The mayor of Oakland is much like a child or any politician--he needs media attention on him. The firing of a perfectly good Police Chief and City Manager was to claim the media light on himself, as the man in charge. And now that the media light is on him, and what is it we see?

Whereas Brown may be the darling of mass media, he is no darling of a mayor. Jerry Brown has little to show for his mayoral terms. Presently, the unemployment rate in Oakland is 11%, the highest percentage of the major cities in the Bay Area; Oakland, under Brown, is shamed with the tag of the murder capitol of the Bay Area. Is it okay because the majority of those dying are young Black males? In contrast, the majority of those coming into Oakland under Brown will be young whites that will take the cheap housing the dead vacate.

Under Brown, the school system has gone into receivership of the State, even after the city electorate gave him the appointments to the school board he asked for. The man whom Brown was trying to bring in after him, Senator Don Perata, became the prime mover in the State takeover of the Oakland School District.

Under Brown, the Police Department has had its own Ramparts case that allowed young cops who thought police work was brutalizing and framing because they had a badge to go mad. Under Brown, one of his close friends has been placed on the City's payroll and has been charged with sexual harassment, for which the City paid a significant sum

Under Jerry Brown, the downtown is still dilapidated, even though the sages of this administration spent $300,000 to place lights (?) on the old Telegraph and 19th Street theater in order to say that it is for sale. What wisdom emanates from this administration.

According to his wish, the spot light is back on him, but does he see what most Oaklanders sees? There are serious warts this mayor has that he should not want to show, but when you ask for the spotlight, you have to be prepared for what it shows. That light does not compliment this mayor.

What Brown has been riding on is a gift for gab, but Oakland is a city that already had talkers, one more, as we have seen for these many years with Brown, is no asset to Oakland, and many Oaklanders cannot wait for the chilly winds of a fine election November to blow Jerry Brown and his entourage away so that Oakland can get about the serious business of city building. That can never happen as long as our mayor's only gift is gab. []

Simond Griote