February 10, 2007
Second Fake Question Time
As you can see, the pouring rain was wreaking havoc on Gavin Newsom's carefully-styled coif this morning at the Second Fake Question Time townhall meeting in District 10's Bayview district.
We arrived at the Whitney Young Child Development Center at the tail end of an angry pre-game protest about how the mayor's office has neglected the Bayview, and we were also too late to get any of the complimentary lanyards that the MUNI information desk was handing out. Curse you, Greg Dewar, for beating us to the punch!
Today's event, while chicken-free, was certainly less scripted than the first Fake QT, with Gavin's introductory remarks interrupted by housing advocates shouting, "We will not be moved!" who then walked out of the room (wait, we thought they couldn't be moved!). Gavin tried to wrest control of the meeting back, but then was faced with an angry group of activists from ACORN, protesting his surprise plan to demolish the Alice Griffith housing project for the Niners.
Gavin then made his fatal error -- instead of sticking with the prescreened question cards, he relinquished the microphone to the community activists instead. Now we're talking! In short order, Gavin got chastised for (in no particular order): 1) holding the meeting in a place difficult for community members to get to, 2) referring to the meeting place as the Whitney Young Child Care center when it's a community center, 3) making it difficult to turn left off Third Street, 4) not caring about fathers, 5) having his staff take up all the seats while children and the elderly were forced to stand in the back, 6) being a slumlord, 7) not having translators and sign language interpreters present and 8) not ever coming out to the Bayview except once right at the beginning of his mayoral term. You could totally see Gavin thinking, You know, maybe I should have just done Question Time instead.
Jennifer Siebel in a weird houndstooth coat, meet the new Appointments Secretary, "Come on, YOU'RE the mayor!!!", and our unintentionally-hilarious picture of Gavin Newsom with red-eye -- after the jump.
Some other random observations:
--Peter Ragone was not there. Maybe he and John Nelson had previous plans for the morning.
--Who brings their girlfriend to a two-hour policy discussion on 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning? And what was up with her coat? The picture we got is of Jennifer giving up her seat for the kids and elderly people standing in the back, by audience demand.
--Is Gavin Newsom now a rapper? What was up with the "Imo get to that!" phrasing?
--Maybe not the best move in the world to have the near-universally-reviled (in the community, anyways) Gregg Fortner from the SF Housing Authority tell the people complaining that his office never returns their calls that "I don't know why you can't reach me, I have voice mail."
--Oh, we feel really bad for Miguel Bustos, who was introduced as the mayor's new appointments secretary. That guy probably had no idea what he was walking into when he took that job.
--Obviously the trick for getting the microphone is, when Gavin says, "Now, you promise that you'll keep your question on the topic of ____," before handing it to you is to nod sincerely, take the mike, and then talk about whatever you want, as Gavin fumes.
--The audience was having none of Gavin's blame-the-Board-of-Supes tactic for why progress wasn't being made on Bayview-related issues. When he said, "Well, I make my suggestions to the Board and you know they do whatever they want," people actually started to boo -- and one person shouted out, "Oh, COME ON, you're the mayor!!!!"
--And hey, KWillets, take note! Gavin announced that he'll be doing the District 5 crime town hall meeting in two months.
And here's our pictures:
Who decided on KC and the Sunshine Band for the pregame music? (Check out the lyrics on the close-captioned screen.)

The sweet community activist sitting next to us at the event, and....
okay, we know this is totally an unfair picture to take, particularly since it's really not Gavin Newsom's fault at all our flash had problems with the lighting in the room, but --- ha ha ha ha ha!! Brains.... Brains.... Zombie needs brains....





great post, there were a couple of "oh no you didn't say that " moments. anyone who thinks they can pre-script an event like that in a community with Real Problems That Need Solving, well, they're dreaming.
I posted some pics on Flickr, enjoy!
Awesome recap Rita. Now if we could get Bush to have one of his stage managed shows fall apart like this...
Has anyone noticed that Gavin Watch is down?
Fog City Journal reports that the site was hacked...
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/gavinwatch_hacked_070210.shtml
The next meeting is in 2 (TWO) Months...wow that is a long time maybe Gavin will make an appearance at the BOS by then...in the meantime he is off to Tokyo or Korea or maybe to Bloomingdale's to get his girlfriend a decent coat.
