Uno, dos, tres, quatro!: the mayor's office has announced the fourth installment of his traveling lecture series, or, as he prefers to call it "the town hall open meeting where the public is not actually permitted to ask direct questions." Or -- as we prefer to call it -- FOURTH FAKE QUESTION TIME!!!
Guess Gavin's still not going to do Actual Question Time before the Board of Supervisors, huh? Were all those sweet words to the contrary to Cecilia Vega a lie?
You've seen how well all the three previous lectures have gone -- so come by and see the next! Do you have the guts to ask a question about Ruby Rippey-Tourk? Will the Bumblebee make another appearance? Only one way to find out!
Here's the stats: The meeting's in Gerardo Sandoval's District 11 (the Fightin' Eleven!), for Sat. April 21 at 2 p.m. Location? The Excelsior Boys and Girls Club (.pdf), at 163 London Street. London Street is one block off Mission and one block down Excelsior Avenue -- you can take the 14 Mission bus (.pdf). Our burning question: When will it be District 6's turn??????
And the topic? "SF Children, Youth, and Families." We're sure the chicken families will be out in force, anyways. (bonus points for any chicken that comes to 4FQT with a child dressed up as an egg!)
Picture of a 3FQT chicken from the District 9 health care non-town hall meeting by rock star Jerry Jarvis.
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Thanks chickens for making these meetings *really* useless.
I hate to be one of those people who selects any random post to ask an unrelated question, but does anyone know what happened to the great horned owl that died on Bernal? (At least there's a bird-like creature in the picture.)
Yes, it's obviously the chickens' fault that these meetings are useless. Mayor Newsom has nothing whatsoever to do with the format, content or follow-up.
( Yes, I know I am going to burn in hell for this )
I know I am going to the next forum because it is gong to be about San Francisco Children, Youth and Families.
Ten Questions for Gavin Newsom:
10: What have you done to keep families together in San Francisco?
9: In relation to Question 10: Really that is your answer, please explain what happen to the Tourks?
8: Okay, Off limits I understand so, what about Youth violence?
7: In relation to Question 8, What about the Yale Choir boys getting their arse handed to them by SF "rolling 20" Pacific Heights gang, can we get a restraining order against them?
6: Okay, I understand its all under Kamela's control so, back to Youth. What about Brittanie? You did dance with her, we know that much.
5. Thanks Ms. Mountz for standing up for the Mayor that is really nice of you to speak up today though you didn't answer my question. Okay Mr. Mayor what about the children that play in Visitation, Bernal, or even North Beach with broken glass, used needles, and weapons in the playground?
4. Yes, Mr. Sanchez from DPT, the tree planting cermonies are really great but you didn't answer my question still. I'll move on Mr. Mayor what about the children waiting for homes in San Francisco?
3. Wow! Thanks. Those people who represent Madonna and Angelina Jolie make sense and its great that Robin Williams and Sean Penn are going to help out too in adopting all those kids So Mr. Newsom what are you going to do again?
2. Okay, Thanks Supervisor Dufty for that long explanation. One more time Mr. Newsom for the health of the children what are you going to do about health, safety, and education for the children of San Francisco?
1. Wait? What? No More Questions? I only have one more, well it wouldn't have taken 2 hours if the Mayor answered my questions directly. I just have one more...ok ...thanks...my last question..
Mr. Newsom, Why do you not show up at the Board of Supervisors when the voters asked you to?
Mr. Newsom? Mayor?
why is he running away....?
Why is Gavin so afraid of Chris? Is it because Chris is not afraid to call him on his shit?
(Well, they haven't verbally spoken in over two years)
If Mayor Newsom is sooo concerned about families, then why not homeless children. Not to long ago, about 50 homeless kids showed up at City Hall.
Where was Gavin???
Switzerland again?
Ask a question about Ruby Tourk? How old ARE you? I feel like i'm at the pre-school playground around here.
Okay, Johnny you are right it would be very immature to ask about Ruby Tourk.
I could ask what about harrasment...sexual or other...in the workplace.
If that isn't a good question then try this one..what about the responsibility of an employer providing a safe work environment.
