Brown Reassessing Office Security
A protest over military training exercises and an unannounced visit by a man bearing a pie have prompted Oakland Mayor Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr.’s office to look at security measures.
“Jerry’s very famous, he’s more highly publicized than previous mayors,” said Gilda Gonzalez, the mayor’s chief of staff. “Frankly, we have been lax. Most mayors’ offices have a lot more security than we do.”
Stacey Wells, Brown’s press secretary, said the mayor wants to remain accessible, and several security measures are being considered. One possibility would be a system to buzz visitors into the office, currently used by City Council members and the city manager.
“He does want to keep the doors as open as possible,” he said.
Last week, a man walked into Brown’s office bearing a pie, and this week he confronted the mayor and had to be ushered out by an advisor.
In March, demonstrators took over the mayor’s office to protest training exercises by the U.S. Marine Corps, but Brown wasn’t there.
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