STATE OF THE CITY 2005 / Mayor sees a Camelot by the bay

NEWSOM27_018_LH.JPG San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is giving his annual "State of the City'' address at�San Francisco State University, McKenna Theatre. Photographed by Liz Hafalia on 10/26/05 in San Francisco, California. SFC Credited to the San Francisco Chronicle/Liz Hafalia

Mayor Gavin Newsom declared San Francisco strong and getting stronger in his annual State of the City address Wednesday and said he will create a city of hope and opportunity that embraces emerging industries and trains a competitive workforce -- at the same time making the surroundings more safe, healthy and beautiful.

"As we reshape our urban environment," Newsom said, "we are reimagining San Francisco as a city of possibility, a city that will attract families and so nurture the next generation, a city that will attract economic investment and so ensure that our basic needs are met."

Newsom delivered his 71-minute speech as he nears the halfway mark of his inaugural four-year term and as his popularity remains sky-high in the polls. He stuck with the upbeat and avoided such topics as the Municipal Railway's recent service cuts and fare increase and the messy hiring and firing of Tony Hall, whom the mayor hand-picked to run the Treasure Island development project but whose appointment he said he later regretted.

The speech, which he read from a teleprompter and was titled "Why it matters to be a San Franciscan," was peppered with both politics and policy.

The mayor, who is positioning himself as a new voice for the Democratic Party, took a handful of verbal swipes at the state's Republican governor and the nation's Republican president. He also used the forum as an opportunity to talk up the accomplishments of his appointees to the posts of city treasurer and city assessor, who face election next month.

And like his predecessors, Newsom followed the outline that must be tucked in some mayoral handbook somewhere that requires the mention of housing, homelessness, the environment, public safety, jobs, education, the perennial hunt for government efficiencies and other concerns municipal leaders face.

As evidence of the city's growing strength, he noted that the unemployment rate is going down, tax revenue is on the rise and more businesses are choosing to locate in San Francisco.

Newsom offered a handful of new initiatives -- a biosciences academy at Mission Bay and a program to help teachers buy houses topped the list -- but provided few details. Instead, Newsom said afterward, he wanted to lay out the direction of his administration with a goal of competing with cities around the world for such things as job growth and skilled workers.

He spoke about combatting crime not just with law enforcement but also with social service programs and economic opportunities. He spoke of the need for the city to pick up where the state and federal governments have fallen short in providing health care and child care.

Newsom spoke of his vision of making technology accessible to all San Franciscans and of his desire to see San Francisco follow the Chicago model that has made beautification of the streets a top priority: Residents and visitors should expect to see more flowers, trees and schoolyard gardens, he said.

And in order to help pay for those initiatives, Newsom said San Francisco must continue its quest to rebuild the local economy, battered by the dot-com bust, by nurturing the new industries of biotech, digital media and clean technologies, such as solar and wind power. More business means more tax revenue to pay for city programs, he said.

"Here in San Francisco, we have always been pioneers. We've always been innovators, and we've been leaders," he said. "We are a city of dreams and a city of doers."

He also said he will look for ways to remake the structure of government and called for a comprehensive audit of the $1 billion-a-year health department.

Newsom delivered his address at San Francisco State University's McKenna Theatre, a location chosen, he said, because "it is on our university, community college and high school campuses that our future is taking shape."

The auditorium was packed with department heads, police and fire department brass, rank-and-file officers and firefighters; business, religious and education leaders; labor representatives and community activists. Most of the city's elected officials were on hand, and former Mayor Willie Brown showed up, too. Newsom, who spoke of making city government work smarter and be more efficient, started his speech 47 minutes late.

"He laid out an ambitious agenda," said Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin. "I think the mayor and the board share a lot of goals and objectives -- from access to health care to reducing crime."

But, Peskin added, "it's one thing to lay out an ambitious agenda and another to deliver it. There's always an endless amount of need and a limited amount of resources."

Newsom's take: "I think everything we said, everything we laid out, we can achieve, and I think we must in order to be competitive."

What Newsom wants to do

Create a new high school for science and technology

Expand hours at public health clinics

Explore wind and solar power and other clean technologies

Create after-school programs for all children who need them

Help some teachers pay off their student loans

Help teachers buy their first homes

What's next

Some of Mayor Gavin Newsom's new initiatives from his State of the City speech:

Science and technology academy: In partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District, the University of San Francisco, UCSF, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco and the business community, create an academy at the Mission Bay development for budding scientists seeking a high school diploma and college degrees. The focus would be on education and training in biotechnology.






