|
Willie Lewis Brown Jr
‘We
have convinced the university to stay in San Francisco’
|
|
|
an
Francisco’s Mayor Willie Lewis Brown
Jr is the driving force behind the ambitious plans to
redevelop the city’s infrastructure, transform the education system
and provide more housing. Texas-born Mr Brown, the city’s first
black mayor, is now in his second term of office, and feels that he
is following a true San Francisco tradition. “This has always been
a city of pioneers in pursuit of their dreams,” he says.
In
much the same vein, he is also making a concerted bid to bring the 2012
Olympic Games to San Francisco. “We know we can handle the Olympics,”
he says. “There’s no better weather in this country for the
Olympics: the temperature is just right; and the high standard of living
we enjoy and the number of languages spoken here surpass almost anywhere
else.”
Mr
Brown also says that the city is set to become a world leader in biosciences.
“The University of California’s campus in San Francisco (UCSF)
is devoted to becoming the leader in biotechnology and biosciences for
the next 50 to 100 years,” he says.
“It
is one of the successes of our administration that we’ve convinced
the university to stay in the city. We’re building six million
square feet of bioscience space around the university and we predict
that in ten years’ time there will be more than 25,000 people working
in the facility.”
Another campus for the university is planned for Mission Bay, a project
to transform 315 acres of derelict railway yards. It will also hold
6,000 new homes and office space. The construction work on the first
1,000 homes is already well advanced.
|
Leamon Abrams
‘We
also have several projects to help local neighbourhoods’
|
|
|
Leamon
Abrams, Director of Economic Development in the mayor’s
office, says: “While we concentrate on mega-industries, we also
have to pay attention to the small businesses, so we have several initiatives
to help neighbourhood-based businesses. The city is working with neighbourhood
committees. The idea is to make the streets places where residents,
families and tourists alike can linger and enjoy a coffee.” Schemes
include tree-planting, restoring building facades and improving parking
facilities.
Lee
Blitch, President and Chief Executive of the San Francisco Chamber of
Commerce, says: “We are a city of 49 square miles, with about 750,000
people. Paris has about 45 square miles and three million people, so
we think we can increase our density and maintain our quality of life.”
The
chamber is also working hard to retain the city’s well-educated
workforce. “About 45 per cent of the 25-plus population here has
either a bachelor’s degree or higher,” says Mr Blitch. “Big
pharmaceutical and life science companies are merging and there is a
mature industry that is now nearly 30 years old. We’re starting
to see the culmination of massive investment in R&D and life sciences.
It will transform the way we view health and will spur the creation
of a whole new raft of support industries.”