Good riddance to a terrible mayor

Libby Schaaf will soon be history, thank God. She was the worst Mayor Oakland has had in the 35 years I’ve lived here—and we’ve had some horrible ones. Before Schaaf, we had the inconsequential Jean Quan, a one-term embarrassment who once led an anti-police march downtown. Prior to that was Sleepy Ron Dellums, another one-termer, whose idea of a productive day was jogging around Lake Merritt. Before him was the only great mayor of the modern era, Jerry Brown, who for eight years led the effort to revitalize downtown and restore Oakland’s good name. For twenty years before that we had a pair of non-entities, Lionel Wilson and Elihu Harris. And now, of course, we’re about to have another non-entity imposed upon us named Sheng Thao.