City Government

Raimondi Park Homeless Asked to Temporarily Vacate

Published

7 years ago

April 30, 2019

Edgar David-Ayala plays with his dog Cope at Raimondi Park in West Oakland. He and other homeless people camped there are being asked to vacate the park temporarily on May 1, and have not been provided a space to store their belongings. Photo by Zack Haber

Oakland’s Public Works Department (PWD) placed a notice on a privately owned portable toilet near Raimondi Park on April 26, instructing homeless residents camped there to temporarily vacate the park on May 1.

The notice states that “public works crews will temporarily close the encampment…to clean the site thoroughly,” and indicates that the clean-up could happen on May 2 instead.

The notice was placed away from the main encampment, on a portable toilet that Raimondi Park residents don’t have access to. As of April 29, most living inside the encampment did not know that the city planned to have them temporarily vacate two days later.

Photo by Zack Haber

“Wow, I didn’t know they said they were coming on Wednesday,” said Edgar David-Ayala, who lives in the park and has been an Oakland resident for over 30 years. David-Ayala claims to have seen these notices twice before in recent months, but both times the city didn’t force any residents to vacate. “I think they’re just trying to scare us,” he said.

One resident who lives in a vehicle near the park and asked not to be named was sympathetic to the city’s desire to clean up the park. She said her own children can’t play there because of all the trash. She wishes folks staying at the park would have less stuff and clean up more.

“It’s a park for children to play in but they can’t because it’s not safe,” she said.

But encampment residents say that staying clean is difficult without regular trash pickup. While the PWD regularly does trash collection from the nearby homeless encampment on Wood Street, it doesn’t offer those services to Raimondi Park. While the city has provided portable toilets to Wood Street’s encampment, they haven’t for Raimondi Park.

Most people staying in Raimondi Park say they don’t know what to expect on May 1, and aren’t sure how to prepare.

The notice offers no way for Raimondi Park residents to contact city representatives. It lists two numbers that residents could call if they have questions or concerns: Operation Dignity and 2-1-1. While both organizations offer homeless services, neither puts them in touch with public works to clarify what’s needed of them.

“I don’t know if they want us to move completely or to just to clean up a little bit and leave for the day,” said Guiseppe Turri, who has camped in the park for about six months.

Dayton Andrews, a housed Oakland resident who organizes politically with homeless residents through the United Front Against Displacement, says the Raimondi Park residents are being asked to leave without any place to go.

“People are being asked to fulfill orders that put them in a more vulnerable position,” he said. The notice asks residents to remove their personal belongings, but they worry about losing property as they don’t have anywhere to store it, and abandoning it could mean that it gets stolen.

Jonas Armenta, who started living in Raimondi Park after his RV caught fire, plans to carry all his belongings with him and roam around the city until he can return if he is asked to vacate.

“I’ve got nowhere else I can go,” he said.

Zack Haber

Posts by Zack Haber

Related Topics:homeless encampment homeless services.homelessness housing crisis Oakland Oakland. housing Raimondi Park

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 15 – 21, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 15 – 21, 2026

Published

4 days ago

July 18, 2026

Oakland Post

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Activism

From Disparity Study to Solutions: Oakland Coalition and Mayor Barbara Lee Renew Commitment to Reform City Contracting

She committed to ensuring the coalition has direct access to City leadership by designating Assistant Deputy City Administrator Chuck Baker the primary liaison. Working alongside Deputy City Administrator Sofia Navarro, DWES Director Emylene Aspilla, Race and Equity Director Darlene Flynn, and other City departments, the coalition will continue advancing these priorities while maintaining regular communication with City leadership.

Published

1 week ago

July 15, 2026

Oakland Post

Present at the recent meeting on implementing recommendations on Oakland’s Disparity Study on city work contracts were (first row, l. to r.): Chuck Baker, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and Darlene Flynn. Second row, l. to r.) Samuel Adams, Erica Astrella, Chadwick Spell, Cathy Adams, Stanley Cooper, Maria Wagner, Len Turner, Derek Barnes, Paul Cobb. Photo courtesy of Oakland Mayor’s Office.

Special to The Post

On June 30, a coalition of minority business leaders, contractors and others met with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee to discuss the City’s commitment to implement recommendations outlined in Oakland’s Disparity Study and eliminate barriers that have historically prevented Black and minority-owned businesses from fully participating in public contracting opportunities.

Representatives of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC), National Association of Minority Contractors Northern California (NAMC NorCal), Construction Resource Center (CRC), and the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA) said the meeting represented an important milestone in a process that has been underway for several months.

On April 21, the Oakland City Council’s Life Enrichment Committee received a progress report from the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (DWES), where Director Emylene Aspilla presented the coalition’s working document and outlined a collaborative implementation plan between the coalition and the City. That report established 30-, 60-, and 90-day objectives focused on five key priorities:

Reforming Local and Small Local Business Enterprise (L/SLBE) waiver practices
Strengthening prompt payment compliance
Improving procurement forecasting and transparency
Expanding contractor capacity building and business development
Increasing oversight, accountability, and public reporting

A series of working sessions was scheduled between coalition representatives, DWES, and the City Administrator’s Office to begin implementing those priorities but were temporarily delayed by the resignation of former City Administrator Jestin Johnson.

Rather than allowing that momentum to stall, OAACC President and CEO Cathy Adams requested a meeting with Lee to gain clarity on the City’s direction and reaffirm its commitment to implementing the recommendations contained within the Disparity Study.

Coalition leaders described the meeting as productive, candid, collaborative, and encouraging.

During the meeting, Lee spoke not only from her role as mayor but also from her experience as an 8(a) contractor and business owner, sharing that she understands firsthand what it takes to build and grow a successful company, employ a substantial workforce, compete for public work, and navigate the complexities of municipal contracting.

Mayor Lee also expressed her commitment to personally participate in future working meetings with the coalition.

“This meeting represents a renewed commitment to partnership,” said Adams. “Mayor Lee listened, engaged, and demonstrated that she wants to move beyond conversation and into implementation.”

CRC’s Len Turner said the roadmap is already in place. ““The City already has the evidence. What’s been missing is execution. …Now it’s time to deliver results.”

Mario Wagner, president of NAMC NorCal agreed that the next phase must focus on implementation, funding, and accountability.

“The coalition is ready to get to work. …The next step is ensuring these initiatives receive meaningful funding in the upcoming fiscal budget cycle. Just as important, the City must establish transparent reporting mechanisms that keep the public informed through regular progress reports, measurable benchmarks, and accountability.”

Coalition leaders also acknowledged that while City leadership has indicated it is reviewing Local and Small Local Business Enterprise waiver practices, the community continues to seek a formal response regarding existing long-term waivers, including waivers extending 10 and 25 years. The coalition believes those waivers should be comprehensively reviewed and, where appropriate, rolled back as part of the City’s broader contracting reforms.

The coalition is also calling on the City to include meaningful funding in the upcoming fiscal budget cycle to support implementation of the Disparity Study recommendations and establish better methods and mechanisms to keep the public informed through regular progress reports, measurable benchmarks, and transparent accountability.

The coalition’s immediate next step is to schedule a working meeting with Baker, Aspilla, Lee, and the appropriate City staff to review what has already been accomplished under the implementation framework.