Jean Quan

Jean Quan,  啞陰戶; pinyin: Guān Lìzhēn, is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. She is the mayor of Oakland, California, where she previously served as City Council member for Oakland's 4th District. Upon inauguration on January 3, 2011, she became Oakland's first female mayor, as well as Oakland's first Asian-American mayor and the first Asian-American woman to head a major city in the United States. She is currently board chair of the Chabot Space & Science Center and serves on the Board of the California League of Cities.




Quan was on the Oakland School Board for 12 years, starting in 1990 after organizing a citywide parent organization, Save Our Schools. As a parent leader she helped save the music program in the Oakland Schools. She served as chair of the California Urban Schools Association, the Asian Pacific Islanders School Board Members Association, and the Council of Urban Boards Association (the urban caucus of the National School Board Association representing the nation's 100 largest districts). She was appointed by the Clinton Administration to represent School Boards on the Title I Rules Making Committee. In these roles she advocated for more funding for urban and immigrant students, more inclusion of minority community history in text books, comprehensive school services and after school programs, and expansion of pre-school and adult education programs.
In 1996 with Quan as President, the school board instituted a program using Standard English Program strategies to teach standard English to African American students. The move created national news with the perception Oakland schools were teaching students Ebonics, while the board refuted the claim.
In 2002, Jean Quan was elected to her first term as Council Member for Oakland District 4 (Allendale, Brookdale, Crestmont, Dimond, Laurel, Maxwell Park, Melrose, Montclair and Redwood Heights). During her time on the Council she led several initiatives, including:
Measure Q: To prevent the closure of city libraries and increase funding for materials. Oakland Wildfire Prevention District: Funds annual programs of vegetation control, safety inspections and homeowner education, and green waste/composting programs. Oakland Cultural Arts Funding: Hotel Tax to fund the Oakland Zoo, Oakland Museum of California, Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Fund for Arts. Measure Y for Public Safety and Measure BB: These initiatives fund Fire, Police and Violence Prevention Programs. The measure funds 63 police officers including geographically deployed "beat officers" and programs to prevent crimes and violence.
Quan was a past chair of StopWaste.org (the Alameda County Waste Management Authority) and the Alameda Recycling Board. She also authored legislation which banned the use of polystyrene containers for take out foods, now widely adopted in other parts of California.
In July 2010, Quan along with fellow City Council member and mayoral candidate Rebecca Kaplan were investigated by Oakland police for their actions during a protest following the manslaughter verdict of former BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle. Police claimed Quan and Kaplan joined a "human chain" which prevented officers from clearing a street, while the two countered they were acting as "peacekeepers". No charges were filed against the Councilwomen. Quan was the victim of a street robbery in September of the same year, in her Fruitvale Avenue neighborhood. Quan attributed the crime to lack of employment opportunities in Oakland.


Within her first six months of office, Mayor Quan met with more than 3,000 residents in eight Town Hall meetings. The resulting priorities reportedly developed by residents at these sessions were to help focus the city’s and community’s agenda. Her election as the first woman and first Asian American woman mayor of a major US City resulted in high visibility nationally and internationally. Quan capitalized on this visibility by traveling to and meeting with potential trade and business partners for the City and Port of Oakland, including the city of Shenzhen, China.
Quan has increased collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District and the community, introducing a program offering late-night youth services in the East and West Oakland areas in attempts to decrease violence with school-age youth. After a surge in violence in one particular area of Oakland, Quan walked the beat with police in the neighborhood, encouraging residents to join a neighborhood crime prevention council. With gun violence up 30% from before her term, many residents and press see community policing with skepticism, "Even law-abiding citizens with good intentions aren't going to risk life and limb in areas of the city where the police don't feel safe." wrote one reporter. Despite the skepticism, the outreach is making a difference: calls to the drug hotline went from 0 to 103 in the first six months; participation in the local Neighborhood Crime Prevention Council has gone from 5 neighbors to almost two dozen neighbors meeting with police each month and identifying hotspots and priorities; calls to the Public Works Agency for blight, streetlights and other infrastructure complaints increased by 53%, and the number of National Night Out events this past August more than doubled.
Quan basically decided to create a police state within Oakland and allowed non-lethal force against her own people. Her actions would lead to a recall election in Oakland which she will not win.


During the second week of Quan's tenure in January 2011, it was discovered Oakland Police chief Anthony Batts was a top-two candidate for the open position of San Jose Police chief. Two weeks later, Quan introduced a plan for the police department which included updating the technological staff and rehiring 10 of the 80 officers who were laid off the previous year. Batts announced his intention to remain in Oakland a few days later, but eventually resigned in October of the same year.
Quan has come under fire due a relationship with "unpaid legal adviser" Dan Siegel after Siegel represented the "mayor's office on various legal matters, from public records act requests to a private meeting with a judge overseeing a consent decree with the police department", according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The Oakland City Council issued a demand Siegel not represent the city as an attorney in any capacity, which by law falls under the jurisdiction of the City Attorney's office. Siegel had been considered a controversial figure at City Hall due to his supposed vocal criticism of Oakland Police, and his presence was reported to have exacerbated a feud between Quan and City Attorney John Russo. In June 2011, Russo left his post as Oakland City Attorney for the same position in Alameda.
A KPIX/CBS5 poll taken just before Mayor Quan's first 100 days revealed that her job performance "garners the approval of the city's residents by a 2-1 margin." The Capitol Weekly named Mayor Quan one of the top ten "Good" Mayors in the state.A KPIX poll six months later, taken shortly after the resignation of Chief Batts, listed an approval rating of 28 percent, with 69 percent responding with "little or no confidence" the mayor's ability to reduce the city’s crime problem.


Mayor Quan received criticism in October 2011 for her handling of the Occupy Oakland protest. On October 11, 2011, Mayor Quan visited the protest site.  On October 24, police from Oakland, other area police departments, and the State of California were directed to use tear gas and batons to clear the plaza where the protests were being held.  Mayor Quan issued a statement the next morning commending the police chief for "for a generally peaceful resolution to a situation".  That night, hundreds of police used tear gas and flash-bang grenades to subdue and arrest over 100 protesters. The mayor's office was flooded with demands that protesters be released.