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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San Francisco City Hall

San Francisco, CA –Today, Mayor Gavin Newsom answered the one millionth call to the 311 Customer Service Center. The "one-stop" government services call center answers questions about all city services and records citizen input about any issue related to city government. 311 was established in 2006 and launched in spring 2007. 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.
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Union members showed their colors and numbers last Thursday when over 300 union workers from more than 30 individual unions came together to show their support for Mayor Newsom's re-election.  The event was held at AT&T Park and it was standing room only.  Union members snacked on Giants dogs while they waited for the Mayor and the room erupted when Local 798 President John Hanley began the program.  It was a great show of support from the rank and file of San Francisco's labor community. Read more »

In the face of overwhelming support for Mayor Newsom's budget, Supervisor Chris Daly cancelled his rally and took the extraordinary step of cancelling the Budget and Finance Committee hearing.  But that didn't stop hundreds of people from descending on City Hall on Wednesday afternoon to fight for the city of San Francisco.  We won the first battle for a smart budget that addresses the needs of all San Franciscans and against the politics of self-interest. But the fight is far from over. Read more »

Like everybody else in America, we at ActLocallySF.org are absolutely distraught over the images we're all seeing from Virginia Tech today. Today was like any other Monday: we had a few things we were working on and cool video we were excited about putting on the site.  It feels like the right thing to do for today is pause for a bit and say a prayer, think a positive thought or do whatever it is you do when a tragedy of this magnitude hits America. There are hundreds of people in America dealing first hand with unspeakable and unimaginable pain as we speak. We're thinking of them. 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 »

Tax season is fast approaching and while we all race to get our tax filings to the IRS, now is a good time to pause for a second and think about San Francisco’s model anti-poverty program: the Working Families Tax Credit. In 2005 Mayor Newsom partnered with San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros to create the working families tax credit. Basically, the city and its private sector partners give a local match to a federal tax credit along with specific funding for outreach services to make sure that the working poor are actually getting the money they are entitled to. The bottom line: it is working. In each of the past two years, there was more than $2 million in awarded to SF working families. That’s money that went to reduce debt, pay for education and even some savings. Read more »

A few weeks ago we wrote about a new poll in California, which showed that the state’s residents were moving toward greater support for same sex marriages. Things have changed a lot since Gavin Newsom first allowed same sex couples to get married in San Francisco City Hall three years ago. One thing that hasn’t changed is the measured and deliberate (that’s fancy talk for taking a long time) pace of our court system. So while voters’ attitudes are changing – moving more and more in support of equality for gay citizens – the court fight grinds on. It feels like we San Franciscans have been in just about every court in the state on this, but now we are at the top: the California State Supreme Court. On Monday, the City Attorney’s office filed their briefs asking for the state’s law barring same sex marriage to be overturned. Read more »

A lot has been made over the past six months or so about whether or not the 49ers will stay in San Francisco. The insiders at City Hall and in the media are predictably obsessed with who is up or down politically as a result of the situation. It is a good thing that the city and the 49ers continue to talk and work on things together, because at the end of the day the Mayor, and many others, would like to see the team stay here. While news of the stadium gets the most attention, the plan to invigorate Hunter’s Point and Candlestick Point is what really drives the effort. Forty years ago, Robert Kennedy, Jr. came to San Francisco and gave a speech about the challenges facing neighborhoods like Hunter’s Point. Gavin Newsom has plans to do something about it. Read more »