Oakland Business Owners Stage Strike, Demand Increased Police Presence Amid Rising Crime
Desperate Oakland business owners fed up with rampant crime put their profits on the line and temporarily closed their stores in a “strike” that they said was a desperate plea to city lawmakers to put more police on the street.
“It feels like another pandemic,” Sarah Ryan, managing partner of Mexican restaurant Calavera, told Fox News Digital. “We’re calling for people to come in and visit our business so that we can stay in business. We are on a street that it should be bustling all the time, and the foot traffic is just gone.”
Ryan noticed that her restaurant’s revenues had dropped significantly, by around 27%, or almost $600,000 from the previous year. She temporarily closed her restaurant as part of the strike in support of others.
The Bay Area has seen an increase in smash-and-grab robberies and attacks on staff. According to Oakland police data, the overall violent crime category increased by 21% between 2022 and 2023.
Carl Chan, the head of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, demanded throughout the strike that local, county, state, and federal authorities take action to ensure public safety.
As a result of the police department’s ongoing struggle with a shortfall of about 100 officers, certain calls from business owners and delayed 911 response times occur being redirected.
Additionally, according to union officials, the agency falls far short of the state’s mandate to respond more than 90% of all 911 calls within five seconds, now running at roughly 43%.
According to experts, there are various underlying explanations behind the issue. The head of the Oakland Police Officers’ Association, Barry Donelan, emphasised that politicians have created an environment with few penalties for illegal behaviour, which results in a loop of arrests and releases. Low officer morale is a result of the department’s diminished capacity to find qualified personnel.
NFIB Blames Proposition 47 and Retail Theft for Rising Crime as Oakland Businesses Face Closure
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)’s John Kabateck blamed measures like Proposition 47, which categorised some offences as misdemeanours rather than felonies, for part of the problem. This, he claimed, has left some cases susceptible, particularly affecting small firms and communities, without adequate attention.
According to a 2022 National Retail Security Survey, organised retail theft has cost the United States more than $100 billion in product losses. NFIB has worked with 200 other California firms to spread awareness about this issue.
Significantly, the increase in crime has not just harmed small businesses but has also prompted some big-box stores to declare shutdown owing to employee safety worries, including Whole Foods and Target.
The fact that Oakland missed the deadline to get millions of dollars in grant cash to prevent retail theft while San Francisco, its neighbour, secured $17 million from the state, added to the frustration.
This missed deadline and the resulting loss of funds were highlighted by a number of business owners as the tipping point that prompted their involvement in Tuesday’s walkout.
An Oakland municipal spokeswoman responded that they are actively trying to improve neighbourhood safety for locals, small businesses, and visitors, highlighting their recent successes in this endeavour.