Rant: Tired of people asking if it's safe in Oakland (San Francisco: crime, how much)

[ILove]

Originally Posted by Kentmum

4. You don't want the masses suddenly feeling safe in Oakland? Why shouldn't people want to feel safe in Oakland? Isn't that the whole point of this?

5. Anytime you live in any city your chances of being a victim of crime increase, but you can live elsewhere and feel very safe. There are parts of the world where you could go out and leave your front door wide open and be fine about it. I think you have to have your wits about you if you live an a city agreed, but I don't think there is no such thing as feeling safe.

You seemed to have quoted a portion of a full sentence and then tried to argue it. I didn't just say we don't need the masses feeling safe here, I said we don't need the masses suddenly feeling safe here (after years of bashing and avoiding this wonderful city) just to move here and spend all their time by the lake, Jack London Square etc, or in SF and call themselves loving and living in Oakland. Oakland has a lot more to offer than a few of 'safe areas.'

And I actually said safety is a feeling, but it isn't something you can ever really attain, regardless of your neighborhood. The pursuit of it just brings separation among us - imo of course.

[chup76]

It's perfect valid for folks to ask if Oakland is safe. If you don't know the area and all you got are police/news reports/crime statistics, then anyone that is interested in the area will ask that question.

The crime statistics for the city show that it's NOT as "safe" as other cities nearby nor the state. That's not racism. That's just how it is. Blame the people that commit the crimes.

Sure there are some nice parts but the bad parts of the city are so bad that it skewers the perception of the city.

For this: "And I actually said safety is a feeling, but it isn't something you can ever really attain, regardless of your neighborhood. The pursuit of it just brings separation among us - imo of course."

No one is asking for 100% safe guarantees. But stats will tell you that if your in a high crime neighborhood at night. The odds of you getting robbed are higher than in a low crime neighborhood. So in comparative terms, your not "safe" in that high crime neighborhood.

[winkosmosis]

Question for the OP: Since safety is all in your head, are you going to move to Somalia? After all, nowhere is 100% safe right?

[etoile_filante]

Originally Posted by chup76

It's perfect valid for folks to ask if Oakland is safe. If you don't know the area and all you got are police/news reports/crime statistics, then anyone that is interested in the area will ask that question.

The crime statistics for the city show that it's NOT as "safe" as other cities nearby nor the state. That's not racism. That's just how it is. Blame the people that commit the crimes.

Sure there are some nice parts but the bad parts of the city are so bad that it skewers the perception of the city.

For this: "And I actually said safety is a feeling, but it isn't something you can ever really attain, regardless of your neighborhood. The pursuit of it just brings separation among us - imo of course."

No one is asking for 100% safe guarantees. But stats will tell you that if your in a high crime neighborhood at night. The odds of you getting robbed are higher than in a low crime neighborhood. So in comparative terms, your not "safe" in that high crime neighborhood.

The difference that everyone is trying to point out is not when a well-meaning out of towner is trying to get a little more info about what safety is like in Oakland.

It is not people who ask if Oakland is safe that people from Oakland are tired of. It's people who unequivocally, without ever having lived here, state with "authority" that the ENTIRE city is:

- a hellhole
- a slum
- comparable to Baghdad
- a ghetto

You really have no idea how tiring that is when you're from here, and sometimes there are racist undertones to the comments, though I won't chalk it up to just that. It's not something you can really know about unless you've experienced it. Sample comment: "Isn't Oakland like, you know, hood?"

My friend who just bought a condo in a sketchy part of SF came to visit me in Oakland one time. I showed him some sights, and he said, "If I had known Oakland was like this, I wouldn't have bought in SF." It's about letting people know that Oakland isn't some bombed-out shell of a ghetto full of people who only live there because they have no choice (which is sort of insulting by implication).

[jade408]

Originally Posted by etoile_filante

the difference that everyone is trying to point out is not when a well-meaning out of towner is trying to get a little more info about what safety is like in oakland.

