and travel writer jeff greenwald takes us on a journey of strange travel suggestions in his one-man show. coming up next. >> belva: good evening. i'm belva davis and welcome to "this week in northern california." joining me tonight on our news panel are jim carlton, reporter with the "wall street journal." amy allison, publisher of oaklandscene.com. carla marinucci, political reporter with the "san francisco chronicle." carla, governor jerry brown called for a special election on june 6th to try to solve the state's budget problems. what has been the reaction from both political parties and the public? >> well, you know, the reaction this week belva has been interesting because this is a drama like california has never seen. we saw this week in the chamber, 14-minute speech, this is his eighth state of the state address. and you could see this one was different from any other one we've seen. this is a governor who is an experienced politician, who knows this stuff inside and out, who knows these people in the chamber and knows these issues. and that is where the drama is. he's making the case as you heard in that clip. it is time for the people of california to weigh in and he's got the republicans on the other side who are saying, oh, no, we've got issues with this too. of course, what's being proposed is tax extensions. and california as we know, $25 billion budget crunch, budget deficit. he's saying this is the only way, that there are so many moving parts in this. but the republicans are saying, look, the people have already weighed in, they've already said they don't want taxes, in 2009 they said no. of course both sides in this one are in a -- sort of ham-strung. jerry brown in his election campaign, re-election campaign, said he would not raise taxes unless the voters approved it. so he needs this special election. the republicans, on the other hand, many of them have signed no-tax pledges. they think even if this goes on the ballot, that would violate that pledge. of course, this is the party, even as they say that the voters have weighed in, it was the party that right after gray davis was elected, they turned around and wanted a recall. so both sides have some issues here. >> how does voting correlate with their no-tax pledge? the public didn't make that pledge. >> the public did not make the pledge but all but two republican legislators in sacramento have signed a no-tax pledge by a very powerful conservative group out of washington called americans for tax reform. this is a very big deal to conservatives and to republicans. and mr. norquist, who is very influential among republicans, has said that any republican legislator who supports even putting this before the voters is going to be violating that pledge. right now republicans are casting about, what else can they to? we heard some talk this week that they're going to suggest that the voters get a ballot that has tax cuts as well as tax extensions. the fact is jerry brown is saying, look, as he did this week, if you guys have any ideas you better come into my office and give them to me, because i'm not hearing them. and that is the drama that's going on. >> and it's not just the republicans that he's going to have to win, four or five, in order to put that on the ballot. it's democrats themselves. he's in a way turning back on his own base and saying, i know you're not going to like it, you know. like it or lump it, we've got to deal with the tax issue. >> that's right. we're talking about issues that are close to democrats' hearts. many of them when you're talking about cutting home health care, social services, brown is saying he's holding the line on education, k-12, that's very important to a lot of the democrats. but you're right, when he's talking about redevelopment agencies and doing away with 400 of them, a lot of these democratic mayors, including in oakland, san francisco, are trooping up to his office and saying, wait a minute, no you don't. and you have a lot of unknowns here. look, there are many democrats out there who brown has got to win over as well. and take as an example leland yee, who's already basically running for san francisco, he didn't vote for the budget last time around because looking ahead at what might be in his political future, this is the case. a lot of legislators up there are wondering about how redistricting is going to change their future. how the top two primary will change their future. so once again, california's budget is in flux here. we're not exactly sure where it's going to go. >> are the republicans even relevant anymore? they lost every statewide race in california the last time around. and the registration numbers just keep going down. 31% i think of californians are republican, 44% are democrats. >> republicans, the party is very version challenged. absolutely, this is one of the reasons why right after that state of the state address, governor brown and his wife went to a republican party up there in sacramento and talked to the legislators. >> belva: how fast does this have to happen for it to be relevant? >> we're talking about a matter of weeks. they're talking about trying to get something on the ballot by june and passing a budget july 1st. >> belva: we should define what these extensions are. >> tax extensions? we're talking about vehicle license fee, we're talking about personal income tax and sales tax among the five years of tax extensions. and brown is saying, look, if we get these -- we need to make this kind of critical move to put california on the right track. so going into the future, the budget will no longer be smoke and mirrors. a lot of republicans are i think listening to what he has to say, and he is making a lot of -- to your question, making a lot of outreach to them. bringing them in, talking to them, much