SF Chronicle: Gavin Newsom talks up job creation - while cutting jobs

[marmar]

Newsom talks up job creation - while cutting
Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 26, 2009


Shortly after breaking ground on a new water treatment facility near Tracy on a recent morning, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said the project was a perfect example of how a mayor can help boost the economy outside his own city borders.

The facility is one of 85 projects planned by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission over the next decade to revamp the system that brings water from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir to the Bay Area - and put together, the projects are expected to create 28,000 jobs.

"San Francisco is stimulating the regional economy and not just its own economy," Newsom said shortly after dismounting a bulldozer. "You want to solve a budget deficit, focus on the economy and creating jobs."

The mayor, best known around the state for championing same-sex marriage, has recently begun stressing something that will likely play a lot better in conservative parts of California: jobs. He says job creation and stimulating the economy will be one of his top priorities if voters send him to the governor's mansion next year.

But that may sound hypocritical to the 288 city workers who were laid off Friday and the several hundred more who could receive pink slips in the coming weeks as the mayor struggles with a budget crisis.

Ethel Newlin, a member of Service Employees International Local 1021 who works in the consumer fraud division at the Hall of Justice, doesn't know if she'll receive a pink slip. She said the mayor's emphasis on job creation is wonderful - but not when jobs are being eliminated. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/26/MN9V17PFAT.DTL&type=jobs