Traveling for work this week and flew into Oakland CA. While picking up a rental car I was given the option of returning the car with a full tank or paying the fee for them to fill. I chose to fill the car myself and turn it in with a full tank.
The customer service rep then warned me “Well don’t stop at any gas station near by here, there are too many robberies.” Well that’s interesting to note.
Today when I was 30 miles east of Oakland I was talking to one of my associates, and when I told him I was returning my car at the Oakland airport, he said “Be sure to avoid the XYZ gas station on the corner of X and Y streets. People get robbed and cars stolen there all the time.”
Wow, is the urban Bay Area really that bad? Next time I’m in town maybe I should call on our friend in San Jose?
I understand that Oakland is one of the more dangerous cities in the USA. Did the rental car employee give you advice on where to get gas? There should be a safe area within 10 miles of the airport even though it’s on a peninsula in the SF Bay. Returning to the airport early in the day, like before noon, might also mean that the troublesome neighborhoods are safer. I talked to a RE broker in Baltimore who said that he took photos of all the residential buildings he represented. In the bad neighborhoods he always finished before 2pm to avoid the criminals.
I could go on but no need. In Minneapolis they are finding the perps are getting younger, down to 14. You cannot get a drivers license that young so you would think they would respect the laws and not car Jack if they don’t have a license. The city council is absolutely nuts and no end to what they will come up with. Shortly, don’t try to get an Uber, they are putting them out of business too.
I saw this on the tv news just the other day, folks getting robbed while getting gas at a gas station i. I presume the thieves take advantage of the situation, that while the gas pump is filling the tank the victim can’t just jump in the car and drive away. Add to that the victim has their wallet out, etc. That same area has lost several fast food businesses recently by similar news reports, In-and-Out Burger gone completely, and Taco Bell is closing their indoor dining areas. Same reason cited, crime concerns.
I’m all for helping the disadvantaged, but instead of giving these folks an apartment as Calif politicos tend to do, it makes more sense to me to give the disadvantaged a job, then they can pay for their own apartment with their salary.
It’s true. I live in Oakland; my kids live near here, they work in the Bay area and earn good salaries, the fresh food is the best in the US and the culturally diverse population is a great joy for me. And the criminality in Oakland is beyond belief. People have been preying on folks buying gas on the main streets leading to Oakland Airport for years and the DA for the county has been refusing to prosecute for offenses of less than $1,000 because … you figure it out. The Mayor fired the chief of police shortly after she was elected, and still, about a year later, has failed to find any of the proposed candidates worth hiring, so we have an acting chief and a department that’s staffed at about 85% of the budgeted level. Not too many people are interested in the job.
I expect the situation varies person to person. Someone stealing money at a gas station to feed their family isn’t a criminal, or at least deserves some extra consideration in criminal court. Les Misérables. Still, the solution imo isn’t to give away taxpayer money or taxpayer funded apartments, instead give away good-paying jobs. The problem I expect is if you give someone a job, they have to be supervised, and the cost to pay the supervisor is hard to predict.
They are criminals @George_San_Jose1. They made a conscious decision to rob someone. I will agree that they need alternatives to criminal behavior and ones that they will take advantage of.
Maybe Oakland could hire them to fill the 15% shortfall in the police. The perps get to carry guns, tell people what to do and shoot them if they don’t obey. It’s just like home! (That’s a joke, btw, in case you don’t get it.).
I’m with you. Years ago, our maid on the island was caught stealing food from our grandfather. We looked into the issue closely before judging our maid and then decided to have a discussion with her.
She had 6 children and her husband was penurious and she lived in a home like this:
Note: the above picture is from Google and is used for illustration purposes only.
Conversely, the maid told us that her kids were hungry and she already asked my grandfather for some food which he gave to her but the food was not enough and she was afraid of asking/begging too much.
Instead of firing her, we increased her pay and she never stole from us from there on.
It’s actually an organized theft and fencing ring. They have a shopping list of what to steal, then is turned over to the fence operation right away who sells them on the internet. The fbi is busy with protecting democracy though and no time for interstate theft rings.
