OAKLAND — The waterfront view was enough on its own for Duvoy Melbourne to set up his tent at Peralta Park, where a breezy Wednesday afternoon kept him and other homeless residents there cool under the trees hanging overhead.
Starting next Tuesday, city officials said, efforts to “replant trees and other plants” at the park will lead them to clear the encampment there, along with all the other tents around Lake Merritt’s 3.4-mile perimeter.
City workers have posted notices of the clearings to numerous telephone poles along the lake’s footpaths.
“I suppose I have to figure out another safe space to go live,” Melbourne, who set up his tent three weeks ago at the park, said in an interview. The native of Jamaica moved to Oakland 10 years ago, and once attended Laney College, a short walk from the park where he now lives.
The large encampment-clearing is funded by the city’s Measure DD, a bond initiative approved by voters in 2002 to improve parks, protect wildlife habitat and protect water quality in the city’s numerous watersheds.
Officials estimate the park is home to between 15 and 20 full-time residents, namely on the grassy patch just above the the channel that flows from Lake Merritt to the Oakland Estuary.
Encampments are a staple of the lake, just one flashpoint of the city’s entrenched struggles to sustainably address a homeless population estimated to total nearly 5,500 people.
The upcoming tent clearings, which were first reported by The Oaklandside, follow a revelation earlier this week that city officials plan to shutter two local homeless shelters, likely displacing dozens of residents staying there.
The nonprofit operating the shelters cited missed payments by the city that could lead the closures to take place as early as next week.
City officials, who said Peralta Park will be surrounded by fencing to protect the newly planted trees, plan to offer residents sheltering opportunities at St. Vincent de Paul at San Pablo and Grand avenues, along with “community cabin” programs and other services.
But homeless advocates said St. Vincent de Paul offers only nighttime stays and does not allow residents to bring many of their belongings inside with them. Church leaders did not immediately respond to an interview request.
“Shelters do not offer a realistic, long-term answer,” Melbourne said. “It’s better than nothing in some sense. But there are people getting into all kinds of conflicts down there. I like to live as drama-free as possible.”
Another resident of the Peralta Park encampment site, who asked to be identified only as George, said he can’t beat his drug addiction fast enough to last in 90-day rehabilitation programs, let alone a longer-term shelter.
“Getting to live in those places for a year would be phenomenal,” George said. “I can’t really expect to get my life together in three months before I need to start paying rent.”
Cement blocks and planter pots installed by city officials in prime tent areas have made them unlivable for homeless residents, such as Wood Street, which formerly was home to Northern California’s largest encampment site.
Nearly six decades ago, Peralta Park was home to a community amusement park with circus-like attractions, but on Wednesday there were few strollers around and only a smattering of tents on the footpath above the channel.
“It’s peaceful here,” Melbourne said. “Not a lot of traffic, as it relates to people.”
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at shomik@bayareanewsgroup.com.