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Speaking of Brown, hes so much better a mayor than Gavin Newsom. The only reason San Francisco needs a workaholic mayor is that the city has so many problems. Here in Oakland, were so together that we dont even notice if our mayor spends half his time running for his next office or jetting off to Los Angeles. After all, he earned it, didnt he? More than seven years in office and Brown has the city humming. Crime is almost nonexistent and our schools are some of the best anywhere.
And what about those Oakland As? Just because the team goes to the playoffs a few times, where does Lew Wolff get off thinking that he can ask us for help building a new ballpark? Well, sure, he said it wouldnt cost us anything, but hey, we cant be bothered right now; its still basketball season. Let the As move to Fremont or Vegas or wherever; were too good for them. Good thing we finally killed all that talk about building a new As ballpark in Oakland. And speaking of strokes of genius, how about Browns decision to fire former City Manager Robert Bobb? Thats one for the record books. Let Washington, DC, have him, along with the baseball team that he helped them attract.
And while were on the subject of downtown development, who really needs a waterfront? We were smart to give away Jack London Square and Oak-to-Ninth to Peratas pals. Now its them wholl have to worry about it from now on. As for Uptown, were so much better off giving Browns close pals at Forest City more than $60 million of our money to put up some apartments. Here in Oakland were proud of our motto: Pay to play. And were proud of the fact that the FBI is investigating our state senator for public corruption. Whats Willie Brown done lately aside from being on that dumb radio show of his? -- Robert Gammon