Beyond Chron: Oakland, A tale of two cities (Long Beach, Fresno: restaurants, shops)

[04kL4nD]

I certainly wouldn't run on a platform of shaming innocent Oaklanders for enjoying the nice things they have and making them feel guilty for not being their brother's keeper...

[bentobox34]

Originally Posted by Stephen1110

There are San Francisco tech firms considering a move over to Oakland, for greater tax incentives, but their transition is obstructed or slowed by their concerns of safety.

Oakland's desirability is imperiled when the city is viewed through a demonological lens. Depicting Oakland as a dangerous or violent place based on simplistic crime statistics without acknowledging the uncertainties and the disproportionate existence of violent crime within the city actually hinders its ability to attract residents, businesses, and tourism, which results in the city's inability to increase and allocate the needed resources to the underserved population.

Come again? Isn't depicting a city as violent and dangerous and acknowledging that it has a disproportionate amount of crime basically the same thing?

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by bentobox34

Come again? Isn't depicting a city as violent and dangerous and acknowledging that it has a disproportionate amount of crime basically the same thing?

Bingo.

[04kL4nD]

I think what he's trying to say is that stats only tell part of the reality. A lot of you have this binary view of how crime statistics either makes a place wholly safe or wholly dangerous. While that might be your perception, it's not exactly reality.

Yes, violent crime in Oakland is problematic, but it doesn't just cancel out the positive aspects of the city and make the place uninhabitable- at least not for the people who enjoy living there or taking advantage of the nice things it has to offer.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by jade408

There are couple of problems with your "solutions."

Let's talk about venture capital. We all know VC are all about pattern matching. So trying to recruit VCs before there is an established "pattern" makes no sense at all.

Let's focus on what is already happening Oakland.
1. Oakland is taking its roots in food processing, and become an incubator of artisan foods, the top 3 on the list have national acclaim:
1. Hodo Soy
2. Numi Tea
3. BLue Bottle Coffee
4. Kitchener's project

There are a zillion other successful food businesses that have moved into local retail as well. Blue Chair Fruit and Scream sorbet are top of mind.

Oakland entrepreneurs are opening up new business ideas all over the town:
Like Charilie Holiwell (or whatever his name is, the owner of Boot and Shoe, Pizzaiola) is working on a 3rd spot in Oakland on Grand. The owner of Tamarindo worked on the Popup Hood, that is celebrating its one year anniversary in the next couple of days, bringing retail to Old Oakland. Or how about James Sybaut who is working on restaurant number 3 in Oakland? Or how about the owners of Dona Tomas, that also added Flora, Xolo and Fauna the rum bar in the past few years.

Oh and Numi is expanding to a new location downtown on BRoadway colocated with an incubator for new businesses! That sounds a lot like economic development to me. The Hub Oakland: Hub Oakland | Another World Is Happening.

(Oh BTW, one of the groups that is part of the Hub, the NewME accelerator (a minority startup accelerator), has a bunch of graduates that got VC funding! So this group in OAkland is quite a big deal, especially since it targets minority entrepreneurs.)

Interestingly enough, in the past few weeks, the Busness Times also mentioned that Oakland is running out of offices for startups. Small companies jockey for Oakland?s creative space - San Francisco Business Times

But unfortunately stories like these don't get the barrage of press that shootings do.

It's fine to look at what is already happening in Oakland, but that won't fix the problem. If you are happy with 13.1% unemployment, then great, otherwise you shouldn't say, "mission accomplished" quite yet unless you're related to W.

It's good there are new food and beverage businesses opening in Oakland. However, my family has owned four restaurants and we've seen our competition come and go, come and go etc. Restaurants have a very high failure rate. It's still better than nothing though.

If Oakland would do the things I mentioned, you wouldn't be able to tell me all the business names and their owners because there would be too many. Frozen yogurt and ice cream shops are good, but Oakland needs more than that.

Furthermore, Oakland needs OUTSIDE investors, so new money is brought INTO Oakland. Oakland entrepreneurs are good, but new money should be brought in, instead of circulating existing money. That is why perception is so important. You guys don't think it matters what the outside world thinks of Oakland, but it does. Many businesses don't want to move into Oakland because of crime. Many venture capitalist don't want to move into Oakland because of crime.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by jade408

Actually this isn't really true. I am passively in the market, and I have met lots of other buyers in those condos and lofts. ANd around 40% of the people I met who bought, are planning to start a family in the ext year.

