By most accounts, former Democratic California Governor and three-time presidential candidate Jerry Brown has been a forceful mayor of ever-troubled Oakland since his election in 1998.

But it's a tough job, and now, prompted by term limits, Brown is making for the exit, already beginning his run for California Attorney General in 2006. Meanwhile, Oakland is still grappling with big challanges. Crime, quality-of-life, and economic development, to name but a few.

Despite the occasional off-topic mayoral lapse - here, and here - into his past "Governor Moonbeam" persona, the Yale Law-degreed spirit-seeker who lived in a commune and once dated Linda Ronstadt has made things happen.

Downtown revitalization is underway. Voters approved added library funding, and made permanent a strong-mayor form of government. Brown successfully pushed for a military-style charter school. He also shook up city government without flinching, and even cashiered an eccentric, long-time aide.

Some of of Brown's initiatives have carried a whiff of desperation. Or would that be, creativity? One tentative proposal for an in-town casino near the airport, appears likely to be trumped, with news today of a proposed mega-casino in San Pablo, 15 minutes northeast of Oakland. Perhaps the huge mixed-use development would bring some spin-off spending to Oakland, but the proposed deal would also bar any competing casino facility within 35 miles.

Brown's biggest downtown plans are a $61 million developer "incentive" for 1,000 dwellings, some retail and a park. But I guess if the Berkeley Daily Planet says it's an injustice, a cynical giveaway to curry favor with political donors, then there's probably some merit to it.

Another piece of the puzzle is crime-fighting. Voters this fall will decide whether to fund 63 more cops, who might bring a bit more peace to Oakland's deadly streets. A ballot measure targeting street violence failed in March; the emphasis was on social programs.

There's also a new anti-murder ad campaign on billboards and at bus shelters, showing a grieving family around a coffin.

Sometimes, you get the feeling nobody really gives a damn in Oakland, writes John Fall in the Sunday San Francisco Chronicle. He volunteers in Oakland's Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, which he describes as "a microcosm of Oakland and of the problems seemingly endemic to large swaths of the city."

Drug deals, mean glares, drug use, truant teens, crack addicts, a spray-painted path, trash cans "burned into melted hunks," discarded old appliances, household junk, broken glass, picnic refuse, used condoms and diapers: that's what Fall sees in Peralta Hacienda Historical Park. He offers:

This is the physical and mental state of Oakland. Having lived in the far northern, forgotten reaches of Manhattan in the mid-1980s, I can attest that the situation in Oakland today is worse. In New York City, most citizens wanted their city to be livable, habitable and friendly. Now, it is all of those things. There is little of the same desire here, and without a majority working toward a better city, one will not materialize.

Fixing a city's many "broken windows" means other things get fixed too, as Rudy Giuliani understood. Researchers reported at an American Psychological Association convention that their study of students at three Oakland middle schools suggests the children of parents less interested in "community belonging" were more likely to engage in delinquent behavior and contemplate suicide.

Sometimes what sounds like community belonging isn't. Some so-called reformers in Oakland are more interested in raiding their non-profit's cookie jar than in making things better. Such as the police watchdog group.

Yet even growing up amidst dysfunction, some Oakland kids make it out - whole, and clearly on the path to success. This impressive young man sounds like he might even want to return one day, because it's home, after all.

But what kind of home? As John Fall says, "without a majority working toward a better city, one will not materialize." The next mayor of Oakland must be a charismatic leader who stresses that community development isn't just bricks and mortar; it's also rooted in the power of the individual. A person somewhat like Brown, but more focused.

So, ah, Rudy, listen, after this Mexico City thing.......

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at August 18, 2004 07:52 AM

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