Then again it's the pandemic that shut a lot of business! People got sent home to work and left their office space and that was the only thing that kept the hoods sane now it's every man for themselves!
Yes and it's the 1% who are the ones who decided to move jobs overseas, not the working poor. Unfortunately the victims of globalization seem to keep getting blamed for the results.
As a military-bound youth, we had to ride through Camden New Jersey to get to my sea cadet station on the battleship New Jersey. Seeing the utter ruins of Camden had a real impact on me and really changed my perspective on the idea of fighting foreign wars and military service in general. Fighting overseas makes no sense when we as a nation have let our own country become a wasteland.
Had the same thought before. Better choice to join the military and go overseas to escape the ghetto shit in the states. States is still a cool place but better personally to join and go somewhere nice overseas. Been doing it for 3 years
Every democrat ran area is like that. I have no idea how anyone is voting for them. All you have to do is drive through any city or area they control. If you talk to a leftist democrat you should be able to detect the stupidity and insanity dripping off of them. Completely mental cases in a cult.
I was born in Oakland in 1966 raised in the East Bay Area and it sickens me to see such blight, homelessness, poverty, and social collapse. It’s not just Oakland as it is happening all over the US. God so help us all.
It’s sad. I’m born and raised in Oakland and the city is being run to the ground with horrible policies, lawlessness, and homelessness. They need to fire these politicians but unfortunately Oakland keeps them in office for reason I don’t understand.
@@JonnyBeoulve It's not like the Republicans that run the poorest states in the country like Mississippi or Alabama are doing any better. Both sides suck
Now why don't you drive to and around the mayors, senators and Pelosi's house and show that neighborhood, this way you can show the difference between the two
Gotta love those BLUE states. The politicians are determined to turn their states into third world shitholes. RED states beware, like locusts these people will spread to your neighborhood.
I worked in Germany with a girl from China. She thought all Americans lived like in Beverly Hills 90210 because that is the standards shown on the average US TV show. Glad you are giving people a reality check.
In Hollywood they show that USA is glittering, wealthy country and show india as poor filthy country. Now we know the reality what USA hides from the rest of the world.
Oakland has the honor of having the only In-N-Out Burger to ever have closed. Not because they weren’t busy…they couldn’t keep people safe. Stay classy, Oakland.
Additionally Oakland had a massive fire that destroyed or damaged over 4 thousand buildings and was ground zero for the government's crack distribution initiative of the 80's and 90's.
I was born in Oakland and watched this beautiful city become what it is today, lost. It’s really a crying shame. I finished 30 years on their police department watched 10 of my co-workers die on the streets. I left and never returned.
@@BasedBurrr It's WAY worse than the 90s tbh. I lived in Oakland 1988-2001 and it was pretty nice as long as you stayed out of east and west Oakland (the flat areas.) I lived in the Grand Lake neighborhood by the Piedmont border and I still miss that. It was a pleasant place to live and crime was manageable, typical levels for a city really, nothing out of the ordinary. TONS of really kind, fun people and nice small businesses, restaurants etc. Went into downtown regularly (lived by the Chinatown BART station for a year) and it was okay then too. Shabby and run-down, kind of a faded grandeur thing--and abandoned for quite a bit after the earthquake due to many damaged buildings--but it wasn't actively dangerous, for the most part.
This makes living in Eastern Europe a luxury. We are not doing that well financially as the USA does, but it's safe here, you can walk at night and the chances of something happening to you is very low
Exactly! I've lived in Moscow's poorest neighborhood for all my life, never ever was affraid to walk at night, never heard a signle story of anything bad happening to anyone I ever knew, worst case scenario - it's friday night and a drunk weirdo says something rude to you. So one day my American internet friend told me (he lives in Cali) "I couldn't sleep all night tonight cause of gunshots outside in the street" And my first thought was "wh.... where do you even live?... Saigon 1975?..."
America is entrenched in (N-word)worship. Making heros, martyrs out of dope fiend and thugs. If we don't deal with it once and for all it will destroy the nation.
My daughter lived there for over a year. I feared for her everyday. She lived on Jefferson Street. There were murders within a block of where she lived, and she lived in one of the “better” areas. Thank god she moved. She now lives in Berkeley and honestly, its still dangerous and filled with mentally ill and homeless people.
@@jjay350you have to leave if you want to be safe, move out of you got no chutzpah to stay We are going to start bum rushing the empty skyscrapers and see if they can remove us
I'm from East Oakland and have relocated to the mid Atlantic for the past 8 years. I lived in Oakland in the 1970's through the 2010's... I have a love hate relationship with my hometown. It's ALWAYS been a city full of drugs, homicide and human trafficking. So when I hear people say, Oakland's not like it used to be," I'm side eyeing them like " wait were you here in the 80's??" I am proud to be from Oakland because my experiences there required me to be resilient, street savvy and to live without fear. If you survive Oakland, you can survive anywhere. I said all of that to say this. I feel like your video is skewed to fit your narrative. Now, Oakland is what you've shown; but it's not ALL that you've shown. People watching that have never been are now under the impression that the whole city looks like that and it doesn't. You never went above MacArthur Blvd or anywhere near it. You didn't go by Lake Merritt, Rockridge, Piedmont, Redwood, Skyline, Montclair or even Maxwell Park (which is where I'm from) The places you've shown are deplorable and there's no argument there. It's just that you missed the parts of town that are decent and livable.
@Melonae Ellison You're right. He only showed the bad. So many really beautiful parts of Oakland. The Redwood forests in the hills. The parks & all the over a million dollar homes. The great views of S.F. bay & views of the hills to the east. It doesn't fit his narrative. Maxwell Park? Over by Mills College? I lived in Rockridge & Piedmont in the 70's & 80's.
I lived in CA for 38 years. 30'of those years in Oakland near Lake Merritt. I didn't want to live anywhere else. I fell in love with Lake Merritt. I enjoyed the shops, Grand Lake Theatre, restaurants, walking around the lake, farmers market on Saturdays, etc. I left CA years go. It's sad to hear and see Oakland in such disarray. I love CA, especially Oakland. I think Oakland will make a comeback someday. They need to help the homeless. They've been neglected for much too long. Also, their high rents aren't helping much. I will always love Oakland.
Been to Oakland one time, by accident while trying to leave San Francisco. You know it's bad when a Subway restaurant has more protective glass plates on their counters than the banks of your town.
razor wire around the neighborhood Safeway store, security gates and bars on widows (look on zillow ) Cokeland we called it in the mid 80's SO, International blvd you cant tell what country your in.
Thats Wokism in a nutshell. Trying to distance yourself from a problem that you caused by offering a token of empathy to your victim. Its like a murderer saying sorry to a victims family. You are still guilty.
we must make it a crime to steal, anything...we must make it a crime to poop on the street...we must make living in your car or rv for more than 24hrs a crime...we must make using illegal drugs a crime and enforce it....we must make it illegal to sleep on public streets, parks, greenways....if you want to camp, go to the camping parks.....
A friend and I were robbed while working there. When we called the Police they told us unless someone was hurt to email them. We had to question all the buildings security, looking for video and nobody wanted to help us. We finally got this really sweet Mexican Janitor oddly enough to find the video for us. We called the police again and told them we had the car and the person. They told us "unless someone was hurt to email them the evidence" You can only send very small files through email. They obviously know this so they know you won't be sending anything.
This can't be fixed, it will just be left to remain this way, we could fix it but it would require the overhaul of the entire system and the powers that be will never allow that to happen
@@okamijubei it requires everyone being on the same page , the two party system coupled with identity politics also prevents this being fixed . I would love to see a fair, just and equitable world but it just isn’t going to happen under the current system
This really is so sad. I lived in the US about 10 years ago, and have always loved America. I’m currently living in Brazil now, and there are so many problems here such as poverty, drugs, crimes and homelessness, but I must confess now, those places you’re showing look just as bad or even worse than the scenario we have in some places down here. Apparently the United States isn’t what it used to be anymore. But still, I’m sure changes can be made. God bless America!
Here in Texas, I've met many California refugees who have fled their homes due to the numerous unbearable problems that have arisen within the last several years. I'm always amazed at how proud and arrogant they are and how completely delusional they seem when it comes to their former home. The first thing they want you to know is that they are definitely not native to Texas and that they've had to move to my state like it was a forced choice against their will. As a native Texan, I love my state just as much, if not more, than they love California and THEY chose to come to us in search of a better life. We're welcoming to new people but for crying out loud, don't lecture us on your politics or look down on your new neighbors for driving trucks, attending rodeos, having barbecues or owning guns.
Californian here. I dont get to meet much texans here in California, but when I do (via military) theyre pretty cool and down to earth folks. If I were to move id move to Tennessee. I used to live there a a child and have had many fond memories. If outside the U.S., definitely New Zealand.
@@alistair8915 Someone in the comments above you just said that Iowa is headed downhill fast due to poverty and methamphetamine usage. I definitely understand the small town vibe but California has that as well. Shasta County, Mammoth Lake, Bridgeport and many more towns out of the way do not deal with any portion of that which is normal in Oakland. I think prices and taxes is still the main reason people leave Ca.
I grew up in Deep East Oakland and I can't stand to even be in the city anymore, it really saddens me to see how my city has just neglected it's roots and heritage
How was the divide back in the day in Oakland? I just new it was ruffer than some of the other cities. Like early Too Short and before East Coast vs West Coast.
@@YoureRatharStewpidMate probably not long. I hear that's a massive immigrant dump. They'll change it. They have to to be in good graces with the 2030 Crew.
I worked in Oakland for 5 years about 10 years ago. Yes, East and West Oakland are exactly how you described them. Hard to imagine it has gotten worse since I left. Not all Oakland areas are bad. Crocker Highlands, Adams Point and the Hills have houses in the millions. It's a total different world out there. Hard to believe they're in the same city.
Visited San Francisco for an analyzer school about 5 yrs ago. During our orientation we were told to "Never go to Oakland. If you do we are not responsible for what happens". Seriously.
“You will own nothing and you will like it…” should be Californias motto. The cost of living and the increase in housing costs are so bad that families are moving together to be able to make it. It’s ridiculous.
It's affecting the nice areas too. Walnut Creek and Santa Rosa recently got hit. Just keep voting in woke mayors, DAs and legislators and see if you ever get a different result.
You comment is like it's the flu. These are human beings destitute in misery. My grandchildren in North Carolina went to the school cafeteria for lunch and the cafeteria NO LONGER HAS ANY FOOD! Yet Jeff Bezos who is the richest man on earth and pays no taxes just got gifted 10 BILLION dollars out of OUR tax funds for his space toys from the "infrastructure" bill! This is the corporate fascist state with the centralization of wealth stealing EVERYTHING from us while we follow like sheep and fight each other. The billionaires are laughing on their private jets all the way to one of their many mansions. Voting? It doesn't matter who is in office, they follow the orders of their billionaire overlords. The DOD budget bills are over a TRILLION dollars a year. That is well over half of our income taxes. An estimated million people homeless and they are no longer counting hungry children. The United States constitutional republic is now a myth.
Lol.... Vote don't mean anything.. the counters always pick the winners... Free phentynal for everyone ... Then we just clean up the mess and start over with people that have some pride in themselves.
@Jesus heard dat JC ... How bout a flood ... Maybe a quake ... Talk to your dad .. we can start fresh with real people that have some civic pride in where they reside .. " Not telling ya how to do your job .. but,. This ain't working.
I think a city’s trash disposal says a lot about it’s quality of life. I currently live in a city where trash is always strewn about outside and it bothers me to no end as my puppy always tries to eat it! Anyway, trash outside equals crappy place to live lol.
What differentiates a third world county from a sustainable society: refuse pickup and responsible relocation, human waste (shit) treatment and freshwater (potable) plumbing in public and private places of gathering. Of course, this goes all out the window when citizens don’t give a shit.
The problem is there is no one left in the community who is willing or capable of making change. Oakland is a failed city. Oakland Police officers are resigning and going to other agencies. I was born and raised in Oakland. This is sad to see.
@@orangecrush5512 It doesn’t matter what political party is in charge. Oakland would be in the same predicament. You know why? Because all politicians don’t care about the ghettos. As long as they’re safe in their mansions, it’s all good.
@@DIGITALMIND63 Wrong. That is a leftist talking point comeback. Never ever take responsibility is the left mantra. I saw those failed "art" drawings on the side of the road that was big in the early 2000's leftist cities as a way to "brighten" and clean up the city. Always in ghetto neighborhoods. Politicians use federal funds and local taxes to make swan songs to get the funding then pocket 90% then throw 10% at the problem. Portland Oregon for example just got 10million off of the tax payers to "study" homelessness..STUDY! Not solve anything. Just study.
Oakland is the unfortunate combination of San Francisco (homelessness problem) and Detroit (crime rate problem particularly in shootings and homicides).
If I was blind folded and dropped off in that area, and not knowing where I was, I would seek sanctuary in the nearest embassy thinking I was in a foreign country.
🔴🔴🔴 To vote for marxists (comunists, socialists) is a vote for satanists. Karl Marx was a Satanist! The inventor of communism was a Satanist!! The Satan theme is most explicitly set forth in Marx's "The Fiddler," dedicated to his father: **************** - See this sword? the Prince of darkness Sold it to me. ...And... - With Satan I have struck MY DEAL **************** ✸ Dear ones... in communism it was never about atheism but about worshiping Satan! Atheism (unbelief in God) is for the popular masses or working slaves (rats) as the Marxist elite calls them! ✸ Don't let the communists rise to power! Get communist cancer out of your country!
My ex and I drove in Oakland Ca at night to a party. The place is very sketchy. When we are in the traffic light, I saw a person with a black hoodie near my rear window and I couldn’t see the persons face at all which makes it even more haunting.
How many representatives live in their own district? Just asking. Politicians need to see each and every day what their people go thru. You need to live the problem before you can hope to fix the problem!
Her district is a one party area where the Republicans only run token candidates who never bother campaigning. Like all ultra liberals, she'll sympathize with your plight, but her seniority in the party precludes doing anything that's going to buck their slavish Wall St. butt kissing.
I live in the South Bay Area and recently drove through Oakland. I follow our local news and I knew it wouldn't be a cruise through Beverly Hills, but I too was stunned at the "Haiti" style homeless camps, the filth, the overall depressed look of the city. Such a multi-level problem - mental illness, drug addiction, insane cost of housing, lack of political will at local and state level - I don't have a answer.
I do! Throw all the Democrats out & RINOS and get some Conservatives in high govt offices and see what happens. I moved from San Jose to a Conservative run city and I go walking the trail at midnight, early morning, whenever my heart desires, without fear.
I would suggest putting that train underground which is no more than digging a ditch then covering it and putting a park on top. What is the purpose of a train over head but to degrade the neighborhood.