In fact, it was rare to meet a couple that wasn't family planning, if they were under 40.

LOL what couple under 40 isn't planning on having a family????

I said FAMILIES moving into these condos or lofts, not young couples! You can speculate all you want, but I look at the hard facts and they are the majority of these buyers have no children.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

It's fine to look at what is already happening in Oakland, but that won't fix the problem. If you are happy with 13.1% unemployment, then great, otherwise you shouldn't say, "mission accomplished" quite yet unless you're related to W.

This is the best response you can come up with to that incredibly well stated and informative comment?

And it appears that those small companies are having an impact as unemployment has dropped from 15% to 13% in one year--that's significant and is much faster rate of improvement than the state of CA overall.

You guys don't think it matters what the outside world thinks of Oakland, but it does. Many businesses don't want to move into Oakland because of crime. Many venture capitalist don't want to move into Oakland because of crime.

And so we can therefore say that scary crime rate news and sensationalistic media reports might actually filter out fly-by-night vultures who don't really care about our city.

Im far more impressed with people who move to, and invest in Oakland, in spite of the crime rate, because they want to be a part of us, not change us.

[Stephen1110]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I think what he's trying to say is that stats only tell part of the reality. A lot of you have this binary view of how crime statistics either makes a place wholly safe or wholly dangerous. While that might be your perception, it's not exactly reality.

Yes, violent crime in Oakland is problematic, but it doesn't just cancel out the positive aspects of the city and make the place uninhabitable- at least not for the people who enjoy living there or taking advantage of the nice things it has to offer.

Bingo

Originally Posted by bentobox34

Come again? Isn't depicting a city as violent and dangerous and acknowledging that it has a disproportionate amount of crime basically the same thing?

I was talking about how crime is disproportionately concentrated in certain areas in the city.

90% of violent crime occur within 20% of the city
For 2011, 90% of violent crime occured within 8% of the city

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by jade408

There are couple of problems with your "solutions."

Let's talk about venture capital. We all know VC are all about pattern matching. So trying to recruit VCs before there is an established "pattern" makes no sense at all.

Let's focus on what is already happening Oakland.
1. Oakland is taking its roots in food processing, and become an incubator of artisan foods, the top 3 on the list have national acclaim:
1. Hodo Soy
2. Numi Tea
3. BLue Bottle Coffee
4. Kitchener's project

There are a zillion other successful food businesses that have moved into local retail as well. Blue Chair Fruit and Scream sorbet are top of mind.

Oakland entrepreneurs are opening up new business ideas all over the town:
Like Charilie Holiwell (or whatever his name is, the owner of Boot and Shoe, Pizzaiola) is working on a 3rd spot in Oakland on Grand. The owner of Tamarindo worked on the Popup Hood, that is celebrating its one year anniversary in the next couple of days, bringing retail to Old Oakland. Or how about James Sybaut who is working on restaurant number 3 in Oakland? Or how about the owners of Dona Tomas, that also added Flora, Xolo and Fauna the rum bar in the past few years.

Oh and Numi is expanding to a new location downtown on BRoadway colocated with an incubator for new businesses! That sounds a lot like economic development to me. The Hub Oakland: Hub Oakland | Another World Is Happening.

(Oh BTW, one of the groups that is part of the Hub, the NewME accelerator (a minority startup accelerator), has a bunch of graduates that got VC funding! So this group in OAkland is quite a big deal, especially since it targets minority entrepreneurs.)

Interestingly enough, in the past few weeks, the Busness Times also mentioned that Oakland is running out of offices for startups. Small companies jockey for Oakland?s creative space - San Francisco Business Times

But unfortunately stories like these don't get the barrage of press that shootings do.

Excellent and extremely informative. Too bad I cant rep ya!

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by YongAe

East Bay developer Jim Ellis leads revival of Oakland's Jack London Square - LA Daily News

This kind of stuff is good, Oakland needs more of it, but it also needs to attract small business owners. A few new businesses each month and one major project every 5 years isn't enough. Oakland has one of the highest unemployment rates, it needs to do more.