San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom brought his campaign to SF State Monday evening and answered questions eight days before the 2007 mayoral election.

A crowd of approximately 50 people gathered in Knuth Hall in the Creative Arts building for the hour and a half event, which was hosted by the College Democrats.

Newsom arrived promptly at 6:30 p.m. and discussed pedestrian safety on 19th Avenue, S.F. Promise and how the unofficial program will affect SF State, and how San Francisco is defined as a sanctuary city for undocumented immigrants.

“We’ve seen a 10 year low in pedestrian incidences last year, […] but this year we started seeing an increase, particularly here on 19th Avenue,” Newsom said. “I’m very cognizant and very aggressive in trying to address that with more countdown clocks, more upgrades, the median strip islands and re-striping crosswalks.”

When an audience member asked about education opportunities for people of color, Newsom said, “I feel like a broken record.”

In September, Newsom announced a proposal for S.F. Promise, a program that would help guide and prepare students in the sixth grade for the four-year college track. S.F. Promise partners Newsom with SF State President Robert Corrigan, California State University Chair of the Board of Trustees Roberta Achtenberg, and the San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia. Newsom plans to partially fund S.F. Promise with the estimated $6 million leftover from the mayoral campaign.

“We want to guarantee every single sixth grader, we want to start this next year with sixth graders, a four year college education – where? Right here at SF State,” Newsom said of S.F. Promise.

The event concluded with a question about whether S.F. Promise would lead to more overcrowding and impacted classes because of the additional students.

“I don’t believe that the president of the CSU and the current president of SF State would have supported something that would exacerbate that issue,” he said. “I think they’re supporting it because it’s going to enhance the educational mission of SF State and beyond.”

Antonio Taylor, 19, said that Newsom’s appearance seemed short, but that “there were a lot of great questions about minorities.” Newsom should have discussed his stance on the war on drugs, which he recently described as “an abject failure,” Taylor said.

“I wish he would have answered questions about the war on drugs which he stated on the news five weeks ago,” he said.

While Taylor is not registered to vote in San Francisco County, he said he would cast his vote for Newsom.

“He has experience and he has a tough job managing a city of 800,000 people,” Taylor said.

Newsom has been campaigning throughout the entire city the last couple of weeks, and expressed concern about the polls.

“My biggest concern is that it’s going to be a very low turnout election,” Newsom said. “We’re trying to encourage people to get out and vote because there’s a perception that the race is already over, and that is just not a perception I share, nor is it one that is advantageous.”

Newsom extended his stay for an additional 20 minutes before leaving for another campaign event in San Francisco's Mission district.