Pubdate: Tue, 24 Jul 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Chip Johnson

MORE PRESSING ISSUES LOST IN DIN OVER POT

The biggest protests in Oakland in recent years have rarely, if ever, 
reflected the top priorities of its residents - and the pro-marijuana 
demonstration during President Obama's visit on Monday was no different.

Like most Californians, Oakland residents support the 1996 state law 
that provided access to medical marijuana - and that support is 
reflected in the city's recent approval to permit more dispensaries 
in the city.

But like most Americans, Oakland residents have bigger fish to fry 
than whether the state's largest pot dispensaries should be allowed 
to remain open. It's the larger dispensaries federal officials have 
said they intend to target.

Oakland residents, the ones who couldn't afford a ticket to the Fox 
Theater event where Obama spoke, are as interested in the nation's 
next steps toward economic recovery and new job opportunities as an 
unemployed mechanic in Cleveland.

They're anxious to hear about how the federal government will reduce 
the chances of future massacres like the one in Aurora, Colo.

And they're probably more interested than most people in any federal 
assistance that would help cities reduce violent crime that has 
spiraled beyond local control.

But Oakland's priority issues have been lost in the din of the 
protest crowd over the years, or hijacked by other groups and folded 
into their agendas.

In a way, Oakland residents have handed over their protest rights to 
others who claim to speak for them - even when they live in another 
Bay Area city or even another state.

At the height of the city's Occupy protests last fall, protesters 
regularly packed the chambers during meetings of the Oakland City 
Council, and there were occasions when they stood up to demand 
changes in policies.

City officials made it easy for Oakland to become the preferred West 
Coast venue for rowdy protests in recent years. It's perfect. There 
aren't enough police officers to contain them, government is 
weak-willed and residents seem to accept it. Through it all, the 
city's downtown merchants and its public image have suffered most.

It's a darn shame that everyday Oakland residents don't take 
advantage of their right of public protest, because they have a lot 
to protest about.

In the midst of another bloody year in Oakland - and on the heels of 
another mass shooting, a homegrown demonstration calling on the 
president to address the nation's gun laws would more adequately 
address the concerns of besieged Oakland residents.

Requesting the president establish a task force and assign federal 
agents to assist cities like Oakland, whose crime problems obstruct 
development and business growth, would aid Oakland more than an 
endorsement of large pot dispensaries.

Boosting federal education resources, extending unemployment 
benefits, increasing oversight of federal funding allocations - all 
of them would provide a greater benefit to a greater number of people.

In short, Oakland is a but a snapshot of civic decline being seen in 
more than an handful of major cities across the nation, and news of 
changes in national policy, dialogue and resources to reverse that 
trend is a much broader message than blowing smoke at a panicked 
medical marijuana lobby who fervently supports big-box pot stores.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom