Day One: Two sides of Gilman complete. Three more sides at Gilman to go. There are stacks of garbage because we still need Caltrans to pick it up. Supervising a large scale clean up has shown me that we need to clean and remove trash at the same time. No way we could finish Gilman today even with 3 contractors, residents cleaning and a front loader. Caltrans will only pick up the trash next week. In order for that to happen all trash must be placed in the designated areas.
The residents helped clean and move materials but a lot of the trash is waterlogged and full of mildew from winter rains. I brought tools and garbage bags plus new tents and tarps. There is already a lot of sickness (not Covid) in the the camps. Thank goodness we had contractors and machinery.
It is imperative we remove all the trash so that new tents don’t have to be placed in filth. We are in a pandemic. We must do everything we can to protect health of the unhoused and our entire Berkeley community.
Thank you again to all of our GoFundMe and Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) donors. You are making this city clean up possible so people don’t have to live in filth and squalor. Your donations are paying for the front loader and the few highly skilled contractors who have given me incredible discounts because it is for the community. We press onward tomorrow. I will update everyone then.
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Andrea
Andrea
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