A crime-plagued California city may be one step closer to reversing its misfortunes after taking drastic action against its progressive mayor.
Sheng Thao will face a historic recall election in November amid anger over her failure to get a grip on the situation in Oakland.
The progressive Democrat lawmaker is the first mayor in the city’s history to be up for recall, after a campaign to oust her gained more than 40,000 signatures.
‘In just a year, Thao’s incompetence and dishonesty accelerated Oakland’s decline, causing longstanding businesses to close and generational families to leave,’ the Oakland United to Recall Sheng Thao (OUST) campaign website states.
Critics are also angry that she missed an opportunity to apply for a $15 million retail theft grant, fired Oakland Police chief LaRonne Armstrong, ‘for no cause’ without appointing a successor and lost the Oakland A’s baseball team.
They also accused her of lying about calling a State of Emergency to deal with the crime wave crippling the city.
Oakland has been rocked by violent crime in recent months, including murders which have soared from 78 in 2019 to 126 last year.
Crime overall increased by 18 percent in 2023 with property crime up 17 percent and violent crime up 21 percent.
And in the first four months of 2024 residential robberies soared by 118 percent on the same period last year.
Staggeringly, one car per every 30 residents was also stolen in 2023.
The situation has prompted several large corporations to pull out of the city, citing fears for staff safety and the crippling impact of retail theft.
Dozens of stories of shocking crimes in Oakland have emerged in recent months. On Tuesday, a Florida family dropping their son off in the city for college enrollment had their hire car ransacked. The traumatized parents and their family have since fled the city and withdrawn their son from studying in the city.
And in August 2023, one particularly disturbing video showed an innocent woman being dragged along the ground by two male muggers after trying to fight them off.
Oakland’s only In-N-Out Burger restaurant in the area closed after 18 years, despite still turning a healthy profit, as customers and staff are ‘unsafe’ due to soaring crime rates, the business said.
The local Denny’s also shut its doors, while Taco Bell refuses to allow indoor dining amid a spate of incidents.
Earlier this year, Kaiser, PG&E, Clorox and Blue Shield announced they were plowing $10 million of their own cash into added security measures for their employees amid inaction from the city.
Thao’s opponents blame her progressive policies for the skyrocketing crime.
Among them was a bizarre proposal which suggested life coaching could help tackle homicides and other crimes.
The scheme was suggested as part of the city’s ceasefire plan which had been dwindling until Thao took office.
‘You created a public safety crisis by systematically dismantling the Oakland Police Department, leading to the city’s reputation as one of the most dangerous in America,’ OUST wrote to Thao in a statement.
‘In short, you lack the competency, credibility, judgment and ability to lead what was once a great American city.
Lives have been lost, property destroyed, businesses have shut down, and fear and collective trauma are daily occurrences for Oaklanders. We, the concerned citizens, therefore demand your recall for the sake of our city’s future.’
The mayor has previously decried the increase in crime, stating that the uptick began in 2019 before her tenure.
Also facing a recall in November is the progressive district attorney for Alameda County, which includes Oakland.
Pamela Price’s policies have been blamed for emboldening criminals and prioritizing their needs over those of crime victims.
In 2022, San Francisco, which sits just across the Bay Bridge from Oakland, recalled its progressive prosecutor Chesa Boudin following similar anger.