I strongly oppose the use of Lake Merritt as the site of any vending program.

VENDING AT THE LAKE IS ILLIEGAL
See the city’s municipal code. The stated purpose of the food vending program is “to bring convenience, economic vitality, and pedestrian activity” to an area. Lake Merritt needs none of those things, so it is not a location that qualifies for the food vending program:
 
5.51.010 - Title and purpose.
[…] The purpose of this Chapter is to regulate the vending of food and food products from food vending facilities on public and private property throughout the city in such a manner as to bring convenience, economic vitality, and pedestrian activity to these areas.

And it is illegal to sell anything “within any public park”:
 
12.64.080 - Selling wares, gaming, obscenity.
It is unlawful for any person to sell or offer for sale any goods, wares, merchandise, foods, confections, refreshments or other article within any public park, public building or public grounds in the city [...].
 
A VENDING PROGRAM WOULD BE A SUBVERSION OF MEASURE DD
The voter-approved Measure DD is a $198 million program for which property owners are continuing to pay through a parcel tax. We voted to “improve water quality; provide educational and recreational facilities for children; clean up Lake Merritt; restore Oakland's creeks, waterfront and Estuary; preserve and acquire open space; renovate parks; provide safe public spaces” (precise ballot language).

a Parking Enforcement should be daily , including citations & towing. Meters long term. I saw a child dart into Bellevue nearly hit; driver speeding, did not see over double parked car. b What is the Black Solidarity Market? Do they grant permits? Aren't all vendors technically unauthorized? Are food vendors permitted by Alameda Cty? What areas are sanctioned? Farmer's Market space is an excellent for vendors Fri & Sun; ample pking. Sat night music? Downtown streets can be roped off, now sadly abandoned. Hire artists for murals. Bring business & people to downtown; Frank Ogawa Plaza Sundays? Large, open, welcoming, easier to clean up! Save the natural environment c Prohibit Amplified music except for special events. It is a public health hazard; harms eardrums, threatens mental health. Asking to move/ turn it down HAS NOT WORKED! d. Cardboard containers create more trash; need more non-movable trash bins including separate ones for trash and recycling. Anyone permitted for vending/special events must be required to provide receptacles & clean up. e. Portopots: needed. Careful placement/daily maintenance. h. Before permitting vendors, are ANY vendors at a wildlife refuge desirable? To save wildlife & water quality Oakland spent $$$, put in native plants and fountains to aerate the water etc. but is now supporting a movement to destroy the lake? Do not abandon the goal of preserving what is left of our natural refuge. Devise creative ways to do BOTH!!!

The noise, garbage, human waste and blocked streets on Lakeshore, Bellevue & Grand are horrible especially on weekends. These conditions are already driving out many local residents of all colors and if allowed to continue will destroy the neighborhood. As the neighborhood continues to deteriorate it will affect residents and local businesses. If not contained restaurants and stores that are an integral part of this Oakland neighborhood on Grand and Lakeshore will move as well. I am asking that EVERYONE be taken into account for the sake of Oakland itself. The city must take action to address these problems. I support Joe Devries proposal but only if the city actually follows through on its commitment to enforce the revised rules.

As a black homeowner on Lakeshore. I support some of the measures listed (road closures, parking enforcement, crackdown on illegal alcohol/cannabis sales) but I am concerned with overall the approach.

The governing idea driving the City's process has been a focus on equity, to support vending for POCs who have been disenfranchised and displaced. However the city and council members have failed in that approach. As the city has allowed the illegal vending to continue unrestricted it has caused conditions on Lakeshore to deteriorate to the point where it is now it is actively marginalizing, disenfranchising and displacing POCs who live in the community, most of whom are working class including myself.

Many of my neighbors in my building (which ownership is by 50% POCs) and friends int the community have either moved, stay at family or friends on weekends or are actively looking to sell. How can the current hands off look the other way approach be equitable when it is harming members of the very group they claim to support? It is also impacting our religious institutions such as Our Lady of Lourdes (which serves many members of the POC, LGBTQ and refugee communities) as they struggle to conduct service for parishioners due the amplified sound from vendors, cars and now the stage with amplified speakers setup at Embarcadero by the OBVA & CRC. I urge the council members to be more thoughtful on the impact of their policies on people who live in the community.

