Fruitvale Merchants Suffer Discrimination and Crime

The Current Reality of Fruitvale District

Police Officer Greg Bellusa has worked with the Oakland Police Department for 10 years and has answered every type of call. However during the first of week of December a typical burglary call saddened him more so than others.
“It was a sad call to answer,” states Bellusa. He described a family arriving to their home on 40th Street one evening to discover that all their Christmas presents, children’s toys, rent money, a camera and a paycheck had been stolen. “These burglars left the family broke and right before Christmas.”
Fruitvale is a neighborhood in Oakland that is plagued with crimes and Bellusa admits that this specific incident hit too close to the holidays.
In the last 90 days within a one quarter mile radius of the intersections of International Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue, 110 crimes have occurred according to the Oakland Police Department’s community crime mapping web site. The crimes range from aggravated assault, alcohol, burglary, narcotics, robbery, theft, vandalism, vehicle theft and prostitution. Within a one mile radius of International Boulevard and Fruitvale Avenue, two murders have occurred within the last 90 days.
According to Bellusa the biggest criminal problem in Fruitvale are robberies but despite a gun or knife used in most incidents victims are rarely injured.
Bellusa credits the change in the amount of police officers that are out during a shift, now the city has created shifts that are concurrent and shifts that overlap. “We’ve done a really good job addressing the issue of crime … things are safer,” says Bellusa. Since new shifts and more police officers have been added to each beat calls have gone down. Bellusa covers the night shift and before January of this year, when the changes occurred, he would respond to 20 calls each night and now he responds to seven or eight.
Despite Bellusa’s claims that crime is going down there are others in Fruitvale that would disagree with Bellusa and say that things are not better. Aaron Del Angel owns a flower shop and boutique on the 3800 block of International Boulevard and believes that the crime in Fruitvale runs rampant because the police are targeting the wrong people.
Del Angel is an immigrant and says he has been a victim of discrimination by the Oakland Police Department. Del Angel complains that too many Latin people are stopped too often by police check points when in most cases the driver has not caused any offense to merit being stopped.
Del Angel says “It’s dirty and corrupt how the police conduct business.” He refers to the money that the city makes by ticketing unlicensed immigrants and impounding their vehicles. Del Angel believes that this instills fear for the Latin people living and shopping in Fruitvale. Del Angel says this hurts all merchants because Latin clients don’t want to come to Fruitvale for fear of the police.
Last year during one of the festivals held on International Boulevard, Del Angel obtained a license to sell flowers on the street in front of his shop. During the day an officer from the city came and demanded that Del Angel show her his Identification. “I will show you my sellers permit, but I am not obligated to show you my Identification,” he responded. Del Angel believed that she was trying to catch him as an illegal and he had given her no cause to believe that. The officer threatened to arrest Del Angel if he did not produce his Identification and after much arguing he showed his identification for fear of being arrested.
Del Angel believes that the real criminals are not the average immigrants that live and work in Fruitvale and he believes that police should concentrate their efforts to deter real criminals.
As a business man on a busy block, Del Angel observes most of what happens in the area and believes most of the crimes are committed by African American youth. He states that the police rarely stop them because they want to avoid confrontation.
On the same block as Del Angel’s shop is the restaurant Huarache Azteca. The owner, Eva Saavedra, and her brother, Adrian Saavedra, have suffered more than just material and monetary loss; their brother, Guillermo, was murdered in Fruitvale.
The night of Saturday November 10, 2007, Guillermo arrived at Fruitvale BART station after working in San Francisco. He walked a block up to the corner of Fruitvale Avenue and International Boulevard; he was running late to his Alcoholics Anonymous meeting a few blocks away. As he crossed the street he was bludgeoned in the head and left for dead. No one has been charged with his murder.
Adrian Saavedra sits in the empty dining room of his sister’s restaurant that lies four blocks south of the corner where his 36 year old brother was murdered. Saavedra clasps his hands and calmly sighs as recounts the struggle he and his sister have gone through in dealing with the Oakland Police Department.
Saavedra asks, “Why in some cases do the police offer a reward to solve a case? Why have they not offered a reward to solve my brother’s case?” He wonders if the police’s lack of interest in solving his brother’s murder is racially motivated.