Have lived in Oakland for 18 years and it’s been going downhill over the past 8 years or so. Outside developers have come in and built unaffordable matchbox-sized apartments, condos and dormitory styled units. There has literally been 20 or more mixed use high-rise buildings developed in the downtown area and bleeding into Chinatown. Average rents are around 3k/month ! This has forced so many people out on the street and to top it off the trash and dumping problems are off the chain as you’ve shown here. With a growing tax base you would think that basic services would get better…. Where are the elected officials that should be addressing these problems? You don’t see or hear from them until election time !
@@landajimmy what specific programs and interventions would a Republican do to stop the crime, homelessness and blight? Saying vote Republican is partisan none sense. What is the plan and how can it be implemented. Who will do the work and how much will it cost?
well developers can't really build enough because how restrictive California building laws are. other states seen growth because but 50 to 75 percent less than oakland rents.
We came to Oakland in 1979, and it was very, very nice!! I immediately got a job, and even worked in San Francisco about 2 years, I'm just appalled at how it looks now. It didn't look like this when we lived there!! I really would like to know "what happened to this city"?? This was a beautiful city when we came there in 1979. My kids went to school there and graduated, I'm just really, really SAD just looking at this!!
There is no reason for this. My partner and I lived in California for almost 5 years, and recently moved back to our home state of Texas. I know every city has it's problems and it's "bad" areas, but it seems like California has it much worse than most other states. California's leaders always say that Texas is a mismanaged, lawless and dangerous wasteland where people are pulling guns on each other oppressing the "have-nots", but I saw more of that kind of stuff in California than here at home. I'm not saying that my home state is perfect by any means; we definitely have our problems. It feels like the leaders of California are forcing a narrative that their state is "paradise" while simultaneously running it into the ground and lining their own pockets. A small apartment in Oakland costs $3000/month, and there's no reason for that other than corruption. We paid $900/month plus utilities in rural southern California for a 450 square foot one bedroom shack with terrible landlords that were constantly trying to evict us, even though we were never late on bills and rent. We moved home into a house that's twice the size for $800/month. Granted, I'm making a dollar less an hour working, but I'm also not paying $4 or $5/gallon for fuel. California is the true wasteland, a place of hope and promise that has fallen into a shameful cesspool of despair. The leaders of the cities and of the state have made it very clear that they care noting for their citizens, and actively engage in brainwashing propaganda to stay in power while allowing criminals to run free with few to no repercussions or consequences for their actions.
California? Not all of California. One dot on the map doesn’t represent the state. That’s like saying all of Texas is Dallas Fort Worth. There’s a reason California is a place many want to live but can’t afford. You also have paradises in Cali like San Diego. Oakland has nice areas as well. Every city has bad areas.
@@HanSoloBolo the issue is California is fcked up ALL OVER, affordability is almost non-existant, Every large city has a horrible homeless issue that will never be fixed because the politicians absolutely do not care and they even put in city planning to prevent homeless from having areas to rest. There are just about NO affordable beach towns there in anyway whats-so-ever-- in Florida (my home state) theres still plenty of affordable places in beachtowns all over. How does California have high state income taxes but does absoluteley nothing with it that helps areas in need?? it isnt just "ONE DOT" its the whole state
@@txwebber4250 After watching all these videos, Texas does look nice for being a red state compared to all the other blue states he covered. Texas might be an underated state.
I left Oakland to joined the U.S. Army (1976-1996). Before then, I knew a few people that were murdered. I tried to joined the Oakland police, but I was too short. While in the service, I 've seen better communities and cultures than living in Oakland. Last time I was there was 1991, after the Gulf War to see relatives and friends. Since then, they moved out of Oakland. As teens, my friends and I joked around, how national TV will never show the ghetto near the Coliseum during a game.
Well there was many factory jobs that paid well, people kept their legs closed more and didn't have all these kids all over the place, and people grew their own food and didn't eat all this fast food crap that caused people to develop all these mental and physical problems. And we weren't bombarded with all this technology that has destroyed real human relationships. Smfh.
It's happening in most cities of Europe too... Everywhere the same disease, normal people are disapearing. But how could we act? We aren't even allowed to speak out about (we all know) what's happening!
"t's happening in most cities of Europe too". Haven't seen anything in Europe like this, TBH. "We aren't even allowed to speak out about (we all know) what's happening". Well, you are literally speaking about it. And that was 7 months ago. What or who is stopping you?!
I just drove through Oakland and Emeryville for the first time last week. I've spent time in 42 states and countless large cities. I've never seen anything like what I saw last week. I'm a truck driver and have had to sleep in my truck for years. Oakland was the first city to truly scare me and I'm from NYC.
Haha I lived here my whole life. My wife is from east LA, and she is tough... when her family came up to visit we toured oakland and they were SCARED lol. I always thought LA mexicans were real hard but they were like checkin to lock the car doors lol. They said they never seen a ghetto like this.
I’m from Sacramento, south sac to be exact. Pretty bad hang area. We go to Oakland all the time for A’s games. Use to go to raider games. You have no idea what bad is until you drive through Oakland. It is SCARY. The comments above are not exaggerating how bad Oakland is. Ive driven through south central. I was never scared like I was in the surrounding neighborhoods around the Oakland coliseum. The neighborhoods surrounding what use to be candlestick park in SF kind of have the same vibe.
good job Nick as a former resident of westcoast homeless encampments i really appreciate your work..it has always bothered me the media just flat out ignores the 3rd world transformation of our country..did u know one of the biggest issues is foreign companies own a vast amount of property? ya key issue
I lived there 1986 through 1997. It was good old Oaktown back then, classic rough city, but you could get around without much worry unless at night. But now it’s unrecognizable. East Bay Hills have always been better, but the decay creeps. Good luck to those still there, and thank you Nick, for the great videos and accurate commentary.
What? I'm been going to Oakland for almost 60 years...and Never had any trouble in Oakland. I'm from Hayward and I've had one vehicle stolen, my vehicle broken into, several vehicle hit and run (6 times), constantly asked for money, had a drive by and killed a child in front of our house...all in Hayward. All cities have their crime and some worse than others. I know east Oakland and west Oakland.
LA is running out of water and Oakland is lost too for the same reason. Thanks for showing what Oakland looks like today. You're a brave soul to bring this video to UA-cam! It's shocking to witness.
I was a paramedic in Oakland from 1990 to 2000. I grew up in that city and I went to school there. I now live 50 miles east. I have not been to Oakland in a long time and I refuse to go there. It was a violent and depressing place when I worked there. There is nothing good about it.
I grew up right across the bay in San Francisco all thru the 70s -90s we called Oakland “Cokeland” LoL besides the Oakland hills I never went to other parts of Oakland
@@user-pv3rl2lv4p I’m in San Mateo now. It’s not as bad... yet. Ppl come in from Antioch, Oakland and other places to shoplift bcoz they know nothing will happen if they get caught. Nada. California in general has become a toilet. I bought 20 acres in Montana :)
I grew up there too and you're absolutely correct. Once I left I avoided ever going back. I lived across the street from Melrose Library, Foothill and 48th. I used to hang out at the library so my brain could escape, if not for a little while.
This is what happens to a place when the people who run the city, let crime go out of control, attack the police and turn a blind eye to the causes and effect of violence. This is what happens when you have morons who live in this city vote for morons like them selfs and then decide i have to run to well run repbulican places to turn those areas into more oaklands.
@@bobanppvc Drug addicts don't work. Companies move away when they are taxed in to oblivion and their property gets stolen or destroyed regularly. The same people who voted to allow the homeless and the drug addicts free reign. Vote for these taxes and hide in their little pockets of safety. They caused it and they deserve it.
@@sashafierce7495 Oakland is just a symptom of the crumbling US empire. That's the sad reality, much of the world was aware of this coming just not many Americans .. but glad some are waking up to that now
California is a 5th world state especially the management teams : government, overpaid mayor. This is unbelievable. The salary of these civil servants should be used for affordable housing,
It's important to have good solid leaders that get things done, clearly from this video Oakland's leaders are lacking in every area. They have allowed this to happen..
We elected a better mayor, a Republican DA, we're fighting to get rid of the woke in Seattle city council, we're fighting to change this course brought to us by blmantifa.
Oakland is an amazing city!!! Poor leadership is why our city is going to hell. We had a self-serving mayor for 8 years😰 don't give up on Oakland. Our homeless problem is people coming here from other cities to be homeless.
My aunt is homeless in Oakland. We have tried many times to get her to an intervention and offered her plenty of financial aid. It's sad to see that this is where she lives.. I didn't know it was that bad...
Because they don’t want responsibilities or they are just done working back breaking jobs and always coming up short on bills every month. There is no incentive
My fathers factory job closed down and moved out of state when CA's AQMD passed very stringent laws. Overnight they kept getting heavily fined until they were forced to leave the state. The factory grounds is full of homeless people and drug addicts.
Nobody, NO BODY, NOBODY "forces" ANY company or corporation to do even one single g-d-m thing! NOBODY has that kind of power! Under5 almighty capitalism, Jack, companies and corporations do whatever the f-k they/it WANTS! That is what so many people love about capitalism! Not only do ALL companies and corporations have the freedom to go wherever they WANT to, but they are also free to do all sorts of shifty things to avoid having to pay taxes to the governments who's infrastructures they got stankin filthy rich off of! Infrastructures that were paid for by you, me, our parents and grandparents. If you think for one second that any entity commands any company or corporation to do anything they/it don't want to then you are as sorely deluded as the other Jack I have had to skull drum that info into! Not only do they do whatever they WANT to do and go wherever they WANT to go, NONE of them give a witches t-t about ANYTHING that you, or I, or ANY government entity wants!. That is the very reason why YOU, yes YOU, AND ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS have in all your bloodstreams measurably toxic amounts of wonderful compounds like the forever-toxic chemical by products of teflon mabufacturing! Yes, google it Jack! In YOUR BLOODSTREAM RIGHT NOW!
@@pinkpriss hence the need for the government to act decently, thoughtfully etc - otherwise they will not stick around. btw anyone can start a company, nothing special or evil about it. you too can start one in Oakland and also stay around, and you can use the existing infrastructure as much as you wish to - it is there for you to use it.
I was born and raised in East Oakland in the 90s. Our house got burglarized 3 times, my dad was at gunpoint in front of our house, my grandma and I would get called racial slurs on our walk to school, and a gang of 6 mofos beat me up, kicked me in the face, and stole my bike from me while I was riding in Dimond park. I was maybe 7 years old. But I love Oakland. There's a sense of pride coming from here. My neighbours were black, Mexican, Filipino, Asian, White folk. And we took care of one another. There was a strong sense of community. I learned to respect people, power, money, culture, and to lock your car door when you carry your groceries in for a second trip. I've met people who don't have an ounce of basic respect or street awareness and that's because they didn't grow up in a place like Oakland. But you missed all the beautiful places like Joaquin Miller Park, Skyline, the 13 going to Berkeley, Lake Chabot, Montclair, Lake Merritt, Jack London sq...Oakland hills has arguably the BEST views of the bay (I can see the SF homeless and druggies injecting themselves from there). Lake Merritt still has a lot of art/music culture, albeit it's a lot of the SF techies now, and it smells a hell of a lot better now than it did back then lol it's obvious you didn't explore all of Oakland, or maybe you did but only chose the biased narrative. The problem isn't that people don't care. It's because everyone in the rough areas is too busy fending for themselves to survive (read: Maslow's hierarchy). The OPD don't even go into Deep East Oakland. Who has time to care about city politics when you have to protect yourself and your home? And those who can muster the means will try to leave or live in the hills, leaving politicians in a laissez-faire state, as the guy mentioned. Oakland has ALWAYS had this problem. It's nothing new.
Sorry all of California is a cesspool if you ask me. Your woke candyass government and the self entitled bloated celebrities are enough too keep me away.
I lived in Oakland,in a Black neighborhood(I'm White).When the San Francisco rent shot way up all of a sudden, it led to the same problem in Oakland,becuase all the people whlo couldn't afford to stay in SF moved to Oakland. This kept moving south city by city.Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward. San Jose etc.I had to leave due to my trying to live on Social Security.The rent for my apartment DOUBLED IN PRICE. Overnight.
Same thing happened in Seattle. Happened with coronavirus, the people with remote jobs decided they didn’t wanna pay Seattle rent, and all started moving south. Rent in affordable places suddenly became unaffordable due to the rich city people buying up everything. Previously cheap and rural towns are now totally developed and have tons of people, complete with overpriced housing.
I moved out 12 years ago. I used to run community meetings focused on crime. It is worse now. Oakland is careening toward being a failed state. A lot of community meetings are emotional rants with no outcome. "We deserve this", "It should be this or that". Over obvious issues. Yet the woke politics ensures ineffectiveness. History: During WWII, many African Americans migrated from the South to Oakland/Richmond for well paying shipyard jobs. There was a lot of industry there too. All those jobs are gone, but the people remain. In the 1990s, the Clinton Administration shipped a lot of jobs offshore. This certainly did not help. In my opinion, a solid middle class job is better than endless social programs. Yet all you hear about are social programs.
BRING OUR MIDDLE CLASS JOBS BACK!!! That is the main truth to America's problems today. We have no place for a kid to get a job and work alongside family and friends and build a decent middle class life. Thise days are gone and we are massively suffering for the greed we allow the companies to have
@@everythingisfine9988 One key thing I learned: People cannot distinguish between emotion and a problem definition. I would have to ask a person *4 times* what is the problem that they wanted solved. They would not stop ranting. I think they want to hear themselves speak. The problem is it was alse useless emotion with zero value add. This one person, at the 4th try, I said : "So your problem is X". She looked at me in amazement. Because I managed to deciper her rant. The I opened for debate, gave it a Priority 1 Mission, and solved in about 30 days. And the OPD officers who solved it were heroes to the community. Take Away: The citizens themselves are in many cases responsible for the disaster than is now Oakland. I can give a lot more examples of useless, resources-wasting behavior. I got out. With that said, they need middle class jobs instead of social programs.
Our family moved there in 1956 and we stayed until 1963. Went to Hamilton Jr. High, Jefferson, Lockwood, elementary schools. I can attest that it was not like this in those times. Shame on City Council and the local yokels for not paying attention to the blight. NEVER going back.... Too bad, good people are there in fear.... Last good Mayor was Lionel Wilson....
I got a degree from csu Hayward in 2006. It wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad if you stayed away from a few bad areas. But by 2010 it started a massive decline.
@@bobbyus That would make sense once upon a time .but with all the illegals that have come up .and we have brought up in here they don't need our votes no more.👌🏽💯
The problem is the combination of the tech industry driving up cost of living in the Bay Area, a massive influx of people immigrating to California and the politicians that ignore the streets because they don't have to contend with the threats on street level.
Who would want to start a business there. The lawsuits for every kind of complaints of discrimination would put them out of business in a week. Same as so called food desserts. How can a food store stay in business if it’s being robbed continuously? So much money has been thrown at the poverty issue to what end? It just gets worse.
