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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By David Smith
San Francisco Examiner

A new court in San Francisco’s Tenderloin that is being created to handle low-level criminal behavior in the downtown area has found a home just two blocks from the steps of City Hall. The City’s Criminal Justice Center — a special court that Mayor Gavin Newsom has said will direct offenders of such crimes as nonviolent drug use, theft, prostitution and aggressive panhandling to appropriate social services rather than jail or fines — will be housed at 575 and 555 Polk Street. Modeled partially after New York City’s Midtown Community Court, which requires most defendants to perform community service or attend a group meeting within 24 hours of arraignment, the San Francisco’s new court will take cases from the Civic Center, Tenderloin, Union Square and South of Market neighborhoods. Read more »

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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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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 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 »

Please join Mayor Gavin Newsom as well as representatives from labor, local political clubs and enthusiastic supporters like yourself at our campaign HQ this Saturday, July 21st at 10:30AM. We will be hitting the streets of San Francisco with the Mayor, collecting signatures and talking to other San Franciscans. (If you can't make on Saturday you can download the signature forms at anytime. Just click on Aaron's blog and follow the instructions). Your signature is a mark of support for our efforts to make free WiFi a reality, improve MUNI, create a Community Justice Center and more – including passing a budget that prioritizes the basics of daily life like filling potholes, cleaning up our parks and policing our streets.

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