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 Cecilia M. Vega
San Francisco Chronicle

Hoping to keep teachers and police officers from fleeing San Francisco because of its high cost of living, city officials unveiled a program Friday that offers down-payment assistance for the two professions. Credentialed teachers employed by the San Francisco Unified School District who are purchasing their first home in the city could receive a $20,000 interest-free loan to help cover the cost of a down payment. Teachers whose households earn less than 200 percent of the area median income, roughly $120,000, would be eligible. If teachers remain employed in the district for 10 years, the loan will be completely forgiven.

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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.

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The Bush Administration has turned its back on the most vulnerable Americans. Since 2001 more than one billion dollars has been cut from the federal public housing budget in order to pay for President Bush's War in Iraq. This year only 76 percent of the actual need of housing authorities nationwide will be met. San Francisco has been one of the cities hardest hit by this chronic underfunding. The President's shortsighted policies has put the future of public housing in San Francisco and the nation at risk. While the federal government has a moral responsibility to provide more money for public housing, San Francisco has taken an unprecedented step to restore public housing in our city. With the overwhelming support of the Board of Supervisors, Mayor Newsom is launching Hope SF, the nation's most innovative plan to revitalize public housing.

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San Francisco Examiner
Editorial Originally Published July 23, 2007

It was welcome news for San Francisco that the Board of Supervisors passed Mayor Gavin Newsom’s election-year budget last Tuesday without indulging in destructive stonewalling. The $6.1 billion budget is the largest in city history, but it appears to be supported by sufficient revenues and also preserves a record-breaking $117 million supplementary reserve fund. Especially important is that this 2007-08 budget shifts more funding into curing long-neglected infrastructure and life-quality problems that directly impact the daily existence of ordinary San Franciscans. Public Works will receive the most money ever allocated for fixing potholed streets. Beleaguered Muni riders can expect some improvement in service with 150 more drivers and 86 new hybrid buses.

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San Francisco Examiner
Editorial Originally Published July 16, 2007

In one of the more practical visionary plans to emerge from the San Francisco municipal government during recent years, Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Task Force on Green Building has laid out a detailed blueprint for phasing in green standards that would make The City the most environmentally advanced in the nation by 2012.  Advantages to the public from adoption of such rigorous environmental standards for all new private and government-funded construction would include projected savings of 220,000 hours of electricity and 100 million gallons of drinking water, elimination of 60,000 tons of CO2 emissions and 700 million pounds of construction/demolition waste. Read more »

San Francisco Chronicle
Originally Published June 8, 2007

THIRTY-SEVEN million dollars is not much in the context of a $6.06 billion budget, but it can go a long way, if targeted wisely and effectively. But there is nothing wise or efficient about Supervisor Chris Daly's bald political ploy to strip $37 million from Mayor Gavin Newsom's budget priorities and shift most of it into affordable housing. Now let's be clear: We know that San Francisco does need housing. Newsom's budget also acknowledges the shortage, pumping $217 million into housing programs.

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San Francisco Examiner
Originally Published June 4, 2007

The best aspect of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s record-breaking — but balanced — $6.1 billion budget for 2007-08 is that it focuses on improving long-neglected infrastructure and life-quality issues that directly affect the daily existence of ordinary San Franciscans. It avoids pandering to the demands of loud special interests.  The budget Newsom proposed Friday adds substantial new funding for the basic needs of a civilized urban life. Public Works gets a $5.4 million boost to $36.4 million, the highest total ever allocated for fixing our potholed streets. Another $8.5 million goes to rebuild playgrounds and renovate sports fields. Read more »