Oakland Considering Filing Bankruptcy (San Jose, Walnut Creek: condo, crime, neighborhood)

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

1. Public image of the city influences attendance. Why do so many people in the 680 corridor go all the way to Giants games instead of the Coliseum? That's anecdotal evidence, but I've still seen it a bit.

They go there because they are Giants Fans, not A's Fans.

2. Laying off a bunch of cops in an era of much-publicized violence only worsens the city's image. Why would a business be unaffected by its location?

Excuse me, do you think the businesses that actually benefit Oakland(Sports Teams, Especially the A's are not one of them) are leaving?

No, they arent.

3. They are not in a position to broker a deal (land acquisition, etc.) with much bigger needs weighing overhead.

Broker a deal? What a term. Usually that means cities bending over and taking it in the arse by shelling out hundreds of millions of tax dollars. Santa Clara and San Jose may be willing to do that in order to boost their image but I think the Giants showed everyone else how it should be done. Zero tax dollars.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Obviously, but looking at it from the perspective of how much that equals out to per officer really causes one to pause.

But it isn't accurate. Before we go around cutting salaries (which may need to be cut) they can look for other things to cut -- find better deals on paper goods, maybe centralize that so they can buy in big bulk, negotiate rent if they pay it, change out incandescent bulbs in lamps for CFL's, remove vampire plugs and not keep chargers plugged in all the time when nothing's being charged to lessen electricity... trust me, there's always a lot of fat in these budgets because when you start talking about millions of dollars people stop looking at the pennies.

Pennies add up REAL quick.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

But it isn't accurate. Before we go around cutting salaries (which may need to be cut) they can look for other things to cut -- find better deals on paper goods, maybe centralize that so they can buy in big bulk, negotiate rent if they pay it, change out incandescent bulbs in lamps for CFL's, remove vampire plugs and not keep chargers plugged in all the time when nothing's being charged to lessen electricity... trust me, there's always a lot of fat in these budgets because when you start talking about millions of dollars people stop looking at the pennies.

Pennies add up REAL quick.

Perhaps, but 85% of the city's budget is employee salaries. Aside from that, the city is already operating at bare bones.

[18Montclair]

East Bay Express | Blogs | Oakland: Never Mind on that Bankruptcy Thing

Just like I thought, not going to happen.

This is why I can't stand Chip Johnson. He supposedly covers Oakland but his writings are more gossip than news. So Irksome.

[bayarea-girl]

Yeap, I thought the whole bankruptcy thing was a cry for more money.

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

oakland...more like brokeland..heh

Raiders leaving town like the A's yet?

[Curmudgeon]

Moral or financial?

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

They go there because they are Giants Fans, not A's Fans.

So what regions are aligned to the A's? Do you not realize that people tend to root for the local team? Why do so many people pick the Giants despite the A's being more successful?

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Excuse me, do you think the businesses that actually benefit Oakland(Sports Teams, Especially the A's are not one of them) are leaving?

No, they arent.

Benefit? Who cares? A business in a business. It aims to make money. If Oakland does not make itself attractive to customers then it is not attractive to business. The biases of lilywhite Walnut Creek residents are not going to be dispelled at random.

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Broker a deal? What a term. Usually that means cities bending over and taking it in the arse by shelling out hundreds of millions of tax dollars. Santa Clara and San Jose may be willing to do that in order to boost their image but I think the Giants showed everyone else how it should be done. Zero tax dollars.

San Jose (however it's involved in this conversation) is not spending any money on a stadium if it comes to that. All they did was buy up some land for consolidation and draft an EIR to ease the process. How is that bending over? Oakland had a site for a stadium and they decided to build condos instead.

[BayDude]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

85% of Oakland's Budget goes to Employee Salaries-of which the Police take by far the biggest chunk.

I'll assume you didn't get the memo. Maybe its because Oakland NEEDS those police? The way I see it, Oakland can't affort *not* to lose any more police. It it takes 85% of Oaklands budget, so be it.

[LakeShoreSoxGo]

Oakland is beyond the point of policing. They have to save police for places that still matter in the town. The port, the airport, the collusium, lake merrit and the hills. Gotta protect the hand that feeds you. No point in sending the force parading up and down international those neighborhoods are infested with criminals and criminally minded people, they need to police themselves and take back their neighborhoods first.

The crap that people put up with in the flats does not fly AT ALL with residents in the hills.