more than arnold schwarzenegger even did. in fact, it said that he knows many of them more than arnold did, who he needed make tags to know the republicans. jerry brown doesn't >> belva: how quickly do you think that the democrats will come forth? >> a lot said this week when the speaker seemed to be less than enthusiastic about this effusive -- the fact is he needs the democrats too. the more democrats that he loses, the more republicans he's going to need. four or five republicans are important but the democrats have to stay on board too. >> belva: the most important story in your town has been the future of the police chief. that was settled today. >> finally. >> belva: why do you think he decided to stay, and what were his options? >> well, no one knew this, but back in october at the height of the election for mayor, he applied for a job down in san jose. he found out he didn't get the job last week. but he was still going to make a decision whether or not to stay as leader of the force. you have to remember, eight months ago he was the most popular leader in the city of oakland. he was responsive to the community. he was attending community meetings. he established a public information office that let people know what was happening. but when the city council voted to lay off 70 officers, it was like he became a different kind of leader. and he started saying, hm. i think in his public statements, when those officers were laid off, he said, you know what? we're not going to start responding to particular calls. which is really unprecedented for a city leader in public safety to say, we're not going to do something. so he started this huge power play with the city council, the then mayor. i don't think he was sure, based on the candidates who were running for mayor at that time, whether he was going to be a fit or whether the city was committed to reinstating those officers. now, mayor kwon last week put forward a plan to rehire ten. but the fact of the matter is, and i was talking to one of the city council members this morning. we're losing three to four officers per month based on attrition. they're moving to other departments, they're retiring to other things. so the city has to be committed to reinstating those officers. i think there was enough of a conversation there for the police chief to give it one more go and that's why i think he ended up saying, yeah, i'm going to stay. >> what about the budget issues? we're talking about that. i know that a lot of people think jean kwon has her heart in the right place but the budget is another issue. she did tell the council this week that the staffing is going to be at 666, which can require another $5 million. even the city administrator and the council people said, wait a minute, we didn't know anything about this, where is this money going to come from? >> the city of oakland is facing a huge deficit. to her get the mayor is not going to kick the can down the road, unlike her two predecessors, including jerry brown. she's going to present a budget a and allow the city council to debate its merits and do what they need to do in terms of shaping it. that hadn't been in place in years past. she's crafting a plan and she's pulled in the budget director into her office, so she's taking responsibility for a strategy to be able to rehire officers. how many of them get rehired? where's the money coming from? and we have this specter of redevelopment money that now jerry brown who enjoyed redevelopment money and developed parts of uptown and other places in oakland now says, hey, we need that as part of our state budget, by the way we're going to push local services down to the county and city level. all of that is a big question mark whether that's going to -- already whether there's going to be enough money to support public safety and those officers. i think there's broad agreement that those officers should be reinstated because when those officers were laid off, and this is part of the criticism, community policing -- police that are walking the beats and available to work with neighborhood groups instead of just responding to do 150 kind of things -- that effectively ended that program. and he's really committed to that. and i think if the city and the mayor figures out how to fund that, they have to answer a lot of unanswered questions right now. >> what do you think the plans will be long-term and will he get the leeway he wants from the mayor and the council? do you think he can now at this point? >> that's the big question. we're going to see a new budget in early march. that's the time frame. then the city council will be able to figure out in terms of public safety how many dollars are available. he's probably -- and we've heard that he's been in conversations with mayor kwon about what that could look like. here's one thing that we know he needs. he needs to start looking at the growth of the department, because we've had attrition from officers. and there's no -- there hasn't been a training for two years. there isn't a plan and i think he wants a plan to put another crop of recruits through the training. i know that's one thing, that it's cost $2 million, he wants to see that happen for the future of the department. >> belva: at one time wasn't oakland -- the number 800 officers? was that the beginning of the dellums administration? >> 837. >> right. remember we had that crop of graduates and all this fanfare. and now the city facing this budget crisis, you know. and the city council -- and i can't talk about public safety without mentioning that the city council and the mayor's office were in fights with the police officers union. they have a very unusual pension plan where the city pays 100% of their pension. they were trying to get the union to renegotiate that so that they