More like a long lunch break:
Several Oakland businesses are expected to participate in a one-day strike Tuesday, protesting rising crime in the city and calling on officials to help struggling merchants.
The strike is set to start at 10 a.m. with a news conference at Le Cheval, a downtown restaurant that announced it is closing after 38 years due to crime and slow sales post-pandemic, according to a flyer distributed by the local NAACP chapter.
Some merchants plan to close their doors for the whole day, while others just for a couple of hours, said Carl Chan, a public safety advocate in Chinatown. He said a majority of businesses participating are small convenience stores, as well as restaurants throughout the city. Chan declined Sunday to provide a full list of the businesses participating in the strike.
. . .
The one-day strike comes as city leaders are facing pressure from business owners and residents to address public safety concerns, and criticism for missing a grant deadline to receive millions in state funding to help police combat organized retail theft. Merchants said they feel the city isn’t doing enough to lower crime, which they said is preventing customers from shopping at their businesses.
The City Council passed a resolution Tuesday directing the city administrator to come up with recommendations on how to hire and retain more 911 dispatchers and police officers, expand violence prevention programs, and create a grant program to help local businesses buy security cameras. The recommendations are due to the City Council by December.
They should strike in every city until each has a citizen’s committee with the authority to investigate and indict crimes committed by the police. Imagine if cops didn’t have the ability to just investigate themselves and find no wrong doing.
We need more, better cops. Not just more.