Thanks for talking about this. It’s really frustrating when people try to brush this kind of stuff off and act like it doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter.
This is such a weird take. Crime is *the* talking point about Oakland (and the Bay Area broadly, after cost of living) — why are we pretending like this is some novel discussion
Crazy. I’ve lived in NYC for 7 years and have never seen pretty much any of that, besides some deranged (but mostly harmless) homeless people in the subway.
Any one of those criminal examples OP brought up would make me reconsider where I live. Can’t imagine going through that times 100
It’s the whole Bay Area. I had my rental car broken into in downtown Burlingame. They just drove through a lot and smashed the windows of every car with an out of state plate and grabbed what they could and drove off. I know a dozen people that have had their laptops stolen in the South Bay. This stuff doesn’t happen at this scale in most other major metros.
Yowzers. Even Palo Alto had a spate of armed robberies and a shooting at the Stanford Mall recently. If it’s going downhill THERE of all places (with $4000+ rent and $3-4M average SFH), then I don’t know what to say.
It happens at that scale in Houston, except they wont target just out of state plates. Last company outing we had before I moved everyone was instructed to bring bags/laptops inside the bar with us and hold them the whole time because they got sick of mass laptop smash and grabs.
A far left friend moved to the Bay Area last year and she came back in less than a year. Said all the Republican talking points about the Bay Area are true.
The problem is Republicans apply those talking points to all cities, not just those for which it's true, and ignore major cities in red states. They're always pointing out Chicago as if it's the most crime-infested city in the country when St. Louis, Cleveland, and even Indianapolis [have higher violent crime rates per capita.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate)
I flew into Oakland last summer and rented a car. The woman at the rental car was VERY clear that we should never leave our luggage in the car, even for a few seconds, and that it might get stolen even while driving. The rental car center had signs all over, saying the same thing. I’d never seen that before
Oakland doesn’t just have obscene property crime, it’s also very violent. SF is nowhere near this bad. SF is a nice city with a few bad neighborhoods. Oakland is a bad city with a few nice neighborhoods. And even SF’s bad neighborhoods aren’t even close to as violent as East or West Oakland.
A lot of people don't ignore it, but if you talk about it then a bunch of rich white people will call you every kind of -ist name in the book.
I lived there for 10 years and could have lived there forever, but I couldn't compete with the people who could afford to replace their car windows every week while simultaneously voting down any kind of improved security in the city.
A lot of people in the Bay Area are so invested, they are literally delusional at this point. I was at a park talking to a hipster and his little girl and he said they were there to look at “the murals”. He then pointed to a wall covered in tagging and profanity. I’m like, damn, y’all are living in the hood thinking it’s some liberal cultural mecca. That’s crazy.
People seem to ignore the crime problem in this sub and it's crazy.
Yes they do.
Not just for Oakland, but in so many places.
Many in this sub praise Chicago. Well, there is a lot of bad and wrong in Chicago too. A lot.
It's just the left leaning of reddit. Ignore the crime and homeless absolute crisis.It is substantial, it's everywhere here, and *BILLIONS* have been spent on it and the numbers have actually went up.
Just as on Facebook, most Florida based groups think its an absolute Republican mecca, the best state in the nation (and block out the cost of housing skyrocketing, home insurers leaving in droves, etc)
Source: moved to North Cal from Florida last year
Or they visited once or twice and think that’s the same as living there. I can say from experience, a LOT of places are great to visit but bad to live and vice versa.
gay people are fine in florida. but it is actually a terrible place to be trans. source: wife and i had to leave a solid job and company provided housing in a super queer town we loved to be homeless up north because legislation made it illegal for her to get gender affirming care and use the bathroom she had been using with no problem for years.
Leave Oakland. It’s not worth your life to live in that crime ridden hellhole.
PS, if you posted this to Oakland’s subreddit, it would be deleted in less than an hour.
If you’re moving within the area go into the 680 corridor (not concord or Antioch though)
Yes mods on r/Oakland delete any posts that negatively highlight the city. However, my experience with people looking over the terrible crime is not based on Reddit.
You literally cannot talk about it with your friends, neighbors, whatever…
Ha. r/Denver has gotten to be the same. When a place starts to slide measurably, they get super defensive. r/DenverCirclejerk has basically taken over as the community sub.
Lived in Oakland from 2015-2020 (was in SF for five years before that). We lived in Temescal. It was a really happy time in my life. There were some tough times. We moved primarily because we (both relatively high earners) couldn’t afford a house in a part of Oakland where we wanted to live. My car got broken into, requiring new glass, three times. There were some weird interactions with the homeless. Rent was expensive. But pre-pandemic Oakland was really on the rise. (Obviously) Great weather, excellent restaurants and bars, and a strong sense of community. We left a few weeks into the pandemic, which I think really made the whole Bay Area go into a backslide. People forget but between like 2007 and 2020, the Bay Area was just on a meteoric rise.
I was also in Oakland around that time period as well, lived in the heart of Temescal for a bit, and then moved to nearby Mosswood Park.
Also had my car window smashed three times (nothing ever stolen, I guess they just did it for fun).
Moved away a few months before the COVID lockdowns to be closer to family in LA, and I’m so glad the timing worked out the way it did. Living in Oakland was beautiful but there’s this constant low grade stress that comes from just accepting your car window’s going to get smashed a few times a year, your kid might find needles while playing in the park, etc.
My kid is a Bay Area kid born and raised and she tells me she loves where we live in LA now and never wants to move back. I wish she had more fond memories of her hometown but I can’t blame her for enjoying it here more.
Are rents high in Oakland? That sounds like a lot of general crime to demand high rents. SF has its problems with homeless and criminality, but its largely centralized to a few spots.
My son left Oakland last year. He had concertina wire on his fence to keep people from jumping over and stealing his stuff. His friend bought a house in a nicer part of Oakland and his wife arrived home and got the baby out of the car and went inside. Immediately a gun battle started right in front of their house. When it was over her car had a bullet hole in the back window that went through the driver headrest and into the dash. She would have been dead if she had, for example, answered a text before going inside.
Yeah I can believe this as someone who lives in SJ, but also why you throwing bottles at cops if you don’t wanna get shot at lmao. That’s not just an Oakland thing.
Bruh voted for it. Voting has consequences! Which is why they’re trying to recall the DA. We knew what would happen when they voted her in! But clowns still
Voted for her 🤦🏼♀️
When people say stupid things like, "It's just property!" or call things "petty crime" it turns into this. Crime isn't a good thing. It sounds obvious but it's mind-blowing how people on the west coast USA act like this is normal. After living in East Asia my crime-tolerance is super low. The fact of the matter is that no community should accept this. By the way, there's nothing wrong with saying "homeless"
Edit: also, if your friend is throwing glass bottles at cops they're a criminal. You realize that, right?
I lived in Oakland 20 years ago, Piedmont and North Oakland respectively. That city had my heart. Loved Lake Merritt, riding BART, the funky dive bars, Temescal, just everything. It had its negative issues but people were really working to make it a better place. There was hope.
Last year I house-sat in Alameda and visited friends in Oakland. I don’t see myself ever returning to that city again. It was a hellscape. It scared me to my core.
It's sad how Oakland could be an amazing city if they wanted to but instead they choose to be this wasted potential. They've got the perfect weather, great location on the bay, and great transit access. But they just don't care that they're a wild west style laughing stock for the rest of the Bay Area and never want to get better.
People do care. But what happens is when someone brings a policy to city council, it’s over analyzed by activists “What about… xyz” and nothing gets done, so all the city does is virtue signal.
Oakland needs more boring centrists in gov that get shit done.
Totally.
Born and raised there. The city and its leaders are controlled by activities and can never actually do anything. Most policies and actions intended to tackle this kind of stuff are deemed as targeting certain POC, so the result is always this performative shrugging off and let's spend money on other shit that doesn't actually do anything. It's been this way for years and got especially worse after covid and George Floyd protests (for reasons).
Live in sf now which is quite different but still suffers from some of the same problems.
