useapen
2024-06-04 08:06:10 UTC
Shocking footage has emerged showing a gigantic 'shantytown' that has
sprung up in Oakland, as the California city's slide into crime-ravaged
squalor continues.
Michael Oxford, the host of CaliBased, posted a video on May 31 of massive
temporary houses built along service roads that open up into main roads in
Hooverville, Oakland.
The footage showed trash strewn around scores of houses that were built of
wood, tarp and other discarded materials.
Particularly shocking was just how large the 'shantytown' is, with a
lengthy stretch of road in the Bay Area city covered with the makeshift
dwellings.
Oxford could be heard calling the area a 'shantytown' that is 'absolutely
mindboggling,' as he remarked how 'insane it is that [city officials]
allow this.'
He captioned the video, 'Parts of Oakland are worse than a third world
country. They just allow people to live in absolute squalor, wherever they
choose.
'This looks like Hooverville during the great depression. Welcome to
Oaklands very own Gavinville.'
Tom Wolf, a former homeless man who is a recovering heroin and fentanyl
addict from San Francisco, also re-shared the same video and said, 'Worse
than any shanty in the third world. You know how we got here? Drugs.'
Oakland's descent into a dystopian hellhole comes despite its enviable
location in the San Francisco Bay area - one of the most naturally-
beautiful locales in the United States.
And while both Oakland and neighboring San Francisco are home to huge
numbers of wealthy people thanks to the tech boom of nearby Silicon
Valley, both cities have become associated with filth and crime
increasingly blamed on progressive policy.
Earlier this month, city administrators were forced to remove traffic
lights from one busy Oakland intersection and replaced them with stop
signs after the electrical boxes that controlled the traffic lights were
repeatedly tampered with and copper from them was stolen.
Local residents and those who own businesses in the area say the issue
with the traffic lights stems from the nearby homeless encampment, which
has grown over the years.
The owner of a vehicle repair shop on the corner of the intersection, Tam
Le, said the city is signaling that it is 'giving up on us,' by installing
the stop signs.
It is the latest in a string of copper thefts in California.
Videos have also emerged of thieves ransacking Tesla charging stations for
the meta in Mya.
For months, the traffic lights malfunctioned. They either blinked red or
went out completely, causing confusing and hazardous driving conditions in
the area.
'The city did try to fix the traffic light at least a few times. But once
they fixed it, normally within a week or so, it will go out again,' said
Le, according to CBS News.
The real problem, he claims, are the homeless people who steal power from
the city's electrical boxes and copper from the traffic lights themselves.
In January, groups of homeless people were found living inside furnished
caves dug into the banks of a river 20 feet below street level.
The groups were removed from the eight caves - along the Tuolumne River in
Modesto and they were emptied of belongings, furniture and 7,600 lbs of
rubbish, filling two trucks and a trailer.
Some of the caves were decorated with murals, had broken floor tiles and
one even had a makeshift fireplace with a chimney.
Modesto Police Department said: 'This particular area has been plagued by
vagrancy and illegal camps, which have raised concerns due to the fact
that these camps were actually caves dug into the riverbanks.'
The community living in the caves had carved makeshift stairs into the
hillside leading down to them. Some of the caves used to be fully
furnished with bedding, belongings, food, a makeshift mantelpiece but also
drugs and weapons, according to Rojas.
Oakland's two most visible lawmakers - progressive Mayor Sheng Thao and
her DA Pamela Price - are both facing recalls over soft-on-crime policies
blamed for ruining the city.
One in thirty Oakland residents had their car stolen in 2023, with violent
crime also soaring.
Thao backed defunding the police earlier in her career, with Price
parroting her focus on 'equity' when prosecuting crimes.
Critics say she has effectively put the needs of criminals over those of
victims.
And earlier this year, there was humiliation for Oakland when In-N-Out
Burger closed a store for the first time in the company's history.
They did so because the restaurant location, close to the city's airport,
had become a notorious target for burglaries, leaving customers and staff
under constant threat of violent crime.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13484975/Video-California-street-
houses-wood-shantytown-oakland.html
sprung up in Oakland, as the California city's slide into crime-ravaged
squalor continues.
