Day: August 17, 2008

Counting Crimes In Montclair

When Montclarions hear about a single crime, they start thinking there’s a crime wave underway.  Will my car get stolen too?  Is that home for sale a prime target?

Our numbers seem fairly moderate and steady.  In the past three months, there were 82 crimes reported for the Montclair core and 352 crimes in the zip code.  People just want our stuff.

Within Montclair, some 17 autos were stolen or 21% of all reported crimes.  Burglaries represented 22% of crimes, while thefts added 35% to the total blotter.  The rest came from assaults, narcotics and vandalism.

Overall, the Montclair police beat contributed about 25% of all 94611 crimes.  Given the crime mix in both geographies, we live in a pretty safe place based on official reports.

For more information, visit the Oakland Police Department’s CrimeView site.  There you can select crimes by address, landmarks and more.  The results can be mapped by crime type as well.

Obama Rally At The Park, With George Lakoff

Check out the special Barack Obama rally at Montclair Park, which begins right after the Farmers Market – Sunday at 1:00pm.  At the rally, Obama will only be there in spirit.

Professor George Lakoff will be the main speaker, and he will focus on what the Obama candidacy means to Oaklanders.  He teaches cognitive linguistics at UC Berkeley, and also has been writing about differences between conservatives and liberals for years.

Alameda County has favored Obama since the Presidential primaries.  Back on February 5th, here’s how we voted for Democratic and Republican candidates.

During the primaries, Lakoff penned a Huffington Post article about the splintering Democrats and different “issues” between Clinton and Obama.  He applauded Obama’s progressive agenda and will likely have some interesting insights to share at the Sunday rally, too.

This Obama gathering hasn’t been that well publicized – and I just happened to notice a sign posted on the Thornhill 7-11 door yesterday.  I think that Lakoff will be the main draw, because he won’t deliver a regular stump speech.

Of course, the rally will include more typical things, like Obama campaign swag, voter registration efforts and a few baked goods to lure you.

Event Updates: The Montclarion reported that 250 villagers heard George Lakoff, who “supported Obama even before the senator decided to run for the presidency.”  In the Oakland Tribune, one attendee said she’ll vote for the Dem because “I like my president to be smarter than me.”