I've lived 10+ years on Lakeshore Ave but the living conditions on the weekends in the past ~2+ years have been miserable. Weekends used to be quiet relaxing. The vendors and participants, mostly coming from other neighborhoods, that gather across the street in the Lake Merritt park have caused traffic congestion, illegal parking in the center median turn lane, illegal parking in the bike lane, excessive noise/amplified music, excessive trash and sanitation issues nearly every single weekend. Where is the equitable treatment of the residents that live in the neighborhood? No one would accept this kind of living conditions nearly every single weekend! If this continues, expect property values and tax revenues to plummet.

The main issue that seems to have escaped the council members is that Lakeshore is not set up to be a flea market venue. Regardless of the proposed regulations, this is a RESIDENTIAL area and can't accommodate a commercial business plan. Diverting traffic has made it a nightmare for us, residents in the streets close to the lake. I've had to clean broken bottles, discarded food, trash, and human feces from the front of my residence. I've lived here for 14 years and never imagined that the lake atmosphere would deteriorate to such an extreme. We were on a walk in the neighborhood and a car full of youngsters ran through the stop sign at high speed, narrowly missing me and my young boys, laughing and pointing at us as they drove by. There's absolutely zero repercussions for such behavior - because law enforcement is nowhere to be found.
Move everything to the old Kaiser center. There's ample parking and it's not as residential. Also, PLEASE enforce parking/traffic violations.

Adams Point is a densely populated area. Residents in addition to those on Bellevue and Grand are impacted by traffic, parking and public safety and health issues that are occurring at the lake due to vast overuse (as cited in Mr. DeVries' report). I have yet to hear what our Councilperson, Carol Fife, has to say on these issues. Moving vendors off Lakeshore to the other side of the lake is not a solution, though I do think the restriction to El Embarcadero (but NOT Grand Ave.) may be workable if run the same way as the Saturday farmers market, weekends only, daytime hours. The City has invested enormous resources over the past few years with the result of a beautiful park for all residents to enjoy playgrounds, picnicing, exercising, gathering, and reflecting. There is not sufficient parking available at the lake to support the numbers of people attracted to the vendors. Isn't there another location in the City with ample parking and away from residences? Middle Harbor Shoreline Park which has ample parking - with vendors regulated and definitely not unlicensed liquor sales? Weekends only so as not to impact the truck traffic to the port and away from residences to take the amplified music out of neighborhoods? Other locations? Many of us are long time Oakland residents who have seen the ups and downs of the City in general and the lake in particular, and we continue to choose to live in Oakland for all it has to offer.

Lake Merritt is Oakland’s greatest treasure but what is clear today is that the park is seriously under-resourced. A sanctioned vendor program at the lake cannot be supported or be successful until a detailed resource plan – addressing garbage, rodents, water quality, traffic, noise, drug/alcohol use/sales and increasing gun violence – including confirmed sources of funding has been developed and implemented. With proper planning and on-going enhanced services, a well-run vendor program proximate to the lake can in fact add vibrancy and amenities, but the infrastructure of support services must come first. A robust, maintenance and safety ambassador program, in conjunction with city services and OPD support, would go a long way to providing needed services and would offer workforce development opportunities for local residents. This should be an immediate/short term goal rather than a future aspiration. I urge you to prioritize resources and to provide specific, detailed plans with quantifiable outcomes that serve to preserve the lake’s beauty, its accessibility by families and communities across Oakland and the region, and its natural habitat as a wildlife refuge and educational resource.

I am a 10 year resident of East Lake and a Lake Neighbor, and I strongly support the Black Solidarity Market, and with it artist's access to public space for community and cultural exchange without increased enforcement. I do not support increased OPD presence at the Lake or increased need for permits. I do strongly support community led safety alternatives such as the ambassador program and taking leadership from CRC and Good Brotha Network.

Only recently, Oakland spent millions of dollars to improve the environment around Lake Merritt for the entire city. It was hailed as the jewel of Oakland. People from all over Oakland came and enjoyed it. Without enforcement of the ordinances that govern it, you might as well have thrown those millions into the lake with all the other trash.

