I got off BART tonight at 19th Street in downtown Oakland and I could hear the helicopters one-half mile away, hovering over the site of the Occupy Oakland encampment. This has become an everyday occurrence; it is ongoing. I hear them in the morning at 5:00 am, I hear them in the evening. I wrote my first letter to Mayor Quan on October 25 after the first raid on the encampment expressing my outrage. Her response was a canned letter. I am so appalled, so outraged, so angry, so totally distraught about the direction that this city and, by extension, this country, has taken. I wrote to Mayor Quan again tonight. The letter is below the fold. Perhaps I could have been stronger, angrier, but I wanted her to hear my concerns, not my emotion. I hope it makes at least a little dent.
Dear Mayor Quan:
First, I want to tell you, I do not like filth and lice and dirty bodies, nor violence, nor sexual harassment, nor drug dealing. I don't particularly care for my tidy little world getting disrupted or upset. Neither do I care for lawlessness or anarchy.
However, I am absolutely appalled by the justifications you and, by extension, the City of Oakland are making in response to Occupy Oakland. I am appalled by the appearance of a burgeoning police state, evidenced by the helicopters I hear overhead when I wake in the morning and when I get off BART in the evening, and by the enormous energy that the City of Oakland is putting into suppressing the protesters in Oakland. I am appalled that a mayor that I voted for because I believed she was not “politics as usual” is making such incredibly politicized decisions. I am appalled by the statement you put out this morning:
First of all, you don't like the direction Occupy Oakland has taken. I did not realize that a protest had to have the blessings of authority for which direction it takes. You also have the gall to tell Occupy Oakland what it is about.
You say, “we’ve had a murder. I don’t want any more people to die before this comes to an end.” How disingenuous. Occupy Oakland has had one death in 30 days that may or may not be associated with the movement. Oakland has averaged one death approximately every three days this year. I'd say OO has a better track record than the City.
You say, “we had 179 public safety calls for service that went unanswered.” In case you are able to get your head out of the clouds, the reality is that the police no longer respond to reports of anything from grand theft to dumping of waste to extortion to vandalism. There are a lot of public safety calls for service that routinely go unanswered.
You say, “the city cannot afford for our small businesses and vibrant downtown to lose hundreds of jobs and nearly half of their patrons.” Of course we can't, but where in the world did you get those statistics? I have read nothing that points to hundreds of people losing their jobs or businesses losing nearly half their patrons. Are you perhaps engaging in hyperbole?
You say, “Our community’s already strained resources … have been pulled away from serving Oakland residents who ARE the 99%.” And just who is it that did the pulling away?
It has been reported that the City of Oakland has the wherewithal to respond to Occupy Oakland because there is $30 million budgeted for emergencies. I am sure that the $30 million could have been used to prevent (probably) more than one of those 105 murders.
Finally, you ask, “for people – even those who disagree with this decision – to respect the City’s right to close the encampment...” I do disagree with the decision and I don't believe the City has the right to close the encampment.
One of the first history lessons I can remember learning was that of the Bonus Marchers. This feels way too much like that.