Rita, I bet you accidently put a g instead of a b.
Strange I am still in my pajamas...maybe I will show up at the next meeting in my pajamas too...mmmm
He's the mayor. In another city, that would actually mean something, but in this one, apparently the mayor's job is just one big 'bring your girlfriend to work' day. Perhaps SHE can answer some questions...
Whoa now. Fortner was not implicated in the sexual harrasment lawsuit. That's unfair. Read what the story says in your link.
Fortner is a good guy trying to do a tough job in a tough situation.
CHICKEN ATTACK
Yes isn't that 'interesting' that just by coincidence the 'gavinwatch' site gets hacked the day before the opening of his new campaign HQ,even the fogcity link above is blocked. shows what you can do when you can just pick up the phone and dial the home # of the Google Guys, and get a private jet, or any other favor in exchange for a sweetheart wi-fi deal in the city.
May be rotten in the state of Denmark but reeks to high heaven here at home.
Wonder who else apart from 'volunteers' might show up for campaign HQ opening, tomorrow/Sunday 12 noon, Sutter & Van Ness.
Cluck. Cluck.
Calitics has the text of the press release that was posted on FCJ, read it here: http://www.calitics.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1839
Gregg Fortner is very well-liked and has never been accused of sexual harassment. You're probably exposing yourself to a lawsuit here, and should delete that line immediately.
Ouch.
Thanks for pointing out the sexual harasser situation at SFHA. Corrected in the text (without strikeout).
I always remember the first few months the Gavin 1.0 admin started...shooting hoops in the Bayview was cool back then. Guess they folks don't remember that.
Yeah, I didn't think the chicken clowns would have the balls to show up in chicken suits in the ghetto...Maybe next time in a neighborhood that will find it funny....
-Funny, they scheduled a town hall meeting and, well, the town showed up. Who could possibly expect something like that to happen? While the space was insufficient, the security certainly wasn't. I got the unscientific impression that about twice the cops showed up to this one than the last.
-Starbucks, who I don't remember having any locations anywhere near the Bayview or Hunters Point, very graciously provided delicious Starbucks Brand Hot Coffee Beverages. Maybe that's what got everyone so riled up. Well, that, or, you know, urban blight and institutional racism.
-Best snarky overheards: "Mayor is a full time job;" "You're fired;" and, my personal favorite, on the topic of the Hunter's Point 'cleanup,' "What about the radiation?" Yeah, what about the radiation?
-Somebody, maybe Dwayne Jones from Communities of Opportunity (I was stuck outside in the rain for most of the first hour), guilt tripped everyone. "And we sincerely hope that you come back to our neighborhood." Touche!
-Think I'm being to harsh with the whole 'institutional racism' thing? 3rd and Evans was suggested as a prime spot to rezone and maybe offer an incentive or three for a supermarket. Current plan? SFPD SWAT team headquarters! Though, as I pointed out to Rita, with flak jackets and assault rifles, maybe the cops would actually be willing to walk beats.
-Gavin would love to just snap his fingers and fix all the problems in the District 10. But it takes time to displace the residents, tear down the buildings and woo the corporate chain stores so beloved by the new, market-rate housing dwellers, people!
Meet Newsom's new Appointments Secretary:
What does "tofmentd" mean?
Tonight (Sunday) on SFGTV-
6:00 Mayor's Town Hall Meeting (2/10/07)
rita,
On the sexual harassment thing, your poster was only a little off. People who associate him with that do so because Fortner refused to pay sexual harassment judgments won against his staff. Couple of em. Judge kept upping the cost. Went from 10's of thousands to couple million last I looked. Your poster is correct, he's a loser.
h.
I was so excited about the Zombie Gavin pic that I wanted to make it my Facebook profile photo. Then Facebook has to go and spoil my fun by auto-correcting the red eye.
This is embarassing. Just because a site goes down does NOT automatically mean it's been "hacked" by evil minions. Jeez. Anyone who has used a free service like Blogspot or Journalspace knows sometimes SH*T HAPPENS.
To post something like that without doing the research to prove or disprove it, is well, kinda irresponsible....
Rita will you run for Mayor? You would be great!
Rita I blieve that Jill may have a great idea.
I third that comment.
RITA FOR MAYOR! RUN, RITA, RUN