They say timing is everything. After holding a presser at which she deflected calls to declare a state of emergency with regard to violence that she herself described as an “ongoing state of emergency,” Mayor Jean Quan has jetted off to Washington D. C. for political hobnobbing and inaugural celebrations.
Bishop Robert Jackson of the Acts Full Gospel Church, one of several ministers who met with the mayor for about 90 minutes at City Hall Monday, wasted no time dinging her. He tells the Chronicle, “Wow, the city is on fire and she’s going to Washington.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of anti-police protesters rallied in front of City Hall Tuesday, then packed a City Council committee, shouting down its chair, newly-elected councilman Noel Gallo, within minutes. Among the signs spotted in the gallery: “OPD Stops Are Terrorism.” The committee gave its blessing to a controversial consulting contract with former New York and Los Angeles police chief William Bratton—perhaps the best-known advocate of the widespread policing tactic referred to as “stop and frisk”—moving it on for the full council’s consideration next week. By then, one presumes, Mayor Quan will be back for the fun.
