Plus. Im here at the new sfja strzz center in San Francisco. Well go on a behind the scenes tour to find out what makes this place so groundbreaking. Coming up. Good evening. Welcome to this week in Northern California. Its been an eventful week with the governors address from the state capital, emotions running high in oakland. Not to mention a new one of a kind Arts Institution celebrating a grand opening in San Francisco. We have much to get to. Lets begin by introducing our panelists. Joining me tonight, matthai kuruvila, San Francisco chronicle reporter. Jolie odell, of venturebeat. Com. As well as john myers, kxtv Political Editor joining us from sacramento. Governor jerry brown struck a confident tone on thursday, applauding lawmakers and voters for making tough decisions to balance californias budget. He also pushed for his priorities including education and regulatory reform. Now, john, how would you rate his speech and what left the biggest impressions on you . Well, you know, rating the speech, a speech from jerry brown is really tough to do because its unlike any other speech you get from any other governor. How many governors go from the book of genesis to the little engine that could in one 25minute speech . This was a vintage jerry brown speech. I think really what you saw here was a little bit of the governor running a victory lap. Proposition 30 passed. Temporary taxes passed. The budget looks a lot better. I think this was the governors chance to pivot, to pivot to talking about what makes california great, how we get them back on track. Dont worry, were getting there. So i took this as a real optimistic speech with a lot of details, a lot of brown history facts. And really a message i think not only to the legislature but to the public of, like, im watching it. Were going to be careful, but were going to move forward. And, john, you mentioned he was very quirky in his speech. Clearly the governor is enjoying his popularity right now and quoted everyone from philosophers and poets. Lets take a listen. Im sorry, say again . The most diverse, creative and longest standing mass migration in the history of the world. Thats california, and we are sons and daughters. This special destiny never ends. It slows. It falters. It goes off the track. And ignorance and prejudice but soon resumes again. More vibrant and more stunning in its boldness. So, john, how has the speech been received by lawmakers, both democrats and republicans . Well, i think he got pretty high marks. You know, interesting thing about state of the state speech is it really depends is the governor talking to the members of the legislature in the room . Is he talking to the public . The rest of california through those of us in the press . I think the legislators gave him pretty good marks. Even republicans. Many of them who said he sounded like a conservative. And i think, you know, the great fascinating thing of 2013 here in sacramento, the state capital, is jerry brown with a democratic supermajority in the legislature. Do they get behind him and let him lead . Do they want to make their own decisions here . Is there any kind of conflict . The leadership of the legislature, the Assembly Speaker john perez, Darryl Steinberg said, no, were onboard with jerry browns plan. There are democrats in the legislature who have a much broader view of state spending and restoration of previous cuts. And the governors going to have an interesting debate with those democrats about what the state really can afford. John, how fleeting is this Financial Stability . Hes choosing these Capital Projects when you have health and welfare programs that have been cut by 15 billion over the last four years but hes clearly choosing not to go in that direction. Yeah, its a good question. I mean, the challenge here is knowing exactly what the states finances are. We got this data, weve got this data over the last week or so that showed about a 4 billion increase in revenues from what we thought we had. It turns out, you know, that we really dont know for sure where the economy is going. We dont know if that was a temporary thing. We dont know if it was money that came in early because of the federal tax concerns and the people who are the most wealthy in california paying early. The bottom line is we dont really know what those revenues are. I think the governor wants to wait and see what they are before he starts talking about those restorations. You know what, one of the really fascinating things in this speech, the governor made a point of saying, you know, just giving money back to people only to take it away when the economy goes bad is cruel. Its not progressive. It is bad politics. Its bad for the people. Its bad governing. Im not going to go back and do that. I think you are going to hear the governor make this time and again that we want these programs, but if its not longterm sustainable money, we shouldnt be spending it. Since youre talking about longterm projects, john, he still wants the water tunnels. He still wants highspeed rail. How realistic are those goals given that theres so much uncertainty in the future . Yeah. Its going to be fascinating. I mean, one of the things we got out of this speech is the split personality of jerry brown in a way. Hes a guy who says, im tightfisted, im going to watch every nickel. Were not going to spend too much money. Then he says were going to spend billions of highspeed rail and a Water Project through the delta. I think the Water Project is the first big hurdle here in sacramento. Hes got to convince people about those underground tunnels that would go around the delta. That theres enough habitat restoration. A big fight with environmentalists. On highspeed rail, its going to break ground projected at the end of 2013, but the money california needs is from washington. Its not from california pocketbooks. And the