Oakland politicians discuss crime and public safety at City Hall

OAKLAND – Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao held the first of five town hall meetings Friday night where city leaders talked about what is already being done and what still needs to be done to create a clean and safe community. This came after the city suffered a week of violent crime that left five people dead.

Last Monday, Oakland residents gathered on International Boulevard to stop a suspected drunk driver from fleeing the scene of an accident. The driver allegedly struck and killed a 17-year-old girl and seriously injured her mother. Tay Factor filmed the aftermath and came face to face with the driver.

“It was shocking,” Factor said. “It was just horrifying to hear that. You looked at the guy and his face and he's still standing there denying it. At the same time, there were a bunch of beer crates all over the car – in the cup holder – crates. It was just ridiculous. It made no sense at all.”

Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell was at a town hall meeting Friday but also spoke to the media earlier in the day, discussing what he called the senseless killings of the past week. He said in one case two people were shot over a dispute over a parking space.

“I'm asking our community to question ourselves about how quickly we resort to gun violence,” said Chief Mitchell. “We need to stop this. There is no reason why four people were shot. There is no reason why this young woman lost her life and her mother was seriously injured within a week. We need to do better as a city of Oakland. We need to do better.”

Some at that town hall meeting were angry and frustrated with the violence in their community. Nancy Nadel, a four-term member of the Oakland City Council, felt the meeting was more about the credentials of city leaders than about solutions.

“While it's important and nice to know that we have such competent people, the less time we spend explaining who they are, the more time we have to answer the questions,” Nadel said.

However, many welcomed the fact that the city's leaders came to the community to talk about the problems.

Julie Dunbar saw a glimmer of hope.

“Oakland has to be a great place to live,” Dunbar said. “I think we can get it back, but it's going to take some time and patience.”