Oakland First Fridays back with focus on community

Oakland First Fridays was back with a focus on healing after two people were killed in a shooting in March.

The shooting happened at a bar six hours after March's First Fridays ended. Still, the event is getting a bad reputation, and some vendors say they are feeling the impact.

Oakland Blooms is the theme for this First Fridays event in Oakland. While there was a good crowd on Telegraph Avenue, some vendors, like Kai Smalls, said they noticed a difference after the fatal shooting in March.

"I feel like they definitely do impact like the amount of people who want to come," Smalls said. "I came in contact with somebody and was like, 'Oh, I've heard about that event is great, but I heard there was a shooting.' I'm like, I'm there a lot, and it's not that case. That's one bad incident, so you can't like label that for the rest of the season, and it had nothing to do with this."

The shooting was blocks away, at 3:30 in the morning, well after First Fridays. Mayor Barbara Lee had set forth a plan to make Oakland safer by adding more officers to the Broadway and Telegraph Avenue corridors and increasing traffic and parking enforcement the same week of the shooting. While it didn't happen at First Fridays, organizers felt the loss deeply.

"We know we have gone home," Venessa McGhee, First Fridays director, said. "Our event is safe and we have a good time. It still doesn't feel like a win when at the end of the night if somebody doesn't make it home."

The event on this night had a special Praise on the Pavement gathering to pray for positive change in Oakland. Those who attended feel the city is unfairly put in a negative spotlight.

"I think we have a good reputation," Star from Oakland said. "Some things do happen, but I think a lot of people like Oakland and California, the Bay Area and San Francisco. We are not that bad. Everything happens around the world."

According to Oakland Police Department's crime data, violent crime is so far down 27% this year compared to last year, with a 31% decrease in murders. Smalls says the community plays a part in fueling the fear and encourages people to come down for themselves to see what this event is all about.

"I think it's not fair," she said. "It's doing a disservice to the actual event because this is a really great community event that everybody comes out for."