Oakland neighborhood deals with rising crime near homeless encampment
OAKLAND -- People living in a neighborhood just north of uptown Oakland say they're fed up with increased crime associated with a nearby homeless encampment.
About 20 people live in RVs, cars and tents under the freeway overpass at 29th Street between Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Telegraph Avenue.
Neighbors say that, around August, they started seeing more stolen and stripped cars left on the street near the encampment.
"I have seen an increase in stolen vehicles. Actually both on this block and on 30th (street). They show up, they've got no plates, they're kind of messed up and, over the next couple of days, you see everything gets stripped off and they're gone," said area resident Liz Oates.
Neighbors said that, while the thieves may not live at the encampment, they may be associated with the people who do live there.
"As a mother of three, my anxiety is very high every time my child leaves this home. Every time she leaves for school and she's coming back, I am scared for her to make sure that she makes it from school into this house," said Nikki, who declined to provide her last name. "There needs to be a change. It really does. For me, it's about safety."
Her husband's SUV remains in the parking lot because they can't afford to fix it. A thief sawed off its catalytic converter.
"And we found someone sleeping in it. The alarm went off early -- early in the morning and my husband came down and found out someone was sleeping in his car," Nikki said.
Fred Strayhorn has lived at the encampment for a year and a half. He says the people who dump cars and cause problems are outsiders who don't live at the encampment.
"We over here trying to cause no trouble and to just live and let live. If things continue, the city has no choice but to shut this camp down because it's becoming a nuisance to the neighborhood," Strayhorn said.
Oakland District 3 councilwoman Carroll Fife represents the area. She said she's working with the city administrator and other departments on an enforcement plan to address the problem.
She released a statement: "Due to the sensitive nature of the operations, we aren't able to share details. But we're working to address the safety needs of the housed and unhoused individuals living in and near dangerous conditions."
As for Nikki, she says change can't come soon enough.
"If there was a way that they could be transferred to somewhere else, I think that would be great," she said.
Many neighbors told KPIX they sympathize with folks who have nowhere to go but they also worry about the criminal elements the encampment attracts.