If you’re not feeling safe in Oakland, it’s not your imagination: The statistics prove you’re in grave danger. According to the Oakland Police Department’s End-of-Year Crime report comparing 2022 to the previous 5-year average, the following crimes all increased: premeditated murder, aggravated assault, assault with a firearm, rape, robbery, illegal possession of a firearm, carjacking, burglary, auto theft, and commercial robbery. In some cases, the increases were in double digits: homicides up 23%, carjackings up 53%, commercial burglaries up 56%.
Now, we can’t blame these shocking crime rates on Sheng Thao or Pamela Price, because neither held their current office until this year. But we can ask the Mayor and Madame District Attorney what they’re doing about this state of emergency. The answer is Nothing. KTVU’s reporter Andre Senior on June 6 asked Thao about these latest crime statistics, and Thao replied, with a blatant disregard for truth, “This number is lower than what we have seen last year.” What “number” are you referring to, Madame Mayor? Regrettably, Andre Senior failed to follow up on his question and point out Thao’s failure to respond. How hard would it have been for him to interrupt and say, “But Mayor, premeditated murder, aggravated assault, assault with a firearm, rape, robbery, illegal possession of a firearm, carjacking, burglary, auto theft, and commercial robbery were all up in 2022 compared to the previous 5 years. How can you say ‘this number of lower than what we have seen last year’? What the heck are you talking about?”
But Senior stuck to his prepared list of questions, and Thao stuck to her talking points—the most absurd of which was her rosy scenario that “we are projected to have more revenues” by this summer “than we are actually gearing up for.” Another statement with no connection to reality. Oakland’s projected budget deficit this cycle is around $330 million,“an unprecedented budget shortfall that leaves all kinds of services at risk,” said a former chair of the City Council’s Budget Advisory Commission. But again, Senior had nothing to say. Thao’s mind is stuffed with canned factoids, and disingenuous reporters like Andre Senior let her dispense them like Pez candies.
This is the Pez Mayor: in thrall to the most irrational and radical personalities in Oakland: Cat Brooks, Carroll Fife, Nikki Bas, and the legions of woke bureaucrats who are on the Oakland payroll. Thao has consistently shown an insensitivity to the fears and concerns of the people she is supposed to represent. Her priority, as we all know, is “social justice,” which does nothing to keep us safe, but assures Thao of the dark money the unions pour into her campaign coffers. (Why the unions are so oblivious to public safety is a big question, of course, and one I don’t claim to have an answer for.)
Anyhow, crime is up, up, up, Oakland is spiraling out of control. We all know it. Sheng Thao knows it. Pamela Price knows it. None of them has the slightest idea what to do, except to bleat on about “social justice” and “equity.” Words, words, words, meaningless words, sound and fury signifying nothing, political slogans we’re bored with. Words won’t solve Oakland’s problems. Our problems will not be solved until we give the boot to Sheng Thao, Pamela Price and their cohort of social justice warriors, who do not have our interests at heart, and replace them with serious problem solvers.
Steve Heimoff