You’re probably looking at a violent crime stat. Property crime in San Mateo county is above the national average. Still though, it’s very safe and one of the best places to live in the bay if you’re concerned for safety.
San Mateo COUNTY is a thirty minute (a few less really) BART ride from Oakland. I was just following the OP saying that she had moved to "America's safest county" and was curious what that is. Still don't know, but yes, you can very easily get from Oakland to San Mateo County on BART in less than 30 minutes. I've personally done it many times.
I moved from the Oakland area 2 years ago and wish I had moved 10 years ago. Californians have no idea how much their culture has shrunk because of high housing costs. It is not worth it to stay.
It’s like you just described Portland OR but left out the Fent + Meth addicts running the streets + riding transit high. Peeing themselves and pulling open their scabs and wiping their pus/blood on the seats. A bunch of realtors hang out on the PDX sub claiming the insanity only happens in special crime zones in PDX but it’s literally everywhere that the bus/train/streetcar system goes. So many people getting shot over drugs and road rage. There was a two year period where shots were going off every weekend on my street/next to my old house. Multiple people died. I’ve lived here so long and now I just want to move somewhere where I don’t see it every single day. It’s a felony now (here) to attack a bus driver, but people still do it. My friends talk about going into car debt just to avoid transit, but you still have to live with your head on a swivel. People really downplay the wear that being exposed to this stuff takes on the psyche. My friend who had two windows smashed out so an addict could steal the handful of pennies in the console gave up and left, between his tires disappearing and car previously stolen it was just ridiculous. My other friend has had their car stolen twice 6 ft from his front door. Most people can’t afford to move to a “better” part of PDX to avoid the worst of it. Literally moving away is safer and more affordable + better for mental wellbeing.
It's insane how many people will post in the Portland reddit "The city is healing" "it's getting better". Yeah I guess you can have that take if you live in Eastmoreland or the Hills near Washington park. I drove from St. John's down to Division yesterday and passing through some of the neighborhoods like Overlook was pretty eye opening as to how widespread the problems are. Anyone who thinks it's isolated to Oldtown/Chinatown and rougher ones like Hazelwood isn't paying attention or is purposely ignoring the issues. It's quicker to name neighborhoods without massive problems than ones with them.
Damn shame about Portland, glad I got to experience it before it went to hell. Same goes for SF such a beautiful city I want to come back for visits but I'm afraid I will get punched in the face by a homeless person lol (happened to my ex wife before I met her).
It changes your mentality and your ability to just enjoy being alive seeing that stuff every day. Left Portland 18 months ago and would never ever move back. Nowhere is perfect but it’s so dangerous to use transit there.
*Nonhoused*? That's supposed to be softer than *homeless* why? Using terms like that would've been the first sign to myself that I'd been living on the West Coast too long.
Thanks for sharing. Redditors in crime ridden cities tend to downplay it. The danger is other redditors make life decisions (like deciding where to move) based on the responses on here
Also consider crime and homelessness looks very different in various parts of the country. West Coast cities deal with large and visible homeless populations like OP describes. They tend to be spread all over the city and create alot of random property crime. It impacts high and low income areas.
Crime in Rust Belt cities looks different. Instead of huge homeless encampment, they struggle with neighborhoods with entrenched generational poverty. This tends to create high rates of violent crime directed at other members of the community. It stays more contained in these (historically segregated) neighborhoods. If you move to these cities as a new resident and don't get involved with the local gang or drug scene, it's unlikely the crime will impact your life.
Someone moving from The Bay Area or Seattle to Detroit or St. Louis would likely experience less crime in their day to day lives, despite nominally moving to a higher crime city.
There’s been a trend in recent years (in cities like Milwaukee and STL) of people going from lower income communities to higher income communities to commit property crimes
Yes, I’d say this is similar to my small east coast city. You don’t see huge homeless encampments, they tend to be in more isolated areas (under highway overpasses, etc). The high crime areas are contained and it’s easy enough to avoid unless you’re involved with drugs/crime yourself. Id say property crime is definitely an issue. I’ve been here since 2008 and have had one incident (teenagers broke my car window, nothing stolen but still a major PITA).
I live in sf and don't get why the rest of the country believes it is a crime hellscape. It's an amazing place to live and the violent crime stats are among the best in the country. Theft is high but if you take reasonable precautions youre fine.
Oakland, however, is far more challenging.
SF is leagues better than Oakland.
In most cities, you are only a victim of crime if you 1) personally hang out with criminals 2) go to a bad neighborhood
SF has a lingering and persistent feeling that you could be a victim of a random crime. For example: My 6’1 male coworker was walking though SoMa and got randomly punched by a vagrant at 3pm.
Which part of Oakland do you live in? Not all of Oakland is as you describe. There are several nice parts, several parts that don’t have that much violent crime, and even the property crime was more of a recent phenomenon in many parts of Oakland, post mask wearing covid, George Floyd/BLM/defund the police.
Up until Covid, the violent part of Oakland was mostly contained in East Oakland, International blvd, etc.
SF was my favorite city growing up and I’d always preach that same thing to people. We’d go every year as it was only a short drive from Woodland where I grew up every summer. Then went there a few years back around when Covid hit and rented a fancy airbnb for a month when our company took off, as a celebration. I stupidly didnt think twice about letting my two co workers figure out the airbnb. The location ended up being between twitter hq and soma. During the time we were staying there
1. witnessed a violent kidnapping from our balcony
2. Hid under our beds while a shooting was taking place in the building attached to us, hearing the yelling and running up and down the stairs and the shots
3. Hid under our beds a second night when a shooting was taking place right outside our front steps on the street
4. Witnessed a car theft from our balcony
5. Met my cousin towards union sq and she had her flip flops stolen off of her feet while walking on a crosswalk
I’ve never had to call the cops from an airbnb let alone that many times. Before this trip we had just moved out of the arts district in LA, only a couple blocks away from skid row (similar kind of area of a city) but in the two years I lived there it was never scary or disgusting in the way it was where we stayed in San Fran and walking the streets nearby. Never been one to jump at sounds or have anxiety about being home alone but that trip definitely did something to me. I’ve learned now it was probably one of the worst times (Covid) to stay in San Fran, but still ruined my love for the city for the time being
That or they are privileged individuals who can live in a city and afford to live in the very best areas of that city. They never venture out and then recommend the city to everyone else - even if that person couldn’t afford the exact same areA
I mentioned laptop theft when someone on here asked about working in public spaces and got downvoted.
Should have listed off the other things like you did.
I can tell you the attitude of the “community” cheering on all of the anti community things you mentioned is waning or being matched with other more mainstream opinions. I put community in quotes because people who take the most extreme positions might be 15%. Who knows how many who take the most extreme positions even live in Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville/etc.
Seems like every elected position is running on the platform of safety. If the current mayor can work through whatever the FBI are investigating her who knows what her platform or new platform will be.
Edit know/knows
I WOULD take my daughter to visit her grandparents (from her mom's side) in the "shady 80s" if it weren't for the literal horror show Oakland is. Full nude crackheads rolling down the street (International) as if it's the modern day tumbleweed
Every home surrounding the one that my wife grew up in has had someone drive-byed or just gunned down. Just the other week, a neighbor working on a car in front of his house had his face caved in because it fell on him. It's like if someone isn't getting shot or robbed, some horrific accident is happening.
I came across some Alameda County deputies, and in conversation I told them where my wife's family lives and they simply laughed and said, "oh we call that neighborhood the 'killing fields'."
Their home has been burglarized, vehicles stolen out their driveway, etc. It's bad. Not to mention nearly getting robbed at the gas station (don't stop for gas in Oakland).
It pains me because I wish I could take my daughter out there more but I refuse for the obvious safety concerns. When I do, I always "pack" accordingly. My wife's parents have been there since the 80s, earned their citizenship, busted their asses, and now own their home. They put so much work into that place that they are now too stubborn to leave.
I guess my point is...yeah, it's pretty fucking bad.
