Newsom’s new home in cellular dead zone
By: Brent Begin
Examiner Staff Writer
July 6, 2009
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| Cut off: Mayor Gavin Newsom, who relies heavily on his mobile phone, has had two calls to a radio show get dropped since moving to Ashbury Heights. (Examiner file photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — Gavin Newsom, the tech-savvy mayor who famously handles crises on his iPhone, may be out of cell phone range in a pinch and he doesn’t even need to be out of town.
That’s because his new Ashbury Heights home is in a cell-phone dead zone.
After moving into the new home in June, Newsom’s call into a radio talk show unexpectedly dropped. It happened again the next week, prompting a frustrated Newsom to call the station back.
As if Newsom didn’t have enough to worry about, the second dropped call happened on the same day news broke about vandalism at the Newsom-Siebel household. Someone had apparently defecated on the doorstep of the couple’s $3 million house.
The mayor’s cell phone has been his constant companion for some time.
In the days after the Cosco Busan fuel spill in November 2007, Newsom flew to Hawaii for a planned vacation, assuring the public he was in constant contact with his staff via his personal cell phone. Two months later, Newsom governed by iPhone from Hawaii after a fatal tiger mauling at the San Francisco Zoo.
Mayoral Communications Director Nathan Ballard declined to comment on the mayor’s personal phone coverage, but said he hasn’t had problems contacting his boss.
Newsom staffers said they can’t remember the mayor ever owning a land line at home.
As far as city business goes, however, Newsom’s AT&T wireless service seems to be working when it comes to text messaging. He told reporters last week that he received text messages about budget negotiations from his chief of staff well past midnight.
And as far as improving service in the hills above Haight Street goes, AT&T would have to get a permit from the Planning Department before installing a new microcell tower in the area, thanks to a 2007 law introduced by former Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin that requires a hearing before the smaller towers can be installed.
bbegin@sfexaminer.com
