150 homeless shelter beds are likely headed to Oakland. Just not in Chinatown.

OAKLAND Days before the city was expected to give its approval for a large homeless shelter to be built in Chinatown the proposed deal is dead Local nonprofit Cardea Healthcare was lined up to run the interim housing site at the Courtyard Marriott on Broadway a million real-estate deal that would convert the hotel into shelter beds for those experiencing homelessness The hotel was sold last year for million a value that took a nosedive in current years amid the local hospitality industry s decline But business leaders in Chinatown successfully lobbied their new city council member Charlene Wang whose district includes the downtown neighborhood to pull a planned letter of advocacy from next week s council agenda To be frank this is a perfect example of institutional racism Wang declared in an interview about the nixed hotel-to-housing proposal You re placing a shelter right beside this vulnerable population City leaders now have two weeks to endorse an alternate shelter site in Oakland where crime fears and a battered business activity have fueled contentious politics among Chinatown residents in the years since the COVID- pandemic Disputes over where homeless shelters can be built are commonplace around the Bay Area where community opinion leans heavily against tolerating encampments but short-term housing solutions are proving to be hard to sustain Alameda County which has just freed up million from the Measure W sales tax increase intends to fund interim housing in each of its incorporated cities The county will provide million to each approved vendor that initiatives forward to operate a shelter Cardea Fitness CEO Dr Alexis Chettiar noted the converted Courtyard Marriott site would have been equipped with measure with no cost to the city budget She estimated the city would save million on police and fire response to homeless encampments Truck driver Merlin Rivera delivers produce to Chinatown businesses in Oakland Calif on Friday April Ray Chavez Bay Area News Group We are sorry that it will not be moving forward Chettiar reported in a declaration and hope that there will be a future opportunity for the site to provide needed services for the greater Oakland public Leaders at the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce pushed hard for the city to renege on its planned promotion for the shelter warning in a message that the site would directly impact the district s various cultural institutions plus its schools senior centers and merchants But in an interview chamber President Stephanie Tran limited her criticism to how the real-estate deal was being negotiated behind closed doors We oppose this homeless shelter due to the lack of engagement and society input and transparency Tran announced But she offered little clarity about the chamber s broader report noting instead that Chinatown is not anti-housing Wang the council member spoke more plainly The proposed site she explained would have stood opposite a residential high-rise with over tenants a large number of of whom are not high-income people but mostly Medi-Cal covered elders So she did particular probability in her head leading to a prediction someone from the mega-shelter may physically assault a tenant in the neighboring apartment building These are people just taken off the streets from an encampment who are likely to have serious mental-health or drug-addiction issues Wang reported An interaction could development in someone being seriously harmed like manslaughter Newly elected Oakland City Councilmember Charlene Wang arrives at her swearing-in ceremony at City Hall in Oakland Calif on Tuesday May Dai Sugano Bay Area News Group I know the bulk unhoused people won t be in this situation she added but you do the permutation math matter it only takes out of people for something to happen A rise in crime during the pandemic s worst years has driven leaders of the small business district to demand more politically moderate governance including a special Oakland Police Department detail that raked in overtime pay to patrol the neighborhood s streets The area does have its share of supportive housing including over single-room occupancy units that can be rented for under per month at the Madrone Hotel a city block away from the Courtyard Marriott A local nonprofit the East Bay Asian Local Improvement Corporation oversaw the Madrone housing and several other affordable sites downtown Late last year it led a still-pending effort to rename the Lake Merritt BART Station after Chinatown a great validator that Chinatown is a historic and current place the nonprofit s director Sharon Lai mentioned in an interview Chamber executives meanwhile are quick to point out that metro cities will often shovel unfavorable or controversial developments toward Chinatown districts away from more affluent or suburban neighborhoods OAKLAND CA - JANUARY BART ambassadors Brandon Fenwick and Frank Dan from right walk the platform at the Lake Merritt Station in Oakland Calif on Wednesday Jan The ambassadors are unarmed civilian employees of the police department who help keep riders safe aboard trains Jane Tyska Bay Area News Group Last fall the Philadelphia ers abandoned plans for a million apartment tower next to the basketball franchise s arena after a city leader likened the advancement to a middle finger to the city s Chinatown which would have neighbored the apartments CBS broadcasted And in a Chinatown across the bay from Oakland business owners successfully lobbied last year against a sober housing facility which the San Francisco Standard broadcasted was intended to permanently house formerly homeless residents recovering from drug abuse Chinatown has gone through a lot of past trauma Lai disclosed though she added that the group remains part of the housing solutions Oakland bureaucrats are still seeking vendor applications for interim-housing proposals over the next couple weeks as Alameda County prepares to distribute millions of dollars in Measure W funding Chettiar the Cardea Fitness CEO reported the nonprofit was eager to consider alternate sites Wang proposed but determined that the properties in question were either in poor condition or did not meet safety standards Wang for her part is now speaking to other vendors about areas in her district which along with Chinatown includes Jack London Square parts of downtown and neighborhoods south and to the east of Lake Merritt where a shelter could be built Especially with the possibility of putting shelter sites in Chinatown or Little Saigon she wrote in a July email to city staff I cannot stress more the importance of having a culturally competent provider Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland Call or text him at - - or email him at smukherjee bayareanewsgroup com