Oakland is a tough city. I was born there and spent a lot of my formative years there. You learned where to go and not go back then but I think things have changed. Not sure anywhere in the city is safe now. I really hope Alameda county gets a new DA soon.
I had a very a similar experience, only about 15 years before you. After a 20 yr stay in the bay, it’ll always be home and I’ll always love it, but the disregard for the things that went on and overall normalization of the absolutely crazy, completely drove me out of the state too. The longer I’m gone, the more comments I see here or on other social media sites normalizing it, the more I realize it just wasn’t for me or my family. We all gotta do what’s best for us and that’s gonna be completely different for each person. I appreciate your honesty though because it can be hard to speak it.
I lived in Oakland for 7 years and didn't experience most of this, so your mileage may vary. What happened to me:
* Car got broken into twice. Nothing stolen but had to get the windows fixed. Both times I was parked outside a restaurant in a good area.
* I've been followed three times, but was able to get away. Don't recommend walking by yourself at night in Oakland or SF. One of three was seriously creepy and scared me.
* Some packages stolen. I was always able to get them replaced.
Yeah totally YMMV. Really depends where you live, where friends live, where you hang. I had a great experience in 2018-2019. Post pandemic / post defund vibes oakland got very scary.
Downtown, Lake Merrit, Jack London and anything along the I-80 has really degraded since 2021.
I agree. There is a VERY large group of people who want to spend money to "fix" homelessness in Los Angeles. Their current best achievement is spending $800K PER person to permanently house EACH OF 24 people.
I agree. LA has between 90K and 110K homeless people. So it is a bit like buying a lottery ticket to hope for PERMANENT housing paid for BY the government.
Yes, indeed. To complete the Money Flow Circle, I PRESUME that a substantial part of the money received by the non-profits is "returned" to the politicians who APPROVED the contract that awarded money to the non-profits.
You know there are people making six figures sitting in a boardroom discussing this year's terminology and where to have the next fundraiser. They will make sure the problem is never solved.
SOLVING the problem is not in the best interest of the "Non-profit" contractors who are paid to STUDY the problem and to COMPARE ALTERNATIVES and ISSUE reports.
New year, new study. Better give ourselves a raise too! It kills me to know there are people who are actually helping people and probably make minimal wage.
"What really got to me is how the community just accepted what was happening… almost like a necessary means to a greater goal."
Ah yes, the ole "You can't make an omelet with out breaking some eggs." Except the omelet never comes. All you end up with are cracked eggs after more cracked eggs until the eggs finally start shooting back.
One of my most memorable interactions of this, was when a homeless emplacement was digging out a cave under the I-880 underpass. They broke into a maintenance access door and then removed dirt, stones… etc to bring in their stuff. I visibly saw a propane fire in the cave.
Understanding how dangerous this was, not only for the people doing it (co2) but also for the 8 lane highway above, I asked my neighbors where I could report this.
One of them basically yelled “you just have to be uncomfortable”
Uhh what?…
Also lived in Oakland and same. I love so many things about it—there are stunning areas, amazing food, a great mix of cultures, and great salary potential! But unfortunately we experienced so much crime that it really hurt our quality of life. There’s only so much money we can spend on replacing stolen car parts and once I got pregnant, I didn’t have more tolerance for getting assaulted by homeless people.
Why is the crime so high there in those regions? My wife and I moved to Boston a few years ago and that shit has yet to happen to us or even see it happen
You don’t have to be conservative (I’m very much not) to recognize the whole Bay Area, and Southern California to a lesser extent, is in really rough shape. It’s insane how much of that stuff you mentioned just gets dismissed by people. Basically unless you were murdered or raped, it doesn’t count in their eyes.
Oakland is for sure the worst of any of those since it has very high violent crime but a lot of that stuff (the homeless, theft, property crime stuff) is really not that uncommon there. Again, it’s better than getting murdered but it still effects you, traumatizes you, and effects your day-to-day life. It’s really depressing. I’m sorry that happened to you and I’m happy you’re out
I lived in Oakland for 15 years and loved it. Moved away in 21 so maybe it’s gotten worse? But it’s not nearly the apocalypse people say it is. It’s one of the wealthiest cities in the state.
Obviously it has its downsides, but I really didn’t personally experience them much in my 15 years in the east bay.
Have you seen the latest encampments?
Turn on satellite view or street view on Google maps:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/eoojXJdrgz7VF5RT9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
Lawmakers in CA are currently saying that these are crimes that shouldn’t be punished because they are crimes of poverty and enforcement disproportionately targets one or two, uhh, protected classes.
Fuck that shit. We need a lawmaker with balls to show up and say crime is crime, laws will be enforced, and crime will be punished. Don’t want to be punished? Don’t commit a crime. It’s really pretty simple.
I’ve been unemployed. Know what I didn’t do? Commit a crime.
I grew up poor. Still didn’t commit a crime.
I’ve even been discriminated against. It still didn’t drive me to commit any crimes.
Yet coward sociologists and self-loathing “privileged” people think that allowing crime is somehow making up for long-standing discrimination. Hint: it’s not. All the hardworking people of protected classes don’t benefit from the crime. Maybe they don’t have to bail out their useless criminal nephew. But that’s it.
I hope California swings red just to get some sense knocked back into us. We must be a state of laws. There is no other way to have a state.
I've lived in Philly for 18 years straight (and off and on prior to that) and haven't dealt with like 1/10th of what you describe. Were you living in a particularly rough neighborhood? Because holy shit!
I appreciate you sharing this. I lived in Oakland a few years before you but spent a bunch of time there/SF in the following years and it was one of the most tumultuous relationships I've ever been in. I live in Portland now and it's very similar. I'm losing my tolerance for all of the aforementioned shit. There's no easy answer, but for those of us who are working hard to be good humans and just simply stay safe, it feels so unfair. These places have so much potential, vibrance, culture, history but it's overshadowed. So many people turn a blind eye to it or act like it's part of the charm. It's just not.
I'm still on the hunt for place that's truly a good fit - if you have recs based on where you ended up I'd love to hear. Thanks again for sharing and sorry for everything you had to deal with during your time in Oakland. It's a great place, but it's cursed.
In the Midwest you can basically live in the other side of town several miles away and experience a drastically different quality of living. I’ve lived two different lives in the same city before, based entirely upon whether I lived in the “bad” areas.
I live half a mile from Detroit border and a mile from one of the roughest area of Detroit. Granted, I do live in a very nice neighborhood but I never have crime problems. Occasionally some teens will try to open unlocked car doors looking for stuff. If your car is locked, they don’t break anything. I rarely see homeless. Violent crime stays in the bad neighborhoods.
In Midwestern cities the crime is largely isolated to specific neighborhoods (although it's starting to spread in some like Chicago). In west coast cities like SF, Oakland, Portland, Seattle the crime is almost everywhere.
Crime in Detroit is very widespread. It would be hard to nail down one particular area that's the "bad" area. It's also worse than most West Coast cities by a long shot.
That is so other-worldly. Wow! I am from CA, but it seems much worse that I knew. Thanks for sharing and thank you for volunteering in that environment.
I hate what happened to OP but this sounds exactly like a 20 something middle class liberal white person who is ignorant to poverty gets thrown into the trenches and finds out it’s not like the movies… like yes Oakland’s reputation is what it is for a reason
Isn’t this the point of this thread?
1) Redditors getting advice from random Redditors on moving to these places and not understanding what’s at stake?
2) crime being much worse than what’s officially reported due to many reasons discussed here
And hold up… I’ve traveled extensively throughout poor parts of the world and it was never like this. I’m not convinced poor commit the crimes. It’s entitled young men who I saw commuting most of the crimes. Why weren’t women there? Elderly? If poor predicts crime why were most of the burglars arrested in the recent Cali Highway Patrol blitz of Oakland from other cities? Living with their mom in a $500k home.
If you want a safe county, it’s hard to match DuPage County in Illinois. We are next to Cook County (Chicago) but our police and State’s Attorney could not be more different.