Congressional Republicans at this point have said no way, no how. The governor has got to continue to use the bully pulpit, i think, to make that case even though the president is on his side to get that money. So, you know, were talking about long term versus less long term, shortterm money here. I think thats the way the governor would explain it. I do think that selling this to the public is tough. To say we dont have money to do more than what were doing, but weve got this grand vision that we have to spend money for. Hes got to find a way to explain that, i think, to californians. John, real quickly. What about education . Still a top priority for him. What does he plan to do with that . I think california i think education, rather, is the big fight of 2013. I really would tell people to Pay Attention to this one. The governors plan in brief would loosen the rules that sacramento makes on local schools and how they spend their money. He would also send more money to schools with poor children and english learners. That means that youre going to have money shifted away from some suburban schools, from some rural schools. Thats a huge fight. And i think, you know, what we think thats going to be versus the political fight were going to have, its really going to be one to watch. All right. And we will be watching. So will you, john. Thanks so much for joining us. We have to say goodbye to you now. I know you want to spend time with your family and young kids. Have a good evening. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Well, to oakland now. After hours of heated testimony, the city Council Voted to hire an outsider. Police consultant bill bratton. Hes the former police chief in los angeles and new york. Praised by many but also vilified by others. Now, matthai, with the high crime rate, why are people so up in arms about bill bratton . Why is he so controversial . He really is symbolic of a lot of tensions within oakland right now. You have a city with a high crime rate already, and its been rising. It was a 23 increase last year. At the same time, you have a so theres a faction of the community that wants is very concerned about increasing the amount of police that there is in the city. Same time, theres a faction, its not clear how large these groups are, that is very resentful of the way policing is done in oakland. And so bratton comes to symbolize that because he not only was the police chief at a time when crime went down in new york, but he also used very aggressive tactics. And the specter of both of those things happening riled up, you know, two of these very polarized forces within the city. He also has implemented in the past something called stop and frisk. What is that . And why are there so many critics . Stop and frisk actually goes back many, many decades. The Supreme Court affirmed it as a use in 1968. So its been around and in practice for a long time. And basically what it allows is if an officer has a reasonable suspicion of that somebody has been involved in a crime, theyre allowed to stop them. If they have reasonable suspicion that the person is armed, they can pat them down externally. They cant put their hands into a suspects pockets, for example. And, but what bratton did, and for that practice those are allowed, and civil rights attorneys will say that happens, thats allowed all over the country. What bratton did in new york was a much more aggressive form of that. There was in heavy crime areas, drug market, openair drug market areas. You had a very intensive use of stop and frisk. And it had there was a now, those drug market areas in new york were heavily impacted. Now, whether they could have been impacted without stop and frisk is an open question. Sociologists say. So, but bratton and other police advocates would say it was instrumental, but, again, thats an open question whether it was, how necessary that was. Now, how much interaction will bratton have with the community . Because at the city council this week, there was heated public testimony for hours with people opposed to having him in the city of oakland and bringing his policies here. How effective can he be if the community doesnt support him . Its an interesting question. Originally, he was going to be leading the town hall forums where he would be interacting with the community and recognizing the reaction that he got in oakland. The police chief quickly realized that was not going to be a good position for him. At the same time, what hes going to be doing is hes going to be implementing a crime plan for a city. Now, this is a city with the highest Violent Crime rate in the entire state and it doesnt have a crime plan on how to address it. So hes going to be working on that and developing more datadriven policing policies. And these are things that really deal more with the management of the Police Department. And, you know, improving the efficiency of management. And theoretically, thats something he could have a huge impact on and not be riled up in this Community Reaction as much. It is a critical time for oakland as you say. Its now described as the most dangerous city in california. 