All were in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle. Read on:
Headline: “SFPD still stopping minorities at high rate”
We’ve seen these kinds of news reports over and over again: racial disparities in the number of Black people stopped and searched, as measured by their percent of the population. As the Chronicle says, “Last year, Black people were stopped at an average rate of nearly 39 times per 1,000 residents, compared to an average of seven times per 1,000 residents per white people.” (And while we’re at it, how come the Chronicle capitalizes “Black” but not “white”? Just asking…)
Statistics like these always arouse passions, but in the dozens, or even hundreds, of times I’ve heard them, in newspapers, radio and T.V. coverage and on social media, never have I heard any reporting on whether or not Black people are committing crimes at a higher rate, relative to their percent of the population, than white people. If they are, then it makes sense they would be stopped more often, doesn’t it?
I suppose our local news organizations don’t want to report on crime rates by ethnic group because they’re afraid of being pounced on by woke politicians and critics for being “racist.” However, journalism is supposed to be about providing a full context for the news. Woefully, the San Francisco Chronicle and so many other news organizations are utter failures in this regard.
Headline: “Plan would force S.F. to shelter all homeless”
We’re certainly seeing a more aggressive posture lately on the part of local politicians, who are crafting laws requiring their cities to provide housing for all homeless people. In San Francisco, supervisor Rafael Mandelman’s “A Place for All” proposal would compel the city to provide “shelter” to each of the city’s 8,000 homeless residents.
There’s only one problem: Mandelman doesn’t know where the money is supposed to come from. We’re seeing the same conundrum here in Oakland, where the city is being sued for failure to implement its own Encampment Management Policy, which more or less mandates the city to provide shelter for our unhoused thousands. Where’s that money supposed to come from?
A lot of San Francisco’s and Oakland’s money lately is coming from pandemic relief funds. But this is a one-time windfall. On a longer basis, there’s only one way for a city to get more money: by raising taxes. We’re already seeing, here in Oakland, a proposal from (who else?) Fife and Bas to jack up business taxes for homelessness. Now, you might think that as the city emerges from a pandemic that has devasted businesses, this would be the worst possible time to impose yet higher taxes on businesses. But no: Fife and Bas see everything as “redistribution of wealth” from the top down. The City Council will have hearings on this proposal on March 31.
Another way for cities to get more money is to raise property taxes by increasing the number of parcel taxes. We haven’t heard any proposals to do this from Fife, Bas & Co.—yet. But it’s coming, let there be no doubt. After the Courts ruled the other day that citizen-led parcel taxes require only a simple majority of votes, not the two-thirds majority mandated by Prop 13, you know it’s only a matter of time before Fife, Bas & Co. impose the “Equity and Justice For All” parcel tax upon Oakland’s homeowners, many of whom already are struggling under the burden of massive parcel taxes.
Headline: “Oakland tiny homes village catches fire”
We told you this would happen. And we’re not even in fire season yet. The Oakland Fire Department has repeatedly warned of the danger of fires in encampments and other homeless shelters. “The Fire Department is extremely concerned by the growing number of RV and homeless-encampment-related fires,” said an OFD spokesperson.
As well they should be. They know it’s only a matter of time before a homeless fire leads to a major conflagration. But is the city doing anything to prevent this? No. It would be a simple matter to enforce laws already on the books that prohibit open fires, but our City Council and Police Commission won’t let cops do it. If there’s a big fire, there will be plenty of blame to go around, but a lot of it will be on the Oakland City Council.
Steve Heimoff