By Matthew S. Bajko
Bay Area Reporter

Mayor Gavin Newsom began his second term in office Tuesday, January 8 with a stinging rebuke for those who complain about "San Francisco values" during his inaugural speech. Standing on the staircase underneath City Hall's Rotunda, Newsom recalled how nearly four years ago same-sex couples exchanged marriage vows on those very steps. With his ordering city officials to wed gay and lesbian couples, Newsom said, We saw how San Francisco can be a beacon for the world when we led the fight for marriage equality." And when the city extended protections to transgender residents "it became better," said Newsom. To those who continue to attack him and the city for standing up for LGBT rights, the mayor had a response.  "They deride what they call 'San Francisco values.' But we know that those values inspire many more than they frighten," said Newsom, later adding, "when others were fearful, San Franciscans did not falter. ... We will not stop making this city an inspiration and an example for others." Read more »

By Cecilia Vega, Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writers
San Francisco Chronicle

Mayor Gavin Newsom was sworn in for a second term Tuesday, promising to make San Francisco a greener city and a national leader in health care reform while praising "San Francisco values" like support for same-sex marriage and protections for undocumented immigrants. Newsom's father, retired Judge William Newsom, administered the oath of office using a family Bible under City Hall's palatial dome in a ceremony that organizers billed as low-key. The mayor was sworn in alongside his sister Hillary Newsom Callan, her two young daughters and his new fiancee, Jennifer Siebel, to whom Newsom referred in his inaugural speech as "the love of my life."

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By David Smith
San Francisco Examiner

Headed into his second term as mayor, Gavin Newsom said he would renew efforts to combat homelessness, specifically street behavior, conceding that efforts during his first term “haven’t had the impact on street behavior that I would have liked.”  Newsom, first elected in 2003 on a platform built upon the issue of homelessness, has started various efforts in The City to try and remove homeless people from the streets, including Care Not Cash, a program that reduces cash amounts given to homeless people on welfare in exchange for housing or shelter, and Project Homeless Connect, a program that brings health and human services for the homeless under one roof during day-long events every other month. Read more »

By Robert Selna
San Francisco Chronicle

Mayor Gavin Newsom and city criminal justice officials announced on Thursday the location of a new court the mayor has been promising to more quickly judge low-level street crimes in the Tenderloin and steer offenders into community service and rehabilitative programs. At a press conference inside the new courtroom at Polk and Turk street - just north of Civic Center Plaza - Newsom said the newly-named Community Justice Center will open in July after a five-month trial run at the Hall of Justice, where the city's other criminal courts are housed.

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Election Day is tomorrow. And we need you to vote so that we can continue to make San Francisco a model of innovation, a city that the rest of the country looks to for new ideas. If you have an absentee ballot at home, please return it in person to the Dept. of Election's City Hall office (1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 48) or you can drop it off at your polling place on Election Day by 8PM. Tomorrow, we are going to be working all day long as we walk every district, talk to voters and ask them to vote. If you can join us at our campaign headquarters tomorrow at any time we could use your support. We'll be there from 5AM until 8PM. Also, if you need a ride to the polls tomorrow please give Aaron Goldsmith a call at 351-0359. We will be available throughout the day to drive you to the polls.  
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Editorial: San Francisco Examiner

Newsom has spent the last four years crafting nonideological and pragmatic solutions to The City’s myriad problems. He made his first big splash, both locally and nationally, by backing gay marriage, a stance that positively cemented his standing with many San Franciscans. But he’s shown a refreshing ability to buck San Francisco’s prevailing liberal winds and pursue more moderate agendas. His support of development both downtown and in existing neighborhoods and new industries such as biotech have been refreshing, as has his budgetary support for more police on the streets and nuts-and-bolts priorities such as parks and well-kept roads rather than ill-defined social causes prized by the left. Read more »

Bay Area Reporter

February 12, 2004 changed our world. Mayor Gavin Newsom had just returned from Washington where he was a guest of then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at the president's State of the Union address. He, and the rest of us, witnessed the president voice his support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Returning to San Francisco, Newsom, in an act of amazing boldness and incredible political courage, ordered then-city Assessor Mabel Teng to issue marriage licenses to any couple who wished to marry, regardless of sex or gender identity, an order that Teng was happy to follow. For the next month, nearly 4,000 couples from all over the country flocked to San Francisco to marry in what would be called the "Winter of Love." The national and world press at first reported it as just another example of left coast San Francisco being out of touch with the real world. But as married couples returned home and resumed their lives, the sky didn't fall, and the national dialogue changed. 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.

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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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