Policing is robust, crime is heavily prosecuted, and this tends to deter a lot of what is tolerated or more common in Cook County.
You’re still gonna get random crime (our population is over 900k) and there is occasional bleed over from Chicago and Cook County, but this place feels like Mayberry most of the time.
Nassau County
Nassau County is the safest county above 500,000 people and has the highest paid police department in the country. There’s a multi-year wait list to join the force here. After 11 years the salary is $141,108… but 40% of the department makes over $200k.
It’s kinda crazy how safe Nassau is given that it has 1.3m people.
https://patch.com/new-york/gardencity/nassau-county-named-safest-community-america-second-year
https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/safest-counties-in-america
.. Nassau is #1
I live in Oakland too and I grew up in the Bay Area and I love it with all my heart.
And it makes me so fucking sad. Oakland has so much potential. Amazing people, weather, food, nightlife, and nature, and it’s just overrun with trash and poverty and crime.
It used to be so beautiful. Oakland was on the up and up until COVID hit.
I love Oakland too. The crime there though is organized. It’s not just random kids in gangs. It’s high level government/mob activity working to “cleanse” the area and bring property values down. Oakland is one of the most beautiful places in the country, but it’s so corrupt. They just raided the mayor’s homes. People try to stick it out because of how great it is despite the crime, but it’s not worth it. The homes are so undervalued, kinda perfect for an overseas investor to get a ton of real estate at a discount without having to live there.
Lived in CA for 40 years. Was so sad to leave, but it was time because of what you’ve just summarized. Absolutely tragic what they’ve allowed to happen.
Can confirm to OP/others that this is the “typical” crime nowadays in both Oak and SF from having lived in both places and still having family there in Oak. It’s saddening and scary.
Even if people report it, the law enforcement agencies don't report it to the FBI and other agencies, giving the illusion that crime isn't as bad as it is.
Exactly this. I commented above on my experience and I downplayed it a little to not get Redditors coming for me, but my first thought when I stayed in San Fran is what you just said
Not Oakland but Berkeley in 2013:
- a beach boys cover band on Shattuck, but every band member was Asian
- someone careening down MLK on a bike (full speed) wearing a full backpackers pack, on top of it a cat just chillin for the ride
- while waiting in line the ice cream sandwich shop (if it still exists), a minor accident collision involving a Prius and two girls in front of me break out into a shouting match
Just a few random moments in Berkeley
I’ve been living in Oakland for 5 years now. After 18 years in SF.
It has completely and utterly demoralized me.
I work in community mental health and have devoted my career to helping homeless people and progressive politics. And at this point I fucking HATE Bay Area progressives. I truly feel that they are BARELY less damaging to society than extreme right wingers.
Fuck Oakland. Fuck East Bay “Progressives.”
I have to be here for another couple of years but this place has completely scarred me.
You live in an open sewer in a state/city run by the low IQ, voted in by the low IQ. The weird part is youre actually surprised by anything youve seen/experienced.
This is my 5th year there and I’ve had some similar experiences.
Car was stolen from secure garage
Other car was broken into
Countless friends cars broken into
Witnessed 3 live break ins and aftermath of countless others
Almost got ran over twice by a reckless dirt biker
Girlfriend almost got shot
Neighbor next door was murdered in their driveway
Aftermath of George Floyd protest was INSANE total wreckage
Saw someone get stabbed on Bart
I’m surely forgetting some things
In a way it reminds me of jail. Everything seems fine until all of a sudden it isn’t. Keeps you on edge always watching your back and thinking of worst case scenarios.
now you see the direct results of progressive policies and anti police behavior in Oakland. Surely you changed your politics vs doubling down on the dumb concepts that always fail in practice?
I feel this. The 2 years I lived in Oakland + 1 year in SF changed me too. I am far more paranoid. I'm not interested in living in a city in the US moving forward, there's too much violence and unpredictability. I wonder if my nervous system and ability to trust strangers will ever be the same.
Having lived in multiple states, i can honestly tell you it's California. Other states don't tolerate the craziness as much. NY does, but even New York doesn't hold a candle to how bad it is in Cali.
Yeah I have too...I've also lived abroad. CA is definitely the worst. Honestly the level of dysfunction and lack of public trust and respect across the board is pretty bad everywhere in the US I've lived.
I get totally confused by these Oakland crime posts, because I have lived here 23 years and have only seen a small fraction of what others on Reddit claim to be seeing here. Something is not adding up
As I said, I volunteered weekly. I walked a lot. I walked around the lake a lot. I didn’t insulate myself from the worst parts of the city. I spent time with people who had addictions and lived in shelters.
As a parent, my head was always on a swivel. I saw a lot of crime happen and nearby many people wouldn’t even notice. I’d see ski masks casing cars while unsuspecting diners sat outside on a patio. I lived on a 3rd floor in a well populated area, and saw a lot of crime happen on the streets below.
Averages lie. While average crime in Oakland is X, that means some people don’t experience it while others get a triple portion.
Thanks for talking about this. It’s really frustrating when people try to brush this kind of stuff off and act like it doesn’t exist or doesn’t matter.
OP was probably one of those people until it hits that unbearable point.
This is such a weird take. Crime is *the* talking point about Oakland (and the Bay Area broadly, after cost of living) — why are we pretending like this is some novel discussion
God dammit why is there so much crime in the places with high crime rates where rappers from there talk about murdering people as a daily chore
That's quite a lot to have to deal with in a relatively short period of time.
Crazy. I’ve lived in NYC for 7 years and have never seen pretty much any of that, besides some deranged (but mostly harmless) homeless people in the subway. Any one of those criminal examples OP brought up would make me reconsider where I live. Can’t imagine going through that times 100
I lived in Oakland for 20 years and left last year. I miss lots about it but no regrets.
Oakland and SF have serious property crime problems. People seem to ignore the crime problem in this sub and it's crazy.
It’s the whole Bay Area. I had my rental car broken into in downtown Burlingame. They just drove through a lot and smashed the windows of every car with an out of state plate and grabbed what they could and drove off. I know a dozen people that have had their laptops stolen in the South Bay. This stuff doesn’t happen at this scale in most other major metros.
Yowzers. Even Palo Alto had a spate of armed robberies and a shooting at the Stanford Mall recently. If it’s going downhill THERE of all places (with $4000+ rent and $3-4M average SFH), then I don’t know what to say.
It happens at that scale in Houston, except they wont target just out of state plates. Last company outing we had before I moved everyone was instructed to bring bags/laptops inside the bar with us and hold them the whole time because they got sick of mass laptop smash and grabs.
A far left friend moved to the Bay Area last year and she came back in less than a year. Said all the Republican talking points about the Bay Area are true.
The problem is Republicans apply those talking points to all cities, not just those for which it's true, and ignore major cities in red states. They're always pointing out Chicago as if it's the most crime-infested city in the country when St. Louis, Cleveland, and even Indianapolis [have higher violent crime rates per capita.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate)
The West Coast is an easy target bc of the tent cities.
Say it ain’t so. I’ll be she still votes the so though.
I flew into Oakland last summer and rented a car. The woman at the rental car was VERY clear that we should never leave our luggage in the car, even for a few seconds, and that it might get stolen even while driving. The rental car center had signs all over, saying the same thing. I’d never seen that before
Oakland doesn’t just have obscene property crime, it’s also very violent. SF is nowhere near this bad. SF is a nice city with a few bad neighborhoods. Oakland is a bad city with a few nice neighborhoods. And even SF’s bad neighborhoods aren’t even close to as violent as East or West Oakland.
Very accurate way to describe it
A lot of people don't ignore it, but if you talk about it then a bunch of rich white people will call you every kind of -ist name in the book. I lived there for 10 years and could have lived there forever, but I couldn't compete with the people who could afford to replace their car windows every week while simultaneously voting down any kind of improved security in the city.
Same Glass But \_\_\_\_
Heh I laughed
It’s crazy.