Unfortunately this is getting worse all over the country. In my small town outside of the big city, things used to be affordable. The only expensive rent was in the city itself, but being the 1st place in the country to offer fiber optic internet, a lot of tech industry has moved in and the rich folks moved out here making property values skyrocket. Since 2017 rent has went up from $7-800 to $1300+ for a 1 bed room apartment, houses that used to sell for $125K are now $350K, but the pay has stayed the same. $16 an hour used to be a decent living, now $16/hr is struggling.
@@rando_baconmy friend before I met him lived in Oakland in a pickup, then a questionable residential part of a building with a restaurant on the first floor, back to a car again and then "moved" out of Oakland by sleeping at work after hours and "living" in his car on the peninsula on his days off. During all that time he had 4 different jobs with the last one (his current one) allowing him to eventually stop being homeless and get a tiny place in the south end of Alameda and still have a vehicle to go to work. Now he's worried about the recession destroying his job. He's amazed at the way Oakland has changed but flatly refuses to go there after dark especially without a weapon. He lived and worked in many of the places shown in the video and is astounded how much the squalor has spread and says he would not live in his vehicle in Oakland. He'd be robbed often because they know he's got good steady income.
I remember as a very young child, sitting in the back of the car on the way to Chinatown, thinking "this is like in Robocop!" and not grasping the seriousness of my environment.
What’s robocop gonna do? Blast away the wooden houses, shoot the impoverished residents’ dogs and then tell them to start packing at gun point under the guise of the city providing sanitation services and destroying the personal belongings and trash they couldn’t secure?
I really do think Covid had a massive impact in making this place worse. Actually relo’d to work for Clorox back in 21-22. We weren’t even allowed to go in the office, and when we finally did in April 22, all the equipment and office was literally untouched for 2 years, and completely unsuitable for virtual meetings or really any productive work. No one went to the office. I’ve headed back east but from what I heard the management just gave up on having a normal in person experience and just have been mostly remote ever since. So without it’s largest employer in person, and many other employers doing the same (or completely shuttering their offices for remote work), why would anyone: A) live in Oakland B) buy any of the food or grub near downtown? It’s just going to be an East Bay hangout spot on weekends, where some of the hipsters escape for ‘cheaper’ rent, and ultimately fare even worse than SF will in the coming decades….and SF is going to fare poorly too.
I live in Oakland, I see a large part of the problem is that people don’t agree on how to fix it it’s easy to blame government and they will definitely take advantage of the disagreement fractions within the city. If we could stop being fake woke and really wake up and collaborate and walk the talk then we could change the city. This takes a great amount of compromise and Empathy. It takes being authentic. It takes each fraction owning its own shadow. It’s a tall order it’s an order of the whole country needs and there’s an opportunity here Blame doesn’t get the job done accountability does. And we’re having an absolute vacancy and ethics and values. Thank you for the video. Ironically I am originally from Detroit so this is not my first rodeo in cities that need help
Usually too many council meetings to solve the homeless, drug abuse, lawlessness of a city that waste thousands of dollars and endless hours of time to generate reports with viable solutions that never get implemented by the mayors of these cities and towns. Mainly because the costs to the taxpayer to remediate the problems now is too high to put onto already high property taxes. Also, mayors and council members worry about being re-elected and passing this kind of remediation could cost them their cushy council position with that 100,000 USD paycheque.
I also must say, Guliani cleaned up NYC. I was in it during the 70s, and experienced it in the 80s and 90s. We may not have liked his methods, but you must take a look at history..and see what worked.
I worked in the state building on Clay street for 12 years and it got to be too much. The parking was ridiculously expensive so sometimes I'd look for street parking and of course my car got broken into as did most of the cars. I don't miss it at all. I'd literally dodge human feces as I walked to work. I couldn't take it anymore and retired early.
It’s a walking dead zombie town, I lived in Alameda since 2012 to 2019 right next door Oakland an I worked in both town San Francisco and Oakland at different time and the landscape is a complete dystopian mess. My wife an I moved to Hercules much better environment we do miss Alameda sometimes but now Oakland influence has slowly effected Alameda. The criminals run San Francisco and Oakland and it’s to bad because both towns could be great but the people are too selfish to do the right things to fix the place.
Oakland was hopeless by the 70s. I remember talking to a young woman (during the 70s) whose father would let her stay in a home he owned there if she would give it some care. Prior renters had made a terrible mess. The father didn’t understand the reality of Oakland until she reported back to him she and her husband ducked bullets pretty much every day. When they were inside they stayed away from exterior walls because of shooting. They moved to San Jose to pay over $800 in rent just to live safely. Anymore, I believe, there are some Oakland like neighborhoods in San Jose, too.
@@ShowCat1 Republican states everyday send their homeless population on one way bus trips to the west coast. it's easy to curb your homeless population when you just ship them away and then you can point out how many homeless people there are on the west coast and how they have it under such control. If you ask the majority of the homeless where they're from they will not say cali.
I lived in Oakland from 1992-2011. There are very nice areas. Me and friends would jokingly call the nice areas the DMZ zone. Even so occasionally the bad elements and crime would roll through so you could never truly let your guard down. I loved to spend hours just walking around certain parts and for the most part if you were aware of your surrounding and what was going on you were safe-this was near the Rockridge - Berkeley parts of town . I was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight once about 3 blocks from UC Berkeley and that was an experience. Out of the hundreds of time I would take one of my urban hiking outings, I guess you have to expect the odds to catch up to you eventually. I did re-visit a few times since I left and went back to Glenview and noticed graffiti on a fence and the front of the Chevron station smashed in. I asked the attendant what happened and he said someone rammed the front entrance with their car and made off with the ATM machine. Glenview is a pretty nice part next to Montclair. This was a while back. Who knows what the current situation is. While I'm just a few hours away from the Bay Area, I have very little desire to go there anymore. I don't see any solution to the issues that affect Oakland. Most if not all of the politicians have no real interest in fixing the problems and whats the upside for trying? You have tons of special interest groups who are just looking out for themselves. Beside DMZ, another term often thrown around when I was there was the Homeless Industrial Complex. Just like the Industrial-Military-Complex, you mess with the Homeless-Industrial-Complex at your own risk. Anything of consequence attempted in California, especially the Bay area is going to be challenged by endless lawsuits, protests, so why bother? If your a politician, just use the problem for a wedge issue, collect your salary and go home to your nice digs in the hills and call it a day. If you're really ambitious use your political experience in the Bay area as a stepping stone for higher office. You can make a career and nice living doing so, just don't piss off the wrong interest groups or take a real risk actually trying to solve real issues that require real risks, hard decisions and political capital. I think the military should re-open the Alameda base and use parts of Oakland for realistic training. Then the next time a US President gets the bright idea to send troops to nation build, they'll have the benefit of being trained in a highly realistic environment.
I think you should work in local politics. I live in England so am not going to try and sound like one of those UA-cam smart arses that think they're an expert on everything. You sound like you have a reasonable grasp on some of the solutions. If not in Oakland than an area that is at the brink of maybe having a similar problem. "Nip it in the bud" as the saying goes!
Or if you are an opportunist right wing shill, you take your camera down the worst streets and try to sell it as representative of the whole. I am a big critic of the local government, but I do not pass off the worst as the norm. If it was the norm we would not have one of our biggest problems, namely gentrification.
I’m a former Oakland resident and current Bay Area resident for 30 years. I agree 100% with you. Oakland’s failure is a combo of greed and woke politics.
I left California in 2007 just after completing grad school and my teaching credential because I saw how the Democratic leadership was destroying the state. I live in the Midwest and love it and have no desire to return to my home state of California.
I worked in Oakland for a tech company from 2008-2018 and in those 10 years the decline was shocking. Our office was located in downtown Oakland across the street from the Marriott from 2008-2012 and I took BART because the 12th St station was right where our office was located which was a horrible way to commute but I couldn't afford the parking. Thanks goodness our office moved to Jack London Square in 2012 and because it's a tourist area it was a much more pleasant area. I commuted by Amtrak from 2012-2018 when I moved to TN and just in those few years I watched the graffiti spread as well as the homeless population living under the freeway overpass near the Coliseum. I hated working downtown and would rarely venture outside because when I did I always experienced some disturbing event. It's shocking that this is a city in the United States.
What you Summarized no different in the Late 70’s/80’s Downtown during the day Work Week OK, but at night and catching Bart ALL the FREAKS come out at NIGHT
Of course it's the politicians. They're the ones "in charge". If we, the people they are working for, would stand together instead of segregating ourselves into groups, we could be a force to be reckoned with and maybe make some changes. It's heartbreaking and a total crime to let this happen to our beautiful cities. Why?
Yes, all politicians are bad, but the problem with black-run areas is black politicians. Did you know that if you look at a list of the worst-run cities in the US, the list I dominated by black-run cities?
@@supersnapp Maybe there are some politicians that start out wanting to do right by the people but the system is so corrupt it's an uphill cut -throat battle for the few "good guys". The system is what's not on our side. And unfortunately they've succeeded in dividing we the people. The ones, if united, could, I believe, make changes.
@@supersnapp I would contend that there are many great African-American mayors. Two that I lived under where Willie Brown here in San Francisco and Harold Washington in Chicago.
Yes because individuals choices don't matter its all someone else fault. News flash: any natural citizens (meaning they were born in america) can run for political office.
@@eveastardust3747 Its interesting that my reply was deleted by UA-cam. My comment was to ask what black run city you will be moving to? I wonder if the UA-cam censor who censored my comment will be moving to Detroit or Baltimore? I suspect they won't.
A lot of places are ignoring individual responsibilities. There is almost no limit to the excuses made for bad behavior. Any place that takes the approach of making people out to be victims as opposed to demanding accountability will see this, as well.
Yes, everyone comes from the same background. There is a lack of help for many, and we try to avoid problems like vast inequality. The more affluent have taken over cities that once had a very middle-class population. Living in NYC for decades, the city is becoming only for the rich.
I worked in East Oakland throughout the 70's, it was rough but overall was manageable, and why, because the majority of residents wanted to see the police in their neighborhood, they wanted law and order..Of course there was crime, but anytime you cram a massive amount of people together you will have the rotten apples..In the 70's we had a robust Police Department and an incredible Police Chief, who was supported by the Mayor and City Council, everyone was pointed in the same direction with the same goals, keeping Oakland as a place people wanted to be safe. Today, it's obvious the same conditions don't apply, poor city government that has restricted and underfunded the Police, and draw no distinction between the good guys and the bad ones...It's sad for me to watch this video and see what's become of Oakland..
Spot on observations. This video is similar to a documentary that came out in 2019 by a Seattle Tv station called " Seattle is Dying" that every school kid be forced to watch because it is this video (only 3 years ago) and it documents the decline of Seattle from a jewel of a city into a cesspool when democrats gained power...they relaxed drug laws, they told cops to leave homeless and drugged out crazies alone, they ignored crime and stopped even citations for peeing/pooping in the street/doing drugs etc. This is a democrat owned problem and sad none of the guys in this video had the stones to come out and say it.
@@shirleyaprile4838 I believe the elections are real because what has happened for decades is sane and responsible people move out of the city to safer places and all you are left with are folks who have always voted democrat because democrats promise to give them free things like rent, housing, etc and also democrats let them do drugs, let them steal, let them be degenerates without facing jail time.
@@30thousandd Police enable a low crime environment which encourages businesses to expand, and new businesses to start up, even relocate. The end result, more jobs and a better quality of life.
@@rhondaesco1839 that’s sounds like hope lol I don’t think those are proven facts. Poverty is a lot deeper than just locking people up and thinking things are going change. I personally think investing into education would do a lot more than sending a bunch of cops to try to intimidate a bunch of people who don’t give af. For example, I grew up in Oakland in poverty, at one point in high school I gave up because our gym roof collapsed, flooding the locker room and ruined the shoes & clothes I had for PE so I stopped getting dressed. We use to have to go the library for class in the winter because our classrooms didn’t have heat and you could see your breath. Little things like that will make you not care about anything overtime. A lot of us had our spirit killed at a young age & here we are now.
I had a business in West Oakland and it was grounds to be issued a CCW permit. One of those intersections, you passed, has the most murders in Oakland.
Diversity is our strength! Is it fixable? Anything is fixable, just requires leadership and strong people making tough decisions. Liberals LOVE cities like Oakland. Liberals CREATE cities like Oakland.
@@llc1976 liberal still applies, or globalist right like a Romney. If you think "big business" isn't synonymous with liberal maybe you're asleep at the wheel. Every fortune 500 is woke as the day is long.
I was born in Berkeley in 1959. and raised in hills of Oakland . I am an ex pat of nor cal. Oakland used to have industry and active downtown. Bart although wonderful closed downtown for years. People stopped going to downtown and when Bart was finished why go to Oakland when u can just jump on Bart and go shopping in SF. Public projects usually have unintended consequences and killing downtown was one of them. Politics in Oakland is left/liberal/progressive whatever. This is what you get. The road to hell is paved w good intentions. Oakland is a poster held for that saying. At the age of 12 I used to meet my cousin at the mcarthy-broadway center and that the bus to see the Austin. I wouldn't want to do that now. WW2 created a huge number of jobs that after the war disappeared. Industry and private business is somewhat looked down upon in Oakland. They make a profit and exploit workers etc bs. Those same people probably never started a business and risked their own $ in hope of not loosing $ and someday making a profit. Last time I was in downtown Oakland I noticed a high % of office buildings were state offices. An obvious attempt to get something in there albeit tax taking vs tax generating. So you have an area with less business tax revenue, artificially pumped up home prices, fewer regular jobs not a pretty picture. I have no desire to go back. Maybe the " big one" will flatten everything and they can start over.
@@humid-rb7rt I've had my fill of diversity. My home state is getting worse and worse. I'm gonna wind it down well north of here. No one here seems to know how to use a turn signal or a trash can
You will own nothing and be happy...is this really the catch phrase for the future? Oakland before China's Favored Trade Status, then industry moved to China and the local warehouses went empty. I am close to correct with this as a timeline?
Left Oakland to go to UCLA and came back to a drastic rise in murder… just sad but I never felt safer in west Oakland than the East. Maybe because I grew up in the east and I never experienced anything too crazy but west Oakland was crazy to me.
Why don't you go and live in Brazil, see how good it could get. No woke there my friend. The richest 5 people in America own more wealth than ALL the rest of the population. America is a bankrupt state this only happens when you can throw people away like trash.
This is the result of decades of bad democrat policy. It was in the process for quite some time. Sure, the final degradation of a city or town might seem "all of a sudden" but not to those who have been warning of this for decades. The fact that calif just chose Newsom over Larry Elder makes me have absolutely no empathy for places like calif... Philly, Detroit, Baltimore, etc.
