Albany Bulb

The girl

By Amber Whitson on
First-person   Opinion
On August 13, 2012, I was at home in my tent at the Albany Bulb, taking pictures of my clothing after I finally sorted all of it. Being a perfectionist, I took two pictures from each angle. I figured that I would review the pictures after I was done, keep the best ones from each angle and delete the other ones.

The Sense of Loss When a Community Is Erased

Features   Uncategorized
Andy Kreamer asked people to call out the names of Albany Bulb residents who had been lost. The amount of loss that has been suffered in the past year is overwhelming. The residents have lost more than their homes. They’ve lost their safety, their friends, their peace of mind.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Features   Uncategorized
It is heartbreaking to go out to the Albany Bulb and see what has been done to our former home. Those of us who still live on the streets are under constant persecution due to the inhumane laws that criminalize our very existence.

Albany’s Shelter Program Is a Dismal Failure

Features   Uncategorized
“They never delivered services in a way that’s actually designed to help people with disabilities. They’ve simply written off all those people who don’t have an income. They blame people out here for their failure to find housing for them. They’ve given all kinds of reasons why they failed .” — Osha Neumann

Albany’s Inhumane and Irresponsible Eviction Plans

Features   Uncategorized
Even while Albany has refused to develop any housing, shelter beds or homeless services at all, for the past 14 years, homeless people have been camping on the Albany Landfill, taking care of the land, cleaning up construction debris, planting trees, creating works of art, and making it their home.

How We Found a Safe Haven at the Albany Bulb

Features   Uncategorized
Once-respectable environmental activists have shown their preference for “parks over poor people” again and again. They refuse to acknowledge that pushing for the eviction of homeless people goes against their own environmental justice policy. And rather than using the “Housing First” model, the City Council has chosen the “eviction first” approach.

A Place of Freedom Where the Sea Meets the Sky

News
People who could not find anywhere else to live, lived in this beautiful place. They had the solace of living in nature, and loved the landfill for its wildness, for the fact that it wasn’t controlled and tamed.

Finding Refuge in Refuse at the Albany Landfill

Arts and Culture   Features
Creative women and men have created a flourishing homestead dedicated to art, ecology and freedom at the Albany Bulb. The plants are wild, the art dotting every square inch of the peninsula is unsanctioned, and the residents embrace an alternative lifestyle. All these elements seem to be in harmony with one another.

How Green Was My Peninsula: Homeless People Face Mass Eviction in Albany

News
Despite their efforts to keep the land green, homeless people once again face eviction from the Albany Bulb. Advocates argue that Albany officials cannot evict the homeless encampment without providing alternative shelter. Yet, for the past 15 years, Albany has had no homeless shelters at all for its unsheltered citizens.