Okay, that doesn't count let's try this...taxpayer dollars directly go into the mayor's bank account where is the taxpayer refund for the time spent when the mayor wasn't doing what the voters or taxpayers wanted?
We have some more questions about Rippey-Tourk we'd like to see Gavin or his gang answer:
if we're going to go ga-ga over the "Question Time" ballot thing (which as we all know has no force of law) why not have some people dressed as MUNI buses show up and demand he and the Board abide by a similar non-binding resolution passed in the 90s that required all elected officials to ride MUNI?
I mean, I'm just sayin'.
Who's going to the big ribbon cutting for the T-Third rail line/15 Shuttle Bus ceremony tomorrow? It's supposed to be raining in the AM....maybe the chickens could come home to roost in the Bayview.
That is..unless....THEY"RE CHICKEN (insert Gong from Gong Show here)
I don't know how it happened, but I've somehow slipped onto Gavin's mailing list, so I have been getting periodic e-mails and then a phone call a few days ago.
The unabashedly perky lady on the other end of the phone invited me to a "meet the mayor" and "talk about the issues" event at his campaign headquarters (1320 Sutter) 1 p.m. on Saturday. In other words, this is probably an attempt to swell up the ranks with even more volunteers.
I didn't have the heart to tell the perky lady "no, the only reason I'd vote for Gavin is because any other 'progressive' candidates would be even more bad for this city", so she marked me down to attend as a maybe. I can't help but wonder if he'll take questions from the audience there?
Does the mayor have any declared competitors yet?
Why can't we have a mayor who gets the job done (clean streets, comfortable public transit that runs adequate service, a happy balance between pro-business and pro-citizens) without all the personal drama (e.g. Willie and his mistresses & cronyism)? Or is controversy a requirement for a big city mayor?
I am really waffling about whether or not to go to this one. The last one was marginally good for the information that was being presented. That being said, however, it was an absolute crazy circus towards that end, especially whenever Mitch or the Mayor started running out of momentum and people became less and less interested in the topic du jour.
I understand, to an extent, people's gripes with the mayor's presentations at something billed as a townhall, and I understand that people want to get their message across to the mayor about what's most pressing to them; but truly I just hope the next one doesn't get even more crazy. If the mayor would schedule a portion of the time for questions outside of the topic or schedule these "townhall" meetings and publicize them well enough with which topic would be focused on that would be great. Instead it seems like mainly politically active and organized folk get out to these things.
Also, it's obvious people go into these events with totally different assumptions than the mayor.
The mayor seems to want to inform people, possibly get new feedback from citizens on topic X, for which he has brought along the head of department X who knows practically everything on that topic, along with coming to a palatable (for him) compromise on non-binding proposition I.
Attendees on the other hand come in with one of several sets of assumptions: a) the mayor is an ineffective jackass trying to score political points for being "out in the community", b) that the process of Q&A is dirt and needs to be changed, c) that real dialogue between elements in the community can arise from the information presented, or that d) a meeting is being held with the mayor (awesome!) where they will be able to share their greivances on their pet topic with him (awesome!).
I think most people come away from these meetings slightly more informed but generally dissatisfied. I for one like the information, but wish everyone would come in with the same set of assumptions so some real, effective communication could take place. That would be real swell.
Peace please.
Why don't people show up at the Gav's events dressed as Col. Sanders?
Where is Chris Daly??????
Does he still work??? If you find out please call the citizens of District 6. We have been looking for him. (and i voted for the MF)
The chickens are a great idea. Though they mock Newsom, they expose him for using the town hall meeting to script an infomercial for his re-election bid.
We're not fooled, and the people of San Francisco deserve better (to coin his own lament).
The question remains: What is Newsom so afraid of that he has to duck and dive from transparency?
Thanks for the tip, Michael! Now I'm wondering if I should go straight to the Excelsior or if I should stop by 1320 Sutter first. Maybe Gavin will have chartered a bus to take supporters directly from campaign headquarters to fake question time so I won't have to ride the Muniserable.
Sorry Jackson, you only get a seat on the shuttle if you are in the employ of DPW.
Unlike the Mayor, if you want to find a Supe, just drop in City Hall. You can find the Board's weekly meeting schedule on the City's website.