What Happened to Oakland California?

Lived in Oakland 2001 to 2012. I had to get out. It’s not that it has a bad local government, it really DOESN’T HAVE a local government. The elected people are paralyzed by fear of offending various “protected classes”, so it is a train wreck. Glad I left.

I was raised in Oakland, grew up in the Maxwell Park neighborhood. I left California for the Northwest in the 1992, returned for a number of years and now I'm in Arizona, likely permanently. It hurts to see the Bay Area as it is now. My best memories remain there and I still love the city but... it's just not the same place anymore. I visited my old haunts in Oakland a few months ago and the homeless situation is unreal, many areas look run-down and poorly maintained. To think, I ran around that city on bike, bus, and BART as a teen and felt relatively safe... now I wouldn't even bother driving the streets. I miss the old Oakland. Loved reading the comments... Cheers, All.

I grew up in Oakland during the 50's and 60's. Back in those days we slept with our doors unlocked. Since then, I've been to about 50 countries around the world. I've been to the worst impoverished slums on Earth, sadly, parts of Oakland today make the list. What I've last seen of Oakland a year ago would have been unimaginable when I left 25 years ago.

I knew a former Oakland cop who said that he if saw a drunk driver, he would not bother pulling the drunk driver over because OPD is so understaffed that his colleagues can't have him tied up in a DUI stop for hours. And given that OPD has been under a federal monitor for decades and a community that hates them, most cops will just lateral to another agency once they gain enough experience and commendations. It's very similar to the Oakland A's - investing time and money into rookie cops only to have the rookie go to another team once their value goes up.

I am a native San Franciscan, will be 68 in a few days, but spent my teen years growing up in Oakland. You left out a very important part of Oakland's decline. That being the flight of jobs to far away suburbs after employment discrimination was made illegal, coupled with "White Flight" after housing segregation was made illegal. Yes, that happened all across the country, but Oakland was severely wounded by these two phenomenon and never really recovered. By the 80s, there were entire neighborhoods where almost none of the young men had ever had a legitimate job, mostly because there WERE no jobs to be had. Many had never ventured out of Oakland - Berkeley - San Francisco and had no idea where places like Orinda, Reem, Lafayette, Dublin, etc. were, and had no idea how to get there. Many didn't have cars, and those localities were poorly, at best, served by inter-urban transit. When you can't find a job as a young person, you don't acquire experience, and if you don't have any experience by the time you are in your late 20s, you are pretty much unemployable for all but the worse jobs, jobs that simply don't pay enough to allow you to afford even the most basic housing. Hence, the lure of illegal activities.

I'm a trucker who used to do west coast. I had to spend the night parked on the street in Oakland. All night I reminded myself that I did a year in Afghanistan . But in Afghanistan I had an M4.

I was born in Oakland, a block away from the Hells Angels clubhouse. my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents all lived there. my parents bought a house when I was 6 months old. I don't know why they bought one 20 miles away, but I am sure glad they did. Oakland has been a mess for years, a friend of the family was murdered in a robbery around 1965.

Oakland has a lot of potential. Unfortunately there’s too many opportunists acting like community leaders and too many haters knocking shit down. You can’t have anything nice bc someone will either scam you out of it or destroy it.

Driving in Oakland has gotten out of control, in some cases it’s like mad max

Oakland has been a violent cesspool for years, the mayor just recently asked for the National Guard for help. Huey Newton was murdered in Oakland, if he couldn’t survive The Cesspool, you-all in trouble.

The City government allowed crime to over take the town an let go of all it's revenue. Bring in the National Guards an have them an city employees to clean an clear it up. No more outsiders buying up all land an raising rent an mortgages 3 times for a port city.

Thank you! I'm sufficiently old to recall living in Navy dependent housing at Hunter's Point and taking the Oakland ferry to go shopping in the huge department stores there. This was in 1951.

I've partied, hung out and driven around in Oakland a lot over the years living in the Bay Area. One thing I can say for sure is that the cops don't go to certain parts of Oakland, and there's almost no such thing as a parking ticket. It's a lawless land.

I worked in Oakland in 2006 -2007! The murder rate statistic was one and a half a day, ranking 10th most dangerous metropolitan in the country, only behind Richmond, just north, that ranked 4th! Recently professional sports championships resulted in looting and burning of many businesses along E.14th, International Blvd. On a recent visit, my cousin picked me up at the airport. We stopped at a nearby restaurant for a late dinner around 9:00 - 9:30! We had to hurry because they were closing at 10! When I asked why, the answer was because you risked getting robbed if you stayed open any later! My sisters mother-in-law was robbed at gun point riding BART. My nephew's teacher was beat to near death and couldn't get police or paramedics to respond to a 911 call. He was eventually transported to the nearest hospital by taxi! A friend was a construction manager. They were required to hire a certain % of local residents by law! Workers were late, drunk, high, under qualified and unproductive!

I lived in Oakland for 10 years in the 1990s. The first five on High Street just above MacAuther Blvd nea St. Lawrence O'Tool. The second 5 years on 64th Ave just above MacAurther near Mills College. I loved the weather, it was just about perfect. I liked the hills and the parks off Skyline Blvd and liked going to A's games. The crime was tough to handle, but I really loved my neighbors, good people. I was always rooting for Oakland, still am.

im 31, born and raised here. still here. youve taught me a few things about my hometown, thankyou!

I love Oakland with all my entire being. I’m a 38 year old black female and been was born and raised here. It’s so so heartbreaking how my city isn’t the same anymore.

You left out the destruction of many neighborhoods in the mid-twentieth century for the interstate system. Oakland got completely decimated, and those freeways are scars on the urban landscape today, dividing neighborhoods.

As a Haywarder (10 miles south from Oakland), I can tell you that some areas of the city look really rough. From rusted buildings to human shit on the streets. And if you try to leave, try not to get struck by a stray bullet on 880 or 580. It’s a beautiful city but it also deserved its reputation for being ghetto and chaotic.

I'm Oakland born and raised since 2001. I've lived in the city's low income neighborhoods and have seen gentrification with my own eyes, I went to Oakland public/charter schools, I'm a pupil of one of the longest running non-profit organizations in Oakland, my church is in Oakland, and was also an intern for one of Oakland's sports teams one summer when I was in college. I'm very proud to say that Oakland is my hometown but it disappoints me very much to see the current state of the city with the dysfunctional leadership in city hall, the rise in homelessness and crime, the decline in the city's education system, and the sports teams that have left or are planning to leave. I also say that the cost of living does not match with the value for what Oakland has to offer as a city at the moment. I estimate this to if a city has decent parks and recreation, low crime, entertainment, a properly ran education system, and the cleanliness to the standards of a large city. Right now, Oakland is lacking in most of these areas if not all. I'm not saying that it needs to be perfect but at least to the level where everyone is content. These areas being below standard with the lack of proper leadership within our city demonstrates why Oakland can't have nice things. I'm hoping that these changes can be made for the sake of future Oaklanders and for calling Oakland my hometown. "Even though Oakland will always be the bridesmaid to San Francisco doesn't mean we should give up on trying to catch the bouquet at the reception." -My Quote