say, we can't afford it anymore. the union in essence threw the younger officers under the bus and said, go lay off the younger ones. >> this is the discussion you're going to see around the state on issues of pens. >> >> belva: all of it comes together and usually it's under a title called "budget." >> right, exactly. >> belva: thank you, aimee. well, now what is going on with the presidio? this is a crown jewel of the bay area. and now, all of a sudden, it's hit some sort of a wall in terms of its funding capability? to keep it going? >> 1996, congress turned the presaid sew into the presidio trust. they were charged with making it financially self-sufficient by 2013, the next two years. to do that they had to overhaul the military housing there, 1,100 units of housing that officers and whatnot lived in. and also rent out commercial space. they got george lucas. that was a big pull. but really, where they're getting most of their money is from rents. they decided to charge market rate for most of the housing out there. that's been controversial. to some of the advocates for affordable housing in san francisco. because some of these facilities go from anywhere from $2,000 for a two-bedroom apartment to $20,000 for an eight-bedroom mansion which overlooks the golden gate bridge and downtown san francisco. and, you know, some of the streets for a three bedroom, it's $4,000. up to $9,000. i'll say that the people out there seem to love it. i interviewed a number of people out there. i interviewed one gentleman, $6,500 a month four bedroom home, he says, this will be a $3.5 million home but i don't have to spend $1 million up front to buy it, i have real estate elsewhere, san francisco's too expensive to buy in so this is a good deal. plus, if he need add plumber he gets three the next day. the presidio takes care of their tenants. >> how nice for him. >> very nice. the bottom line is that that has succeeded. now they are almost self-sufficient. on an operating basis they already are. and so, you know, they're happy. >> what about the commercial side of this? because that's where the potential protests are. that's where -- you know, what are the prospects here? a lot of controversy about who should be able to go in there. how does it work? >> that's been a battle from the get-go. there was a big fight. donald fisher, they want to put his art collection into a museum in the presidio. that got shut down because they thought it would be too gaudy, too commercial. now there's a fight over a 14-building hotel which would be on the main post parade grounds. that's the most historic part of the presidio. this goes back to the 1700s, military formation out there. it's still up in the air. that's gone a little slower than the residential side. they need more money. roughly $500 million to complete that kind of renovation. the residential, they spent over $100 million. it was another building out there, presidio landmark, completely overhauled, it's a former hospital. they need to lease that, they're in the process of leasing that. right now those are high-end apartments. and those aren't leasing quite as quickly as the other housing. >> i haven't asked you about affordable housing. if it was the city of san francisco, you know, the agreement is 20% of the housing become affordable, that's certainly not the case in the presidio. it's federally owned land that's being developed. is this becoming a haven for the rich, kind of a mini manhattan in the middle of the bay? >> aimee, that is a criticism in some quarters. you know, the presidio will day -- they can cite studies that show they're actually on par with the city of san francisco when you include everything. and there's over 1,100 units. about 400 of that, there's apartments at baker beach which are $2,000. 18% of the housing is for affordable -- families, affordable income. you have to live -- you have to work on the base to get that. >> belva: do they can vacancies? has the recession hit there? >> no, surprisingly. the vacancy right is like -- the occupancy right is 95%. it's really, really high. again, one of the streets they called i think leggatt, they jokingly call it mayberry. brick facade homes, tries sickles in front, young families, it looks out of mayberry. >> we were at the boxer event. they all trooped down there and did the, here's where jobs are happening. because they received stimulus funds and stuff. the doyle drive. have there been a lot of jobs created? what is the scene? >> i think -- definitely. you've got the, you know -- the huge win out there was the letterman complex. george lucas, there's a lot of jobs out there. the walt disney museum. they are making money >> belva: overall it's a rosy picture but they have to do something. my thanks to all of you for joining us here tonight. >> thank you. >> belva: oakland-based writer jeff greenwald makes a living visiting other countries. dave iverson spoke with jeff about his experiences. >> jeff greenwald, you've made your living through your love of travel, including various travel writing, your books," shopping for buddhas," "size of the world." you've turned that love into a one-person show called "strange travel suggestions." how did that come about, that you would transform writing into performance? >> it came about about six or seven years ago. the marsh theater in tran was putting on a series of travel monologues. and they asked if i'd like to come out in between the acts to read from my books. and i thought about it and i said, you know, actually, no. i would love to come onto the stage. i'd like to do something more theatrical. the director, stephanie wiseman, said you can do that if you can think of something. so i spent a few weeks thinking about it. sat down with friends and artists and other writers and came up with this