Send us a story! • Cob on Wood (COW)
04/05/23 12:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by BP Staff City bulldozed the last remaining structures at Wood Street this week and sent residents scattering around Oakland to find new spots.
The Wood St. project has been at the center of debates around homelessness and at one point even had Governor Mayor Newsom (from the area) personally pay a visit condemning Wood St.
We talked to Sergie who was a victim of the removal process.
Sergie said, "My RV was almost bulldozed. I was in the process of moving and than the city snuck in on Wednesday with no notice. Residents had been tricked in to thinking it was the following Monday so no one was ready. Many residents were out when the removal happened suddenly."
He went on to explain that "the city is trying to take peoples RVs if they're not present. I lost al of my kitchenware and electric bike.
The community has been broken up and it is quite sad"
12/22 9:35am (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff - Editorial The Covid moritorium, though well intentioned, has created a potential major threat to the availability of affordable housing in the short and long term.
And this could become a permanent blow to de-gentrification if not changed soon.
There are 1000s of homeless, evicted and low income tenants trying to find housing in Oakland amd Berkeley. But many have credit scores under 700.
Unfortunately because landlords have either experienced or heard about landlords experiencing situations where they can’t evict a tenant who stops paying rent, regardless of whether they have a job or not, they’ve stopped renting. Even though most low income tenants are working and pay rent a minority are abusing the system. They have jobs and can pay, but don’t - without any allowable recourse by landlord. This fear by landlords makes them only want to rent to people with A+ credit or not rent at all.The fine for not renting (newly implemented) is not big enough to make it worth the risk to rent to a bad non paying tenant. Therefore, affordable housing, that may have been rented to a low income tenant will sit on the market till someone with excellent credit (usually not a minority or low income tenant) comes along.If the city implemented a policy where anyone not paying rent had to show the inability to pay because of job loss landlords would start renting again to low income tenants. They would now have recourse for that VERY small percentage of working tenants that took advantage of the system. This recourse ability, though rarely used, would be enough to free up what’s been estimated at as many as 10,000 apartments sitting vacant and growing. Landlords are waiting for the policy change. Every day that this perpetuates, the city of Oakland and Berkeley gentrification rates continue to climb and fewer minorities and low income people can find apartments in these cities. The majority of voters don’t understand this and those that do may be wealthy home owners that don’t own income property and want to see further gentrification.The voters that are renters that support this policy of zero evictions may not see the harm being created.The city officials may see it but are at the whim of the voters to keep the moratorium as is.
08/20/22 9:35am (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff - Fires unrelated to Wood Street residents have been occurring outside the encampment. An RV exploded in flames earlier today. The fire was extinguished within 15 minutes by local firefighters and no injuries.
07/20/22 9:35am (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff -Judge William H. Orrick granted a temporary restraining order against CalTrans, postponing the displacement of 200+ Wood St. Encampment residents who were set to be evicted today.
08/31/2021 9:35am (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff - Under direction from CalTrans, a work crew installed Jersey Barriers and chain link fence 20 feet from an encampment called Cob on Wood. The fencing was wrapped around a huge swath of land under the 880/580 junction in an effort to curb encampments. This move continues the ongoing fight between a community of unhoused people, CalTrans and The City of Oakland over an encampment called Cob on Wood. Residents of the encampment and supporters from the community oppose the move because this community has been in existence for a long tine, has social structures and internal governance. The community cleans and maintains the area the best they can despite thieves from outside leaving stolen cars and contractors illegally dumping.
08/23/2021 9:35am (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff -There is an unlimited free trash and bulky drop off this saturday from 9-1 at 7101 Edgewater if this makes sense - unlimited garbage. For Oaklamd residents.
08/21/2021 1:10 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff - Celebration of community, friendship amd solidarity. Event is welcome to all. Commons (South side of COW).
08/20/2021 12:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff - In a surprise visit today by CalTrans several residents were up-ended and barriers and fences were put in place. CalTrans is saying that this was a cleaning effort. Soil testing is slso performed. Developing story more to come.
CalTrans announced it would close the area and evict the residents. The day after the announcement, however, unhoused people signed individual legal complaints, and their lawyers convinced Superior Court Judge William Orrick to issue a temporary restraining order barring CalTrans’ planned action. While the injunction was still temporary, residents feared the eviction would happen anyway, and appealed to supporters to come bear witness. The day following the judge’s order a Highway Patrol SUV showed up, escorting a group of workers and heavy equipment. After standing around for an hour they left, perhaps in compliance with the TRO or maybe to evade interfering photographers and witnesses.
08/12/2021 12:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by BP Staff - Organized march in downtown Berkeley draws large crowd, many homeless take to streets August 12th on Shatttuck and surrounding streets.
