West
Winery, brewery, bagel shop team up to call out Berkeley's permissiveness of homeless encampments
Several businesses in Berkeley, California, including a winery and a brewery, are suing the City of Berkeley for its failure to remove homeless encampments near them, which has hurt their profits.
The lawsuit was filed in Alameda County this week by eight businesses, including Covenant Winery, Emily Winston of Boichik Bagels and Fieldwork Brewing against the City of Berkeley.
The plaintiffs allege the case is about the City of Berkeley being required to follow the same nuisance laws private landowners must follow, while also owing an obligation to its citizens to maintain its streets and other public rights of way free from obstructions.
Over the past few years, the businesses claim, the city has allowed homeless encampments to remain on Harrison Street between Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Streets; along Codornices Creek; and in the Lower Dwight neighborhood.
NEWSOM CLEANS UP HOMELESS CALIFORNIA ENCAMPMENTS AFTER HE ALLOCATED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WHILE CRISIS GREW
The City of Berkeley, California, is being sued by several businesses for failing to remove homeless encampments. (Superior Court of the State Of California County of Alameda)
The plaintiffs say in the lawsuit they believe the city allowed the encampments when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit “erroneously” ruled in two cases, saying a city may not criminalize public camping if there is no alternative space available for the campers to relocate.
While the decisions did not allow or require the city to permit encampments in a way in which it created a public nuisance, the city permitted and invited encampments in Harrison and Lower Dwight, knowing they would be a public nuisance, the plaintiffs allege.
The city also allowed encampments to remain in place despite shelter space being available.
GOV NEWSOM ORDERS HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS TORN DOWN ACROSS CALIFORNIA: ‘NO MORE EXCUSES’
But in 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit’s decisions and said municipalities are permitted to remove public encampments whether sufficient alternative space is available or not.
The businesses said in the lawsuit they believe the city refuses to act, in part, because it fears litigation by advocates of those living in RVs and those who are homeless.
By filing the lawsuit, the businesses are asking the court to step in and require the city to follow the law and remove the encampments so the neighborhoods will be free of public and private nuisance conditions.
MASSIVE CALIFORNIA RESIDENTIAL TOWER TO OFFER HOMELESS PRIVATE ROOMS, GYM, CAFE AND MORE AMENITIES
The City of Berkeley, California, is being sued by several businesses for failing to remove homeless encampments. (Superior Court of the State Of California County of Alameda)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the city manager and some of the businesses who filed the lawsuit for comment.
The businesses are represented by Gavrilov & Brooks of Sacramento and Arizona-based Tully Bailey LLP. The latter won a case in 2023 that required the city of Phoenix to clear a homeless camp within the city limits.
Ilan Wurman, an attorney from Tully Bailey LLP who is on the Berkeley case, told Fox News Digital the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year that held cities have the authority to remove homeless encampments, does not compel them to do so.
“It has become clear that Berkeley, even though it has shelter to offer, and its offers are routinely refused, does not plan to do anything about the encampments,” Wurman said. “Only a public nuisance lawsuit can force the city to do the right thing and clean up the city. This legal theory was deployed successfully in Phoenix, and we are optimistic it will work in Berkeley, too.”
FOX 2 in San Francisco spoke with Winston, who said she has tried to work with the city over the years to control the encampment near her business.
“It’s tough. It’s filthy. There’s trash everywhere. The street is frightening to drive down for customers. It’s not safe for our customers or our staff,” Winston said.
She also told the station she wants the unhoused residents to receive shelter and treatment they need but also called the city out for failing to improve conditions, forcing her to pursue legal action.
HOMELESS PERSON ALLEGEDLY ABDUCTS 4-YEAR-OLD AT CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT AMID UPTICK OF CRIME
Gov. Gavin Newsom along with a Caltrans cleanup crew at an encampment site near Paxton Street and Remick Avenue in Los Angeles as the state’s Clean California initiative continues Aug. 8, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“I was not eager to do this. This was certainly not my idea of a good time. I wish the city would just have cleaned it up anyway,” she said.
Homeless encampments are a growing problem across California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom took to the streets of California in August to clean up trash left behind by homeless encampments, threatening municipalities that if they do not clean up encampments, they will lose state funding next year.
“I want to see results,” Newsom said at the time. “I don’t want to read about them. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see it.”