@@susansmith493 It's a nationwide problem in the US. As an outsider, I've studied homelessness in many American States. The wealthy have dumbed down everything, to keep the poor impoverished. This area showed the black problem but, in other areas and states, it's white homelessness. I can't understand why Americans are still pouring money into African nations whilst ignoring the growing epidemic in their own country. I looked online to find big, genuine charities which are supporting America's homeless. I found NOTHING. That's utterly screwed up. Of the world's top 10 countries to live in, 7 are European then Singapore, Australia and Japan. The US doesn't even feature in the top 29. Norway is 1st and my home country is 2nd. I can testify to that truth. The US needs st study European nations and learn.
@@elizabethgrogan8553 Agree. I implore you to start a worldwide campaign to get the message out to those who wish to emigrate from their country that there are MUCH better places to go. Show them your research and your list of better countries. Tell them about your studies and the fact that you can "testify to the truth." Thanks.
@@susansmith493 I will look into it. My home country, Ireland, is in 2nd place. It is beautiful, safe and welcoming. Excellent education and services. Those on low income, disabled or unemployed can find lovely housing in state owned housing estates, which are great. The quality of life is the polar opposite of the US. I would no longer visit the US. Too dangerous.
I lived in Silicon Valley '97 to 2002. My dad came for a visit once. He had been in WWII and shipped out of Oakland, so he lived there for a few years. I had to tell him that no, we couldn't go wandering around Oakland looking for the house he had lived during WWII.
I've worked there for 27 years as an Oakland police officer. It wasn't bad in the mid 80's but with lame politicians and now defending the police it's gotten alot worse. No help from this current mayor. The department is down over 100 officer's with alot just leaving because of no backing and just the workload which is ridiculous.
Why do people in California elect these people to destroy your city's and you people just sit and let it happen? Than you try and force your politics on the rest of the country when you know it not working. You get made at other states because we don't allow our states to fall for your crappy politics and let our city's fall into shitholes like yours?
If you really worked there, as I did, you should know this video is a distortion of the city. You should also be insulted as I am, because I grew up in Oakland. Why you took a pay check, yet, did not understand the city you worked for is part of the problem. People want to defund the police because of “the Riders” and the more recent sex scandal that took out two chiefs. That is just two scandals that have riddled the OPD and challenged their integrity in the community. You should be honest…
Oakland wasn't bad in the mid-80s? I took 2 minutes to google Oakland homicides and there were 129 in 1986 (compared to 75 in 2019, the last year before the pandemic). That doesn't tell the whole story but that's a much larger number.
@@johncorke8549 These "people" are not elected, they are "selected" to do exactly what they've been asked to do: nothing. Do you really think elections are on the up and up in California? Missing ballot boxes (Harris' A.G. run and dead people voting (San Francisco Sillie Brown)? Oakland has a storied history of standing up and not "sitting and letting things happen" but after a 55-60 year movement most are systematically ostracized, frustrated, impoverished and played and the powers that be rotate the next batch of shitty politricians in. Oaklanders gather and attempt to use their own money to fix problems (i.e, potholes and parks) and the City government literally blocks them, attacks them, and creates laws to then police the people into inaction.
I have never been too a downtown that wasn't a failure in the US. Seriously, can you name one? Only suburbs and rural towns have any kind of measure of safety
The media shows we all voted for this and so does election results, but many many of us Californians voted otherwise. We tried in 2020 and 2021 recall.
@@everythingisfine9988 suburbs are the reason why U.S. cities are broke. There's too many streets, waterpipes, electricity line, etc to maintain. Suburbs are unsustainable and not to mention ugly. It's a pity where more of America's youth would love to live in Germany, France, Switzerland, or England because they're urban environment is beautiful. I've seen plenty of beautiful downtowns.
As someone whose father used to be an Oakland police officer (RIP), I have to disagree with those who ignore CA's insane cost of living, - it's not just the obscene rent/housing costs, but also food, constant tax hikes, rising utilities & commute costs - all this is what's contributing to the exploding homeless problem. Most of the homeless people are Oakland residents who have nowhere else to go (& also feel they shouldn't _have_ to leave their hometown). Yes, drugs are a part of it, but blaming it _all_ on drugs is overly simplistic & is politically too often used as an excuse not to tackle the problem by dems & repubs alike.
“Shouldn’t have to leave their hometown?” that’s brilliant ? How about a new government agency called “if your born here we will buy you a home” a really nice one !
Facts I agree that drugs are part of the problem but I feel the bigger issue is rising cost as a long time Oakland resident ( born & raised ) you didn't see this many homeless ppl 10 yrs ago. Once the tech companies came ppl got even more greedy and cost started sky rocketing
@@heneedsomemilk4194 Sadly, the S.F. Bay Area is becoming the next New York city: it's fast becoming a playground for the wealthy *only.* When that happens, everyone who's not super rich suffers.
Here's a novel solution. Bring the damn prices down and build more affordable housing. 30-40 percent of those "homeless" just can't afford to live where they rightfully should be able to stay...and get these damn parasitic tech companies out of town...it looks like they are moving out to Texas anyways...get them the hell out of here..
Excellent video great job. I’m from British Columbia Canada and we are seeing this on a much smaller scale of course but cities like Vancouver BC are getting really bad in some areas. But an entire city?! Wow this video blew my mind.
It’s NOT the entire city. There are a lot of very affluent areas of Oakland that his guy did not go to - College Ave/Rockridge, Upper Lakeshore which borders on Piedmont (a city that was a district and opted out of joining Oakland, but has actual mansions and estates), upper Park Blvd, Montclair.
@@marcoscunha511 most people in the hills are not dealing drugs, breaking into homes and cars, and robbing people on the street at gun point. They are just people who go to work everyday and manage their money wisely and pay their bills.
I am from Northern California and currently live in Oakland, and I agree with you 100%. But I have to say you literally skipped over the few good parts of Oakland, Grand Lake, Piedmont, and Rockridge which are very nice, the problem is that only makes us 10-20% of the total city, everything else is as you shown.
Agreed, but the issue is that the blight makes life smaller and smaller. Anytime I have to go more than 10 mins from home, I’ll be passing some homeless encampment and making sure my doors are locked and my head is on a swivel. We’re all affected psychologically.
@@markh3279 I rarely watch the local news anymore, but the last time I did, some good samaritan was shot trying to help an old lady not get robbed in Chinatown, and some dude fired an assault weapon on Broadway (a couple blocks from the police station). I miss the days of hanging on in Uptown with friends. 😔
A friend of mine just got a job in Oakland, he's a tail gunner on a school bus.
No sheet? Does he receive flight pay?
Thank you for his service. never forget.
BEST COMMENT EVER!! 👍😂👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Hilarious!
What is that?
This is what happens when you deindustrialize a City. Most of the abandoned buildings used to be well paying jobs.
Then again it's the pandemic that shut a lot of business! People got sent home to work and left their office space and that was the only thing that kept the hoods sane now it's every man for themselves!
Well said!
How is a building a well paying job? 😅
Yes and it's the 1% who are the ones who decided to move jobs overseas, not the working poor.
Unfortunately the victims of globalization seem to keep getting blamed for the results.
@@erico6247 this isn't the result of the pandemic. This is 40 years of economic policy.
As a military-bound youth, we had to ride through Camden New Jersey to get to my sea cadet station on the battleship New Jersey. Seeing the utter ruins of Camden had a real impact on me and really changed my perspective on the idea of fighting foreign wars and military service in general. Fighting overseas makes no sense when we as a nation have let our own country become a wasteland.
Had the same thought before. Better choice to join the military and go overseas to escape the ghetto shit in the states. States is still a cool place but better personally to join and go somewhere nice overseas. Been doing it for 3 years
Exactly
I used to live near Camden and it looks like a war zone. It keeps getting worse and worse.
From England, l hear it is the Democrat's policies, maybe Republicans will change from the bottom up?
Every democrat ran area is like that. I have no idea how anyone is voting for them. All you have to do is drive through any city or area they control. If you talk to a leftist democrat you should be able to detect the stupidity and insanity dripping off of them. Completely mental cases in a cult.
I was born in Oakland in 1966 raised in the East Bay Area and it sickens me to see such blight, homelessness, poverty, and social collapse. It’s not just Oakland as it is happening all over the US. God so help us all.
-Just wait until the WORLD start to dedollarize 😂.
God is not going to help us, WE need to take actions because the political casta also will do NOTHING.
last days. end times
It's a Democrat Utopia ,
@@buravan1512people so worried about fringe issues they know nothing about central banking and BRICs - keep stacking 😊
It’s sad. I’m born and raised in Oakland and the city is being run to the ground with horrible policies, lawlessness, and homelessness. They need to fire these politicians but unfortunately Oakland keeps them in office for reason I don’t understand.
It's the machines and the mail ins keeping them horrible SOB's in power
They keep the politicians in because they pay people to keep themselves in.
Status Quo i say
Thanks Democrats
@@JonnyBeoulve It's not like the Republicans that run the poorest states in the country like Mississippi or Alabama are doing any better. Both sides suck
Now why don't you drive to and around the mayors, senators and Pelosi's house and show that neighborhood, this way you can show the difference between the two
Yessssss plzzzzzz do!
Shes moving to Florida lol
May not even be able to get into the neighborhood if it's a gated community
😆🙏
Gotta love those BLUE states. The politicians are determined to turn their states into third world shitholes. RED states beware, like locusts these people will spread to your neighborhood.
I worked in Germany with a girl from China. She thought all Americans lived like in Beverly Hills 90210 because that is the standards shown on the average US TV show. Glad you are giving people a reality check.
That is true.
In Hollywood they show that USA is glittering, wealthy country and show india as poor filthy country. Now we know the reality what USA hides from the rest of the world.
democrats
It is true.
90210
Oakland has the honor of having the only In-N-Out Burger to ever have closed. Not because they weren’t busy…they couldn’t keep people safe. Stay classy, Oakland.
Perfect example of what happens when you break the backbone of the economy, the middle class.
Every symptom of these bad neighborhoods is that manufacturing jobs left the city. The working class(middle class) have no jobs to turn to. Sad
I agree and it is becoming a nationwide occurrence.
Additionally Oakland had a massive fire that destroyed or damaged over 4 thousand buildings and was ground zero for the government's crack distribution initiative of the 80's and 90's.
@@bkreed27 interesting. Did not know that I'll look it up.
That says it all
I was born in Oakland and watched this beautiful city become what it is today, lost. It’s really a crying shame. I finished 30 years on their police department watched 10 of my co-workers die on the streets. I left and never returned.
Geeeeez
OPD is the worst. They don't give a flying f**k. Some of the biggest assholes in law enforcement.
@@BasedBurrr It's WAY worse than the 90s tbh. I lived in Oakland 1988-2001 and it was pretty nice as long as you stayed out of east and west Oakland (the flat areas.) I lived in the Grand Lake neighborhood by the Piedmont border and I still miss that. It was a pleasant place to live and crime was manageable, typical levels for a city really, nothing out of the ordinary. TONS of really kind, fun people and nice small businesses, restaurants etc. Went into downtown regularly (lived by the Chinatown BART station for a year) and it was okay then too. Shabby and run-down, kind of a faded grandeur thing--and abandoned for quite a bit after the earthquake due to many damaged buildings--but it wasn't actively dangerous, for the most part.
You still live in California? Or you moved from state?
Democrats and BLM of course
This makes living in Eastern Europe a luxury. We are not doing that well financially as the USA does, but it's safe here, you can walk at night and the chances of something happening to you is very low
the financially well-being is only for the wealthy in the USA.
People ask why we carry.
Exactly! I've lived in Moscow's poorest neighborhood for all my life, never ever was affraid to walk at night, never heard a signle story of anything bad happening to anyone I ever knew, worst case scenario - it's friday night and a drunk weirdo says something rude to you.
So one day my American internet friend told me (he lives in Cali) "I couldn't sleep all night tonight cause of gunshots outside in the street" And my first thought was "wh.... where do you even live?... Saigon 1975?..."
America is entrenched in (N-word)worship. Making heros, martyrs out of dope fiend and thugs. If we don't deal with it once and for all it will destroy the nation.
There's money to fix this... But is all going to help Taiwanese and Ukrainian politicians 👍👍👍👍👍
My daughter lived there for over a year. I feared for her everyday. She lived on Jefferson Street. There were murders within a block of where she lived, and she lived in one of the “better” areas. Thank god she moved. She now lives in Berkeley and honestly, its still dangerous and filled with mentally ill and homeless people.
You have to move up to the hills or beyond to be safe in the east bay.
I was born and raised in Oakland. I’m still scared of Berkeley. Never been scared of Oakland. Lol
i lived near Jefferson i remember seeing the caution tape one time when a guy got shot my be the same dude
Berkeley is even worse lol lol lol lol
@@jjay350you have to leave if you want to be safe, move out of you got no chutzpah to stay
We are going to start bum rushing the empty skyscrapers and see if they can remove us
I'm from East Oakland and have relocated to the mid Atlantic for the past 8 years. I lived in Oakland in the 1970's through the 2010's... I have a love hate relationship with my hometown. It's ALWAYS been a city full of drugs, homicide and human trafficking. So when I hear people say, Oakland's not like it used to be," I'm side eyeing them like " wait were you here in the 80's??" I am proud to be from Oakland because my experiences there required me to be resilient, street savvy and to live without fear. If you survive Oakland, you can survive anywhere. I said all of that to say this. I feel like your video is skewed to fit your narrative. Now, Oakland is what you've shown; but it's not ALL that you've shown. People watching that have never been are now under the impression that the whole city looks like that and it doesn't. You never went above MacArthur Blvd or anywhere near it. You didn't go by Lake Merritt, Rockridge, Piedmont, Redwood, Skyline, Montclair or even Maxwell Park (which is where I'm from) The places you've shown are deplorable and there's no argument there. It's just that you missed the parts of town that are decent and livable.
@Melonae Ellison You're right. He only showed the bad. So many really beautiful parts of Oakland. The Redwood forests in the hills. The parks & all the over a million dollar homes. The great views of S.F. bay & views of the hills to the east.
It doesn't fit his narrative. Maxwell Park? Over by Mills College? I lived in Rockridge & Piedmont in the 70's & 80's.
Melonae, I agree. He primarily drove around the industrial areas. He completely avoided all of the decent areas. He definitely has an agenda.
I lived in CA for 38 years. 30'of those years in Oakland near Lake Merritt. I didn't want to live anywhere else. I fell in love with Lake Merritt. I enjoyed the shops, Grand Lake Theatre, restaurants, walking around the lake, farmers market on Saturdays, etc. I left CA years go. It's sad to hear and see Oakland in such disarray. I love CA, especially Oakland. I think Oakland will make a comeback someday.
They need to help the homeless. They've been neglected for much too long. Also, their high rents aren't helping much. I will always love Oakland.