131 homicides last year. The most since 2006. There are only 613 officers now. Thats the lowest staffing level in oakland in more than a decade. So what, exactly, is in brattons contract . What is he responsible for . Some of that is vague. Thats brought up some concerns. But, again, he theres a program called comp stat which helps figure out, which helps command staff in the Police Department figure out how to deploy officers and the department as a whole in relation to the crime and the way that its happening. So thats something that hes proven that hes very good at in new york. Hotspot policing is another way people talk about it. And that was a key element of his strategy in new york. So that is one element. And, again, increasing the efficiency of how the Department Responds to crime. Now, what exactly specifically hell be doing, thats a little bit more vague. Is there an irony here . Because oakland used to have a police chief, anthony bats, as you know. He had views that were very similar to bratton and the city ran him out of town. So amid that backdrop, can we read anything into that about brattons chances of succeeding in oakland . Well, hes really just a tiny portion of what policing will be about in oakland. I think thats why, again, i think about him as more a symbol than what the daytoday might be. Because his contract is really for a whole team of people, and its a 250,000 contract. Oakland spends 160 million on policing every year. And so this is just a very tiny portion of the policebudget. And so well see what kind of impact hell have, but theres so much focus on him, its almost taking away from the larger issues that are happening right now. Thats a good point. Okay. I know youll be watching. All right. Lets move on to Silicon Valley now. The maker of ipads and iphones posted strong profits. 13 billion in the final quarter of 2012 for apple. But the news landed with a thud as the companys stock prices plummeted. So, jolie, why the drop . Oh, its a little bit of a mystery to everybody whos looking very realistically at the numbers, i think. Analysts predicted that apple in the last quarter would sell Something Like 50 million iphones, and apple disappointed them by selling 47. 8 million iphones. They beat expectations for a lot of other estimates, but they fell behind in a couple. Analysts thought apple would sell a lot more macs. Surprise, surprise. Consumers today are buying more phones than computers. And apple missed the mark there. Still, they have very strong revenue, record profits. Inve investors, i think, were disappointed for the wrong reasons. Thats why the stock has dropped. Dropped 15 , 16 in the past five days alone. In fact, it dropped enough to make apple no longer the worlds most valuable company. Exon came back on top. Theyve been back and forth with those kinds of positions for at least a couple years now. Now, what are some of the major reasons, do you think, for the slump in demand for apple products . Ceo tim cook has indicated he wont reconsider the iphone smaller 3 1 2 and 4inch screens. Even at a time when other smartphones are offering bigger screens and doing quite well. Well, i think apple, they kind of see the positive. They see a very Glass Half Full when it comes to these smaller phones that fit smaller hands a little bit better. But i dont know that thats written in stone, anything they say. Weve heard for the longest time apple was not going to be doing a 7inch tablet yet the ipad mini launched very well earlier in 2012. I dont know what were going to see from apple. Nobody knows what were going to see from apple in terms of new products, but i think what were seeing is theyre kind of softening a little bit. Theyre opening up to new ideas. Theyre rolling out new kinds of products and we cant really say what they will or wont launch in the next two or three years. I think it depends a lot on consumer demand. Now, some analysts are saying the era of innovation at apple is over now that steve jobs is gone. What do you think . Well, i think the era of steve jobs is over, and may he rest in peace. He was a wonderful he was a designfocused dictator, and i think that when he came out with the iphone in 2007, there was nothing like it, and but then he became about conformity to that standard and control of the marketplace around it. And i think theres more opportunity now for apple to be innovative than ever before in its history. I think the ipad mini is proof of that. That they can break boundaries and they can go beyond what they know how to do. The question is, will they . They still have a lot of really great designeers and really gret product people there. Well have to wait and see. I want to talk just real quickly about another hightech giant that was in the news this week. Google recently beat an antitrust. What was that all about . Does it still face other antitrust suits . Google has been through the ringer when it comes to dealing with the feds both in america and abroad. Antitrust is a big part of that whole enchilada there. Extremely competitive. They will do just about whatever it takes to make a profit. With Something Like yelp what they were doing was pulling in reviews, pulling in yelp content into google products. Its kind a search edgenngines to bring in others. They were doing it in a way yelp thought was unfair. They were looking into that. It was a long, grueling case. Im sure google will face many like it in their history. Apple and google, taken together, what implications can we draw about the speed of Silicon Valley . Thats huge. Thats a huge question. Youve got these two Huge Companies doing really, really Different Things. You know, one is in hardware. One is almost entirely in software. I think what we can learn, what we can say absolutely, is that the future of Silicon Valley no longer rests on your computer. It rests in your hand. In the palm of your hand. The fact apple disappointed analysts by not sell as many macs as they thought they should have. Thats a big sign. Fact intel decided it was going to start shutting down its pcbased motherboard business, that was a big sign. Google has never been in the desktop business. So, yeah, i think smartphones and tablets are very much the future. Okay. Since were talking mobile and smartphones, just out of curiosi curiosity, do you have an iphone . I do not. I never have. Im actually quite bullish on apple and its ability and potential to innovate and do more and better in smartphones. Ive never been an iphone fan, myself. Why is that . You know, its the henry ford problem. When they first came out with the iphones its like, heres