"The Fall of Oakland" - a guest article

I’m posting this link to an article I hope you’ll read. It’s one of the most cogent analyses of the situation in Oakland I’ve ever seen. The author, Leighton Woodhouse (whom I do not know), lives in Oakland. He’s spot-on when he describes our city’s lawlessness, our failed, feckless politicians, and the impunity with which criminals commit their foul acts. He also elaborates on OPD’s understandable tendency to “underpolice,” by which he means that cops are afraid to do their jobs because retributive anti-police attitudes in Oakland threaten them with awful consequences, from lawsuits to shame to firing.

Please read “The Fall of Oakland” by Leighton Woodhouse.

I’ll be back in force tomorrow.

 Steve Heimoff

“Read between the lines”: Newsom weighs in on Price recall

One thing Gavin Newsom hates and seldom does is to get involved in local politics. He may have his own personal feelings, but as the Governor of California, he can’t, and shouldn’t, take sides in divisive local issues. But if you’ve been following events, he’s closely involved himself in Oakland’s misfortunes, sending in the CHP and helping to install 500 high-tech traffic cameras here. Now, he’s taken a definitive step in our efforts to recall Pamela Price.

From the Annals of Street Life: An Oakland tale

I was walking home on Grand Avenue, across the street from Lake Merritt by the Senior Center, when I saw a man in a wheelchair coming toward me, about a half block away. As we neared each other, I noticed the man was holding what appeared to be a sawed-off piece of thick wooden broomstick, about two feet long. When we were about 12 feet from each other, the man deliberately steered his wheelchair directly into my path, brandishing his wooden stick menacingly in the air. He looked at me and said, “Oh, I like this one.”

Oakland’s dirty little secrets are being exposed

I’ve long complained about the secrecy and pettifogging that taint so much of politics in Oakland. We’re never told what deals our electeds make with unions to get their financial support. The various agencies—City Council, Police Commission, etc.—often go into “closed” or secret session despite California’s Ralph M. Brown Act, which “ensures the public’s right to attend the meetings of public agencies.” And now, with this mess about Sheng Thao and California Waste Solutions, it’s becoming even clearer that there’s a vast underground labyrinth of money laundering and clandestine activity occurring out of sight and undermining our democracy in Oakland.