How Buddha Saved An Oakland Neighborhood From Crime
Back in 2009, a dude who lived on a block with a lot of illegal dumping decided to do something about it. What did he do? He got a Buddha statue. People who may not be familiar with the Clinton (or Funktown, or East Lake or Little Saigon depending on who you are) neighborhood of Oakland probably aren’t aware of this, but many of the intersections between the avenues and the streets have curved medians in the road that force you to turn rather than drive straight through. While this has proven beneficial in curbing speeding in the neighborhood, the traffic medians have become a magnet for people to dump their shit. Dan Stevenson lived on the block and regularly contacted public works to try and stop people from dumping their shit, but the City of Oakland didn’t do anything to fix the problem. Surprise, surprise.
Not long after Dan placed the Buddha statue in the usually garbage-laden traffic median, something miraculous happened – the dumping stopped. Not only that, but the statue was expanded upon and became a full shrine for Oakland’s Buddhist community to pray at. The presence of the Buddha statue didn’t only stop illegal dumping, but reduced crime of all kinds within a one-block-radius of it. From the time the statue officially became a shrine in 2012 up until 2019, crime decreased by 82 percent. According to the article I just linked to, the police had no other explanation for the sharp decrease.
Photo courtesy of greenkozi
The Buddha was so successful that there’s a second Buddha shrine just one block away at the intersection of 12th ave and E. 20th St. People regularly worship at both. It’s not uncommon to see worshippers leave offerings for the Buddhas. Everything from oranges, grapes and even a freshly baked apple pie has been left by Buddhists.
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There’s a lesson in all of this: cops don’t prevent crime, they react to it. The real way to stop bad shit from happening is creating a reason for it not to. Complaining won’t accomplish that. Ratting on your neighbors won’t save your hood, and constantly consuming bad news will just make you a nervous wreck.
For every negative headline you read about Oakland, there are a million little miracles. The Oakland Buddha story is just one of them. Does bad shit happen here? Yes, it absolutely does and I’ve even personally witnessed some of it.
San Francisco is currently being beaten to a pulp in the news, and the crazy part about it is, a lot of it is rooted in some level of truth. There are a lot of homeless encampments and some crazy stuff does happen Downtown. However, the hyperfixation on the negative obscures the big picture. The reason I mention that is because what the national media is doing to San Francisco, the local media has been doing to Oakland for decades.
Oakland is more than just San Francisco’s edgy nextdoor neighbor – it’s a city with a rich history and has a lot more going on than it gets credit for. Beyond the negative headlines, misconceptions and police sirens is a city that withstood neglect and derision while continuing to contribute to the world around it in ways only Oakland could. Just like San Francisco is more than a “failed city” going through a ‘doom loop,’ and it will eventually find its Buddha.
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