The City of Oakland is gearing up to clear out all homeless encampments at Peralta Park and Lake Merritt next week.
Many who live around the lake are cheering the plan, but advocates are pleading with the city to call off the sweeps.
"My question is why are they continuing to conduct sweeps and displace people on a really intense level and at a really frequent scale, but there are not enough shelter beds, and there are not enough places for people to be," said Freeway, an advocate with the Oakland Homeless Union.
Construction crews will begin working on a revegetation project at Peralta Park starting Tuesday. Notices announcing the clearing of encampments under the 12th and 10th Street bridges have been posted.
City officials estimate that 15 to 20 people live at the park. However, Freeway said they believe dozens more are around the impacted area.
A recent county estimate shows that Oakland has more than 5,000 unsheltered residents, and advocates say there are not enough shelters or support for all those in need.
Freeway notes the services provided are often limited and not accessible to most.
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"These quote on quote solutions are not realistic with the majority of people and even if they were there is not enough of them," they said.
The city said it plans to offer services and shelter to anyone displaced in the clear-out. The city also said the clearout and re-vegitation project are necessary to close outstanding enviormental regulatory permits.
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Residents who live near the lake have mixed feelings about the planned sweep.
"I have lived here a long time and many of the people that I have seen throughout the years and I don’t know what is going to happen to them," said Claire Spafford, "I have kids, we recreate around the lake a lot and it will be awesome when it is super awesome. But its not great for the people who get to play at the expense of people who are getting pushed out."
Fabius Jones said they think the sweeps will help the city.
"I think it is a good thing as long as they have a decent place to place these people. But if you just move them to another town, another city, the sidewalk, they are just going to come right back," Jones said.
The city will close the encampment on April7 and Peralta Park is expected to be close until fall.
