Politics & Government

More Albany Bulb Dwellers Join Suit Against Eviction

An amended federal suit seeking to block the planned Albany Bulb eviction was filed Monday, with a large increase in the number of Bulb dwellers who are plaintiffs.

The federal lawsuit filed Nov. 13 seeking to block the planned eviction of Albany Bulb encampments was amended Monday, with an additional 19 Bulb residents joining the original 10 Bulb dwellers who first filed the suit.

The amended suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco also adds a new cause of action, saying the City of Albany's housing assistance plan, including its 30-bed temporary homeless shelter for the Bulb residents, unfairly discriminates against people with disabilities and thus violates the Fair Housing Act and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act.

The chief arguments of the suit remain the same, with the action saying the city's efforts, particularly its temporary homeless shelter, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as Constitutional rights, including that of due process, protection against unreasonable search and seizure and the right to privacy.

With the number of individual plaintiffs expanding from 10 to 29 in the amended complaint, the emphasis on the alleged deficiencies of the homeless shelter looms larger. The filing provides a description of each defendant, including physical or mental disabilities or needs that allegedly cannot be accommodated by the shelter's close-quarters bunk beds.

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City Clerk Nicole Almaguer, who serves as the city's public information officer, told Patch, "The basic thrust of the lawsuit is similar to the original complaint.  The City believes it has acted appropriately in connection with the Albany Waterfront Park Transition Plan and will continue to defend this litigation."

The nonprofit Albany Housing Advocates also is a plaintiff in the suit. Named defendants are the city, the Albany Police Department and Police Chief Mike McQuiston.

The amended complaint, like the original, asks the court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a less urgent injunction to stop the eviction. A TRO usually seeks an immediate halt.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer rejected the original suit's request for a TRO following a hearing on Nov. 18.  

Breyer spent much of the hearing on the ADA issue. He appeared to be sympathetic to the city's argument that the plaintiffs had failed to file legally required requests for particular, individual accommodations.

The amended complaint says 32 Bulb residents have now "filled out requests for accommodations based on their disabilities in which they state that they are unable to access the transitional shelter."

City Clerk Nicole Almaguer confirmed to Patch that the city has received 32 requests for accommodation.

"An administrative process will be conducted to review and respond to the requests," she said.

The amended complaint also dropped one of the original causes of action – the assertion that the city's plan violates the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Judge Breyer said during the Nov. 18 hearing that he didn't think there was a valid Eighth Amendment claim.

The legal battle centers on the city's plan to remove the long-established illegal encampments of several dozen people living in makeshift shelters and tents on the Bulb, a small peninsula created by landfill and construction debris dumped many years ago into San Francisco Bay.

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 in October so that the city could fulfill its longstanding goal of making the Bulb part of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.


Bulb background

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For more information on the city's plan for the Albany Bulb and protests by opponents of the eviction, see our list of recent Patch articles and reader posts about the issue:

Published Dec. 17, 2013, 7:19 p.m., updated 8:52 p.m.

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