I was very honored to be the special guest of the Directors Guild of America, San Francisco Coordinating Committee annual mixer where I was presented a beautiful plaque recognizing my work in revitalizing the San Francisco Film Industry.  The DGA honored both Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier and me for our work on drafting and creating San Francisco’s Film and Television Incentive Program, the first film incentive program in the state of California.  The program is a good first step in bringing back the thousands of good paying union jobs that have been lost in the Bay Area over the past five to ten years.
Our success was largely due to the hard work of FX Crowely and IATSE Local 16, Bob Morales and the Teamsters, the DGA, SAG/AFTRA, and the many others who came out to testify about how important this legislation was to the working women and men of San Francisco.

I first started working on film incentive issues in 1998 when I was the Director of Special Projects for the Screen Actors Guild.  In conjunction with the DGA, SAG conducted the first major analysis of the economic impact of run away production on the United States economy.  At that time, we found that the United States had lost over $5 billion to countries like Canada and New Zealand due to their aggressive film incentive programs.  I am very proud, eight years later, to have played a role in passing California’s first film incentive package.   

I baked four pecan pies with pecans from the family pecan orchard and I am proud to say, not a crumb was left. Thank you to all who brought food – it was delicious!

The event was a wonderful opportunity to talk the neighbors in SoMa. The people we meet are not casual observers of the local political scene - they are people who care deeply about local policies (and politics) affecting them, their jobs, and their neighborhoods. Lisa and I particularly enjoyed speaking with Lolita who spoke to us about the realities confronting our homeless senior citizens here in San Francisco.

 As we told Lolita, these issues are very close to our hearts, and we must do everything we can to help our seniors who are homeless and marginally-housed. Thank you also to Bruce, Tim, Sophia, Jenny, Tracey, Dennis, Joe, and everyone else who spoke with us, both asking us questions and allowing Lisa and me to listen closely about what issues are dear to you.

A special thanks to Philip Claypool, a great friend to me and to San Francisco, for playing at the event as well.

All the hardwork and planning was definetly worth it. It was a great community building event, with a wonderfull turnout. And for me, I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening than grilling hotdogs and listening to live music.

Thanks to everyone for all the help and for coming to the annual SOMA Night.

For the announcement, Mayor Newsom joined me and the Tehama Street Neighborhood Association in painting a mural incorporating the faces of all the children who live on the street. The neighbors have been working on the mural for serveral weeks, and we were adding the final touches. The Tehama neighbors are doing everything they can to make their City a safe, beautiful place for their families. It was great to raise awareness of their efforts and to help with a little painting.

Hats off to Karen Miller and her many neighbors and friends for putting together a great event for “The Hub”. The music was great, and the fashions being shown by the Porcelynne Boutique and Gallery were fantastic. It was beautiful day to spend outside, getting to know people and listening to same great live music.
For more on the “porcelynne” style, check out their website at www.porcelynne.com.

Howard Langton Garden Tex / Mex BBQ
On Sunday night, I hit the Howard Langton Garden Tex / Mex BBQ and potluck in SOMA. The Howard Langton Garden is an amazing oasis. It is a beautiful space to relax, surrounded by green plants, herbs and vegetables grown by residents of the community. The potluck was complete with country music and sangria. My contribution to the festivities was a pecan pie, made from pecan’s from my families orchard in New Mexico. (I am proud to say that the pie was the first thing eaten at the party!)
While at the BBQ, I met a wonderful man who had helped prepare the habanera chicken and pork kabobs. He had arrived in San Francisco three years ago, homeless and in need of a helping hand. He found one at Episcopal Community Services, where he enrolled in their CHEFS class. The CHEFS (Conquering Homelessness Through Employment in Food Services) is a vocational training program that helps homeless and formerly homeless individuals find work in the food services industry. Through the program, he learned how to prepare (tasty I might add) meals for up to 300 people at a time.
Now, three years later, he helps cook for hundreds of people a day and helps teach new classes in the CHEFS program. Episcopal Community Services is doing more than handing out bread and fishes, they are teaching people how to fish.

For more about the CHEFS program checkout http://www.ecs-sf.org/chefsnewsletter.pdf, for more about the Howard Langton Garden see http://www.howardlangtongarden.org/