Oakland, California, is ceding control of its local commerce to criminals, due to a Soros-backed prosecutor and chronic short staffing at the Oakland PD, which cannot recruit enough new cops to replace retirements and resignations -- despite six-figure starting salaries. There's more going on than that, though. The departure of two prominent restaurant chains from the city reveals a horrifying pattern that the national media entirely miss.

First, In-N-Out Burger announced that it was closing its only Oakland store, despite it being profitable.  The company’s CEO issued a statement:

Despite taking repeated steps to create safer conditions, our Customers and Associates are regularly victimized by car break-ins, property damage, theft, and armed robberies. Our last day of business in Oakland will be March 24, 2024.

We are grateful for the local community, which has supported us for over 18 years, and we recognize that this closure negatively impacts our Associates and their families. Additionally, this location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and wellbeing of our Customers and Associates – we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment.

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Yesterday, Denny’s closed its sole Oakland diner:

…the safety and well-being of Denny’s team members and valued guests is our top priority,” the restaurant stated. “Weighing those factors, the decision has been made to close this location.”

On their face, these announcements reveal deep problems in the Democrat-run city. But there is a special factor in the closure of both restaurants that the national media entirely miss. It is the same reason that I have eaten at both outlets in the past: both are located on the main approach road to Oakland International Airport. This means that lots of drivers of rental cars stop for a quick bite before or after domestic flights that, these days, very rarely provide any food to coach passengers. After the renters park and go inside, the gangs of thieves, who realize that expensive items like laptop computers can be found in the luggage locked in the trunk, strike within minutes.  So, they target such rental car returns, which are pretty easy to spot since they are late-model cars and usually have stickers identifying the fleet that they belong to.

 I actually heard about this a couple of years ago when I was warned to stay away from the In-N-Out Burger store very close to SFO Airport, in Millbrae, California. The same logic of robbing rental car drivers operates, and the person who warned me mentioned that, on average, it took at most a few minutes for targeted cars to be hit.

So, I am standing by and waiting to see if the Millbrae In-N-Out Burger store joins Oakland in being closed. It may be that the Millbrae police are more effective than Oakland’s Finest, and perhaps they stake out the parking lot regularly, something the understaffed OPD is unlikely to match.

Either way, we see that criminals are being allowed to take control of city neighborhoods, much as the cartels of Mexico are the de facto government of parts of that nation. It can only be understood as the breakdown of civilization.