Willie Lewis Brown Jr. is an American politician of the Democratic Party. Brown served over 30 years in the California State Assembly, spending 15 years as its speaker. He later became mayor of San Francisco, the first African American to hold that office. The San Francisco Chronicle called Brown "one of San Francisco's most notable mayors", adding that he had "celebrity beyond the city's boundaries." Born in Mineola, Texas, Brown graduated from San Francisco State University in 1955 and earned a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1958. He spent several years in private practice before being elected to the California Assembly in 1964 in his second attempt. Brown became the Democrats' whip in 1969 and speaker in 1980. He was known for his ability to manage colleagues and maintain party discipline. According to The New York Times, Brown became one of the country's most powerful state legislators. His long tenure and powerful position were used as a focal point of the California ballot proposition to limit the terms of state legislators, which passed in 1990. During the last of his three allowed post-initiative terms, Brown maintained control of the Assembly despite a slim GOP majority by gaining several Republicans' support. Near the end of his final term, he left the legislature and became mayor of San Francisco.
State Route 480 was a state highway in San Francisco, California, United States, consisting of the elevated double-decker Embarcadero Freeway, the partly elevated Doyle Drive approach to the Golden Gate Bridge and the proposed and unbuilt section in between. The unbuilt section from Doyle Drive to Van Ness Avenue was to have been called the Golden Gate Freeway and the Embarcadero Freeway as originally planned would have extended from Van Ness along the north side of Bay Street and then along the Embarcadero to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
The mayor of the City and County of San Francisco is the head of the executive branch of the San Francisco city and county government. The officeholder has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the legislative branch. The mayor serves a four-year term and is limited to two successive terms. Because of San Francisco's status as a consolidated city-county, the mayor also serves as the head of government of the county; both entities have been governed together by a combined set of governing bodies since 1856.
Fred Harry Lau is a former Chief of Police for San Francisco, having served from 1996–2002. He was the first Asian American to ever hold that position, and has been called the first Chinese-American to lead the police in any major American city. In 2013, he became the TSA Federal Security Director of the San Francisco International Airport.
The government of the City and County of San Francisco utilizes the "strong mayor" form of mayoral/council government, composed of the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, several elected officers, and numerous other entities. It is the only consolidated city-county in California, and one of only thirteen charter counties of California. The fiscal year 2019–20 city and county budget was approximately $12.3 billion.
The San Francisco Board of Education is the school board for the City and County of San Francisco. It is composed of seven Commissioners, elected by voters across the city to serve 4-year terms. It is subject to local, state, and federal laws, and determines policy for all the K-12 public schools in the San Francisco Unified School District.
The Chinese Historical Society of America is the oldest and largest archive and history center documenting the Chinese American experience in the United States. It is based in the Chinatown neighborhood of San Francisco, California.
Michael Yaki is a San Francisco attorney/consultant/political analyst, running his own consulting firm and currently serving as a Commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, succeeding Christopher Edley, Jr. in February 2005. Yaki graduated from UC Berkeley, and then from Yale Law School. He clerked for Judge Harry Low, the first Chinese-American appointed to the California Court of Appeal. After a brief stint with the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, Yaki was appointed by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi to be her District Director and as a senior advisor. Yaki was also a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, serving from his appointment by then-mayor Willie Brown in February 1996. He ran for election and won in November 1996, and served until his election defeat in 2000. He owns his own consulting company, Michael Yaki Consulting.
San Francisco Chinese Hospital is a hospital in San Francisco and the only Chinese hospital in the United States. The hospital is located in San Francisco's Chinatown.
Jane Kim is an American attorney and politician, and the first Korean American elected official in San Francisco. She represented San Francisco's District 6 on the Board of Supervisors between 2011 and 2019. She is a member of the San Francisco's Democratic County Central Committee. She is executive director of the California Working Families Party.
Rose Lan Pak was a political activist in San Francisco, California, noted for her influence on city politics and power in the Chinatown community. Pak served as a consultant for the San Francisco Chinese Chamber of Commerce and organizer of the Chinese New Year Parade in San Francisco. Although Pak never held an elective political office, she was known as an outspoken, controversial but well-connected "gatekeeper" figure who supported politicians by raising funds and connecting them with the city's growing Asian American community. Her political ties to the Chinese government attracted scrutiny.
As of 2012, 21.4% of the population in San Francisco was of Chinese descent, and there were at least 150,000 Chinese American residents. The Chinese are the largest Asian American subgroup in San Francisco. San Francisco has the highest percentage of residents of Chinese descent of any major U.S. city, and the second largest Chinese American population, after New York City. The San Francisco Area is 7.9% Chinese American, with many residents in Oakland and Santa Clara County. San Francisco's Chinese community has ancestry mainly from Guangdong province, China and Hong Kong, although there is a sizable population of ethnic Chinese with ancestry from other parts of mainland China and Taiwan as well.
Chinatown station is an underground light rail station of the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Muni Metro system, currently under construction as part of the Central Subway Project. It will serve as the future terminus of Phase 2 of the T Third Street line and will be located at the corner of Stockton and Washington streets in Chinatown, San Francisco. The station is planned to open in October 2022.
Aaron Dan Peskin is an American elected official in San Francisco, California. He serves as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing Supervisorial District 3, and is currently Dean of the Board. He was elected in 2015, having previously served two terms in 2001–2009. Peskin is currently serving his fourth term as District Supervisor.
Sue Bierman was a civic leader in San Francisco, serving on the San Francisco Planning Commission, the Board of Supervisors, and the Port Commission.
A special election was held for Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco on June 5, 2018, to fill the remainder of the term of Ed Lee, who had died in office on December 12, 2017. Upon Lee's death, London Breed, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, became Acting Mayor of San Francisco, but a vote of six supervisors replaced Breed with Supervisor Mark Farrell. The mayoral election was held concurrently with the statewide direct primary election. In San Francisco, the election for the eighth district member of the board of supervisors was also on the ballot.
Florence Fang is a Chinese-American businesswoman, publisher, and philanthropist active in the San Francisco area. She is the former owner of the San Francisco Examiner and other media titles and has been a fund-raiser for the Republican Party. She is the owner of The Flintstone House in Hillsborough, California, themed on The Flintstones cartoon series.
Ping Yuen and North Ping Yuen form a four-building public housing complex in the north end of Chinatown, San Francisco along Pacific Avenue. In total, there are 434 apartments. The three Pings on the south side of Pacific were dedicated in 1951, and the North Ping Yuen building followed a decade later in 1961. Some of the largest murals in Chinatown are painted on Ping Yuen, which are prominent landmark buildings taller than the typical two- or three-story Chinatown buildings that date back to the early 1900s.
The 2018 election for the San Francisco Board of Education was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the next three commissioners for the San Francisco Board of Education.
The 2022 San Francisco Board of Education recall elections were held on February 15, 2022. Voters had the option to remove each of three San Francisco Board of Education Commissioners—Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, and Faauuga Moliga—from office. Lopez was president of the board at the time, while Collins and Moliga had served as vice president previously. All three commissioners were removed with landslide results, and will be replaced by appointees chosen by mayor London Breed. The other members of the school board were not eligible for recall at this time.
