Government Technology

San Francisco Mayor -- Technology and the Global Economy


April 19, 2006 By

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, speaking at the FirstMile.US spring conference in San Diego last month, said politicians should "get out of the way" of progress, that even members of his own Democratic party are trying to put up walls and barriers to the global economy, but said "There's no walls and barriers that can compete with what's going on."

What's going on, he said, is rapid change. The president of Estonia, said Newsom, visited recently, "And he starts telling me how people are paying for parking and their property taxes with their cell phones -- in Estonia!"

Newsom mentioned China, India and the EU as competitors. "I come from a city of dreamers and doers ..." he said. "Forty seven square miles surrounded by reality." He said San Francisco has always been on the leading edge, a place of discovery and innovation that has always embraced change. But in the last decade, he said the region has been resting on its laurels, infected with "a creeping mediocrity."

"When the current president entered the White House," he said , "we were fifth in broadband access." Recent studies have shown a drop to 15th or 16th, he said, "Just when the rest of the world is waking up."

The solution, said Newsom, is to "Get back to our roots, our entrepreneurial spirit. We need to deal with the competition, we can't shut out the competition, we need to beat the competition."

For the complete presentation on RealPlayer video, click here.

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