Guillermo Saavedra left Mexico to find work and support his wife and their unborn daughter. He came to Fruitvale and died without ever meeting his daughter. For his older brother Adrian Saavedra the lack of answers is the biggest heartache he encounters when he calls the police. “My sister and I are in pain but my mother and father suffer as parents and his daughter suffers.”
Apart from the heartache of losing their brother, Adrian and Eva Saavedra, have dealt with robberies and prostitution at their restaurant. Six months ago the restaurant called the police because a young teenage girl who Saavedra believed was a prostitute would not leave the restaurant. Saavedra says that he and the staff felt bad for her because they knew she was scared to leave the restaurant but they had to call the police; they arrived within 30 minutes. However when they were robbed two years ago at night when the restaurant was closed; $200 was stolen, the windows were smashed and the register and computer were damaged adding up to a $1,000 loss. Saavedra says that the police took over fours to respond to their call.
Many other businesses have been victims of robberies along International Boulevard.
Three months ago on a Monday evening Lorenza Vazquez and two co-workers began to close the Taqueria El Farolito on the 3600 block of International Boulevard. Vazquez says that three masked robbers entered the store around 10:30 p.m. and tied up her two co-workers. One of the men stuck a gun to her head and forced her to give them the $2,500 that was in the register; they took the money and left.
Vazquez stares at the register when she recounts the story. She brushes at the air with her hand and says “Oh well, what can you do, if you don’t resist they won’t hurt you, they just want the money.”
Other merchants have not acted so resiliently in the face of danger. Dress shop owner Enriquita Soriano has been left frightened by her experience. In May of this year two African American women entered her store and asked for a dress, as Soriano walked to the back to get the dress, the two women followed and pulled a gun on her. “My brain wasn’t working, I was so scared and I didn’t know what to do.” Soriano was surprised that she was able to give the women the $300 cash she had along with her credit card and driver’s license.
What surprised Soriano was that she was robbed in the middle of the day. Soriano tried to run out in the street to get the license plate, but the women drove off too fast. Soriano has been a merchant in Fruitvale for 15 years and since this incident locks her store during the day when she is alone. “I know I’m losing business when people try the door and I take too long to answer, but I want to be safe.”
Despite other merchants doubting the Oakland Police Department, Soriano has had better a experience with them. Soriano says that the responding officer in her case, Officer Mauricio Perez, arrived in 10 minutes. Since May Perez frequently stops by the store to ask how Soriano is doing. Even though the two robbers were never caught, Soriano believes the police have done all they can. “The economy is getting worse and people are out of work, it’s understandable that more crimes are going to occur.”
In the Fruitvale Plaza, within the Fruitvale BART Station, lie several shops and restaurants. Betty An, co-owner of Ans Jewelry store, admits that security in their area is better than on International Boulevard despite being two blocks down. An’s jewelry store suffered an attempted robbery on Thursday, November 4. The store was closed and the robbers smashed in the windows. In this attempt the alarm company immediately called the police and the Fruitvale Plaza security; the robbers fled the scene without any merchandise. “It’s safer here because of the Plaza security,” says An.
As merchants complain or sympathize with the police, Council President Ignacio De La Fuente covers Fruitvale (District 5) and his office claims that crime in Fruitvale is improving.
Claudia Jimenez, Policy Analyst, for De La Fuente’s office agrees with Officer Greg Bellusa that crime has improved in Fruitvale. Jimenez credits her office for working with the community by organizing and attending neighborhood crime councils. One of the ways they work with the community is to listen to neighbor’s complaints. “If we hear about a specific tenant that is dealing drugs out of an apartment our office works with the landlord to get that tenant out so they can not bother the rest of the neighborhood.”
Jimenez admits that Latinos are targets of certain crimes such as the ice Cream and food vendors. “Those people are more vulnerable at night because they carry lots of cash and they are outdoors.” However Jimenez states that her office has worked with the Police Department in stings to catch these criminals robbing the vendors.
As many merchants have suffered robberies, prostitution, assaults and even murder the causes are still unknown. The police believe the crime levels to be falling because of the City of Oakland’s efforts to add more police, but many merchants feel that crime has not improved. The merchants differ in opinion; the bad economy, police discrimination or just being in a bad neighborhood. The reality is that Fruitvale suffers crime and its citizens live it every day.