Oakland crews, police clear out ‘Promise Land’ homeless camp

Nancy Mitchell (right) talks with Rae, who only gave her first name, after she was told to leave a park Thursday morning that had been turned into a village for the homeless. Nancy Mitchell (right) talks with Rae, who only gave her first name, after she was told to leave a park Thursday morning that had been turned into a village for the homeless. Photo: Kimberly Veklerov Photo: Kimberly Veklerov Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Oakland crews, police clear out ‘Promise Land’ homeless camp 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

A hamlet for the homeless in Oakland, complete with a makeshift shower, portable toilet, kitchen, medical supplies and garden, was cleared out Thursday by police officers and public works employees.

During its 12-day existence in a park beneath a highway overpass, “the Village” or “Promise Land” became an organized, rules-based alternative to living on the sidewalk, its defenders say. No drugs, alcohol or violence was tolerated on the premises. Young supporters patrolled the park’s perimeter at night as self-designated security guards, while others dropped off food and built small rainproof shelters out of wooden pallets.

“This was a solution and it was viable. ... The people of Oakland believed in it,” said Needa Bee, who helped build the Village. “Now all those folks are going right back onto the streets.”

But city officials say the encampment violated 18 laws and fire codes, among them: obstructing free passage through a public park, using propane tanks and accumulating combustible waste. Dozens of neighbors complained, too, said Karen Boyd, a city spokeswoman.

Clearing the encampment at 36th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way was a striking change from how city staffers have approached other camps, including a line of tents and waste just outside the park — which they left untouched during Thursday morning’s shutdown — or another camp six blocks away, which Oakland leaders chose for the inaugural “Compassionate Communities” program.

At that encampment, at 35th and Magnolia streets, city crews added portable toilets, trash bins and needle containers, then hosed down the sidewalks and left. With the deployment of counselors and other services, the idea is to get everyone into housing by March 31, then replicate the program at other sites.

“There’s a difference between people living in tents, versus setting up an intentional, unsanctioned encampment,” Boyd said. “They were inviting and recruiting people to bring them into a park without the adequate infrastructure.”

In contrast to the Village, though, the Magnolia street encampment has widespread heroin use, which caught some city officials off guard.

Organizers and inhabitants of the Village said they wanted to take matters into their own hands after years of battling Oakland’s housing crisis and struggling to get resources from the city.

After taking over the land on inauguration weekend, they set up an information booth and donations table that greeted anyone who walked into the park, went live on social media and, after getting a notice to vacate, brought a group of supporters to speak in front of City Council members Tuesday night, imploring them to let the Village operate on its own rules.

“Before, it was so drug infested, you couldn’t even walk through here late at night,” Majid Ahmed, 44, said as he packed up his belongings at the camp. “Since we moved here, there has been zero crime and every one of us has got off drugs.”

Ahmed, who got hooked on heroin at a young age before turning to methamphetamine, said his 10 days in the Village were the longest he had been sober in years.

Another inhabitant, 60-year-old Nancy Mitchell, was living on the street around the corner from the park and heard from a friend that she should stop by to get some hot food. She loaded a plate with Chinese food, got a cup of coffee, then decided to move in. Volunteers loaded her stuff onto dollies and helped her pitch a tent.

“It was welcoming,” she said. “I never seen so much love in that park.”

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov