Halloween comes early at City Hall after Newsom's "economic stimulus package" press conference, which is being referred to as one of the "ugliest news conferences" in ages. Mild-mannered yet astute Jim Herd was there today. And from what he tells us, things look bleak. Gulp.

Gavin's 6 points:
1. Payments from state and federal governments to S.F. are down
2. Property transfer tax revenue is down. From $6.7 billion (gross sales, not the revenue from the transfer tax) in calendar 2007 to just slightly over $1 billion for the first 8.5 months of 2008.
3. SF will be affected by the general macroeconomic slowdown.
4. Retail sales are down in S.F.
5. Business tax revenue will go down.
6. The newly strengthened dollar will hurt S.F., like reduced tourism for example.

Besides a huge drop in a significant source of city revenue, what does all of this mean? City government hiring freezes, city government hiring layoffs, and even more adjustments to the budget are on the horizon. Joy.