PRESS RELEASE Re: the City of Oakland's plan to evict residents from Mosswood Park, August 9-11
08/09/2021 10:07am (The Berkeley Post) - by BP Staff - Link to June eviction (courtesy of not for profit ABC): https://www.instagram.com/tv/CQ_9BvWg3lv/?utm_medium=copy_link
On Monday, August 9, 2021, the City of Oakland is planning to evict the 30 residents living in tents at Mosswood Park, near downtown Oakland. The pink notices went up, stapled to the park's trees, announcing that...
08/08/2021 8:35pm (The Berkeley Post) - by BP Staff
The Ashby Adeline area has seen three major accidents involving pedestrians in the last four days.
August 4th, Fairview/Adeline: Wheelchair struck by car
August 5th, 1900 Wolsey: Vehicle collision with injuries
August 8th, Ashby/Adeline: pedestrian struck by car
08/01/2021 2:05 pm (The Berkeley Post) - BART is ready to serve the region with the return of near-regular service starting Monday, August 2, 2021.
The new schedule is very similar to the one before the pandemic. Sunday service will continue to run at 30-minute intervals and a 9 pm closure to accommodate BART’s critical cable replacement project.
The schedule change includes increased frequencies and extending closing times to midnight Mondays through Saturdays. There will be an increase in direct trips to SFO on weekdays.
07/15/2021 12:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - Berkeley City Council voted to authorize a historic agreement governing future growth and city services at UC Berkeley. The agreement allows Berkelry, the host Coty to be involved in policy More directly with the university.
“At its core this agreement is about enabling a world-class education in a world-class city. It will enable the City to continue to provide quality city services and maintain the character of its neighborhoods while extending UC’s renowned education to the next generation of students. This agreement is the culmination of years of negotiation and community input, and it’s a reflection of the mutual relationship and ongoing cooperation between the City and the University of California.” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin. See more at: https://www.jessearreguin.com/press-releases/2021/7/14/city-council-approves-historic-agreement-with-university-of-california-berkeley
06/27/2021 12:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - A planned protest to defy police orders to vacate ended in an arrest. The protest was peaceful. Residents said it felt good to be there, one commenting, “it’s a beautiful morning to stand in solidarity with out freinds…”
DEVELOPING STORYm
Marín homeless encampment arrests
06/03/2021 12:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine Cob on Wood is a one of a kind community hub centered in the encampment on Wood St. In West Oaklamd, Ca. The communal kitchen, bathroom, showers, health center, free shop, pizza oven, fire pit and stage are all services available tothe Sunny picnic table over the next hour I saw at least 10 residents come in and use the shower, kitchen, bathroom amd health center. This is definitely a shared services model that is being used by many people. The alternative that these people had to take showers prior to the shower being built was a truck that came around once a week and pushed out water for them to shower with. Having a kitchen with a refrigerator is a huge improvement. The health center has tons of different supplies that the residents can all take for free. This is truly a model that is unique and it could easily be replicated at other encampments.
CalTrans and the city of Oakland have a very methodical way of shutting down an encampment. Rather than shut the whole encampment down at once, they squeeze it down to smaller and smaller spaces in an effort to squeeze everyone out slowly. On Wood Street they have three phases. The first phase has already occurred and you can see in some of the pictures that they have scraped everything off and set up cement barriers (see photos). Phase 2 would lemonade the shared service shared services and buildings that have been put up for showering and kitchen etc. Once those are removed then it really takes a lot of the activation and life out of the site.
CalTrans is hoping that their phase small step approach, will affect less people all at once and keeps it lower profile and out of the media
5/23/21 - The Berkeley Post - West Oakland ABC, a grass roots, on the ground not for profit group helped oversee the clean-up effort at the Wood St. encampment with the help of volunteers from EFAM and Con on Wood.
Residents of the encampment were recently offered a deal to be allowed to stay if they cleaned up and cared for the land. Cal Trans backed out on the deal last week and plans to demolish the encampment soon.
05/21/2021 5:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff Writers Oakland closed down any new registration for state and federal Cares Act and SB91 funds. One employee of BACS, who asked to remain anonymous said, “the system is overwhelmed. We need more people to help
process applications.” New landlord/tenant eviction prevention funds shut down suddenly on Mat 17, leaving many stranded. Tenants and landlords are in disbelief since there are still funds buy no way to apply for them. This comes at a bad time when the eviction protection is close to expiring. See City of Oakland webpage:
5/19/21 - West Oakland, CA - 100s of K-bars have been brought in by Cal Trans. many of the residents speculate that these will be used to further shut down parts of the Wood St. Encampment, one of the largest in Oakland. One resident commented CalTrans’ attitude is to “push us in to one spot, push us out and clean us out like a trash compactor.”
