what did Jerry Moonbeam Brown do between his stints as the Once And Future Governor? he "managed" the city of Oakland, which is of course HUGE SUCCESS!!
a few of his Oakland Highlights:
while the Oakland School District was in receivership by order of the courts, they dropped $80+ million to build a swanky new office building for the school district administrators
spent $500k to design a new logo for the school district, and print up new stationery with the new logo
instituted a "green" bus program for the public transit system, but the busses cost 4x more than the old (less then 5 years old on average) diesel buses, and then they had to retrain their mechanics to service the new busss and dispose of (at a loss) the perfectly serviceable old ones. the result: not enough buses, higher ticket prices, more breakdowns, and a giant sucking wound to the city's already mangled finances
instituted new "city beautification programs" which forced homeowners to adhere to strict new standards, and shifted the cost of tending city owned trees to the nearest homeowner. now, when the city says their tree is your responsibility, you must pay for it's trimming, but you cannot do it yourself, you must first get a permit (~$100) to trim the tree, and then hire a licensed arborist to do the job (~$300) or the city will do it for you, and give you the bill, plus a $500 fine for failing to keep their tree trimmed for them.
and should the tree drop a branch in a windstorm and damage somebody's property, or injure somebody, YOU have the civil liability and YOU get sued.
when the roots bust up the sidewalk, YOU must pay for the repairs to the city's sidewalk from THEIR tree. (
Protip: the city council members flagrantly ignore their own mandates)
Edit: I forgot this gem
in cooperation with the Chez Panisse Foundation (google it) and the San Francisco Waste Management Agency they set up a program to provide free "Organic" fertilizers to schools for vegetable gardens in the inner city, the problem is, the EPA FDA and USDA prohibit this particular "fertilizer" from being used in agriculture, in the "food chain" for humans or even livestock, and it is not even allowed for use on golf courses, because it is made from municipal sewage waste and includes dangerously high levels of heavy metals, PCB's and other toxic materials. when they were informed thusly, they tried to change the label from "Organic" to "organic" (see the difference?) which they believed would solve the issue. it did not. they continued violating all the regulations and laws in sight to dispose of this TOXIC WASTE in schoolyard vegetable gardens for years until the courts finally forced them to stop.
http://www.prwatch.org/news/2010/07/9243/chez-sludge-how-sewage-sludge-industry-bedded-alice-waters
despite all this Oakland remained the shining city on a hill it has been since the 1970's, with all the class style and culture we have come to expect from that glorious metropolis.
And cheaply done... Fuck the gov...there needs to be some serious reform in this country in a lot of areas
