Oakland’s Former Mayor Blasts Mayor Jean Quan On Occupy Oakland

Even though Elihu Harris hasn’t been the Mayor of Oakland since 1999 (and was Mayor between 1990 and 1999), he’s still a fixture in Oakland....

And how would Elihu have handled the Occupy Oakland matter if he were still Mayor?

“I think first of all, I wouldn’t let people occupy the space in front of City Hall,” Harris remarked. “I think that was the wrong thing to do. It is the City’s park, it is not the Occupy Oakland park. There are probably places in Oakland were you could occupy – have a tent city – that would not be precarious or challenging for other public citizens who wanted to come to City Hall and take care of their business. I think the issues that are raised by Occupy Oakland are, in many ways, correct, but appropriate, if not urgent...

“I think it’s questionable (that she could survive the political problems caused for her by her handling of the Occupy Oakland matter),” he said. “I think there are people who believe she has abdicated leadership and as a result, should resign. There are certainly still people talking about recall. And before either of those things happens, I think she still has time to make some decisions, and certainly to take some actions that are going to give people some comfort and a sense that there is leadership and certainly there’s the willingness to stand up and do what’s necessary. Bringing this under control.”(continued)

There are plenty of good vacant lots in West Oakland that the Occupiers could use for their tent cities.

I was downtown this afternoon and had a good look at Frank Ogawa Plaza and the OWIE tent city there. Lots of people (not part of the movement) were walking around and taking pictures. There were a couple of bulletin boards posted at the entrance listing activities for that day.

A couple of blocks away I heard a couple of twentysomething men discuss the importance of “organizing.”

At the nearby Burger King (14th and Broadway) there were few patrons, but a couple of the OWIE kids were there, a guy and a girl, early twenties, ungroomed, unwashed. Both had funny eyes: bleary, wide, and unfocused. My guess is that they were completely stoned. The girl who’d placed her order at the front counter seemed oblivious to everything but her receipt, which she apparently had trouble reading.

I didn’t see much evidence of vandalism to downtown businesses, other than some spray-painting here and there. There are so many vacant storefronts there these days that the vandals don’t even bother using them to make a statement; a going concern is so much more worthwhile.

A fancy restaurant at 19th and Broadway (occupying the old and great I. Magnin store) had its front window smashed. The cracks were mended with a web of duct tape, and a couple of Black Widow spider decals were pasted over it, to make it appear to be an intentional window display (post-Halloween).

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