Metered Exclusion: The Case of Lake Merritt in Oakland, CA

Abstract

This case study of the Lake Merritt Parking Management Plan & Resolution in Oakland, California, chronicles placement of parking meters around historically free access points to the lake and illuminates their function as more than an apolitical technology deployed by underfunded cities. Using ethnographic and observational methods, this study reveals experiences of exclusion amid meter-driven threats of spatial and cultural dispossession, a contributing pressure toward the rapid gentrification Oakland communities are already experiencing. I situate this case study in relation to scholarship exploring the linkages between such contemporary exclusion and historical struggles against systemic violence intrinsic to colonial and capitalist processes that have disrupted land-based relationality for marginalized communities for centuries.

My interest in this case is rooted in my experience as an Oaklander and as the eldest child of 6 raised by a single mother, who at times struggled to make ends meet. I can thus imagine how impoverished families with barely enough money for rent, food, and transportation in Oakland, California would experience exclusion from access to Lake Merritt due to this new financial burden.

Deploying a mixed methods approach which consists of a detailed review of related literature, including an analysis of historical and archival documentation, a geospatial data analysis, and an ethnographic study consisting of participant observation, surveys, and interviews, I gather evidence to answer the overarching research question: Do parking meter policies inflict violence as a tool of gentrification, perpetuating colonialist processes of land dispossession?