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<\/p>\nLet me start by saying I was born and raised in Oakland and so was my mom. I am second generation Oakland grown and I came from a poor family and lived in lower-class neighborhoods surrounded by section 8 apartment complexes patrolled by the Oakland Housing Authority.
\nI love what’s happening to my city. It may be the best Oakland’s ever been. But then again I’ve only been around since 1979.
\nWe’ve recently made all sorts of “top list” and places to visit and so on. I’ll touch more on that later.<\/p>\n
UPDATE: 2023 Edition
\nThat was all stated back around 2008 when Oakland was making positive movements. Something happened between 2008 and now and it has gone far downhill.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I actually can’t stand the word and the way people use it.
\nNowadays when you hear the word gentrification it is often thought of as “white people moving in and pushing out other races of low income”.
\nThe actual definition is as follows:<\/p>\n
Definition of GENTRIFICATION<\/strong>: The process of renewal and rebuilding<\/em> accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So as you see, by definition it is a neighborhood getting better, prettier, offering more options, more places to work, more companies moving in, better housing, and so on(all terrible things).<\/p>\n
Oakland Has Rent Control<\/h2>\n
People are not being “pushed out” of Oakland. I have rent control<\/a> and while everyone moving into my neighborhood is paying $400 to $800 more than me right now it did not push me out. My proxy Orinda-based landlord abuses these increases too and I have had to appeal via the rent adjustment board.
\nPeople are not being evicted or forced to move(without reason, there are a few cases but it is not the standard).<\/p>\nUpdate: While I did have rent control, the new landlord wanted me out so he could fill the unit at triple the price. I chose to move out of Oakland even though I had rent control. It was a blessing in disguise, leaving Oakland after 34 years was the best thing I ever did and I did leave right on time. Oakland died after 2014.<\/p>\n
The rent board laws in Oakland protect you really well from false evictions. My gentrifying proxy Orinda’s landlord has been trying to get me out since he bought the foreclosing building 3 years ago. I’ve been in this unit for over 10 years. He could have never made me leave. I made the choice.<\/p>\n
(Update, I moved out of Oakland<\/a>, screw that guy, more later. keep reading)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Original Oaklanders Sold Their Houses<\/h2>\n
How can rent go up to begin with? Selling and selling and selling.
\nThe first wave of people actually left willingly and sold their houses making the current situation possible. People were selling their own homes that they’d had forever. Some of them even passed down through deceased parents. Now that the value has increased greatly they are choosing to move to other less expensive safer locations with better school districts but that’s their own personal smart choice. If this is the reason they are leaving in numbers then so be it. They choose to do so themselves and the home has probably been bought and fixed up(usually just painted) adding to the neighborhood. So keep that in mind as we move on. Oaklanders raised the price by selling. Many to corporations, and asset management firms that just resell and resell over and over. Some to “flippers” who just put a couple of grand into the house and then resold for an extra hundred grand. Oakland allows this so it is the city that failed to protect its residents. Some sold to greedy landlords that keep the units empty and use them for AirBnB because the City of Oakland allows them. Remember, the City of Oakland does not care about you if they allow this.<\/p>\nAnyways, what about the people who did not sell their house and decided to stay in the now upcoming neighborhood?
\nThey are getting more options, more places to shop, eat at, work at, drink at, etc.
\nI will also say my neighborhood is untouched, has no new options, is still ghetto, and even has more crime now. I have not “benefited” from close to home improvements but my landlord is still ripping new tenants off because he has to because he bought it from an Oaklander selling to make money. The only reason the rent went up is because of hand changing for profit. Nothing more.<\/p>\nPrice Of Food Going Up?<\/h3>\n
Oakland is wrecked. Nothing is really affordable to eat out anymore. Even at the time of writing this what used to be my favorite burrito truck, the burritos went from $3.50 to $5.50 and that was a pretty big deal. But now, they are $15 for a lower-quality version of the burrito. Oakland is out of hand.<\/p>\n
The once overpriced at $17 2Fat2Skate burger is now $21 dollars<\/a><\/p>\n
What once was $13 Mac n Cheese<\/a> is now $16. So as you can see they all scaled prices differently but raised them nonetheless.
