What's it like, living in the Land of Lunacy??


(February 08, 2006) - Let's say a guy pops into a neighborhood 7-11 and buys himself a tall cup of "Oh Thank Heaven" java. He drinks it while walking down the street, then tosses the empty cup on the sidewalk.

You're a cop and your city has decided to crack down on littering. So what do you do? Anywhere else on Planet Earth, you give the litterbug a citation and tell him to knock it off.

But we're talking about Oakland, California, here.

No, if you're in anti-business Oakland, California, you fine the 7-11 store which sold the cup of coffee in the first place. And every other 7-11 store, whether any of its patrons ever toss a food wrapper on the ground or not.

I'm serious. Oakland City Councilwoman Jane Brunner has proposed a new tax on fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to pay for cleaning up the city's streets. "It's not fair that the residents have to clean up after a fast-food establishment that's making a profit," Bruner tells the Associated Press. Apparently it's also unfair to make the litterbugs themselves pay for it, especially when there are greedy, deep-pocketed corporate devils raking in all that dough-re-mi out there.

You'll be shocked to learn that Ms. Brunner is an employment attorney who previously worked for the business-hating electrical workers union and who now provides sexual harassment training when she's not out stumping for "affordable" housing. Oh, and she's a former public school teacher.

What?? No tree-hugging??

Compounding this absurdity, it turns out that the worst litter problems reportedly occur around high schools and middle schools. According to Brunner, though, instead of taxing the schools whose "patrons" are the actual cause of the litter problem, she's going to launch an "education" program to teach students about the cost of littering.

And California wonders why the rest of the nation thinks they're a bunch of kooks?

Here's how you can contact Ms. Brunner; however, please remember that overheated and profane rhetoric actually makes US look like the wackos, so despite the idiocy of her ordinance, let's keep it civil . . . .

Councilwoman Jane Brunner
One Frank Ogawa Plaza
One City Hall Plaza, 2nd Floor
Oakland, CA 94612

Phone: (510) 238-7001
Fax: (510) 238-6910

E-mail: jbrunner@oaklandnet.com
Staff e-mail: jhorner@oaklandnet.com or zwald@oaklandnet.com