By Leighton Woodhouse — Common Sense, 08/10/21
“Loren Taylor, a City Councilman who represents one of the most violent districts of Oakland, was one of two Council members who opposed the $18 million diversion. The other no vote came from the only district in the city with even more crime than his. … Taylor, who told me that twice as many unanswered 911 calls come from predominantly black and Latino East Oakland than the rest of the city, believes he’s fighting for what his constituents want: faster response times and safer streets. Taylor grew up in Oakland and has a business degree from Berkeley. He bristles at the ideological pretenses of his critics and says he suspects that the groups advocating for a reduced police presence are speaking to ‘a very narrow audience’ clustered in more comfortable neighborhoods that are not as heavily impacted by crime. When defund protesters showed up to his home in June of last year, Taylor noticed that they were ‘a much whiter group,’ and suspected they were not from East Oakland.”