Hillary Clinton sits down to talk issues at Oakland waffle house

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hugs the Owner of Home of Chicken and Waffles Derreck Johnson after meeting him in his restaurant the Home of Chicken and Waffles for a community leaders meeting May 27, 2016 in Oakland, Calif. Clinton met with Mayor Schaaf and other community members to discuss local issues. less Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton hugs the Owner of Home of Chicken and Waffles Derreck Johnson after meeting him in his restaurant the Home of Chicken and Waffles for a community leaders meeting May 27, ... more Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Hillary Clinton sits down to talk issues at Oakland waffle house 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

Oakland moved into the national spotlight Friday morning when Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, dropped by a Jack London Square restaurant to hear from local leaders about what the city is doing right.

The hour-long discussion focused not only on the type of long-term troubles that plague cities, including soaring housing costs, crime, education concerns and lack of economic opportunity, but also on what Oakland is doing to deal with those problems.

“I want to know how the federal government and me, particularly, can be a better partner,” Clinton said. “I want to be a champion for Oakland and all the other Oaklands in the country,” hardscrabble cities scrambling to come up with innovative solutions to their problems.

Focus on rehabilitation

The former secretary of state was joined by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Antwan Wilson, Regina Jackson, CEO of the East Oakland Youth Development Center, and Derreck Johnson, owner of the Home of Chicken and Waffles, where the event was held.

For Clinton, the small, hastily arranged event was a chance to play small ball, highlighting her interest and familiarity with the arcane details of urban policy, something so far almost totally ignored by Donald Trump, the likely GOP presidential nominee.

Johnson, for example, talked about his willingness to hire people on parole or probation to work in his restaurants, estimating that about 70 percent of his workers were ex-offenders.

“There are a large number of people getting out of prison,” he said. “If they can’t get a job, then what?”

Clinton quickly answered that government at all levels had an interest in seeing that former prisoners receive the basic skills they need to find and keep a job, casually citing Delancey Street in San Francisco and other programs in Charlotte, N.C., and Reno as examples of successful efforts to bring people who have served their time back into the mainstream.

Not all problems have easy answers, Clinton said.

When Schaaf talked about how Oakland has some of the fastest-rising rents in the country and how the city is struggling to ensure its longtime residents can remain in the city, Clinton had concern and sympathy but little else.

“There are advantages to fixing up neighborhoods, but it’s a big price to pay if you move people out,” she said. “People who fought through the bad times need to share in the good times.”

Common struggles

The affordability crisis has repercussions far beyond housing. While Jackson’s East Oakland center is running a wide range of innovative programs for young people in the community, “the people you’re working with won’t be in Oakland in 10 years,” Clinton said.

But gentrification and housing affordability are problems cities across America are struggling with, with only limited success.

“I wish you well,” Clinton told Schaaf. “Most of (the work) has to be done at the local level.”

With Clinton locked in a tight June 7 Democratic primary battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, even the most wonkish policy event is political. The former first lady reminded the small crowd of invited guests that she had spent a summer working in Oakland in 1971, clerking for a local law firm.

When she arrived at the restaurant just after 9 a.m., she worked the room, greeting the dozen or so diners before walking over to the kitchen. “Hello in there. How are you all doing?” she asked. She called the white-jacketed staff out for a group photo after the event.

“Glad the Warriors won last night?” Clinton asked one diner as she left the restaurant.

Avenging Trump

The event also was a bit of political payback for Schaaf, a Clinton supporter still upset that Trump characterized Oakland as one of the most dangerous places in the world in a New York Times interview earlier this month.

“Despite what some people say about the safety of this city,” she told Clinton, “welcome to Oakland.”

Schaaf and the others on the morning panel were pleased to see Clinton and to have a chance to talk about what their city is doing and what can be done to help.

“It’s wonderful that (Clinton) really wants to hear from people doing the work on the ground,” the mayor said. “She didn’t just listen, she heard.”

Johnson, who got a call from the Clinton campaign Thursday night asking him to host the event, said he quickly agreed, even though it meant closing on a busy Friday morning.

“I wouldn’t have closed if it wasn’t important,” he said. “As a political candidate, (Clinton) goes to five-star hotels and restaurants and rich donors’ homes and I understand that ... but something like this means she’s reaching out to everyday, working-class individuals.”

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: jfwildermuth