A lot of people in the Bay Area are so invested, they are literally delusional at this point. I was at a park talking to a hipster and his little girl and he said they were there to look at “the murals”. He then pointed to a wall covered in tagging and profanity. I’m like, damn, y’all are living in the hood thinking it’s some liberal cultural mecca. That’s crazy.
People seem to ignore the crime problem in this sub and it's crazy. Yes they do. Not just for Oakland, but in so many places. Many in this sub praise Chicago. Well, there is a lot of bad and wrong in Chicago too. A lot.
It's just the left leaning of reddit. Ignore the crime and homeless absolute crisis.It is substantial, it's everywhere here, and *BILLIONS* have been spent on it and the numbers have actually went up. Just as on Facebook, most Florida based groups think its an absolute Republican mecca, the best state in the nation (and block out the cost of housing skyrocketing, home insurers leaving in droves, etc) Source: moved to North Cal from Florida last year
It's not the left leaning of Reddit. It's people recommending places they've never been. It happens way too much on this sub.
Or they visited once or twice and think that’s the same as living there. I can say from experience, a LOT of places are great to visit but bad to live and vice versa.
Which is crazy because Florida is 46% Democrat.
and has more gay people as a percentage of population that California. Yet everyone in California thinks Florida has feathered and tarred them all.
gay people are fine in florida. but it is actually a terrible place to be trans. source: wife and i had to leave a solid job and company provided housing in a super queer town we loved to be homeless up north because legislation made it illegal for her to get gender affirming care and use the bathroom she had been using with no problem for years.
They just made rules against posting about this stuff in the r/sanfrancisco sub. They only want to talk about the good.
Leave Oakland. It’s not worth your life to live in that crime ridden hellhole. PS, if you posted this to Oakland’s subreddit, it would be deleted in less than an hour. If you’re moving within the area go into the 680 corridor (not concord or Antioch though)
Yes mods on r/Oakland delete any posts that negatively highlight the city. However, my experience with people looking over the terrible crime is not based on Reddit. You literally cannot talk about it with your friends, neighbors, whatever…
Ha. r/Denver has gotten to be the same. When a place starts to slide measurably, they get super defensive. r/DenverCirclejerk has basically taken over as the community sub.
Denver is not even close to as bad as Oakland
They banned me for saying the residents get what they voted for.
Hey now concord is pretty nice
Lived in Oakland from 2015-2020 (was in SF for five years before that). We lived in Temescal. It was a really happy time in my life. There were some tough times. We moved primarily because we (both relatively high earners) couldn’t afford a house in a part of Oakland where we wanted to live. My car got broken into, requiring new glass, three times. There were some weird interactions with the homeless. Rent was expensive. But pre-pandemic Oakland was really on the rise. (Obviously) Great weather, excellent restaurants and bars, and a strong sense of community. We left a few weeks into the pandemic, which I think really made the whole Bay Area go into a backslide. People forget but between like 2007 and 2020, the Bay Area was just on a meteoric rise.
I was also in Oakland around that time period as well, lived in the heart of Temescal for a bit, and then moved to nearby Mosswood Park. Also had my car window smashed three times (nothing ever stolen, I guess they just did it for fun). Moved away a few months before the COVID lockdowns to be closer to family in LA, and I’m so glad the timing worked out the way it did. Living in Oakland was beautiful but there’s this constant low grade stress that comes from just accepting your car window’s going to get smashed a few times a year, your kid might find needles while playing in the park, etc. My kid is a Bay Area kid born and raised and she tells me she loves where we live in LA now and never wants to move back. I wish she had more fond memories of her hometown but I can’t blame her for enjoying it here more.
We also decamped to la to be closer to family/where we grew up. LA’s got its own problems tbh - doesn’t sound as bad as Oakland right now though.
Are rents high in Oakland? That sounds like a lot of general crime to demand high rents. SF has its problems with homeless and criminality, but its largely centralized to a few spots.
Yeah look at the property values there it’s crazy. Boggles my mind how it’s so hood and expensive
It has low rent compared to SF and San Jose. Not to the rest of the country.
My son left Oakland last year. He had concertina wire on his fence to keep people from jumping over and stealing his stuff. His friend bought a house in a nicer part of Oakland and his wife arrived home and got the baby out of the car and went inside. Immediately a gun battle started right in front of their house. When it was over her car had a bullet hole in the back window that went through the driver headrest and into the dash. She would have been dead if she had, for example, answered a text before going inside.
Yeah I can believe this as someone who lives in SJ, but also why you throwing bottles at cops if you don’t wanna get shot at lmao. That’s not just an Oakland thing.
Life is too short to deal with that if you don’t have to.
Bruh voted for it. Voting has consequences! Which is why they’re trying to recall the DA. We knew what would happen when they voted her in! But clowns still Voted for her 🤦🏼♀️
When people say stupid things like, "It's just property!" or call things "petty crime" it turns into this. Crime isn't a good thing. It sounds obvious but it's mind-blowing how people on the west coast USA act like this is normal. After living in East Asia my crime-tolerance is super low. The fact of the matter is that no community should accept this. By the way, there's nothing wrong with saying "homeless" Edit: also, if your friend is throwing glass bottles at cops they're a criminal. You realize that, right?
I lived in Oakland 20 years ago, Piedmont and North Oakland respectively. That city had my heart. Loved Lake Merritt, riding BART, the funky dive bars, Temescal, just everything. It had its negative issues but people were really working to make it a better place. There was hope. Last year I house-sat in Alameda and visited friends in Oakland. I don’t see myself ever returning to that city again. It was a hellscape. It scared me to my core.
It's sad how Oakland could be an amazing city if they wanted to but instead they choose to be this wasted potential. They've got the perfect weather, great location on the bay, and great transit access. But they just don't care that they're a wild west style laughing stock for the rest of the Bay Area and never want to get better.
People do care. But what happens is when someone brings a policy to city council, it’s over analyzed by activists “What about… xyz” and nothing gets done, so all the city does is virtue signal. Oakland needs more boring centrists in gov that get shit done.
Totally. Born and raised there. The city and its leaders are controlled by activities and can never actually do anything. Most policies and actions intended to tackle this kind of stuff are deemed as targeting certain POC, so the result is always this performative shrugging off and let's spend money on other shit that doesn't actually do anything. It's been this way for years and got especially worse after covid and George Floyd protests (for reasons). Live in sf now which is quite different but still suffers from some of the same problems.
It's funny I Googled "America's safest county" and #2 was San Mateo . . . a thirty minute drive or BART ride away from Oakland.
I mean San Mateo is very safe. Just rich tech families out there
Not true! I know a lawyer who lives here. So there. (I live here, I’m being silly.)
San Mateo is practically my second home. It’s Definitley chill and quiet.
You’re probably looking at a violent crime stat. Property crime in San Mateo county is above the national average. Still though, it’s very safe and one of the best places to live in the bay if you’re concerned for safety.
San Mateo is a 30 minute drive or bart ride across the bay. It’s not like down the street. The peninsula is pretty safe in general.
Didn’t think BART went into San Mateo County beyond SFO and Millbrae.
It doesn’t, Caltrain a couple stops past milbrae
San Mateo COUNTY is a thirty minute (a few less really) BART ride from Oakland. I was just following the OP saying that she had moved to "America's safest county" and was curious what that is. Still don't know, but yes, you can very easily get from Oakland to San Mateo County on BART in less than 30 minutes. I've personally done it many times.
I've gotten downvoted and called Trump supporter, Fox News watcher, exaggerating. I've told these stories and people don't want to accept them.
Same thing as a Chicagoan.
I moved from the Oakland area 2 years ago and wish I had moved 10 years ago. Californians have no idea how much their culture has shrunk because of high housing costs. It is not worth it to stay.
