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Oakland's Toleration of Boom Cars
Drives Couple to Oregon
Dear neighbors,
We've had it with the boom cars going by our house from 7 am until past midnight. The
motorized minibikes have mostly disappeared – thanks to good policing – but the boom cars seem to be intractable.
Sylvia and I have sold the house and we're moving out of state. We're looking for a few acres
north of Portland, where we can garden and grow old in peace (I'm approaching retirement age).
We are fortunate enough to have Internet jobs, so we can do this.
Martha Shelley
That's what Ms. Shelley told friends in a broadcast email on Aug. 24, 2005 (excerpt). Why does Oakland tolerate boom-car assaults on thousands of people daily?
City officials do not want to confront the thug culture that dominates the streets of Oakland. To do so, council members would have to distinguish between right and wrong, something that years of political careerism based on doing only what is symbolic, expedient, and trivial have trained them not to do.
Boom cars are not a cultural question. Listen to anything you want so long as you keep the noise inside your vehicle. California law says, "No driver of a vehicle shall operate, or permit the operation of, any sound amplification system which can be heard outside the vehicle from 50 or more feet." (CVC 27007) There is no decibel requirement; something is wrong if your stereo can be heard that far away.
Oakland could enforce the law at little or no cost. Additional traffic officers on motorcycles would pay for themselves if their job included issuing tickets to boom cars with as much attention as they give to drivers who roll past a stop sign.
However, the whole culture of Oakland politics is to address social problems with grants to so-called nonprofit agencies. They invite "youth at risk" to come in and talk, get counseling, etc. This culture practically forbids judgment of right and wrong. Council members love grants to nonprofit agencies, because every time they dispense a grant, they win political allies. That's more rewarding to a council member than hiring a motorcycle officer who does not have to voice support for a councilmember in order to keep his job.
The example of Measure Y illustrates what goes on. This so-called balanced compromise requires that Oakland maintain 802 police in order to collect the Measure Y parking and parcel taxes. The council starting collecting the taxes within two months of the passage of Measure Y, but the 802 police will not arrive for two years, if ever. On the other hand, agencies will start getting Measure Y grants for so-called violence prevention within the next several months. Will the victims of boom-car violence find anything of value among these grants? Don't hold your breath.
Meanwhile, thousands of Oaklanders suffer. As a civic activist replied to Ms. Shelley:
Martha,
I do not know you. However over time reading your e-mails I was much impressed by your activism, persistence and the way you seemed to motivate others. Your conduct, even "under fire in the neighborhood," was impeccable.
As to the boom cars: Unless one is constantly subjected to boom cars even parked, shaking windows, car alarms going off, yanked out of sleep, people will not be able to understand what boom cars will do to a person's health, well being and state of mind.
Boom cars are a serious problem. Boom cars set the standard of lawlessness and thug life ruling the block.
Martha - the best of luck to both of you. I hope you find peace and quiet and a very happy place to be...
We will miss you,
Svea
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