At 2:27 p.m. yesterday afternoon, nextdoor.com capitulated and let Jack Saunders back onto the platform.
They did this after dozens of you emailed nextdoor support and demanded that they lift their censorious ban. This was the direct result of our plea for you to do that. I’m willing to bet this was one of the biggest coordinated public responses to Oakland nextdoor in their history. It is a milestone for the Coalition for a Better Oakland.
It turns out that some anonymous troll, probably a “progressive” who hates our truth, complained that Jack was a fake identity. Imagine that: a malicious troll can lie, and an innocent nextdoor user ends up in nextdoor jail for the better part of a week, while nextdoor support dithers and important information is withheld from the public. I doubt nextdoor would have done anything had it not been for the magnificent response you all showed.
We can celebrate this moment, but it does raise a larger question. I speak from the heart when I say this.
CBO has a lot of people who value us. Some 270 have joined directly through the website. Our Facebook group has 439 members. Our nextdoor.com group has 215 members. I’m sure there are overlaps between the three groups, but for a little neighborhood organization that started just a year ago, with no money, we’ve done okay in the recruitment department. And our people are motivated!
But I have to tell you that getting our friends to turn out for things like commenting at City Council meetings has been an uphill battle. We’ve tried our best, but have never been able to deliver the turnout that, say, the Police Anti-Terror Project can. Here’s the truth: The single most important and effective thing CBO can do is to flood City Council meetings with callers. If we can do that, the politicians will pay attention to us. If we can’t, well…
If we could get dozens of you to email nextdoor.com, why can’t we get dozens of you to call into important City Council meetings? The answer is clear. It takes 10 seconds to send an email. Calling in to the City Council is a whole other thing. It can be a long, tedious wait, and you’re not even guaranteed you’ll be given a slot.
It used to be that the City Council invited citizens to come directly to their meetings at City Hall to comment. That was fairly easy. But they stopped that years ago due to COVID and now, all you can do is call in. They used to schedule public comments for the early evening, but Nikki Bas—that great champion of the people—decided to change it to mid-afternoon. She knew people were at work and couldn’t call. That was her whole point. She doesn’t want to hear from you, and neither do the others.
But we have to comment. Many of you ask me what it will take to change things in Oakland. Let me repeat: The single most important and effective thing CBO can do is to flood City Council meetings with callers. That’s how change will occur, but it will take a commitment on your part.
In the future, I’ll be letting you know when the City Council is meeting on matters of significance to us. I’ll also provide context for the meetings and suggested talking points. It’s hard calling in, as I said. It’s an annoying drudge, by design. I’ll provide precise instructions how to do it.
We made this nextdoor.com thing happen with our collective voice. I’m so proud of us. We can make things happen in the City Council, too, but only if you’re willing to go the extra mile and call in. I hope you will. This is the Long Fight. It won’t be easy to regain our city, but it can be done. Eyes on the prize.
Steve Heimoff