City Delays; Dealers Use Neighbor's Property

One of the more horrendous apartment buildings run by the Oakland Housing Authority is on the 2800-block of 35th Avenue. Drug dealers who have occupied units there for years hang out on the Avenue conducting business.

A resident across the street reports:

The City of Oakland has created a dilemma for my family. We have been working on building a new fence across the front of our property. This past November the City presented us with a Stop Work order to cease work on the fence. Oakland Planning now requires all fences built after last July to be no more than 42 inches tall.

Our fence was designed to be 72 inches tall above a short retaining wall. We are now required to petition for a Conditional Use Permit. OK fine, we paid the $1470 fee and submitted three sets of folded plans, a County Assessor's map, three pages of "findings" which describe in detail why our proposed fence will not adversely affect "livability" in the community in general, and 21 photos of houses to the right and left and across the street. In December a Planning official told me it would take around two months to complete the permit process. That was in December. As of mid-January, the City projects the time frame to be more than four months to get approved or denied. Our fence is not a high priority, nor has the City adequate staff to do it sooner.

Drug Dealers Take Over

Here is the rub. The regular drug dealers love to sit on the unfinished fence (see photo). Why stand around if you can give your tired old dogs a break? Currently, there is nothing I can do. Thank you, City of Oakland.

Photo: Will Bierman

It appears we not only don't have enough police on the streets but are lacking in bodies behind desks in the city bureaucracy as well. Where are the City of Oakland's priorities?

P.S.: The City's mission statement reads: "The City of Oakland is committed to the delivery of effective, courteous, and responsive services. Citizens and employees are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect."

For example, thieves stole our neighbor's car. The victim reported it promptly. Meanwhile, the thieves, once done with the vehicle, parked it illegally, and our neighbor received a parking ticket in the mail! The burden is on her to show Oakland parking that Oakland police had a report of the stolen vehicle.

Councilmembers always have a new program to promote. Basic public safety and common-sense administration of regulations is so boring. Taxes go up; service gets worse.

Aide Means Well but Gives Example of Problem

When the neighbor trying to build his fence posted the above story on an email list, an aide to a councilmember replied:

"I am sorry that you've had such a difficult time with your C.U.P application and that its taken this long to get approval. I know you've been working diligently to clean up 35th Ave and you're right, these kids sitting on your fence is a problem. Please call me and let me know who you're working with in the planning department and I will help you as best as I can so that your project keeps moving along." (Jan. 17, 2006)

No doubt the aide means well when she offers help prodding bureaucrats. We should realize, however, that as a general practice such help is a bad thing, not a good thing.

• First, the bureaucrats know that councilmembers cannot and will not pursue every one of the public's transactions with them.
  
• Second, the resident feels pressure to make nice to the councilmember in order to get help. The councilmember's office doesn't need to say a word; everyone just understands the situation.
• Third, the councilmember's office spends time on individual problems. The council is a legislative body. It should investigate the bureaucracy and propose workable, general solutions.
• Fourth, the councilmember leans on the resident for help later. She thinks, we need a safe voice on this or that oversight committee. Let's talk to so-and-so, the lady we helped with drug dealers on her street.
  
• Fifth, the councilmember develops a vested interest in starving the bureaucracy of the staff and resources necessary to provide fair, prompt service (along with investigation and review to prod for efficient use of the resources). Instead, councilmembers divert budget money to favored programs that boost their political empires. In Oakland, PUEBLO is a good example of how it works.

We are not starry-eyed. We know all legislators, from congressmen down to city councilmembers, help constituents. In Oakland, though, the problem is severe. It is like Tammany Hall in nineteenth-century New York City. Except that in a city with half a police department, hundreds of thousands of people do not enjoy elementary safety and the ability to live in peace.