During his first 100 days in office, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made national headlines with his decision to allow gay marriages in the city (since halted by court order). But he now has to get down to the minutiae of running a city facing a huge budget deficit.

Newsom ran as a centrist liberal against Green Party progressive candidate Matt Gonzalez in the race for mayor. With his move on gay marriages and the attention he has paid to the city’s Bayview-Hunter’s Point district, Newsom has surprised many progressives and others.

Just after taking office, Newsom made unannounced visits to crime scenes in the Bayview, historically a low-income and predominately African American area of the city that has recently been hit by a wave of killings, including the shooting death of a police officer over the weekend.

The mayor also escorted a group of city department heads to the Bayview and pointed out problems with parks and other infrastructure. After the tour, repairs around the neighborhood began with earnest.

Other moves meeting with approval by many in the city include naming Heather Fong the new police chief, making her the first woman to head the department and one of the few women chiefs in the country. She’s also one of a handful of Asian Americans to be the top cop in a big city.

It’ll be interesting to see if Newsom can keep the left happy as he grapples with the budget and other everyday issues.

chinoloco