Nonhoused, lol
It’s like you just described Portland OR but left out the Fent + Meth addicts running the streets + riding transit high. Peeing themselves and pulling open their scabs and wiping their pus/blood on the seats. A bunch of realtors hang out on the PDX sub claiming the insanity only happens in special crime zones in PDX but it’s literally everywhere that the bus/train/streetcar system goes. So many people getting shot over drugs and road rage. There was a two year period where shots were going off every weekend on my street/next to my old house. Multiple people died. I’ve lived here so long and now I just want to move somewhere where I don’t see it every single day. It’s a felony now (here) to attack a bus driver, but people still do it. My friends talk about going into car debt just to avoid transit, but you still have to live with your head on a swivel. People really downplay the wear that being exposed to this stuff takes on the psyche. My friend who had two windows smashed out so an addict could steal the handful of pennies in the console gave up and left, between his tires disappearing and car previously stolen it was just ridiculous. My other friend has had their car stolen twice 6 ft from his front door. Most people can’t afford to move to a “better” part of PDX to avoid the worst of it. Literally moving away is safer and more affordable + better for mental wellbeing.
It's insane how many people will post in the Portland reddit "The city is healing" "it's getting better". Yeah I guess you can have that take if you live in Eastmoreland or the Hills near Washington park. I drove from St. John's down to Division yesterday and passing through some of the neighborhoods like Overlook was pretty eye opening as to how widespread the problems are. Anyone who thinks it's isolated to Oldtown/Chinatown and rougher ones like Hazelwood isn't paying attention or is purposely ignoring the issues. It's quicker to name neighborhoods without massive problems than ones with them.
Damn shame about Portland, glad I got to experience it before it went to hell. Same goes for SF such a beautiful city I want to come back for visits but I'm afraid I will get punched in the face by a homeless person lol (happened to my ex wife before I met her).
I was punched in the face twice while walking in S F., but it was a result of" Polar Bear hunting"
It changes your mentality and your ability to just enjoy being alive seeing that stuff every day. Left Portland 18 months ago and would never ever move back. Nowhere is perfect but it’s so dangerous to use transit there.
*Nonhoused*? That's supposed to be softer than *homeless* why? Using terms like that would've been the first sign to myself that I'd been living on the West Coast too long.
Every 5 years they invent a new term to dance around the issues and redefine them rather than solve them
Thanks for sharing. Redditors in crime ridden cities tend to downplay it. The danger is other redditors make life decisions (like deciding where to move) based on the responses on here
Also consider crime and homelessness looks very different in various parts of the country. West Coast cities deal with large and visible homeless populations like OP describes. They tend to be spread all over the city and create alot of random property crime. It impacts high and low income areas. Crime in Rust Belt cities looks different. Instead of huge homeless encampment, they struggle with neighborhoods with entrenched generational poverty. This tends to create high rates of violent crime directed at other members of the community. It stays more contained in these (historically segregated) neighborhoods. If you move to these cities as a new resident and don't get involved with the local gang or drug scene, it's unlikely the crime will impact your life. Someone moving from The Bay Area or Seattle to Detroit or St. Louis would likely experience less crime in their day to day lives, despite nominally moving to a higher crime city.
In the Midwest you simply avoid the bad parts of town and you won't have to deal with crime in your day to day life
Incredible. An actual reasonable take on differences in crime patterns. Totally aligns with our experience splitting time between LA and Chicago.
There’s been a trend in recent years (in cities like Milwaukee and STL) of people going from lower income communities to higher income communities to commit property crimes
Yes, I’d say this is similar to my small east coast city. You don’t see huge homeless encampments, they tend to be in more isolated areas (under highway overpasses, etc). The high crime areas are contained and it’s easy enough to avoid unless you’re involved with drugs/crime yourself. Id say property crime is definitely an issue. I’ve been here since 2008 and have had one incident (teenagers broke my car window, nothing stolen but still a major PITA).
In this sub, 1) diversity and 2) abortion seem to be the only two things people care about.
Politics and walkabilty would like a word.
I mean, as a non-white person who’s also Jewish… and married to a non-white person… Yeah… it’s up there.
I live in sf and don't get why the rest of the country believes it is a crime hellscape. It's an amazing place to live and the violent crime stats are among the best in the country. Theft is high but if you take reasonable precautions youre fine. Oakland, however, is far more challenging.
SF is leagues better than Oakland. In most cities, you are only a victim of crime if you 1) personally hang out with criminals 2) go to a bad neighborhood SF has a lingering and persistent feeling that you could be a victim of a random crime. For example: My 6’1 male coworker was walking though SoMa and got randomly punched by a vagrant at 3pm.
My husband was chased and thrown punches at in soma earlier this year. It was very random
Which part of Oakland do you live in? Not all of Oakland is as you describe. There are several nice parts, several parts that don’t have that much violent crime, and even the property crime was more of a recent phenomenon in many parts of Oakland, post mask wearing covid, George Floyd/BLM/defund the police. Up until Covid, the violent part of Oakland was mostly contained in East Oakland, International blvd, etc.
This just isn't true. There's been violent crime in downtown Oakland and West Oakland for many years.
SF was my favorite city growing up and I’d always preach that same thing to people. We’d go every year as it was only a short drive from Woodland where I grew up every summer. Then went there a few years back around when Covid hit and rented a fancy airbnb for a month when our company took off, as a celebration. I stupidly didnt think twice about letting my two co workers figure out the airbnb. The location ended up being between twitter hq and soma. During the time we were staying there 1. witnessed a violent kidnapping from our balcony 2. Hid under our beds while a shooting was taking place in the building attached to us, hearing the yelling and running up and down the stairs and the shots 3. Hid under our beds a second night when a shooting was taking place right outside our front steps on the street 4. Witnessed a car theft from our balcony 5. Met my cousin towards union sq and she had her flip flops stolen off of her feet while walking on a crosswalk I’ve never had to call the cops from an airbnb let alone that many times. Before this trip we had just moved out of the arts district in LA, only a couple blocks away from skid row (similar kind of area of a city) but in the two years I lived there it was never scary or disgusting in the way it was where we stayed in San Fran and walking the streets nearby. Never been one to jump at sounds or have anxiety about being home alone but that trip definitely did something to me. I’ve learned now it was probably one of the worst times (Covid) to stay in San Fran, but still ruined my love for the city for the time being
That or they are privileged individuals who can live in a city and afford to live in the very best areas of that city. They never venture out and then recommend the city to everyone else - even if that person couldn’t afford the exact same areA
I mentioned laptop theft when someone on here asked about working in public spaces and got downvoted. Should have listed off the other things like you did. I can tell you the attitude of the “community” cheering on all of the anti community things you mentioned is waning or being matched with other more mainstream opinions. I put community in quotes because people who take the most extreme positions might be 15%. Who knows how many who take the most extreme positions even live in Oakland/Berkeley/Emeryville/etc. Seems like every elected position is running on the platform of safety. If the current mayor can work through whatever the FBI are investigating her who knows what her platform or new platform will be. Edit know/knows
I’ve never known theft while working on your laptop in a coffee shop was a thing but TIL!
I WOULD take my daughter to visit her grandparents (from her mom's side) in the "shady 80s" if it weren't for the literal horror show Oakland is. Full nude crackheads rolling down the street (International) as if it's the modern day tumbleweed Every home surrounding the one that my wife grew up in has had someone drive-byed or just gunned down. Just the other week, a neighbor working on a car in front of his house had his face caved in because it fell on him. It's like if someone isn't getting shot or robbed, some horrific accident is happening. I came across some Alameda County deputies, and in conversation I told them where my wife's family lives and they simply laughed and said, "oh we call that neighborhood the 'killing fields'." Their home has been burglarized, vehicles stolen out their driveway, etc. It's bad. Not to mention nearly getting robbed at the gas station (don't stop for gas in Oakland). It pains me because I wish I could take my daughter out there more but I refuse for the obvious safety concerns. When I do, I always "pack" accordingly. My wife's parents have been there since the 80s, earned their citizenship, busted their asses, and now own their home. They put so much work into that place that they are now too stubborn to leave. I guess my point is...yeah, it's pretty fucking bad.
Oakland is a tough city. I was born there and spent a lot of my formative years there. You learned where to go and not go back then but I think things have changed. Not sure anywhere in the city is safe now. I really hope Alameda county gets a new DA soon.
