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Spotlight: Corona Walkers Update: Protest wrap-up Micro Climate: Lifting Spirits History: Woodside Country Club
ISSUE FIFTY NINE • JULY • 2020
Of Thee I Sing Local Voices on America
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•
With the July issue, Climate is back in print after three months being sheltered in an online place. The good news is that going forward, the magazine will be available both online and in print. Some of our usual distribution locations are still off-limits, so please share the copy you’re reading with friends you know who have been missing us—or direct them to www.climaterwc.com. This month’s feature includes short essays from many of Climate’s regular contributors, as well
as some readers, about just what it is that makes America special. With public gatherings for the Fourth of July cancelled, including Redwood City’s parade, festival and fireworks, I hope you’ll enjoy the “virtual celebration” of our nation’s character on these pages. It should be noted that this is a topic we’d been planning for July, long before the coronavirus upended normal life and long before a wave of civil unrest swept the nation following the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died while being arrested in Minneapolis. Some people who considered submitting an essay felt that times were too raw right now, which is understandable. We asked contributors to be personal and write from the heart. I hope you’ll enjoy these mini love letters to America and that they prompt your own reflections on our shared experience as Americans. (By the way, we’re thinking of asking for reader contributions on an entirely different topic later this year, so there’ll be another chance to see your words in Climate.) We’ve all griped about cabin fever and the other down sides of being cooped up because of the Covid-19-related restrictions, but there have been benefits too, including more time to spend with families, to tackle postponed projects—and to go for neighborhood walks. Writer Don Shoecraft talked to local ramblers on their “corona walks” and highlights some of his fellow travelers in this month’s Spotlight on page 26. July is the month for flag-waving, but check out the MicroClimate column on page 30 to read about a newly designed Redwood City flag. And in the same column, there’s information about a local nonprofit which is helping the families hardest-hit by months of unemployment. Onward toward a more perfect union, or at least a more normal summer!
Janet McGovern, Editor
July 2020 ·
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FEATU RE
What Makes America Special?
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Protest Wrap-up
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SPOTLIGHT Corona Walkers
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AROUND TOWN ���������24 MICRO CLIMATE...........30 HISTORY......................33
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Kainos Home and Training Center offers its sincerest gratitude for the love and support shown to us by the community.
Without it we would not have been able carry out our mission: to enable adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities to maximize their potential while becoming active, contributing integrated members of the community, for the last 46 years.
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Al Fresco Dining In the heart of the Theatre District, Redwood City.
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Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers Jill Singleton Don Shoecraft Dee Eva Vlae Kershner Jay Tipirneni Scott Dailey Linda Li Janet McGovern Ernie Schmidt Jim Clifford Barb Valley Jim Kirkland Jessica Sanchez Clem Molony Dennis Logie
Our restaurants and eateries are eager to serve you. Take a night off from cooking and support local with patio dining options & takeout/delivery. Arya Steakhouse (650) 367-4939 Chipotle Mexican Grill (650) 216-9325 Cyclismo Cafe (650) 362-3970 Five Guys Burgers and Fries (650) 364-3101 Pizza My Heart (650) 361-1010 Portobello Grill (650) 299-9918 The Old Spaghetti Factory (650) 216-9713 Timber & Salt (650) 362-3777 Vitality Bowls (650) 568-1779 West Park Farm & Sea (650) 549-8620 Please contact the restaurants and eateries directly for modified hours or to make reservations.
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Dee Eva Jason Galisatus Connie Guerrero Matt Larsen Dennis Logie Clem Molony Barb Valley CLIMATE magazine is a monthly publication by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation. Entire contents ©2020 by S.F. Bay Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. CLIMATE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. CLIMATE offices are located at 303 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065. Printed in the U.S.A.
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July 2020 ·
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A More Perfect Union
In a year of unusual national challenges, some local perspectives on America
“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults,” the French historian and diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville observed. Published in 1835, his “Democracy in America” attempted to explain to Europeans what made America, with its emphasis on equality and individualism, so unusual. In 2020, the question is still relevant. With the Fourth of July in mind, Climate opened these pages to local contributors to answer: What about America is special to you? Is it the Bill of Rights? Baseball? Or Netflix? Granted, viewing the nation through red-, white- and blue-colored glasses isn’t easy in this rollercoaster year: a soaring economy, then a pandemic and then a national crisis over racial division. Nonetheless, we gave our contributors carte blanche in their choice of topics – and asked them to have at it.
