3 ms·
granted, my information is second-hand, but one of the smartest people I know (very accomplished) had worked with Brown personally over several years and remark
by butterfi 9y ago
granted, my information is second-hand, but one of the smartest people I know (very accomplished) had worked with Brown personally over several years and remarked that Brown was the "smartest person in the room" and frequently could get to the core issues of a given problem quickly.
- CalChris 9y agoI'm sure he could. I'm not calling Brown an idiot. But he's no genius either. Bluntly, we're mostly talking about real estate deals where he had the ability to block and unblock progress at will. If he unblocked progress (UCSF Mission Bay) I'm sure he looked like a genius. But what does he have to show for it all? The replacement of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge was $6.5 billion, at least a decade late, up from $250M original, and then he wanted it named after himself. Really. I'm supposed to call that smart? It used Chinese steel (Rose Pak thanks you) that was delayed every time there was a price fluctuation. Really. The guy was a power broker. But he wasn't an effective politician. He just cut deals.