Re: Mosswood - Urgent Public Safety - U-Haul Bringing Multiple Encampments / Drive-by Shooting / Death by Playground

[JoAnn Castillo]

I've heard several times, now, that letters don't work. PHONE CALLS are the way to go.,

Here's Carol Fife's office number. Let's inundate her with calls RIGHT NOW! 

• Phone: (510) 238-7003

JoAnn

On Wed, Mar 26, 2025 at 4:14 PM Nick Houshower <hous...@gmail.com> wrote:

All - Mosswood is becoming an urgent public safety hazard that negatively impacts ALL of the surrounding community, including the immediate neighbors, the large community of kids and families that still try to use the park, and the unhoused residents of the park. 

The last three days seemed to reach a tipping point, with the arrival this morning of a u-haul bringing at least four new tents to the main grass area and a Monday drive-by shooting (see my toddler's baby cam). This is on top of a death by the playground in February. 

The baby/toddler playground is now being surrounded by encampments and the baseball field is completely unusable and unsafe, as the encampments are now spreading to the grass outfield.

As someone who lives directly on the park, we have co-existed very empathetically with our unhoused neighbors over many years, but it's reaching a point that is unsustainable for everyone, and is now a huge public safety hazard with garbage, violence, and a complete lack of sanitation/hygiene options for the unhoused residents (there used to be some effort to provide toilets at least....)

There has to be some way to balance empathy and understanding with the safety of our entire community. As you will see in the attached email, the residents are becoming exasperated, depressed, and frustrated about the lack of progress and the lack of options for supporting proactive solutions.

I understand that the encampments are going to be offered transitional housing through the Room Key program "this summer", but that's not an excuse for doing nothing today while the situation spirals.

Thanks - your concerned, exasperated, and exhausted citizen.

A couple of urgent safety updates:

• Monday March 24th - Drive-by Shooting on Manila/Macarthur. Please watch the video of my toddler's babycam, which clearly records the tire screech and two gunshots. Obviously I have concerns about safety for my daughter. 
• THere was a large drive by in a similar location in May as well. 
• Wednesday March 26th - a U-haul arrived today and is parked in the camp. At least four new tents arrived and have claimed spots under the trees. 
• Where are community residents supposed to go to access the park safely at this point? 
• There are large dogs on both sides of the greenhouse park area now, one of which is known to be aggressive and has a muzzle on it. 
• How is it possible that people are just driving u-hauls in to Mosswood park?
• We saw that the encampments under the Broadway/Auto Row exit were removed. Were they all just moved to the park?
• These encampments are now directly up against the playground. 
• February 17th - unknown death in the park right by the playground at 5pm. 
• Look at the photo. 
• You can see kids on the swings just a few feet away from the scene.
• We are uncertain if this was a homicide, an overdose, or a natural cause.

What can we do to help?

Nick

[JoAnn Castillo]

I submitted it to 311, for some reason. Case #18648564 . But I couldn't add the picture, it wouldn't accept an *.heic file, which is how it downloads...

JoAnn