IT'S BOTH ENCOURAGING and appropriate that the new president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is someone who can only be defined as being to the left of previous president Tom Ammiano. While Sup. Aaron Peskin would have been a fine board president (and deserves immense credit for giving up his own campaign for the top spot and throwing his support to Gonzalez), his election might have been interpreted by many as a sign that the progressive board majority was moving to the center. In picking Gonzalez, the supervisors made a very different statement: the progressive wing of the board is alive and well, active and effective – and able to make alliances across the political spectrum.

That said, Gonzalez has both a tremendous opportunity and a huge responsibility in his new position. He has to demonstrate that the board's most left-leaning member – the highest-ranking Green Party official in California – can be more than a dissenter and critic. He has to be a leader who can help set the legislative agenda for progressives at a time when progressive causes haven't fared well in citywide elections.

So far the signs are encouraging. Gonzalez is talking about more open debate on the board, about organizing a legislative agenda, and about building issue-based coalitions to make that agenda happen. He's been gracious in victory, making a point, for example, of saying nothing but nice words about Ammiano, who voted against him twice.

He's put at the top of his legislative priority a city minimum-wage law, which is a populist and pro-labor idea that makes immense sense in tough economic times. He's promised to continue the fight for public power. He's not making a big issue of the fact that 10 Democrats elected a Green Party member as their leader – but he is planning to use the platform as a way to build the Greens into a real second party in San Francisco, something this corrupt one-party town has needed for decades.

But there are serious challenges, too. The board president is not, as the media likes to say, the second-most powerful job at City Hall (that's probably the city attorney). But it is the second-most visible job, and Gonzalez will be held at least partially responsible for the successes or failures of the board as a whole – at a time when money is so tight that everyone in town is going to have some reason to be mad at local government.

The new board president's agenda needs to reflect both his immense political challenges, difficult times for the city (and for progressives), and the reality that the progressive majority on the board is, at this point, fairly slim. (Gonzalez was elected by a 6-5 vote.)

Some things that ought to be on that agenda:

• The city budget Gonzalez wasn't a visible leader in last year's budget deliberations (he actually resigned from the Finance Committee), but he needs to be heavily involved this year. The city faces a devastating budget deficit – it could run as high as $300 million – and, thanks to some terrible state laws, options for raising revenue this year are somewhat limited. Gonzalez should make sure the budget and Finance Committee are run by progressives with strong fiscal sense (Peskin is a good example) who can go after the massive waste of the Brown administration (contracts, patronage jobs, etc.) while protecting vital services. Equally important, he needs to begin planning now for a series of comprehensive tax and revenue plans that can go on the ballot in 2004.

• Public power The Local Agency Formation Commission is now considering a public power feasibility study, which will be critical to future efforts to create a real municipal utility in San Francisco. Public power is the biggest potential source of revenue for the city and would be a big boost to the local economy. Gonzalez needs to take the lead in ensuring that the study happens – and if LAFCO isn't the best forum for continued work on public power, he should create a board committee to do the job.

• Homelessness Sup. Gavin Newsom took the initiative on this issue in part because the progressive supervisors didn't. So Gonzalez should make sure the new board comes up with a credible alternative plan that will be ready to implement as it becomes clear that Newsom's plan won't and can't work.

There's lots more, of course. But if Gonzalez can craft a clear legislative agenda and pass even a few key measures, he will have demonstrated that the Green-progressive-neighborhood-independent coalition in this town is not just alive but also ready to run the city.