The Homeless Return

Stanley Roberts recorded th video for KRON4, August 2nd just two weeks after the Golden Gate Park sweeps began.

Today, Gavin Newsom’s spokesman, Nathan Ballard says it's working.

Meantime, City Hall is a buzz with operation Gatored Community and Stanley's still betting on the homeless return. See his other video: Shame of the City.

Newsom Welcomes U.S. Navy

Mayor Gavin Newsom welcomed the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels today to kick start the city's 26th annual Fleet Week.

Air demonstrations will take place Saturday and Sunday, starting at 1 p.m. and Navy pilots will be joined by the U.S. F-16 Viper West and Patriot jet demonstration teams, the U.S. Air Force's F-22A Raptor A-10 and the U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.

As part of Friday's show, Airbus will fly their new A380 over the waterfront crowds to demonstrate the latest development in high capacity, long-range aircraft.

San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly, who attempted to pass a resolution blocking the Blue Angels air show from participating in Fleet Week will not be among the swarm of people at the wharf to view the aerial acrobatics.

Good. Lumpy can stay home and knit pink booties.

Newsom opposed the Daly resolution, citing the city's longstanding history as a "Navy town."

Naval ships will dot San Francisco piers during Fleet Week and will be open to the public for free tours from Sunday through Tuesday, according to the Fleetweek.us

Complete Story: Newsom Welcomes Fleet Week to SF by NBC11.com

War On Drugs

But Seriously...

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had some tough words for the people and party of the people today - declaring war on the war on drugs.

Newsom asserts local jails are overcrowded with people incarcerated for drug offenses, taking up room that could be used to hold more violent criminal offenders. He says violent criminals with lengthy felony records are being turned loose, too often.

"If you want to get serious, if you want to reduce crime by 70% in this country overnight, end this war on drugs, you want to get serious, seriously serious about crime and violence end this war on drugs."

San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey agrees estimating 75% of crime is drug related.

But Seriously, Chris Daly, disagrees continues to criticize his way out of a job. For the record, he also disagreed with:

• Blue Angels
• Budget
• Running for Election
• Downtown Outreach Plan

If history tells us anything, it's Daly's history and Drug$ R 4-Ever!

Bum Fights

The Mayor’s Office is really turning SOMA and GNS around. If homeless programs like the downtown outreach plan continue, we’ll cease to exist. How’s the name Gav4Gov.com?

Mayor Gavin Newsom’s plan consists of three separate teams of police officers and social service staff working in a 15-block area, from Third Street to Fifth Street and Market to Harrison streets, according to a Sept. 28 memo from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s deputy chief of staff, Julian Potter, to Newsom’s chief of staff, Phil Ginsburg.

The memo states:

“Any person committing a crime (littering, encampment, trespassing, urinating, defecating, dumping, blocking sidewalk, intoxication, etc.) will be asked to cease the behavior and enter into services. If the individual resists services, the officer will issue a citation. If the arrest is related to a misdemeanor, warrant, intoxication, or a second citation for the same period, the individual will be taken into custody for processing.”

Newsom’s spokesman, Nathan Ballard, adds:

“This is exactly what we’ve been doing in Golden Gate Park and it’s been
working.”

Predictably, Chris Daly has to stand up for the downtrodden constituency of addicts, alcoholics and prostitutes. He wants to waste our time and money with a hearing on the effort before a Board of Supervisors committee.

“San Franciscans have time and time again rejected that approach. We’ll see what happens this time.”

The targeted area includes the Moscone Center, home to The City’s convention industry. San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau spokeswoman Angela Jackson said homelessness “is a problem in San Francisco and I’m glad to hear that they will be addressing the Moscone area.”

Examiner: Daly Blast Newsom’s Homeless Plan by Joshua Sabatini

Ed Who?

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom met briefly with embattled supervisor Ed Jew yesterday.

Jew is accused of attempting to extort $80,000 from a group of fast-food business owners. He pleaded not guilty in court on Friday.

The rookie supervisor, who was charged Thursday with one federal count of mail fraud, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court, and then was released on $1 million bond. The charge came after an FBI sting where prosecutors say the operators of a group of tapioca drink shops gave Jew $40,000 in cash and said they would paid him another $40,000 later.

"Enough is enough," Newsom told reporters this morning after the mayor spoke at the opening of the Moon Festival Street Fair in Chinatown, a short walk from Jew's flower shop.

"He needs to do the right thing and step aside."

