Saturday night and Sunday may have been the worst 24-hour period in Oakland’s sad, sorry recent history. Crime swept the city, from rioting sideshow thugs who shut down the Bay Bridge to corpses strewn from West Oakland to Fruitvale. Yet the oblivious Sheng Thao (She/Her) is out there gloating about the Oakland Ballers, fabulous street parties, and an “upgraded 9-1-1 system” no one believes will work any better than the last one.
As for crime, murder and mayhem in the streets? Nothing to see here, Thao assures us, so let’s all go down to Burdell Soul Food (her new fave resto) and have a mimosa!
Here are the weekend’s grisly details:
- Two gun murders at 23rd and MLK Way.
- One gun murder in East Oakland
- The Bay Bridge shut down early Sunday morning due to sideshows and hundreds of rioters who climbed freeway signs.
- More sideshows on Hegenberger.
- And yet another massive sideshow on the westbound approach to the Bay Bridge.
- “Multiple burglaries” across the city, according to KTVU-TV.
- A T.V. news crew was robbed at gunpoint. The thugs stole all the equipment as well as a security guard’s gun.
No arrests seem to have been made anywhere. “We’re under siege by criminals,” announced Huy Nguyen, the OPD union president. Another announcement was from Noel Gallo, who informed us, with a straight face, that Oakland needs more police! This is the same Gallo who was the only council member to vote against funding additional police academies.
Now, all this is happening against the shocking backdrop of the latest report on crime statistics in the Bay Area. Oakland has had by far the highest crime (including violent crime) rate per 100,000 population of any of the major Bay Area cities (Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose). From that report:
“Oakland’s overall 2023 crime rate was higher than at any time in the past two decades, up 100 percent since 2020, 56 percent since 2013 and 86 percent since 2003. Oakland’s 2023 violent crime rate was up 174 percent since 2020, 72 percent since 2013, and 150 percent since 2003. Oakland’s 2023 property crime rate was up 90 percent since 2020, 52 percent since 2013 and 72 percent since 2003.”
By now, we’ve become almost numb to these grim statistics. Crime has exploded since Sheng Thao became mayor and she continues to deny it, make excuses for it, lie about it, and allege that crime is down and everything is getting better. Thao is thus like Neville Chamberlain, who in 1938 assured the world that “Peace is at hand” when in fact that world was only a breath away from apocalypse.
Thao is a joke of a mayor, put there by the union bosses who correctly perceived her as pliant and none too smart, a cipher who would obey orders. “It’s unclear,” muses The Mercury News, “why Oakland’s crime rate has diverged so sharply from those in San Francisco and San Jose, especially in recent years.” Actually, it’s perfectly clear why. Oakland elected disastrous politicians who were determined to grind Oakland into the ground, and they’ve done exactly that.
Remember to vote on Nov. 5!
Steve Heimoff