05/17/2021 9:21pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - In a deal verbally agreed on between Cal Trans, residents onsite and Councilwoman Fife’s office, the residents would be free to continue to stay on the Cal Trans land in exchange for cleaning up the site. Ironically,
5/16/21 UPDATE: $60,000 surpassed in GoFundMe
05/11/2021 5:21pm (The Berkeley Post) - by BP writers - Cob on Wood passes $50,000 in donations!
Several recent news pieces, including an international piece by the Guardian has revved up support…
05/07/2021 5:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by TBP Writers - All the Berkeley zip codes were analyzed and 94704 is 38% vaccinated wheras 94707 is 98% vaccinated. This directly correlates…
05/06/2021 5:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Staff Writers - Residents, media, politicians and Oaklamd City Officials all came to...
04/27/2021 5:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - Illegal evictions of Oakland Wood St residents starts today - 5 residents at Wood St. Encampment were told to relocate today. They were given limited notice, pressured by outside stakeholders, large tractors and heavy machinery.
03/16/2021 5:49 pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - In the Mayors virtual town hall meeting today, hosted by Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley, the City announced that those 16-64 who are medically compromised, with underlying medical conditions, are now eligible to be vacinated.
02/19/2021 7:49am (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - In one of the latest developments of new tech players landing in Berkeley, Taiwan based HTC Corp has recently purchased a 3 story building in a prime Berkeley neighborhood centralized to UC Berkeley and great restaurants. Co-founder, Cher Wang, actually has roots in Berkeley, having graduated UCB with a Master of Arts. It appears that some of all of their San Francisco operations may move out of SF.
01/08/2021 7:49am (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - University Ave Exit has been an eyesore for many as they exit I80 to enter Berkeley. Trash from illegal contractor dumping, local inhabitants and the Freeway have marred the landscape.
01/05/2021 5:49pm (The Berkeley Post) - by Max Levine - Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley, has launched one of the most thorough and transparent COVID-19 public update programs in the Bay Area.
Berkeley elects sworn in.
12/03/20 11:39am (The Berkeley Post) - Jesse Arreguín, Ben Bartlett, Terry Taplin and Sophie Hahn sworn in.
(UPDATE) Berkeley’s Goldengate Fields sees COVID-19 cases skyrocket after death of famous trainer.
12/08/20 11:39am (The Berkeley Post) - The field is on lock down after 100 people who tested positive
Horse trainer at Golden Gate Fields, Bob Hess Sr., died from COVID-19
12/05/20 6pm (UPDATE) BERKELEY, Calif. (The Berkeley post) – most revered and trusted horse trainers passes away from COVID-19 complications.
Berkeley streets rank almost the worst in Bay Area according to City Auditor
11/27/20 10:39pm (The Berkeley Post) - “Without significant additional funding, Berkeley streets will continue to deteriorate”
Community: UC Berkeley renaming Halls because of slavery connection.
11/17/2020 1:10pm BERKELEY, Calif. (The Berkeley Post) - LeConte and Barrows halls will no longer have their names after next week. 13% of the staff and students did not support renaming or no-naming.
Berkeley News Community: Should we remove the statues in Berkeley off the I-80
11/19/2020 9:32 p.m. BERKELEY, Calif. (The Berkeley post) -
6-Alarm fire in downtown Berkeley (UPDATE)
11/23/2020 9PM (The Berkeley Post) -The fire in downtown Berkeley continues to burn almost 72 hours in to it.
University Exit encampment cleaned by Untrash he world
11/25/2020 2:45pm BERKELEY, Calif. (The Berkeley post) - Over 20 volunteers get together
Berkeley news: Google.org grants millions of dollars to local non-profits and those in need
11/17/2020 12:32am BERKELEY, Calif. (The Berkeley Post) - Google.org is helping low-income people by investing in companies like Family Independence Initiative (FII).
Berkeley News: Car chase through Berkeley ends with arrest in Oakland
11/23/2020 12:32am BERKELEY, Calif. (The Berkeley Post) A high speed chase through Oakland in pursuit
Berkeley News: Ashby and San Pablo hit and run - 3 car accident. More police presence needed.
11/26/2020 9:10am (The Berkeley Post) - Every night there are cars speeding up and down Ashby Avenue.
Berkeley News Art: Eco-printing
Berkeley leaves turned in to botanical scarves by local artist
Weekly interview: From their perspective
Over the next 8 weeks The Berkeley Post will be releasing a series of interviews conducted across 8 encampments in Berkeley,
Family: 5 cool bike rides in Berkeley the whole family can do
Best easies bike rides the whole family can do
Adventure: Secret Stair cases in Berkeley
This is an ongoing series that will add in new secret staircase hikes weekly.
Barriers dropped off on North part of Wood St. Across from Game Changersj