For decades, street-level sex trafficking in Oakland has been concentrated along a stretch of International Boulevard east of Lake Merritt, through Little Saigon and San Antonio, a corridor known as "the Blade." As District 2 voters receive their ballots, the two candidates for the City Council seat are offering different approaches to it, The Oaklandside reports.

Wang: enforcement, barriers and a survivor fund

Councilmember Charlene Wang, who has held the seat for 16 months, has made the issue a priority. In mid-September the city put temporary barricades at Ninth, 10th and 11th avenues between International Boulevard and East 15th Street, a pilot that officials will later judge using traffic, emergency-response, crime and community-feedback data. A neighborhood youth group leader told The Oaklandside the activity has largely left those three blocks but moved to nearby streets, the same pattern seen after a 2023 pilot on East 15th Street.

Earlier this year Wang introduced a trafficking survivor support fund paid for by fines on buyers, traffickers and businesses involved in exploitation, which she says is the first of its kind in California. The city has not yet collected any fines because the administrative process isn't finished. Wang says she secured funding for a paralegal to handle the penalties. Some survivor advocates said the program was rolled out before services and collections were ready.

Wang also wants more police operations aimed at buyers and traffickers, more city and county money for survivor services, and Oakland's 211 line to become a central way to connect survivors with help.

Adams: prevention and stable funding

Challenger Nate Adams, a community organizer backed by the East Bay Democratic Socialists of America, argues that poverty, unstable housing and the foster care system leave people vulnerable to exploitation. He wants a standing group that includes Alameda County's H.E.A.T. Watch program, survivors, schools and nonprofits, along with more street lights, crossing guards and community ambassadors.

Adams would push the county to expand safe placements for foster youth and favors multi-year funding for groups that serve exploited young people, instead of short-term grants.

When to vote

Ballots began going out Oct. 5, and Election Day is Nov. 3.