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The latest news in the City of Oakland Parking Issue comes from an San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate report that the City of Oakland deliberately avoided issuing tickets in the Broadway Terrace and Montclair areas of Oakland, after the discovery of a July 24th memo written by City of Oakland Parking Supervisor Ronald Abernathy,
Why some are surprised is a laugher to this blogger, especially since this space has been devoted to explaining that the City of Oakland was working to balance its budget on the backs of Oakland's poor, and that tickets have been issued at odd hours of the early morning. Moreover, Oakland has also worked to order new parking meters, even though the cost to obtain them is greater than the revenue return.
Wake up! When will some learn that classism and racism are still alive and well in Oakland? Oakland is a city where the poor of color not only don't have as many advocates but Oakland's poorest sections don't have blogs that represent them.
The point here is information and discussion about Oakland is heavily biased toward a young, white set of bloggers that represents North Oakland and Downtown and seem interested in maintaining the parking strategy that's harming Oakland's poor people, mostly of color. It's just to point out a fact that any study of Oakland media patterns would reveal. The poor in Oakland - especially East Oakland - don't have a media voice; thus policies which harm them remain in place.
But that's a necessary digression.
The Oakland parking cat was always "out of the bag" and to the point that the discovery of a "July 24th memo" confirming what parking observers have always known should come as no surprise. The question is, what is the Oakland City Council going to do about it? But that was the question last year and we saw what happened: nothing at all other than more tickets, more cars towed, and more people put in a terrible position, forced to ride the AC Transit Bus and risk being in the middle of fist-fights between drunks and angry guys with names like "Epic Beard Man."
At least one Oakland Councilmember has vocally supported Oakland's parking policies, yelling in the ear of this blogger that it's necessary to, in effect, squeeze Oakland's poor to balance the city's budget because that politico sees no other way. Seriously.
Where's Councilmember Larry Reid, Desley Brooks, and Ignacio De La Fuente on this issue? And what about the City of Oakland's whistle blower law? If it has any real enforcement teeth, those parking staffers who did come forward and tell the truth should have their jobs next week. The law covers all employees and not a select few. And what about Ronald Abernathy? Does he live in the same Oakland areas his memo protected?
Stay tuned.
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