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You're being disingenuous. SF Gate doesn't have any agenda to cover up crime in S.F, just like Danville police aren't "covering up" rich white kid crimes in Danville. The childish antics that the Oakland-Boosters club will go to just to justify the high crime in Oakland is reaching new and ridiculous heights.
The Chron tends to cover let's say, a shooting in Oakland or an ATM robbery. And not cover the same level of incident that happens in SF. They do cover "big" incidents, i.e. when someone dies.
The Chron is also selective about the way stories are headlined. Notice that article is called Potrero Hill Under Siege, and makes absolutely no reference to it being in SF.
Articles about incidents in Oakland tend to say "Oakland Under Siege" and don't reference the specific neighborhood, so it would appear that crime is incessant all over Oakland.
Not so sure if this person was a yuppie-maybe just someone captivated by the thought of living somewhere affordable and in a nice Victorian (sounds like she had house mates). The article states she had lived there for 7 years, sounds like a legitimate POV to me. And she sounds brave albeit naive.
The difference between her and some of "the poor blacks and latinos" you reference to is that she got involved by calling the police. She didn't have the street smarts to leave it alone-tough situation. I grew up in Berkeley and when me and my Black friends ran around in Oakland (yes I am white) they would point out things and instruct me on certain behaviors which were not obvious to me-this was in the '70's before big time gangs..I can only imagine what it is like now for an outsider.
First of all I am not an Oakland hater. I read these posts about Oakland because my Dad lives in the area around Stanford/San Pablo-not sure what area of Oakland this is called- (near the Emeryville line) This area is fairly poor, but has had some outsiders moving in due to the SiddahYoga Center.
It just tears your heart out to see the great potential of the poorer areas of Oakland-with the awesome weather (probably among the best in the US), beautiful Victorians etc. He has lived there for 25 years and is not a yuppie by any stretch (still rents). It is dicey for him to walk safely in his own neighborhood outside of a 5-6 block radius-one has to be careful and take care not to make eye contact with certain types of vehicles driving around and to be ready to back track and trust your gut feeling , it feels safer than 15 years ago (less gun shots/sirens at night-but walking around after dark-forget that!! Luckily he has some good neighbors who look out for one another. Ironically the one time he was a victim of violence it was in broad daylight.
There are neighbor hoods much worse than my Dad's-I can only imagine how tiring it would be always watching your back and trying not to dis the local gang bangers.
I really hope it gets better
The lack of street smarts is what makes me assume she's probably a yuppie. Either way though, I'm not trying to make an excuse for what happened to her... that shouldn't happen to anybody. My point is that similar stuff has been happening to people in that neighborhood for 20+ years... I just find it hilarious that the media is choosing to pick up on it now that there's people living in the neighborhood that we the general public are supposed to care about when bad things happen to them. There's a reason why criminals usually have an unspoken policy of leaving white people alone, and particularly wealthy white people... it attracts a lot more attention from the authorities than harassing another black or latino person does. Of course, it's for this same reason that a lot of the whiter and wealthier crowd feels comfortable moving into a neighborhood like West Oakland or the Mission or the Western Addition and etc in the first place... they know that they're not the ones being targeted.
And the area your dad lives in (Golden Gate) is where Your Black Muslim Bakery used to be... crime in the area went down after it got shut down.
SF Gate doesn't have any agenda to cover up crime in S.F, just like Danville police aren't "covering up" rich white kid crimes in Danville.
As has been noted, the Chronic puts names of subsections of SF little-known outside The City in their crime headlines, whereas they splash "Oakland" on similar events in that city.
Never made up anything about Danville - kids from that town have divulged that stuff firsthand on many occasions. Some disgusted, some happy/relieved by that situation. Same stories out of Walnut Creek, Los Gatos, Saratoga...same stuff happens in SoCal rich towns, too. Wealth and influence have far-reaching impact, including buying the law.
if you believe this type of witness intimidation does not exist in SF you can end up injured or dead
these people from san francisco went up to novato to kill a man who owned a store in san franciso but lived in novato Novato: 4 convicted of murdering S.F. market owner - SFGate
and this is up and coming bernal hts. i hope the people moving into the area understand life is different in the projects EVEN SAN FRANCISCO PROJECTS
Did I say the author of the article was a yuppie? I said I find it interesting that the spotlight on crime in West Oakland appears now as opposed to 15 years ago when it was even worse.
