Oakland, Richmond named among the most dangerous cities (Compton, Newark: crime, lawyers)

[Desertho]

Originally Posted by Milliano

I wonder why Oakland's crime rate has skyrocketed the in 05 and 06.

The return of old-style politics now that Jerry Brown is back in Sacto. Oakland has always been Detroit-by-the-Bay until he took over.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Desertho

The return of old-style politics now that Jerry Brown is back in Sacto. Oakland has always been Detroit-by-the-Bay until he took over.

Why do people comment on things they know very little about? Why?

[BearBranch]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Why do people comment on things they know very little about? Why?

I lived in Oakland and agree that crime was a lot lower while Jerry Brown was Mayor. Its back to its higher levels now that Mayor Brown is in Sacramento.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by BearBranch

I lived in Oakland and agree that crime was a lot lower while Jerry Brown was Mayor. Its back to its higher levels now that Mayor Brown is in Sacramento.

But crime began to lower before he took office and then began to rise during the end of his administration.

I think its the economy more than anything else. I also think the term Detroit-by-the-bay denotes an utter ignorance about both Oakland and Detroit.

[fizbin]

Brown & Dellums (so far) have had very little to do with the rate of crime in Oakland. Brown almost totally ignored the crime-ridden neighborhoods of Oakland and it is unclear that Dellums has done anything in his first year of office, related to crime or anything else.

[Willie Earl Cottonham]

Well being from the Bay Area and now living in New England, we have to stop and look and also ask ourselves, is it really the Bay Area is the danger zone, or is it the Governor (terminator). He couldnt even try and make a differnece by saving one life. Stanley Tookie Williams. maybe that was a a little hope that some youngsters needed to realize that there is a better way out there in the sreets.

[bayarea-girl]

Originally, I am from So. Cal. When I first moved to the Bay I lived in Oakland and went to school in Marin. It was funny because every time someone from my school found out where I lived they were shocked and asked questions like have I been shot at or seen drugs, a lot of questions like that. When I moved to the Bay I stayed at Lake Merrit area, at the time I lived at the Lake it was a bit sketchy. It has changed a lot since then. There were a lot of prostitutes around Mac Arthur (but SF and Berkeley have them too). Tons of needles and condoms at the parks or on the streets (which I still around today).

I've since moved from the Bay, I moved out of Oakland a couple of years ago as I found out there were a lot of sex offenders and one being in my building (that was in the Lake Merrit BTW). I can't tell you how many times my car was broken into or stolen living around the Lake. My husband went to his gated and "secure" parking lot all to find someone in his car with a gun pointing right at him telling him he didn't want any problems. My apartment was robbed and it was on the 6th floor. My TV, jewelry, bike, and other items were gone (Lake Merrit Apartment). This happened in the middle of the day when they new we were at work.

Where my husband goes to enjoy Ethiopian food, robbers robbed the place frequently as they think Ethiopians have a lot of gold. Now there is security present at most of the Ethiopian restuarants. Before I moved from the Bay completly a couple of months ago it was crazy because a lot of restaurants I like going to in Oakland and Emeryville were robbed during normal working hours. Too many criminals frequent the affluent area of Piedmont constantly because they know people have money there.

If you don't know your way around the place it can be very dangerous. A lot of folks in Oakland/Richmond have low to no standards. It was explained to me by long timers in Oakland that a lot of why Oakland is the way it is came from the Drug situation a lot of families found themselves dealing with years ago coupled with other complex issues, which also include the Public Schools.

All of Oakland isn't bad but I'm tired of people closing their eyes to a very huge situation Oakland has. People from Oakland will get upset with you when you go over the facts. My husband a long time Bay area resident gets upset with me all the time about this subject. If people spent most of their lives in Oakland I guess they don't see anything wrong with it. I'm tired of people trying to defend Oakland and Richmond areas as if it isn't as bad as people think it is or that people who don't live there have some sort of hatred towards those cities. Let's be honest people in both cities there is a large rate of kids that don't finish High School (and I'm not sure they are encouraged to do so). The lacked behavior of the Bay area allows most of the criminal activity. Richmond and Oakland are just bad. But I have high hopes for the place. Emeryville was able to turn around as well as some areas in SanFran so I am hoping Oakland and Richmond will too.

[City Boy]

I don't think anybody defends Richmond as not being that dangerous. Everybody knows Richmond IS dangerous, worse than Oakland. Worse than any city in California. Oakland is dangerous as well , but Oakland is a relatively large city, Richmond is not so the violence is more concentrated in Richmond. The reason the crime stats are so high in Oakland is because of things like car thefts , drug arrests and other large not always violent offenses.

If you've ever been to REALLY bad places with the same amount of murders but 1/20th the size like Gary Indiana, etc you'll see Oakland is NOT what the media portrays. St. Louis is much worse than Oakland but most people would not know because the media is not obsessed with St. Louis like it is Oakland. If somebody says they are from St. Louis it's always a positive reaction about BBQ or something. Same with New Orleans, about the same size as Oakland but a very violent city. "Oh new Orleans I love Mardi Gras". Oakland always negative. It's pathetic.

[Jonotastic]

My thoughts:

1. High cost of living (makes some people desperate)
2. Inefficient local government
3. Liberal punishment (oh you can say you have a mental disorder and just get treatment)

[bayarea-girl]

Jonotastic, yeap I agree.