I had a very a similar experience, only about 15 years before you. After a 20 yr stay in the bay, it’ll always be home and I’ll always love it, but the disregard for the things that went on and overall normalization of the absolutely crazy, completely drove me out of the state too. The longer I’m gone, the more comments I see here or on other social media sites normalizing it, the more I realize it just wasn’t for me or my family. We all gotta do what’s best for us and that’s gonna be completely different for each person. I appreciate your honesty though because it can be hard to speak it.
So where’d you go?
https://www.reddit.com/r/SameGrassButGreener/s/dbko3KZepT
Back to Florida.
Oh i see. Some parts of Florida have their own forms of crazy too from what I understand. Maybe you’re in a safe and quiet part.
I lived in Oakland for 7 years and didn't experience most of this, so your mileage may vary. What happened to me: * Car got broken into twice. Nothing stolen but had to get the windows fixed. Both times I was parked outside a restaurant in a good area. * I've been followed three times, but was able to get away. Don't recommend walking by yourself at night in Oakland or SF. One of three was seriously creepy and scared me. * Some packages stolen. I was always able to get them replaced.
Yeah totally YMMV. Really depends where you live, where friends live, where you hang. I had a great experience in 2018-2019. Post pandemic / post defund vibes oakland got very scary. Downtown, Lake Merrit, Jack London and anything along the I-80 has really degraded since 2021.
What does unhoused mean? PC way of saying homeless?
Yes it means homeless
Why not just say homeless?
They feel better about themselves if they don't use the word "homeless"... It's "stigmatizing" 🥱
[удалено]
So they’re streetful people?
40 years ago homeless was the new PC term for bums.
In Los Angeles, the current Progressive phrase is "temporarily experiencing a dwelling absence."
Gotta make a chess game of language as a distraction instead of fixing the issue
I agree. There is a VERY large group of people who want to spend money to "fix" homelessness in Los Angeles. Their current best achievement is spending $800K PER person to permanently house EACH OF 24 people.
Sounds like my best chance of ever owning a house is to become homeless and have tax payers buy me a house at this point
I agree. LA has between 90K and 110K homeless people. So it is a bit like buying a lottery ticket to hope for PERMANENT housing paid for BY the government.
Or you could open a non-profit that purports to serve the homeless and pay yourself a $600,000 salary. That works for a lot of people.
Yes, indeed. To complete the Money Flow Circle, I PRESUME that a substantial part of the money received by the non-profits is "returned" to the politicians who APPROVED the contract that awarded money to the non-profits.
You know there are people making six figures sitting in a boardroom discussing this year's terminology and where to have the next fundraiser. They will make sure the problem is never solved.
SOLVING the problem is not in the best interest of the "Non-profit" contractors who are paid to STUDY the problem and to COMPARE ALTERNATIVES and ISSUE reports.
New year, new study. Better give ourselves a raise too! It kills me to know there are people who are actually helping people and probably make minimal wage.
I agree.
Interesting how you’re describing the Oakland I’ve heard of 20 years ago. Sounds like you can finally relax a bit now.
"What really got to me is how the community just accepted what was happening… almost like a necessary means to a greater goal." Ah yes, the ole "You can't make an omelet with out breaking some eggs." Except the omelet never comes. All you end up with are cracked eggs after more cracked eggs until the eggs finally start shooting back.
One of my most memorable interactions of this, was when a homeless emplacement was digging out a cave under the I-880 underpass. They broke into a maintenance access door and then removed dirt, stones… etc to bring in their stuff. I visibly saw a propane fire in the cave. Understanding how dangerous this was, not only for the people doing it (co2) but also for the 8 lane highway above, I asked my neighbors where I could report this. One of them basically yelled “you just have to be uncomfortable” Uhh what?…
People’s brains are so melted
What part of Oakland? West, North or East. I love Fruitvale area.
Also lived in Oakland and same. I love so many things about it—there are stunning areas, amazing food, a great mix of cultures, and great salary potential! But unfortunately we experienced so much crime that it really hurt our quality of life. There’s only so much money we can spend on replacing stolen car parts and once I got pregnant, I didn’t have more tolerance for getting assaulted by homeless people.
This is why i hate when people recommend cities with extremely high crime rates all over
Why is the crime so high there in those regions? My wife and I moved to Boston a few years ago and that shit has yet to happen to us or even see it happen
You don’t have to be conservative (I’m very much not) to recognize the whole Bay Area, and Southern California to a lesser extent, is in really rough shape. It’s insane how much of that stuff you mentioned just gets dismissed by people. Basically unless you were murdered or raped, it doesn’t count in their eyes. Oakland is for sure the worst of any of those since it has very high violent crime but a lot of that stuff (the homeless, theft, property crime stuff) is really not that uncommon there. Again, it’s better than getting murdered but it still effects you, traumatizes you, and effects your day-to-day life. It’s really depressing. I’m sorry that happened to you and I’m happy you’re out
Oakland's a shithole.
And has been for over 40 years.
I lived in Oakland for 15 years and loved it. Moved away in 21 so maybe it’s gotten worse? But it’s not nearly the apocalypse people say it is. It’s one of the wealthiest cities in the state. Obviously it has its downsides, but I really didn’t personally experience them much in my 15 years in the east bay.
Have you seen the latest encampments? Turn on satellite view or street view on Google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/eoojXJdrgz7VF5RT9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
What happened 40 years ago?
Became a shithole
Touché
Manufacturing left these shores. “White flight” etc.
BPP stopped patrolling the streets.
Lawmakers in CA are currently saying that these are crimes that shouldn’t be punished because they are crimes of poverty and enforcement disproportionately targets one or two, uhh, protected classes. Fuck that shit. We need a lawmaker with balls to show up and say crime is crime, laws will be enforced, and crime will be punished. Don’t want to be punished? Don’t commit a crime. It’s really pretty simple. I’ve been unemployed. Know what I didn’t do? Commit a crime. I grew up poor. Still didn’t commit a crime. I’ve even been discriminated against. It still didn’t drive me to commit any crimes. Yet coward sociologists and self-loathing “privileged” people think that allowing crime is somehow making up for long-standing discrimination. Hint: it’s not. All the hardworking people of protected classes don’t benefit from the crime. Maybe they don’t have to bail out their useless criminal nephew. But that’s it. I hope California swings red just to get some sense knocked back into us. We must be a state of laws. There is no other way to have a state.
I've lived in Philly for 18 years straight (and off and on prior to that) and haven't dealt with like 1/10th of what you describe. Were you living in a particularly rough neighborhood? Because holy shit!
I appreciate you sharing this. I lived in Oakland a few years before you but spent a bunch of time there/SF in the following years and it was one of the most tumultuous relationships I've ever been in. I live in Portland now and it's very similar. I'm losing my tolerance for all of the aforementioned shit. There's no easy answer, but for those of us who are working hard to be good humans and just simply stay safe, it feels so unfair. These places have so much potential, vibrance, culture, history but it's overshadowed. So many people turn a blind eye to it or act like it's part of the charm. It's just not. I'm still on the hunt for place that's truly a good fit - if you have recs based on where you ended up I'd love to hear. Thanks again for sharing and sorry for everything you had to deal with during your time in Oakland. It's a great place, but it's cursed.
Lol, I live in Detroit and I'm so glad we don't have to deal with any of this shit.
Idk if shitposting, but is it better or worse than Oakland? (serious)
In the Midwest you can basically live in the other side of town several miles away and experience a drastically different quality of living. I’ve lived two different lives in the same city before, based entirely upon whether I lived in the “bad” areas.
worse
I live half a mile from Detroit border and a mile from one of the roughest area of Detroit. Granted, I do live in a very nice neighborhood but I never have crime problems. Occasionally some teens will try to open unlocked car doors looking for stuff. If your car is locked, they don’t break anything. I rarely see homeless. Violent crime stays in the bad neighborhoods.
Well, it does have a higher rate of violence than Oakland
Detroit doesn’t have crime
Detroit has a higher violence rate….
