Oakland likened to ‘zombie apocalypse movie’ thanks to horrifying new trend

Oakland has been compared to a “zombie apocalypse movie,” as the crime-ridden city has recently seen an uptick in a gruesome trend involving abandoned cars along the Union Pacific Railroad.

A vast “graveyard” of dumped vehicles, including GMC and Ford pickups, vans, sedans and Chevrolet Tahoes, has occupied the area for years, but recently the problem has only gotten worse.

The area has been plagued by illegal dumping, prompting officials and angry residents to speak out about the issue, which they say depicts a set from a “zombie apocalypse movie,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Adding to the growing trend, the city is in a period of transition, as former disgraced mayor Sheng Thao was recalled by voters in November.

Nearly 65 percent of voters wanted to oust Thao, blaming her for the crime outbreak and the city’s decline. An equal number also chose to remove Alameda County District Attorney Pamela from office as well.

On Monday, an interim mayor, Kevin Jenkins, was selected to take Thao’s vacant seat until the special election in April.

Despite the change in leadership, Oakland residents are determined to make the illegal dump a high priority for the struggling city.

Oakland officials, who have been trying to address the rising problem for some time, told the outlet that they do not have access to sufficient resources to combat the trend.

Additionally, there is an issue with the location of the dumped cars, as they are technically owned by multiple parties: Union Pacific, Caltrans, and Alameda County.

Union Pacific said it cleared the area earlier in November and plans to clear the affected site again next week, the Chronicle reported.

Meg Siffring, a spokesperson for Union Pacific, told the company that the company is currently “working on a plan” with the county and city to clean the cars.

Meanwhile, Oakland police said they have towed stranded vehicles, arrested people and installed barriers to combat the rising trend.

Despite the department’s efforts, the police union says they cannot fully clear the large volume of vehicles because towing abandoned cars in the city is a job for the transportation department.

In March 2023, 13 people working for the city’s transportation department took over clearing vehicles from police, while “technicians” towed cars. There were also two support staff and a supervisor present.

Although they came to help, Oakland Police Sgt. Tim Dolan said progress has slowed since the transportation department took over because of training requirements and heavy workloads.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Dolan said. ‘It’s an ongoing problem. But in recent years it has just gotten out of hand.”

The city previously implemented surveillance cameras at landfills in 2022 in an effort to catch those leaving cars and other items in the junkyards.

From April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, a total of 457 incidents were captured on camera, but only 59 incidents were cited, the newspaper reported.

The city could no longer issue tickets because 23 percent of vehicles did not have license plates.

Another 41 percent of all dumps contained ‘ineligible’ license plate data.

According to a 2024 city report obtained by the outlet, a license plate reader has been installed since last year.

Amid the growing chaos of stranded vehicles in Oakland, the city has seen some improvement, as recent data showed that of the 5,000 requests made in the first quarter of the fiscal year, 1,200 vehicles were towed.

Although these vehicles are being cleared away slowly, vehicles in the city are being stolen at an alarming rate, almost doubling in the past two years.

As officials try to figure out their next step, discouraged residents have taken matters into their own hands.

One person who lives at the end of Bernhardt Drive, near the north side of the railroad tracks, installed fencing this summer to keep people from speeding on their street and driving stolen cars in the community.

In May, another local resident, Ken Houston, shared this CBS News: “It’s getting worse every day.”

“I mean you can talk to some of the neighbors on Edes and Cary. This is just one part,” he said, adding that many people also feel intimidated by car thieves and “feel like hostages in their own homes.”

“Neighbors have been held hostage in their own homes because they are afraid to report it because of retaliation,” Houston explained.

“One person said they told her, ‘If you report me, I’m going to burn down your house and your children.’