OAKLAND–After a number of recent high-profile restaurants shut down in Oakland—citing crime as the reason—business owners and workers at the establishments that remain say things have not improved even after they’ve taken numerous security measures.
Of note is a string of restaurants located in the Hegenberger Shopping Center, near the Oakland airport.
Several establishments there have hired private security, Oakland police are assigned to the parking lot to help deter crime, and numerous surveillance cameras are now located on buildings and on movable towers situated throughout the area.
But these measures have not stopped the thieves, according to a restaurant employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of harm from organized criminals and reprisal from the restaurant.
“They’ll break into cars in broad daylight with the police in the lot,” the employee told The Epoch Times on May 2. “The criminals have no fear, but the rest of us that have to be here are constantly concerned that something bad will happen while we’re at work.”
Travelers with rental cars are routinely victimized, and anyone who leaves bags or valuable items in a vehicle will likely return to broken windows, according to security guards patrolling the area.
Raising Cane’s, one establishment that remains open in the Hegenberger Center, no longer has inside dining, is not accepting cash, and now has employees park behind chain-link fences.
In-N-Out Burger closed an outlet in the center in March, after Starbucks also closed late last year.
And a Denny’s down the street from the Hegenberger Center, near the airport, closed in January, reportedly because of significant levels of crime occurring in its parking lot. The building is now covered in graffiti, with a homeless encampment adjacent to it.
The company referred The Epoch Times to the franchisee who made the decision to shut down, but a response to a request for comment was not received by press time.
Now, the center has more vacant storefronts than open locations.
Several residents in the area said that crime—primarily car break-ins—in the Denny’s parking lot was out of control before it closed, despite efforts from the restaurant’s owner.
“Denny’s tried to keep it clean, they had security, and they’d clean the lot every morning,” Mario Wagner, who owns a business in the area near Denny’s, told The Epoch Times. “But they weren’t getting the help they needed from the city.”
He said the criminals were using sophisticated techniques, including Bluetooth device scanners, which allowed them to identify valuable electronics in vehicles.
“By the time people park, before they’ve gone inside to get food, their car was broken into,” Mr. Wagner said. “[The thieves] pull straight up to a car, and you’ll see them go in and get something in seconds. They already know where it is.”
“It’s really gotten worse over the last few years,” he said. “Since Denny’s left, it’s gotten even worse.”
But the issue extends beyond the center, with similar stories throughout the city.
Taco Bell locations in the city have also closed dining rooms after repeated robberies—including one incident in which the safe was removed.
Full-service restaurants are also not immune.
La Cheval, a fine-dining establishment featuring Vietnamese cuisine, closed late last year after 38 years, with its owner, Son Tran, citing auto burglaries and violent crime as the reasons for its departure.
The restaurant suffered multiple break-ins, and some customers were reportedly robbed at gunpoint while leaving the establishment.
Restaurateurs in the area said the perception of crime is also affecting businesses that remain open.
“We’re not experiencing a lot of crime at our restaurant, but fewer people are visiting because of everything that is happening around the city,” Raymond Gallagher, owner of Scott’s Seafood Grill and Bar in Oakland’s Jack London Square closer to downtown, told The Epoch Times.
A third-generation Oakland local said criminals were taking advantage of the fact that police are short-staffed and unable to secure the city, thus leading to problems for restaurants and other businesses.
“Denny’s shut down because of the crime that was around here,” Ken Houston, better known in the city as the Son of Oakland and founder of the Beautification Council—a nonprofit focused on empowering the local community by providing jobs to vulnerable populations while helping clean up the streets—told The Epoch Times. “We have to stop the lower-level crimes ... because if you feel you can do the small crimes, you’ll do the bigger crimes.”
He said cars with all windows illegally fully tinted should be cited, parking violations should be imposed, and enforcing other misdemeanor crimes should be prioritized by police and the district attorney to send a message to criminals that these things will not be tolerated.
“The lack of enforcement and the crime has devastated this community,” Mr. Houston said. “It has turned it upside down.”
Suggesting the city needs “war-time politicians” to help curb crime, he said a balanced approach is needed, meaning authorities should enforce the law while offering compassionate opportunities for those willing to better themselves.
Mr. Houston noted the desperation experienced by those suffering from homelessness and said those most in need are turning to auto break-ins and robberies to just exist.
“If you are desperate for opportunity, you will do anything to survive—for your kids, for your family,” he said. “If these individuals were making living wages, with dignity, and responsibility, they would not be doing this.”
Treating people with honor, dignity, and respect could help cut the city’s problems drastically, Mr. Houston said, when balanced with policing of those unwilling to obey the law.
Local officials struggling to contain the criminal activity are increasingly the targets of criticism from frustrated residents.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing a recall effort—based in part on increasing crime—with a special election anticipated later this summer after organizers turned in enough signatures to qualify the issue for a ballot.
Mayor Sheng Thao is also potentially facing a recall election, with organizers currently collecting signatures. Those critical of the mayor point to her firing in 2023 of the police chief as potentially contributing to the rise in crime since she took office. A new chief, Floyd Mitchell, was hired in late March.
Nearly 14,000 cars were broken into and about 15,000 vehicles were stolen in Oakland in 2023. Although both crimes are trending down in 2024, armed robberies are up by 39 percent compared with the same time last year, according to Oakland Police Department statistics.
Considering the restaurant closures and high levels of crime in the city, the mayor has acknowledged that more needs to be done to keep the city safe.
“It is outrageous that criminal gangs and groups continue to harm Oakland residents and businesses,” Ms. Thao said in a February statement. “I join Oaklanders in demanding more prevention, enforcement, and accountability for the criminal groups inflicting harm upon our community.”
