On Friday, Mayor Gavin Newsom held the first in what’s said to be a series of neighborhood open door sessions in the Mission and Tenderloin police stations. Disgruntled citizens and heartwarming adolescents used this “last resort” to get a meeting with the Mayor and complain about things they haven’t seen progress on, addressing issues from drugs in the Tenderloin and parking in the North Beach.
If you want an appointment yourself, though, you’re going to have to pay extremely close attention to the news. The opportunity to meet with the Mayor was announced on Chronicle and Examiner websites on Thursday at 9:00am, and, according to Mayoral spokesperson Brian Purchia, all 25 slots were filled by 9:20 by callers to the Department of Neighborhood Services.
Presumably, those who got the print story earlier that morning had advanced warning and huddled near their phones with eyes on the clock?
Purchia also said that meetings were announced in the Examiner and Chronicle on Wednesday, February 17, while those publications actually have their stories dated on Thursday the 18th, so it remains unclear how close the announcement will actually be made to future meetings, or if some people received more advance notice than others for last Friday’s meetings.
Since the Mayor’s office said Friday’s session was first in as series, we of course asked for a schedule of upcoming meetings. However, there was neither a schedule nor list of locations for future meetings to be had.
“If people call neighborhood services now to meet with the Mayor for an open door session they will be asked to call back when the next meetings are announced,” Purchia said.
According to Purchia, Friday’s lucky 25 people met the Mayor in 15-minute increments until 6pm. “The people that did not have a chance to meet with the Mayor were given the opportunity to meet with staff,” Purchia explained.
We’ve asked Purchia to keep us appraised on future meetings, and will make sure you know about them when we do.
Until then, you can get your Mayoral fix via the cyberspaces during an “online budget town hall” this Wednesday from 7-9pm viewable here. Questions can be posted ahead of time in the comment box on the UStream page linked to above, or by emailing BudgetTownHall@sfgov.org. Let us know if your question gets answered!
