Mayor Jean Quan says that the Occupy movement needed to happen nationally but that in Oakland it was quickly taken over by “organized anarchists” who were responsible for “constant vandalism.” The mayor’s remarks are in a Q&A today for the Wall Street Journal’s (pay-walled) local pages. An excerpt:
We think the national Occupy movement needed to happen. In Oakland, you had a very quick takeover by the organized anarchists. There was constant vandalism. The vandalism is going to run around $1 million. The overtime for police was around $2.9 million . . . [skip] . . . I got a lot of criticism. The criticisms were either that I was too liberal or too hard. I think there were mistakes made. Unfortunately, I was in Washington, D.C. I wasn’t happy to get off a plane and have a text from my daughter saying:”Mom, stop the tear-gassing.”
Add: She says about 1,000 campaign volunteers (along with her husband) have held meetings to combat the recall effort against her but that she’s too busy tending to city business to get involved. “They have signs, buttons. To be honest, I’ve only been to one meeting. I’m not spending much time on it.”
Jean Quan,
Oakland Politics
Mayor Jean Quan says that the Occupy movement needed to happen nationally but that in Oakland it was quickly taken over by “organized anarchists” who were responsible for “constant vandalism.” The mayor’s remarks are in a Q&A today for the Wall Street Journal’s (pay-walled) local pages. An excerpt:
