For MLK Holiday, Activists Tear Down Fence and Take Over Oakland's St. Andrew's Plaza in the Name of

[TexasTowelie]

For MLK Holiday, Activists Tear Down Fence and Take Over Oakland's St. Andrew's Plaza in the Name of 'Black Joy'

When the City of Oakland fenced off St. Andrew's Plaza last year, some cheered the closure. A group of neighbors had complained for years that the sliver of land was a magnet for illegal drug use and crime. They imagined its renovation, using a $456,000 grant, would transform the area into a welcoming space for all.

But for other Oaklanders, there was one simple reason the city put a metal barricade around the park: officials wanted to remove poor and homeless people, most of them Black, as a way of gentrifying the neighborhood.

For over a decade now, West Oakland has been losing its Black population as home prices and rents increase due to San Francisco's spillover effect. Homeless camps in the area continue to grow. But developer interest in West Oakland has been sporadic.

In 2015 the city released the West Oakland Specific Plan which calls for building market-rate mid and high-rise apartments and condos along corridors like San Pablo. In fact, the WOSP calls for building mid-rise townhouses that "wrap around the corner at 32nd Street, fronting onto the small adjacent St. Andrews pocket park."

Read more: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/SevenDays/archives/2017/01/16/for-mlk-holiday-activists-tear-down-fence-and-take-over-oaklands-st-andrews-plaza-in-the-name-of-black-joy

[demosincebirth]

1. That sliver of land needed to be fenced.