City Denies Allegations in Albany Bulb Lawsuit

Court papers filed Friday by the City of Albany say the Albany Bulb camps pose health and safety dangers and that a federal judge should reject a lawsuit filed two days earlier seeking to block the impending eviction of the Bulb dwellers. 

The anti-eviction suit was filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California on Wednesday by 10 Albany Bulb residents and the nonprofit Albany Housing Advocates.

A hearing has been scheduled at 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, on the plaintiffs’ request for an immediate injunction in the form of a temporary restraining order against the eviction. The hearing was set by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, to whom the case has been assigned.

The city is planning to evict the 50-60 or so people living illegally in makeshift shelters and tents on the Bulb, which is mostly owned by the city. In a series of decisions over the past several months, the City Council requested that Albany police begin enforcing the city's no-camping ordinance at the Bulb beginning last month so that the city could fulfill its longstanding goal of making the Bulb part of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.

The city’s court response, filed by City Attorney Craig Labadie and four outside attorneys, disputes the lawsuit’s claim that the city’s eviction plan violates Constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment and unreasonable seizure of property. 

The city’s plan includes a temporary 30-bed homeless shelter for six months in two prefab portables containing 15 bunk beds next to the Bulb. It would also provide up to 120 days storage for Bulb dwellers’ personal belongings.

The suit says Albany provides no alternative shelter or affordable housing and that depriving the Albany Bulb residents of their current makeshift shelters and homes wold be “devastating.” It also says the city plan would violate the Constitutionally derived right to the privacy.

The city’s response says the city has established a “well-developed transition plan” that includes multiple forms of assistance to the Bulb residents and that the plan is the product of a long public process with a Homelessness Task Force, public input and open decision-making by the City Council.

The city also said the encampments at the Bulb pose unacceptable health and safety risks. Alameda County environmental health officials notified the city in 2010 that the illegal camps, garbage, campfires and human waste at the Bulb should be corrected, and in March of this year the California Water Quality Control Board informed the city that the encampments “pose a threat to human health and environmental quality.”

An accompanying court declaration filed by Albany Police Chief Mike McQuiston cited a number of violent crimes and intimidating encounters that he said have made the waterfront property increasingly inaccessible to members of the public and city staff.

Crimes reported at the Bulb within the past year include beatings of female victims, a stabbing and a sexual assault, McQuiston said.

In one incident, a female was visiting the Bulb with her dog, and the dog was attacked by two dogs from a homeless camp, McQuiston said. The female was told “get the f*** of of here” and was chased by a female suspect wielding a pointed object shouting, “I have a knife and will stab you and your dog,” according to McQuiston. Responding police discovered that the object was a seven-inch screwdriver, he said.

• More information about the lawsuit can be found in the Patch article, "Federal Suit Filed to Block Eviction from Albany Bulb."

The city's court response says the city will not enforce the no-camping ordinance against Bulb residents if they have nowhere else to go.

“If the temporary shelters become fully occupied, and persons at the Bulb are not able to gain access to other shelters, the City will not issue citations to them,” according to city’s response. “Only those persons living at the Bulb who refuse to accept available shelter are eligible to be cited for violating the City’s anti-camping ordinance.”

The city is offering Bulb residents help with obtaining social services and finding alternative housing beyond the temporary shelter, the city’s filing says. The city plan also includes careful handling and protection of any personal property, for up to 120 days, that the Bulb residents do not keep in their possession, the city’s response says.

Approximately 14 days before initiating a clean-up, the city will make reasonable efforts to inform Bulb residents through face-to-face communications and flyers, the city filing says. And at least seven days before a clean-up, the city will seek to post written notices.

In response to the lawsuit’s assertion that the temporary homeless shelter would fail to provide adequate accommodation for Bulb dwellers who suffer from physical and mental disabilities, the city says plaintiffs have not requested or specified the accommodations they believe they would need and therefore the court cannot rule that the city’s plan fails to provide reasonable accommodations.

Background on the Albany Bulb issues

Considerable controversy has been stirred by the city's plans to remove the longstanding encampments on the Albany Bulb and turn it over to the Eastshore Park. More information can be found in the many recent news articles and community blog and board posts about the Bulb. Click here for a list of titles and links.

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