Last August, Amy Brown, director of San Francisco's real estate division, stood before a Board of Supervisors committee and made the kind of promise that gets elected officials' attention in a time of budget crisis. Should supervisors authorize her department to take over the three-day-a-week antiques market on United Nations Plaza near City Hall, Brown said, the operation would provide the city $400,000 to $500,000 per year in revenue. Profits from renting the plaza to several dozen vendors could help offset the million dollars a year the city spends cleaning up... More >>>