ELECTION 2007: Results are in…

By Kim Geiger

With just 17 percent of registers voters participating in this year’s election for mayor, sheriff, district attorney and a host of ballot measures, results came in as expected.  Incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom maintained his post with a landslide victory over the 11 challengers, none of whom were able to garner even 10 percent of the vote.

And Newsom won yet another victory with the defeat of Prop. E, which would have mandated that the mayor appear monthly before the Board of Supervisors to answer questions in a forum modeled after the British parliament’s question time between lawmakers and the prime minister.  The only measure on the ballot that had no financial impact on the city was rejected by a slim majority of voters — 51.6 percent.

ELECTION 2007: Mayoral Debate 11/2/2007

Produced by Kim Geiger, Larry Santana

ELECTION 2007: Camaraderie forms among opponents, but Newsom remains absent

By Kim Geiger

Though incumbent Mayor Gavin Newsom is expected to have a cake walk to re-election Tuesday, the 11 challengers hoping to unseat him have done just about everything to try to keep the race interesting.

Newsom has kept his distance from the eccentric crowd, which gathers outside City Hall every Friday evening to debate the issues in an informal forum that looks more like a circus. Over the 12 weeks of the campaign, his opponents have formed a friendly coalition — competing against each other while subscribing to the group-wide mantra, “Anyone But Gavin.”

After each debate, the candidates walk down to Temple Bar, a nearby watering hole, where unexpected friendships have emerged.

“There’s definitely a spirit of camaraderie amongst nine or 10 of us,” said candidate Josh Wolf, who originally proposed the collaborative campaigning tactic the candidates have embraced. “We’re more powerful working together than we are apart.”

ELECTION 2007: Meet the mayoral candidates

Compiled by Kim Geiger

H. Brown

“My promise is to fire your boss. That would be 61 department heads and hundreds of commissioners, agency and authority directors and their PR staffs. I will replace them with veteran city employees from within those departments, agencies and authorities.”

“I believe in God, judgment and the SF 49ers.”

H. Brown is a journalist and runs a blog, sbulldog.com, which discusses arts and politics in San Francisco.

ELECTION 2007: New voting system gives hope to underdog candidates

By Kim Geiger

Despite Mayor Gavin Newsom’s hefty lead over the 11 challengers vying to unseat him in this year’s mayoral election, some say the city’s new voting system to take effect for the first time this year could have allowed an underdog a chance — if any of the challengers had been able to secure public campaign funds from the city.

Candidates who were able to raise at least $25,000 in campaign contributions could have qualified for public campaign funding, where the city would have matched what the candidates raised on the street.

But since none of the 11 candidates running against Newsom could garner enough cash to seriously challenge the incumbent, challengers say Newsom has been able to cruise through the campaign without even having to seriously debate his opponents.

“I had a strategy. I would have won,” said “Chicken” John Rinaldi. “People like me. I’m a likeable character.”

With ranked-choice voting this year replacing the traditional runoff election, San Francisco voters will be able to vote for three candidates in order of their preference. This means that while many are expected to take Newsom for their first choice, two additional choices remain.

ELECTION 2007: Ballot Measures

Compiled by Kim Geiger

Prop. A — Transit

This measure would give more power to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, an unelected governing body created in 1999 to have reform oversight over MUNI. Under Prop. A, the MTA would be given more authority over MUNI, parking, taxis and bike lanes and would have access to $26 million per year to spend improving MUNI.

Supporters say placing all transit under one politically independent group — the MTA doesn’t have to worry about reelections — will make it more efficient for the city to affect emissions reductions to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2012.

If approved, this measure would nullify another transit-related measure on this year’s ballot, Prop. H, a parking space measure.

Sponsors: Supervisors Peskin, Ammiano, Daly, Dufty, Elsbernd, Maxwell and Mirkarimi.

Contact: (415) 554-5184 or Supervisor Peskin’s office at (415) 554-7450

A quiet night in the Castro

By Kim Geiger

Despite concerns that the city’s cancellation of Halloween in the Castro wouldn’t deter partygoers and troublemakers from showing up anyway, the Castro was quiet last night.

The showing was so small, partiers were far outnumbered by police officers, who patrolled the streets by foot, bicycle and car.

“It was pretty much a success, I’d say,” said Sgt. Steve Manina, spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department. ” The city got the message out that there was going to be no planned events.”

Manina said the department made just six arrests of people who were drunk on the street and that despite anger over cancellation of the event, the few who did attend were well-behaved.

“For the most part, the small crowd that was out there was very peaceful,” Manina said. “Everything went off smoothly.”

Gap Criticized for Use of Child Labor by Subcontractor

By Kim Geiger , October 30, 2007 at 6:47 pm

SAN FRANCISCO — Gap Inc., a San Francisco-based apparel giant that for years has promoted itself as a socially responsible company, found itself Monday in the middle of a child labor scandal in one of its contract factories, with human rights organizations calling its claim of ignorance “disingenuous.’’

An undercover investigation released Sunday by The Observer, a London newspaper, reported children were found working in an Indian sweatshop producing blouses to be sold in Gap Kids stores in Europe and the U.S.

“As a multibillion-dollar corporation making and selling clothing in the U.S., they are fully responsible for knowing where their supply is coming from,” said Nell Greenberg, communications director at Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based organization that has for years been pressuring Gap to stop closing its U.S. factories in favor of foreign sweatshops.

UPDATE: City granted millions for Divisadero greening project

By Julie Johnson

The Department of Public Works secured $3 million in federal funding for a greening and street-scaping project along Divisadero Street between Haight Street and Geary Boulevard.

The department presented its proposal for how to use the funds at a community meeting held at Ida B. Wells High School on Thursday. Community input will drive the final plans for how to improve the corridor.

City information hotline a hit

By Kim Geiger

San Francisco’s newly established 311 call center, a one-stop shop for fielding calls from residents about a wide range of topics has been more popular than expected and is on track to exceed the call volume projected for its first year in operation.

The service was established in March to help residents get information like Muni schedules or report issues like potholes and graffiti without having to navigate through the 2,300 city administration phone numbers in order to find the right department. The call center, which expected to receive 80,000 calls a month, is now fielding closer to 200,000, on track to exceed first year call projections by over 1 million.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, who in 1999 proposed creating the service, called it “a true milestone in government efficiency,” Tuesday when he visited the call center to answer its one millionth call more than four months ahead of schedule.