Herrera hosts newspaper editors

by Jonathan Farrell

City Attorney Dennis Herrera invited publishers of all the local neighborhood papers in the San Francisco Neighborhood Newspaper Association to City Hall for a roundtable discussion on May 6.

Herrera told the dozen editors, publishers and reporters present that he confessed to being "a newspaper junkie." He also thought it was sad that San Francisco's major newspaper, the SF Chronicle, is struggling to survive, especially now in an economic downturn.

The city attorney and his staffers, Matt Dorsey and Jack Song, see the valuable outreach the local neighborhood media provides to the public.

"There are so many important issues and concerns that you neighborhood papers have covered that the mainstream media has barely mentioned," Herrera said.

"My office has over 100 contacts with various city, county, state and federal agencies," he said.

He said the city attorney's office is committed to providing the highest quality legal services to the mayor, board of supervisors, SF Unified School District and the 94 departments, boards, commissions and offices of the City and County of San Francisco.

The responsibilities include representing the city and county in legal proceedings, and, providing advice or written opinions to any officer, department head, board, commission or other unit of local government among many other attorney and legal counselor duties.

Herrera pointed out that in all proceedings he and his office must remain neutral, especially in matters of politics.

"We are not allowed to endorse or promote any candidates for office or ballot initiatives," he said.

Herrera said his department has been cut back over the past several years, from 225 attorneys when he took office seven years ago, to 185 today.

For the past seven years, Herrera and his staff have often been on the "front line" in civil and fairness issues involving the city of San Francisco and/or the state of California. So, it is little wonder that the city attorney has been described by "American Lawyer" magazine as "one of the most aggressive and talented city law departments in the nation."

Herrera's office handles some 8,000 claims a year. He meets weekly with the top leaders of his office to hammer out strategy and work on continuing legislation, such as the city's effort to legalize same-sex marriages at the state Supreme Court.

Paul Kozakiewicz, editor of the Sunset Beacon and Richmond Review newspapers, asked Herrera to comment on a recent proposal by SF Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi to ban the delivery of free newspapers to those who do not want them.

Herrera mentioned that to hinder the distribution of free newspapers is to hinder free speech. Herrera sees the delivery and or distribution of newspapers, whether they are to a newsstand box on the street or to someone's doorstep, as a vital way to help keep the public informed.

"Many people, especially older generations that are not as tech savvy or simply those who do not have access to a computer, rely on printed material," said Herrera.

Herrera said his fondest triumph so far was getting a $1 million settlement, which was used for seed money to establish the Willie Mays Boys and Girls Club in the Bayview. Other groups and individuals, including the mayor's office, got additional funding to make the project a reality.

The SF Neighborhood Newspaper Association was founded in 1988 to share advertising revenues and to meet with elected officials to get information about specific neighborhoods.