Let This One Be A Lesson: Give 'Em An Inch,...

Heads up. Gavin Newsom is making the leap from Mr. Green to Mr. Green Jeans.

San Francisco's ever eco-conscious mayor is turning Civic Center Plaza's central promenade into an organic vegetable garden, filled with beets, broccoli, cabbage and mustard greens.

"This is the next big narrative in the environmental movement," said Newsom.

It wouldn't be the first time Civic Center has been turned into a food charity program of sorts.

For years, Food Not Bombs annoyed city officials by handing out free meals to the homeless there.

Former Mayor Willie Brown, whose City Hall makeover helped clean up Civic Center, wasn't overly impressed with Newsom's turning the plaza into Green Acres.

"You start having cows and chickens and goats and other things at Civic Center," Brown said, "and I'm not sure it's a good idea."

Newsom, however, remains committed - noting that organic dining diva Alice Waters even won a commitment from Democratic presidential nominee-to-be Barack Obama to plant a similar garden at the White House if he's elected.

-- Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross, detailing yet another reason why these kooks must be stopped (if you needed one) for the SFGate