Neighbors Together’s lawsuit against the City of Oakland has stirred up considerable debate in town. Whether you agree with it or not, it’s brought out into the open issues we have to resolve if we’re to move forward on homelessness and encampments.
One aspect of the issue concerns public space. Who’s entitled to use it and who isn’t? Recently Neighbors Together also became involved in the problem concerning Athol Plaza Tennis Courts. This is a city-owned public space enjoyed for many years by residents, including children, of the nearby Lakeshore neighborhood, a working class, racially- and ethnically-mixed area on the eastern side of Lake Merritt. But when a few dozen homeless people took it over, with their tents and belongings strewn across the courts, Athol Plaza became useless for its original purpose of a place to play tennis.
That situation has since been resolved (let us hope permanently) after the city persuaded the campers to leave. But the debate stimulated by the lawsuit remains heated. Somebody wrote on nextdoor.com that, after examining the law, he had concluded that, legally-speaking, the city can’t require a tennis court to be used only for the purpose of tennis! Instead, this person concluded, all citizens must be permitted to use it, for whatever purpose they want.
To which someone immediately and logically replied: “For everyone to commandeer and use exclusively?” This same person added, “Land can’t be for the public & at the same time be used for things that keep the public from utilizing it.”
To me the facts of this particular case are clear. The law itself may not state that a tennis court must be used only for the purpose of tennis. But common sense says so, and moreover, so does civic duty and the regard for the rights of others necessary in a coherent society. In no rational way can it be argued that a publicly-owned tennis court can be turned into a homeless encampment, if there are citizens who wish to use it to play tennis. Anyone who argues that homeless people have as much right to a tennis court as tennis players is living in LaLaLand, IMO.
But this is the situation here in Oakland. Everybody has his or her own beliefs, and those beliefs are strongly held. Few people are in the mood to compromise about anything, echoing the national mood. If you believe that homeless people are entitled to use Athol Plaza as a place to pitch their tents, there’s probably nothing I can say to change your mind. But there is one thing that’s stronger than public opinion, and that is the law. In our Constitutional democracy, we agree to abide by the law, even if we disagree with it.
And this is where Neighbors Together’s lawsuit comes in. If it’s successful, it will become the basis for law. But this is looking way down the road. The legal process is long and winding; anything can happen along the way; the Oakland City Council has proven itself master of kicking cans down the road and postponing needed action. Meanwhile, we should all be grateful to Neighbors Together and executive director Seneca Scott for making this conversation happen.