Mission "Townhall" Meeting? Really?

While we figure out a Plan B for the party, we encourage everyone to join us and the League of Pissed Off Voters at Gavin's "townhall" meeting next Monday! What? You didn't hear about it? We're not surprised.

WHEN: Monday, March 26th 6:00pm
WHERE: Cesar Chavez Elementary School, 825 Shotwell at 22nd St
WHAT: Gavin Newsom's latest "townhall" meeting

Gavin Newsom is holding a "townhall" meeting in the Mission, but he forgot to tell the town about it!

We are shocked and disappointed (but not very surprised) that the Mayor has made no effort to publicize his "townhall" meeting at Cesar Chavez Elementary School on Monday, March 26th. The Mayor's office issued a press release about it, but failed to post any information on the SFgov.org website. (UPDATE: Gav just posted the four-day old press release and buried it under three other releases. It wasn't there at 6pm. Sneaky!)

We are also unaware of any outreach to any community groups in the Mission. Has anyone heard anything about this thing??? Whether this is just carelessness or an intentional attempt to exclude the community, this is unacceptable.

In the Mayor's "townhall" meeting in the Richmond, he hand picked all of the questions asked, he failed to allow any member of the public to speak, and he deferred to his cronies to answer virtually all of the questions. Combined with his refusal to meet with the Board of Supervisors like the voters asked him to, this demonstrates that Gavin is afraid to face unscripted questions or engage with those who disagree with him.

Gavin Newsom promised us that he was "committed to restoring (San Francisco's) trust and confidence." Is this any way to build trust?

We urge the Mayor to allow an independent moderator to run his "townhall" meetings, and to listen to the voters and meet with the Board of Supervisors. And we encourage members of the public to attend this "townhall" meeting and demand that their voices be heard.

Here are some questions we'd like answered:
- Why is MUNI's on-time rate been stuck at 70?
- What are you doing about the violence?
- Why haven't you done anything to reform the SFPD?
- Why won't you meet with the Board of Supervisors?
- Why are your friends at the Golden Gate Restaurant Association suing to block Supervisor Ammiano's universal health care plan?

Did Gavin Stack the Deck?

At Mayor Newsom's January 13th "town hall" meeting, questions had to be submitted on index cards. Watch as Gavin pulls a card out of his pocket and puts it on top of the deck of questions. He's then super careful to make sure that his question remains on top. Can you follow his fingers as they dance over the questions he doesn't want to answer?

I'm sure Gavin will say that someone just handed him the question earlier. But the bigger point of this clip is how he's clearly screening the questions and dismissing any that he doesn't want to answer. He said at the beginning, "This is not the only way you can communicate. I'm happy to give you the mic." But he never let anyone from the public speak. To watch the whole meeting, go to SFGTV. The quote above is at 19:10.

Gavin also seems distant and disengaged. Watch how many times he ruffles through the questions, but never actually stops to read one.

My last point is that you can get a sense from this clip of how much Gavin participated in the "Town Hall" meeting. In this 11 minute clip, Angela Alioto and Father Harding do virtually all the talking. Gavin talks for about 20 seconds to ask Father Harding "Is it possible to end chronic homelessness in 10 years?"

Can anyone still argue that this format is a credible alternative to the kind of dialog that the voters asked for in Prop I? If you can, I'd love to hear it in the comments. And in case you don't know about Prop I, here is the entire text of the proposition:

Shall it be City policy to urge the Mayor to appear in person at one regularly scheduled YES meeting of the Board of Supervisors each month to engage in formal policy discussions with members of the Board?

The Mayoral Intimidation Drinking Game

At Mayor Newsom's January 13th "Town Hall" meeting at the Richmond Community Center, he had his staff try to intimidate six protesters wearing chicken suits from entering. They wore chicken suits because Gavin has refused to meet with the Board of Supervisors like the voters asked him to in November. When the chickens tried to walk in, they were blocked by Daniel Homsey (Director of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services) and Wade Crowfoot (previously Gavin's liaison to the Board of Supervisors, I forget what he does now). Daniel and Wade repeatedly asked the chickens to take their costumes off. But what cracked me up was their reasoning: they didn't want the chickens to disturb the "dialog" that was going to be happening. And the way they kept repeating "dialog," it was almost like they'd rehearsed it. See for yourself:

Like the SpokesChicken said, it reminded me of the Bush Administration. They seemed to think if they called it a "dialog" enough times we would all be as convinced as they were that it was actually a dialog, and not the carefully controlled and scripted event we all witnessed.