City Hall compromises with culture of disrespect

Woman Exits Mingles, Is Shot Dead

For the second time this year an innocent person died as shooters rioted at Mingles club just off Jack London Square the night of Nov. 11, 2006. Shirley Deanna Smith died while she and her friends were walking on the sidewalk. She was the 131st homicide of the year in Oakland.

Previously on April 17 Ronald Hall Jr., 18, was shot and killed while sitting in a parked car near Mingles.

In hearings and meetings held during the first several months of 2006, neighbors, patrons of Mingles itself, and police testify to thugs imposing disruption, disrespect, and, every few months, death on the neighborhood.

• Neighbors report public urination, insults and menacing gestures, vandalism of buildings and cars, and tumultuous noise.
• Police are forced to set up barricades to block looping reckless driving and sideshows at the site.
• The Port tried to open a parking lot to help, but vandals continually broke the entry arm.
• The club oversells alcohol.
• At least one security guard hired by the club was arrested and had felony warrants out, indicating that Mingles does not hire personnel with Oakland guard permits. Another guard who witnessed a shooting refused to give his name to police, let alone make a statement.
• Mingles prepared for a hearing by distributing a leaflet that offered free drinks for attending (and testifying in favor of the club).

City code provides, "It is unlawful for any person operating a cabaret ... to permit any breach of peace therein or any disturbance of public order or decorum by any tumultuous, riotous or disorderly conduct." The hearing officer's decision went on to note, "These provisions extend the responsibility of cabaret owners beyond their doors and into the public arena." In plain language, if your business creates a problem for the community, sorry, you have no right to operate it.

The report of the hearing officer is hair-raising. Mingles is killing other businesses and making life miserable for the residents in the area. The report and decision are available here. (Acrobat .PDF file. Unless otherwise cited, all quotations are from this report.)

The police sergeant in charge of the area recognizes that "the problem, at this point, was probably beyond the control of Mingles security and required dedicated OPD resources." However, police resources are unavailable: "On any given night there may be only 60 officers on the street, so they can't all be at Jack London Square." In fact, Oakland, with half a police department, often has fewer than 60 officers on the street at a given time.

Instead of confronting disruption head on and declaring that it is unacceptable, Oakland city leaders seek compromise and offer concessions. In the case of Mingles, councilmember Nancy Nadel intervened demanding "to negotiate a mutually agreeable resolution to the alleged problems prior to resorting to a hearing." When a hearing opened, her aide insisted that "the hearing focus on a compromise."

Nadel's aide went on to demand "that problems synergistic with the other entertainment venues in the area are not being attributed to one business." If no business by itself bears responsibility, what is the overall problem? Supporters of Mingles dared to say "that more opportunities, not less, were needed for youth programs, for 'partying' and for release." (It is not clear how youth are relevant to a club that serves alcohol.) Nadel and the rest of City Hall go along with this demand for the right to riot, the right to make life miserable for neighbors. To be sure, the public is welcome to buy off the disrespecters by spending tax money on special events for "release." Such events would only consume resources while those intent on "thizzing" (getting high on Ecstasy mixed with alcohol or other drugs) would not attend sanctioned events, continuing to make Oakland in general unliveable.

Consistent with the Nadel philosophy, the city council voted a grant of $1.5 million to the Youth UpRising agency while it promotes sideshow culture.

A police officer alluded to the lack of support from public leaders: "In response to a resident's question why people aren't cited and arrested, the officer responded that for every person who thinks they should cite loiterers, there is another person who thinks that no one should be arrested for loitering."

Update: After the fatal shooting of Ms. Smith outside Mingles, the City finally moved to convene a hearing on suspending the club's license rather than negotiating still more meaningless and mostly unobserved conditions on operation of the business. The owner then decided to close the club indefinitely.

Why must Oakland be the special city in the United States known for sideshows? The city where gunfights dominate the sidewalk outside a nightclub. The city where residents in their homes all over the flatlands suffer endless boom cars while the disrespectors drive to and fro.

And the city that develops Jack London Square then lets thugs turn it into a place to avoid.