Oakland, Richmond named among the most dangerous cities (Hayward, Montclair: live, renewal)

[baybook]

To piggy back

Most people will not be the victim of personal /violent crime because they do not live that type of lifestyle. I don't hang out in areas known for drug dealing or street violence so the chances that I will be a victim of that type of crime are pretty low. I don't hang out with folks that participate in criminal activity. I go home after an evening out instead of hanging around outside on random street corners, etc...

There is a difference b/w violent crime and non-violent crime. I may have an increased chance of having my car broken into or stolen if I live in an area with a high concentration of apartment buildings. But you know...crime is higher in high density areas in every large city in the country. Again, the odds may be increased in Oakland, but the increase for MOST people is relative when you take their lifestyle into consideration.

That doesn't mean it will never happen, there is always an exception that proves the rule. ;-)

[Taboo2]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

Taboo2, said I wasn't going to reply to you but here we go... For any body to commit crime against another person is NEVER acceptable. What are you saying? First of all, I am far from the criminal type and don't know people that are. Secondly, I witnessed and stopped a lady from being beat up and robbed (they managed to steal her purse and jewelry), not acceptable. My husband went into a our apartment complex "secure" garage only to find a criminal in his car with a gun asking him if he had a problem, again NOT acceptable. Our apartment in the same complex was robbed while we were at work, not acceptable (my wedding ring was stolen). My car that I parked outside in the morning for 30 minutes was stolen right out side of my apartment building. A man running away from the police managed to hit about 20 cars on the street, where my husband and neighbor had to chase the guy down. I knew people that were transgender that were either bit up or killed. This all happened in Oakland around Lake Merrit. How long does one have to live in an area to be an expert? You don't make sense and are part of the problem Oakland faces. If you have only traveled to the bridge and back through Richmond why are you commenting. There are nice places in Richmond as there are of Oakland but unfortunately the bad out ways the good.

Again, best of luck to you.

This will be my last post to you because your posts make me feel like you are sorta obsessed with being a victim. Maybe that defines you? I don't know. But it certainly is all you are hanging on to in your posts on here so that is all i have to go on.

EVERYONE should be responsible and aware of their surroundings. Even the older folks for they are easy targets.

Everything you say happened to you is bad luck. Nothing more than that. I have friends living around lake merrit. They never had troubles (so far). So you must wonder what are the odds of it just happenning to you? Was there a reason or just bad bad luck? Hmm. Self reflection and learning from your mistakes is always a great thing. No one deserves to be hurt or stolen from, but really? grand theft auto? I dunno not really serious crimes. You have insurance so it really more of an inconvenience than anything. Didn't you have an alarm on the car or ignition kill? Cars being stolen happens all over the world. Like another poster said, non-violent event.


Kudos to you for stopping a poor old lady getting attacked. That obviously is sick and twisted and wrong. BUT Again old people are easy marks and should realize that if they are living in the big city, they can take precautions to avoid being taken advantage of and hurt. Perhaps they shouldn't travel alone in sketchy neighborhoods, kinda like children shouldn't. You aren't in Kansas baby. You know you live in the big bad city.

Your husband had to chase someone down who crashed cars and was running from the cops? Wow, similar thing happened to me in Houston. Only the person i saw first ran over a girl who had been standing on the street. He stumbled out of the car and they jumped him to get him in custody. People are crazy all over this country. It is a fact of life these days.

I told you of how I was attacked in Westwood, but i don't go around telling people WESTWOOD IS DANGEROUS. What is the difference? I have the common sense to know that a few isolated incidents don't make the whole town bad.

You keep feeling the need to generalize that entire city due to some bad apples. Such a negative way to look at life.

Another example: My mother in law lives in an upper class SF suburb. A very nice part of town -million +dollar homes. FBI agents live on her street.

So far in 2 months- she has had a man sleep in the back of her car AND pull a gun on her when she woke him up (not in oakland my dear). Her neighbor's daughter walked in on someone robbing their house (again not in oakland). Another neighbor had a homeless man camped out in his back yard and refuse to leave so the man had to buy a DOG to keep people from living in his backyard (again not in oakland), they have had items stolen from their locked garage (again not in oakland).

These crimes can happen anywhere. This is not what makes Oakland Dangerous. Most of the real crime that people care about are RAPES, MURDERS, ASSAULT, and those seem to be poor on poor crimes. There were a rash of homeless women being raped, WHY? because they have no doors to lock at night and keep themselves safe. That is poor people preying on other poor people. It sucks. But it can be avoided if you take precautions. I do feel bad for the poor people who are preyed on and hurt by criminals but it hardly makes the entire city bad.