\nWhy is that?
\nIs it because instead of Oakland fixing the rent crisis they raised the minimum wage? That did not make life more affordable, that made everything more expensive. A worse solution.<\/p>\nThe thing is they know this. It is an attack on you the people disguised as “helping you out”.<\/p>\n
As for the overpriced food in Oakland, all you can do is boycott them. Refuse to pay those prices and they will bring them down or go out of business. And so many restaurants have gone out of business due to their greed. Thy of course blame other things and now blame COvid which really means the City of Oakland for forcing them to lock their doors.<\/p>\n
At this point though, any business that had a vaccine mandate must be boycotted at all costs. Oakland does not need these employers.<\/p>\n
Back to overpriced Oakland food. A lot of food downtown doesn’t even care about Oakland at all. The stores pop up Monday through Friday during work hours, serve the 925’ers who BART in and work in or around downtown Oakland, then they close and go home after work and they do not return on weekends. How could you support them?<\/p>\n
Whole Foods is too expensive!<\/strong>
\nYeah it is!!!! But no one is forcing you to go to the new expensive Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. But if you do go, you may find some cheaper healthy alternatives on some items.
\nBut before those guys moved in, where did you go? You really have always only had 2 options, Safeway and Lucky’s. So thank those new guys for moving in.
\nSitting here trying to think about it I would say there are zero grocery stores in West Oakland. Maybe it needs a Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s? And Whole Foods was an abandoned car lot so it didn’t hurt anyone by setting up shop there.<\/p>\nSome say it increased the rents of the area but those people are idiots. Whole Foods does not have a rent increasing committee in cahoots with your landlord. The truth is your greedy landlord, who has no boss, increased your rent because they want to travel the world more on your dime.<\/p>\n
Safeway isn’t leaving……<\/strong>
\nYou always have the limited Safeway and Lucky’s around Oakland whether or not Whole Foods and TJ’s pop up.
\nIf the price of food at Safeway goes up it’s not because the neighborhood got better or “gentrified”, it’s because the cost of living goes up in general. And now Bidenomics and inflation. That Safeway has the same prices here in Oakland as anywhere else in the Bay.
\nAnd get this, now you can order organic groceries from Amazon\/Whole Foods<\/a>.<\/p>\nI personally have started trying to eat healthier and am thankful for Whole Foods even though it is costing me a lot more. But without it, I would be stuck with no options.<\/p>\n
Crime Rates?<\/strong>
\nWhat I don’t get is that a city undergoing such a major improvement would usually show a decrease in crime however Oakland’s crime rate<\/a> is on the rise! Oakland also just made the robbery capital of America 2 years running. The more unsuspecting newcomers to Oakland walking around with their iPhones out, the more targets for the existing criminals to prey on. Crime has gone way up and mostly robberies. So one could say gentrification is helping the “economy” for some? Joking, this has to stop and our city has to get it together and get rid of this network of activity. We need to get the Oakland Police Helicopter<\/a> flying again(after my article Mayor Jean Quan DID get it flying again!).<\/p>\nThe Oakland Police Department has said the increase in robberies is due to the decrease in drug sales. But several months ago they said that with all the large drug busts and dealers off of the streets, the crime rates would go down. So it backfired<\/a>?
\nThis kind of makes sense, you don’t allow the usual suspects to sell weed(or other drugs) on the corner and they turn to other means to get money. But did OPD even decrease drug sales or did the booming Oakland Weed Economy<\/a> decrease drug sales? Buy weed from a shady thug on the corner, or go to a nice weed superstore? I think it’s obvious OPD had nothing to do with that.<\/p>\nLocal economy and investment in the long run?<\/strong>
\nOne possible outcome is the new local booming economy will provide a lot of tax revenue for the city and local committees and organizations will push for more public safety.
\nSo in the long run crime rates could go down if the City of Oakland plays its cards right.<\/p>\nLack of police = more private security.<\/strong>
\nThere are already neighborhoods plagued with high crime and robberies that are crowdsourcing and hiring their own private security<\/a> patrols. Some neighborhoods have reported a sharp decrease in criminal activities since they hired private security.
