Original Post Date
2011-08-23 03:16 PM
Original Body
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People milling by on their daily grind.nbsp; The sounds and smells of the San Francisco morningnbsp;waft throughnbsp;the air.nbsp; I watch newsnbsp;crews set up their equipmentnbsp;in anticipation of Mayor Ed Lee#39;s visit to the 16th St.nbsp;BART station. I see anbsp;reporternbsp;rehearsing his questions--and last minute flossing--before the cameras roll. Cops patrol the sidewalks in twos, rousting the poor from the closest thing they have to a place to be,nbsp;while other guys who look like secret service agents appearnbsp;magically in expensive suits./p
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The Mayor was to arrive at 8:15nbsp;AM to meet and greet (who does he know down here?).nbsp; Mayor emfor the moment /emEd Lee announced yesterday that he will run for Mayor of San Francisco, reneging on his promise at the beginning of his termnbsp;that he would not.nbsp;nbsp;Now henbsp;feels it isnbsp;important to grace this district with his presence to answer questions regarding that decision. I wonder if he will answer questions about what he plans to do once he gets there (assuming he will). The guys who look like secret service walk by me as if I#39;m invisible, sitting here typing away, talking about encrypted radios and security related stuff, giving lie to the fact they aren#39;t wearing uniforms and open badges. These guys are cops too. By last count they have no fewer than ten men here in various modes of dress but all of them are armed and harassing the poor--for being poor--where the Mayor will set foot in ten minutes./p
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In this district the poor are nearly all with black or brown skin. Some of the officers roust the homeless by radio, ordering the uniforms to handle their dirty work. I wonder if the mayor realizes that the questions that matter to the people who live in the district he is speakingnbsp;to probably won#39;t be asked because the ones who would ask them are conspicuously absent. At least they won#39;t be asked by the clean white van of channel 2, or its clean white occupants./p
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Good thing I#39;m here with POOR magazine to get down to the span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nitty" data-scaytid="3"nitty/span gritty! The mayor arrives and addresses the news crewsnbsp;informally. I walk over and introduce myself. Wow! He shook my hand. I wonder which of us wanted to wash his hands more.nbsp; He says he wants to talk about the issues that the people of this city want to talk about, particularly getting a new police chief, creating jobs, and pension reform. His family is supportive, he says, and actually talked him out of his previous resolve not to run for the office that he now holds. They told him to #39;listen to everybody, we are an international city and one which loves its#39; neighborhoods and its multicultural span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="nature.’" data-scaytid="1"nature.rsquo;/span As he spoke I watched a man ignore him as he tried to greet him. Apparently Mayors don#39;t really rate as high as he had supposed, in the eyes of the average citizen of the Mission district. Perhaps the Mission has seen its share of politicians who say all the right things and then do just what the last one did. Anna Torres met with him and they discussed housing. She indicated a desire to build more public housing. He asked for her card and assured her he wanted the same. I sincerely hope he means that, if he winds up in the Mayors#39; office after election./p
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Jane Kim then pulled him away to confer briefly as a poorly dressed man walked by cursing.nbsp;nbsp; I seized my opportunity to ask him a question: Good morning, my name is Michael span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Glynn" data-scaytid="5"Glynn/span and I#39;m with POOR magazine, I just wanted to ask a quick question Inbsp;begin. Yes Michael ..POOR? Yes Sir, in the Redstone building... you can see it from here. I was wondering what plans you had for changing span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muni" data-scaytid="7"Muni/span so that they don#39;t target black and brown people. I heard younbsp;talking about a new police chief, is that a part of your plan? he then replied that He didn#39;t believe that span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muni" data-scaytid="9"Muni/span targeted anyone.nbsp; I wonder if the families of those slain recently by span class="scayt-misspell" data-scayt_word="Muni" data-scaytid="11"Muni/span cops would agree. There#39;s no telling who will be next in line for the slaughter, but itrsquo;s a given that they won#39;t be white and affluent. Sorry Ed, but ignoring the facts don#39;t change them./p
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As he sets up for his camera shot, I sit in the background--probably missed in the frame--but I#39;m there. I can see him standing looking for babies to kiss and hands to shake. Most of the people here have no clue who this man is. He looked a little disappointed by that. Glad I could make you feel like a star, me and the dozen or so men with guns who are here for you. Oh he spits a good game on pension reform and creating jobs but he does it like a general retreating to the safety of friendly lines. I don#39;t get the feeling that he is a front line fighter on the issue of homelessness. I would be willing to bet he doesn#39;t ride the bus, or sleep in the park./p
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22 years in government and his record shows that on the issue of the poor he really hasnrsquo;t made any stand at all that reflects the needs of the community that he says he wants tonbsp;serve.nbsp; Innbsp;fact, most of the true representatives of this area seem to have been shuffled off for his arrival, barring of course Jane Kim who was there with Mayor Lee. After the dog and pony show I went down to the Coalition on Homelessness and spoke with James who works at the desk. He said that he wouldn#39;t vote for Lee in the coming election, but that his reasonsnbsp;had nothing to do with Lee#39;s record than that there was another candidate that he favored. Unspoken was the expectation that any person who could attain the office of the Mayor of San Francisco would inevitably show the true colors of any politician. San Francisco has been waiting a long time for an honest Mayor with real concern for the well-being of all her inhabitants, but nobody expects one in the near future, if at all./p
