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OAKLAND — About 100 residents and faith leaders gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday evening to confront city officials about their unfulfilled promises to support a comprehensive approach to end gun violence.
At the Save Lives Now meeting May 22, city officials made public commitments before 3,000 residents to implement an intervention and prevention plan, known as the Oakland Strategy.
Since then, there have been almost two dozen homicides, including a 33-year old man who was found shot to death Tuesday morning inside a car that crashed into the backyard of a vacant East Oakland home, police said.
The killing was Oakland's 74th homicide of the year. Last year at this time, 69 homicides had taken place in the city.
"We are here to express our outrage that public officials have not kept their commitments to act quickly to reduce the debt of gun violence," said the Rev. George Cummings of Imani Community Church and co-chairman of Oakland Community Organizations. "Citizens should not have to live in these conditions in a city with gun violence and murder."
Cummings was among the crowd that raised concerns at a news conference held in Frank Ogawa Plaza. Parents and their children carried silhouettes made of white paper as a symbol of the 23 people who have been killed since the meeting two months ago. Residents say gun violence and other senseless crime is destroying their neighborhoods. They are urging officials to
The violent outbreak comes as the council begins its nine-week recess.
City officials say they have begun to implement some parts of the violence prevention strategy by deploying street outreach workers and adding more police officers to the department. They hope to see the department at its full strength of 803 officers by the end of the year.
"It's not accurate to say nothing is happening because we are following some of the demands," council President Ignacio De La Fuente said. "But I also understand the frustration and the need for us to do more to ensure public safety."
Community leaders say "violence does not go on vacation," and they want the mayor and council members to work through their recess to convene geographic working teams, select a policy council to oversee and coordinate programs and draft a resolution to make the Oakland Strategy an official policy for homicide intervention. They are challenging the City Council to get the work done so that it can be placed on the September agenda.
Liz Torres, an Oakland Community Organizations leader and coordinator at Castlemont Business and Information Technology School, attended the event and carried a paper silhouette in memory of her 15-year-old student Derrick Mixon.
He was shot to death two weeks ago in the 1800 block of 96th Avenue, and Torres grieved at his funeral held earlier during the day. Mixon was the 72nd homicide of the year.
"I'm tired to see the kids suffering so much," Torres said. "And kids are being killed on a daily basis."
Torres has 14 grandchildren and said she is working to improve the quality of life for them and others around her but city officials have "failed" to keep their promises.
At the May meeting, city officials agreed to draft a resolution supporting the Oakland Strategy but that hasn't been seen. At the news conference Tuesday, community leaders presented a version of a draft policy proposal they created to be reviewed by the City Council.
According to Paul Rose, a spokesman for Mayor Ron Dellums, the policy fits into the mayor's overall public-safety strategy, which includes police recruitment, outreach workers and wrap-around services for job training and placement.
However, Dellums has been criticized for his laissez-faire approach to addressing gun violence — the city's No. 1 problem. Dellums did not attend the Oakland Community Organizations meeting in May, and Lenore Anderson, his top aide on public-safety issues, has recently resigned. A national search is being conducted to fill the public safety position.
At Tuesday evening's Public Safety committee meeting, council members praised residents for holding them accountable and asked them to do their part to call the police when they witness violence.
"People are expecting officials to follow through," said Pastor Lucy Kolin of Resurrection Lutheran Church and Oakland Community Organizations co-chairwoman. "Every life lost is a life that didn't need to be and it brings pain and fear into the community."
Reach Kamika Dunlap at 510-282-7321 or kdunlap@bayareanewsgroup.com.
