Posted on 10/05/2007 11:18:05 AM PDT by SmithL
Oakland is redeveloping like crazy, particularly parts of West Oakland where new homes and retail spaces are rising near the BART station and the former Amtrak depot.
Lafayette businessman Manoj Tripathi hoped to cash in on the renaissance.
He knew he was taking a risk when he opened a Subway sandwich shop at the corner of Seventh Street and Mandela Parkway a year ago but he gambled anyway.
With no competition within half a mile, his venture became a destination for residents and Port of Oakland truckers. At lunchtime, there were lines to get in the door, akin to 1980s glasnost-era Russians lining up to eat at McDonald's.
Then last month, it all went bad.
On three separate occasions, his employees were robbed by gunmen in broad daylight. Once at 11 a.m., another around 2 p.m. and a third in the late afternoon.
Each time, he dutifully called police and made reports. But each time he was told, sorry, but there aren't enough officers to investigate such crimes.
In the five years it took Tripathi to acquire more than 20 Subway franchises in the East Bay, he's never had a run of robberies like this. Not anywhere.
This week, he closed his doors until further notice.
It's hard to fathom how a city showing signs of economic revival can succeed when entrepreneurs like Tripathi are driven out by thugs.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Oh, nevermind. They're still stuck out on the tarmac at Oakland International Airport.
That should have been his first clue that perhaps it wasn't the best area to have a business, kind of like having a business on MLK Boulevard.
Holy cow! Armed robbery is not really a crime in Oakland.
Go ahead thugs, rob at will cause we're not going to stop you.
Hey libs! Here's proof that the poverty/crime causality is the other way around.
Appears he wasn’t paying for protection.
Oakland is almost as bad as Washington DC. And we want to allow the people in DC to be able to own guns? All they’ll do is kill each other.
The victim is from Lafayette, so he must be a white oppressor.
Another case of a city run into the ground by an “African-American” mayor, in this case Ron “Where’s Waldo?” Dellums.
How about the novel idea that the people just might defend themselves with a gun. In every jurisdiction where people have been allowed concealed carry, crime goes down. In Oakland (or DC) if just a few of them do it, the bad guys might actually leave (that part of) town.
Self defense, what a unique idea.
"We" already allow criminals in DC to own guns; we just want to level the playing field for the law-abiding citizens (both of them).
The Video rental store on Piedmont Ave. (up-scale area) used to get robbed often till they stopped accepting cash in the evening.
OPD is stretched way beyond capacity and has been for several decades.
If shots aren’t fired, pack a lunch.
Well, at least allow the law abiding who live amongst the wolves who will get illegal guns anyway to arm themselves. The DC gun laws (to say nothing of Noo Yawk’s fascist gun laws) do NOTHING but disarm the law abiding.
“When I interviewed Mayor Ron Dellums two weeks ago, he said he didn’t believe residents wanted a police force so large that it represented an oppressive presence on the streets of Oakland.”
Mayor Dellums belief system is broken.
There are citizens of all colors begging now and have been for more police and tough judges for decades!
Oakland is the poster city for the failure of the welfare state.
Your Black Muslim Bakery?
Oakland is short hundreds of cops. Dellums won’t hire them. So now, ordinary citizens who are robbed at gun point in broad daylight are told that no one will come to investigate. Not enough cops. Entire neighborhoods of middle class folks are going through waves of strong arm robberies and breakins. Thugs come into stores in packs and just walk away with money and anything else they want.
However, you CAN own a gun in CA. One guy got tired of the thugs on his street and finally shot one who was threatening him. The shooter was black and so was the thug.
Good.
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