Oakland Officials Promote Economic Cleansing In The City

Oakland Officials Promote Economic Cleansing In The City

Economic Cleansing Ravages Oakland

By Lynda Carson - December 14, 2015

Oakland - Funk Town which is near Lake Merritt is rapidly being gentrified. No longer can you hear the sound of immigrants calling out that they have tamales for sale along the streets near 8th Avenue and E.19th Street. The sound of tinkling bells no longer exist from vendors that used to sell ice cream from their push carts in the area. The corner fruit stands that used to be full of oranges and watermelons near the corner of E. 14th Street and 8th Avenue, have all but disappeared in the last year or two.

You can still find the words Funk Town scribbled on the concrete sidewalks here and there by locals when the concrete was still fresh at one time.

But the effects of economic cleansing has taken it’s toll on the hood, and it is just not the same anymore.

As the renters of Oakland are being terrorized by skyrocketing rents and greedy landlords evicting them by the thousands, city officials have mostly turned a blind eye to the economic cleansing taking place.

During October, communities of Oakland became outraged when Rachel Flynn, Oakland Planning & Building Department Director, declared to a large audience, “Oakland does not have a housing crisis.”

The housing crisis is real, and the economic cleansing taking place as a result is terrorizing renters throughout the city.

Urban Dictionary defines economic cleansing very clearly: “The methods used by government or those in power to make those pesky poorer people get up and move from the geographic place they live. It could be higher property assessments, highways through poor neighborhoods, higher costs for food, shelter, and even water. If poor people can't live in a certain area then economic cleansing has occurred. It is often subtle and no one ever admits to doing it. It is the final market solution to poverty in any growth oriented prosperous community.”

Renters throughout the city have no doubt that they have been targeted for displacement by unending rent increases, a lack of tenant protections, profiteers, evictions, and politicians ignoring their cries for real protection from the economic cleansing taking place.

Rents In Oakland Have Almost Doubled Since 2011

A recent survey reveals that the fair market rents in Oakland have almost doubled since 2011. Additionally, in the top ten cities throughout the nation with the greatest rent increases during recent years, Oakland tops the list according to Smartasset.com, surpassing San Francisco, New York City, San Jose, Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Chicago.

Click below for more…

https://smartasset.com/mortgage/top-10-cities-largest-rent-increases

Without any real rent control in town, renters are faced with a landlord friendly rent stabilization program to take their chances with. This is because the politicians in Oakland have sold them out years ago, and it is not too likely that the landlord friendly politicians are going to push for a real rent control program, any time soon.

Through the years Oakland leaders have failed to adequately protect renters all across the city. Meanwhile, city officials have spent a fortune on one gentrification scheme after another, to make it as easy as possible for the bankers, developers, real estate industry, and greedy landlords to exploit Oaklanders, to the maximum.

As an example, it is very clear that the West Oakland Specific Plan (WOSP) was not designed to protect poor people from being displaced from their housing by greedy landlords. The wealthy developers have been enticed by city officials to gentrify the area with expensive housing that most locals cannot afford.

Indeed, city officials and staff have even refused to adopt any “affordable housing requirements” for any of the “specific plans” that are in place to gentrify various areas of Oakland as rapidly as possible. They claimed that it would disincentivize developers from investing in each respective neighborhood, and would create lopsided development throughout the City.

Additionally, it would be very difficult to imagine that all the time, energy and money being spent on the “Downtown Specific Plan” to lure people from Grand Avenue to Jack London Square, is being done to bring more poor people downtown to spend their hard earned money.

Allegedly, the downtown process is part of a larger vision which builds from similar efforts in West Oakland, the Lake Merritt station area, and the Broadway-Valdez district.

There is no doubt about it. Oakland officials have been fueling the economic cleansing taking place in the city, as the renters of are being terrorized by skyrocketing rents, and greedy landlords evicting them by the thousands.

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

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