OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — More than 200 Oakland small business owners are poised to strike planning to shut down for a portion of the day Tuesday.
They are fed up with feeling as though the city is not protecting them from the rising tide of crime.
Restaurateur Ryan Dixon got emotional about the crime happening in Oakland now and how it’s threatening the small business ecosystem that makes Oakland what it is.
“We are all dying figuratively and literally. The business community has just gotten to the breaking point where everyday someone is having to choose to close their doors because they can no longer stay in business,” said Dixon, who is a managing partner of Calavera, a restaurant on Broadway.
“Whether they’re getting broken into repeatedly, whether their staff is being held up or assaulted, shootings in front of our businesses. People are afraid to come to downtown Oakland right now,” he said.
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So 200 small businesses including restaurants, convenience stores, clothing stores and doctors offices- are staging a strike on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to noon to draw attention to their desperation.
They say they’ve gotten no