And did you read any of the articles? Other than the one on latino gang violence (which is centered mainly in East Oakland) all of them were about West Oakland.
You keep thinking of "West Oakland" when the article is about the gritty part of Oakland as a whole. Just because an incident happened in WO doesn't mean it is just about WO. What's happening in Oakland also applies to other parts of Oakland. Nowhere in the article does it say "This is about West Oakland" other than in your mind.
You sounded as if journalists just started writing about Oakland when the fact is, they have been writing about the violence in Oakland for a longgggggg time.
The article about the 15-yr-old who was killed is about East Oakland. And the article about gang violence is about west, south, east Oakland. One article is about West Oakland. One about East Oakland. And the rest is about Oakland as a whole.
The Chron tends to cover let's say, a shooting in Oakland or an ATM robbery. And not cover the same level of incident that happens in SF. They do cover "big" incidents, i.e. when someone dies.
The Chron is also selective about the way stories are headlined. Notice that article is called Potrero Hill Under Siege, and makes absolutely no reference to it being in SF.
Articles about incidents in Oakland tend to say "Oakland Under Siege" and don't reference the specific neighborhood, so it would appear that crime is incessant all over Oakland.
Who lives in the Bay Area and doesn't know that Potrero Hills is in San Francisco.
Also, how else is someone supposed to reference "West Oakland" or "East Oakland"? It just ends up that the highest crime neighborhoods in Oakland have "Oakland" in their names. How is that a conspiracy?
You keep thinking of "West Oakland" when the article is about the gritty part of Oakland as a whole. Just because an incident happened in WO doesn't it is just about WO. What's happening in Oakland also applies to other parts of Oakland. Nowhere in the article does it say "This is about West Oakland" other than in your mind.
You sounded as if journalists just started writing about Oakland when the fact is, they have been writing about the violence in Oakland for a longgggggg time.
The article about the 15-yr-old who was killed is about East Oakland. And the article about gang violence is about west, south, east Oakland. One article is about West Oakland. One about East Oakland. And the rest is about Oakland as a whole.
a) There's no such thing as South Oakland
b) The first article you brought up (the one the OP was talking about) was obviously about West Oakland, as was this one:
You're right that the one about the kid in the Ville was East Oakland though.
c) Journalists were writing about the violence mainly during the crack epidemic and while the collective attention of the country was focused on what was happening in America's inner-cities (late 80's/early 90's)... once the attention dissipated so did the media coverage. It's only been within the last decade that a lot of people in the country see the inner-city as desirable to live in... not so coincidentally, the media coverage has shifted back to the inner-city. However, the focus is on inner city neighborhoods that wealthier people are moving into... other neighborhoods that haven't seen the inpour of wealthy people are still just as ignored as they were a decade ago. The media coverage and the city/government response to crime goes hand in hand... notice that all the gang injunctions in SF and Oakland are in places where wealthy people are moving to. Everyone in the flatlands knows that the worst gang violence has always been in West and East Oakland... why then was the first gang injunction in North Oakland, which coincidentally (or not) is the epicenter of Oakland gentrification? You tell me. There's now a gang injunction in Fruitvale, which is once again coincidentally (or not) where the most gentrification is taking place right now. The gang situation is far worse on 73rd, 85th, 98th, etc... why no gang injunction there?
And even more than that, how are gang injunctions actually used in practice? What constitutes a "gang"? The North Oakland gang injunction labels "NSO" (North Side Oakland) as a criminal organization... that's how people from North Oakland refer to where they're from. Are you automatically a gang member now if you have "North Oakland" tattooed on you? Does any other city apply this sort of logic? Imagine if LA made a gang injunction on "South LA" or "East LA"... if that sounds stupid to you then perhaps you understand why it sounds just as stupid here. What it really does is make life more difficult for people from North Oakland... those who are moving in are entirely unaffected by it.
