By CBS 5 News

A new pilot program exploring pay-by-cell-phone parking in San Francisco received backing from Mayor Gavin Newsom today. "Other cities around the world already use this technology, so there's no reason for us to not give our residents the same advantage," Newsom said in a written statement. The 90-day San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency program began Sept. 10 and is employing three different companies in test areas throughout the city in order to compare technologies, according to Newsom's office. Currently, parking meters in certain city-owned, off-street parking lots in the Richmond, Marina and West Portal districts are employing the technology.

Read more »

The coalition for marriage equality grew a little bigger last week when Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders of San Diego reversed his opposition to same-sex marriage and signed a resolution in support of gay marriage in California. Choking back tears, Mayor Sanders -- with his wife at his side -- told a news conference that separate is not equal, after revealing his daughter is a lesbian. "In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships, their very lives, were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife Rana," Sanders said. Watch the powerful video of Mayor Sanders by clicking here. If you support marriage equality sign our petition. Read more »

New studies show that California students are turning their back on higher education at an alarming rate. We rank 40th in the United States when it comes to the number of high school students entering college. Now more then ever we need to invest in our future to maintain a competitive workforce. Today, Mayor Gavin Newsom, in collaboration with the San Francisco Unified School District and San Francisco State University, took a major step toward reversing this trend by announcing S.F. Promise. This visionary program guarantees acceptance at S.F. State for each eligible 6th grader who completes a seven year college prep course, starting in the 2008-2009 school year.
Read more »

By Gavin Newsom
San Francisco Examiner

San Francisco is the first city in the United States with a universal health care program. Our 311 customer service system has already answered more than 800,000 calls — it is bringing better customer service to our residents and greater accountability to city government. Care Not Cash and other homeless programs have shown solid results, and new initiatives such as the Community Justice Center will help us continue making progress addressing homelessness and panhandling. We have accomplished a great deal. But there is more to be done. “Good enough” never is. Where something is working, I say, let’s make it better. Where something isn’t working, I say, let’s change it.

Read more »

Editorial: San Francisco Examiner

Mayor Gavin Newsom made bureaucratic reform in San Francisco city government a signature element of his 2003 election campaign and first term in office, so it should come as no surprise to anyone at City Hall that he would ask all senior staff, city department heads and commissioners to tender their resignations today. The City's chief executive was within his rights to make the bold request and sends the welcome message that his expected re-election in November over token opposition doesn't necessarily translate into business as usual come January. Read more »

By Adam Martin
San Francisco Examiner

The blast of a shotgun split the foggy air next to Lake Merced on Wednesday afternoon, demanding the attention of onlookers, including Mayor Gavin Newsom. Within five seconds, a computer system calculated the location of the shot to within feet inside the roughly 500-square-yard parking lot of the San Francisco Police Department’s training facility on the shore of the lake. Sensors picked up the shot, triangulated the location and marked it on an aerial photo of the lot on a computer screen. Read more »

Mayor Gavin Newsom and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums are marking the sixth anniversary of 9/11 by making it easier for the Bay Area's first responders to deal with emergencies. Today, they announced the creation of the "Bay Area Interoperable Communications Initiative" which will give police, firefighters and other law enforcement agencies the ability to communicate on the same radio frequency during a major disaster. Read more »

By Gavin Newsom
San Francisco Examiner

Although crime is down in almost every major category in San Francisco, the homicide rate has risen here, as it has in most big cities, to unacceptable levels. To improve public safety, my administration has proposed a number of new initiatives, including a pilot program of placing security cameras in high crime areas. This technology has been deployed in other U.S. cities and in other countries, and the results vary from very effective to only slightly effective. In the United Kingdom, where the cameras were pioneered, crime dropped dramatically in most of the areas where cameras were used.

Read more »

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will be rolling out a pilot program Friday that will allow people to use their cell phones to pay their parking meters. The 90-day trial program will involve nine off-street parking lots in the Richmond, West Portal and Marina districts. New Parking Inc. is providing the service for free. Zipidy is charging a flat $5 per month to the customer. And Verrus Mobile is charging 35 cents per transaction. Read more »

By Chris Colin
San Francisco Chronicle

Forget the Golden Gate Bridge and House of Nanking and Zeitgeist on a summer night -- the heart of San Francisco beats loudest on the carpeted second floor of that South Van Ness building you thought was Bank of America.

"Thank you for calling San Francisco 311, this is Kyle speaking, how may I help you?"

"Yes, there's a skunk with his head stuck ..."

Kyle Sutton is one of 50 or so customer service representatives, or CSRs, asking this question 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The free service launched in March not just to funnel 2,300 government phone numbers into a single line, but to give the city more of a service orientation. About 6,000 calls come in every day, and program director Ed Reiskin says 311 is on track to answer 2 million a year.

Read more »