Oakland Mayor-elect Jean Quan has formed a 24-member transition advisory committee to recommend priorities for her first year in office.

Quan, who has been on the City Council for eight years and will be sworn in as mayor on Jan. 3, said she has a "very ambitious" agenda for the city and will conduct a thorough review of every city department.

"We're hoping the nation will take a fresh look at Oakland," which is known for its high crime rates, she said at a briefing with reporters at City Hall.

Quan said she has been interviewed by many national and international reporters since she was declared the winner of the 10-candidate race.

"An Asian-American woman as mayor doesn't fit their stereotype," she said.

Quan pledged to be more accessible to the news media and the public than outgoing Mayor Ron Dellums, who held news conferences only rarely and was often absent from City Hall, has been.

"I'm trying to create a different culture," Quan said, promising to have weekly briefings with reporters. "Access to the mayor was a major criticism [of Dellums], we heard."

Chairing Quan's transition committee is Henry Gardner, who was Oakland's city manager from 1981 to 1993 under Mayors Lionel Wilson and Elihu Harris, and who recently completed eight years as the executive director of the Association of Bay Area Governments.

Gardner echoed Quan's comments about being more open with the news media, saying, "The press is not your enemy."

"We need you and want and expect you to be fair and balanced, and we will be open and honest with you," he told reporters.

Quan said her transition committee includes people in business, labor, health care, education, and nonprofit organizations.

She said she asked her three leading opponents in the mayor's race -- former State Senate President Don Perata, City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan and political science professor and news commentator Joe Tuman -- to recommend people for her transition committee.

Quan said one of her first challenges will be to name a new city administrator.

She said a headhunting agency that will be selected soon, as well as a four-person team of current and former city and county administrators, including Gardner, will help her choose a new administrator.

She said she hopes a new administrator will be announced by late January or early February, and current City Administrator Dan Lindheim has agreed to stay on until a successor is named.