OAKLAND

Lolo Darnell, one of Mixon's cousins at the demonstration, said, "He needs sympathy too. If he's a criminal, everybody's a criminal."

I just don't know how to respond to this.

i wish that certain people could see that not every single thing in world comes down to race.

so basically Oakland residents really REALLY hate the cops. Like, more than rapists.

and more than pedophiles, too

let's not blow it out of proportion, that looks like 5-10 "community organizers" and 40-50 friends they picked up off the street. you could probably organize a thousand man march through oakland in support of the seven galaxies in 24 hours, it's just that sort of place.

^^^^Frank Chu wishes

ive heard people suggest that mixon's rape charges were trumped-up, if not wholly fabricated.

and i mean, whether or not it's a rational response, there are rational people who distrust oakland police. that said, it's very sad that these four people died.

this is true - i mean, my fiance got harassed very recently for no apparent reason: he (a white guy) was just riding his bike to work and some cop basically tried to intimidate (and forced him as close to the edge of road as possible, so that he had to ride through a bunch of broken glass and got a flat tire) him. we also had some rude cop beating down our door while trying to track down our neighbours. so yeah, i don't have much love for the police around here. but it sure as hell doesn't mean that it's ok to be happy that 4 men are dead, given that i have no idea what kind of policemen they were.

what i hear around here isnt a happiness that cops are dead, but a kind of SO WHAT response, motivated by the volume and history of unreported/unpublicized police violence in oakland. im new here (in oakland, not on ILX LOL), so i have basically no idea about the real story, but i know that these vigils are not throngs of cop-haters having parties!

re: OPD history - there are really good, legitimate reasons the Black Panther Party was born in Oakland.

can anyone recommend a book to read abt this?

69, what part of oakland are you in?

live above the adams pt whole foods, work for a housing/banking watchdog at 13th and broadway.

full disclosure: my gf and i are moving to the mission this weekend, but im interested in having dual-bay-citizenship

I've never had a negative interaction with the cops around here, but I am a bougie white dude so what do I know.

my gf and i are moving to the mission this weekend, but im interested in having dual-bay-citizenship

congrats! welcome to the neighborhood! I'm at 25th and Hampshire

Perhaps Oakland needs to spend 10 years without any police presence whatsoever.

I hear that Juarez has some really great community organizers that might be able to help out Oakland in their post-police future.

not really a 1:1 analogy there (but I lolled)

congrats! welcome to the neighborhood! I'm at 25th and Hampshire

― I'm Into that Japanese Pop-Funk (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, March 26, 2009 5:04 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

hi dere 21st and AL

but this is a discussion for another thread

hey im not from oakland or anything but i bet its possible to remain critical of the opd and its history and policies and not actually be advocating a police-free city

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/7425/imageuploadimage.jpg

live above the adams pt whole foods

You're not the guy that was playing Fleetwood Mac over and over again every afternoon a couple months back are you?

I can't imagine an ilx poster doing that

well, someone who lives in the building that's right above the adams pt whole foods did this! It was kinda annoying because I don't like Fleetwood Mac, but it was nowhere near as bad as the dude a few years back that played "Hey Jude" on his car stereo below our window around 1am for a couple weeks straight.

LOL i wish it had been me, but my gf and i just got to CA on 2/23 or something

seriously though, do you live on Vern0n Terrace?

just till tuesday but yeah!

I've known so many people who have lived on Vernon for some reason.

I live on Vernon, next to the "terrace" ... I feel sorry for everyone who has to get a moving van up vernon terrace. A while back some guys' van literally got stuck and had to get a tow.

i live right across from you, on the other side of the lake

yay! Maybe we should have an Oakland drinking expedition, Berkeley ilx-ors are invited as well.

that might be pretty cool. i don't really know any of the oakland/berkxlors, online or off.

Well hey I'm in adams point closer to fairyland. I have also been known to play "Over and Over" over and over.

I've never met any ILX people before, but I would participate if invited!

suggestions for cool places to meet? i don't really go to bars so i have no idea!

Easy Lounge has a cool happy hour. Geo Kaye's is good, too. So is Kona Club.

lol i have no idea where any of those are

geo kaye's is on broadway.

I don't drink but depending on when this was I might show up and drink water.

don't worry - i don't really drink anymore either, so you won't be on your own!

I had to look them all up but then remembered that Kaye's has been rec'd to me many times, and Kona is the tiki bar I have driven past approximately a gazillion times.

ned is in sf this weekend, maybe he could be persuaded to visit dirty ol' oakland

I might be interested in coming, depending on time...

hah, I used to live a few blocks from Geo Kayes. I think it was the first bar I went to in the bay area. Kerry House was a fave.

My brother, who's not very message board-savvy (i.e. he has a life), is moving to Oakland and wants to know what the safest, most affordable areas are. I guess affordable first and safety second, although I know for a fact he doesn't want to live anywhere that he's going to have to worry about home break-ins or hear shots ringing out all night. Do such places exist? We live in a relatively "rough" city right now, although I don't think it's Oakland-rough.

Also, how's the job market now? Not career-level stuff, but just like restaurant jobs, Trader Joe's type places, maybe working for a newspaper or magazine? That type of thing.

I think he'd like to have a roommate as long as he had his own room.

Is Oakland a fun place to live overall? How much time do you guys spend in SF vs. Oakland (those of you who live in Oakland)?

Thanks!

Generally, the safest areas are the least affordable areas. When picking a neighborhood to live in, he probably should consider his primary mode of transportation. If he's comfortable riding a bike in a city, there are a lot more options than if he doesn't have a car and doesn't want to bike.

Most of the folks I know that have moved to Oakland in the past couple years (as opposed to me who's lived in the same place for 11+ years) end up in the Temescal, North Oakland or just east of Lake Merritt. The first two are good for easy access to SF and Berkeley (the two places he's most likely to find work).

Except in a few neighborhoods, he wouldn't have to worry much about home break-ins or gunfire, but car break-ins and muggings are par for the course in a number of places.

out of curiosity, if he doesn't have a place or a job, what exactly is his reason for wanting to move to oakland?

temescal is still relatively cheap. I mean all of oakland is relatively cheap compared to SF or Berkeley. But temescal, even though it is cute and looks safe, has a lot of robberies (maybe fewer these days, but there were a lot of street robberies and muggings, I think they finally caught a few of the people responsible for most of these). even up on piedmont ave there are robberies and muggings. this happens because oakland PD is understaffed and criminals take advantage; they come into the neighborbood to rob, it's not like they live there. I'd say, if you're that worried about it, move to Montclair, but it's not cheap there and it's hard to get around, might as well live in Berkeley. Or just move to Temescal and try not to worry about it, you'll probably be fine.

Temescal is safe, close to things, GREAT for biking. Also Geta Sushi, mmm..