In most cities, there is at least one citizen watchdog who makes it his
mission to keep tabs on City Hall.
Yet one would be hard-pressed to find anyone as obsessive and
relentless about holding public officials' feet to the fire as Sanjiv Handa,
sole proprietor of the East Bay News Service.
For two decades, Handa has been an ever-present fixture on the Oakland
political scene. The balding 55-year-old with a fondness for pullover
sweaters has attended just about every City Council and committee
meeting. His M.O. -- which drove many people who attended public
meetings to distraction -- was to hold forth during the open forum for
public comments. Without fail, Handa, who considered himself a
journalist, would give his two cents on just about every item. He
always used the maximum time allotment -- often not to address
any particular agenda item but to launch into long diatribes against
the City Council. Handa raged against public officials for everything
from illegally parking to engaging in pay-to-play politics to violating
the Brown Act, the state's open-meetings law. |
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At the Dec. 20 council meeting, Handa was not his usual combative
self. He clearly was not well. Instead of sauntering up to the podium,
he stayed seated. It would be his last council meeting.
On Tuesday, Handa was found dead in a house near Piedmont
Avenue.
Police have not determined the cause of death and say that an
autopsy is planned.
Handa's
unexpected passing was a shock to those who follow Oakland
politics. |
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It is hard to imagine an Oakland City Council meeting without
him.
There is a tendency when people die to canonize them.
Within hours of reports of Handa's death, the accolades began
pouring in. Former Oakland City Attorney John Russo hailed
Handa as "transparency's champion in Oakland." One Twitter
user proclaimed that "if anyone deserves to have City Hall
Plaza named after them, it's Sanjiv."
Yet to others -- city officials and residents alike -- Handa was
an annoying, grandstanding pest who wasted countless
hours at public meetings with pointless speechifying.
So much so that the City Council passed rules restricting
speaker time to stop Handa from droning on and on until
anyone who was not paid to be there fled.
I appreciated Handa's encyclopedic knowledge of Oakland
history and his dogged pursuit of public records. I also
recognize that as my colleague, Tribune reporter Cecily Burt,
says, "Sanjiv kept people on their toes."
With Handa around, at least officials knew someone was
paying close attention to what was going on at City Hall.
Yet Handa's great shortcoming was that he was incapable
of separating the arcane from what was truly important.
When he started to speak, people's eyes would glaze over
under the barrage of minutiae. Council members would walk
off the podium. Many people resented his holding the
chambers hostage, while an equal number appreciated his
efforts to hold city officials accountable. His never-ending
sniping at city officials took away from what he had to say --
which on occasion was of interest to the public.
"He was a brilliant, driven guy who had no sense of limits and
no ability to pick battles and that eventually defeated him,"
said Handa's landlord, Chris Peeples, who had filed an
injunction against Handa for not paying rent.
Handa may have been a "champion of transparency" but
only when it suited him. When this newspaper filed a public
records lawsuit against the Peralta Community College District,
Handa -- a supporter of then-Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris --
did something journalistically indefensible: He emailed Peralta
with legal arguments to aid the district's defense.
Handa would occasionally break some juicy news. But a lot of
times, Handa's information was just plain wrong.
Handa's supporters and defenders would probably agree with
the condolence statement released by Mayor Jean Quan:
"He spent most of his life at City Hall," Quan said. "There will
never be another Sanjiv Handa."
Tammerlin Drummond is a columnist for the Bay Area News
This guy sounds like someone else in town,
ReplyDeleteSounds more like he pissed off the wrong people, or they finally got sick of them, and took care of him.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't expect to hear anything more about this guy from the press, there won't be a publishing of the autopsy report, he will just be forgotten.