Oakland is allowing this. Its insane, unsanitary and its illegal. I really think city leaders are too scared to deal with the homeless. Parks are for the public, the kids and visitors to enjoy, but how can one when there is a illegal mess at every park. Everyone who wants to save the parks needs to voice their opinion to the city leaders. I'm not against the homeless, but there needs to be some rules where they can and cannot camp.

If I felt the homeless were caring for their surroundings, I could maybe be more sympathetic. But the trash and litter issues are growing and growing, and I watch as their off-leash pit bulls poop in the landscaping, owners looking on but not cleaning up. They camp too far from the public toilets to be using those, so their feces is out there, too. So we spent $42 million+ on Lake Merritt so it can house the homeless. . .

Brooke, As Simplyblu knows this is an ongoing issue the City of Oakland simply refuses to address. You will hear about a nice "fluffy" emergency shelter program and enhanced funding for the mentally disabled and I can guarantee both initiatives will be failures. "Tough Love" is what the homeless need; too bad Oakland does not have the courage to administer.

The problem is , is the homeless (or most) don't care about keeping their surroundings in order. That's because they have no consequences because many feel sorry for them and make that the excuse for letting them do as they please. Even so parks are not campgrounds and allowing them to do their business in them is outrageous. Tough love would be a start.