb the vast majority won't have a place to stay, and will be sleeping on the street. Many are worried about their health and safety without support of their community.
The City of Albany contracted with a Berkeley non-profit corporation to assist in finding the Bulb residents housing. However, inside the city of limits of Albany there are not any shelters, and very little if any services for homeless people. Albany constantly fails to perform its duty to provide duty housing for the homeless. The reasoning and rationale of the Albany City Council and the City is that the residents at the Bulb have to be evicted in order to transfer the Bulb to the East Regional Park District.
The remoteness of the Bulb allowed the unhoused residents to survive out of the sight of the middles class residents of Albany. In 1999, the City of Albany passed an ordinance banning camping to forcibly rid the Bulb of it's residents. At that time they could have transferred the land to the Park District. The fear and hatred of the unhoused in Albany is shrouded in lies and propaganda. City officials and residents are claiming there is an urgency to evict the bulb residents so they can transfer the land the Park District.
According to lawyer/activist/artist Ohsa Neumann there is no agreement to transfer the Bulb to the Park District. Therefore, there no need to evict the residents by October of this year. The Albany Bulb is a landfill site, there is no activity happening there that is a hazard to the public. There is no order by any agency supporting these claims. The residents of the bulb have acted as good stewards to the land. Not only is their a shortage of low-income housing in Albany, the city has shown disdain for low and no income people by not only failing to provide shelters and services for its low-income and homeless residents, it's fails to fulfill it's mandate to provide low-income housing. The City statement that they are attempting to find housing for the residents of the Bulb because they contracted with a Berkeley Non-profit is a farce.
These are lies that the government uses to oppress homeless people. The people residing at the Blub have being residing there for years, with the tacit the approval the City. Now all of sudden they want them out.. So what is rush? KC and Amber are two Blub residents that have been living at the bulb for 3 years and 7 years respectively, and don't know where they are to live once they evicted ,
Share the Bulb is a group of East Bay citizens formed to support the residents of the Bulb, they are seeking a commons sense solution in helping them find housing instead of forcing people on the street. At the Albany Council of Meeting on July 15, 2013, many of the citizenry stated fear of homeless as the reason for not going to the Bulb. However, there is no incident in which any resident of the Bulb has threatened any of their fellow Albany residents.
Several public interest law firms, plan on representing any Bulb residents if they receive citations under that unlawful camping ordinance on the grounds that it is unconstitutional because sleeping is a necessity, and you can’t punish people for a necessity as it is a violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. For more information go to www.sharethebulb.org.