Michael Oxford, the host of CaliBased, posted a video on May 31 of massive
temporary houses built along service roads that open up into main roads in
Hooverville, Oakland.
The footage showed trash strewn around scores of houses that were built of
wood, tarp and other discarded materials.
Particularly shocking was just how large the 'shantytown' is, with a
lengthy stretch of road in the Bay Area city covered with the makeshift
dwellings.
Oxford could be heard calling the area a 'shantytown' that is 'absolutely
mindboggling,' as he remarked how 'insane it is that [city officials]
allow this.'
He captioned the video, 'Parts of Oakland are worse than a third world
country. They just allow people to live in absolute squalor, wherever they
choose.
'This looks like Hooverville during the great depression. Welcome to
Oaklands very own Gavinville.'
Tom Wolf, a former homeless man who is a recovering heroin and fentanyl
addict from San Francisco, also re-shared the same video and said, 'Worse
than any shanty in the third world. You know how we got here? Drugs.'
Oakland's descent into a dystopian hellhole comes despite its enviable
location in the San Francisco Bay area - one of the most naturally-
beautiful locales in the United States.
And while both Oakland and neighboring San Francisco are home to huge
numbers of wealthy people thanks to the tech boom of nearby Silicon
Valley, both cities have become associated with filth and crime
increasingly blamed on progressive policy.
Earlier this month, city administrators were forced to remove traffic
lights from one busy Oakland intersection and replaced them with stop
signs after the electrical boxes that controlled the traffic lights were
repeatedly tampered with and copper from them was stolen.
Local residents and those who own businesses in the area say the issue
with the traffic lights stems from the nearby homeless encampment, which
has grown over the years.
The owner of a vehicle repair shop on the corner of the intersection, Tam
Le, said the city is signaling that it is 'giving up on us,' by installing
the stop signs.
It is the latest in a string of copper thefts in California.
Videos have also emerged of thieves ransacking Tesla charging stations for
the meta in Mya.
For months, the traffic lights malfunctioned. They either blinked red or
went out completely, causing confusing and hazardous driving conditions in
the area.
'The city did try to fix the traffic light at least a few times. But once
they fixed it, normally within a week or so, it will go out again,' said
Le, according to CBS News.
The real problem, he claims, are the homeless people who steal power from
the city's electrical boxes and copper from the traffic lights themselves.
In January, groups of homeless people were found living inside furnished
caves dug into the banks of a river 20 feet below street level.
The groups were removed from the eight caves - along the Tuolumne River in
Modesto and they were emptied of belongings, furniture and 7,600 lbs of
rubbish, filling two trucks and a trailer.
Some of the caves were decorated with murals, had broken floor tiles and
one even had a makeshift fireplace with a chimney.
Modesto Police Department said: 'This particular area has been plagued by
vagrancy and illegal camps, which have raised concerns due to the fact
that these camps were actually caves dug into the riverbanks.'
The community living in the caves had carved makeshift stairs into the
hillside leading down to them. Some of the caves used to be fully
furnished with bedding, belongings, food, a makeshift mantelpiece but also
drugs and weapons, according to Rojas.
Oakland's two most visible lawmakers - progressive Mayor Sheng Thao and
her DA Pamela Price - are both facing recalls over soft-on-crime policies
blamed for ruining the city.
One in thirty Oakland residents had their car stolen in 2023, with violent
crime also soaring.
Thao backed defunding the police earlier in her career, with Price
parroting her focus on 'equity' when prosecuting crimes.
Critics say she has effectively put the needs of criminals over those of
victims.
And earlier this year, there was humiliation for Oakland when In-N-Out
Burger closed a store for the first time in the company's history.
They did so because the restaurant location, close to the city's airport,
had become a notorious target for burglaries, leaving customers and staff
under constant threat of violent crime.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13484975/Video-California-street-
houses-wood-shantytown-oakland.html