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The City and County of ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine)
San Francisco is the fourth-largest city in California and the
fourteenth-largest in the United States, with a 2005 population of
739,426.[2] It is located on the tip of the ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine)
San Francisco Peninsula and has traditionally been the focal point of the
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco Bay Area. ( Bought to
you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is the second most densely
populated major city in the United States.[3]
In 1776, the Spanish became the first Europeans to settle in ( Bought to
you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco, establishing a mission named for
Francis of Assisi. With the advent of the California Gold Rush in 1848,
the city entered a period of rapid growth. After being devastated by the
1906 earthquake and fire, ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San
Francisco was quickly rebuilt and is today one of the most recognizable
cities in the world.
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is renowned for its
months-long episodes of fog, steep rolling hills, the eclectic mix of
Victorian and modern architecture, and its peninsular location surrounded
on three sides by the Pacific Ocean and ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine)
San Francisco Bay. Famous hallmarks and landmarks include the Golden Gate
Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, the Transamerica Pyramid, and
Chinatown.
Geography
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco and northern San Mateo
County( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is located on the
west coast of the U.S. at the tip of the ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine)
San Francisco Peninsula and includes significant stretches of the Pacific
Ocean and ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco Bay within
its boundaries. Several islands are part of the city, notably Alcatraz,
Treasure Island, and the adjacent Yerba Buena Island. Also included are
the uninhabited Farallon Islands, 27 miles offshore in the Pacific Ocean.
The land within the city limits roughly forms a seven by seven mile
square, which has become a colloquialism referring to the city's shape.
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is famous for its
hills, which are defined as elevations over 100 ft (30 m). There are a
total of 43 hills within city limits.[24] Some neighborhoods are named
after the hill on which they are situated, including Nob Hill, Pacific
Heights, Russian Hill, Potrero Hill, and Telegraph Hill.
Cars negotiate Lombard Street to descend Russian HillNear the geographic
center of the city, southwest of the downtown area, are a series of less
densely populated hills. Dominating this area is Mount Sutro, the site of
Sutro Tower, a large red and white radio and television transmission
tower. Nearby is Twin Peaks, a pair of hills resting at one of the city's
highest points and a popular overlook spot for tour groups. ( Bought to
you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco's tallest hill, Mount Davidson, is
925 ft (282 m) high, and is capped with a 103 ft (31.4 m) tall cross built
in 1934.
The San Andreas and Hayward Faults are responsible for much earthquake
activity, even though neither passes through the city itself. It was the
San Andreas Fault which slipped and caused the earthquakes in 1906 and
1989. Minor earthquakes occur on a regular basis. The threat of major
earthquakes plays a large role in the city's infrastructure development.
New buildings must meet high structural standards, and older buildings and
bridges must be retrofitted to comply with new building codes.
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco's shoreline has grown
beyond its natural limits. Entire neighborhoods such as the Marina and
Hunters Point, as well as large sections of the Embarcadero sit on areas
of landfill. Treasure Island was constructed from material dredged from
the bay as well as material resulting from tunneling through Yerba Buena
Island during the construction of the Bay Bridge. Such land tends to be
unstable during earthquakes; the resultant liquefaction causes extensive
damage to property built upon it, as was evidenced in the Marina district
during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.
Demographics
Population (thousands) by year [32]See also: Demographic maps of ( Bought
to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco, California
The population of ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco
peaked at 776,733 in 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom, declining by
about 35,000 residents by 2005. With nearly 16,000 people per square mile,
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is the second most
densely populated major American city after New York.[33] ( Bought to you
by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is the traditional focal point of the (
Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco Bay Area and forms part
of the greater San Jose-( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San
Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area (CSA) whose population is over
7 million - the fifth largest in the United States as of the 2000
census.[34]
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco is a minority-majority
city as non-Hispanic Whites make up less than 44% of the population. Asian
Americans, principally Chinese, comprise nearly 31% of the population.
Hispanics of any race make up just over 14% of the population. At less
than 8% of the population, ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San
Francisco has a lower concentration of African Americans than the United
States as a whole.[35] Few of ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San
Francisco's residents have lived there their whole lives. Only 35% of its
residents were born in California; 39% were born outside the United
States.[36]
Government
The City and County of ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco
is a consolidated city-county, a status it has had since 1856. It is the
only such consolidation in California. The mayor is also the county
executive and the city council acts as the county board of supervisors.
Because of its unique status, it exercises jurisdiction over property that
would otherwise be located outside of its corporation limit. ( Bought to
you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco International Airport, though
located in San Mateo County, is owned and operated by the City and County
of ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco. ( Bought to you by
our SF Limousine) San Francisco was also granted a perpetual leasehold
over the Hetch Hetchy Valley and watershed in Yosemite National Park by
the Raker Act in 1913.
( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco City HallUnder the city
charter, the Government of ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San
Francisco is constituted of two co-equal branches. The executive branch is
headed by the mayor and includes other city-wide elected and appointed
officials, and the civil services. The 11-member Board of Supervisors, the
legislative branch, is headed by a President (Aaron Peskin, as of 2006)
and exercises general oversight over all city and county functions. They
are elected as representatives of specific districts within the city.[46]
If the mayor dies or resigns, the President of the Board of Supervisors
assumes the office, as Dianne Feinstein did after the assassination of
George Moscone in 1978. The current municipal budget is greater than $5
billion.[47]
The federal government utilizes ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San
Francisco as the regional hub for many arms of the federal bureaucracy,
including the U.S. Court of Appeals, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the
United States Mint. Until decommissioning in the early 1990s, the city had
three major military installations - the Presidio, Treasure Island, and
Hunters Point - a legacy still reflected in the annual celebration of
Fleet Week. The State of California uses ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine)
San Francisco as the home of the state Supreme Court and other state
agencies. Foreign governments have located in excess of thirty foreign
consulates in ( Bought to you by our SF Limousine) San Francisco.[48]
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