Oakland burglary victims speak out as city official pledges action
OAKLAND, Calif. - Ken Houston is upset after his office was among 16 small businesses in a single building in East Oakland that were ransacked over the weekend.
"It's demoralizing. It's sad to be a son of Oakland, and be a business owner invested in this city," Houston said. "We're already struggling. The city is in dire need of public safety, right? We've asked over and over for help. Over and over, before even Denny's left.
Just down the street, near dilapidated RVs, demolition has begun at the Denny's restaurant that closed in January over crime concerns.
Houston's office building off busy Hegenberger Road is an incubator for small businesses, including a barber shop.
Surveillance video shows several men breaking into one of the offices at about 2 a.m. Saturday. Total loss and damage is at least $120,000, with high-end cameras, speakers, laptops and cash among the items taken.
"How can a small business recover from that when we're already hurting, right? We were shut down from COVID, we weren't making that much money, now we're back up - and this happens," Houston said.
Author and businesswoman Jennifer Pahlka recently came face to-face with a burglar in her home, who was arrested days later by Oakland police after he returned to the neighborhood.
"It was frustrating they weren't able to respond to me for about 48 hours," Pahlka said. "I would hope that we could get those response times down."
Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb said, "I totally understand their frustration."
Kalb said it's not always possible for police to respond immediately to calls.
"Sometimes there's so many things going on at the same time, that it's hard for them to get to a certain place right away, but there are other times where they could," Kalb said.
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan
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