Mayor Thao,
The most profound thing you could do for minority owned businesses is to treat crime like the public emergency that it is. The small, minority businesses of Oakland that you venerate … They are all dying as their customers flee Oakland’s burning, blighted, lawless streets.
We are not asking you for miracles, we’re asking you to prioritize the crisis.
Please don’t bloviate about your impoverished past. You are not a poor waif now. You are the MAYOR of 433,000 people. Act like it -- with strength of heart and courage of conviction to do what is right and what is urgent for the People of Oakland.
Don’t gaslight your suffering citizens. Take ACTION to show you actually care about the people losing their lives and livelihoods in the present human-caused disaster.
If you show us that you have set crime as the City’s 24/7 urgent priority, we will help you take back Oakland from the criminals. We don’t care what Political tribe you belong to. Our lives are more important than Political games.
Stand up, declare a state of emergency, and show leadership. Galvanize us 430,000 citizens to crush organized crime and corruption in the city.
Restore the pride and potential of the People of Oakland.
With urgency and respect,
The United People of Oakland
It has been only 5 days since this letter was posted. We’re already at 650 signatures and climbing. That rapid support reflects community anger and exhaustion with status-quo city officials, and the hope that change is coming.
And change IS coming.
Current City officials are stuck in a failure of vision, hiding behind false claims of impotence, and trying to convince us we should be happy with grinding, bureaucratic incrementalism.
But lives and livelihoods are at stake. And we’re not waiting for them anymore. We’re building our own solutions now. You can help. Here is how - share your heart and your voice:
twitter.com/tgardner44/status/1690596956694040576?...
Exciting plans for major changes will be presented by Loren Taylor and others from the community. State representatives plan to attend as well.
docs.google.com/document/d/1YzzuETChsg7t5e7bYvr29Y...
oaklandca.gov/departments/oakland-city-council#pag...
And reshare this open letter. Let’s keep it growing!
Hi all,
The Rally for Solidarity and Solutions on 9/9 is now 10:00 - 11:30 am.
neighborstogetheroakland.org/solidarity-rally...
Solution ideas will be presented by multiple community leaders (see Rally website).
After the rally, these solutions will be presented to Mayor Sheng Thao, DA Pamela Price, ALco BOS Nate Miley, and Councilmember Kevin Jenkins inside the Genesis Worship Center, next to the rally site.
We also have confirmation from several State, County, and City elected officials (include some of the above) that they will be joining the Rally to support our drive for near-term solutions.
We share some troubling news.
An aggressive attack campaign has been launched by groups opposed to community driven solutions to our crises of crime, blight and homelessness. They have threatened businesses, educators, and community members attending the Rally. They have torn down our posters. And they have launched baseless ad hominem attacks.
Their actions are unethical, their claims untrue. Their behavior hurts Oakland and saddens all of us.
But we are heartened by the outpouring of support from the honest neighbors of the city, who see though the indecent attacks.
We highlight the beautiful and courageous statement Vincent Ray Williams III against this destructive campaign. Vincent is a prominent member of the LGBTQ+ community and Founder/CEO of the Urban Compassion Project
instagram.com/reel/Cwp_umBJDA5/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWF...
We can't wait for the 9th and are excited to see you there with Solutions ready!
We are now working on direct and constructive engagement with Oakland City Council to drive specific actions for public safety.
Please consider supporting the following new letter to Nikki Bas, which we will discuss in person next week. We offer it to her, as President of the Council, as an opportunity to collaborate with citizens to solve the crises of safety, blight and homelessness.
To lend your support, please follow these steps:
(1) Copy/paste the letter (link below) into a new email and send it to Nikki Bas and Debra Israel.
NIKKI BAS LETTER TEXT: docs.google.com/document/d/1oG36KwQOT3venpRkJgBPeB...
EMAIL TO: [email protected], [email protected]
EMAIL SUBJECT: Invitation to Engage the Community in Solving the Public Safety Crisis
(2) Add your signature to this form:
https://forms.gle/x8DCFj4GkVbjcEC59
We will append this list of signatories to the letter (names only, not emails).
(3) Share this with anyone you wish. But do not post on Social Media.