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Ghosttown is the informal name of a neighborhood in West Oakland, Oakland, California. The name may derive from when eminent domain forced hundreds of families out of hundreds of homes, and the town looked like a ghost town. Another anecdote refers to the town as having so many killings it was becoming a ghost town. It stretches from 31st Street to 35th Street in the area immediately southwest of the Macarthur Maze. This neighborhood has active citizen crime patrols, including one group of seniors who patrol the neighborhood weekly. The community of Ghosttown is a well recognized neighborhood of Oakland, although its recognition stems partially from its record of crime. Jerry Brown, formerly governor of California and Mayor of Oakland stated: "Instead of an omnibus crime bill, you have to deal with shootings in Ghostown in West Oakland and sideshows in East Oakland."

The term "ghost riding the whip", when a person puts the car in neutral or allows it to idle and then the driver (and passengers) of a vehicle exit while it is still rolling and dance beside it or on the hood or roof, is said to have been developed in Oakland and obtained its name from Ghosttown. Oakland rapper Mistah F.A.B. popularized the term with his song "Ghost Ride It", which held playtime on radio and television stations throughout the United States, and said that he first saw the practice in Ghosttown.

City of Oakland programs

The city of Oakland set forth an agenda of social programs in its Measure Y campaign. One of the programs targeted on the Ghosttown neighborhood and El Sobrante neighborhood was a youth intervention progam. The specific program is termed by the city the "City-County Neighborhood Initiative". Its strategy, according to the Human Services Department is "based on best practices, has community builders going door-to-door to support and encourage neighbors to address their issues (e.g., typically truant youth, blight, and drug dealing) and help them ultimately to organize (e.g., Block captains, neighborhood watches, Home Alert, Renters or Home Owners’ Associations) and take ownership of their communities. This strategy is based on the theory that violence must be addressed in the context of the community in which it occurs."

Notes and references

1. ^ Antonioli, Dan. "A Short History of Ghost Town".
2. Peirce, Neal (1972). The Pacific States of America: People, Politics, and Power. Alaska: W. W. Norton. p. 387. ISBN 0393052729.
3. "Eyes, ears, feet on streets; Citizen groups gather to patrol neighborhoods, help law enforcement". San Francisco Chronicle. May 27 2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. Ostler, Scott (June 22, 2007). "Baseball Brings Life: Boy's death spurs Oakland couple to save neighborhood kids one game at a time". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. DeFao, Janine (October 9, 2005). "Dellums may face big reality check". San Francisco Chronicle. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
6. Farhi, Paul. "Ghost-Riding: Brake-Dancing With Zip Under the Hood", The Washington Post, December 27, 2006, p. C01. Accessed October 18, 2007. "Although such antics probably began with the invention of the automobile, ghost-riding seems to have sprung from Oakland's "hyphy" movement, a hip-hop style with its own slang, fashion and car culture. Dating back to at least the 1980s, young people on Oakland's tough east side have been staging impromptu car rallies, or "sideshows."... F.A.B. (real name: Stanley Cox) says in an interview that he first saw people ghost-riding about 10 years ago in Oakland's "Ghosttown" section (where he thinks the name might have originated)."
7. "Programs for families and children". City of Oakland, Department of Human Services. The City-County Neighborhood Initiative, a program run by the City of Oakland Division of Neighborhood Services operates in two neighborhoods, in Ghost Town in West Oakland and Sobrante Park in East Oakland. The community builders work closely with teams of service agencies including the Service Delivery System (SDS) Teams, Neighborhood Services Coordinators, County agencies, schools, and local non-profit agencies. In the neighborhoods currently participating in the initiative, youth have become a key focus for neighborhood organizing.

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