@@Nowhereoh He didn't go above foothill.
I really wanna know how much of it is decent and liveable and how much of oakland is not??
Been to Oakland one time, by accident while trying to leave San Francisco. You know it's bad when a Subway restaurant has more protective glass plates on their counters than the banks of your town.
It’s literally only downtown
razor wire around the neighborhood Safeway store, security gates and bars on widows (look on zillow ) Cokeland we called it in the mid 80's SO, International blvd you cant tell what country your in.
@@rockydowns830 I mean it clearly isn’t
Frisco ain't no playground neither
democrats
“It’s okay folks, we’ve had several committee meetings and have determined that, from now on, we all will call them The Unhoused. Problem solved!”
Thats Wokism in a nutshell. Trying to distance yourself from a problem that you caused by offering a token of empathy to your victim. Its like a murderer saying sorry to a victims family. You are still guilty.
"WE'RE GONNA USE THOSE SENTENCES FOR FUTURE ANTIFA PROTEST!!!"
lol
Lol
Yep paint over rotten wood.
This is what happens when you're afraid to hurt people's feeling's because you don't want to implement laws.
we must make it a crime to steal, anything...we must make it a crime to poop on the street...we must make living in your car or rv for more than 24hrs a crime...we must make using illegal drugs a crime and enforce it....we must make it illegal to sleep on public streets, parks, greenways....if you want to camp, go to the camping parks.....
do you think the democrats with their left wing politics are to blame for this sh*thole? greetings from germany
What are u talking about ?
Lack of religion. Even in third world countries the poor do not get this bad, because of religion
@@GabbaGandalf420nibbers
A friend and I were robbed while working there. When we called the Police they told us unless someone was hurt to email them. We had to question all the buildings security, looking for video and nobody wanted to help us. We finally got this really sweet Mexican Janitor oddly enough to find the video for us. We called the police again and told them we had the car and the person. They told us "unless someone was hurt to email them the evidence"
You can only send very small files through email. They obviously know this so they know you won't be sending anything.
You didnt go to the station?
Biden’s rule …
Black privilege
"Unless someone was hurt email it"😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@El.Nigga. Really? and waste more of my time. Have you ever been to the Oakland PD?
This can't be fixed, it will just be left to remain this way, we could fix it but it would require the overhaul of the entire system and the powers that be will never allow that to happen
Exactly this
Yeah, true, it's pretty much like communism. The Powerful are enriching each other and let the state rot. They drink wine but preach water.
All i have to say is you all 💯voted for the ppl in control of change🤔 hmmmm
That's the problem... You people just quit because it's difficult. You have to learn to have the guts and the will to do so.
@@okamijubei it requires everyone being on the same page , the two party system coupled with identity politics also prevents this being fixed . I would love to see a fair, just and equitable world but it just isn’t going to happen under the current system
Little Bagdad was what we called it back in 2010 ..I think real Bagdad looks better..smh
I think Aleppo looks better…
This really is so sad. I lived in the US about 10 years ago, and have always loved America. I’m currently living in Brazil now, and there are so many problems here such as poverty, drugs, crimes and homelessness, but I must confess now, those places you’re showing look just as bad or even worse than the scenario we have in some places down here. Apparently the United States isn’t what it used to be anymore. But still, I’m sure changes can be made. God bless America!
❤
It will only get worse
33 million italians live in brazil. moved to one of those spots. alot better
@@joederocco9321Old comment but you are thinking of Argentina? The Caucasians in Brazil are more Portuguese and German..
It’s crazy out here
Here in Texas, I've met many California refugees who have fled their homes due to the numerous unbearable problems that have arisen within the last several years. I'm always amazed at how proud and arrogant they are and how completely delusional they seem when it comes to their former home. The first thing they want you to know is that they are definitely not native to Texas and that they've had to move to my state like it was a forced choice against their will. As a native Texan, I love my state just as much, if not more, than they love California and THEY chose to come to us in search of a better life. We're welcoming to new people but for crying out loud, don't lecture us on your politics or look down on your new neighbors for driving trucks, attending rodeos, having barbecues or owning guns.
Eventually the more Californians who move to Texas, the more Texas will be like California.
@@victorsuarez3546 true, cuz Christians just can’t help but embrace their demise with open-arms.
Very true, all Californians are like that. Have yet to meet one that isn’t.
Well do you expect a traitor to have morals?
Californian here. I dont get to meet much texans here in California, but when I do (via military) theyre pretty cool and down to earth folks. If I were to move id move to Tennessee. I used to live there a a child and have had many fond memories. If outside the U.S., definitely New Zealand.
I was a kid in Oakland back in the mid 80's. My parents saw it and all of California falling and thankfully we escaped.
To what other crumbling metropolis in this crumbling nation?
@@softshell812 never lived in a town of more than 8k since. Now I got 10 acres of my own in the free state of Iowa.
Good for you California Dreaming became a California nightmare.
@@alistair8915 Someone in the comments above you just said that Iowa is headed downhill fast due to poverty and methamphetamine usage. I definitely understand the small town vibe but California has that as well. Shasta County, Mammoth Lake, Bridgeport and many more towns out of the way do not deal with any portion of that which is normal in Oakland. I think prices and taxes is still the main reason people leave Ca.
@@alistair8915 hooray for kkk iowa. Who soaks up endless taxpayer welfare from the Blue coastal states
I grew up in Deep East Oakland and I can't stand to even be in the city anymore, it really saddens me to see how my city has just neglected it's roots and heritage
In the 90’s
Oakland became HIP
Great restaurants, art
I lived in emeryville at that time
This is a shame
So much history
Just Go to Maine, It's Pretty Peaceful There.
How was the divide back in the day in Oakland? I just new it was ruffer than some of the other cities. Like early Too Short and before East Coast vs West Coast.
@@YoureRatharStewpidMate probably not long. I hear that's a massive immigrant dump. They'll change it. They have to to be in good graces with the 2030 Crew.
@@bakerfresh It will revive from the massive immigration dump, in some years, I Think.
I worked in Oakland for 5 years about 10 years ago. Yes, East and West Oakland are exactly how you described them. Hard to imagine it has gotten worse since I left. Not all Oakland areas are bad. Crocker Highlands, Adams Point and the Hills have houses in the millions. It's a total different world out there. Hard to believe they're in the same city.
Visited San Francisco for an analyzer school about 5 yrs ago. During our orientation we were told to "Never go to Oakland. If you do we are not responsible for what happens". Seriously.
Lol san Francisco is super pretty with the golden gate bridge the Ocean sea Lions and that wharf area
@@michaelsuzio4364 lol .. talk about *( LIVING IN A BUBBLE! )*
@@michaelsuzio4364 san francisco has its problems now
@@josephaugello1527 sure it does but it’s not as bad as Oakland. I know, I lived in SF, and traveled between the two.
That's because they want to keep their crime in town for their criminals,,,,
“You will own nothing and you will like it…” should be Californias motto. The cost of living and the increase in housing costs are so bad that families are moving together to be able to make it. It’s ridiculous.
The entire world is going down the drain untill Americans wake up
@user-by5qo8nh7w They want to charge you an arm and a leg to live then pay you pennies. The people running these states are crooks plain and simple.
I moved out of California as soon as I turned 18. I knew it was to expensive
I like California and I own two beautiful homes, wouldn't change California for any other state.
@@martinsalazar1142 Another zombie
It's affecting the nice areas too. Walnut Creek and Santa Rosa recently got hit. Just keep voting in woke mayors, DAs and legislators and see if you ever get a different result.
This
You comment is like it's the flu. These are human beings destitute in misery. My grandchildren in North Carolina went to the school cafeteria for lunch and the cafeteria NO LONGER HAS ANY FOOD! Yet Jeff Bezos who is the richest man on earth and pays no taxes just got gifted 10 BILLION dollars out of OUR tax funds for his space toys from the "infrastructure" bill! This is the corporate fascist state with the centralization of wealth stealing EVERYTHING from us while we follow like sheep and fight each other. The billionaires are laughing on their private jets all the way to one of their many mansions. Voting? It doesn't matter who is in office, they follow the orders of their billionaire overlords. The DOD budget bills are over a TRILLION dollars a year. That is well over half of our income taxes. An estimated million people homeless and they are no longer counting hungry children. The United States constitutional republic is now a myth.
Lol.... Vote don't mean anything.. the counters always pick the winners...
Free phentynal for everyone ... Then we just clean up the mess and start over with people that have some pride in themselves.
@Jesus heard dat JC ... How bout a flood ... Maybe a quake ... Talk to your dad .. we can start fresh with real people that have some civic pride in where they reside .. " Not telling ya how to do your job .. but,. This ain't working.
@Jesus You can thank our woke CA politicians and voters for reducing felonies to misdemeanors.
I think a city’s trash disposal says a lot about it’s quality of life. I currently live in a city where trash is always strewn about outside and it bothers me to no end as my puppy always tries to eat it! Anyway, trash outside equals crappy place to live lol.
You are right. You can estimate the demographics of a city by the trash in the streets,
What city do you live in?
What differentiates a third world county from a sustainable society: refuse pickup and responsible relocation, human waste (shit) treatment and freshwater (potable) plumbing in public and private places of gathering. Of course, this goes all out the window when citizens don’t give a shit.
The problem is there is no one left in the community who is willing or capable of making change. Oakland is a failed city. Oakland Police officers are resigning and going to other agencies. I was born and raised in Oakland. This is sad to see.
U ain't lying....this is rough man...I mean rough
"Oakland is a failed city" = Oakland is just another failed democrat run city.
@@orangecrush5512 It doesn’t matter what political party is in charge. Oakland would be in the same predicament. You know why? Because all politicians don’t care about the ghettos. As long as they’re safe in their mansions, it’s all good.
@@DIGITALMIND63 Wrong. That is a leftist talking point comeback. Never ever take responsibility is the left mantra. I saw those failed "art" drawings on the side of the road that was big in the early 2000's leftist cities as a way to "brighten" and clean up the city. Always in ghetto neighborhoods. Politicians use federal funds and local taxes to make swan songs to get the funding then pocket 90% then throw 10% at the problem. Portland Oregon for example just got 10million off of the tax payers to "study" homelessness..STUDY! Not solve anything. Just study.
Any honest person trying to bring change is destroyed by the many agencies working together against regullar people. The public are angry.
Oakland is the unfortunate combination of San Francisco (homelessness problem) and Detroit (crime rate problem particularly in shootings and homicides).
Now... What do those both have in common ... ??? I wonder ...
@@jjrdias Since I live here in Detroit I'd love for you to tell me what it is we have in common...🤨
@@jjrdias Aren't Pelosi representing San Francisco?
@@we.americaningenuity8682 - Rep. Pelosi represents most of San Francisco.
Detroit doesn't have much crime. Detroit is ugly but safe.
If I was blind folded and dropped off in that area, and not knowing where I was, I would seek sanctuary in the nearest embassy thinking I was in a foreign country.
So some things never change?
And you would be right.
A foreign country known as Commie-Fornia.
🔴🔴🔴 To vote for marxists (comunists, socialists) is a vote for satanists. Karl Marx was a Satanist! The inventor of communism was a Satanist!! The Satan theme is most explicitly set forth in Marx's "The Fiddler," dedicated to his father:
****************
- See this sword? the Prince of darkness Sold it to me.
...And...
- With Satan I have struck MY DEAL
****************
✸ Dear ones... in communism it was never about atheism but about worshiping Satan!
Atheism (unbelief in God) is for the popular masses or working slaves (rats) as the Marxist elite calls them!
✸ Don't let the communists rise to power! Get communist cancer out of your country!
Nah, America is just a shithole nation.
My ex and I drove in Oakland Ca at night to a party. The place is very sketchy. When we are in the traffic light, I saw a person with a black hoodie near my rear window and I couldn’t see the persons face at all which makes it even more haunting.
How many representatives live in their own district? Just asking. Politicians need to see each and every day what their people go thru. You need to live the problem before you can hope to fix the problem!
Her district is a one party area where the Republicans only run token candidates who never bother campaigning. Like all ultra liberals, she'll sympathize with your plight, but her seniority in the party precludes doing anything that's going to buck their slavish Wall St. butt kissing.
@@AbandonedMaine And she'll live elsewhere thsn in her district
like, none?
Politians cant solve anything!!!
@@FixIt1975Her residence is in a wealthy area of Oakland.
I live in the South Bay Area and recently drove through Oakland. I follow our local news and I knew it wouldn't be a cruise through Beverly Hills, but I too was stunned at the "Haiti" style homeless camps, the filth, the overall depressed look of the city. Such a multi-level problem - mental illness, drug addiction, insane cost of housing, lack of political will at local and state level - I don't have a answer.
I do! Throw all the Democrats out & RINOS and get some Conservatives in high govt offices and see what happens. I moved from San Jose to a Conservative run city and I go walking the trail at midnight, early morning, whenever my heart desires, without fear.
The Politicians are lining their pockets with Federal Aid.
Here's an answer-enforce the law and raze the city.
@@eddiet204 I like it! Operation "Fresh Start"!
I would suggest putting that train underground which is no more than digging a ditch then covering it and putting a park on top. What is the purpose of a train over head but to degrade the neighborhood.
Have lived in Oakland for 18 years and it’s been going downhill over the past 8 years or so. Outside developers have come in and built unaffordable matchbox-sized apartments, condos and dormitory styled units. There has literally been 20 or more mixed use high-rise buildings developed in the downtown area and bleeding into Chinatown. Average rents are around 3k/month ! This has forced so many people out on the street and to top it off the trash and dumping problems are off the chain as you’ve shown here. With a growing tax base you would think that basic services would get better…. Where are the elected officials that should be addressing these problems? You don’t see or hear from them until election time !
It’s amazing how people don’t understand that the lack of affordable housing is creating homelessness and more crime.
10:51 doesn't resonate with you?
Vote Republican. Stop voting in these Democrat idiots.
@@landajimmy what specific programs and interventions would a Republican do to stop the crime, homelessness and blight? Saying vote Republican is partisan none sense. What is the plan and how can it be implemented. Who will do the work and how much will it cost?
well developers can't really build enough because how restrictive California building laws are. other states seen growth because but 50 to 75 percent less than oakland rents.
We came to Oakland in 1979, and it was very, very nice!! I immediately got a job, and even worked in San Francisco about 2 years, I'm just appalled at how it looks now. It didn't look like this when we lived there!! I really would like to know "what happened to this city"?? This was a beautiful city when we came there in 1979. My kids went to school there and graduated, I'm just really, really SAD just looking at this!!
