People shouldn't be bring their dogs in the plaza - Dogs are prohibited in the park. You might contact the Director of Parks and Recreation Audree Jones-Tayloe and tell her about the problems in her parks. Her telephone number is (510) 238-7532.

I have been fighting the problem of Driver Plaza for over 2 years. Some of my neighbors have been fighting it for over 5 years.

We have met with everyone from the local police to our councilmen - again and again. Nothing helps.

They all tell us the same thing:

1) The City of Oakland has not money (or interest) in fixing Driver Plaza.

2) If we have complaints about the park, that we should call the OPD Non-Emergency line.

Calling the OPD Non-Emergency Line makes no difference, as the police only occasionally show up. Often, your calls go straight to a recorded message. If you are lucky, you get a rude woman who will could care less.

When police do come, they only do a drive by or a very basic once-over of the park. They do not make arrests or citations for public drunkenness, dogs in the park, loitering, urination - or anything else.

Every time we get a new local police captain (seems to be twice a year), they pretend to care for about a month. But then they realize that there is nothing that can be done. Or they are not willing to fix what is a City problem.

A few years ago something ALMOST happened to end the disgusting mess that is Driver Plaza.

A local resident Richard Reya was running for city council. As part of his politicking, he tried to organize a movement to "adopt" the park. For a few months, residents gathered to clean up the needles, garbage, human feces etc. In addition, several plans were proposed to the City of Oakland to re-design the park - and make it less-friendly for the homeless men and derelicts.

Finally, people grew tired of cleaning up the park every weekend, only to have the derelicts mess it up again. And, the City of Oakland stalled and blocked every move by the residents to re-design the park. A local real estate builder even offered to foot the bill for the park re-do. The City of Oakland refused his offer saying that there were "not enough complaints about Driver Park"!

If I were poetic, I would say that Driver Plaza and it's issues are a perfect analogy for the mess that is the City of Oakland.

In the past several months, there have been several shootings in Driver Plaza. Two deaths.

As scary as that was, we all thought: "This is IT. The City will HAVE to do something now!"

About 30 or so residents met with our current council person, Dan Kalb. We demanded that Driver Plaza be cleaned up NOW.

Guess what happened? You guessed it.

Nothing.

On a recent weekend, the Fire Department and ambulance had to come three times because of the drunken fighting. It's out of control.

What are we going to do about it?

I have not given up.

But you need to know: that the city of Oakland is not going to do anything.

It is up to us. I just have no idea what that is.

BTW, here are some City of Oakland laws that are being broken daily in Driver Plaza.

6.04.080 - Dogs at large in parks.

2.64.030 - Prohibition against littering in parks—Enforcement by citation method—Park rangers, deputy head ranger and head ranger as peace officers for purpose of enforcement.

12.64.100 - Disorderly conduct, vandalism, sleeping on benches, pilfering.

Disorderly conduct, pilfering, vandalizing, or sleeping on benches or seats in any public park is strictly prohibited.

12.64.110 - Hours of use of parks.

I have also attached a picture of Driver Plaza so you can all see what it looks like on a typical day.

City of Oakland Public Works Agency referred this issue to OPD, PWA CONTACT service request # 480097. Please contact that agency to follow-up. For more information, please visit the "Helpful Links to Other Resource Partners" at the link below.
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/PWA/Connect/ReportaProblem/index.htm
Thank you.

Hey City of Oakland Public Works official: I see you just referred this post to the police. That is what is called passing the buck. And that is why this problem has never been solved. They think it's Your problem.

You have just ensured that nothing will happen.

Five years ago?? That is about when your City Council Member Jane Bruenner startedto eliminate the Park Rangers. In 2000, there were 22 Park Rangers for the City parks. I used to see them in Driver Plaza at least once a day. Jane and the city council started cutting the Rangers in 2006 and in 2010 were able to completely eliminate them.

Driver Plaza is not the only park with an increase in crime. Ask any of your friends who live around Oakland and they will relate the same thing about their parks. The City Council and Mayor are not concerned about the safety of our parks.

By far the main problem here is police tolerance for public drinking, which starts at about 7:30 a.m., every day. Every street character for a mile around knows they can hang out here and drink all day and no cops will show. As their behavior deteriorates through the course of the day, and more people join them in the "party", this public space becomes unusable to everyone else. It stinks of urine and garbage.

I drive by here every day at least twice - unless I have an out of town guest in which case I take a less convenient route. It's genuinely embarrassing and I don't want family/friends to see this ugly part of a city I otherwise love to live in.

PS this issue has 98 views but only 24 votes. SeeClickFix has its limitations, but the way this system is designed, more votes gives the topic higher visibility. So, if this is an issue you're concerned about, don't forget to click that green button at the top.

Does anyone know why the port-a-potty went away? I feel like this helped with the public urination problem somewhat, even if it didn't get rid of the public intoxication and drug use by the people that visit this park on a daily basis.

I'm sure you've already discussed this ad nauseum at your monthly NCPC meetings, but maybe it's time for another meeting focused entirely on Driver Plaza.
That's beat 10Y. The Market St NCPC meets the 4th Wed of the month at 7pm at 1000 42nd St at North Oakland Charter School. The Neighborhood Services Coordinator should be there. The NSC is Renee Sykes 238-7929 rsykes@oaklandnet.com.
Your Oakland Problem Solving Officer is:
Donald Lane
dlane@oaklandnet.com
Make sure he will be there.
Invite the area 2 OPD commander, Captain Toribio: AToribio@oaklandnet.com
Invite Dan Kalb dkalb@oaklandnet.com
and or his Community Outreach Director, Olga Bolotina
obolotina@oaklandnet.com

i attend the NCPC meetings and no, this issue does not come up every month. What needs to go up are calls to OPD non emergency line. Call the emergency line instead, if it is a life threatening emergency. And it has to be several people calling, it can't be that one constant complainer or yes, OPD dispatch will grow tired of you. FYI Renee Sykes is no longer the NSC for beats 10x and 10Y. We now have Felicia Verdin. We have a new Area 2 commander, it's Captain Darren Allison. Captain Toribio is now in another department, effective september 2014.

if OPD is to focus it's resources on an issue, there must be good reason for doing so. Make those calls, people.