Homelessness has skyrocketed in the Golden State under Newsom’s leadership. According to the 2024 point-in-time count, which provides a snapshot of homelessness on a given night, the number of homeless individuals in California increased to approximately 172,000. This represented an increase from the estimated 131,000 homeless individuals counted in 2018, the year Newsom took office.
OAKLAND HOMELESS WOMAN STEALS CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE’S FUNDRAISING MONEY: ‘I WAS LEFT TO FEND FOR MYSELF’
The City of Berkeley, California, is being sued by several businesses for failing to remove homeless encampments. (Superior Court of the State Of California County of Alameda)
Earlier this year, Newsom’s administration blamed counties and cities after a state audit report found his own homelessness task force failed to track how billions of dollars have been spent trying to tackle the crisis in the last five years.
At the time, a senior spokesperson for the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (CICH), which coordinates homeless programs across the state, told Fox News Digital the audit’s findings “highlight the significant progress made in recent years to address homelessness at the state level, including the completion of a statewide assessment of homelessness programs.”
Over the past five years, the CICH didn’t consistently track whether the money actually improved the situation, the audit concluded.
The spokesperson added local governments “are primarily responsible for implementing these programs and collecting data on outcomes that the state can use to evaluate program effectiveness.”
Since 2016, California has spent over $25 billion on homelessness. This includes state, local and federal funding allocated toward boosting the state’s “housing first” ideology through various programs, which prioritize placing people in housing first before addressing mental illness or substance abuse problems.
Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder hosted her first community listening session Thursday night since returning from a three-month medical leave.
Dozens of District 9 residents packed the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center to welcome back Fielder and voice concerns about issues affecting their communities.
“We are thankful that you took time for yourself to equip yourself to be sitting here today,” one attendee told Fielder. “So I thank you and commend you for returning.”
Fielder returned to City Hall last month after taking a three-month medical leave.
“I’m just grateful for the outpouring of support that I had and glad to be back on the job,” Fielder said. “Mental health is really prevalent, and I’m not going to shy away from the fact that I had a mental health crisis. This is a challenging job, and I’m very privileged to be here.”
Fielder said she is hosting a series of town hall-style meetings to give residents an opportunity to voice their concerns.
“To me, the biggest issue locally is the homeless issue, and it’s citywide,” San Francisco resident Maggie Weis said.
Fielder was joined by members of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and San Francisco Police Department to answer questions about pedestrian safety, city budget cuts and other issues.
The supervisor said one of her priorities moving forward is expanding access to clean, well-maintained public restrooms.
“[We’re] still seeing a lot of feces around the district and city,” Fielder said. “Would love to see our city have more public bathrooms and be able to maintain them as well.”
The next listening session is scheduled for July 23 at 6 p.m. at La Fénix in the Mission.
Watch the full report from KRON4’s Sara Stinson in the video player at the top of the story.
DENVER — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is launching a $100 million plan to boost the local economy and support 10,000 jobs over the next three years.
Johnston announced the four-part program Thursday morning, flanked by business leaders while praising downtown businesses like brunch eatery Snooze.
▶️ WATCH: Denver7’s Alex Dowd reports on the plan
Denver mayor promises to create 10K jobs in next 3 years
Snooze Co-Founder Adam Schlegel said his business benefited from a similar program when U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper was mayor in the early 2000s.
“The city really was the one that stepped up,” Schlegel said. “We wouldn’t have started if it wouldn’t have been for the economic development office. We ended up getting an incentive from the city to open up, particularly in this space [downtown]. It was a fiscal incentive to do it, in addition to coaching.”
Both of those are offered in the new four-part Denver Jobs Agenda. With funding from the Denver Downtown Development Authority and the Office of Economic Development and Opportunity, Johnston aims to develop start-ups in the city, grow existing businesses and draw in new companies while working to advance the Denver-area workforce across industries.
At the end of the last fiscal quarter, Denver’s unemployment rate hovered around 3.6% — under the national rate of 4.2% — according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while office vacancy sits just under 40%, according to commercial real estate broker CBRE.
Johnston and other speakers made multiple references to more jobs bringing more people downtown.
“Denver has so many things going for it, so it will come back,” Schlegel said. “It’s not coming back as fast as I want, or as much as anyone will, but will it have a long-term future? 100%. It’s things like this, though, that I think give us a lot of hope that it can happen sooner than waiting it out.”
