California has become a socialist nightmare after decades of Democrat blunders.
Now cities are becoming unrecognizable to the rest of the country.
And Oakland had one shocking reaction to the homeless that confirmed it’s a third-world city.
Oakland stops replacing traffic lights because of copper theft by the homeless
Oakland, California is a city in crisis.
Voters there elected a Soros-backed district attorney who refuses to prosecute crimes.
The city is suffering from the same problems with crime and homelessness as its neighbor San Francisco.
Now Oakland is giving up on replacing traffic lights that have had the copper stolen repeatedly from the electric boxes that power them.
The intersection of E. 12th Street and 16th Avenue in Oakland installed stop signs in response to copper thieves targeting the traffic light boxes.
Tam Le runs Le’s Auto Body & Engine Repair at the intersection.
“It’s just telling us that the city is giving up on us,” Le told CBS News Bay 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.”
KPIX reporter Da Lin said he was told by residents around the intersection that not replacing the traffic light is a sign of the city’s decline.
“Neighbors say the [stop] sign is a sign and a reflection of the city’s condition,” Lin said. “They say the city’s inability to clear a homeless encampment next to the intersection is leading to this kind of issue.”
The city let the intersection have an inoperable traffic light for months without taking any action.
Homeless causing problems for Oakland residents
A large homeless encampment near the intersection has also targeted the traffic light boxes to illegally run power to the camp.
Lin blamed a truck crashing into his business on the lack of a functioning stop light at the intersection.
He said that the homeless encampment is causing serious problems for residents in the neighborhood.
“Many businesses already closed down on E. 12th St. And I don’t know how long we’re going to be here. Because once they move to our side of the sidewalk, we will be gone,” Le explained. “If you really want to fix the stop sign, I think you really have to clean up this homeless encampment.”
Oakland resident Mason Young told KPIX that his family and families are concerned about him living in the neighborhood.
“I want to live here and I love this neighborhood, and I love how diverse it is,” Young said. “But . . . all of my friends and relatives that don’t live in the area don’t understand it all. They’re like, ‘you’re gonna get shot,’ and I can’t say, ‘no I’m not; there’re no gunshots’ – ’cause there are.”
Oakland police data shows that crime is up 22% this year.
The situation has become so dire that 200 businesses went on a temporary strike to protest the government’s mishandling of the crime problem.
Democrats have turned Oakland into a city that barely resembles America.
