42 Facts About Art Agnos

Arthur Christ Agnos was born on Arthouros Agnos; September 1,1938 and is an American politician.

Art Agnos served as the 39th mayor of San Francisco, California from 1988 to 1992 and as the Regional Head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1993 to 2001.

Art Agnos earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bates College and a Master of Social Work from Florida State University.

Art Agnos moved to San Francisco in 1966 and went to work at the San Francisco Housing Authority as a social worker with senior populations.

McCarthy was elected Speaker of the Assembly in 1974 and Agnos became his Chief of Staff.

In 1976, Art Agnos was elected to the California State Assembly, defeating Harvey Milk in the Democratic primary in the 16th District, which at the time covered the eastern neighborhoods of San Francisco.

Art Agnos served as the Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and as chair of the health subcommittee of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Art Agnos served as co-chair of the Joint Committee on South East Asian Refugees.

Art Agnos authored legislation that received national attention for innovative approaches to challenges in health care, welfare, and civil rights, among other areas.

Art Agnos authored California's model welfare reform, GAIN, that matched work requirements with funding for job training, education, and child care.

Since then, nearly all aspects of Art Agnos' proposals have become law and policy in California.

On December 13,1973, Art Agnos, who was then a member of the California Commission on Aging, was attending a meeting in the largely black public housing project in the San Francisco neighborhood of Potrero Hill, to discuss building a publicly funded health clinic in the area.

Art Agnos's life was saved only by the downward trajectory of the bullets.

In 1987, Art Agnos ran for mayor to replace Dianne Feinstein, who was term-limited.

Art Agnos came from behind to defeat Supervisor John Molinari, garnering 70 percent of the vote.

Art Agnos changed the priorities for the Redevelopment Commission from creating economic and business opportunities to focus on housing, resulting in the largest increase in affordable housing in twenty years.

Art Agnos disbanded the police unit that had engaged in spying on demonstrations.

Art Agnos empowered the Commission on the Status of Women with subpoena powers and independence and named more minorities and lesbians and gay men to top city commissions and department directors than ever before.

In 1991, Art Agnos lost his re-election bid to the former police chief who promised to put the city "back on track" and who was strongly supported by the firefighters and others opposed to Art Agnos's policy initiatives.

Art Agnos's decision was strongly opposed by the Chamber of Commerce and the Chinatown community, who found the freeway a convenience for business purposes, and nearly 25,000 signatures were collected to put a measure on the ballot to repeal the decision to tear down the freeway.

In recent years, Art Agnos's decision has been looked to by city leaders and elected officials in Seattle and Toronto, Canada, where Art Agnos' Embarcadero result is considered a potential model for replacing elevated freeways in urban areas.

Art Agnos added to the waterfront by laying plans for the city's first public access pier, Pier 7, to allow pedestrians to walk out into the Bay.

Art Agnos convened a task force of providers, homeless advocates, city agency representatives and others to develop an approach that hoped to end the reliance on overnight shelters in favor of programs to help homeless individuals and families become self-reliant.

Critics dubbed the result "Camp Art Agnos" and called on him to use police force to remove them, which Art Agnos refused to do.

Art Agnos remained committed to a program of expanding affordable, low-cost housing in San Francisco.

Art Agnos increased other affordable housing production from 342 units when he took office to 2,240 units, winning San Francisco's first national recognition from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for Excellence in Rental Rehabilitation and a Special Achievement Award.

Art Agnos implemented the policies he advocated as a state legislator, including a 98 percent increase in the city's AIDS budget.

Later the Giants ballpark was sited at the location Art Agnos designated and built to the same overall design by the architects and developers he selected originally.

Art Agnos served as Acting FHA Commissioner and Acting Assistant Secretary for Housing, as well as Director of the Special Actions Office.

Art Agnos led HUD's effort to uplift San Francisco's Visitacion Valley, blighted by twin 20-story high-rises supported by HUD and which were unsafe for the residents and the community.

Art Agnos worked with city leaders throughout the region to create the first funding for homeless coordination between neighboring cities to address concerns that services were not well matched with those in need.

Art Agnos led an effort to combat predatory lending aimed at minority homeowners and to repeal "racial covenants" barring non-whites from living or staying overnight in many California communities.

Art Agnos worked with his mentor former California Assembly Speaker and Lt.

Art Agnos has frequently been called upon by the US State Department, the National Democratic Institute, the Asia Foundation, and other international bodies to provide leadership development on democracy building, including in the Russian Far East, the Kurdish regions of Turkey, Zaire, Sierra Leone, Angola, Korea, and as one of the first officials to arrive in Bethlehem to offer disaster assistance after the Israeli army siege of the Church of the Nativity ended on May 10,2002.

Art Agnos is frequently sought as a speaker on disaster preparedness and recovery.

In 2007, Art Agnos was appointed as receiver for the troubled San Francisco Housing Authority.

Art Agnos never took control of the agency; instead, Fortner resigned under pressure from Newsom, who appointed Mirian Saez, director of operations at Treasure Island, to run the agency on an interim basis before hiring Alvarez.

Art Agnos has become involved with restricting the building of new housing in San Francisco.

Art Agnos strongly opposed the 8 Washington condominium project in 2013, in support of "No Wall on the Waterfront".

Art Agnos was a prominent advocate for Proposition B, a precedent-setting measure approved by a wide margin by voters in June 2014 that required developments along the waterfront to win voter approval if the plan called for a height that exceeded the height limits established in the Waterfront Land Use plan first approved by voters in 1990 and implemented in 1997.

Art Agnos is involved with attempts to block the redevelopment of the San Francisco Flower Mart.

Art Agnos is married to Sherry Hankins and has two sons.