The evidence of what a Democrat-led city and state look like is playing out right in front of us, and they aren’t pretty. As the city of Oakland, California, is facing that reality, these businesses are adding up their losses, and it’s not pretty. With many insurance companies refusing to pay out without solid police work behind the claims, many owners are outraged at the lack of police response.
On September 26th, over 200 small businesses shuttered their doors at 10 am and remained closed until noon, with many electing to remain closed until the 27th. The goal of the protest is to raise awareness about the failures they voted for and the increased risks to businesses and people because of the understaffed and underpaid police force.
Speaking with ABC 7 the night before, restaurateur Ryan Dixon made it clear they have had enough. “We are all dying figuratively and literally. The business community has just gotten to the breaking point where every day, someone has to choose to close their doors because they can no longer stay in business. Whether they’re getting broken into repeatedly, whether their staff is being held up or assaulted, shootings in front of our businesses. People are afraid to come to downtown Oakland right now.”
For many of the protestors, they hit their limit when they learned the mayor had refused to request additional funding to combat the spike in crime from the state of California. Reportedly, a group visited with government officials and attempted to bring up the topic, only to be shooed away and told to put money into private security.
Both the mayor and district attorney are in the limelight for their lack of response, as crime has spiked extensively. Violent crime has been reported to be up 21% within the last year, and specifically, robberies are up 33% as well. This kind of push is not the one they were expecting to get from this democratic leadership, but they got it in spades.
Carl Chan, the president of the Oakland Chinatown Bureau of Commerce, helped co-organize the strike and spoke with KTVU on September 22nd. “Many businesses are facing a very challenging time dealing with crimes. People are afraid to come out to patronize our businesses. We wanna stop closure of any business in our city.”
With many already fleeing, many property owners are finding themselves stuck with vacancies and damaged buildings they need to fix/repair to get them rented again. Given the poor police protections, there’s no telling how long they would be able to stay repaired either. It’s a no-win effort that they are really up a creek with.
A demonstration like this isn’t going to get them through their situation any easier. The neighborhood isn’t going to be losing its criminal element any time soon. With many looking to get their neighborhoods clean, it’s often the outsiders causing problems at home. The problem is that when people consistently cross over boundaries to commit a crime, it just continues to spread and go across differing lines time after time.
For people in these Oakland streets, there is little to no hope things will change. Their alderman, the mayor, the district attorney, as well as Alameda County and California state officials simply don’t care. They just want to keep making excuses for crime that is overwhelmingly perpetuated by minorities in the city. As these crimes pile up, they lack the ability to do something about the situation legally, and many are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Taking up arms is a responsibility many shop owners don’t want, and many may lack as their legal or felon status may not be on the right side of the law. Now this in turn only leaves private security. Paying for good armed security isn’t cheap, and it can take a serious chunk of the profits away from smaller businesses. Profits that when taken away suddenly make business ownership lose its worthwhileness.
