Mon, 2009-10-26 08:28

Years of talk and nothing changes.  Do we have skate parks, skating rinks, dance venues, late hour drop-in centers for teens, coffee houses for young adults, anything?  Have the hyphy idols spoken out for responsible behavior?

I wouldn't care if a legal sideshow was established, although I think "legal sideshow" is an oxymoron, if such enterprise was self-supporting and did not use scarce city funds.  Somehow I can't see sideshow afficianados paying admission, but without a paid gate how could there be security and insurance and oversight? What sponsor would promote this activity? Again, no public money should be used for this, other than crackdowns on the street rallys.

Mon, 2009-10-26 08:32

Mr. Booth don't get me started... It has been proven that there are deaths connected with these "sideshows"  and rivalries that continue way past the event is over. Oakland law officials can't stop the crime so the decide to make it legal so they don't have to deal with it? That's the cowards way out. NO they shouldn't legalize it and YES it is a result of lack of activities for the youth. Oakland is a lovely city that is getting a bad rap for the violent activity that happens everyday.  In my opinion the city councel should get some positive organizations here. They have turned away many organizations that wanted to build here that would mean jobs and income for many. There is no where for the young people to go. Look downtown, where can young people, or anyone for that matter, hang out have fun? No mall to hang out at, no community center for the young. Oakland politicals are so afraid of the young people that they can't think straight. Thery are killng our city.  It's time to look at our community as a whole and find ways to bring the old and the young together in a constructive way.  Build our city into something we can be proud of not afraid of. Oakland needs a Yuerba Buena Park like San Francisco has or Millenium Park that Chicago has that builds community through creativity and technology.

Mon, 2009-10-26 09:27

Many local residents of Desley's district ALREADY think she's crazy (before she proposed this). I wouldn't mind them legalizing it - it's already LEGAL to race cars IN RACING CAR ARENAS! 

Mon, 2009-10-26 09:27

NOW could we please get focused on Oakland's real priorities - economic development?

Mon, 2009-10-26 10:57

They can't legalize it.  It would cost too much.  You can let people have street parties sometimes, sure, but cars?  Can you imagine the number of fees and regulations that will have to be in place before the City of Oakland is confident it won't get sued by a little old lady who ends up with a Lexus in her living room?

legalizing sideshows is a fantasy, and I'm disappointed that it's being suggested by high level officials.

Tue, 2009-10-27 02:10

I am kinda split on this. My first reaction is, "what what what?" I mean, I liked the mind-numbingness of The Fast and the Furious, that was cool. But that is a movie, and I think the fact of the matter is, on a given day non-racing motorists are going to be dangerous enough for any city.

On the other hand, I do applaud them was at least tossing the idea around. I mean, seriously folks, if you use sensationalist speech in your rebuttals against the idea, you just sound like you are supporting the status quo in my opinion. The status quo doesn't have to change, but keeping it the same is not justification in and of itself.

As for the topic of what "causes" sideshows, I think we need to take a bit of the long view on this. The excuse that kids don't have a place to hang out is the catch-all reason for activities that involve minors. Just take a moment to think about this: you own a fast car, and you happen to like cars a lot, and you are thrilled to race it. Would you rather hang out at a mall (which is actually kinda weird [consumerism, anyone?]), go to the park, or wait until sundown and race your way into a sense of belonging in a sexy and hyped-up community that is, um, "side-showing"?

Also, understand, we aren't saying, "yeah, get off the roads between midnight and 4AM, unless you want to race!" There isn't a plan, it is just some thoughts being thrown around to handle a very specific issue. And the ideas include essentially creating a regulated (read, not quite as dangerous) event(s), which means social space. The social space for the person who wants to race cars.

If you are going to argue with the ideas being thrown around, at least do it on the premise that it is perhaps kinda odd that the Mayor is talking about implementing something like this, instead of simply saying they are going to look into, oh, I don't know, an event company or something to see how viable the idea is. Are there other priorities for Oakland officials? Oh yeah. However, this is the drama of the week, and for every person that says "wtf", there is a person out there saying "wtf are you doing about this problem, Oakland?"