Street takeover has become a public nuisance in California. Bay Area and people have protested against these dangerous activities, yet no one seems to do anything to stop them from happening.
of NBC The Gulf has reported Oakland and San Francisco residents are fed up with the street occupations that have been plaguing the area. The latest occupation occurred on August 25 when Hundreds of people riding dirt bikes and ATVs took over Oakland’s Lake Merritt area.
“It just keeps going on and on, and there’s no way to stop it,” said Sharky Laguana, a San Francisco resident.
For more than 90 minutes, Laguana filmed video of a group of about 100 cyclists occupying the intersection.
Before they arrived in the area, riders were seen performing stunts in nearby traffic, even blocking cars on the street. “They have to be held accountable. If they’re not held accountable, it’s going to keep happening and it’s going to get worse,” Castro told NBC. The night before, many major acquisitions occurred in neighborhoods including Vallejo, Carquinez Bridge, Crockett, Richmond and Oakland. One incident even involved a ring of fire as the driver drove around it.
Local officials and city authorities know about the takeovers and sometimes even come to break them up, but it seems nothing is done to stop them from happening.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said the town hall understands the concerns residents have raised, but he said police chasing them could do more harm than good.
No arrests have been made, but the investigation is ongoing, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
In a statement, a police spokesman said the department is also starting to deploy drones to help track people during incidents like this, but he did not say whether any aircraft would be used on Sunday.
Meanwhile, cities in Southern California have become more aggressive in their takeovers to stop them. The city of Pico Rivera enacted a law that anyone involved in the takeover would be fined $2,000 and have their vehicle impounded. Compton tried – And Most have failed — to prevent the takeover using reflective plastic Botts’ Dots and the LAPD ran electrocution leading to arrests — often of people wanted for fairly serious crimes — and vehicle seizures. There are answers to combating the rise in dangerous street occupations, the Bay Area just needs to rally around them.
