Sheng Thao granted an interview to The Oaklandside, in which she made a number of misleading, if not outrightly false, statements that seem designed to paper over her previous attempts to defund the Oakland Police Department—attempts that, to this day, she hasn’t owned up to.
Oaklandside began by asking about antagonism between Oakland City Administrator Ed Reiskin and the City Council on which Thao serves. Thao observed, defensively I thought, that it was because of “favoritism”—on the part, apparently, of Reiskin. But she never explained whom or what Reiskin is supposed to be favoring.
A prime bone of contention between Reiskin and the Council have been charges by the Council that the City Administrator is responsible for “the lack of shelter and housing options for the residents of Wood Street,” as if this is somehow Reiskin’s fault. This notion was pushed by Carroll Fife. But Thao was eager to protect her progressive colleague with whom she is politically joined at the hip. Fife had earlier suggested that a parcel at the old Army Base could be used to house up to 1,000 homeless people. But Reiskin pointed out that the land is too contaminated to allow humans to dwell there. Instead of dealing with the realities of soil contamination, Thao and Fife chose to attack Reiskin. Talk about shooting the messenger because you don’t like the message.
Another bizarre Thao statement concerned the latest budget. “There were many good things [in it] including violence prevention and violence interrupter funding,” Thao said. But how do actual Oaklanders view the Department of Violence Prevention and violence interrupters? We have very little data; no professional polls have been conducted, to my knowledge. But we can make inferences.
Last year the East Bay Express—a progressive publication—conducted a survey in which respondents were asked, “Should police staffing be based on our crime rate,” which by FBI measures is the highest in the country among major cities. Some 56%, a solid majority, responded, “Yes, we should increase our [police] staffing until it’s more like that of an average city.” The suggestion that Oakland’s “anti-violence” programs haven’t left citizens feeling any safer is supported by statistics. Just last Spring, the San Francisco Chronicle—another progressive publication—reported that “five years since its inception, Oakland’s Department of Violence Prevention has barely begun to build its staff and infrastructure, and its success appears increasingly difficult to assess as violent crime in the city becomes a more intractable problem…Homicides have risen each year since the department was created, from 67 in 2018, to 75 in 2019, to 102 in 2020, to 124 in 2021.” In 2022, we’re currently at 103 murders and counting, putting us well within reach of exceeding last year’s historic toll.
As for those “violence interrupters,” does anyone really understand who they are, what they do, how they’re held accountable, how much they’re paid, and if they’re having any success at all? I don’t, and I don’t think you do either. A recent report from ABC7 News said that one violence interrupter described his job as “following up on leads from emails, text messages, and videos…”. What the hell does that mean? Does this person have access to the emails and text messages of the people whose violence he’s supposed to be interrupting? Of course, anyone can claim he “interrupted” a violent incident before it happened, but this, by definition, cannot be proven. So what Thao means by “good things” with violence prevention is a mystery to all but herself. Meanwhile, the Council continues to demand even more money be sunk into the black hole of violence interruption.
Perhaps Thao’s most infuriating and self-serving claim was, “I did come back and put in a fifth, sixth, and seventh police academy” in the Fall of 2021, but what she didn’t admit was how hard she, and Bas, Fife, Kaplan, Gallo and Kalb, worked to defund the police in the months and years prior to 2021’s Summer of Murder. In claiming she “put in” for additional academies, Thao makes it sound like she was the prime mover for more cops, when the reality is that Thao only begrudgingly yielded to overwhelming popular opinion in Oakland for greater public safety. With a Mayoral election looming, Thao knew she had to at least pretend to sympathize with the fears of her constituents. Even Oaklandside had to point out that “Thao [earlier] advocated for not approving the extra police academies Mayor Libby Schaaf wanted” before switching her position after so many were killed in 2021 and Oaklanders flooded City Hall with demands for more cops.
Thao’s ardently progressive, rather socialist philosophy is reflected in her statement that “I believe if you want to live [in the hills above the 580 freeway] you should be able to.” If I were to get to the heart of my objections to Thao’s progressivism, it’s this notion that people “should be able to” have anything they want, even if they can’t afford it. I’d like to live in a big house in the Hills but I can’t, because I don’t have the money to buy or rent there. This novel view that everyone should have anything they want is at the heart of the redistribution of wealth that progressives desire so much. It’s one thing to raise taxes on billionaires and large corporations, which I favor. It’s another thing to wreck the middle class in order to “assist” the poor. Progressives, like Thao, believe that parcel taxes and business taxes in Oakland are too low. Do you agree? Thao and her people view homeowners of modest properties, and businesses in Oakland, as piggy banks to finance their schemes, including the dubious Department of Violence Prevention and sketchy violence interrupters. But I think the people know better.
Thao and her cohorts are wrecking Oakland. If she’s elected, God forbid, we’ll become more of a laboratory for wacko social tinkering that doesn’t work. The violence and degradation we’ve already seen in our city will be only the beginning, and what remains of the middle class will continue to flee. That, perhaps, is exactly what Thao wants.
SAVE THE DATE! One week from tomorrow, we’re gathering in San Antonio Park for our picnic event! The date is Saturday, Oct. 22, beginning at noon. Here’s the Eventbrite invitation.
Please RSVP when you have a moment. This will be your chance to interact with your friends at the Coalition for a Better Oakland and meet some of the candidates we’ve invited.
Steve Heimoff