It is not people who ask if oakland is safe that people from oakland are tired of. It's people who unequivocally, without ever having lived here, state with "authority" that the entire city is:

- a hellhole
- a slum
- comparable to baghdad
- a ghetto

you really have no idea how tiring that is when you're from here, and sometimes there are racist undertones to the comments, though i won't chalk it up to just that. It's not something you can really know about unless you've experienced it. Sample comment: "isn't oakland like, you know, hood?"

my friend who just bought a condo in a sketchy part of sf came to visit me in oakland one time. I showed him some sights, and he said, "if i had known oakland was like this, i wouldn't have bought in sf." it's about letting people know that oakland isn't some bombed-out shell of a ghetto full of people who only live there because they have no choice (which is sort of insulting by implication).

+1000

[Tallysmom]

Can I ramp the rant up one notch? I can't stand people asking if ANYWHERE is safe.

There are far better ways to get that information, rather than be lazy and ask others to do the work for you.

And safety is a relative term. I feel perfectly safe in an area that scares the daylights out of a lot of people.

[mayorhaggar]

I'd say like 30% of Oakland is a crappy area nobody really wants to spend any time in where all the crime happens, maybe 20% is marginal areas that are kind of in between, about 10% is areas like the Oakland Hills that are super wealthy, and the remaining 40% or so is just perfect--places like Rockridge, the Temescal, most of the area around Lake Merritt, Piedmont Ave--areas that are a mix of upper middle class and middle class with the best parts of an urban environment mixed with more of a sense of space than you see in Berkeley or SF. And definitely cleaner and quieter than most of SF. I'd love some more discussion about this...honestly this topic is just gonna be out of towner suburban haters saying "all of Oakland is a ghetto!" and the people who actually live here saying "certain parts of it are but far from all of it!"

I'm planning on moving to Long Beach in a couple months and I am really going to miss Oakland a lot. I wasn't really sure what to expect when I moved here about a year and a half ago from SF but I really fell in love with the town and have really enjoyed living here.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by mayorhaggar

I'm planning on moving to Long Beach in a couple months and I am really going to miss Oakland a lot.

WOW...really? Hope you enjoy your new home! Please give us an update of life in Long Beach.

[mayorhaggar]

Hey, thanks. It's not for good but I probably won't be moving back to the Bay Area any time soon, I'm thinking about going back to school back east or maybe teaching English somewhere like China or Eastern Europe. I'm basically mainly gonna chill out in Southern California for a few months, hopefully go biking a lot and maybe look for some temp work and generally enjoy the warmer temps.

[ILove]

Originally Posted by chup76

It's perfect valid for folks to ask if Oakland is safe. If you don't know the area and all you got are police/news reports/crime statistics, then anyone that is interested in the area will ask that question.

If you are so unfamiliar with Oakland that you have to take to asking people online where it is safe for you to go in the entire city, then it's obvious you haven't taken the initiative to visit any parts of this beautiful city for yourself first. If you had, you'd know very well how wonderful a city it is, and that you won't get shot upon entry.

If you're too afraid to do this (see it for yourself first) then I have to wonder why you are even interested in coming here, and I wonder how you and people who share in your uncertainty of this city will affect the social interactions and the energy of Oakland.

Originally Posted by chup76

The crime statistics for the city show that it's NOT as "safe" as other cities nearby nor the state. That's not racism. That's just how it is. Blame the people that commit the crimes.

Again, the reason I credit racism for Oakland being labeled dangerous is that this is not a crime ridden city, it's a city with crime. There aren't just a few parts of Oakland that the average person can enjoy without being mugged/raped/killed, but there are a lot of areas that the average person can enjoy without these things happening. People simply don't bother to visit them because of the rumors, and again I feel the rumors are fueled by racism.

This is a large city, and it just so happens to have a sizable black population. It stands to reason that the inspiration behind labeling the entire city as dangerous (which the media you spoke of has for many years) is simply a generalization of a predominantly black city with crime. Most people except this generalization without question since we're all familiar with associating blacks with crime.

As with any large city (and I mention large city because they tend to have all sorts of people contributing to their large numbers), you probably don't want to go wandering around alone at odd hours, and you typically don't want to venture to the areas where the residents have taken the liberty of making it obvious they don't care for tourists/outsiders (gang tags, busted street lights, etc). Oakland has these areas, yes, but the average person wouldn't have any reason to be in areas like this anyway so it really shouldn't be an issue. A sizable amount of Oakland is plenty 'safe' for most of us to live in and enjoy without being attacked randomly.