First Fridays, the monthly arts and food event that’s been held along Telegraph Avenue in Uptown since 2006, announced it’s taking a hiatus due to “financial constraints.” These constraints include the mounting cost of hiring police to protect the public, at the cost of $24,000 per event. This isn’t the first time that crime has shut down First Fridays: back in 2018, a mass shooting that injured five attendees forced organizers to cancel their next scheduled event.
First Fridays was great back in its heyday. Telegraph Avenue between 22nd Street and 27th Street was jammed with people who patronized the arts and crafts booths, food popups, and danced to the music. It was a real boost to Uptown (my own neighborhood) and an example of Oakland’s vibrant diversity. The city was, for one night anyway, able to shed its reputation for violence and come together in joyous celebration.
Not any more. One by one, our cherished institutions are dying. Meanwhile, the City Council and Mayor Thao—both of whom helped cause this deplorable situation of crime and atrophy—do nothing, except offer empty rhetoric and make symbolic appearances. Not a word from them about supporting the Oakland Police Department. Not a word from them about stopping crime. Not a word from a District Attorney who vows not to arrest anyone under 25, and who wants to “decarcerate” the jails and free all the prisoners. Not a word from Carroll Fife, in whose district First Fridays used to occur; she continues to whine about racism. Bit by bit, Oakland disintegrates, and those responsible are given a pass.
Meanwhile, the announcement by San Francisco’s Department of Public Works, that they will now require some of their employees to wear bulletproof vests on the job, has caused some consternation across the Bay. The designated employees are those who are tasked with inspecting sidewalk vendors to see if they’ve been properly licensed. So many of the inspectors have been subject to violence by the vendors that Public Works was compelled to take this serious, and embarrassing, step, which only contributes to the “doom cycle” reputation of San Francisco.
Speculation is that many if not most of the sidewalk vendors in San Francisco are peddling stolen goods, and that is why they attack the inspectors. I have similar suspicions about the weekend vendors along Grand Avenue and by the Pergola in Lakeside Park, who are there every weekend. On my way to Farmers Market on Saturdays, I see the tables with watches and earrings, cheap electronic devices and clothes, and to be honest, everything looks stolen. These vendors have caused problems ever since their numbers grew considerably during the pandemic. In 2021, Nikki Bas announced a plan “to move vendors off of Lakeshore Avenue,” but all that accomplished was to push them onto Grand Avenue and El Embaradero. The alleged plan also included “noise standards regarding amplified music” but that too quickly died. This past Saturday, the amplified music was ear-shattering, and I know for a fact it bothers some of the legitimate businesses in the area. You’d think the City Council would care that thieves are possibly using Lakeside Park to fence their stolen goods, but nothing but silence has issued from City Hall. It’s yet another instance of this woke government encouraging lawbreaking when it’s in their political interest to do so.
Anyhow, maybe First Fridays will return this Spring. Let’s hope so. It was a great event until the City Council helped to kill it.
Steve Heimoff