By Bernice Young
San Francisco Chronicle

Though community courts have emerged as a popular and practical method for integrating problem-solving justice approaches, there is no single way to do it. Other examples include community policing and drug courts. But what these efforts have in common is an openness to include the voice of the community in the court process, a willingness to look at a defendant as something more than the perpetrator of a crime, and a desire to look to root causes and rehabilitation, rather than resorting to straight punishment.

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Mayor Newsom wants to bring a community court to Union Square to address quality of life concerns, like aggressive panhandling, public urination, and graffiti.  The new court will be modeled after Manhattan's highly successful Midtown Community Court, which helped revitalize Times Square in the early 90s.  But, we need your support.  As Mayor Newsom said in the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday, "We're fighting against the status quo, and they're fighting for the status quo," he said of his opponents. "I'm not interested in fighting for failure."  Please sign our petition today.  Read more »

We expected our Pet Peeves Blog to be one of the more popular features on our website, but were unprepared for the outpouring of comments we have received.  We have received thousands of opinions from San Franciscans and Mayor Newsom has read almost all of them. Many of your entries are related to homelessness and panhandling.  Gavin Newsom has been working on solving this problem since the day he took office.  And while there is still a long way to go, the compassionate approach of getting people into housing and providing them with the support and services they need to keep them off the streets has been successful. Read more »