Last edited by Nineties Flava; 08-20-2012 at 02:54 PM..
a) There's no such thing as South Oakland
b) The first article you brought up (the one the OP was talking about) was obviously about West Oakland, as was this one:
You're right that the one about the kid in the Ville was East Oakland though.
c) Journalists were writing about the violence mainly during the crack epidemic and while the collective attention of the country was focused on what was happening in America's inner-cities (late 80's/early 90's)... once the attention dissipated so did the media coverage. It's only been within the last decade that a lot of people in the country see the inner-city as desirable to live in... not so coincidentally, the media coverage has shifted back to the inner-city. However, the focus is on inner city neighborhoods that wealthier people are moving into... other neighborhoods that haven't seen the inpour of wealthy people are still just as ignored as they were a decade ago. The media coverage and the city/government response to crime goes hand in hand... notice that all the gang injunctions in SF and Oakland are in places where wealthy people are moving to. Everyone in the flatlands knows that the worst gang violence has always been in West and East Oakland... why then was the first gang injunction in North Oakland, which coincidentally (or not) is the epicenter of Oakland gentrification? You tell me. There's now a gang injunction in Fruitvale, which is once again coincidentally (or not) where the most gentrification is taking place right now. The gang situation is far worse on 73rd, 85th, 98th, etc... why no gang injunction there?
And even more than that, how are gang injunctions actually used in practice? What constitutes a "gang"? The North Oakland gang injunction labels "NSO" (North Side Oakland) as a criminal organization... that's how people from North Oakland refer to where they're from. Are you automatically a gang member now if you have "North Oakland" tattooed on you? Does any other city apply this sort of logic? Imagine if LA made a gang injunction on "South LA" or "East LA"... if that sounds stupid to you then perhaps you understand why it sounds just as stupid here. What it really does is make life more difficult for people from North Oakland... those who are moving in are entirely unaffected by it.
Dude, you just want to argue for argue's sake. I didn't say South Oakland, south of Oakland as in the southern part of Oakland. Get it?
You like to bring race into almost every discussion of Oakland. So what if people start paying attention again because there's gentrification? Does it change the facts about Oakland? Not one bit. I don't know why you're obsessed with the reason why Oakland is getting the attention. It's trivial.
The articles are about Oakland - west, east, and yes everything in between. It's not really about just one part of Oakland, even if the stories being told is from people who live in certain neighborhood.
Dude, you just want to argue for argue's sake. I didn't say South Oakland, south of Oakland as in the southern part of Oakland. Get it?
You like to bring race into almost every discussion of Oakland. So what if people start paying attention again because there's gentrification? Does it change the facts about Oakland? Not one bit. I don't know why you're obsessed with the reason why Oakland is getting the attention. It's trivial.
The articles are about Oakland - west, east, and yes everything in between. It's not really about just one part of Oakland, even if the stories being told is from people who live in certain neighborhood.
Here's what you said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by beb0p
The article about the 15-yr-old who was killed is about East Oakland. And the article about gang violence is about west, south, east Oakland...
Sounds like you said South Oakland to me.
You can't have an honest conversation about the evolution the American city without talking about race. Period. Oakland is no exception... in fact, one of the major reasons it is known nationwide is because of the racial activism that took place in it over the course of the 60's and 70's. And more than that, I am affected by racial issues in Oakland and everywhere else on the planet for that matter... I discuss issues that concern me. If you aren't affected by them, good for you.
And no, they're clearly written about the parts of Oakland where the people are being interviewed... the majority of Oakland does not hear gunshots every night or find AK47s buried underneath their gardens or have dealers and street walkers on every corner after dark. That's certainly what was implied in the first article, but that implication is bull****... simple as that.
... the majority of Oakland does not hear gunshots every night or find AK47s buried underneath their gardens or have dealers and street walkers on every corner after dark. That's certainly what was implied in the first article, but that implication is bull****... simple as that.
The same can be said of Dallas and Dallas like Oakland has an overall crime rate which is extremely high.
The crime in Dallas bleeds into many of the other parts of the city and while I lived in the Greenville district you constantly had to be aware of your surroundings. Now even though my apartment complex was considered to be in a safe neighborhood the area bordered a more dangerous neighborhood and you couldn't help but come into contact with the criminal element given the close proximity.
I've not spent much time in Oakland but my guess is over-all crime feel to the city is similar to Dallas.
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