You can't build a new house on a cracked foundation. If we're going to put California back on the leading edge, we have to fix our broken system.

Right now, our government is an opaque system of special interest-driven constitutional amendments, archaic legislative rules, and complex ballot initiatives that...

With the upcoming University of California walkout, we asked our Facebook community recently how the impending UC and CSU cuts were affecting them. The response was overwhelming:

Stephanie from SF State needed only two classes to graduate with her bachelor's degree. But one of the courses was eliminated -- graduation...

Americans are angry. This summer we've seen frustrations boil over in health care town halls across the country. But what are people mad about? Most are upset about the economy and afraid about losing their jobs. They are using town halls to vent.

I understand health care reform is...

Politicians and pundits on both sides of the aisle are trying to make national health care reform into a game. One senator even said that defeating health care reform is about "breaking" President Obama.

It is not about "breaking" our president. Reforming our national health care system is about...

As Congress debates how to pay for national health care reform, here in California we are showing there are ways to make coverage both universal and affordable.

In San Francisco, we are finding that one of the most effective reforms, and the most affordable by far, is...

As Congress works to adopt national health care reform, President Obama is traveling the country holding town halls stressing the importance of a public health insurance option.

The president has been telling Americans that a public plan will create competition, lower the cost of private insurance, and improve care. The...

President Obama is right -- the only way we are going to have real health care reform in the United States is by providing a public plan.

But right now, special interests in Washington, D.C. are doing everything they can to stop public health care from materializing. They...

Composting will prevent tons of material from going to the landfill, create healthy soil for our local farms and help us fight global warming.

Today at the Farmer's Market in front of San Francisco's iconic Ferry Building I am signing the nation's first mandatory composting law....

Today we must turn anger into action.

It's cold comfort to many that history is moving in the right direction, with five states already on their way to marriage equality. But it's our job to make sure history moves faster towards equality here in California.

We must redouble...

I've been in our nation's capital this week meeting with Obama Administration officials and Congressional leaders about national health care reform. Everywhere I go, from the White House to the Department of Labor to the U.S. Senate, I get the same question: can San Francisco's universal health care program,...

As car companies lined up in Washington, DC last November for the first round of federal bailout money - in San Francisco we announced another way - our comprehensive plan to make the San Francisco Bay Area the "Electric Vehicle (EV) Capital of the US."

Our efforts to...

It's official. Today, I became a candidate for governor because California needs a new direction.

I hope you will join me as we set out to build a campaign that...

Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar will hold a high-profile public hearing in San Francisco about the future of offshore oil drilling along America's coastlines.

We have a choice. Invest in safe, renewable forms of ocean energy -- including wind, wave, tidal and current power -- that...

For the past few months I have been holding town hall forums across California and no matter where I go, the issue of health care is front and center. These concerns are getting more pronounced and more passionate as the weeks wear on and unemployment continues to rise. People are...

Every day more San Francisco residents and businesses are signing up for two San Francisco programs that will cut monthly utility bills and help the City meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals. One is SF Energy Watch, which provides technical assistance and financial incentives that pays over half the...

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "green building?" Sleek new structures with skins of advanced glass and recycled steel that blend into the landscape, facades and roofs draped in a combination of daylight-harvesting windows, wildlife habitat, and photovoltaics? New construction affords the flexibility to build contemporary masterpieces,...

You may have seen in the news recently that our campaign launched a drive to reach 30,000 Facebook supporters in 30 days. At the end of the day yesterday, we reached 25,603 supporters. And with your help, I believe we'll reach our goal.

But our Facebook drive...

We are on the verge of a clean energy revolution that has potential to create millions of new jobs, revive our economy, and finally free us from our dependence on foreign oil. It is refreshing that we will soon have a president that understands the importance of investing in the...

Today I am unveiling the first three webisodes of my web-only "Interactive State of the City" simultaneously on San Francisco's city website, sfgov.org, and on YouTube.

Instead of a traditional speech behind a podium, this year I am delivering my State of the City address directly...

Today, our country is facing a set of seemingly insurmountable problems:

• an economic meltdown of historic proportions
• a car industry crashing, because of a lack of innovation and growth
• oil dependence transferring our wealth abroad
• an extended military presence in the Middle...