Oakland

Lake Merritt Residents Seek Solutions to Noise, Sideshows

Published

6 years ago

September 3, 2020

Many of the antics around Lake Merritt are creating a dangerous and precarious situation for the neighborhood’s residents, including those that reside at 1200 Lakeshore.

Late-night partying and vehicular antics are not new to this area but have alarmingly increased with the onset of the pandemic.

To be sure, everyone is sick and tired of being on lockdown and not having the ability to socialize and enjoy their friends and neighbors. People want to get out. But residents say that is not the problem. On the streets around the Lake, people are participating in semi- sideshows, and performing dangerous doughnuts in the cul-de-sac and the streets right outside the buildings where people live. Residents report that people are playing loud music throughout the night that is sometimes so loud it shakes the glass of apartment windows 18 floors above the street.

These activities place senior citizens in danger of being hit by speeding cars and deprive residents and children of sleep at night. Now, residents who are on lockdown like everyone else, complain that they suffer from sleepless nights and dangerous conditions when they walk across the street to the park.

Last week, over 60 residents from 1200 Lakeshore and the neighborhood met with City Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas and city staff to voice their concerns and demand remedies to the pervasive problems that plague their neighborhood. They wanted to know what the Council Member and city staff was going to do about sideshows, noise and garbage thrown into the street.

Over a two-hour Zoom session, Council Member Bas fielded comments from frustrated residents. She and city staff promised some solutions and further work on other issues.

“You have our attention,” said Joe DeVries, from the city administrator’s office. On the issue of traffic violations and doughnuts in the cul-de-sac in front of the building, he and the Department of Transportation committed to install speed bumps. “We are going to speed that process up and cut through bureaucratic hurdles.”

Residents were pleased until they received a follow-up email that said “speeding up the process” meant the speed bumps would be installed in the Summer of 2021. Residents are asking what they are to do until then. Every day of delay is a day that residents feel their lives are threatened by dangerous drivers. Bas responded that the Department of Transportation would do what it can to finish the work sooner, but she added, there is a 19-case backlog of other speed bump projects.

“These issues are more than an inconvenience, but are also health and life safety concerns, especially to elderly residents,” said Greg McConnell, a spokesman for the property.

McConnell said he hopes to continue working with Bas to craft a slate of interim measures to mitigate dangerous driving until more permanent solutions can be put in place and to resolve other issues.

Council Member Bas also promised to work with Public Works department officials to increase the number of garbage cans and increase garbage pick-ups in the area.

Other ideas in the works include the creation of a volunteer ambassador program manned by neighborhood residents to foster stewardship, clean up, and maintain great relations between neighbors and visitors to the lake.

But the most vexing problem that remains unresolved is the late-night blaring music that disturbs the sleep and peace and quiet of residents of the apartment buildings that line the street across from the lake.

“Lake Merritt is an Oakland treasure, and everyone has the right to enjoy it” said McConnell. “But waking people up at 2, 3 and 4 in the morning to loud music is not right. We look forward to coming up with solutions that work for everyone.”

Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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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 day 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.