Oakland Is Struggling To Remove Abandoned Cars

Oakland, California like Detroit, Nashville, and far too many other cities is struggling with an never-ending abandoned cars problem. Residents aren’t happy about the situation and so the city is finally making moves to tackle the issue.

Seattle has a huge homeless RV problem.

According to a report from ABC7, over a period of six months, almost 14,000 abandoned cars were dumped within Oakland city limits. As a result, the city has decided to hire a team of 15 people whose sole job is to clear those vehicles.

That plan involves towing the cars to giant lots under the freeway. We imagine from there the vehicles will be sold to scrap yards, but all this will of course take time. Plus, some of those lots are bursting at the seams with thousands of cars, some of them stacked on top of each other.

The ABC7 report claims East Oakland is where the problem is the worst. And to the shock of nobody who’s been paying attention, it also mentions that most of the abandoned cars have been stolen and at least partially stripped.

The journalists seem shocked as they drive around with a city council member and his staffer, who explain that many of the stolen vehicles are stripped by known gangs. We keep hearing about how organized crime supposedly isn’t behind the car theft surge, and yet the evidence is everywhere.

Quite a few people who live and work in the popular illegal dumping spots of Oakland are fed up with occupied parking spots, driveways blocked, and other hassles. A report from KPIX delved into how some people decided to spray paint profanity on abandoned cars with the hope the city would actually move them.

Part of the problem is as cities gleefully cut back on police department budgets, the result is that diminished police forces have to focus on violent crimes. That means property crimes like car thefts, chop shops, illegal dumping, etc. are largely unchecked. And criminals are capitalizing on that.

While Oakland can try to clear the abandoned cars quickly, we have a feeling the thieves and chop shops can keep the flow going nonstop.

Image via ABC7 News Bay Area/YouTube

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