Merchants in Oakland’s Fruitvale seek help from city to address crime concerns

By CBS Bay Area

Merchants of Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood said they are crying out for help as more and more businesses say they are being forced to shut their doors and fold.

After running a restaurant in Fruitvale for decades, Leticia Chavez had spiraled into debt and was forced to close her doors in in December of 2024. Customers were afraid to come in and she herself feared for her safety.

Loyal customers came to her rescue. Family and friends crowdfunded for her and their personal loans helped her open Obelisco in the Lakeshore neighborhood. She’s now getting to live out her goals.

“I open my eyes and I say how can a customer feel so confident to lend his own money that you know, that they also worked hard for that money. But they feel so confident to help us and support us,” said Chavez.

She grew up in a family-owned restaurant in Mexico’s Puerto Vallarta and wants to show people how Mexican cuisine is more than just tacos.

Chavez is hoping for have success, but the transition was bittersweet. It saddens her to know merchants in the Fruitvale continue to struggle and more may shut down. 

Erick Olivares now leads a group that Chavez had once spearheaded called Comunidade de Comerciantes de Fruitvale. He is months behind on rent.

“It hurts me that every month businesses are closing. Members from the organization. They have to close down because there are no sales, how are they going to pay the rent? How are they going to pay salaries. And, this isn’t only affecting us as a business owner but we employ people from our own district,” said Chavez.

Olivares and other merchants who remain in the Fruitvale said crime is rampant and it’s driving business away. People are afraid of being assaulted.

“We’re struggling a lot and unfortunately, we’re not making no profit here. Last year, we had four break-ins to the restaurant. The first time that they broke in we had a safe here, they took quite a bit of value. I would say over $25,000,” Olivares said.

It’s not just break-ins. Members of the merchant association said they need to see more police and city intervention.

“We’re talking about shootings, assault, robberies, intimidation, drug dealings, the whole gamut. Not to mention the sideshows,” said Jose Antonio Dorado who is the Vice Chair for the group.

While the city has reported a 41% drop in robberies and a decrease of 18% in aggravated assault during the first have of the year, merchants said they believe there is a disconnect between the numbers and reality.

For the immigrant community there may be some existing barriers in reporting incidents online.

“There’s a lot of crime people don’t even report. They try to report, and police doesn’t show up. They tell us that we can make the report online. There’s a lot of people here who don’t even know how to use a computer, Olivares said.

After years of being plagued with the same problems, people said it’s time to push back in order to save merchants like Olivares, whose parents started La Chiquita Taqueria.

“We tried not to expose the bad things happening in the Fruitvale because we were scared to scare people away, but it was at a certain point that we need to scream for help,” said Chavez.

Dorado who is helping them mobilize a six-month plan is hopeful and is only angered by what has happened to merchants like Chavez and Olivares.

“I know that we’re going to make things better because I can see the people working so hard around me,” Dorado said.