your iphone, you can have the same one as everybody else. Im an individual. I like to have choice. All right. So you like some innovation and originality, yourself. And a fiveinch screen. I like them big. That always helps. All right. Thank you. Lets move on to Something Else now. Turning from business to arts. This week, San Francisco trumpeted the grand opening of a new music hall. The Sfjazz Center in hayes valley. Its mission, to enthrall, engage and educate. On monday, thousands of jazz lovers turned out to christian the new Arts Institution. The state of the art facility was designed by architect mark cavagnaro, built as the first center built exclusively for Jazz Performance and education. We got our peek inside the new building after the crowds have left. And workers returned to finish the remaining construction. Our guide, randall klein, executive artistic director of sfjazz. The whole idea of the construction here was permeability and connection with the street. See here that literally where the sidewalk fills part of this room. When theres performance going on here, you will see it. You walk by. Thats really very much a core focus of your vision which is to really make jazz accessible and make people feel like its a part of the community. Its jazz and its just culture in general. Up the street from us, you can see davie Symphony Hall and the opera house from here, too. This is an idea that culture is accessib accessible. Jazz is an Accessible Art form. This is americas classical music. Its great to have this art form visible as you walk by. Klein founded sfjazz in 1983. Since then, hes grown the organization from a small weekend festival to a critically acclaimed institution, presenting more than 100 concerts a year including its own awardwinning, the sfjazz collective. For the past three decades, those performances took place in rented clubs and concert hubs across the city. This is about to change. This is the main auditorium . This is it. Wow. What makes this so special . Well, for the performers its looking out into the faces of people here. Jo lavano, member of the sfjazz collective whos performing on the Opening Night likened this to a Roman Amphitheater they performed in in the south of france. This energy of getting the energy from the audience. Theres a particularly favorite seat of mine. Ive been sitting here for the last few weeks here. Look at that. These seats literally are on the stage like youre in the most intimate of intimate clubs. This whole area, this whole zone in here can become a dance floor. There will be some boogying going on here. One hopes. This city was once the harlem of the west. A rich history of jazz and blues in the 40s and 50s. Do you see this venue continuing that tradition or really building upon it and making it Something Else in the future . This city has had a great jazz history from the barbery coast to today. Jelly roll morton, the man who claimed to invent jazz lived on Market Street for a little while. There was a great revival here. The earthquake magunes. The great clubs. The blackhawk. The keystone corner more recently. There is a history here. Without that deep heritage, that deep culture heritage, we never could have been here. Paying homage to those roots is a key part of kleins vision. Images of jazz greats command a view from every lobby window, while inside newly commissioned artwork celebrates storied jazz venues. There are three murals altogether done by a los angeles artist. Theyre meant to be almost the great wpa murals of Diego Riveras time. The one directly behind me is history of jazz in San Francisco. A lot of San Francisco culture. The other is history of jazz in the nation. You know, sfjazz has always been about great performances, but youve also been very good about jazz education. Well, we do a few Different Things educationwise. From middle school students, up through adults. In middle school, we have an Innovative Program called jazz in the middle where we go into San Francisco public middle schools. The Flagship Program is poetry, and in our case, how the fundamentals theyll learn interact with jazz. At the end of their school year, theyll present their poems to music. I stay, but they go. Just like a flash of lightning. And they do it in classrooms at their school or assembly halls. Now they can come here and have a grand performance here. And then theyll get to see our High School Allstar program. You listen to these kids play, and i cannot tell you how exciting it has been to hear professionallevel music. Weve been presenting for 30 years and weve had all these artists on other stages around here. We dont have the legacy of, you know, infusing our stage with that. So i thought, lets try to do that in our first two weeks. Get many performers, many who have had important ties with us, or had ties with us over the years to perform on the stage. Its the greatest stars in jazz. Just a wonderful way to kick this building off. I love this art form, and the idea that having the privilege of being able to present it in its best possible light has always been the pursuit of sfjazz. So coming here, you know, its a little fairytaleish. A little dreamlike. Well, sfjazz isnt the only thing being celebrated in the city this week. Hey, how about those niners, guys . Congrats to them. Yeah. Yeah. Someones positive. Congratulations to our Hometown Team for making it to the super bowl, and go niners. All right. Thank you, matthai and jolie for being with us tonight. And that does it for us for this program. You can visit kqed. Org thisweek for our show archives. To subscribe to our newsletter and podcasts and share your thoughts and story ideas. Thanks so much for watching. Good night. Major funding for arts programming on this week in Northern California is provided by diane b. Additional funding comes from the George Frederick foundation. Helen sarah