I appreciate Councilperson Bas for her thoughtful approach to some of the problems we face living near Lake Merritt. But her suggestions raise several important questions for me.

What does “active engagement with amplified music” mean? Will you disallow it? Stop it by 9 or 10? Who will do this? When? You don’t address noise abatement in your interim plan.

What does parking enforcement mean? Tickets? Boots? Towing? Just on Lakeshore? Grand? Bellevue? What if people choose not to pay their tickets? Or their parking meters?

How will you train/hire/pay park ambassadors? When? Will they work into the wee hours of the morning when disruptions often happen?

Will vendors provide refuse containers for their customers? Will they clean up after themselves? Will they pay a reasonable permit fee to cover damage to the park? What is their part of the social contract?

Lake Merritt park is not a place for a flea market. There is the entire waterfront near Jack London Square. There is the farmers’ market space near the parking lot under 580. BART parking lots. Please don’t allow the continued destruction of Lake Merritt.

The Lake Merritt area has descended into an unhealthy and dangerous environment for residents and visitors. The impact of allowing commercial vendors and the subsequent issues was entirely predictable. Would like to hear from the licensed, taxpaying businesses in the area about their opinions on taxpayers subsidizing direct competition, especially free rent compared to the commercial leases they must pay. There are regulations currently in place that will address all the issues if there is the will to enforce them. Since there is no will to enforce regulations, why have more ? This situation will get increasingly worse with spring and summer.

The report is a good start, but gives little attention to the public health impact of what is happening at the Lake: unlicensed food vendors, no accessible latrines, discarded food eaten by rodents and other vectors. And amplified noise in the Park, an unappreciated public health hazard. Noise can cause sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, poor work and school performance, and hearing impairment. WHO guidelines recommend less than 30 Dbs in bedrooms for sleep and less than 35 dB in classrooms. Of late, amplified music in Lakeside Park in the Boathouse Parking blasts for 8 hours or more lasting well past midnight at noise levels up to 125Dbs. The noise has been measured at over 90 Dbs 1/4 of a mile away, enough to cause hearing issues. It is equivalent to the sound of an alarm clock, an alarm clock that you can’t turn off while you are trying to have a conversation, read, watch tv, do homework or sleep. It is more than unpleasant, it is unhealthy.
The park is supposed to be closed at sundown. Loud noise is prohibited anywhere after 9 pm. These are difficult times, but the few dozen people attending the concerts do so at the expense of the health of many hundreds of residents in the surrounding area.
Fixing the noise problem isn't difficult or expensive. Closing the existing Park gates at either end of Bellevue Ave costs and silent disco cost nothing. The Lake is meant to be a place to escape stress not be a source of stress. It supposed to be a park not a night club.

The city needs to act to in the best interest of the park and community - not just for the unauthorized vendors. I support action and enforcement from the City to reset the tone at the Lake. Please ticket illegal parking - double parking and parking in the Lakeshore median. Install barriers in the Lakeshore median - to deter illegal parking in a less punitive and cost effective manner. Ticket unauthorized vendors who make the park unvisitable to community members.

I am a BIPOC resident and mother who lives on Lakeshore near the Cascade. I do not feel it is safe to walk or take my daughter to the lake Fridays-Sundays after noon. There are dangerous conditions that persist and there is little to no intervention from the city to stop any of it.

Funding must be present in each budget to ensure that the conditions around Lake Merritt are safe for all residents and visitors. It is not equitable to privilege a small group of vendors.

I believe the park ambassador program is a wonderful idea that will enable conflict resolution and support communication between neighbors and other visitors. We do not need more law enforcement that only contributes to disenfranchisement of those most oppressed by a fundamentally classist and racist economic system. Our vendors are pushed to the margins because of this system, so I support a city program that is trying to develop their businesses. I also support a cogent effort to reduce traffic and haphazard parking in the neighborhood, and that is trying to reduce litter. I believe this proposal is trying to achieve these goals.

