A group of California small-business owners filed a lawsuit against the City of Berkeley this week for allegedly allowing the streets around their businesses to become overrun with homeless encampments littered with used syringes, human waste, and rats.
The lawsuit was filed in Alameda County by eight businesses, which include a brewing company, a winery, a theater set production company, an automotive repair shop, a bagel shop, and a mobility equipment supplier.
'She left only to return two minutes later with a 10-foot metal pole swinging it at customers and employees.'
The county has become a hotspot for homelessness and criminal activity in recent years, largely due to soft-on-crime progressive politicians.
The owners claim that the Berkeley leaders have failed to comply with the city's nuisance laws, claiming it has "invited, permitted, and/or maintained a sprawling public encampment of tents and RVs on Harrison Street between Fifth and Ninth streets, as well as off of Harrison Street along Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Streets."
The complaint noted that encampments have been allowed to take over parts of Harrison Street and the Lower Dwight Neighborhood "because of its erroneous interpretation" of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's ruling in two cases, which stated criminal charges cannot be filed against individuals camping in public when no shelter space is available.
However, the lawsuit argued that the rulings did not permit the city to violate public nuisance laws. Furthermore, the business owners argued that shelter space has been available.
Additionally, earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the lower court's decision, stating that municipalities are allowed to dismantle public encampments regardless of available shelter space. Despite that, the makeshift tent cities in Berkeley remain.
The complaint included images taken after the city engaged in a so-called "clean up" effort, showing that the encampments were not dismantled. Instead, tents remained lined up against the side of the street, often obstructing sidewalk access.
Emily Winston, a Berkeley resident and the owner and operator of a local bagel shop told KTVU, "It's tough. It's filthy. There's trash everywhere."
"It's not safe for our customers or our staff," Winston stated. She noted that she was "not eager" to file the lawsuit.
"This was certainly not my idea of a good time. I wish the city would just have cleaned it up anyway," Winston added.
The business owners are concerned about the health and safety issues posed by the sprawling encampments. They fear that the unsightly and unsanitary conditions are driving away customers.
Barry Braden, a brewery owner, told KTVU that a woman recently entered his establishment asking for food.
"When the manager on duty offered help, she left only to return two minutes later with a 10-foot metal pole swinging it at customers and employees; she was chased out of the building by customers and ultimately arrested by police," Braden explained.
In 2018, the same year Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) took office, there were an estimated 131,000 homeless individuals residing in California. Since then, that number has reportedly reached a projected 172,000.
The city attorney did not respond to KTVU’s request for comment.
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The University of California at Berkeley has been accused of "systemic racism" for only having non-white residents work its community farm on select days.
The Mountain States Legal Foundation, a Constitution-affirming activist group based in Colorado, recently filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging that the university's Gill Tract Community Farm exclusively offers its space to "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color," reported the New York Post.
William Trachman, general counsel for the constitutionalist group and a UC-Berkeley alumnus, stated, "UC-Berkeley thinks that racial segregation is progressive now, but it's no different than segregation of the past."
The regents of the University of California acquired 104 acres of land in Berkeley and Albany, California, in the early 20th century. Over the past decade, a small portion of the land has been used as a community farm.
According to the website for the glorified vegetable patch, the "UC Gill Tract Community Farm is a collaborative community project between the University of California Berkeley and the local community, focused on issues of food justice and urban farming. It is located in Albany, CA, at the corner of San Pablo Ave and Marin Ave."
The farm, largely if not entirely sustained by grant money, appears to be run by radical leftists.
Berkeley Student Farms, a coalition that supposedly includes the students involved in UC Gill Tract Community Farm, states on its website that the "work of decolonizing our land, our food, and our community is an ongoing and continuous effort. In partnership with BlPOC farmers and land stewards, we provide workshops centered around the liberation and decolonization of farming practices."
The Gill Tract Farm specifically issued a "statement of solidarity" condemning the police in 2020.
"We Must Defund the Police," said the statement. "We must eliminate the public's use of the police as first responders. We must eliminate their weaponization. We must eliminate their power to cause harm and death with impunity. We must not wait to end this racist reign of terror."
The farm also called for the dismantling of "white supremacy in our community."
The Post indicated that the complaint includes an email from a program manager at the farm that stresses, "Saturdays are exclusively BIPOC. Exceptions have only been made for events that are BIPOC-centered and with plenty of advance notice and planning."
The farm manager apparently also figured white residents for threats and walking sacrileges, writing, "I trust you stand in solidarity with upholding boundaries around that safe and sacred space."
"Preventing Caucasians from accessing Berkeley's College of Natural Resources Farm on Saturdays is a clear violation of Title VI, which bars educational institutions from engaging in or allowing race discrimination," said Trachman, who previously served as deputy assistant secretary in the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights under President Donald Trump.
Extra to possibly violating federal law, it appears the farm's alleged segregationist policy runs contrary to its own code.
The farm states in its litany of community agreements, "We do not shame or belittle others, or make unsolicited comments on people’s bodies, race, gender, religion, or other aspects of their personal identity."
Dan Mogulof, a spokesman for the university, told the Post, "The anonymous texts attached to the complaint have no specific information about time or place. And, as you can see, the Gill Tract's website and calendar make no mention whatsoever of any program or activity of the sort described in the complaint."
Despite casting doubt on the farm's alleged segregationist Saturdays, Mogulof added that "the university takes complaints like this extremely seriously, and I can assure you that on Monday I will contact the appropriate people on campus in an effort to determine what the facts are."
Trachman may have singled out the farm, but he suggested that federal officials should take a hard look at UC-Berkeley for other programs possibly corrupted by "systemic racism."
This is not the first time the Mountain States Legal Foundation has filed complaints against the university over its discriminatory reflexes.
Last year, the group filed a civil rights complaint objecting to UC Berkeley's segregated graduation ceremonies, claiming they violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Office for Civil Rights subsequently opened a case against the university.
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