Abandoned cars in Oakland could be removed under new strategy

OAKLAND, Calif. - It’s a problem many Oakland residents can’t ignore: the issue of abandoned vehicles scattered throughout the city. On Tuesday, the city council planned to vote on a new strategy aimed at swift removal of those vehicles, using enhanced technology and implementing sweeps in high impact areas.

Many say it takes months for the city to remove abandoned cars from a neighborhood.

But a plan, proposed by At-large Council Member Rebecca Kaplan, seeks to take a comprehensive approach designed to remove "risks promptly," as she described the problem a growing and "pressing issue" in the city.  

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The proposal called for using technology to help improve the efficiency of the city’s tow system. 

On X on Monday, Kaplan posted that procuring a contract with a leading software provider would track and speed up tow times and "enhance our abandoned auto tow systems, making them more efficient, reliable, & accountable."

Kaplan’s plan also sought $250,000 in funding to eliminate the backlog of abandoned vehicles still unaddressed. The money would cover personnel costs, she said, and go toward "deploying staff for zone-based sweeps in heavily impacted areas." 

The idea would be to get ahead of the problem and "Recover vehicles before they are smashed or used for crime," she said. 

In addition, the multipronged approach would involve partnering with Caltrans to use vacant state-owned property for storage. 

"Caltrans’s vacant lots offer a solution," Kaplan wrote, explaining that these spaces can be leased and repurposed as tow yards.

The measure was introduced before the city’s finance committee last week. It’s set to go before the city council at its meeting on Tuesday afternoon.

Another closely watched, crime-related proposal on the meeting agenda was a plan that would require alarm companies to confirm that a crime has been committed or was under way at a site before a police patrol is dispatched. 

The ordinance makes it unlawful and subject to a $1,000 penalty for a business to issue an alarm dispatch "based on the breach of a single major point of entry without a secondary indication that a burglary is in progress."

The controversial proposal was receiving push-back from opponents, including the president of the "California Alarm Association," who said the requirement for a "verified response" was dangerous and jeopardized public safety.

He also noted that the policy had already been tried and repealed in cities including San Jose and Dallas.