There is no reason for this. My partner and I lived in California for almost 5 years, and recently moved back to our home state of Texas. I know every city has it's problems and it's "bad" areas, but it seems like California has it much worse than most other states. California's leaders always say that Texas is a mismanaged, lawless and dangerous wasteland where people are pulling guns on each other oppressing the "have-nots", but I saw more of that kind of stuff in California than here at home. I'm not saying that my home state is perfect by any means; we definitely have our problems. It feels like the leaders of California are forcing a narrative that their state is "paradise" while simultaneously running it into the ground and lining their own pockets. A small apartment in Oakland costs $3000/month, and there's no reason for that other than corruption. We paid $900/month plus utilities in rural southern California for a 450 square foot one bedroom shack with terrible landlords that were constantly trying to evict us, even though we were never late on bills and rent. We moved home into a house that's twice the size for $800/month. Granted, I'm making a dollar less an hour working, but I'm also not paying $4 or $5/gallon for fuel. California is the true wasteland, a place of hope and promise that has fallen into a shameful cesspool of despair. The leaders of the cities and of the state have made it very clear that they care noting for their citizens, and actively engage in brainwashing propaganda to stay in power while allowing criminals to run free with few to no repercussions or consequences for their actions.
California? Not all of California. One dot on the map doesn’t represent the state. That’s like saying all of Texas is Dallas Fort Worth. There’s a reason California is a place many want to live but can’t afford. You also have paradises in Cali like San Diego. Oakland has nice areas as well. Every city has bad areas.
@@HanSoloBolo the issue is California is fcked up ALL OVER, affordability is almost non-existant, Every large city has a horrible homeless issue that will never be fixed because the politicians absolutely do not care and they even put in city planning to prevent homeless from having areas to rest. There are just about NO affordable beach towns there in anyway whats-so-ever-- in Florida (my home state) theres still plenty of affordable places in beachtowns all over. How does California have high state income taxes but does absoluteley nothing with it that helps areas in need?? it isnt just "ONE DOT" its the whole state
for real, California has enough issues and then mediocre Mexican food on top? Boo. Texas is way better even with all the issues.
@@txwebber4250 Mediocre Mexican food? No, I they have terrible Mexican food.
@@txwebber4250 After watching all these videos, Texas does look nice for being a red state compared to all the other blue states he covered. Texas might be an underated state.
I left Oakland to joined the U.S. Army (1976-1996). Before then, I knew a few people that were murdered. I tried to joined the Oakland police, but I was too short.
While in the service, I 've seen better communities and cultures than living in Oakland. Last time I was there was 1991, after the Gulf War to see relatives and friends. Since then, they moved out of Oakland.
As teens, my friends and I joked around, how national TV will never show the ghetto near the Coliseum during a game.
I've seen it
The America that I was born in and grew up no longer exist.The time when homelessness, drugs and crime were just words and were hard to find.
Yeah I remember just hearing about it...now its like it's in youre face....I ven got family members begging for money......it's hortible
Well there was many factory jobs that paid well, people kept their legs closed more and didn't have all these kids all over the place, and people grew their own food and didn't eat all this fast food crap that caused people to develop all these mental and physical problems. And we weren't bombarded with all this technology that has destroyed real human relationships. Smfh.
mostly democrats, but Republicans didn't do a thing to really stop it either
@@SVGIN even these people doing this show don't have the courage to say what race mostly lives there and how they are willing to live!
Sort of but the 80s and 90s were pretty bad as well.
It's happening in most cities of Europe too... Everywhere the same disease, normal people are disapearing.
But how could we act? We aren't even allowed to speak out about (we all know) what's happening!
BOLSHEVIKS
@@mikefrancis8223 What?
People need to take their societies back.
@@СергейКарпенко-п1в look up the doc "with open gates" its not on youtube. its only like 20 min.
"t's happening in most cities of Europe too".
Haven't seen anything in Europe like this, TBH.
"We aren't even allowed to speak out about (we all know) what's happening".
Well, you are literally speaking about it. And that was 7 months ago.
What or who is stopping you?!
I just drove through Oakland and Emeryville for the first time last week. I've spent time in 42 states and countless large cities. I've never seen anything like what I saw last week. I'm a truck driver and have had to sleep in my truck for years. Oakland was the first city to truly scare me and I'm from NYC.
Dam bro 😕 if nyc nikka got scared of Oakland then it has to be bad lol. 👎
Haha I lived here my whole life. My wife is from east LA, and she is tough... when her family came up to visit we toured oakland and they were SCARED lol. I always thought LA mexicans were real hard but they were like checkin to lock the car doors lol. They said they never seen a ghetto like this.
C'mon man it can't be that bad. What was so bad about it compared to other cities?
@@alexblazquez2277 How is it worse than what East LA was?
I’m from Sacramento, south sac to be exact. Pretty bad hang area. We go to Oakland all the time for A’s games. Use to go to raider games. You have no idea what bad is until you drive through Oakland. It is SCARY. The comments above are not exaggerating how bad Oakland is. Ive driven through south central. I was never scared like I was in the surrounding neighborhoods around the Oakland coliseum. The neighborhoods surrounding what use to be candlestick park in SF kind of have the same vibe.
good job Nick as a former resident of westcoast homeless encampments i really appreciate your work..it has always bothered me the media just flat out ignores the 3rd world transformation of our country..did u know one of the biggest issues is foreign companies own a vast amount of property? ya key issue
Yes that's a big deal now
You bet it's a big deal! When we don't own your homeland....you have NO PLACE TO BE! Plane and simple as that.
And illegals/refugees get the government subsidiary housing.
@@kennethroth6757 Aint that a batch!!!
The media is OWNED BY those who are 3rd-worlding the country. Why can't you understand that? Is it too real for you?
I lived there 1986 through 1997. It was good old Oaktown back then, classic rough city, but you could get around without much worry unless at night. But now it’s unrecognizable. East Bay Hills have always been better, but the decay creeps. Good luck to those still there, and thank you Nick, for the great videos and accurate commentary.
You are right - decay creeps.
It's the white man's fault!
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG....
@@SVGIN ITS ALWAYS YHE WHITE MANS FAULT ...
Just go along with me on this.
Everybody's saying it ...
you can be cool like us.
What? I'm been going to Oakland for almost 60 years...and Never had any trouble in Oakland. I'm from Hayward and I've had one vehicle stolen, my vehicle broken into, several vehicle hit and run (6 times), constantly asked for money, had a drive by and killed a child in front of our house...all in Hayward. All cities have their crime and some worse than others. I know east Oakland and west Oakland.
LA is running out of water and Oakland is lost too for the same reason.
Thanks for showing what Oakland looks like today.
You're a brave soul to bring this video to UA-cam!
It's shocking to witness.
I was a paramedic in Oakland from 1990 to 2000. I grew up in that city and I went to school there. I now live 50 miles east. I have not been to Oakland in a long time and I refuse to go there. It was a violent and depressing place when I worked there. There is nothing good about it.
I grew up right across the bay in San Francisco all thru the 70s -90s we called Oakland “Cokeland” LoL besides the Oakland hills I never went to other parts of Oakland
What city you live in now?
@@user-pv3rl2lv4p I’m in San Mateo now. It’s not as bad... yet. Ppl come in from Antioch, Oakland and other places to shoplift bcoz they know nothing will happen if they get caught. Nada. California in general has become a toilet.
I bought 20 acres in Montana :)
I grew up there too and you're absolutely correct. Once I left I avoided ever going back. I lived across the street from Melrose Library, Foothill and 48th. I used to hang out at the library so my brain could escape, if not for a little while.
And I who thought you were living in Beverly Hills.... My oh my....
I love how they like “omg I feel so bad for people in other countries “
Got no idea that that’s how people feel about their country 😂
I would love to see the US crash n burn. -A American
Definitely....👍🏿
Right they hate our own needy.
This is nothing compared to many other countries. Our cities have crumbled thanks to those who were voted into office. It could have been avoided.
@@acevirginian2203 so true
This is what happens when a community refuses to police itself, you keep turning a blind eye to everything and this is the result.
truth.
police itself? you want little non binary antifa anarchist kids policing a city?
This is what happens to a place when the people who run the city, let crime go out of control, attack the police and turn a blind eye to the causes and effect of violence. This is what happens when you have morons who live in this city vote for morons like them selfs and then decide i have to run to well run repbulican places to turn those areas into more oaklands.
Lack of jobs leads to misery everywhere...Community policing would fix one of sympthoms but not problem!
@@bobanppvc Drug addicts don't work. Companies move away when they are taxed in to oblivion and their property gets stolen or destroyed regularly. The same people who voted to allow the homeless and the drug addicts free reign. Vote for these taxes and hide in their little pockets of safety. They caused it and they deserve it.
I grew up in Oakland, boi! has it changed!! I could NOT live there and if I did I would move! who can live in this filth?
I lived in Oakland for 10 years ending in 2001. These images of the city are absolutely shocking. It was nothing like this.
But,but,but they have so much diversity and that fixes everything.
Satire infused..
Cuz you lived in the hills
I grew up in Oakland and it was a nice place to bring up families. Hope they can fix it near back to how it looked.
THIS IS AMERICA 😟🤨😐.
@@sashafierce7495 Oakland is just a symptom of the crumbling US empire. That's the sad reality, much of the world was aware of this coming just not many Americans .. but glad some are waking up to that now
I would disagree, I lived in Oakland during the 70s, nothing has changed. But, why did you interview a well-spoken white guy.
California is a 5th world state especially the management teams : government, overpaid mayor. This is unbelievable. The salary of these civil servants should be used for affordable housing,
Piedmont, temescal, rockridge to name a few neighborhoods in oakland, DONT BOTHER STEPPING HERE if you dont make at least 300k a year.
It's important to have good solid leaders that get things done, clearly from this video Oakland's leaders are lacking in every area. They have allowed this to happen..
These people need to be sent to the Nevada desert
That's what happens when you fools vote for Demoncrats like Gayvin NUISANCE
It's also the 5th largest economy in the world.
Oakland sure looks crappy. But trust me, Portland and Seattle are both fighting very hard to self destruct as well.
Oh I know I saw them too
which is worse, Gary Indiana or Oakland?
Portland is OUT OF CONTROL!!!!! LITTERALLY
Oakland is far worse than Seattle. I’ve been to both.
We elected a better mayor, a Republican DA, we're fighting to get rid of the woke in Seattle city council, we're fighting to change this course brought to us by blmantifa.
Oakland is an amazing city!!! Poor leadership is why our city is going to hell. We had a self-serving mayor for 8 years😰 don't give up on Oakland. Our homeless problem is people coming here from other cities to be homeless.
My aunt is homeless in Oakland. We have tried many times to get her to an intervention and offered her plenty of financial aid. It's sad to see that this is where she lives.. I didn't know it was that bad...
@Rotweiler Scholar You can probably find a home in an older Sac or EG neighborhoods. But act fast. 😟
I have a uncle homeless in Fremont and we all tried but he wants to stay out there just sad
@@lossiiburns i always wonder why homeless people refuse help?
Because they don’t want responsibilities or they are just done working back breaking jobs and always coming up short on bills every month. There is no incentive
Most of it isn't. BUT YES.........help your Aunt.
My fathers factory job closed down and moved out of state when CA's AQMD passed very stringent laws. Overnight they kept getting heavily fined until they were forced to leave the state. The factory grounds is full of homeless people and drug addicts.
Absolutely horrible!
Nobody, NO BODY, NOBODY "forces" ANY company or corporation to do even one single g-d-m thing! NOBODY has that kind of power! Under5 almighty capitalism, Jack, companies and corporations do whatever the f-k they/it WANTS! That is what so many people love about capitalism! Not only do ALL companies and corporations have the freedom to go wherever they WANT to, but they are also free to do all sorts of shifty things to avoid having to pay taxes to the governments who's infrastructures they got stankin filthy rich off of! Infrastructures that were paid for by you, me, our parents and grandparents. If you think for one second that any entity commands any company or corporation to do anything they/it don't want to then you are as sorely deluded as the other Jack I have had to skull drum that info into! Not only do they do whatever they WANT to do and go wherever they WANT to go, NONE of them give a witches t-t about ANYTHING that you, or I, or ANY government entity wants!. That is the very reason why YOU, yes YOU, AND ALL YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS have in all your bloodstreams measurably toxic amounts of wonderful compounds like the forever-toxic chemical by products of teflon mabufacturing! Yes, google it Jack! In YOUR BLOODSTREAM RIGHT NOW!
@@pinkpriss hence the need for the government to act decently, thoughtfully etc - otherwise they will not stick around. btw anyone can start a company, nothing special or evil about it. you too can start one in Oakland and also stay around, and you can use the existing infrastructure as much as you wish to - it is there for you to use it.
@@pinkpriss This is laissez faire/liberal capitalism.
There are better versions of capitalism.
@@sozat the public's health must be first. it is the moral and ethical responsibility of business to accept that or get out!
I was born and raised in East Oakland in the 90s. Our house got burglarized 3 times, my dad was at gunpoint in front of our house, my grandma and I would get called racial slurs on our walk to school, and a gang of 6 mofos beat me up, kicked me in the face, and stole my bike from me while I was riding in Dimond park. I was maybe 7 years old.
But I love Oakland. There's a sense of pride coming from here. My neighbours were black, Mexican, Filipino, Asian, White folk. And we took care of one another. There was a strong sense of community.
I learned to respect people, power, money, culture, and to lock your car door when you carry your groceries in for a second trip. I've met people who don't have an ounce of basic respect or street awareness and that's because they didn't grow up in a place like Oakland.
But you missed all the beautiful places like Joaquin Miller Park, Skyline, the 13 going to Berkeley, Lake Chabot, Montclair, Lake Merritt, Jack London sq...Oakland hills has arguably the BEST views of the bay (I can see the SF homeless and druggies injecting themselves from there). Lake Merritt still has a lot of art/music culture, albeit it's a lot of the SF techies now, and it smells a hell of a lot better now than it did back then lol it's obvious you didn't explore all of Oakland, or maybe you did but only chose the biased narrative.
The problem isn't that people don't care. It's because everyone in the rough areas is too busy fending for themselves to survive (read: Maslow's hierarchy). The OPD don't even go into Deep East Oakland. Who has time to care about city politics when you have to protect yourself and your home? And those who can muster the means will try to leave or live in the hills, leaving politicians in a laissez-faire state, as the guy mentioned. Oakland has ALWAYS had this problem. It's nothing new.
That's a cool story. But a state that harbors/encourages child murder has nowhere to go but down, down, down anyway.
Stockholm syndrome
Sorry all of California is a cesspool if you ask me. Your woke candyass government and the self entitled bloated celebrities are enough too keep me away.
Racial slurs don't count against whites , get with the narrative citizen.
Sounds like a sh!thole
I lived in Oakland,in a Black neighborhood(I'm White).When the San Francisco rent shot way up all of a sudden, it led to the same problem in Oakland,becuase all the people whlo couldn't afford to stay in SF moved to Oakland. This kept moving south city by city.Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward. San Jose etc.I had to leave due to my trying to live on Social Security.The rent for my apartment DOUBLED IN PRICE. Overnight.