I raised my son on Haddon Hill and also worked on Grand Avenue across from the Lake. We would visit the playground on Bellevue several times a week and check out the birds at the sanctuary. I also used jog around the Lake during my lunch breaks. I cannot imagine doing any of these things today. The Lake has become an unsafe place, plagued by street vendors selling alcohol without a license, loud drunken parties with amplified music, illegal parking, drug dealing and a general environment of lawlessness. The police, and the Mayor and her staff, need to step up and protect the Lake so that everyone can enjoy it. That’s their job. The suggestion is that sending “Ambassadors” to use “diplomacy” to achieve what the police have been unable or unwilling to do is ridiculous. First clean up the Lake then send your ambassadors.

I strongly support the proposals put forth by the Lake Merritt Working Group, particularly restricting vending activity to El Embarcadero and the proposal for additional resourcing to support the closure of Lakeshore on weekends. I would also like to advocate that the vending be active in the latter half of the week as well as weekends. El Embacadero is an underutilized street and should be a more active community space. I especially like the idea of having park ambassadors and would encourage you to approve this program all week and evenings, especially in place of prolonged police presence. The lake is a space for all and these proposals go a long way in creating a more equitable space for everyone.

As a 10 year resident of Eastlake, I support the non-enforcement priorities to make the Lake inclusive and equitable for all residents and merchants, such as expanding the park ambassador program, closing streets off and brining in more trash receptacles and portable potties. I do not support OPD involvement in traffic enforcement or citation of vendors as this creates an environment of unsafely for BIPOC communities.

I live on the Perkins side of Lake Merritt. I wish I could support the solutions proposed by CM Bas in her 3/20/21 email to Lakeshore neighbors, but I can’t. Not yet.
The proposal focuses only on Lakeshore. 3 homicides have occurred at Perkins and Grand. Bullets entered the building I live in. Illegal vending, parking, sideshows, alcohol/drug sales, amplified music, late night partying, all occur on Grand/Bellevue/Perkins and within the Park. We need late night solutions.
I conditionally support 1 more year of the pilot vending with limited vendors/footprint off parkland; adequate trash removal; toilets, insurance; permits; business licenses; NO food vending. Too many details and costs are left out of the proposal. Long-term find another venue that supports robust entrepreneurship without severe environmental/health impact.
I support traffic restrictions around the whole lake with swift consistent enforcement including citations and TOWING. Move traffic away from the Lake by nearby parking sites on all lake sides.
Amplified music occurs all around the Lake. I support ambassadors as an alternative to OPD but it is not good enough to merely “engage” and ask people to “move.” Issue citations if they do not.
The 3/9/21 report states: “Managing human activity at Lake Merritt is critical in protecting the habitat that the lake supports as the nation’s oldest bird sanctuary.” Where is the EIR to support commercial vending.

All people are welcome in the park. The VAST majority of activities are NOT criminal and people should not be criminalized by a step up in enforcement, fines, control of behavior or police action. I do not want additional restrictions on use of the park. I particularly love the Boat House rollow rink and think it should never again be a parking lot.

The city would be wise to invest in more trash cans, better bathrooms and more of them, water fountainis, more park employees.

The city might want to look into deep underground trash collection cylinders. The city of Raliegh NC has put them in all city parks, for example. They are large trash collection sites that are 8 feet deep with only 3 feet above ground. They take in more and require less emptying.

I support the City providing adequate funding for interventions at Lake Merritt to support safe and equitable use of the lake during the pandemic and beyond. I appreciate Mr. DeVries’ report concerning these issues. As a Black woman and an attorney, I’m well aware of how dangerous it is to lean solely on traditional law enforcement and fine-driven techniques to resolve the myriad issues affecting the lake. I would love to see alternative, creative approaches coupled with more thoughtful law enforcement involvement where it makes sense. I’m particularly interested in park ranger and community ambassador programs, and other ways to scale the types of kind, mutually respectful conversations with lake visitors and business operators I’ve personally had (with occasional, one-off success).

But I have serious concerns about City leadership’s ability to develop true equity given its repeated stumbles, inexplicable paralysis, and lack of transparency in its decision-making around the lake. All the money in the world will not lead to sustainable, equitable solutions if the City sticks to its current approach.

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