Oakland: Where's the Hate? (San Francisco, Montclair: transplants, low crime, house)

[pwduvall]

Some of the locals on the Baltimore Forum, myself included, get annoyed that many of our treads are dominated by negative posts from the Washington, DC area residents. The forum's busiest (and possibly most negative) poster is from the Washington Area. The invective is most pronounced when someone says that they are moving to Baltimore. While Baltimore City (where I live) has very well known problems, the rest of the Baltimore area is pretty prosperous and has relatively low crime.

While it might seem helpful to warn people that haven't watched the news in the last few months or The Wire that Baltimore is not problem free, warning people not to move into the metro area seems like overkill. Anyway, I have taken a look at the San Francisco - Oakland Forum and I haven't seen any of the same over the top negativity directed at Oakland by folks from San Francisco, etc. Why don't you guys pick on Oakland more? At least crime wise, Oakland seems to have big problems too.

[rah]

Originally Posted by pwduvall

Some of the locals on the Baltimore Forum, myself included, get annoyed that many of our treads are dominated by negative posts from the Washington, DC area residents. The forum's busiest (and possibly most negative) poster is from the Washington Area. The invective is most pronounced when someone says that they are moving to Baltimore. While Baltimore City (where I live) has very well known problems, the rest of the Baltimore area is pretty prosperous and has relatively low crime.

While it might seem helpful to warn people that haven't watched the news in the last few months or The Wire that Baltimore is not problem free, warning people not to move into the metro area seems like overkill. Anyway, I have taken a look at the San Francisco - Oakland Forum and I haven't seen any of the same over the top negativity directed at Oakland by folks from San Francisco, etc. Why don't you guys pick on Oakland more? At least crime wise, Oakland seems to have big problems too.

Oakland gets picked on all the time for the same reasons Baltimore does. On this forum it seems like it doesn't happen as much as it did a few years ago though...people are more quick to defend the place these days. Probably because Oakland is starting to become more well known for its good side, in large part because housing prices have pushed many SF residents to Oakland, along with yuppie and hipster transplants who would have gone to SF previously. So word is getting out that it's actually a pretty cool place that isn't 110% a high crime ghetto. The murder rate has been dropping too, which always helps with reputation. But despite all that, Oakland still gets sh*t on all the time, mostly by people who have never been there, who are scared of the crime stats (and maybe scared of black and latino people too).

[Chuck5000]

Most "place bashing" comes from one side of the political spectrum, which must always have its scapegoats - e.g. every social problem is caused by ____, and ____ only. Nuanced discussion or real debate with give and take over facts never happens.

You can see this dynamic in even worse form on comment threads in newspapers. Usually it's one side talking to itself, nobody really sane bothers to engage for long because one side won't acknowledge the other side's facts.

Places like this work best, I think, as places where information can be shared, not arenas where political points scored. (And nobody pays much attention to internet threads anyway.)

[twiggidy]

I agree. Most Oakland hate is by non-residents, mostly from the other side of the Bay, who are scared to go to Oakland. Oakland residents tend to have alot of pride for their city. If it weren't for work constraints, I'd live there instead of San Francisco.

[LoriBee62]

It's because most people are spending their time bashing California as a whole. They all fall into one of these categories:

1) Displaced Republicans angry because politically, the state is continuing into the 21st century without them.

2) Embittered teenagers waiting to graduate high school so they can move out of mom's and dad's basement and escape the oppression of house rules.

3) Entitled 30-somethings, upset to discover that owning a house in the suburbs requires actually have to work for a living, and possibly even saving for a down payment.

4) Rejected losers, constantly boxing out of their weight class, who vent their frustration with posts like, "Where are all the hot chicks," and "California girls ain't all that."

[calicoastal]

This board has many Oakland defenders so any Oakland critics get dog piled. Also, moderators prohibit talking about crime in Oakland (your post will be deleted or your account will be locked) and that is one of the main downsides of living in Oakland.

[04kL4nD]

A few years ago, the anti-Oakland trolls would constantly start flame wars and try to cast the city in a bad light. After a while, most of the bogus claims about Oakland either being a war zone or "ghost town" after dark were debunked as droves of SF people moved into Oakland to take advantage of cheaper housing. There are a few annoying posters who have this weird obsession with Oakland and want to see it fail instead of improve and flourish like it has over the past few years. Most of them live on the Peninsula, and for whatever weird reason they try and stir the pot.

Oakland is far from perfect, but to deny that it's gotten better in the last few years just goes to show you how negative and sad people can be sometimes. A city is improving and people enjoy living there? How can that possibly be??

[bmw335xi]

Oakland does get picked on by people in San Francisco both online and in-person. However, this forum is dominated by Oaklandites, so many threads end up getting derailed then closed if anything negative is said about the city. Honestly, San Francisco seems to be getting a lot of problems recently, so the focus is also not as strong on just Oakland.

[CirclingLogan]

Yeah, most people in SF now see Oakland as quirky and interesting, rather than the scary black hole of crime across the Bay Bridge.

The suburbanite haters are starting to see the writing on the wall as Oakland's crime moves into their cities while Oakland's neighborhoods are increasingly revitalized and upscale, so they've transitioned into a nervous silence.

[CBB_bear]

Oakland also has some legitimately upscale areas that have been that way for a long time. I almost think that a lot of the "haters" forget that Rockridge, Montclair, and parts of Clairmont are indeed part of Oakland.