London Breed is the mother of her 30 by 30 proposal, but its spiritual father is Jerry Brown. His 10K plan, which he introduced in 1999 when he was mayor of Oakland, sought to reinvigorate downtown by bringing 10,000 new residents and make it more attractive to businesses. Of course, in hindsight, Brown’s plan didn’t work—the dot-com bust, 2008 housing collapse, pandemic and remote work combined to kill it. But Brown’s vision was a grand one.
Breed faces the enormous challenge of bringing her own downtown back; currently, it’s on life support. Her 30 by 30 plan would bring 30,000 new residents to downtown by 2030. The plan calls for “a dynamic, resilient Downtown with residents, nightlife, and businesses” featuring “vibrant, mixed-use walkable neighborhood offerings including transit, restaurants and bars, and nightlife venues.” No longer would downtown be so dependent on jobs and daytime workers filling office towers.
It’s pleasant to envision such a downtown. In fact, it sounds great. It admittedly will be hard to achieve, but at least Breed is trying. She’s such a contrast to the current mayor of Oakland, the witless Sheng Thao, who has no ideas, no creative vision, nothing to offer at all beyond her secret promises to the service unions that fund her and the unholy pact she has made with the race-obsessed far left. Thao has made no effort whatsoever to revive a dying downtown. If she was a real leader, she’d look across the Bay to a sister mayor who knows how to get things done. But Thao isn’t a real leader. Let’s recall her, and Price, and every other gutless politician who stands in the way of progress.
Have an amazing weekend! Back on Monday.
Steve Heimoff