Same thing happened in Seattle. Happened with coronavirus, the people with remote jobs decided they didn’t wanna pay Seattle rent, and all started moving south. Rent in affordable places suddenly became unaffordable due to the rich city people buying up everything. Previously cheap and rural towns are now totally developed and have tons of people, complete with overpriced housing.
I moved out 12 years ago. I used to run community meetings focused on crime. It is worse now. Oakland is careening toward being a failed state. A lot of community meetings are emotional rants with no outcome.
"We deserve this", "It should be this or that". Over obvious issues. Yet the woke politics ensures ineffectiveness.
History: During WWII, many African Americans migrated from the South to Oakland/Richmond for well paying shipyard jobs. There was a lot of industry there too. All those jobs are gone, but the people remain. In the 1990s, the Clinton Administration shipped a lot of jobs offshore. This certainly did not help.
In my opinion, a solid middle class job is better than endless social programs. Yet all you hear about are
social programs.
Damn, you nailed it. That's exactly how things went down
It's a shell game that a few people profit from.
BRING OUR MIDDLE CLASS JOBS BACK!!! That is the main truth to America's problems today. We have no place for a kid to get a job and work alongside family and friends and build a decent middle class life. Thise days are gone and we are massively suffering for the greed we allow the companies to have
Woke=Broke.
@@everythingisfine9988 One key thing I learned: People cannot distinguish between emotion and a problem definition. I would have to ask a person *4 times* what is the problem that they wanted solved. They would not stop ranting. I think they want to hear themselves speak. The problem is it was alse useless emotion with zero value add.
This one person, at the 4th try, I said : "So your problem is X". She looked at me in amazement. Because I managed to deciper her rant. The I opened for debate, gave it a Priority 1 Mission, and solved in about 30 days. And the OPD officers who solved it were heroes to the community.
Take Away: The citizens themselves are in many cases responsible for the disaster than is now Oakland.
I can give a lot more examples of useless, resources-wasting behavior. I got out.
With that said, they need middle class jobs instead of social programs.
Our family moved there in 1956 and we stayed until 1963. Went to Hamilton Jr. High, Jefferson, Lockwood, elementary schools. I can attest that it was not like this in those times. Shame on City Council and the local yokels for not paying attention to the blight. NEVER going back.... Too bad, good people are there in fear.... Last good Mayor was Lionel Wilson....
democrats
I got a degree from csu Hayward in 2006. It wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad if you stayed away from a few bad areas. But by 2010 it started a massive decline.
@@ShowCat1 Stop with that crap and wake up
@@ShowCat1 Both parties obey,type it in and look who runs your country
@@ShowCat1 Who runs the democrats?
The only thing I can think to say is, “Who Did You Vote For?”
Well I can tell you one thing it was definitely not let's go Brandon!!
Vote for? Same trash just different garbage bag!
Maybe it’s better to just boycott the elections …
If I voted for something different Oakland would be Disney land?
@@bobbyus That would make sense once upon a time .but with all the illegals that have come up .and we have brought up in here they don't need our votes no more.👌🏽💯
I lived in Oakland Chinatown and it was great and affordable . NOW it's a dangerous shithole.
Excellent content! Appreciate the effort.
The problem is the combination of the tech industry driving up cost of living in the Bay Area, a massive influx of people immigrating to California and the politicians that ignore the streets because they don't have to contend with the threats on street level.
Spot on! Liberal politics
Who would want to start a business there. The lawsuits for every kind of complaints of discrimination would put them out of business in a week. Same as so called food desserts. How can a food store stay in business if it’s being robbed continuously? So much money has been thrown at the poverty issue to what end? It just gets worse.
Liberals fucking ruin everything
Democrats
@@suziecreamcheese211 everything the government touches gets worse. I’m sure you’re well aware of that already
Unfortunately this is getting worse all over the country. In my small town outside of the big city, things used to be affordable. The only expensive rent was in the city itself, but being the 1st place in the country to offer fiber optic internet, a lot of tech industry has moved in and the rich folks moved out here making property values skyrocket. Since 2017 rent has went up from $7-800 to $1300+ for a 1 bed room apartment, houses that used to sell for $125K are now $350K, but the pay has stayed the same. $16 an hour used to be a decent living, now $16/hr is struggling.
I cant stand how rates are allowed to be jacked up like that.
It’s getting ridiculous, you either have to move, find a room mate, or find you a significant other. If your on your own then your basically homeless.
@@rando_baconmy friend before I met him lived in Oakland in a pickup, then a questionable residential part of a building with a restaurant on the first floor, back to a car again and then "moved" out of Oakland by sleeping at work after hours and "living" in his car on the peninsula on his days off. During all that time he had 4 different jobs with the last one (his current one) allowing him to eventually stop being homeless and get a tiny place in the south end of Alameda and still have a vehicle to go to work. Now he's worried about the recession destroying his job. He's amazed at the way Oakland has changed but flatly refuses to go there after dark especially without a weapon. He lived and worked in many of the places shown in the video and is astounded how much the squalor has spread and says he would not live in his vehicle in Oakland. He'd be robbed often because they know he's got good steady income.
@@rando_bacon New Zealand no different. Minimum hourly rate is now $21.50. Problem is to pay rent is $700 a WEEK
@@rando_bacon takes 2 people minimum to run a 2 bedroom house now “Just”
I remember as a very young child, sitting in the back of the car on the way to Chinatown, thinking "this is like in Robocop!" and not grasping the seriousness of my environment.
Oakland needs a Robocop
What’s robocop gonna do? Blast away the wooden houses, shoot the impoverished residents’ dogs and then tell them to start packing at gun point under the guise of the city providing sanitation services and destroying the personal belongings and trash they couldn’t secure?
“I would buy that for a dollar!” 😂
I really do think Covid had a massive impact in making this place worse. Actually relo’d to work for Clorox back in 21-22. We weren’t even allowed to go in the office, and when we finally did in April 22, all the equipment and office was literally untouched for 2 years, and completely unsuitable for virtual meetings or really any productive work.
No one went to the office. I’ve headed back east but from what I heard the management just gave up on having a normal in person experience and just have been mostly remote ever since.
So without it’s largest employer in person, and many other employers doing the same (or completely shuttering their offices for remote work), why would anyone:
A) live in Oakland
B) buy any of the food or grub near downtown?
It’s just going to be an East Bay hangout spot on weekends, where some of the hipsters escape for ‘cheaper’ rent, and ultimately fare even worse than SF will in the coming decades….and SF is going to fare poorly too.
BOLSHIVICS
My mom got us out of Oakland in 1975 when I was 9. We moved to Newark, CA. Oakland is forever lost.
I live in Oakland, I see a large part of the problem is that people don’t agree on how to fix it it’s easy to blame government and they will definitely take advantage of the disagreement fractions within the city. If we could stop being fake woke and really wake up and collaborate and walk the talk then we could change the city. This takes a great amount of compromise and Empathy. It takes being authentic. It takes each fraction owning its own shadow. It’s a tall order it’s an order of the whole country needs and there’s an opportunity here Blame doesn’t get the job done accountability does. And we’re having an absolute vacancy and ethics and values. Thank you for the video.
Ironically I am originally from Detroit so this is not my first rodeo in cities that need help
Usually too many council meetings to solve the homeless, drug abuse, lawlessness of a city that waste thousands of dollars and endless hours of time to generate reports with viable solutions that never get implemented by the mayors of these cities and towns. Mainly because the costs to the taxpayer to remediate the problems now is too high to put onto already high property taxes. Also, mayors and council members worry about being re-elected and passing this kind of remediation could cost them their cushy council position with that 100,000 USD paycheque.
Get rid of the drugs and you get rid of the problem.
Wow you have lived in both cities that have gone downhill
@@shirleyaprile4838 Make em legal Nationality. These problems will disappear like the black market. 😉
I also must say, Guliani cleaned up NYC. I was in it during the 70s, and experienced it in the 80s and 90s. We may not have liked his methods, but you must take a look at history..and see what worked.
I worked in the state building on Clay street for 12 years and it got to be too much. The parking was ridiculously expensive so sometimes I'd look for street parking and of course my car got broken into as did most of the cars. I don't miss it at all. I'd literally dodge human feces as I walked to work. I couldn't take it anymore and retired early.
I worked at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, I know exactly what you mean, it was a headache working downtown.
@@chajones3368 it really was awful. After Occupy Oakland, it was never the same.
It’s a walking dead zombie town, I lived in Alameda since 2012 to 2019 right next door Oakland an I worked in both town San Francisco and Oakland at different time and the landscape is a complete dystopian mess. My wife an I moved to Hercules much better environment we do miss Alameda sometimes but now Oakland influence has slowly effected Alameda. The criminals run San Francisco and Oakland and it’s to bad because both towns could be great but the people are too selfish to do the right things to fix the place.
Oakland was hopeless by the 70s. I remember talking to a young woman (during the 70s) whose father would let her stay in a home he owned there if she would give it some care. Prior renters had made a terrible mess. The father didn’t understand the reality of Oakland until she reported back to him she and her husband ducked bullets pretty much every day. When they were inside they stayed away from exterior walls because of shooting. They moved to San Jose to pay over $800 in rent just to live safely. Anymore, I believe, there are some Oakland like neighborhoods in San Jose, too.
Yeah I heard recently from my cousin that San Jose has turned into gangland.
democrats
@@ShowCat1 Republican states everyday send their homeless population on one way bus trips to the west coast. it's easy to curb your homeless population when you just ship them away and then you can point out how many homeless people there are on the west coast and how they have it under such control. If you ask the majority of the homeless where they're from they will not say cali.
I lived in Oakland from 1992-2011. There are very nice areas. Me and friends would jokingly call the nice areas the DMZ zone. Even so occasionally the bad elements and crime would roll through so you could never truly let your guard down. I loved to spend hours just walking around certain parts and for the most part if you were aware of your surrounding and what was going on you were safe-this was near the Rockridge - Berkeley parts of town . I was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight once about 3 blocks from UC Berkeley and that was an experience. Out of the hundreds of time I would take one of my urban hiking outings, I guess you have to expect the odds to catch up to you eventually.
I did re-visit a few times since I left and went back to Glenview and noticed graffiti on a fence and the front of the Chevron station smashed in. I asked the attendant what happened and he said someone rammed the front entrance with their car and made off with the ATM machine. Glenview is a pretty nice part next to Montclair. This was a while back. Who knows what the current situation is. While I'm just a few hours away from the Bay Area, I have very little desire to go there anymore.
I don't see any solution to the issues that affect Oakland. Most if not all of the politicians have no real interest in fixing the problems and whats the upside for trying? You have tons of special interest groups who are just looking out for themselves. Beside DMZ, another term often thrown around when I was there was the Homeless Industrial Complex. Just like the Industrial-Military-Complex, you mess with the Homeless-Industrial-Complex at your own risk. Anything of consequence attempted in California, especially the Bay area is going to be challenged by endless lawsuits, protests, so why bother? If your a politician, just use the problem for a wedge issue, collect your salary and go home to your nice digs in the hills and call it a day.
If you're really ambitious use your political experience in the Bay area as a stepping stone for higher office. You can make a career and nice living doing so, just don't piss off the wrong interest groups or take a real risk actually trying to solve real issues that require real risks, hard decisions and political capital.
I think the military should re-open the Alameda base and use parts of Oakland for realistic training. Then the next time a US President gets the bright idea to send troops to nation build, they'll have the benefit of being trained in a highly realistic environment.
Redundant! "DMZ Zone" would then be:
"Demilitarized Zone Zone"
Oakland is our future if we don't get rid of the drug problem.
I think you should work in local politics. I live in England so am not going to try and sound like one of those UA-cam smart arses that think they're an expert on everything. You sound like you have a reasonable grasp on some of the solutions. If not in Oakland than an area that is at the brink of maybe having a similar problem. "Nip it in the bud" as the saying goes!
Funny i may know who stole that atm lmao
Or if you are an opportunist right wing shill, you take your camera down the worst streets and try to sell it as representative of the whole. I am a big critic of the local government, but I do not pass off the worst as the norm. If it was the norm we would not have one of our biggest problems, namely gentrification.
I’m a former Oakland resident and current Bay Area resident for 30 years. I agree 100% with you. Oakland’s failure is a combo of greed and woke politics.
This looks more like a film set from a zombie apocalypse film. This is third world under Joes watch. Shameful
I left California in 2007 just after completing grad school and my teaching credential because I saw how the Democratic leadership was destroying the state. I live in the Midwest and love it and have no desire to return to my home state of California.
I worked in Oakland for a tech company from 2008-2018 and in those 10 years the decline was shocking. Our office was located in downtown Oakland across the street from the Marriott from 2008-2012 and I took BART because the 12th St station was right where our office was located which was a horrible way to commute but I couldn't afford the parking. Thanks goodness our office moved to Jack London Square in 2012 and because it's a tourist area it was a much more pleasant area. I commuted by Amtrak from 2012-2018 when I moved to TN and just in those few years I watched the graffiti spread as well as the homeless population living under the freeway overpass near the Coliseum. I hated working downtown and would rarely venture outside because when I did I always experienced some disturbing event. It's shocking that this is a city in the United States.
Oakland used to be so BEAUTIFUL!!😩
💔💔💔💔
What you Summarized no different in the Late 70’s/80’s Downtown during the day Work Week OK, but at night and catching Bart ALL the FREAKS come out at NIGHT
Of course it's the politicians. They're the ones "in charge". If we, the people they are working for, would stand together instead of segregating ourselves into groups, we could be a force to be reckoned with and maybe make some changes. It's heartbreaking and a total crime to let this happen to our beautiful cities. Why?
Yes, all politicians are bad, but the problem with black-run areas is black politicians. Did you know that if you look at a list of the worst-run cities in the US, the list I dominated by black-run cities?
@@supersnapp Maybe there are some politicians that start out wanting to do right by the people but the system is so corrupt it's an uphill cut -throat battle for the few "good guys". The system is
what's not on our side. And unfortunately they've succeeded in dividing we the people. The ones, if united, could, I believe, make changes.
@@supersnapp I would contend that there are many great African-American mayors. Two that I lived under where Willie Brown here in San Francisco and Harold Washington in Chicago.
Yes because individuals choices don't matter its all someone else fault. News flash: any natural citizens (meaning they were born in america) can run for political office.
@@eveastardust3747 Its interesting that my reply was deleted by UA-cam. My comment was to ask what black run city you will be moving to? I wonder if the UA-cam censor who censored my comment will be moving to Detroit or Baltimore? I suspect they won't.
We blame the governor. He has no backbone with a lack of moral character
A lot of places are ignoring individual responsibilities. There is almost no limit to the excuses made for bad behavior.
Any place that takes the approach of making people out to be victims as opposed to demanding accountability will see this, as well.
Not all poor people are "bad".
