Berkeley can clear small part of homeless camp, judge says
The city can clean up part of the Harrison corridor encampment but must leave eight homeless individuals and their property alone if they are there.
After a months-long court battle, a federal judge has granted the city of Berkeley permission to clean up one side of one block of the longstanding Harrison corridor homeless encampment.
In court papers, the city described conditions in the area as "shocking" writing, "One is forced to walk down the middle of the street because the sidewalks are crowded with debris. The residents, patrons, and employees in this area are essentially imprisoned by the encampment."
The city wrote that "increasingly dire conditions" are present throughout the corridor, but said it hoped to clear the east side of Eighth Street, between Harrison Street and Codornices Creek, "because community members in that location" — including those associated with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, which has property there — "are facing imminent harm" if no action is taken.
"Over the past three years," the city wrote, "Berkeley Rep and its employees have endured significant adverse impacts due to the presence of homeless encampments, including harassment from encampment residents, vandalism, rat infestations, human waste and garbage being thrown or dumped onto [the] property, and even gunfire directed at their building."
In his ruling Friday, Judge Edward Chen said Berkeley can clean up part of the block but must leave eight homeless individuals and their property alone if they are camped there.
Those residents, who have previously been identified in the court process as those requiring ADA accommodations, "shall not be moved pending further order of the Court," Chen wrote Friday.
In February, the Berkeley Homeless Union sued the city on behalf of a group of "disabled and unhoused residents," citing constitutional due process violations in relation to a planned city cleanup at the Harrison corridor homeless camp.
The city's removal of the camp has been stalled ever since pending the ongoing court process.
In June, Judge Chen said Berkeley could abate parts of the Harrison Street encampment as long as it provided a week's notice and left the residents from the ADA lawsuit alone as negotiations continued.
Emilie Raguso
But exactly where the work will end remains unclear.
In Friday's order, Chen wrote that the Berkeley Homeless Union can seek to add more people — "beyond the eight that Berkeley concedes are protected by the preliminary injunction" — to the list for ADA considerations, with a ruling by the court on that matter expected in October.
In the coming weeks, both sides are set to continue discussing the rules for negotiations over ADA accommodations, including whether they must happen in person or can take place online or by phone.
Chen wrote that the current round of ADA negotiations must be complete by Oct. 31.
"By that date, the parties shall file a joint statement identifying the status of the interactive process and each party’s last and best position regarding accommodations for each of the eight individuals," he wrote.
Last week, a different judge who had been overseeing settlement discussions between the city and the Berkeley Homeless Union washed his hands of the case, for now, and turned it back over to Judge Chen, citing "a complete breakdown in settlement discussions."
He said he would consider picking up negotiations at a future date, but only if both sides agree.
The city's half-block cleanup on Eighth Street could happen this week.
