Gotham Oakland: How Oakland California Forgot Economic Development And Became Crime City

Zennie Abraham’s note: this is my take on a term that I actually coined way back in 1994 when I was Columnist For The Montclarion, and then bought the URL for. There’s an effort led by former Oakland Mayoral Candidate Seneca Scott that happens to have a YouTube Channel of the same name but not yet launched. Meanwhile, my company owns the URL GothamOakland.com. My view of how Oakland became Gotham Oakland is more of an intellectual perspective that is designed to encourage policy formation and adoption. I do not seek to call elected officials insulting names, as that’s not going to solve the problem – and no, I’m not a “progressive”, just an old-fashioned liberal. That said, my effort will only help Mr. Scott’s advance his.

There’s no question but that the Pandemic has excellerated the destruction of Oakland’s economy. Homelessness rates are so high that parts of Oakland look like shanty towns from the Great Depression. A number of small businesses have been driven out of business by repeated robberies and break-ins. Elderly Oaklanders, primarily Asian and African American, have been the targets of on-the-street assaults in broad daylight.

And there’s a 1 in 10 chance that if you drive a car in Oakland, you will be the victim of a carjacking attempt. Oakland has taken on the look and behavior of Gotham City – the fictional urban area featured in the BatMan stories and movies. Hence the term “Gotham Oakland” and GothamOakland.com.

And what has Oakland done to effectively stop this problem? Well, its elected officials, much like Gotham City’s law enforcement, always have the response that boils down to “we’re working on it.” But that’s the problem. Oakland’s fall is not a crime problem, but a failure of its economic development program. It can be directly tied to failed small business assistance and a glaring lack of income relief programs. And even though the programs did exist before the Pandemic, Oakland didn’t do much to use or improve upon the programs during the Pandemic.

While Oakland is to be applauded for the Keep Oakland Housed Program started in 2018, it failed to upgrade the program during the Pandemic. So, scores of Oakland renters were left out in the economic cold, and little was done to help those already homeless become housed. Oakland ignored using the new tax increment financing legislation designed to make up for the 2011 killing of California Redevelopment Law at the hands of then-California Governor Jerry Brown.

In fact, Brown not only terminated California Redevelopment and the affordable housing program with it, but in later years (at a 2020 Commonwealth Club talk) said he did not want affordable housing in his Downtown Oakland because it would discourage people from eating at the restautants he invisioned being there as part of his 10K Program. (And keep in mind, Brown opposed a Downtown Oakland ballpark for the Oakland A’s in 2002.)

Think about that. Then-Oakland-Mayor Jerry Brown’s effort to bring 10,000 units of market rate housing to Downtown Oakland, thus enriching the tax increment revenue coffers of the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, wound up hurting the ORA’s ability to mitigate the homeless problem because Jerry got rid of it as California Governor, and because he did not like that it helped those in economic need.

The loss of the California Redevelopment program that was the catalyst for Oakland’s annual affordable housing budget that grew to $111 million in 2011 caused a desert of available Oakland fund that lasted from 2012 to 2022, and until Oakland passed a gargantuan bond issue that is to provide $270 million in assistance toward affordable housing construction. Great, but Oakland still forgot to give the homeless people money. After all, the main problem is lack of money – so why not give them money? The answer to that question on the part of elected officials leads you to the real problem: a true lack of desire to help the homeless.

Consider the calls for more affordable housing. Needed? Yes, but the fact is the people Oakland says it wants to help need housing right now, and can’t afford to wait two years before a new building is finished. Indeed, the entire affair ads up to a form of abuse of those in need by the politicians who claim to be helping them. It’s all about the idea that “We’re doing something” rather than actually solving the problem.

City Of Oakland Used The Pandemic To Pit Landlord Against Renter, Rather Than Help Both Of Them

And during the Pandemic, the City of Oakland used that time to pit landlord against renter and vice-versa, rather than realizing that landlords were small business owners who needed help, same as their tenants. Moreover, Oakland failed to realize that many renters work out of their homes and are online – and are also small business owners.

So, Oakland ignored the 2015 SB-628 Bealle that then-Governor Brown signed into law after admitting that killing California Redevelopment was a mistake. But the trouble is, the termination of California Redevelopment caused a growth in the number of public officials who did not know about tax increment financing and how it works.

The problem was and has been so bad that Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf admitted to me it was one hang-up in the implementation of the called-for tax increment financing program for Howard Terminal, the proposed ballpark for the Oakland Athletics. And it was Oakland’s lack of tax increment financing knowledge (thus dramatically slowing predevelopment work pace) that led to the A’s seeking to relocate to Las Vegas. Oakland has lost four pro sports teams in seven years.

So, Oakland’s lack of economic development programs that can help business and live-work residents and the homeless caused the jump in crime. Oakland’s lack of understanding of how to see the system of problems, rather than the idea that reducing crime just calls for more police or aggressive prosecuters, has caused Oakland to become “Gotham Oakland.”

Fixing “Gotham Oakland” calls for the kind of work that Oakland’s Redevelopment Program funded: financing assistance for renters, grants for the homeless, new extremely affordable housing, health care aide, and (yes) direct funding for both fiscal and physical efforts to combat crime. (Physical efforts like bollards on the sidewalks of Oakland’s business districts to curb the use of cars and trucks to smash into those properties to steal ATMs.)

News Flash: There’s No Connection Between Progressive District Attorneys And The Crime Rate In Their Cities

Changing Oakland back to normal (in other words, a lower crime rate) calls for a systems approach that would make the late U.C Berkeley Professor C. West Churchman (author of the book The Systems Approach and It’s Enemies) proud.

Professor Churchman called The Enemies of the Systems Approach “disiplinarians”, in other words, those who think, for example, that to reduce crime a city must hire more police officers. Or, that the District Attorney must hand-down heavier sentences.

Professor Churchman teaches us that using a Systems Approach causes us to understand, in this case, what factors cause people to commit crimes, and then focuses policy on those factors, not spending money on more resources to deal with the crimes as they happen. In other words having more police officers will not reduce crime, just make it possible to realize more arrests. If the causes of the crime are not addressed, then the crime rate will just kick up, yet again – if it ever does go down. ( I had the pleasure of talking to Professor Churchman over the phone in 1987, as I has his book and was becoming adept at system dynamics modeling and had questions about its applicability to his method of systems analysis.)

Changing District Attorneys will not solve the problem, as AmericanProgress.org reported:

A new study led by researchers at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto—in collaboration with researchers from Rutgers University, Temple University, Loyola University of Chicago, and University of Missouri, St. Louis—rebuts claims by media outlets and elected officials that progressive prosecutors have caused crime in cities to rise. This comprehensive analysis finds no evidence linking progressive prosecutors to rising homicide rates in major cities during the coronavirus pandemic or prior to it. As researchers, policymakers, and the general public continue to investigate the causes of rising violent crime in recent years, this study contributes to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that progressive prosecution is not among them.

But tell that to those who want Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price recalled. They don’t read studies and allow themselves to be manipulated by a media that wants to make money off of their anger by reflecting it in their news programs, then adding racist images to further feed the ire of Oakland residents. A habit that should be considered criminal.

There’s a better way: a systems approach is sorely needed. Now.

Stay tuned.