\nFor some insane reason they have been labeled as racist gentrifiers and ridiculed for this<\/a>. If the City of Oakland can not provide safety then who will? Why are we mad at people for trying to improve our city for everyone?
\nIs it only the criminals who are mad? Calling out “whitey” and telling us to go home? What if we’re from here? I have been seeing this spray-painted around my neighborhood and Lake Merritt. Part of me thinks some white anarchist that moved here 3 years ago is doing it.
\nAre there actually hard-working “minority families” who don’t mind run-down houses, blight and crime in the neighborhood?
\nHow come no one is mad at a bank or taco truck for hiring a security guard? It’s normal to protect yourself and if Oakland can’t and the residents will, then that is awesome.<\/p>\nKeep in mind no one is mad Nasty Pelosi and other hate spreaders have private security and walls.<\/p>\n
Better schools?<\/strong>
\nPeople are upset that some residents have pitched in a measly $20 a month for private security patrols to ensure they won’t be robbed and they ask why can’t they do that for schools.
\nMaybe they don’t have kids? The real question is why can’t YOU do that for schools? Take action, do something, stop blaming everyone else. You let Oakland get this way and now you combat newcomers with innovative ideas trying to make it better. Don’t be dead weight.<\/p>\nWith the neighborhoods getting better and the theory of more community involvement comes the possibility for better public schools, more volunteers, parents getting involved and overall improvement for the Oakland Unified School District. This is much needed. But existing deadbeat residents must get involved too instead of resisting new residents’ attempts to better Oakland neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
\nThis is my class photo from Fruitvale Elementary, 1986. I am the white guy.
\nI’m curious as to what a class photo would look like now. If you have a class photo from Fruitvale in recent years please post it in the comments or email it to me.<\/p>\nForeclosures!<\/strong>
\nEveryone is crying and blaming the evil banks for foreclosing their homes.
\nCurrently, in Oakland, there are thousands of vacant homes(most of them in West Oakland) that have been foreclosed.
\nWhy? Well, because people who did not have the money to begin with borrowed money and bought things they could not afford.
\nHonestly, I have no pity for them as they chose to put themselves in the situation. You and I had the option, but did we buy something we knew we couldn’t?
\nOh but the banks were misleading and lied to them!
\nThey STILL went and tried to buy something they couldn’t so it was their own decision to buy the home. The banks did not make them buy a home.
\nI would like to see statistics as to who the people are that bought these homes and foreclosed in Oakland because I still feel that was mostly outsiders and transplants. Not forcing any long time residents out. The likely real story is that long-time residents willfully sold their homes at super-inflated prices to the fools who are now foreclosed.
\nWhen I moved into my last building 10 years ago all was well, rent was only $735. That guy foreclosed and the new evil Orinda guy bought the place. But the foreclosed landlord bought the building from an original Oakland resident who was smart enough to sell when the market was inflated. See? That is the true case example and not the made up Oaklander’s being pushed out.
\nOaklander’s are smart, they left like I did. By choice.
\nResidents were selling their homes and moving out before the crash<\/a>. That is what made these homes available to buy and foreclose on in the first place.
\nA foreclosed home actually brings the value of the surrounding property down<\/a> and increases crime in Oakland.
\nThere are thousands of these abandoned houses collecting graffiti, decaying, becoming overgrown, and inhabited by people conducting illegal activity.
\nI guess my problem is these homes have been VACANT the entire time! These vacant homes could be rented out at the current market value and that would flood the market driving the cost of rent down.
\nThe city of Richmond is actually trying to use eminent domain and seize the homes back from the banks. I think this is a great idea.
\nThen maybe they could be sold at market value and again bring the cost back down.
\nLike I was saying, I do have a problem with the cost of rent but this is a corporate America greed thing and not anyone’s fault for moving here. In fact, people are moving here from San Francisco because the system(not the people) has ruined prices there forcing others to move to run down Oakland neighborhoods that they can afford. If a byproduct of that is fixing the neighborhood up to a livable standard then please, by all means, do.<\/p>\n
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