Lee’s no dummy. He knows there’s little, if any, chance such a policy would pass political muster in San Francisco. But that was never the point. He was planting a seed.

“It’s controversial. I will be tagged – as the minority mayor of this city – for racial profiling,” Lee, a former civil rights attorney, said at the meeting. “But I’m going to let everybody know that if it works … I’m going to do something in that direction.”

In his first term, Lee’s displaying the characteristics of real leadership. His decision to boldly go where no San Francisco mayor has gone before underscores both his confidence and control. He’s the captain of this vessel.

That the mere mention of Lee’s plan has made San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr and some members of the Board of Supervisors nervous means he may be on to something.

Across the bay, Oakland residents desperately need a mayor with as much resolve.

Whenever Oakland Mayor Jean Quan hears the word “controversial,” she starts moving in the other direction, away from the potential danger. Luckily for Quan, her travel plans have often coincided with controversy at City Hall.

Because otherwise some people might have gotten the false impression that Quan was unwilling – or worse, afraid – to tackle issues head-on, especially when they involve violent crime. When controversy struck last week, Quan cracked like a walnut at a squirrel party.

At a press conference she held to reaffirm the credibility of a crime reduction plan based on bad statistical data, Quan was soon fending off questions about whether she is really committed to fighting crime.

A reporter brought up Quan’s reluctance last year to support gang injunctions and curfews, and the mayor – true to form – revised history. “I’d actually support a curfew that was aimed at hot-spot areas and not a citywide curfew, because I don’t think we have the resources for a citywide curfew,” Quan said.

Really? Because last year, Quan dismissed a proposal from former Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts, who wanted the city to impose a curfew for underage teens. She outright rejected the idea of using gang injunctions to reduce crime before a court approved their use in two Oakland neighborhoods. A few months later, Batts resigned, saying City Hall was making it difficult to do his job.

In San Francisco, Lee knows he’ll never get the political support needed to enact a stop-and-frisk policy, but he just might get a modified, lesser version that can be used as an effective law enforcement tool.

He has started a buzz, fired a hot potato in the air and opened the door to a public debate about further law enforcement remedies.

It doesn’t matter whether they’re mashed, boiled or french-fried and served with onions, Lee has made it clear that come dinnertime, he expects to see some kind of potatoes on his plate. Period.

Quan has shown none of the same political strength or individual courage needed to do the job of taking on one of the toughest urban crime problems in the nation.

It’ll take the kinds of radical steps proposed by Lee, and used in other cities, for Oakland to get results and achieve a respectable level of safety on its meanest streets. It will also take leadership, which has been the rarity instead of the rule in the Oakland mayor’s office.

Chip Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His column appears on Tuesday and Friday. E-mail: chjohnson@sfchronicle.com

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/johnson/article/For-bold-ideas-on-crime-look-to-S-F-not-Oakland-3680370.php