It’s not too early, I think, to begin considering what our political agenda ought to be after the election is over. After all, we’ll have a new Mayor and a new City Council. Although we have no idea who the winners will be, we do know it’ll be a new day in Oakland, and an opportunity to reimagine our city.
We—the Coalition and you—certainly struck a nerve two years ago, with our focus on crime, cops and camps. Back then, we seemed to be a cranky minority; certainly that’s how the progressives painted us. Now, as the national mood has shifted our way, we seem to have been pathfinders. What this means is that we have the general outlines of our agenda post-election (crime, cops and camps), but we can drill down deeper in the details of these subjects.
On CRIME, I would like to see a renewed commitment to actively combat crime, in all its nefarious forms. We know that, today, the Oakland Police Department is so understaffed that they can properly focus only on the most violent crimes, such as murder. They do a good job, but what about the petty stuff that, in its own way, is just as injurious? Shoplifting, for example. Why aren’t security guards allowed to interfere with blatant looting? Why can’t a patrol car that’s two blocks away be rerouted to a store that’s being robbed? Why can’t cops demand to see proof of ownership of the stuff that vendors are selling around Lake Merritt, much of which seems to have been pilfered?
For that matter, why can’t cops be more actively involved in things like the theft of catalytic converters and home robberies? There’s no reason, in theory, why cops can’t be far more interventionist than they are now. The only excuse I can think of is the understaffing issue. For that reason, we have to insist on a minimum of 1,000 sworn officers in OPD. I know that even the most pro-cop Mayoral candidates, like Seneca Scott, stop at 900 officers, but this isn’t enough. We need leaders who will jam through hiring more cops, as quickly as possible, damn the cost, until we get a lid on this crime wave.
On COPS, in addition to hiring at least 1,000, we need a complete change in attitude toward policing in Oakland. We need to unburden cops from the fear they’ll get punished, fired or sued for doing their job. Currently, cops live in a perpetual state of anxiety—not only because of the dangerous nature of their work, but because they have so many dogs at their heels: the Police Commission, the City Council, malicious judges such as Orrick, other city commissions who seem to interpret their charters as reducing OPD to its lowest conceivable level, and hack, ambulance-chasing lawyers who get rich from suing Oakland. We, as an electorate, must finally stand up to these people and tell them to STFU. We need to let them know that we, the People, will not tolerate their meddling anymore. We need to reassure Oakland cops that we have their backs, and that if anyone hassles them, we’re here to protect them.
On CAMPS, let’s keep our eyes on the prize: a tent-free Oakland. The first thing we can do is adopt a zero-tolerance policy for tents in the parks, which are already illegal. We can clean up our parks overnight, if we have the will. Every time a tent pops up in the middle of a sidewalk, we’ll send a cop to make sure it comes down—that day. No warnings necessary, no tickets, no 30-day grace period. If someone plays the Martin v. Boise card, we’ll say to them, “See you in court.” Let’s fight that damned thing. We can hire more city attorneys if necessary. Now, this doesn’t preclude going forward with attempts to provide shelter for the homeless—through Project Homekey, tiny homes and so on. But we have to insist that funding come only through municipal sources, such as Federal, state and country governments. No parcel taxes will be imposed on homeowners for homelessness for a period of at least five years.
Clearly there are many other issues we will focus on after the election, but the three I’ve outlined above constitute the core of the Coalition’s mission, and always will. Still, I’d appreciate hearing from readers about your issues and interests.
Thank you.
Steve Heimoff