Unless I’m wrong (which I hope I am), there will be violence today or tonight in Oakland, despite (or because of) the Juneteenth holiday. Of course, when and if there is violence, the usual city apologists will scramble before the TV cameras to say, “This is not what Oakland is about.”
But, of course, violence is what Oakland is about. Always has been, because of the racialization of every issue in the city, which tells Black people a Big Lie: that their perceived grievances are due to white privilege and racism.
Apologists like new Mayor Barbara Lee and her progressive supporters are telling us not to worry, that crime is down and all will be well. Not so, according to the Bay Area Council, a respected coalition of 330 of the region’s biggest employers. They have a vested interest in keeping the Bay Area “the most innovative, globally competitive, inclusive, and sustainable region in the world.” And their latest warning to Oakland is this: “crime [is] an existential threat” to Oakland; the city “stands at a crossroads. A stubbornly high crime rate threatens Oakland’s economic competitiveness while the city must address a nine-figure structural budget deficit.”
An “existential threat.” Not just a nuisance, but a threat to the continued existence of a once-great American city.
You’d never know that, to listen to the likes of progressive activists, like Lee, Carroll Fife and (from her new perch on the Board of Supervisors) Nikki Bas. No, to them “crime” is an invention of the media, which loves to exaggerate everything in order to make money. While there’s some truth to that allegation, the fact is that the Bay Area Council is correct: crime hovers over Oakland like vultures over a corpse.
Here’s a report on the Council’s full statement. More on this tomorrow.
A new report by the Bay Area Council calls crime an “existential threat” to Oakland and says the City “stands at a crossroads. A stubbornly high crime rate threatens Oakland’s economic competitiveness while the city must address a nine-figure structural budget deficit.”
Voters shared similar sentiments about moving their economic activity out of Oakland in the February 2025 survey:
• 64% of survey respondents who are employed in downtown say that crime is a deterring factor in their decision to go to work in person.
• 57% of Oakland voters say they leave Oakland and go to businesses, restaurants, and shops in nearby cities because they feel safer.
• 72% of total East Bay respondents say that public safety concerns have played a role in reduced visitation to Oakland businesses in the past few years.
• 61% of East Bay respondents say they are visiting downtown Oakland less to patronize businesses, restaurants, and shops. More than half of those respondents say that crime and public safety is the major driver of their reduced visitation and spending.
The grave consequences of underfunding the Oakland Police Department have been recently confirmed and documented by The Bay Area Council Economic Institute in its June 2025 “Making Oakland Safe and its Economy Strong: A Vision for Lasting Change” (“Report”) issued last week. The report is here: https://www.bayareaeconomy.org/files/pdf/BACEI_OaklandPublicSafety_June2025_FINAL-WebReady.pdf
The Report asserts that: “The City of Oakland stands at a crossroads. A stubbornly high crime rate threatens Oakland’s economic competitiveness while the city must address a nine-figure structural budget deficit. The city’s changing urban fabric in the wake of the pandemic has brought greater attention to Oakland’s public safety challenges, which in turn has constrained the city’s ability to generate economic activity and its associated tax revenue – making the issues of public safety and budget more intertwined than ever.”
The Report urges the City to act expeditiously to address crime and the staffing and operation of the Police Department as it states:
“Crime is an existential threat for many Oakland employers and the economic activity they provide, and . . . current crime trends point to limited budget growth and downward spiral of investment if bold action on crime is not taken.”
Rising crime and an understaffed Police Department have catastrophic economic impacts on the City’s budget as the Report states:
“Most property investors continue to avoid investments in Oakland, citing crime issues and the general uncertainty in the downtown area that they have caused. If large employers shy away from Oakland going forward, the value of some of the city’s largest properties could continue to drop further, which would have a simultaneous negative impact on both property tax receipts and RETT” (Real Estate Transfer Tax).”
“ . . . limited budget growth and a downward spiral of investment should be expected to continue if bold action on crime is not taken.”
Steve Heimoff