Thread by @shellenberger

Homeless encampment in Oakland up in flames just now

California cities are sinking into worsening chaos

“When there is no vision, the people perish”

@GavinNewsom @LibbySchaaf

Cory, a spokesperson for the encampment says the rats took over, were wiped out, and then evolved

He thinks the fire was arson

Half the fires In LA are at homeless encampments, while in Oakland fire fighters told me “a lot” and “maybe half”

There are 3 homeless encampment fires PER DAY in Oakland, a *tripling* since 2019

"[The city has] allowed these homeless sites to go unchecked, out of control," West Oakland resident Daniel Burns said. "They’ve become fire hazards”

ktvu.com/news/oakland-b…

It still shocks me to see people living in shacks on the side of the road

Open drug scenes are deadly places of addiction, homicide, rape and arson

Cory said he thought the fire was arson in retaliation for a murder

I pray I never stop being shocked

Just look

These shanties are identical to shanties and shacks in Honduras, India, Brazil, Indonesia, & Uganda

Cory shows me his place

Oakland spends $1,500 PER HOUR cleaning up garbage at homeless encampments — $1M/month

ktvu.com/news/oakland-b…

@HeatherKTVU @KTVU @OakTribNews @KPIXtv @WilsonKPIX @KQEDnews

Here’s what causes the problem and what should be done

michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/why-californ…

“The UN described encampments in Oakland and SF as ‘cruel and inhumane.’ … In 2020, 19 murders, or 18% of all murders in Oakland, occurred in encampments. City staff were threatened on multiple occasions with guns, bottles, axes and aggressive dogs”

oaklandauditor.com/wp-content/upl…

“The City was not prepared to shoulder such a massive project… EMT was overwhelmed by closing & cleaning encampments in Oakland… the audit found the City lacked an effective strategy for dealing with the growth in encampments & did not provide adequate policy direction”

“Oakland has seen a dramatic rise in gun crimes, from homicides to shootings to armed robberies and carjackings. But there is another troubling trend: mass shootings — defined as single incidents with four or more gunshot victims — are up, too.”

mercurynews.com/2021/06/20/mas…

“Shootings are also up more than 70% and carjackings by almost 88%, with 1,300 robberies recorded already this year,” said Oakland’s Police Chief. “Crime is out of control in the city of Oakland — and our response was for less police.”

nypost.com/2021/06/30/oak…

The encampment grew out of the Occupy Wall St. protests in front of Oakland City Hall in 2011. Progressives demanded & mayor allowed Occupy camp at City Hall until a man was shot and killed

Seattle’s mayor last year ignored the danger of similar occupation. Two men were killed.

The husband of a progressive City Council member said fire showed need for housing

Most progressives oppose building sufficient shelters & requiring people stay in them, as Amsterdam, NYC, Miami, & most cities do

Result is tiny # of $750k/unit apartments & dangerous encampments

Oakland’s progressive city council members eg Nikki Bas, whose husband is in the video above, support the encampments through an organization called The Village, which is “Creating autonomous encampments on public and private land in Oakland”

thevillageinoakland.org/about/

Homeless encampments look like natural disasters but they’re not, they’re open drug scenes that grew from 2011-2021 bc progressive activists & politicians advocates for them

Nikki Bas was head of major progressive NGO funded by Rockefeller, Ford, OSI (Soros) AFL-CIO, et al.

For background on open drug scenes

https://twitter.com/shellenbergermd/status/1402354797890596864