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Freedom By Don Shoecraft
Only on the last hour of the last day of the first week of June, when the school doors opened for the last time and a summer without end beckoned, did the oppression lift. That’s why I say, in retrospect, that I was nine years old when I last felt freedom. This is how we celebrated liberty: Baseball in a weedy lot. Night hikes in woods. Tree forts. Lightning. Stars. Transistor radios. Dogs. A grassfire. Fistfights. Bicycle thefts, thieved and thieving. Lost glasses. Lost teeth. A broken arm. A diabetic coma. We did not exercise our civil liberties wisely. Submission to authority became a necessary survival strategy. This is how government exerted its authority: Interference in foreign governments, forced busing, race warfare, Vietnam, domestic riots, Kent State, Watergate, Presidential crimes, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and persistent, institutionalized racism. Authority did not exercise its prerogatives wisely. Founding documents declare America free, but the first, the Declaration of Independence, uses the term only four times, most importantly once where it declares King George “unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” Three times it advances the rights of “free states.” It declares not freedom for all, only that “all men are created equal,” entitled to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” When they said “men” arguably they meant only men. The Constitution says “free” once, establishing representation for “free Persons;” “others” valued at three-fifths a person. “Freedom” appears twice in the Bill of Rights but only to establish freedom of the press, the people to assemble and petition the government. The country did go to war for freedom, once. One hundred years after the founding, Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, advanced a new definition at Gettysburg when he said, “This nation shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” But of all great American political figures none elevated “freedom” more than the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He rode the Freedom Train. He led the Freedom March. He pleaded for it, he spoke it, he thundered it from a thousand pulpits. Millions of black Americans thundered back. Freedom, it turns out, is the gift of slavery, the struggle against its ever-living consequence. It’s the tortured plea of black America, today the shared cry of many colors. May it come to all, someday, equally. Don Shoecraft has had careers in journalism, communications and book-writing. He’s now free to play golf and volunteer, one of which he does well.
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America’s Can-Do Attitude By Clem Molony
Ever since our nation‘s founding, part of the character of Americans includes the strength to stand with broad shoulders during times of challenge. We quickly assess the situation and do what we can do. The year 2020 has brought a crisis for our modern age: a truly global health epidemic. Covid-19 is causing everyone to adjust our behavior patterns to meet the challenges of this crisis. Unfortunately, to control the spread of the virus, it has been necessary to avoid public activities for over three months (so far). The impact of this on wage- earning and paying the rent and feeding our families has been staggering. Also, small businesses are scrambling to stay afloat and to bring back their employees, so that everyone can return to earning their living. Fortunately, in addition to neighbors helping neighbors, there are many groups across America rising to meet the challenge. They are fighting for the families and seniors in our neighborhoods. One example in our community of people with these broad shoulders is our city and county leaders who are working long hours to coordinate the delivery of relief funding and services to folks in need. They are helping our neighbors who are in trouble, and also helping small businesses to get back on their feet. Another part of delivering relief to the public is getting the word out about how to access relief services. Our cities’ Chambers of Commerce are dedicated to that and have been very effective. They are organizing and publicizing all of these relief ser-
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vices in collaboration with elected officials: food delivery to families in need, rent relief and eviction-protection, childcare resources, health services, housing and utilities assistance, financial relief and resources to help small businesses, and publicizing volunteer opportunities and ways to donate to these efforts. It takes a special type of person during a major crisis to stand tall and help those in need. Fortunately, America is full of such good people: Those who love their neighbors. Those who work hard to help local businesses get back to normal. Those who stand tall, with broad shoulders, to pitch in and help their neighbors to weather this crisis. It’s those people, with their can-do attitude, who make our country so exceptional. Clem Molony is a 75-year-old community volunteer focusing on youth academic support, transit-oriented housing development, and environmental sustainability.
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The Great American Songbook By Scott Dailey
I remember the precise moment I fell in love with jazz. It was on an evening in 1962, in the summer of an unforgettable pennant race between the Giants and the Dodgers. I was seven years old, lying in bed and listening not (as usual) to the ballgame but instead to the Dave Brubeck Quartet, whose captivating new sounds wafted from my parents’ stereo in the living room. The tune was, “Gone with the Wind.” Paul Desmond’s alto saxophone solo was quick as Maury Wills and smooth as Willie Mays. And then there was Brubeck’s piano playing – simple yet seductive melodies, contrasted with bulging, thumping chords that seemed to fill the whole house. Who could sleep? My parents’ record collection was vast and varied. As the years went by, I discovered Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Tyree Glenn, as well as Broadway musicals and the big bands of Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman. I listened to my share of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, but in high school it was Buddy Rich who really took me downtown. My mother had played in a dance band during her own highschool years, and our piano bench was stuffed with yellowing, wrinkled sheet music from the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s. As I studied piano in my adolescence and early teens, I began sneaking away from Bach fugues and Mozart sonatas, and cozying up to the likes of “Deep Purple,” “Stardust” and “Manhattan Serenade” – all while my mother shouted from the kitchen, “Practice your lesson!” As much as the tremendous performers, it was the powerful vortex of the songs that sucked me in. The melodies were alluring and, more often than not, the lyrics were smart, especially when written by Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart or Dorothy Fields. But most of all, it was the harmonies that were intoxicating. I dug into the music the way a mechanically inclined kid would take apart a vacuum cleaner. Later, in college, music theory would become the one class I never skipped.
