OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - This weekend, enforcement of rules and regulations are returning to a popular lake in an East Bay city.
Video shows what a typical weekend looks like at Lake Merritt in Oakland -- A combination of lake lovers, food trucks, and street vendors.
"Lake Merritt, being the most popular park in Oakland, is just seeing crowds as it has never seen before. Think of an outdoor music festival happening every weekend,” Joe Devries, the director of Interdepartmental Operations, said.
The scene has become an untenable situation. Now, the city of Oakland’s Director of Interdepartmental Operations Joe Devries explains what is going to be different this weekend.
"What we're not going to allow are people to be vending alcohol or cannabis or some of the really unregulated food and, that's a food safety issue. We are allowing some of the food trucks that have their license and we know they have been approved by the health department but, if anyone just sets up a table, starts selling cooked food, pouring the grease in the lawn, things like that we are not going to allow,” Devries said.
In fact, starting Friday folks at the lake will see the return of parking enforcement, municipal code enforcement, and traffic control.
The huge crowds started showing up at the lake back in 2019 in protest to the now infamous BBQ Becky incident involving a white woman calling Oakland police on a Black family setting up a bbq grill in an unpermitted location.
Two years later, the situation has become unbearable for some Oakland residents who called into this recent city council meeting.
"I remained concerned that if the focus is only on enforcement, that the enforcement will be disproportionate to Black people,” Lakeshore District resident Risa Jaffe said.
"I am a Black woman and my apartment overlooks the lake. I love our diverse community. I love seeing people who look like me experiencing joy in places like Lake Merritt and, until recently I was excited about buying a home here. Living here is now an unsafe nightmare,” Lakeshore District resident Amari Hammonds said.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3whCjYw
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