“What the Waiter Sees, the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge”

The western span of the Oakland Bay Bridge was re-named The “Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge”, pursuant to a provision adopted by the state Senate, in 2014. Brown, a former California Assembly speaker and San Francisco mayor, newspaper pundit and the “best connected of lawyers”, commented:

            "I think it will be a guidepost for lots of young people in the state of California.   After all, this is the only thing that any of us know of any real significance, universal, that's named after a person of color.  There is nothing else universal.  There are schools, there are roadways, there are a whole lot of other things.  But this is California, and to have an African American adorn any instrument in California for the first time in the history of this state is unusually significant."

While opponents said that, under state rules, “people must be dead before infrastructure projects are named after them”.  His proponents successfully argued the re-naming as a better option.  Brown said, “he wanted his case to serve as an example of how to thank people while they are still alive”.