MAYBE they forgot where they were. Did the slimy little drug dealers who
fire bombed Stevi Ailman's house on 50th Avenue really think their cowardly
tactics would work in Oakland?

The attack injured her. She suffered burns over 15 percent of her body;
she is reported to be in good condition at a local hospital. The fire
killed her two dogs. Athough the attack is believed to be in retaliation
for her activities exposing drug dealing, it didn't squelch her
determination. Just one week after the fire bombing, she issued a statement
reaffirming the importance of neighbors sticking together.
"I've always known I was not alone, and it Is important for each and every
person who has walked in my sometimes uncomfortably frightening shoes to
know they too have the support of good, wellmeaning people who will come
to the aid of those crying out for help," she wrote. She thanked the people
from across the country who expressed their support after the fire bombing.
Miman's spirit is not unusual in her neighborhood. Or in most of the
city's neighborhoods. For that matter. Oakland has a solid reputation as a
place where neighbors fight back. Whether it is drug dealing, prostitution
or speeding. Oaklanders have always addressed issues head on. The idea of
sitting back and waiting for City Hall to fix the problem is a foreign
concept. (I'll resist the obvious explanation.)
From the beginning of the drug scourge. Oakland neighborhoods began
devising strategies to protect themselves. Some blocks organized patrols.
with neighbors communicating via walkie talkies. The Beat Health strategy,
which enforces all code violations and infractions to harass drug dealers,
grew out of a pamphlet written by residents of a North Oakland
neighborhood. The approach has served as a model for communities across the
country.
The battle in Allman's neighborhood has been going on for years. About two
years ago, the neighborhood launched an allout effort to rid itself of
drug dealing. Neighbors a couple of blocks over formed a neighborhood watch
group. They called the police regularly. And the police responded. The area
was targeted. There were lots of arrests and the scene quieted down.
But as is often the case, the dealing moved down the street and over the
hill. Neighbors began to see some of the same faces return to the streets.
"I always call the police. The drug dealers can't win if the neighborhoods
get together." said one neighbor who asked me not to use his correct name.
Ill call him Juan Trujillo.
Trujillo has had several direct confrontations with the dealers. In one
instance, he found the drug stashes the dealers had hidden on his property.
"I grabbed the stuff and told them to come get It. I said, 'I'll give it
to you. but it's the last time.' I don't need that around my property." The
dealers started cursing him. "They called me 'You Mexican so and so' and my
Mexican blood started boiltng," he said. "I goy my gun and shot it in the
air. They ran, they were almost tripping over each other in the middle of
the street. I told them. nobody bothers me. That's wby I don't go out and
bother you. Maybe they think I'm crazy."
Shooting a gun in the air is not a tactic recommended by the police or the
Neighborhood Watch programs.)
Trujillo is hardly a hothead gunslinger. He goes to church most days and
reads the Bible regularly. The morning of the day I talked to him he had
gone out to see why a fire truck and ambulance were at the corner of
Foothill and Fairfax.
"A kid on a bicycle was hit by a car," he said. "The kid's brother was
angry and I tried to calm him down." The brother asked Trujillo who he was.
"I said I'm a concerned citizen. I told him I am worried about the
situation here in Oakland. I think we have enough trouble."
He was able to diffuse the situation. "I am concerned about, these things.
We have to do something. If we see something going on, we have to do
something. Our Lord Is watching and if he sees you do nothing, you're in
trouble."