Covenant House stirs up debate in Jack London District
Long term residents of the Jack London District have certainly seen some changes over the years, and they've certainly seen their fare share of hot topics on the tips of local's tongues. But few could have been hotter than the issue of Covenant House wanting to put a shelter for housing homeless youths in the area. Now even the global news giant Associated Press has picked up our local Oakland Tribune story on the topic.

Jerry Brown, owner of the building that Covenant wants to purchase calls it a "back-fence spat with a disgruntled neighbor who has opposed more than one Jack London Square project." It's not at all clear who he is referring to by "disgruntled neighbor" because his immediate neighbor actually spoke out for the recent Jack London Square redevelopment project, and most of those who opposed it are not taking a strong anti-Covenant position, just insisting on controls on how it can operate the facility - those any neighbor in their right mind would ask for, including Mayor Brown.

Perhaps Brown is referring to the entire district as his "neighbor"? If so then he should consider that many of those neighbors most opposed to the Covenant House plan are actually property owning ones brought to the neighborhood in recent years by his own "10k plan". In a society that increasingly focuses on property ownership it is natural that people become defensive about issues they perceive will threaten their property values. In fact in the last decade or so it has become almost an expected right that property values will increase, or at the very least remain steady.

Long time property owners like Brown can sit back and reap the benefits of property value increases of one hundred, two hundred or even more percent. Alameda County tax records currently assess 200 Harrison St at a shade over $1.5M (much more than he paid for it) and the sale will certainly net him well over $3M. However recent purchasers, particularly first timers in his 10k plan who have stretched finances like never before to get their first home in the Bay Area, find that even small variations in property values can have serious impacts the pocket book, mobility and general feelings of security.

Beyond property values residents who are opposed to or undecided about this project have frequently expressed dismay about the lack of information they have received on it from Covenant. Even the most well connected people in the district got only two weeks notice of an impending City meeting to vote on the project approval. During that time Covenant then held a community meeting with very short notice that drew only a couple of dozen local residents. The meeting, while initially informative, most closely resembled a PR pitch by a product company or a political cause. Covenant may have a good story to tell, they may have great successes to show for it, but that didn't come across at the meeting. As residents got frustrated by Covenant's inability to give a straight and factual answers even basic questions (like how many of their kids are forced to leave because they wont abide by the rules) tempers frayed and questions got more hostile and answers more evasive.

The recently formed Jack London District Association managed to collate a large number of comments it received from locals and passed those on to the City staff member preparing a staff report and the conditional use permit for the planning commission meeting. As a result some significant conditions were imposed on how Covenant might operate its facility and some people were starting to feel better about the project - even though they knew it had essentially been railroaded into their neighborhood.

Then it appears the original hearing of the conditional use permit application by the planning commission got pushed back to June 1st. The official reason was that the City had not met the Sunshine Ordinance requirements for providing paperwork about the meeting to the public with sufficient notice. Regulars of City meetings have seen this Sunshine Ordinance flouted in Oakland with reckless abandon and complained bitterly before with little effect, why the sudden attention to detail? Could it be that Covenant House need more time to prepare and that those in City Hall supporting them (among others Mayor Brown, Nancy Nadel and City Manager Deborah Edgerley) wanted to help? Could it also be that they expected there would be a legal appeal to any decision and wanted to make sure the eyes were dotted and tees crossed?

Those talking about the good work Covenant for homeless youths seem to prefer the term "kids" - we all have an inherent empathy for the plight of kids. Certainly at other facilities Covenant does work with under 18-year olds, but at the one planned for 200 Harrison it is 18 and over "kids" - young adults in anyone else's book. At 18 they can fight and die for their country, be in a jury of their peers, or in fact do pretty much anything legally except buy alcohol. Aside from those legal things they can also get in a whole mess of trouble. Covenant can't say what kind of trouble their charges are in - sometimes they are homeless through no fault of their own, sometimes, well it appears they just don't know. Covenant went on the record that they don't check criminal records during admission, that's information they appear to expect their charges to volunteer.

