By Brandon Patterson

Oakland City Council will consider a proposal this month to install parking meters along several streets near Lake Merritt, a proposal spurred by years of complaints from Lake residents about crowds, noise and littering near the Lake, according to Oaklandside, but that some Black Oaklanders have called out as intended to keep Black people away.

The City Council will consider the proposal later this month after twice postponing a vote, which was originally slated for April. The proposal would install parking meters on most streets on the direct edge of the lake, setting violators up for enforcement via ticketing and towing. Currently, parking is free for up to 3 hours at a time around the lake. The city’s Department of Transportation recommended the changes, identifying the meters as a way to reduce traffic around the lake and to increase funding for maintenance of the city’s parks. According to the city, the meters would generate about $1.5 million in revenue in the first year and about $1.7 million annually thereafter.

But some Black residents see the proposal as a tactic to keep Black people away from the lake. “You are working hard to make sure Black people do not go to that lake,” Oakland resident Assata Olugbala said at a Public Works Committee hearing in March. Black Oakland residents disproportionately live in West and East Oakland—much further from the lake than many of the city’s white residents—and so are more likely to have to drive to get to the lake and would be disproportionately impacted by the parking changes. Another resident said she worried about the impact the meters would have on Black vendors.

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Lake Merritt has long been a site of contention between nearby residents and lake visitors. The lake is a public park, but nearby residents have often sought to curtail activity at the lake that they have found disruptive. During the pandemic, increasing numbers of people came to the lake to socialize. Street vendors also set up shop in larger numbers along Lakeshore Avenue, and parties and events, along with a perceived increase in crime and littering, caused nearby residents to complain about the impact on their quality of life, according to Oaklandside.

But in May, the Oakland Department of Transportation released a survey of about 2,500 Lake Merritt visitors that showed nearly 80% did not support the proposal. Also in May, the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee recommended amendments to the proposal to address residents’ concerns, including making the proposal a one-year pilot program and collecting data on whether the meters actually reduce congestion and lower crime, and what impact they have on Black and Brown attendance at the lake.

City Councilmember Carroll Fife, who represents the west side of Lake Merritt, told Oaklandside she was uncomfortable with the proposal last month. “I would never be comfortable if 70% of a population is moving in opposition to something that the council is proposing,” she told the news outlet.

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