Frustrated businesses say Oakland's Pearmain Street is a dangerous dumping ground
OAKLAND (KPIX) -- From crime to blight to homelessness, there are no easy answers for Bay Area cities but for many, the lawless state of Oakland has reached a point of hopelessness. Nowhere is that more evident than on Pearmain Street.
The flag above the Melrose Powder Coating company flies upside down, a universal symbol of distress. From inside the office, owner Curtis Nagengast keeps an eye on his security cameras, documenting the lawlessness going on outside: A fistfight between two men, a drug transaction with a man carrying a bow and arrows, another man smoking crack in his car, a pickup truck driving out from under an old camper shell, dumping it in the middle of the street. He can see all of that in one block of the city.
"It probably started getting bad about ten years ago, really bad, to where we have the squatters and the drugs and just disregard for any city laws whatsoever on this street," said Nagengast. "And it's become very dangerous."
That danger is also captured on camera. In one video, a man pulls a gun on a customer outside of the glass shop across the street, striking him with the weapon and trying to force him to his car. An employee appears at the door and the gunman flees the scene.
The owner of the glass shop, John Lewis, said he finds piles of trash dumped in front of his business on a daily basis.
"They're garbage bags full of debris that are just tossed out of a car and left for the city to pick it up," said Lewis. "And eventually, the city does pick it up, but it stays there for weeks."
In fact, just down the street, directly below a 'no dumping sign,' is a giant pile of trash. It feels like a message about who's really in charge there. Homeless people have lived on the street in RVs for what seems like years, but while we were there, Nagengast had to run to his car to avoid getting a ticket on street sweeping day. Later, the sweeper simply drove past the RV's.
The whole thing has people feeling pretty hopeless, as if the city has lost its ability to solve even the most basic of problems.
"The people that are in charge are always on vacation or have better things to do, or put one of their admins on it, who does nothing," said Nagengast. "They always pass the buck on to somebody else, and they never get anything done."
"My feeling is that it's just apathy and ineffective government, incompetence, people who don't care." said Lewis. "I think they receive a paycheck, but I don't think they really have to do anything for that."
That may not be fair, but it is how it feels to the business owners on Pearmain Street. As the police, city council and activists argue over how to fight crime, the crime continues unabated as if it's just accepted there.
"Maybe it's going to take someone getting murdered here before they clear this thing out like they did down the street." said Nagengast. "They cleared it out after somebody was murdered, and maybe that's what they're waiting for."