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A city attorney can be an elected or appointed position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the city or municipality.

In some small towns, the city attorney is usually a lawyer in private practice and handles only governmental matters. In other towns or cities the he or she also prosecutes minor crimes.

A city attorney generally handles all legal matters for the city, from traffic tickets to civil lawsuits to acting as a general counsel, giving legal advice for city departments.

Areas of focus may include:

• Civil claims against city (such as claims against the city police department)
• Criminal - prosecute misdemeanors and violations (felonies are usually prosecuted by a district attorney, State's Attorney or Commonwealth's Attorney)
• Real estate - drug/alcohol nuisance, substandard housing or code enforcement

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Christopher 'Kit' Williams (born April 28, 1946 in Kent, England) is an English artist, illustrator and author best known for his book Masquerade, a pictorial storybook which contains clues to the location of a golden (18 carat) jewelled hare created by Williams and then buried "somewhere in Britain."

Williams wrote another puzzle book with a bee theme; the puzzle was to figure out the title of the book and represent it without using the written word. This competition ran for just a year and a day and the winner was revealed on the live BBC TV chatshow Wogan.

In 1985, Kit Williams designed the Wishing Fish Clock, a centrepiece of the Regent Arcade shopping centre in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Over 45 feet tall, the clock features a duck that lays a never-ending stream of golden eggs and includes a family of mice that are continually trying to evade a snake sitting on top of the clock. Hanging from the base of the clock is a large wooden fish that blows bubbles every half hour. Catching one of these bubbles entitles you to make a wish, hence the name of the clock.

Other clocks designed by Williams can be found in Telford Shopping Centre and in the Midsummer Place section of Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre.

Williams was also involved in the design of the Dragonfly Maze in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England, which comprises a yew maze with a pavilion at the centre. The object is not only to reach the pavilion, but to gather clues as one navigates the maze. Correctly interpreting these clues when one reaches the pavilion allows access to the maze's final secret.

In August 2009, Kit Williams was reunited with the golden hare which he had not seen for more than 30 years.^[1] He is quoted as saying:

"I had not remembered it being as delicate as it is ... Then when I picked it up the little bells jingled, and it sparkled in a way that I had forgotten as well."

This reuniting was revealed in a BBC Four sixty minute documentary on William's work, The Man Behind The Masquerade on December 2 2009, beginning with Masquerade and ending with an exhibition of the best 18 pieces of his art from the last thirty years at London's Portal Gallery, which had first exhibited his work in the 1970s. The programme showed Williams being reunited with the golden hare for the first time when it was loaned by its anonymous present owner in the Far East.^[2]

The hare is on display at the V&A Museum, London, as part of its British Design 1948 - 2012 retrospective from March 31st to 12th August 2012.^[3]

The Wishing Fish Clock, Regent Arcade, Cheltenham

The Frog Clock at Telford Shopping Centre

Select bibliography[link]

• Kit Williams, Masquerade, J. Cape, 1979 ( ISBN 0-8052-3747-X )
• Kit Williams, Masquerade: The Complete Book with the Answer Explained, J. Cape, 1982 [paperback] ( ISBN 0-89480-369-7 )
• Kit Williams, The Book without a Name, Knopf, 1984 ( ISBN 0-394-53817-X )
• Kit Williams, Out of One Eye: The Art of Kit Williams, Crown, 1986 ( ISBN 0-517-56431-9 )
• Kit Williams, Engines of Ingenuity, Gingko Press, 2001 ( ISBN 1-58423-106-8 )

References[link]

External links[link]

• Masquerade FAQ
• Untitled book FAQ The Bee on the Comb
• Wishing Fish Clock
• The Portal Gallery
• About Kit Williams including the Frog Clock at Telford
• Art at Midsummer Place the Frog Clock at Milton Keynes
• BBC Gloucestershire The man behind the masquerade

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since July 2009. It may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since July 2009. It may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since September 2011.

Herrera participating in Bike To Work Day (2009)

Dennis Herrera is City Attorney of San Francisco, best known for his court action in favor of gay marriage, including against Proposition 8. He was re-elected as City Attorney in 2009 with 96 percent of the vote.^[1] In the 2011 election he ran for Mayor of San Francisco, finishing third.

Early Life and Education[link]

Born November 6, 1962 in Bay Shore, Long Island, New York. Herrera grew up in the nearby Long Island working class community of Glen Cove . His father was a psychiatrist who immigrated from Colombia after serving as part of the UN Peacekeeping Troops during the Suez War in 1956. His mother was raised by her Italian immigrant parents and still practices as a nurse today in Glen Cove, NY.