In at least one case in Houston a murder suspect showed up along at a Covenant House facility, the murder weapon stashed in a drain pipe nearby. In another a teenage fugitive who had been on the run for 10 weeks was staying at the same Covenant House when he gave himself up. These are the kinds of nightmare stories that keep some neighbors up at night, what if such a person came to my local Covenant House facility and my kid/wife/daughter was the one closest by when things went bad?

Statistically such events may be insignificant, just think about how much crime there is from regular citizens who aren't in a shelter of any sort, but it certainly doesn't help when Covenant wont even provide information about such incidents to future neighbors - even when they expressly request it. People want to hear about the worst and the best and make their own judgement. If all they ever here is the good PR they are naturally going to be suspicious and untrusting of this project. Its natural that Covenant doesn't want to scare anyone needlessly, but in this day and age its extremely hard to bury information about such unfortunate prior incidents. Their best bet is to inform and educate people as to what has changed to ensure such things wont happen again.

In the mean time this writer for one is still sitting on the fence. That's a metaphoric fence and not the literal one that many in my building want Covenant to build around the roof deck of 200 Harrison St. When you post a security guard with a metal detector at the entrance to your premises who checks for weapons isn't it natural you'd want to protect other perimeters? Clearly Covenant believes weapons in their facilities is a problem they have to deal with and have preventive measures for. But what if a friend tossed one onto the roof of an adjacent building? What if a "kid" did what every kid has done at one time or another and climbed out of a window - then across a deck and onto a roof??? There you have it, one weapon in the facility and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to get it there.

Or what if a facility was located in an area where loud late night street partying was prone to break out on a weekend night. Wouldn't you want to discourage anyone from easily leaving the facility and crossing across neighboring roofs to have a little extra fun? Sure most of their charges know that's strictly against the rules and could get them kicked out of a good program, but what about those who are not doing well anyway and might eventually be asked to leave anyway? A fence around the deck would be a simple and relatively inexpensive fix that would engender a lot of good will with neighbors. Yet we've heard that Covenant has hired a property use attorney to fight the condition in the City's conditional user permit that requires it. Why not just talk to residents and inspect the problem from their perspective first? Maybe you could come up with a compromise acceptable to all before bringing in the lawyers?

However, no matter what happens at Wednesday's planning commission meeting one thing is certain, there will be quite a debate among those present. We can expect numerous people to speak on behalf of Covenant providing more and more annecdotal support, and we can expect significant input and lets face it, outcry, from some of the local community. Then its anyone's guess what will happen.

Many expect, as do I, that the approval in some form or the other is a foregone conclusion - there are just too many of the aforementioned well connected supporters at City Hall to allow anyone to let Jack London District residents block the deal, evne if it turns out that they represent the majority opinion. What remains to be seen is whether those who oppose it will come out with their integrity intact, or labeled yet again as discredited loud mouthed NIMBYs who should be ignored no matter what.

If nothing else it will have been a good opportunity for many people to get involved for the first time in their local community and government decision making processes. Even if their opinion is not acted on its good for people to know who it is that is not listening to them and to understand the process by which the City of Oakland makes such decisions and how to get their voice heard better the next time. Come election time such information is sure to be useful...
Posted 5/30/2005

Jack London District Association formally announces itself
The Jack London District Association was formally announced today with a press release. The Oakland Tribune picked up the story in its online version with a story by Paul Rosynsky. JLDA's press release is available for download as a PDF.

Although similar in name, JLDA is not to be confused with the previous organization JLNA that became defunct several years ago when its founder Wilda White left the area (unfortunately only just after JLDA achieved non-profit status). Since Wilda basically was JLNA it was impossible to keep it going or revive it, leaving the neighborhood without any formal voice for a significant period.

Throughout several major events a few concerned community members struggled to continue defend the interests of the district - often digging deep in their own pockets to fund the efforts. With no coherent voice and no money for legal representation it was easy for the City to write-off those from the district that turned up at meetings as a vocal, but otherwise irrelevant, minority. As is common in politics, those with the most time and money to devote to promoting their cause won the day.

