Daniel Gies
Crosses outside of St. Columba honor those murdered in Oakland in 2009.
Interesting analysis from Berkeley Law Professor Jonathan Simon on the recent spate of murders in Oakland and the corresponding media coverage. Specifically, Simon targets a column by Chip Johnson in today’s San Francisco Chronicle that blames Mayor Jean Quan for not attacking the wave of assaults and homicides. Johnson wrote: Continue reading
Susie Ming Hwa/San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson
On Friday, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson accused an Oakland law firm representing several people named in the proposed Norteño gang injunction of conflicts of interest. Johnson urged the well-known Siegel & Yee firm to recuse itself from the case because of ties to the city leadership. City Council President Jane Brunner is a partner in the firm, and another partner, Dan Siegel, has previously represented Mayor-elect Jean Quan.
Johnson’s column follows the line set out by Oakland City Attorney John Russo in a letter sent earlier this month to Siegel & Yee attorney Michael Siegel.
It doesn’t appear Siegel & Yee is going to back down. Last Monday, I sat down with Siegel & Yee attorneys Jose Luis Fuentes and Michael Siegel to discus the Norteño case. Their take is that Russo is trying to head off opposition to Oakland’s second gang injunction before the matter goes to court.
Wikimedia Commons
Matthai Kuruvila’s front page article on crime and the Oakland mayor’s race is a sweeping take on public safety’s political impact in the Bay’s second city. This is an issue we tackled back in July, and it’s good to see it surface again in the public discourse. However, the article’s second paragraph caught my eye:
“The homicide rate remains stubbornly high, even though overall violent crime has declined in recent years. The city just laid off 10 percent of the police force after a battle over officers’ pensions, an action their union said made the public less safe. If voters don’t approve a costly parcel tax and an amendment to another tax the same day they elect a new mayor, hundreds more officers could go.”
Sweeping generalities like “the homicide rate remains stubbornly high” are frustrating to everyday readers to begin with, but are even more agitating when they are not backed up by the facts.
According to the Oakland Police Department’s latest weekly crime statistics (from 9/20/10-9/26/10), there have been 62 murders in Oakland this year, down from 80 in 2009. That’s a 23 percent drop, and a 39 percent decrease from the 101 murders in 2008. Many police departments would give an arm and a leg for those kinds of numbers – and it’s worth keeping in mind that this reduction has occurred as the police department is losing officers.
So why is the Chronicle still pushing this image of Oakland as a hyper-violent city? We’d expect this sort of coverage from the resident Don Perata supporter and columnist Chip Johnson, but the editorial slant seems to have crept into the hard news items.
This morning’s Chronicle highlighted a column by Chip Johnson on, you guessed it, crime and fear in Oakland. The piece focused on worries amongst business owners in Chinatown over violent crime, presumably sparked by the murders of two Asian men earlier this year in other parts of Downtown Oakland.
As the Oakland Police Department lays off officers to cope with a budget gap, the private sector appears to be stepping in by hiring security guards and installing surveillance cameras to monitor the exterior of their properties. The Chinatown Chamber of Commerce told Johnson they currently have cameras on one hundred local businesses, and hope to involve 500 enterprises in their surveillance program. Continue reading
The NPR Argo Network is a collection of websites by NPR member stations committed to strengthening local journalism
Learn More...
Humanosphere reports on global health and the fight against poverty from KPLU in Seattle
The Empire Reports on city and state politics from WNYC in New York
The Informant reports on cops, courts and communities from KALW in Oakland
Multi-American reports on immigration and cultural fusion from KPCC in Southern California
On Campus reports on higher education from MPR in Minnesota
Ecotrope reports on nature and community from OPB in Oregon
The Key reports on local music from WXPN in Philadelphia
CommonHealth reports on health, medicine and healthcare reform from WBUR in Boston
Argo MindShift reports on technology and education from KQED in San Francisco
Home Post reports on the military from KPBS in San Diego
DCentric reports on race and class from WAMU in Washington, D.C.
