More than two dozen OB residents held a protest rally at the foot of Newport Avenue on Sunday, Jan. 5, and hoped to send a message to city leaders. They want to see more police presence around the waterfront of the community.
About a dozen of them marched down Newport Avenue earlier before they gathered along the OB Wall. Claiming they’ve seen an increase in open drug use, public indecency, urination and defecation on the streets, many held signs that said, “Respect OB.”
One of the protesters was interviewed by KUSI and said the group wasn’t “against the homeless,” but that they just feel ignored by the city and want the same kind of police presence in OB as police give to other communities. She claimed – without any evidence – that people who are homeless come to OB because they know they won’t be cited. News source: KUSI
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I lived in O.B. for years
It use to be dog crap everywhere and drunk walnuts and refer at the foot of Newport.
So now you got junkies and mentally ill .
Bet you wish the Hells Angles were back like the good old days.
Help may be on the way. I just spotted 2 Guardian Angels in front of Starbucks the other day. Not a single seawall dweller in sight! Fingers crossed…
Akwhitty,
Amen brother,
OB is a total shithole has been for years, I have a shitty little cottage that I rent out on Airbnb, i come to this shit hole once a month to pay my cleaners can’t leave fast enough
I have lived in OB for 40 years. Yesterday I had to go downstairs to ask the 4 police cars and 6 police to stop blocking the street. I was told , quite rudely, by the officer that had started the job that I had to leave because standing on the street was illegal, I was behind him and the 4 cars. After helping people drive by, because of the 4 police cars parked in the street, including one parked at an angle, I asked them to conclude there business in the empty parking lot next to them. I was told that I should leave. I didn’t. I’m sorry that the police department had nothing else to do. I was told by another OB resident that the police could shoot me. ????
Theresa, why would you ask the police to move their cars? They must have been working on something rather important if they had that many cars there.
Its no wonder we don’t get more police intervention to help protect the residents of OB when people are constantly second guessing how the officers are conducting business. I seriously doubt that you had any substantial insight into their investigation. Why would you think that you have any right to tell them how to do their job?
Perhaps you should mind your business and maybe thank these men and women who put their lives on the line every day, baby sitting a bunch of junkies and degenerate travelers.
“… second guessing how the officers are conducting business…” seems a reasonable American attribute.
I agree with that Vern, on a macro scale, but becoming belligerent to the police when they are conducting normal business seems a little over the top.
In Theresa’s defense, you have to wonder at the swarm of police cars that seem to show up for every action and their lack of any consideration for people they are affecting. I came home one day years ago to find my block covered with cop cars from one end to the other and for hours. This was a domestic disturbance when it began but when some cops showed up the man confronted them at the top of his stairs with a shotgun and they, rightfully, fired on him. When I got home, they were carrying him out on a stretcher and it was over. Why they needed a whole block full of cars and why they remained for hours was beyond me . The police often seem to enjoy their ability to stop and park wherever they want just because they can, with no consideration for others. I’ve seen them block traffic when there are acceptable spaces at the cub. I am not anti-police at all, but I think she may have had a legitimate complaint.
That is a pretty extreme and rare example Geoff! A shooting involving an officer is a pretty big deal and I’m sure they blocked off the street to do an insanely thorough forensics investigation so they wouldn’t get sued.
One shot fired within the confines of a house stairwell. Not sure if the whole street needed forensics. Yes, it is an extreme example and the response defied common sense considering the number of vehicles and officers and how long they were there. But, I’ve seen equally amazing response to lesser incidents and that does not include the individual officers doing something and parking as I described. This is surely not all cops but it happens. ‘d sure like to hear more about what happened the day Theresa wrote about.
Great job Theresa!
Spend more on cops…millions!
Nah, I’m sure there are plenty of extra ‘spy & listening post’ streetlights that can be shifted from some not-so-important homeless areas that could line the beach like…Big Brother Sentinels to ‘monitor’ everything. Think Easter Island!
And each could have its own name! The OB Rag could hold a naming contest for each pole! Wouldn’t that be exciting?
And the city can hire out a bunch of poverty-stricken labor in India on the cheap to keep an eye on you. Be a heck of a lot cheaper than hiring more cops with steroid-influenced behaviors, wages, retirements, medical plans, vehicles, gas & maintenance costs, oh my yes! Outsourcing at its best!
But then, if you really think about it for a few minutes instead of just getting mad, there really should to be a better way than the police state tactics being called for, don’t ya think? Can’t anybody else think of better ways to solve these social and medical problems? Anybody?
I don’t think this is a snark but maybe it is…$1,400,000,000 budget for war and internal spying. Did you know nuclear weapons are NOT part of the military budget? They’re under the Energy Department. Isn’t that funny? And why is Homeland Security showing up next to the FBI emblem on dvds? Taxes are paying TWO of them to bust movie pirates? REALLY?
And piss-poor crumbs of nearly nothing to…fund solutions to our society’s problems. Do you want Freedom Fries with that thought?
sealintheSelkirks