SEC. 4.28. NAMING THE CITY HALL PRESS ROOM FOR BARBARA A.

(a) Findings.

Barbara Ann Taylor served as San Francisco City Hall bureau chief for KCBS Radio for more than 30 years, covering City Hall politics across seven different mayoral administrations, until her retirement in 2015, which earned her the title of “Dean of the City Hall Press Corps.” Taylor leveraged her experience as a political reporter to also co-write the Insider column and opinion pieces for the Hearst-owned San Francisco Examiner and to serve as on-air host for the televised weekly City Desk News.

Taylor adeptly and incisively covered the biggest news stories of her time, including the shocking assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk; the Jonestown massacre, which changed the course of politics in San Francisco; the Loma Prieta earthquake, the largest natural disaster to strike the City in over 80 years; and San Francisco’s groundbreaking and revolutionary issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples, paving the way for legalizing gay marriage. Taylor covered these events and many others, large and small, with a skilled professionalism that set the standard for countless other journalists.

Utilizing her fearlessness, tenacity, street smarts, and gut instincts, Taylor ferreted out stories and cut through the codswallop, providing her listeners with news stories that were relevant, accurate, balanced, and timely, earning her numerous awards for her news coverage, both as an individual reporter and as a member of a team unit, including the Peabody and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards and six national Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) “Edward R. Murrow” awards for overall excellence.

At once empathetic and hard-hitting in her beat reporting, Taylor threaded her stories with human interest, fairness, and profound integrity, earning the respect of her subjects and colleagues alike, and becoming a role model and subject matter expert even to those competitors wise enough to watch and learn from the best in the business.

Accompanied by her canine companion, Tanner, Taylor often held court in her City Hall press room office and recording studio, hosting a steady stream of elected officials, legislative aides, City Hall flaks, lobbyists, activists, political gadflies, and bureaucrats eager to get their say on the stories she was working on.

When politicians tried to avoid being peppered with her pointed questions or her dogged inquiries, Taylor knew where to track them down, lying in wait with microphone in hand by their parked car, on a back staircase, or at their favorite after-hours (or occasional lunchtime) watering hole.

A consummate beat reporter, Taylor knew when to hold tight to information given to her in confidence, when to use it for background, and when to roll it out, earning her the trust of valuable sources, which ultimately benefited her listeners, viewers, and readers, who came to depend on her ability

to competently and confidently report the news with context and authority, often in real time.

After diligently reporting on the work and words of seven mayors and dozens of members of the Board of Supervisors, as well as covering tens of thousands of hours of public meetings, thousands of press conferences, and hundreds of public protests, Taylor had one of the longest tenures of any individual consistently working under the City Hall dome and recording history as it unfolded.

(b) Barbara A. Taylor Press Room. The City Hall Press Room is named the Barbara A. Taylor Press Room.

(c) Signage. By no later than February 1, 2022, the City Administrator shall install lettering on the glass portion of the door to the City Hall Press Room identifying the room as the Barbara A. Taylor Press Room. The size and style of the lettering shall be consistent with the size and style of lettering used on doors throughout City Hall.

(Added by Ord. 215-21, File No. 211029, App. 11/26/2021, Eff. 12/25/2021)