Weekend sideshows, crime continue to plague the streets of Oakland; 'It's a war zone. It's scary'
OAKLAND -- Weekend sideshows and surging crime has East Oakland residents like Ken Houston more than ready to flee the city.
"It's a war zone. It's scary," Houston, a former candidate for mayor, told KPIX. "I'm third generation and I've never had my eye jumping. I've never seen it like this before. It's like it's the wild Wild West."
A sideshow over the weekend was captured on video by an Oakland business owner. On it you can see an Oakland police patrol car just drive through the chaos of the sideshow.
Houston says the video shows exactly what's wrong with Oakland today.
"Because there is no fear for authority, not like when I grew up," he said. "You would be scared of your next door neighbor, you would be scared of the police officers. Now there's no fear. You fly right by them. We got to bring some fear and respect. That's what we got to do."
Mayor Sheng Thao has released a statement regarding some of the violence seen at the sideshows.
"My office is currently working with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office on a robust and comprehensive plan to implement sting operations so we can crack down on illegal sideshows that continue to put our residents in harm's way."
Houston though fears unless there are consequences in the legal system for people committing these crimes, nothing will change.
"I don't see any hope," he said. "I don't know what it is, I don't know if it's our elected officials. I don't event know what to say any longer cause it's out of control. You got to punish people. People don't want to punish sometimes but you have to teach and punish."
With the ongoing violence, Houston is now contemplating a move that he hoped he would never have to make.
"If it doesn't change in the next 24 months. I'm leaving," he said.
In the Mayor's proposed budget, there is a plan to hold six police academies to fill some positions, but questions were also raised on exactly how many open positions will be frozen. The final budget is expected to be adopted on June 30th