For nearly a decade, Osvaldo Sanchez has weathered break-in after break-in at his restaurant, Agave Uptown, in Oakland. Between 2016 and 2024, the business has been targeted 22 times.

"We changed the locks," Sanchez said, noting it's been about a year since the last incident. "But it's not because crime has changed, it's because we changed the locks."

Each break-in costs Sanchez thousands of dollars, replacing shattered windows and doors, not to mention the hit to customer traffic and morale.

Now, a points to a deeper problem: Oakland's public safety issues are directly tied to its ongoing budget crisis.

"Oakland can't get out of its budget crisis if it doesn't first solve its public safety crisis," said Jeff Bellisario, executive director of the Bay Area Council and one of the report's authors.

According to Bellisario, the underfunding of the Oakland Police Department has ripple effects far beyond law enforcement.

"What that poll found was more than half of Oakland residents are actually leaving the city to do their shopping," he explained. "Nearly three-quarters of East Bay residents say they avoid Oakland's restaurants, bars, and entertainment options because they don't feel safe."

The report outlines 13 recommendations, including loosening certain police oversight restrictions and increasing funding for the Oakland Police Department, steps that Sanchez believes could protect small businesses like his.

"If you made it more secure on the streets, more police outside, I think that's also going to help a little bit in terms of robberies," Sanchez said. "More secure, you know, more secure for the city."

For Sanchez, that change can't come soon enough.

• Oakland