Oakland leaders discuss crime and public safety at town hall
OAKLAND -- Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao held the first of five town halls Friday night as city leaders talked about what's being done and what still needs to be done to create a clean and safe community. This came as the city suffered a week of violent crime which left five people dead.
On International Boulevard this past Monday, Oaklanders came together to keep a suspected drunk driver from fleeing the scene. The driver allegedly struck and killed a 17-year-old girl and critically injured her mother. Tay Factor recorded video of the aftermath and came face-to-face with the driver.
"It was shocking," Factor said. "It was just horrifying to hear. Just to look at the guy and his face and he's still there denying it. At the same time, some cases of beer -- in the cup holder -- cases all through the car. It was just ridiculous. Didn't make any sense at all."
Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell was at a town hall Friday but he also spoke to media earlier in the day, addressing what he called senseless murders in the last week. He said that, in one case, two people were shot and killed over an argument about a parking spot.
"What I am asking is for our community to take a look at ourselves internally at how quickly we result to gun violence," Chief Mitchell said. "We have to stop this. There is no reason we had four people shot. There's no reason this young lady lost her life and her mother is critically injured within a week. We have to do better as a city of Oakland. We have to do better."
Some at this town hall were angry and frustrated about the violence in their community. Nancy Nadel served four terms on the Oakland city council. She thought the meeting focused more on the credentials of the city leaders and not on solutions.
"While it's important and nice to know that we have such skilled staff members, less time telling us who they are and more time actually more time to answer the questions," Nadel suggested.
Many, though, appreciated city leaders coming into the community to talk about the issues.
Julie Dunbar saw a glimmer of hope.
"Oakland needs to be a great place to live," Dunbar said. "I think we can bring it back but it's going to take some time and patience."
