Dear Oakland Police,
I am writing to you with a complaint. My husband parks near the West Oakland BART Station so he can take advantage of public transportation and has had nothing but bad luck in that area. In the last year and a half, his car has been broken into twice, stolen twice, and as of Tuesday night he was mugged walking to his car. Fortunately, and for this I will be forever grateful, he is okay, save for a couple of bumps and a missing wallet, which can be replaced. But I do not understand how most of these things can happen in broad daylight, and only a mile from your main Oakland Police Station.
People sometimes ask why we don’t move, or why we keep parking near that station, but we’ve got ourselves a good rental situation, and it doesn’t make sense financially to move at this point. Plus, I refuse to believe that we live in a place where we should be afraid of parking or walking around. Not only afraid, but that we should expect something bad will happen. If there is a known area, where we expect bad things to happen, why is there not more police presence? There is certainly enough police presence in downtown Oakland ticketing cars.
I understand that there is a financial shortage, and that there are worse areas that you have to deal with on a daily basis, but I have some ideas for you to consider:
1)Have some of those meter maids who so aggressively ticket in downtown Oakland patrol the area around the West Oakland BART Station. They may not have a gun, but it could make a person think twice about stealing a car in broad daylight if a vehicle with the ability to radio the Oakland Police drives by.
2)Partner with BART to have a fundraiser in order to build a multi-level parking garage at the BART Station. You may have heard - beginning next week BART will begin charging $5 for their limited parking spaces as is. I’m pretty sure this will mean you will see even more people parking on the surrounding streets. If you build a lot, that is patrolled by the BART police, that is something worth paying $5 for.
3)Check out the local gyms. My husband has had four gym bags stolen – apparently there are a rash of people who want to work out. If you see a thug working out in a shirt that advertises the musical Cabaret – my guess is that it was not his shirt originally.
4)At the very least, before returning to your parking lot at the police station, just drive a few blocks west to patrol the area a little. You might be surprised by what you catch.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Wife
2 comments:
eek. I'm really glad to hear Matt is okay, but the parking sitch is definitely NOT. I hope you send this letter or a modified version to the OPD, or to your city councilmember. They definitely need to hear this!
No kidding! And call the mayor's office complaint line if they have one(there's one here and apparently it has some heft to it). What an awful experience for you all--being in the theatre, I hope at least it comes in handy when you have to do some method acting coach telling you to go back to an icky feeling...
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