No matter what kind of civic improvement we have and how much money we spend, we will not change/impact the view of Oakland without addressing our homeless population. We need to triage them to appropriate housing, drug, alcohol and mental health facilities. I think there are many examples of doing this with proactive outreach not by the police but by people who work with and understand these issues. I am all for the police but they should be working on criminal activity and not those with mental illness. I am struck driving especially in downtown Oakland by the people camping under the freeways and on our streets. Of course there are some people gaming the system but I assure you that this is the great minority. This will do more to improve the City of Oakland than millions spent on new infrastructure.