Oakland businesses to city: It’s “us” or “them” (OWS). The consequences of mob rule…

After the Oakland Chamber of Commerce put out the word that businesses owners are now reluctant to hang around with the Occupy Oakland’s particularly violent and destructive exercise in “Occupy Everything free speech”, the city is now in full damage control mode, sending letters of apology out to the areas affected by the mob’s unruly rule, fueled by a city’s reluctance to enforce laws against the movement.

After a week of broken windows, fires in the street, graffiti… all compounding an already tough area for business appeal due to economic times… city officials are set to make the rounds to implore business owners to stay – hoping they can appease the skeptical 99% who are now wondering if their law abiding rights are second to the rights of non law abiding mobs.

“We’ve had several conversations with businesses that are saying they will consider not renewing their leases,” said Joseph Haraburda, adding that two businesses have pulled out of downtown spaces since the protest began and a third has decided not to relocate to Oakland.

The manager of Tully’s Coffee says she understands.

“As far as the past two years and the activity we’ve had in downtown Oakland as far as riots and things go, for small business owners, that would probably be in their best interest,” manager Shari Rivers said.

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“I’m glad that they’re reaching out. They should,” Rivers said. “At the end of the day, this all falls on (Mayor) Jean Quan and the decisions that she’s made.”

But this isn’t the first, as San Francisco Gate reports that some Oakland businesses have already pulled up stakes and headed out.

Since the encampment started, two businesses have pulled out of a total of 50,000 square feet of commercial office space downtown, and another company with 100 employees decided not to open an office, Haraburda had told the council.

“The situation we find ourselves in is absolutely unacceptable,” said Haraburda, who was heckled loudly by camp supporters. “We want the Occupy Oakland (camp) closed.”

In a city with a high unemployment rate, Quan said, “Losing 3- to-400 jobs … is pretty painful.”

Quan said she also received a letter from the CEO of a company in Oakland that had 500 employees. The CEO, whom she did not identify, said that the protests that seem to disrupt businesses twice a year might prompt him to leave.

Several times a year, Quan said, “he’s not sure his workers can get downtown safely.”

In a moment of irony, even Oakland Local, a nonprofit news site that touts itself as being the “media resource for diverse voices in the East Bay of California and a capacity-building tool to help low-income and under-served communities make their voices heard online” has their own op-ed about the repercussions of Occupy Oakland, and the potential loss of all “hope” of an urban economic recovery. While careful not to totally alienate themselves to the Occupy cause – which would be a betrayal of their base beliefs – they do speak out of the “invisible” 99%, paying the price for the local disgruntled.

Some of them are young people, doing what young people in America have always done – vocalizing their rage at the injustice of inequality in education, housing, jobs. Some of them are homeless. Some of them have homes and jobs, yet the economic impacts that have eroded life for the American middle class have left them with few options to reclaim their voice – so they march with the protestors of Occupy Oakland.

The “99%” are also the “invisible” business owners who struggle each day to provide services in Oakland, to make enough of a living to pay their bills and to provide jobs. These business owners have not been asked to willingly suffer to create a better world – their suffering is being inflicted upon them by others. Several times over the past year many downtown Oakland businesses have been victimized by mindless mobs – easy targets of thoughtless, violent behavior over which they had no control.

The ongoing Occupy Oakland gatherings, too often characterized by the inconsistent behaviors and sword rattling of both protestors and public servants, have severely shaken the confidence of Oakland’s entrepreneurs.

There is deep concern in our business community that Oakland’s economic turnaround is no longer inevitable. If these business owners decide to leave – and make no mistake about it, the rumblings have begun – they will take Oakland’s economic recovery and jobs with them.

To the Leaders of Occupy Oakland: Embrace the wisdom of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi by practicing both the spirit and tenets of non-violent protest. Cooperate with public authorities to deal swiftly and effectively with those who insist upon inflicting suffering and damage on Oakland citizens, businesses and property.

Over 68% of Oakland’s 17,000 businesses have no more than four employees. All Oakland businesses average 10 employees each. We are also the 99%. Help us to thrive and Oakland will thrive.

The charm of the “Occupy Everything” movement is wearing off more quickly than most of us would have bet. There is a fine line between the 1st Amendment’s right to redress grievances… especially when that which they protest – supposedly the bleak future of jobs and prosperity that most OWS types appear to disdain – only becomes worse with their actions. Case in point is the Occupiers shut down of the 5th largest US port yesterday.

Port officials said in a statement that maritime operations were “effectively shut down.” Dozens of trucks sat idling at the port, unable to enter or leave, and the shutdown continued late into the night.

“It’s a victory,” exulted one protester, 21-year-old Oakland art student Umar Shareef. “To get all these people together as one unit is amazing.”

Yeah, that will help profits and job futures… supposedly one ofo their biggest beefs. I think I’m still siding with Thomas Sowell… if this is how a college wannabe grad deduces unemployment improvement, we all need to demand our subsidized education taxpayer funds are returned.

Despite the fact that both a leftist media, and the Occupiers themselves, attempt to draw a very thin line between the civil rights movement, and their mob rule (which only a fool could consider viable…), Rich Lowry made a poignant observation about the contrast in his article today about the “Lawless Heart” of these mobs.