Oakland has issues and they REALLY need to hire more cops. Plain and Simple. The jails are full but a police presence always helps and education with the children that gangs and violence is NOT COOL but wrong and sick. But even if they did start up all those things, no one but you is responsible for your own safety.

Learn someself defense moves, carry pepper spray. Do something besides put the blinders on and complain about how dangerous the area is and how someone has been victimized. That is going to get you nowhere fast.

Again, I am done with this. Welcome to my ignore list.

[bayarea-girl]

18Montclair, not sure why this post is becoming about me. No one said that Beverly Hills is a better place to live and yes home prices are declining every where as I previously pointed out. Oakland did go crazy with home prices, lenders were taking advantage of homeowners just like every where else and Oakland created a bill to hold lenders more accountable. A lot of brokers stopped lending in Oakland all together unless they had a really good buyer on paper. Prices in some areas in Oakland went from $75-$400K in less than 5 years and in some areas higher. But this is all for another post and I referred to Beverly Hills because another poster mentioned it in comparison to Oakland (how they can do this I just don't know as it is apples and oranges to me).

What I am wondering is when people in Oakland and Richmond going to stop defending the place and make a difference. I know Brown tried.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

What I am wondering is when people in Oakland and Richmond going to stop defending the place and make a difference.

What exactly do you know about what others are doing?

[DjRey]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

Also, wanted to comment about LA as that is where I am from. LA is a BIG place. A lot of areas that were considered to be dangerous in the 80's started to get cleaned up in the 90's. Crime in LA is way down. Compton is a city and is not LA it is part of Southern Cal. Just like Inglewood, Santa Monica, are cities in Southern Cal.

I can say that I would prefer to live in Compton or Inglewood at this time than Oakland or Richmond. Southern Cal has cleaned up their act since I lived there. The difference that I see with Oakland and SanFran when it comes to crime is that 80% of SanFran has no problem and 80% of Oakland and Richmond have huge crime problems. In Oakland/Richmond crime is just every where. In SanFran you can be far from it or as close to it as you want to be. For LA/Southern Cal it is such a large place that you can also be far from it.

The gangs in So. Cal are probably worse and has a worse reputation than any where else in the country at one time (So. Cal has a lot of the high speed chases, every one wants to be on camera). But Oakland and Richmond has its own awful reputation that I think will take at least another 20 years to recover from.

Go to 24th and Mission or 24th and Bryant in the evening. there's all kinds of problems out there. SF has its fair amount of crime issues, you just dont hear about it because the media is only focusing on Oakland. I do agree with you that at least in So. Cal its so spread out you can be pretty far away from the hood. And be in a cool area to live though.

[bayarea-girl]

DJRey, I pointed out the Mission and Tenderloin areas. You should go back from the beginning of the post. So I'll give you a pass. Again, THERE IS CRIME EVERY WHERE BUT MORE IN OAKLAND. Which part of that is complicated to grasp?

18Montclair, I actually happen to know a lot of what others have tried to do and are doing but it is not working. Happen to have been on Boards and worked with organizations that were trying to make a difference but too many of the organizations I worked with were taking the money at the top and not providing services to the people it was intended for. How about you?

Crime is every where yes, but I am not the one that made this post up nor was I the one that came up with the statistics of the place.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

18Montclair, I actually happen to know a lot of what others have tried to do and are doing but it is not working.

Your sheer ignorance on the Hills and Piedmont(going downhill? As if.) really put serious doubt in my mind as to the accuracy and honesty of what you claim to know about anything related to Oakland.

[DjRey]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

What exactly do you know about what others are doing?

Yeah but you cant deny whats going on. The mayor needs to start doing SOMETHING. The city needs alot of restructuring.

[baybook]

Originally Posted by DjRey

Yeah but you cant deny whats going on. The mayor needs to start doing SOMETHING. The city needs alot of restructuring.

DJRay -- How long have you lived in Oakland?

[DjRey]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

DJRey, I pointed out the Mission and Tenderloin areas. You should go back from the beginning of the post. So I'll give you a pass. Again, THERE IS CRIME EVERY WHERE BUT MORE IN OAKLAND. Which part of that is complicated to grasp?

18Montclair, I actually happen to know a lot of what others have tried to do and are doing but it is not working. Happen to have been on Boards and worked with organizations that were trying to make a difference but too many of the organizations I worked with were taking the money at the top and not providing services to the people it was intended for. How about you?

Crime is every where yes, but I am not the one that made this post up nor was I the one that came up with the statistics of the place.

Give me a pass? Thats pretty hilarious. Anyway, my point was that the Bay Area is having a spike in crime this year in some areas. Oakland being center stage cause it has the highest in spike. I'm all about finding a solution. Ya'll can bicker till you pass out, for all i care. Lets talk about finding answers to these problems.