From [HERE] But then Cabello talked about seeing a flyer featuring two stick images--one pointing a gun, and the other with its arms up. That imagery alone discouraged her. "This is about wealth, and access, and power--and about letting people know, 'We're different than you'," she said of the image. "What's implicit but unsaid is that this is about keeping people of color from even accessing the neighborhood."

It's impossible to tell what the flyer was intended to convey, or if its creator even thought about its potential racial implications. The person leading up the effort to attain private security in Temescal, Ellen Kim, declined a request for an interview. But in neighboring Rockridge, Steve Kirsh says he's attentive to concerns like the ones posed by Cabello.

"I moved to Oakland for the racial diversity. My wife went to the Peace Corps," says Kirsh. "There are great schools here that are diverse, and our friends are diverse, and that's a blessing." For those reasons, explains Kirsh, he went with a private security firm that is both Oakland-based and whose workers, he says, are largely Latino and African-American. In an effort to avoid "a repeat Trayvon Martin incident," Kirsh says he likes the idea of hiring professionals, who, at least for now, will remain unarmed.