Inspite of some dispirating defeats at City Hall those same people managed to achieve many positive and community building results in the district, such as several very successful Trash Bash neighborhood cleanups and a National Neighborhood Day street party. They also managed to convince the City to hold public meetings with full press coverage to warn the district about the current serial rapist, and have been working quietly behind the scenes to ensure the four development projects currently under way are obiding by the conditions of approval. While the result of the attempt to improve parking in the district in an evenhanded and innovative way has so far yielded a stalemate, it has at least raised the visibility of the problem to the very highest level possible among City staff.

With a new name, heightened visibility in the district and at City Hall, and an opportunity to raise funds for more good work and community outreach we are sure to be hearing more of The Jack London District Association.
Posted 5/26/2005

Hollywood Covenant House site visit
On a recent visit to Los Angeles, Jack London District resident Darius Mojahed took time to tour the Hollywood facility run by Covenant House. Darius also spoke to Sr. Lead Officer, Joe Bunch in Hollywood. His photos from the trip are available online.

According to Officer Bunch, the L.A. facility has not had any specific issues and that the "facilitators" on site at Covenant House do an okay job at ensuring there are no incidents. They've had only a few calls where they had to come to assist the facilitators keep the situation in control. However, it was his opinion that a facility like this is better suited in a commercial area, not a residential one.

Darius described the Hollywood site as well kept with minimal loitering outside and seems to be taken care of by the residents and staff. The area it is located in is more commercial/business district with only a few neighboring apartment complexes.

During his on-site visit Executive Director of Covenant, George R. Lozano, offered up much of the same information as at the Jack London District community meeting about 2 weeks ago. In his conversation with Lozano, Darius said:

"I reiterated many of the points raised at the meeting by many concerned residents, including a recommendation made by Gary Knecht. The recommendation was that Covenant House should offer not to ever open an intake center like the one it operates up on 28th street here in Oakland. This was a suggestion made as a conditional offerings Covenant House should make to our community as a sign of good faith and to help make us feel more comfortable. At the meeting and even when I met with George he did not seem to be able to say whether that would happen."

Darius asked one question not raised that the Jack London District community meeting - do they confirm if the kids have a criminal background by doing a police check? George said no, and that this was something they expect would come out of the lengthy interview admission process for their program.

Summarizing his opinion after visiting the Hollywood site Darius said:

"While this seems to be a valuable service offered to young adults (18-23) in crisis, the concern is what will this facility bring in terms of potential unwanted traffic as it relates to it's residents, potential crime and how it may affect our property values. As echoed by the many attendees at the [community] meeting, these are viable concerns for our residential community."

The Covenant House application for a conditional use permit to operate 200 Harrison St as an emergency shelter will be heard at an Oakland Planning Commission meeting on June 1st (postponed from May 18th). The City staff report on the application is available for download. The Jack London District Association is hoping to organize a further community meeting together with Covenant House to give them and the community a further opportunity to discuss the plans before the City meeting.
Posted 5/17/2005

The return of the mid-week Farmers' Market to JLS
Those Jack London District residents who are out and about during the middle of the week may have noticed the return of a familiar sight not seen since last year - the mid-week Farmers' Market. JLN has heard from the Rhonda Hirata that yes the Farmers Market has returned. According to Hirata:

"The Wednesday Farmers' Market hours are 10 AM - 2 PM. We have a great promotion: the first 100 visitors every Wednesday will receive a free canvas shopping bag with proof of purchase. This market began on May 11th and will end on October 26th ... and will return annually. As you know, our Sunday Farmers' Market is year-round. The cherries, strawberries, blueberries, apricots, green garlic and fava beans are especially good right now!

Of course the Farmer's market is still open for business at JLS on Sundays from 10am to 2pm. For more information on the Jack London Square Farmers' Market see the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association.

Hirata also tells us unfortunately, A Taste of Asia will be leaving Jack London Square at the end of the month and Olga's Russian Gifts will vacate at the end of June. However, Signature Properties will enliven that area of the Square by having their Marketing Office for new home sales at 54 Washington (across from Tony Romas). Signature is expected to be in full operation in July. The renovation of 66 Franklin is underway with Oakland-based BBI Construction as the prime contractor. Also rumours circulating that The Cheesecake Factory will be opening in the Square are not entirely unfounded, however nothing has been signed in ink yet.
Posted 5/13/2005