Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES Permit – Berkeley

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The images below are a small selection of the images I have recorded over the past three years in Berkeley that show the huge problem of municipal trash. Much, though not all of this trash originates at homeless camps around Berkeley. Much of this debris is plastic and ends up in San Francisco Bay.

Since 2009 I have collected nearly 7 tons of trash off the beaches of West Marin and from Tomales Bay.

Each winter I collect a few dozen, sometimes more, dirty syringes that have washed up on the beaches of Point Reyes National Seashore, including but not limited to Limantour, Drakes, South, North, Kehoe and McClures beaches.

Since 2016 I have been visiting Lake Merritt and other locations in and around the western edges of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley and Oakland in search of the source of these needles.

I’ve collected thousands of needles from in and around the homeless camps in these communities. I’ve also learned that needle exchanges are not actually exchanges. For example, The Berkeley Needle Exchange will hand out 600 needles to anyone that asks, with no need to turn in a single dirty needle. I believe this is wrong and is responsible for the horrid amount of syringe litter that blights our cities and waterways.

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Click on an image to see a larger version.

Codornices Creek – Border between Albany and Berkeley near Interstate 80

Gilman at 80



SeaBreeze / University camps area at 80

Ashby Beach – where Ashby intersect West Frontage at SF Bay

Landmark event: Berkeley bans he, she and manhole from city codes!

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They need to put their large un-housed, unemployed workforce to work, cleaning up “they’re” mess. A toxic mess that floats across city borders to pollute the San Francisco Bay and beyond.

The Berkeley Needle Exchange (Giveaway) hands out over 11,000 needles each week. They will give anyone that walks in 600 needles, no exchange required. This must stop. A one for one exchange must occur, or we will be swimming in dirty syringes.

Working to reduce troublesome diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C is great. But, make sure you are not creating another problem in the process.

Needles wash up on coastal beaches every year by the hundreds, likely many more than that.

Decriminalize possession of syringes so that IV drug users will not be afraid to carry them to a true needle exchange.

Open safe injection sites so that IV drug users can medicate themselves in a safe place where they can get other services and their needles can be secured.

San Francisco hands out 4.45 million needles each year.

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Can we please have a beach without needles & human waste?

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Recently while visiting the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Berkeley as I attempt to understand where the dirty syringes I find all over the beaches in West Marin come from each winter, I came upon this image.

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This young mother had brought her son to enjoy the waves.

He is a beautiful young boy. He is also autistic.

His mother’s family took his sister and the rest of the family to Hawaii on vacation.

They did not want him to join them. Which broke his mother’s heart.

He so Looooooves the feeling of water on him.

He would stand as the tiny waves crashed into him, smiling like the giant star he is as each buttery hand washed over him. His smile beaming.

Occasionally the water would knock him down and his mother would rush over and help him up if he was unable to right himself.

I watched with swelling heart for a few minutes. He was in complete bliss.

Slowly I approached his mother and explained that this beach was often covered with raw sewage, needles, condoms and other unhealthy items.

I held up a plastic water bottle with the several dirty syringes I had just picked up from this tiny sliver of sand adjacent to West Frontage Road, itself adjacent to Southbound 80 near Ashby Avenue in Berkeley CA.

She sighed and ran to help her son up from the toxic water.

Again his smile shone like a thousand blazing suns as he relished the feeling of the water caressing him.

How blessed I am to live where I do, so close to dozens of beaches mostly free of used hypodermic syringes and bags of human shit tossed from homeless individuals living in their cars alongside a roaring ribbon of pavement and cars busy taking people god knows where to make the world a better place with the likes, instagrams, ubers, airbnb’s and all manner of progress(?).

I shared with his mother how to get to one of the brilliant beaches I am blessed to live near, giving her a map with directions. I hope she brings him there soon.

She thanked me for my efforts and for sharing with her a beach to take her son to that is not covered with human waste and dirty needles.

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Here is how Ashby beach often looks.

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Bag of human feces dropped on road next to SF Bay

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Ashby at Shellmound – 2 February 2019

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Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and Ashby Avenues

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Sea Breeze Market University at Frontage Rd.– 11 February 2019

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Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and the Sea Breeze Market.

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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What toxic substances are dumped into that drain that flows directly to San Francisco Bay?

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Numerous propane tanks, unsecured next to busy roadways

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Lead acid batteries, unsecured next to busy roadways

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More lead acid batteries

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Sea Breeze Market University at Frontage Rd.– 2 February 2019

Click the words above “Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Sea Breeze…” to see this entire post.

Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and Ashby Avenues

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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Lead acid batteries unsecured near busy roadways

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Numerous propane tanks unsecured near busy roadways

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Gilman at Frontage Rd.– 11 February 2019

Click the words above “Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Gilman at Frontage Rd….” to see this entire post.

Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and Ashby Avenues

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Sea Breeze Market University at Frontage Rd.– 24 January 2019

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Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and Ashby Avenues

On this day I happened to arrive as CalTrans crews removed items after posting a a notice to clear out of the area and take your items with you.
The law requires 72 hour notice, I was told the people squatting here had been given a week, and still they did not vacate the premises.

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Gilman at Frontage Rd.– 24 January 2019

Click the words above “Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Gilman at Frontage Rd….” to see this entire post.

Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and Ashby Avenues

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Sea Breeze Market University at Frontage Rd.– 17 December 2018

Click the words above “Impact of homeless camps in Berkeley CA – Sea Breeze University at Frontage Rd….” to see this entire post.

Below images show the areas along West Frontage Road near University and the Sea Breeze Market.

Click on an image to see a larger version, then click on the dimensions above image name to see it full sized.

If you’d like to educate yourself about one of the major causes of the opioid crisis depicted below in images, read the following articles:

Sackler Embraced Plan to Conceal OxyContin’s Strength From Doctors, Sealed Testimony Shows

Origins of an Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused

Investigation: The DEA slowed enforcement while the opioid epidemic grew out of control

The Family That Built an Empire of Pain

Full Coverage: Oxycontin Investigation

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