@@user-or6yn8pm3c your doing what women do lol he never said that stop making stuff up
Pride works.
i think that is only one piece to a complex puzzle.
Yes, everyone comes from the same background. There is a lack of help for many, and we try to avoid problems like vast inequality. The more affluent have taken over cities that once had a very middle-class population. Living in NYC for decades, the city is becoming only for the rich.
I worked in East Oakland throughout the 70's, it was rough but overall was manageable, and why, because the majority of residents wanted to see the police in their neighborhood, they wanted law and order..Of course there was crime, but anytime you cram a massive amount of people together you will have the rotten apples..In the 70's we had a robust Police Department and an incredible Police Chief, who was supported by the Mayor and City Council, everyone was pointed in the same direction with the same goals, keeping Oakland as a place people wanted to be safe. Today, it's obvious the same conditions don't apply, poor city government that has restricted and underfunded the Police, and draw no distinction between the good guys and the bad ones...It's sad for me to watch this video and see what's become of Oakland..
Spot on observations. This video is similar to a documentary that came out in 2019 by a Seattle Tv station called " Seattle is Dying" that every school kid be forced to watch because it is this video (only 3 years ago) and it documents the decline of Seattle from a jewel of a city into a cesspool when democrats gained power...they relaxed drug laws, they told cops to leave homeless and drugged out crazies alone, they ignored crime and stopped even citations for peeing/pooping in the street/doing drugs etc. This is a democrat owned problem and sad none of the guys in this video had the stones to come out and say it.
@@shirleyaprile4838 I believe the elections are real because what has happened for decades is sane and responsible people move out of the city to safer places and all you are left with are folks who have always voted democrat because democrats promise to give them free things like rent, housing, etc and also democrats let them do drugs, let them steal, let them be degenerates without facing jail time.
Police doesn’t solve poverty. Smh
@@30thousandd Police enable a low crime environment which encourages businesses to expand, and new businesses to start up, even relocate. The end result, more jobs and a better quality of life.
@@rhondaesco1839 that’s sounds like hope lol I don’t think those are proven facts. Poverty is a lot deeper than just locking people up and thinking things are going change. I personally think investing into education would do a lot more than sending a bunch of cops to try to intimidate a bunch of people who don’t give af. For example, I grew up in Oakland in poverty, at one point in high school I gave up because our gym roof collapsed, flooding the locker room and ruined the shoes & clothes I had for PE so I stopped getting dressed. We use to have to go the library for class in the winter because our classrooms didn’t have heat and you could see your breath. Little things like that will make you not care about anything overtime. A lot of us had our spirit killed at a young age & here we are now.
I had a business in West Oakland and it was grounds to be issued a CCW permit. One of those intersections, you passed, has the most murders in Oakland.
Stay the hell away from Hegenberger rd and the Coliseum. Dangerous.
If I built a shed in my backyard without permits I would be in big trouble from the city.
👏 Great comment.
Screw em...
The entire State of Iowa is falling into poverty all due to illegal drug usage. The opioide epidemic is destroying the midwest.
Exactly. The drugs are at the root of the problem.
What if drug use was legal?
Good for them. These are just challenges. Keep your head up and focused and Iowa will pull it's self by it's bootstraps.
@@shirleyaprile4838 No. Human behavior is at the root of the problem.
It's a democrat crisis. We all have addictions. Let's stop with the blame shifting.
Diversity is our strength! Is it fixable? Anything is fixable, just requires leadership and strong people making tough decisions. Liberals LOVE cities like Oakland. Liberals CREATE cities like Oakland.
i disagree. big business that doesn't care is a big part of it.
@@llc1976 liberal still applies, or globalist right like a Romney. If you think "big business" isn't synonymous with liberal maybe you're asleep at the wheel. Every fortune 500 is woke as the day is long.
Conservatives love states like Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. You know the poorest states in the union.
Diversity is not our strength. Who do u think you're fooling
@@Triple7000 no duh. Tongue in cheek.
Oakland has always looked like this. No joke. It’s an open air prison.
I was born in Berkeley in 1959. and raised in hills of Oakland . I am an ex pat of nor cal. Oakland used to have industry and active downtown. Bart although wonderful closed downtown for years. People stopped going to downtown and when Bart was finished why go to Oakland when u can just jump on Bart and go shopping in SF. Public projects usually have unintended consequences and killing downtown was one of them. Politics in Oakland is left/liberal/progressive whatever. This is what you get. The road to hell is paved w good intentions. Oakland is a poster held for that saying. At the age of 12 I used to meet my cousin at the mcarthy-broadway center and that the bus to see the Austin. I wouldn't want to do that now. WW2 created a huge number of jobs that after the war disappeared. Industry and private business is somewhat looked down upon in Oakland. They make a profit and exploit workers etc bs. Those same people probably never started a business and risked their own $ in hope of not loosing $ and someday making a profit. Last time I was in downtown Oakland I noticed a high % of office buildings were state offices. An obvious attempt to get something in there albeit tax taking vs tax generating. So you have an area with less business tax revenue, artificially pumped up home prices, fewer regular jobs not a pretty picture. I have no desire to go back. Maybe the " big one" will flatten everything and they can start over.
But,but,but they have diversity and that fixes everything.
Satire dripping.
@@humid-rb7rt I've had my fill of diversity. My home state is getting worse and worse. I'm gonna wind it down well north of here. No one here seems to know how to use a turn signal or a trash can
@@FixIt1975 That's so sad. All large cities run by "do-gooders" eventually turn into shitholes
If we had a nickel every time this dude said "like", we could rebuild Oakland three times over.
Then don't listen.
@@joe3009 If we had a nickel every time this dude said "like", we could rebuild Oakland three times over.
Like… if we had a nickel for every like and 2 nickels for ‘you know’, like… maybe enough to rebuild CA, you know…
He's Californian it's how they talk
@@maximumswag If we had a nickel every time this dude said "like", we could rebuild Oakland three times over.
You will own nothing and be happy...is this really the catch phrase for the future? Oakland before China's Favored Trade Status, then industry moved to China and the local warehouses went empty. I am close to correct with this as a timeline?
Yes and Mexico (NAFTA) which stole Mexico's wealth.
Ross Perot was right about everything he stated.
Left Oakland to go to UCLA and came back to a drastic rise in murder… just sad but I never felt safer in west Oakland than the East. Maybe because I grew up in the east and I never experienced anything too crazy but west Oakland was crazy to me.
I'm from England and seeing this really makes me excited for what the lefty woke gang will bring us in England
Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Bradford, Liverpool, Sunderland, Rotherham...
@T M You’re absolutely right people who believe in the woke movement I just part of the system to manipulate and brainwash the population.
Why don't you go and live in Brazil, see how good it could get. No woke there my friend. The richest 5 people in America own more wealth than ALL the rest of the population. America is a bankrupt state this only happens when you can throw people away like trash.
you sound hyperbolic but you're actually pretty accurate. i've lived here for over a decade & it's sad how fast this city is deteriorating.
😫
This is the result of decades of bad democrat policy. It was in the process for quite some time. Sure, the final degradation of a city or town might seem "all of a sudden" but not to those who have been warning of this for decades. The fact that calif just chose Newsom over Larry Elder makes me have absolutely no empathy for places like calif... Philly, Detroit, Baltimore, etc.
@@susansmith493 It's a nationwide problem in the US. As an outsider, I've studied homelessness in many American States. The wealthy have dumbed down everything, to keep the poor impoverished. This area showed the black problem but, in other areas and states, it's white homelessness. I can't understand why Americans are still pouring money into African nations whilst ignoring the growing epidemic in their own country. I looked online to find big, genuine charities which are supporting America's homeless. I found NOTHING. That's utterly screwed up. Of the world's top 10 countries to live in, 7 are European then Singapore, Australia and Japan. The US doesn't even feature in the top 29. Norway is 1st and my home country is 2nd. I can testify to that truth. The US needs st study European nations and learn.
@@elizabethgrogan8553 Agree. I implore you to start a worldwide campaign to get the message out to those who wish to emigrate from their country that there are MUCH better places to go. Show them your research and your list of better countries. Tell them about your studies and the fact that you can "testify to the truth." Thanks.
@@susansmith493 I will look into it. My home country, Ireland, is in 2nd place. It is beautiful, safe and welcoming. Excellent education and services. Those on low income, disabled or unemployed can find lovely housing in state owned housing estates, which are great. The quality of life is the polar opposite of the US. I would no longer visit the US. Too dangerous.
"Government doesn't solve anything" Wow, he finally gets it! To expect government to solve the very problems they help create...not gonna work
Diversity causes conflict always has always will
@@johnkozak61 absolutely!!!!
But we can’t speak truth out loud
Democratic control.
Well. either you want government or you don’t…. What is it?
Actually it is the government's only job to provide safety and security to its constituents. Thats why we have a government.
I remember when Oakland had it all it's so sad to see what it looks like today this is so sad it break's my heart💔☹️
I lived in Silicon Valley '97 to 2002. My dad came for a visit once. He had been in WWII and shipped out of Oakland, so he lived there for a few years. I had to tell him that no, we couldn't go wandering around Oakland looking for the house he had lived during WWII.
That sad
I've worked there for 27 years as an Oakland police officer. It wasn't bad in the mid 80's but with lame politicians and now defending the police it's gotten alot worse. No help from this current mayor.
The department is down over 100 officer's with alot just leaving because of no backing and just the workload which is ridiculous.
Why do people in California elect these people to destroy your city's and you people just sit and let it happen? Than you try and force your politics on the rest of the country when you know it not working. You get made at other states because we don't allow our states to fall for your crappy politics and let our city's fall into shitholes like yours?
@@johncorke8549 The elections are fixed.
If you really worked there, as I did, you should know this video is a distortion of the city. You should also be insulted as I am, because I grew up in Oakland. Why you took a pay check, yet, did not understand the city you worked for is part of the problem. People want to defund the police because of “the Riders” and the more recent sex scandal that took out two chiefs. That is just two scandals that have riddled the OPD and challenged their integrity in the community. You should be honest…
Oakland wasn't bad in the mid-80s? I took 2 minutes to google Oakland homicides and there were 129 in 1986 (compared to 75 in 2019, the last year before the pandemic).
That doesn't tell the whole story but that's a much larger number.
@@johncorke8549 These "people" are not elected, they are "selected" to do exactly what they've been asked to do: nothing. Do you really think elections are on the up and up in California? Missing ballot boxes (Harris' A.G. run and dead people voting (San Francisco Sillie Brown)? Oakland has a storied history of standing up and not "sitting and letting things happen" but after a 55-60 year movement most are systematically ostracized, frustrated, impoverished and played and the powers that be rotate the next batch of shitty politricians in. Oaklanders gather and attempt to use their own money to fix problems (i.e, potholes and parks) and the City government literally blocks them, attacks them, and creates laws to then police the people into inaction.
They can suck it up since they voted for all that. Don’t even think about bringing their failed policies out of state
I thought about it. What are you going to do?
I have never been too a downtown that wasn't a failure in the US. Seriously, can you name one?
Only suburbs and rural towns have any kind of measure of safety
The media shows we all voted for this and so does election results, but many many of us Californians voted otherwise. We tried in 2020 and 2021 recall.
It's a nice city if you're black
@@everythingisfine9988 suburbs are the reason why U.S. cities are broke.
There's too many streets, waterpipes, electricity line, etc to maintain. Suburbs are unsustainable and not to mention ugly.
It's a pity where more of America's youth would love to live in Germany, France, Switzerland, or England because they're urban environment is beautiful.
I've seen plenty of beautiful downtowns.
As someone whose father used to be an Oakland police officer (RIP), I have to disagree with those who ignore CA's insane cost of living, - it's not just the obscene rent/housing costs, but also food, constant tax hikes, rising utilities & commute costs - all this is what's contributing to the exploding homeless problem. Most of the homeless people are Oakland residents who have nowhere else to go (& also feel they shouldn't _have_ to leave their hometown). Yes, drugs are a part of it, but blaming it _all_ on drugs is overly simplistic & is politically too often used as an excuse not to tackle the problem by dems & repubs alike.
Amen!
“Shouldn’t have to leave their hometown?” that’s brilliant ? How about a new government agency called “if your born here we will buy you a home” a really nice one !
Facts I agree that drugs are part of the problem but I feel the bigger issue is rising cost as a long time Oakland resident ( born & raised ) you didn't see this many homeless ppl 10 yrs ago. Once the tech companies came ppl got even more greedy and cost started sky rocketing
@@heneedsomemilk4194 Sadly, the S.F. Bay Area is becoming the next New York city: it's fast becoming a playground for the wealthy *only.* When that happens, everyone who's not super rich suffers.
Here's a novel solution. Bring the damn prices down and build more affordable housing. 30-40 percent of those "homeless" just can't afford to live where they rightfully should be able to stay...and get these damn parasitic tech companies out of town...it looks like they are moving out to Texas anyways...get them the hell out of here..
Excellent video great job. I’m from British Columbia Canada and we are seeing this on a much smaller scale of course but cities like Vancouver BC are getting really bad in some areas. But an entire city?! Wow this video blew my mind.
It’s NOT the entire city. There are a lot of very affluent areas of Oakland that his guy did not go to - College Ave/Rockridge, Upper Lakeshore which borders on Piedmont (a city that was a district and opted out of joining Oakland, but has actual mansions and estates), upper Park Blvd, Montclair.
@@jolaz69 yeah, that's probably where those who turned the city into shit live.
@@marcoscunha511 most people in the hills are not dealing drugs, breaking into homes and cars, and robbing people on the street at gun point. They are just people who go to work everyday and manage their money wisely and pay their bills.
We need to get rid of liberals and Democrat's entirely. Gov. Newsom should be fired!
@@jolaz69 so that makes up for the 💩hole it is in your lib mind?
I am from Northern California and currently live in Oakland, and I agree with you 100%. But I have to say you literally skipped over the few good parts of Oakland, Grand Lake, Piedmont, and Rockridge which are very nice, the problem is that only makes us 10-20% of the total city, everything else is as you shown.
The devil is in the details.
Piedmont is a City not a neighborhood. and it has NONE of the Oakland problems.
Agreed, but the issue is that the blight makes life smaller and smaller. Anytime I have to go more than 10 mins from home, I’ll be passing some homeless encampment and making sure my doors are locked and my head is on a swivel. We’re all affected psychologically.
Wasn't there a shooting in Rockridge last week? Seems the tentacles of crime are reaching out to new areas now.
@@markh3279 I rarely watch the local news anymore, but the last time I did, some good samaritan was shot trying to help an old lady not get robbed in Chinatown, and some dude fired an assault weapon on Broadway (a couple blocks from the police station). I miss the days of hanging on in Uptown with friends. 😔
This is the future of America if Kamala is elected.
This is what happens when you see a problem and you do nothing to fix it. Then 20 years later you see it's on the verge collapse