A perfect quote that I ran across after I sent today’s Morning Jolt to the editors: California governor Gavin Newsom, addressing reporters in San Francisco, Thursday:
I know folks say, “Oh, they’re just cleaning up this place because all these fancy leaders are coming into town.” That’s true… because it’s true. But it’s also true that for months and months and months prior to APEC, we’ve been having different conversations.
Got that, residents of big cities beset by crime, homelessness, and breakdown in public order? If you want your streets cleaned up and your sidewalks free of human feces and hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia, the tent cities of homeless people removed, graffiti painted over, and all kinds of high-speed beautification efforts, all you need to do is host a major international conference featuring the president and the dictator who runs China!
Now, how do we get major international conferences to be hosted by Los Angeles, Oakland, Detroit, Camden, Saint Louis, Baltimore, Cleveland . . .