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, 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.
he relinquished the microphone to the community activists