idea of telling travel stories based on the spin of a giant wheel. >> well, let's begin with that, then. because you invite people up onstage and they spin a wheel, much like the wheel of fortune. what's the point of that? what's the idea behind that concept? >> it's very much the wheel of fortune. it's the sense of how destiny impacts our travels. and the -- sort of the title for the show is "strange travel suggestions." which is taken from a wonderful line from kurt vonnegut's book "cat's cradle" where he says peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god. there's this element of serendipity, of kismet, in our best travels. i sort of wanted to use the wheel to make that happen. >> where it stops is where you go in the show. and the stopping points are things like the kindness of strangers, or what else? what are some of the other points at which the wheel might stop? >> it can stop at fool, it can stop at the place called the map is not the territory, theater of the absurd, the ugly american, meals of misfortune. there's 30 stops altogether. and this was one of the big questions at the beginning. are we going to make each of the stops on the wheel a specific story or a specific place? what i decided to do was make each one kind of a theme. for each place the wheel stops there's three or four stories. >> let's see an example of one of these stories. this is the point where the wheel stops there? the example we're going to be? >> it's a stop called in a dry, dry place. >> in a dry, dry place. this is a story, you're in nepal, you're riding on eleph t elephants. beautiful blue sky sort of day. then you enter into this sort of darker part of the jungle. then let's pick up the story from there. >> we came into this sort of dark part of the jungle and suddenly it began winging. and this seemed completely strange. i turned to diane, who's a naturalist. i said, i didn't know the jungle had such strange microclimates. it was sunny back there, it's rainy here. we sort of look at ourselves and look at our clothes. we see that the rain is actually bright colored, all this fluorescent yellow. it's a fluorescent yellow rain. and jitu, whoo is sitting in the front, looks back, he's like, monkeys. the jungle is full of monkeys who have come over the trail for their daily entertainment of peeing on the tourists. an excerpt from "strange travel suggestions." strange would be the underlying there. part of the point is to be available for surprise. even a surprise you might not necessarily put in your itinerary. >> that's right. and i think those of us who have traveled, i think everybody who's watching the show has done some traveling, probably realize it's those moments where we're steered off or normal itinerary. we wander away from the route we had planned. and take up a strange suggestion. we've met somebody or we see a little alleyway or the sight of an intriguing cafe. it turns out that's where we're meant to be. that there's a lesson in that place that turns out to be the point of our whole journey sometimes. >> is that what you want to encourage within your show, this kind of availability to be ready to be random and to become what you say is the difference between being a traveler and a tourist? >> yeah, that's really an interesting question. i think thoese days -- it seems to me people used to travel in a sense to see new cultures and experience new places almost for a sense of remoteness from their normal lives. these days people travel, they want to be connected. them to stay connected through their computers and networks to everything that's familiar. i just want to remind people of what an expansive experience travel can be and how it can really introduce you to things that are quite foreign to a normal experience and off your grid. >> you also show during the show the tarot card of the fool. you like the metaphor of the fool. that we should be ready to be fools when we travel. because, why? that we're ready to sort of step off the edge? that we're ready to take the proverbial leap of faith? >> that's exactly it. the fool, which is the central card of the tarot deck, is sort of this blithe youth who steps into the world and begins the journey through life as a leap of faith. and all great journeys, i believe, all our greatest travels, are really -- they're not a planned itinerary as much as a leap of faith into the world to see what awaits us in encounters and places we might find. >> how do you continue to game the audience? travel stor recess after all, some people hear, i'm going to hear the travel stories,ness where the exit? how do you make that something that engages people and promotes the idea of being a traveler and not a tourist? >> well, i think that, first of all, having people come up and spin the wheel is really wonderful. they're always rewarded with chalk or a yo-yo. that gets them interested. i think the nature of the stories. people can really identify. often they're about my doing something foolish and being redeemed at the end of the st y story. people can put themselves in my position. and one of the fears i think a lot of people, maybe a lot of americans in particular, have about travel is that they'll somehow appear foolish or be disliked. i think it shows that even from the most dicey situation, you can find redemption and a great life lesson also. >> be ready to be a fool, be ready to be redeemed, be ready for strange travel suggestions. jeff greenwald, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> strange travel suggestions continues at the marsh berkeley from february 10th through the 26th. that's all for tonight. visit kqed.org/thisweek to catch up on complete episodes and segments, subscribe to our newsletter and our podcasts, and share your thoughts about the program. i'm belva davis. good night.