▶️ Watch the full press conference
Press conference: Denver mayor announces Denver Jobs Agenda
Chris Berthiaume, the city’s director of workforce industry initiatives, says the three workforce development centers across Denver serve around 20,000 people each year. He’s confident this new initiative will help more of those visitors find employment.
“We want to focus on things like aerospace, cybersecurity, green construction,” Berthiaume said. “This new initiative really just tightens the focus on sectors that we know are growing. Colorado is home to a huge aerospace culture. Quantum technology is emerging and coming. Green workforce are jobs that we know drive around Denver. Construction is everywhere. We need to make sure we have a skilled workforce that’s ready to take on those jobs.”
While also finding employers to hire them and stay within the community for the long haul.
“I think the reason businesses work — certainly restaurants work — is that you are integral to the community specifically where you are,” Schlegel said. “There are so many people in our community that really believe in Denver and want to see what it can be, and so it will get there.”
It’s well on the way. Denver’s Economic Development Corporation says they’re working with 52 active prospects that could bring more than 12,000 jobs to the area.
Coloradans making a difference | Denver7 featured videos
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what’s right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
Global entertainment company Webtoon is returning to the hallowed halls of San Diego Comic-Con with a larger-than-life slate of panels featuring top talent and fresh announcements.
They will be shining the spotlight on some of today’s most engaging webcomic creators, including Derek V. Song (Fantasy High) and Punko (Cinderella Boy).
Let’s take a look at their schedule:
Thursday, July 23 – 10am – Room 29AB
Creature Craft: Visionaries of Horror Comics Share Their Secrets
This panel features Punko, creator of Stagtown and Cinderella Boy on WEBTOON; Cullen Bunn, creator of Ripcord and Deluge for Ignition Press; and Cat Staggs, co-creator of Death Mask, and artist on Tales for a HalloweeNight for Storm King Comics. Rotem Rusak, Editor-in-Chief at Nerdist, will moderate.
Friday, July 24 – 10am – Room 32AB
Love in Every Universe: The Great Romance Trope Debate
Join ROSEOAK, creator of Not So Silent on WEBTOON, Alessandra Ferreri, Head of Content at Wattpad, E.M. Wilson, author of Situationship, and Becca Erin Title, founder of Meet Cute Romance Bookshop. The panel is moderated by Crystal Bell, the Culture Editor at Mashable.
Friday, July 24 – 1pm – Room 32AB
Adapting Fantasy High for WEBTOON with Derek V. Song
Featuring Derek V. Song, writer of Fantasy High. Fans will get a behind-the-scenes look at adapting the beloved Dimension 20 series for WEBTOON and learn more about bringing the world of Fantasy High to a new visual format.
Saturday, July 25 – 11:30am – Room 24ABC
What’s Next from WEBTOON Entertainment
Featuring Ryan Lee, Head of Content at WEBTOON; Sydney Bright, Head of Global Animation at WEBTOON Productions; Erik Kozura, Producer at WEBTOON; ROSEOAK, creator of Not So Silent; Derek V. Song, writer of Fantasy High; Punko, creator of Stagtown and Cinderella Boy; and Ucheomaaa, creator of Vibe Check! on WEBTOON. Journalist, comic critic, and 2026 Eisner judge, Tiffany Babb, will moderate. his panel will deliver a slew of announcements, exclusive first looks, and Creator appearances from its platform and entertainment businesses. Additionally, the panel will give fans a window into what’s next from WEBTOON’s most exciting stories and projects, with news from WEBTOON Originals, WEBTOON Productions, WEBTOON Unscrolled, and more.
-
Movie Reviews12 minutes ago‘Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass’ Review: We’re Off to Hump the Wizard
-
World19 minutes agoBacklash on ethanol-blend fuel intensifies in India, puts carmakers in the dock
-
Politics30 minutes ago
Crews Drape Tarp Over White House in Latest Trump Restoration
-
Health45 minutes agoGLP-1 Users’ Guide to Protein Snacks: Here’s What a Dietitian Actually Recommends
-
Lifestyle60 minutes ago‘The Invite’ is a marriage comedy with sex and heart
-
Technology1 hour agoI spent a week using the Trump phone — it sucks
-
World1 hour agoWith US unleashing attacks, Iranian official threatens that the Islamic Republic will deliver a ‘hard slap’
-
Politics1 hour agoWATCH: Trump’s Energy chief reveals what escalating Iran tensions could mean for gas prices
