Council Reaffirms Plan to Remove Albany Bulb Homeless Next Month

Published Sept. 4, 2013, 2:17 a.m.; updated 11:44 a.m.

After listening for an hour and 23 minutes as more than three dozen impassioned speakers painted widely differing views of the Albany Bulb homeless encampment and what should be done about it, the City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to reaffirm its May 6 decision to evict the homeless from the waterfront property in October.


The council meeting was preceded by a march from the Bulb by about four dozen homeless people and their supporters seeking to prevent the removal. Most of the marchers were among the overflow crowd that filled the 60-seat audience section of the council chambers and watched the proceedings on a monitor in the hallway. (See the related Patch article "VIDEO: Homeless March from Albany Bulb.")

The dissenting vote was cast by Councilwoman Marge Atkinson, who said she agreed with Andrew Hoffman, senior pastor of Solano Community Church that more time should be allowed to help those living in makeshift camps and shelters find alternative housing. The church has been working with the Berkeley Food & Housing Project this summer to help the Bulb population.

Several speakers asked for more time to secure financial support and housing, saying that it would be inhumane and cruel to force the Bulb dwellers onto to the street in an area that lacks available shelter space and affordable housing.

Several others, including representatives of such organizations as Citizens for East Shore Parks, said a quarter century has passed since the plan was formed to make the Bulb part of a regional park for all the public to enjoy and that city should stick to its deadline.

Some speakers described the homeless community on the Bulb as friendly and welcoming while others said many residents no longer want to go there because of the campers and their dogs.

The longterm plan of the city and the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park is to turn operation of the Bulb over to the East Bay Regional Park District to be part of the park.

After the public hearing ended, the council approved a motion by Vice Mayor Joanne Wile to reaffirm the May decision to request Albany police to begin enforcing the city's no-camping ordinance in October.

Before the votes were cast, Mayor Peggy Thomsen thanked the speakers and other audience members for the "civil discourse and the respect that you paid to every other speaker."

"Many people in the community have expressed to me their concern about going to the Bulb or taking their families to the Bulb or taking their own dogs to the Bulb," she continued.  "So we have to provide an environment that's safe for everybody, and that is a healthy environment. I don't think the environment right now is healthy for even the inhabitants."

Thomsen said the city should focus its efforts on services and outreach to the homeless population. "But I do think we need this endpoint as far as enforcing our ordinance," she added, referring to the city's no camping ordinance.

In a related action, the council agreed on a 5-0 vote to extend the contract of The Berkeley Food and Housing Project to provide outreach and assistance to the homeless on the Bulb. 

In June, the council approved a $30,000 contract through Sept. 18 for the agency to provide outreach to Albany homeless and assistance with finding housing. In its vote Tuesday night, the council approved an additional $30,000 to continue the contract until the end of this year.

The council learned that the effort so far has not provided housing for any Bulb resident yet and also heard conflicting comments over the reasons.

Lara Tannenbaum of the Berkeley Food & Housing Project told the council that the agency's staff estimates that 65-70 people are living at the Bulb.

Bulb resident Amber Whitson told the council that the number of Bulb residents is 62, including 39 men and 23 women.

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