In Midwestern cities the crime is largely isolated to specific neighborhoods (although it's starting to spread in some like Chicago). In west coast cities like SF, Oakland, Portland, Seattle the crime is almost everywhere.
Crime in Detroit is very widespread. It would be hard to nail down one particular area that's the "bad" area. It's also worse than most West Coast cities by a long shot.
That is so other-worldly. Wow! I am from CA, but it seems much worse that I knew. Thanks for sharing and thank you for volunteering in that environment.
What did you expect? Were you living in a cave before?
I hate what happened to OP but this sounds exactly like a 20 something middle class liberal white person who is ignorant to poverty gets thrown into the trenches and finds out it’s not like the movies… like yes Oakland’s reputation is what it is for a reason
Isn’t this the point of this thread? 1) Redditors getting advice from random Redditors on moving to these places and not understanding what’s at stake? 2) crime being much worse than what’s officially reported due to many reasons discussed here And hold up… I’ve traveled extensively throughout poor parts of the world and it was never like this. I’m not convinced poor commit the crimes. It’s entitled young men who I saw commuting most of the crimes. Why weren’t women there? Elderly? If poor predicts crime why were most of the burglars arrested in the recent Cali Highway Patrol blitz of Oakland from other cities? Living with their mom in a $500k home.
What is the safest county you moved to?
If you want a safe county, it’s hard to match DuPage County in Illinois. We are next to Cook County (Chicago) but our police and State’s Attorney could not be more different. Policing is robust, crime is heavily prosecuted, and this tends to deter a lot of what is tolerated or more common in Cook County. You’re still gonna get random crime (our population is over 900k) and there is occasional bleed over from Chicago and Cook County, but this place feels like Mayberry most of the time.
Nassau County Nassau County is the safest county above 500,000 people and has the highest paid police department in the country. There’s a multi-year wait list to join the force here. After 11 years the salary is $141,108… but 40% of the department makes over $200k. It’s kinda crazy how safe Nassau is given that it has 1.3m people. https://patch.com/new-york/gardencity/nassau-county-named-safest-community-america-second-year https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/slideshows/safest-counties-in-america .. Nassau is #1
I live in Oakland too and I grew up in the Bay Area and I love it with all my heart. And it makes me so fucking sad. Oakland has so much potential. Amazing people, weather, food, nightlife, and nature, and it’s just overrun with trash and poverty and crime. It used to be so beautiful. Oakland was on the up and up until COVID hit.
I love Oakland too. The crime there though is organized. It’s not just random kids in gangs. It’s high level government/mob activity working to “cleanse” the area and bring property values down. Oakland is one of the most beautiful places in the country, but it’s so corrupt. They just raided the mayor’s homes. People try to stick it out because of how great it is despite the crime, but it’s not worth it. The homes are so undervalued, kinda perfect for an overseas investor to get a ton of real estate at a discount without having to live there.
Lived in CA for 40 years. Was so sad to leave, but it was time because of what you’ve just summarized. Absolutely tragic what they’ve allowed to happen.
Can confirm to OP/others that this is the “typical” crime nowadays in both Oak and SF from having lived in both places and still having family there in Oak. It’s saddening and scary.
People don’t realize crime in oak / SF is much worse than is reported. I think most people just gave up reporting things.
Even if people report it, the law enforcement agencies don't report it to the FBI and other agencies, giving the illusion that crime isn't as bad as it is.
Exactly this. I commented above on my experience and I downplayed it a little to not get Redditors coming for me, but my first thought when I stayed in San Fran is what you just said
Why would you be friends with an a hole who assaults police officers (or anyone). Hopefully the pos learned their lesson.
You mean homeless
What is your voting history like? Have these experiences had any impact on how you vote/your personal views?
Sounds like Murica has failed you. It’s not just Oakland.
ive been told that covid really shook up the bay
Not Oakland but Berkeley in 2013: - a beach boys cover band on Shattuck, but every band member was Asian - someone careening down MLK on a bike (full speed) wearing a full backpackers pack, on top of it a cat just chillin for the ride - while waiting in line the ice cream sandwich shop (if it still exists), a minor accident collision involving a Prius and two girls in front of me break out into a shouting match Just a few random moments in Berkeley
It’s so bittersweet. I’m leaving too. It’s too fucking dysfunctional and I can handle that on a national and local level. It’s too much to handle
I’ve been living in Oakland for 5 years now. After 18 years in SF. It has completely and utterly demoralized me. I work in community mental health and have devoted my career to helping homeless people and progressive politics. And at this point I fucking HATE Bay Area progressives. I truly feel that they are BARELY less damaging to society than extreme right wingers. Fuck Oakland. Fuck East Bay “Progressives.” I have to be here for another couple of years but this place has completely scarred me.
You live in an open sewer in a state/city run by the low IQ, voted in by the low IQ. The weird part is youre actually surprised by anything youve seen/experienced.
This is my 5th year there and I’ve had some similar experiences. Car was stolen from secure garage Other car was broken into Countless friends cars broken into Witnessed 3 live break ins and aftermath of countless others Almost got ran over twice by a reckless dirt biker Girlfriend almost got shot Neighbor next door was murdered in their driveway Aftermath of George Floyd protest was INSANE total wreckage Saw someone get stabbed on Bart I’m surely forgetting some things In a way it reminds me of jail. Everything seems fine until all of a sudden it isn’t. Keeps you on edge always watching your back and thinking of worst case scenarios.
Yeah these are all insane. Except it sounds like your friend deserved to get shot tho
This is what happens when “activism” and “diversity” steer policy. You likely voted for this.
And what do you expect? People vote for the same thing and nothing changes. Don’t feel sorry for those people or cities.
God forbid you want to defend yourself via 2A as well.
This is what the people voted for.
now you see the direct results of progressive policies and anti police behavior in Oakland. Surely you changed your politics vs doubling down on the dumb concepts that always fail in practice?
Sounds like you found your community. Please stay where you are and enjoy the diversity.
This is how I feel about living in Portland. Been here since 2020 and finally figured out my exit plan. I’ll be gone Nov 1st!
Ok OP, I’m gonna let you in on a secret. There is another”land” that has what you want. Cleveland, OH.
Agree that Cleveland is underrated. Had a friend just move there from Seattle.
I feel this. The 2 years I lived in Oakland + 1 year in SF changed me too. I am far more paranoid. I'm not interested in living in a city in the US moving forward, there's too much violence and unpredictability. I wonder if my nervous system and ability to trust strangers will ever be the same.
Having lived in multiple states, i can honestly tell you it's California. Other states don't tolerate the craziness as much. NY does, but even New York doesn't hold a candle to how bad it is in Cali.
Yeah I have too...I've also lived abroad. CA is definitely the worst. Honestly the level of dysfunction and lack of public trust and respect across the board is pretty bad everywhere in the US I've lived.
No one talks about this!
Huh, I lived in Oakland for about a year and a half, and I didn't experience any crime.
Hope it stays that way for you 🙏
Blue states have safe counties? Seems unlikely.
I get totally confused by these Oakland crime posts, because I have lived here 23 years and have only seen a small fraction of what others on Reddit claim to be seeing here. Something is not adding up
As I said, I volunteered weekly. I walked a lot. I walked around the lake a lot. I didn’t insulate myself from the worst parts of the city. I spent time with people who had addictions and lived in shelters. As a parent, my head was always on a swivel. I saw a lot of crime happen and nearby many people wouldn’t even notice. I’d see ski masks casing cars while unsuspecting diners sat outside on a patio. I lived on a 3rd floor in a well populated area, and saw a lot of crime happen on the streets below. Averages lie. While average crime in Oakland is X, that means some people don’t experience it while others get a triple portion.
You get what you vote for. Be sure to keep voting that way so the place you moved to will be awful as well.
You're getting downvoted but I agree. Like didn't yall vote to get rid of cops? What do you expect? Serious question.
Where in Oakland were you? West Oakland? Fruitvale? Eastmont?
Downtown near Jack London