No need to apologize for your long comment. I appreciate readers sharing their perspectives. Chicago’s story of tunraround is interesting – I admit to not really know anything about it. Interestingly, Chicago’s 2007 homicide total was their lowest since 1965.

Colin –

Thank you for the compliments. I, too, was disappointed that Dellums won the election, but I continue to hold out hope that he will redeem himself. It seems unlikely, but perhaps the negative reaction to his State of the City address and burgeoning recall discussions will prompt a rethinking of his approach. The Mayor’s office needs to get away from its focus on vague promises and big plans, and instead start focusing on producing less lofty, more detail-oriented initiatives.

Charles Pine –

I admit to not knowing a great deal about how the State deals with re-entry. I certainly don’t think that there is any excuse for robbery, and my admittedly unscientific observations suggest that robberies and assaults in Oakland are committed for fun at least as frequently as they are for financial benefit. I was assaulted not too long ago in Oakland (I thankfully came away unharmed), and I feel fairly confident in saying that my assailants were not criminals of the Jean Valjean variety.

Still, I think there is always room for some level of sympathy for the difficult situation ex-offender populations are faced with, and if job placement services on a city level can reduce recidivism rates, it seems to me that they are worth the expense. The East Bay Express ran a story a few years ago about Oakland’s successful parolee services. I don’t know what has happened since then – whether the services discussed lost funding or just turned out not to work so well after all.

First, it comes across almost as an excuse for robbery, almost as advice to victims to understand the thug who puts their lives at risk. Sure, like the two guys who carjacked Senator Perata so they could have fun drag racing an hour later.

Second, Dellums drew the conclusion that the city needs to provide re-entry services. Sorry, but counseling at this point cannot make up for lack of real rehabilitation and skill training in the state prisons. It matters, because residents of Oakland are tired of being asked to make up for state prison and county parole shortfalls in performance. The state in particular has a much wider tax base to draw upon than a city. The residents of Oakland are taxed out.

I am, as the Brits say, gobsmacked. His whole don’t-talk-to-the-press-because-they-just-lie stance is outright chilling for all of the reasons you mention. His attitude of “I’m only mayor because people petitioned for me to run” makes me want to cry. I cannot understand this man. I cannot understand how he got elected.

Great job and thanks again for your insight. I must admit that all of this makes me frustrated beyond belief; the lack of competence in our city gov’t is astounding. I’m truly baffled as to why the Mayor wanted this job. If you look at any problem, big or small it is lost in a web of excuses, innaction, apathy or corruption. When I watch the city counsel it’s really like seeing paint dry. No fire in the belly, no drive. Everyone appears to want to keep their collective jobs and cover their ass. At this point I don’t even care about the semantics. I want someone, anyone in the counsel to stand on the steps of city hall and be mad as hell. You know, like the rest of us.

I come from Chicago, a city not lacking in problems. In the early 90’s Chicago was called the worst school district in the nation. At the time the state was in control of the district because of fiscal problems, corruption and waist. Sound familiar. Mayor Richard Daly Jr. actually demanded control of the school district to tackle the seemingly intractable problem. The Republican led state congress granted him control with the idea of “getting rid” of this millstone and giving the Democratic Mayor a black eye. He was in charge and totally accountable. The Mayor knew that his job was literally on the line with this move. The Mayor appointed two men; Paul Vallas (who should be Governor of Illinois, but that’s another story) and Gerry Chico. A policy/community guy and a finance guy. They proceeded to sign a long-term contract with the teachers union (something that had not been done in 20 years) and turn the district around in shorter time than anyone had ever done. The Mayor and everyone one else with half a brain cell understood that in order to attract real long term and sustainable growth to a moribund rustbelt city they had to attract families. You know, people that care about the community and want to see and raise children in it. That appreciates diversity, that may have had parents who grew up in it and fled to the burbs in the 60’s and 70’s or new immigrants wanting to settle and begin a new life in a new country. Chicago is without question a boomtown. It had its first increase in population in 30 years with the last census and has seen unprecedented growth and investment.

Okay, I apologize for writing so much and would completely understand if you dropped my letter from your site. But, my reason for writing this story is that I firmly believe that Oakland needs someone like Richie Daly (he is by no means the perfect mayor). Someone who doesn’t speak eloquently but is an honest hard nose. People like Dellums need to stay or go back to Washington. They’re probably more effective their anyway. We need a leader who will stand up and say give me the resources and power and I’ll solve the problem. It feels like Oakland is overrun by an army of milquetoasts. Someone needs to take control of the crime problem and the schools and damn the torpedoes. Someone needs to say that if we don’t see improvement I’ll resign. I truly believe that until we turn the ship around on those two issues nothing else will change. If you want more and better cops? Give young men and women with families a reason to care about the community. You want more jobs? Give company’s a better reason to move their employees to the neighborhood.

I swear, if Dellums didn’t do anything but spend ALL his time on those two issues he may be able to save face. But I guarantee that the schools are the last thing he wants; “who wants that albatross? It’s just more work for us” and in two years we’ll still be hearing how the crime problem was the last administrations fault and we just need more resources from the state and the feds etc. etc..

Anyway, thanks for letting me rant V Smooth, Cheers.