Futuristic concept, same content for State of the City

Broadcasting himself: In the first three segments of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s State of The City address, posted to YouTube, he focuses on health, education and the environment. (Courtesy Photo)

SAN FRANCISCO — Mayor Gavin Newsom’s State of The City speech took a foray into cyberspace Monday, hitting YouTube with the first of 10 segments in which the mayor chats at length about the plans and accomplishments of his administration.

The segments — available on the popular video-sharing site  — are long on ideas and accomplishments, but outline few new initiatives. Instead, they hit on high points from the last year.

Newsom said he decided on the unprecented Internet route to take his message directly to the public.

“This was an opportunity to engage in a different type of dialogue, to have an interactive State of The City,” he says in the introduction.
All told, the address — segments of which will be unveiled throughout the week and available through the mayor’s YouTube home page — spans 7½ hours. The first three, approximately 45-minute segments, focus on health, education and the environment.

Future episodes highlight transportation, violence prevention, poverty, the economy, emergency planning and public art.

Within Monday’s “webisodes,” Newsom revisits topics discussed in his previous State of The City speeches.

On health care, Newsom once again promises to divert tax dollars from acute and emergency care to preventative care. He also pledges to boost funding for The City’s affordable health care program, Healthy San Francisco, which enrolled its first residents last year and now has 32,600 participants.

On education, Newsom focuses on the problems the school district is facing with truancy — thousands of students being chronically or habitually absent — and says The City need to do a better job fighting the problem, even if it took an “army of people who work for The City to go in and knock on doors.” He also stresses the importance of arts education and putting healthy food in school cafeterias.

In his segment on the environment, Newsom reiterates a commitment to more green initiatives, from fruit trees in city-street medians to a biodiesel plant set to open next year.

The webcast was filmed inside the newly reopened California Academy of Sciences, although with the camera focused only on Newsom, it could have been shot anywhere. The mayor stands in front of a flat-screen television running a presentation in the background that is difficult for the viewer to read. There is no audience, and Newsom talks directly to the camera, taking a friendly, casual tone.

The YouTube presentation follows Newsom’s habit of not presenting his State of The City address within City Hall’s Legislative Chamber, in front of city officials, department heads and members of the public — as has been the tradition with previous
mayors.

Net address draws mixed reaction

Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Internet-only State of The City address was meant to reach a wide audience, but many are wondering whether the hours of policy talk are too much for the average person to absorb.

In a statement, Newsom said the effort was to use “technology to cultivate an ongoing conversation with our constituents,” but many doubted whether San Francisco residents had the time to sift through hours of footage.

“It exudes arrogance and exclusivity,” Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said. “It’s presumptuous ... to think people are going to spend seven hours listening to this.”

The length of the address also gives it an “exclusive feeling,” compounded by the fact that not everyone in San Francisco is connected to the Internet, Peskin said.

Supervisor Sean Elsbernd praised the idea for its ability to reach the public. But Elsbernd, one of Newsom’s strongest allies on the board, said the online speech fails to introduce a dialogue among city leaders.

“Why can’t you do this on YouTube — which is great — and also have an hourlong address in front of the people you’re working with on a daily basis?” Elsbernd said.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who compared the address to a “very long infomercial,” said the YouTube delivery “feels like a one-way street” and “excludes the kind of dialogue and the kind of interaction one would hope for something that is as critically important as this.”

A look back

Highlights from Mayor Gavin Newsom’s 2007 State of The City and the current state of affairs:
 
CITY BUDGET

Then: Newsom noted the budget deficit had dropped from $347M in 2003-04 to $12.5M in 2006-07.

Now: Last month, the city controller estimated next year’s budget shortfall at $250M.

ECONOMY

Then: Newsom highlighted city’s lower unemployment rate (4 percent) and office space vacancy rate (11 percent), and increased hotel occupancy rate (76 percent).

Now: Data show city’s unemployment rate has increased (6 percent), although office space vacancy rate is steady (10 percent) and hotel occupancy is up (80 percent so far).

HEALTH CARE

Then: Newsom announced that more than 3,000 people were enrolled in Healthy S.F., The City’s new health care program.

Now: That number has increased to 32,600.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Then: Newsom noted a drop in some serious crimes, including rape and aggravated assault. He also pledged to reduce homicides.

Now: Rapes and robberies were up as of October, and The City is on pace to surpass last year’s decade high of 98 homicides.

MUNI

Then: Newsom promised improved on-time performance.

Now: The percentage of Muni vehicles arriving on time dropped to 70 percent from 72 percent in 2006-07.

Watch the mayor

Mayor Gavin Newsom’s State of The City address can be seen at www.youtube.com/mayorgavinnewsom. The segments are:

Monday
>Environment
>Education
>Health

Today
>Transportation

Wednesday
>Violence prevention
>Poverty

Thursday
>Economic climate
>Economic development

Friday
>Emergency planning
>Public art

Public comment:

“It’s a fantastic use of the Internet. ... A vast majority of people in San Francisco don’t even know there is a State of the City.”
— Supervisor Sean Elsbernd

“I would much rather have a well-packaged speech ... that gives an opportunity for dialogue.”
— Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi

“We are committed to using technology to cultivate an ongoing conversation with our constituents.”
— Mayor Gavin Newsom

“People are afraid things are going badly — homelessness, Muni, crime. They ... want a 15- to 20-minute version.”
— Political analyst David Latterman