There is an honorable tradition of civil disobedience in America. If an injustice is so grave and the system is so rigged that it can’t be changed through normal democratic means, as in the Jim Crow South, breaking the law may be a recourse. The civil-rights protesters did it peacefully and with dignity. The difference between them and the Occupy protesters challenging the cops is the difference between self-sacrificial heroes and ideologically drunk punks and whiners.

In addition to driving businesses into unneeded and additional distress… or perhaps fully driving them outside of the area for good… there is the cost of attempting to keep these mobs even marginally inside the area of law. As of Oct 28th, Portland’s cost of police babysitting was $186,400. This morning, I heard the figure was up over $209K just four days later. Atlanta’s cost was $451,691 as of yesterday for just two weeks. Phoenix had a price tag of over $200K as of Oct 30th, and Boston City council president, Steve Murphy, is saying the normally allocated $30 mil is but a drop in the buck for what may be estimated as much as $2 million in security costs. And in an Oct 27th ABC News Radio blurb on the subject of costs, NYC was already up to $3.4 million.

But money isn’t the only consequence of widespread disregard for the simplest rules of gatherings and lawless behavior. Not only are the young getting an eyeful of the advantages of mob rule, it spills over into lack of police protection for others. Take, for example, the Detroit bus drivers, refusing to drive because “they’re scared for their lives”>

People who catch the bus in Detroit may be waiting awhile Friday. About 100 Detroit Department of Transportation bus drivers are at work, but are refusing to drive their buses.

WWJ Newsradio 950′s Scott Ryan spoke with Henry Gaffney, spokesman for the D-DOT bus drivers union AFL-CIO Local 26, who said this was not an organized maneuver by the union.

Gaffney said it’s a matter of bus drivers fearing for their safety, citing an incident that happened Thursday afternoon.

“Our drivers are scared, they’re scared for their lives. This has been an ongoing situation about security. I think yesterday kind of just topped it off, when one of my drivers was beat up by some teenagers down in the middle of Rosa Parks and it took the police almost 30 minutes to get there, in downtown Detroit,” said Gaffney.

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Gaffney said bus safety is an ongoing problem.

“If it’s to the point where if the driver is not safe on the bus, then the passengers are not safe, then the citizens are not safe. You know, what about them too? We have no security, you can’t get the police, nobody is doing anything to protect us. And I’ve been begging the mayor and the council for two years to do something to help us,” said Gaffney.

Unrelated to Occupy Detroit, you say? Perhaps to those, unable, or unwilling to put two and two together. Not only are police forces spread thin around the nation, prohibiting them from prompt arrival on the scenes when needed, the Detroit beating just coincidentally falls on the heels of the Oct 28th Occupy Detroit protest against the Detroit transit system, saying the buses are slow, unreliable, and the service not widespread enough to serve the working community.

“Fight back!” indeed. And beating up drivers, now “scared for their lives” is a cure for their beef? Or was it 25 teens, totally unrelated to the Occupiers, who felt so inspired they were confident they could exhibit their rage without consequence? Well, congrats on the obvious… instead of slow, or not enough buses, they’ve now accomplished *no* buses. Cool…

The success of mob rule, over riding simple law enforcement’s ability to protect those not part of the protest, and their property, is an ugly lesson to teach to the nation’s youth. Today Mark Steyn noted that Oakland’s Mayor Quan was a repeat of Mayor Daly’s police presence after the 1968 riots after the Democratic Conference in Chicago – described, verbatim, as there to “preserve disorder”. In Nov 2011, in Oakland, the City Council voted to support Occupy Oakland after the shutdown of the port… in essence making “preserving disorder” the city’s municipal policy.

And apparently, the Oakland businesses.. now telling Oakland, it’s us or them… don’t find that a policy that’s an inviting business environment. Good for them.

Steyn also goes on to document the many businesses that – perhaps hoping to protect themselves against the mob rule of destruction – printed notes of solidarity in ads and on Facebook, only to find themselves the victims of the Occupiers destruction anyway… and not a policeman in sight.

You see, there is no protection… even in genuine, or pretended agreement… against mob rule. And this disrespect and aimless destruction by out of control mobs will do nothing but spread as time marches on in this election year… or until the spoiled brats decided to head home to Mommy and Daddy’s upscale basement to wait it out until the weather improves for the demonstrations for anarchy. What a joke…

Naturally, it comes as no surprise that the Occupiers’ midsts are rift with anarchists and socialists. Even the Democrat Socialists of America are assuming high profile activism with their “brothers and sisters”, with many at the forefront of the events organizing… enough to make a POTUS/community organizer proud. This is one campaign talking point that the real 99% of citizens – comprised of owners of small businesses, pedestrians, tourists, and transit riders – are not likely to find as a plus.

It’s Friday, and yet another day of lackluster economic news on the job front… adding to the dubious fiscal record for this administration that is only negatively surpassed in recent times by that of Herbert Hoover. Considering the added costs being documented to already strapped local governments, and the threatened exodus of business being driven out by uncontrolled mobs, it’s not much of a campaign perk to be on the side of those, making an already deplorable economy worse.