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Young Workers Speak Out on Crime
In the days leading up to the March 7 "Enough Is Enough!" rally, we received this comment:
I'm a bartender at the Ruby Room in downtown Oakland. I'm organizing many of my friends to attend the protest. Most of us have been victims of crime. Having lived here six years, I really feel that things have gotten worse lately.
We poorer, younger people (who often have to live in more criminally active parts of Oakland because of expensive rent in safer neighborhoods) have safety concerns that aren't presented to local authorities. We keep later hours, work later hours (at jobs like waitressing/bartending/store clerking, etc.), and we are legitimate, contributing members to the local community, despite our youth. We deserve to feel safe biking home from work, walking to our cars late at night, etc., and if we don't feel safe, we need to feel that the police will respond quickly and non-judgmentally to our concerns.
Cheers,
Zoe
Later, another worker Paige wrote on the "Enough Is Enough!" petition, "I tend bar in three different bars in Oakland, McNallys, Ben & Nicks, and The Uptown. Two of the nights of the week I close this bar alone. Please pay attention to this petition as my saftey as a working class female is on the line. Thank you!"
Zoe also invited people to come to the Ruby Room after the rally, assuring us it "is a great neighborhood dive bar with a positive vibe." Unfortunately, we were unable to make time that evening.
The next time councilmember Nadel or Quan or some mayoral candidate proposes yet another social program, ask yourself, what about Zoe, Paige and the workers like them? Those City programs are not funded by levies on corporate money or on the obscenely wealthy in this country. No, the grandstanding local politicians look to parcel and other property taxes, which add to the rent that Zoe pays. Or a sales tax on the things Paige buys. Meanwhile, she and other young workers have to ask, what City service do we get? We don't even get basic public safety.
– March 10, 2006; updated March 25
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