Jew, 47, has acknowledged taking the money but said he did so at the businessmen's insistence and on behalf of a consultant he recommended they hire to help with their permit problem.

Jew's attorney Steven Gruel said the federal government's case was weak, calling the mail fraud charge a “throwaway charge because you can't get something else” and questioning what kind of influence Jew could have had over the issuing of city permits. He doesn't control the planning commission and he certainly doesn't control what types of permits are necessary for retailers.

Earlier in the day, Jew's attorneys had said they would not allow their client to meet with Newsom if they were not present. Nonetheless, Jew and Newsom sat down alone yesterday, for about 15 minutes.

• Check Out: KRON 4 Complete Interview.
• Photo Credit: Luke Thomas, Fog City Journal

GAVIN'S MUST SEE TV

Mayor Gavin Newsom and Fox Broadcasting Company agreed to terms today greenlighting 24 episodes of Gav 4 Guv.

Newsom said he's considered television since his marriage to Court TV Queen Kimberly Guilfoyle and throughout courtships with Reality TV Stars Erin Brodie and Paris Hilton as well as CSI's Sofia Milos. This one simply fit.

Newsom insists that his television aspirations are independent of any open government reality television projects concepts proposed by rival mayoral candidate and video blogger, Josh Wolf, who if elected promises 24/7 Reality Government.

My life has always been an open book. Reality TV affords us a new medium with a new chapter. In a nutshell, it’s kind of like The Apprentice meets The Crocodile Hunter meets Real World meets The Bachelor without the all the Harry Potter.

• The Apprentice - only imagine forced resignations citywide in which Department Heads are required to partake in a number of team on team contests designed to raise campaign dollars for the Gav 4 Guv campaign and members of the winning team earn the right to interview for their old job - you're hired!

• The Crocodile Hunter - only imagine a gatored community in which contestants are tasked with bagging and tagging dangerous and always unpredictable crack addicts indigenous to the Tenderloin and Civic Center neighborhoods as part of a Catch and Release program tracking homeless with homing devices.

• Real World - only imagine Gavin and love interest Jennifer Siebel share a posh victorian on Russian Hill with supervisers Chris Daly and Bevan Dufty and old socialite chums Billy Getty and wife Vanessa as well as former couple Alex Tourk and Ruby rippey-Tourk and ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle and husband Eric Villency and baby boy. Watch Gavin's psyche unravel as Booze, Cocaine and Extra Extra-Marital Affairs prevail. Oh, and ...hold it, hold it... add new age author and gay-lovin-gone-bad stalker Han Shin into the mix. Stir with Deep Purple latex gloves.

• The Bachelor - only imagine, half the ladies are single and the rest married and thier husbands are not only permitted on the set, it's encouraged. In fact, one or two may be part of the crew. Brittanie Mountz versus Ruby Rippey-Tourk? Stay tuned!

Not everyone shares Newsom's enthusiasm. Newsom neighsayer, Chris Daly, predicts "A Big Fat Obnoxious Disappointment."

Gavin Newsom Videography:

• Would Gavin Lie to You
• The Walkway Mayor
• Gavin Newsom and the Man Code
• Gavin's Meltdown
  

Mayor Bans Shopping Carts

San Francisco may be on the verge of becoming the first city in the country to ban shopping carts because they assist the homeless and hinders quality-of-life outreach programs.

Some experts say the carts are one of the biggest obstacles to outreach programs in the city.

By making sidewalks less profitable and less hospitable, Mayor Gavin Newsom wants to hopes to usher more homeless off the streets and into shelters like Glide Memorial Church banishing shopping carts, baby carriages and cardboard boxes from the city once and for all.

What it takes in retrieving, and the cost to replace these carts, begs the larger question: what are we going to do about the homeless and the economic and health adverse effects on our community?

Newsom's proposal calls on grocers to use an assigned number of carts indoors only and with full-service valet from check stand to curbside. Merchants would be subject to unannounced city audits and fined for each cart under their quota or recovered off property.

But the proposal is vigorously opposed by the grocery industry. Peter Larkin, president of the California Grocers Association, says his member stores already have an active security program.

"In our opinion, it will frustrate our efforts to continue to reduce, re-use and recycle carry-out bags," Larkin said. "Second, it will raise the cost of doing business for us, which will translate into increased costs for the consumers.

What is not in dispute is the potential domino effect if San Francisco bans grocery carts. Larkin says he expects a potential ban here would significantly hurt the recycling industry. Shopping carts have already been outlawed in South Africa, London and Ireland.