OAKLAND — Businesses and families gathered in front of City Hall Sunday afternoon to show solidarity and fight for a safer Oakland.
Before attending the rally, one store owner was cleaning out his clothing store after an early morning break-in.
“It just feels awful to have this kind of violation of Easter time,” said Taylor Jay, a designer from Oakland.
Surveillance camera footage showed a masked man using a hammer to break the store's glass door and kick it open around 5:30 a.m.
The thieves took two large suitcases from the store and filled them with women's clothing and accessories.
“There's no respect. You took our suitcases to carry our stuff and then they took the whole rack (of clothing) as well. They rolled the whole rack out.” said Jay.
Sunday's unity rally came at a pivotal time for Jay. She considered closing her store in January, but with support from the community she decided to keep her store going.
Jay said, “It's really disappointing. I don't feel any ambition to stay.''
She said she lost about $20,000 worth of merchandise.
The Broadway store in downtown Oakland is the flagship store. She has her second store in the Rockridge area. She said traffic in both areas had decreased significantly because people were afraid to visit Auckland.
“We've built such a successful brand here. We want to thrive here. We don't want to die here,” Jay said.
Demonstrators on Sunday said they intended to avoid politics at the rally and called for unity.
“With a little more cohesion, we can listen to each other, stop arguing and find solutions,” said Nigel Jones, a restaurant owner in downtown Auckland.
Jones thanked Gov. Gavin Newsom for installing surveillance cameras and sending CHP officers to Oakland, but said the governor could do more. Jones would like to see more police officers patrol the city and more funding for crime prevention programs.
He said Alameda County and more large businesses should step in and help struggling businesses by providing grants and bringing workers back to the office.
Blue Shield, Kaiser Permanente, Clorox and PG&E just invested $10 million to create a safe zone in uptown and downtown Oakland.
“Structurally, if things stay the same and there's any real revenue generation happening in the city, we're going to see a lot of businesses close soon,” Jones said.
Jones and Jay say that if they all work together, they can revive the city.
“We're a little mad at Oakland right now, but we still love Oakland,” Jay said.
Businesses are also encouraging people from around the Bay Area to shop and eat in Oakland. They believe Auckland can thrive if people come together.
