MAYOR MOONBEAM
SAUNDERS, DEBRA J.
MAYOR MOONBEAM by Debra J. Saunders Oakland, Calif. "HE'S DEFINITELY EVOLVED in the 20 years since he's been in office," spokeswoman Stacey Wells said of her new boss, Oakland mayor Jerry Brown,...
...He started talking about cutting crime, forcing the schools to shape up, and attracting employers...
...In this scenario, one firm's garbage becomes another firm's gold...
...They didn't tell him that they wanted better recycling or more earth-friendly crafts jobs...
...His success at attracting more than 50 percent of the vote spared him a runoff election in November...
...And vowed: "I will support every lawful action and utilize the criminal justice system to the maximum to rid our neighborhoods of crime and criminal elements...
...Their three big issues: crime, rotten schools, and a deserted downtown...
...Brown's ace in the t hole: city manager Robert ^ Bobb...
...Later, citywide festivities featured music from the Naked Barbies, poems from Bay Area bards (including "an ecofeminist, health-care activist, and lesbian theorist" and a "European-American performance poet"), two "organic materials" artists, three art-car artists, and the organizer of the "Subversive Science Fair...
...During his inaugural speech, Brown philosophized on the "transitory quality of things human...
...The public education curriculum of Oakland Ecopolis didn't call for challenging the pro-ebonics or insisting on student literacy...
...But a funny thing happened on the way to running for mayor: Brown evolved...
...His concerns were traditional liberal concerns, like: By the time you get to the police, it's too late—the early-intervention type theory...
...Hear this message: Crime and disrespect for the rights of others will not be tolerated...
...Heavy...
...But that was not a bad thing, because Bobb could run the city—better than Moonbeam— leaving Brown free to do what he does best: contemplate his navel and attract national press coverage...
...Candidate Brown evolved...
...HE'S DEFINITELY EVOLVED in the 20 years since he's been in office," spokeswoman Stacey Wells said of her new boss, Oakland mayor Jerry Brown, last week...
...He listened to voters...
...In 1997, Russo said, Brown was skeptical of fully funding the police department...
...This was supposed to be a manifesto for the green city Brown would create out of woebegone Oakland...
...Don't be fooled by all the swami stuff...
...Supporters and corporate sponsors attended a private pre-swearing-in meditation session...
...Brown was sworn into office under a giant "seed pod" penetrated by a green moonbeam . . . er, laser beam . . . that symbolized technology and greenery, the converging of the old and the new, and some other cosmic stuff...
...Deep...
...Debra J. Saunders writes a nationally syndicated column for the San Francisco Chronicle...
...His planning guru told the San Francisco Chronicle that Oakland Ecopolis was modeled after the Italian hill town of Perugia...
...By the time we get finished, there'll be a lot less crime in Oakland than Walnut Creek," Hiz-zoner boasted...
...Oakland would "turn the negative externalities of one industry into the resources of another industry...
...Oakland Ecopolis is both far away and very near," the plan for a plan explained...
...what begins, ends...
...No question, from the summer of '97 to the summer of '98 he changed 180 degrees on some issues," Democratic city councilman John Russo explained...
...Brown attended coffee klatches...
...Brown himself has evolved a great deal, not just since he last held elective office, but, even more markedly, since he started running for mayor...
...Mayor Brown has four goals: reducing crime, creating charter schools, drawing 10,000 residents into the downtown area, and making Oakland a city of arts and entertainment...
...Even before Brown was elected, some supporters were arguing that, yes, the peripatetic Brown probably would get bored with the minutiae of governing Oakland...
...The plan gave short shrift to drug dealing and drive-by shootings, and instead talked tough about "the plunder of nature's depletable capital and the theft of our children's future...
...In June, he won 59 percent on a crowded ballot...
...Meeting the people of Oakland...
...It instead called for exercises that let students play at being little urban planners and "a walkabout program" with "field trips to diverse areas of Oakland...
...and what ends, begins again in some new form...
...Brown certainly is anxious to upgrade Oakland's image...
...It sneered at wooing mere industry to Oakland, preferring to draw small boat craftsmen, organic gardeners, and innovative recyclers...
...Crime...
...Period...
...As he said in his inaugural address, "There's a there there...
...The new mayor, now 60, wore his hair in a buzz cut and donned a collarless shirt...
...It was packed with Zen wisdom: "A baby smiles and a flower grows...
...Brown's first official act as mayor: He met with Oakland's police chief In his inaugural address, he talked of filling vacancies on the police force...
...By the time he finished the campaign, he was talking about what a great job [Mayor Rudolph] Giuliani did in New York and how we have to do the same thing in Oakland...
...Inaugurations in Oakland have evolved too...
...What rises, falls...
...What changed Brown...
...Martin Sheen would have emceed the festivities, except he got the flu...
...Last year, when he first entered the mayor's race, Brown posted "Oakland Ecopolis: A Plan for a Green Plan," on his We The People Web site...
Vol. 4 • January 1999 • No. 17
