I find it fascinating that Thao is now promising to end encampments sometime next year. Thank you Mayor Thao! It took you a while, but you’ve finally accepted the advice of the Coalition for a Better Oakland, namely that Oakland must formally put an end to these dirty camps, immediately and forever. We’ve been calling for precisely that for years, but you, and the politicians that support you, resisted. But events have so turned out that even you, in your stubborn embrace of wokeness, have realized that your job, not to mention public opinion, requires you to clean up our city and get rid of these awful slums.
We’re told that you are “meeting with advocates for unhoused people so that we don’t have a lot of pushback.” Can I give you some advice? Screw the pushback. These so-called “advocates” will be satisfied with nothing short of allowing tents; there’s nothing you can offer them that will result in them supporting your proposal to end all camps. So forget about it. Give them a few courtesy meetings so they can save face, take a couple mug shots with them, but in the end, tell them to drop dead. We don’t want or need “advocates” demanding that encampments be a permanent part of the Oakland landscape. If you’re afraid of these “advocates” criticizing you, then you chose the wrong job. Taking heat is part of being a leader.
I’ll be watching developments closely, as I’m sure everyone else will, to see if you, Mayor Thao, follow through on your declared intention. If we still have encampments next year, will you admit that you’ve failed? Will you apologize? Will you step down? You just made a major public promise. If you fail to deliver on this, the #1 issue in Oakland, honor demands that you step aside
Although I welcome it, I have to admit feeling a bit outraged by this sudden volte-face by the mayor. For years she ignored encampments. For years, she defended the right of homeless people to live in parks, on sidewalks and anyplace else they saw fit. For years she blathered about “human rights,” as if anyone has the “right” to erect a dirty tent in the middle of a park where children play. For years she sided with her friends on the City Council—Fife, Bas, Kalb, Kaplan and the rest of them—to block any effort to clean up encampments. She’s even resisted efforts to implement the Encampment Management Policy she herself voted for. Now, suddenly, Thao has caught up to reality—or vice versa. Better late than never, I guess, but Thao’s hypocrisy is breathtaking. She could have done this three years ago. What took you so long, Mayor Thao? And given the wobbliness of your former position on the issue, how can we believe that this time you’re serious about cleaning up Oakland?
Steve Heimoff