Herrera obtained his bachelor’s degree at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, and went on to earn his JD from the George Washington University School of Law in Washington, DC. Throughout his education, Herrera worked many jobs to support himself – from his newspaper route as a young boy to restocking shelves at the local grocery store to serving as a short order cook in a local diner. After graduating law school in 1987, Dennis was offered an associate position at a maritime law firm in San Francisco and moved to the city.^[2]

Political career[link]

After his move to San Francisco in 1987 Herrera became an active member of the community, joining his local Democratic club and helping to get Democratic candidates elected in the city. In 1990, Dennis was appointed to the Waterfront Plan Advisory Board. He also served on the Finance Committee for the California Democratic Party.

In 1993, Herrera was appointed Chief of Staff for the US Maritime Administration in Washington, DC. After helping run an office with 1,100 employees, he went back into private practice in San Francisco as a partner in the maritime law firm of Kelly, Gill, Sherburne & Herrera.^[3]

He was appointed to the SF Transportation Commission by-then Mayor Willie Brown and eventually became a Police Commissioner. He was voted the President of the Commission after just one year.^[2]

San Francisco City Attorney[link]

In December 2001, Herrera was elected in a run-off to the post of San Francisco City Attorney, making him the first ever Latino City Attorney of San Francisco. He is currently serving his third term.

As San Francisco’s City Attorney, Dennis Herrera worked on a number of city issues. His office was the only municipality in the country to seek to strike down a federal abortion ban proposed by the Bush Administration.

His office was also responsible for blowing the whistle on the widespread national scam to defraud the government e-rate programs in needy school districts. His case brought back millions of dollars to benefit San Francisco’s public school kids.

He secured civil gang injunctions protecting neighborhoods that were affected by gang violence, drug pushing, graffiti and intimidation.

Herrera has also been an advocate for affordable and fair healthcare. He sued insurance companies in San Francisco to end “gender rating” practices that allowed the California insurers to charge women as much as 39% more for health care coverage than men and successfully defended San Francisco’s universal health care “Healthy San Francisco” program all the way to the Supreme court – maintaining healthcare coverage for thousands of San Franciscans.^[4]

Prop 8[link]

In his role as City Attorney he gained significant notoriety and was quoted in several national publications for his filing of the first government litigation in American history to challenge the constitutionality of marriage laws that discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. In partnership with Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Santa Clara County Counsel Anne C. Ravel filed a petition for a writ of mandate with the California Supreme Court to invalidate Proposition 8.

In his petition Herrera said: “The issue before the court today is of far greater consequence than marriage equality alone ... Equal protection of the laws is not merely the cornerstone of the California Constitution, it is what separates constitutional democracy from mob rule tyranny. If allowed to stand, Prop 8 so devastates the principle of equal protection that it endangers the fundamental rights of any potential electoral minority -- even for protected classes based on race, religion, national origin and gender. The proponents of Prop 8 waged a ruthless campaign of falsehood and fear, funded by millions of dollars from out-of-state interest groups. Make no mistake that their success in California has dramatically raised the stakes. What began as a struggle for marriage equality is today a fight for equality itself. I am confident that our high court will again demonstrate its principled independence in recognizing this danger, and in reasserting our constitution's promise of equality under the law.” ^[5]

Run for Mayor[link]

In August 2010 Herrera announced that he would seek the office of Mayor in San Francisco. He finished in third place with 22% of the vote.

Personal life[link]

Dennis met his wife, Anne, in 1999 and they were married just 10 months later. They live in the Dogpatch neighborhood with their 8 year old son Declan. Herrera coaches his son Declan’s baseball and soccer teams.^[6]

References[link]

References[link]

• Whiting, Sam (12 February 2009). "Catching Up With ... Dennis Herrera". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/12/DD2J15QA64.DTL&hw=propositions&sn=185&sc=260. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
• Buchanan, Wyatt; Marisa Lagos (18 June 2007). "City Attorney moves to remove Ed Jew from office -- seeks permission to sue from AG". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/18/BAGFHQH9D88.DTL. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
• "The Rachel Maddow Show". MSNBC. 5 March 2009. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29549668/. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
• Whiting, Sam (18 April 2004). "Dennis Herrera uses his power of attorney". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/04/18/CMG7Q5PG5D1.DTL. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
• Nevius, C.W. (22 November 2008). "City attorney Herrera has a new mayoral look". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/22/BAIE149N1R.DTL&hw=Gay+Rights+marriage&sn=087&sc=250. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
• Kostal, Susan (4 March 2008). "The other man". San Francisco Magazine. http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/other-man. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
• . http://sfist.com/2008/11/05/dennis_herrera_sues_to_invalidate_p.php%7Clast=Keeling%7Cfirst=brock%7Cdate=5 November 2008|work=SFist|accessdate=2011-06-23}}
• . http://sfist.com/2008/11/05/dennis_herrera_sues_to_invalidate_p.php%7Cldate=27 August 2010|work=abc local|accessdate=2011-06-23}}

External links[link]

• Campaign website

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