Upon graduation, I started playing jazz piano at night after working my day job as a writer. For 10 dollars I acquired an illegal “fake book.” It contained just melodies and basic chords, with the musician expected to fill in the ornamentations and deeper harmonies – in other words, to “fake it.” It was like a glittering, jangling charm bracelet, crowded with such baubles as, “I Got Rhythm,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” and “Georgia On My Mind.” As I played through the book at bars and parties, I began to realize the incredible richness of American popular song, which captured the nation’s experience with everything from kisses and cocktails to lynchings and wars. And that’s the thing. The Great American Songbook – the collection of hit tunes from around 1920 to 1970 – is about us: Americans, with all our myths, dreams and flaws. It is an immensely well-crafted chronicle of a fascinating, often-conflicted people at a particular time. It is classic, too, in that its melodies and stories are not just endearing, but also enduring. Jazz, and especially the Songbook, is among America’s great gifts to the world. And for me, it is the source of a longstanding romance that I know will never come to an end. A regular contributor to Climate, Scott Dailey teaches piano and clarinet and leads his own jazz group.
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The Opportunity to Do Better By Jay Tipirneni
One of my earliest memories was listening to my mother talk about the ashrams, temples, and farms that littered her homeland. I hated those stories when I was young because I felt like this country had way more to offer. But it is our culture, the beauty that my parents had let go of in search of opportunity. My parents immigrated from southern India in 1999, and since then, they've given this nation everything they could. My mother is a dentist, and my father helps her manage the practice. I never realized their sacrifice until they told me just how much they had to give up. They had to give up their citizenship, their family, their friends, their dignity in many cases, and even their country. They did this to reap the benefits of this country for themselves and my sister and me. The hungry nights and the tight budgets that they had to suffer through for the first few years in the U.S. all paid off, and now we have the privilege of being able to live here with relative comfort. This country may be deeply flawed and even continues to disappoint, anger, sadden us frequently, but it still the land that I was born and raised in, and it is the country that I will help mend. We have had so many opportunities to leave this country and have a much better life overseas with the wealth that we were, fortunately, able to accumulate, yet we stayed. Even amidst the numerous threats of deportation, or just my mom threatening to send me to India because I was not behaving, we still stayed. To me, that's what makes America great. We can live in a country that shows close to no love to us, yet still contribute to it so that it may love us back. Hopefully, in the future, we will be loved back, but in the meantime, we will be working to make it better for everyone. Jay Tipirneni, 17, is co-editor-in-chief of the Raven Report newsmagazine and will be a senior at Sequoia High School in the fall. The son of Srinivas Tipirneni and Siva Cherukuri, Jay and his family live in Redwood City.
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"The Kaleidoscope" By Linda Li
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, where my favorite summer activities included chasing after ice cream trucks and watching fireworks light up the night sky. I loved to lose myself, mesmerized by an ever-changing kaleidoscope. This was my childhood America—bright, carefree and so full of joy. I left LA for the Bay Area to attend college and start my career teaching kids in public schools. Serving the community was an important way for me to give back. My parents had immigrated here for the promise of a better future. I wanted to mirror that intention and provide the same for others. After all, wasn't this part of America, the land of opportunities? Last night, I opened the window to let in the cool summer breeze. I could hear some kids outside laughing and playing games. “China!! China!! China!! BOOOOO!!!”—Wait ... am I hearing this right? Yes. This is also my reality in America, a country built in part on discrimination and racism, an extraordinary country tainted by ignorance and complicity. What makes America special is right now. I set down the kaleidoscope, no longer needing it to imagine America’s beauty. I can see this country as it is, without distortion. People are standing together to help this country become what it was always meant to be, for everyone, free. Linda Li of Redwood City is a teacher whose parents came to the United States from China by way of Vietnam.
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The American Dream By Ernie Schmidt
I was born in San Francisco in 1966, my mother was born in Mexico City and my father in San Francisco, as his father was the Consul General of Mexico there. My mother’s American dream was to become an American citizen, be a mom and become a nurse. She accomplished it all. My father’s dream was to serve his country, have a family, buy a home and be able to provide for his family. He accomplished that. I did not grow up learning about the American dream from my parents, relatives or from my teachers. It was my love for American history that drove my American dreams, no matter how often they changed. My father wanted me to be to be a UPS driver; he thought it was a great company to work for and they were union, which provided long-term job security. To him that was the American dream he wanted for me. It wasn’t until I was around my mid-20’s that I picked up an old history book sitting on a shelf and started reading the Declaration of Independence. And there it was, right in front of me: “All men are created equal, with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” A picture of a painting on the opposite side of the page depicted the signing of the document. The American dream for me was not about owning a house with a white-picket fence, it wasn’t about security and it wasn’t following what my father hoped I would do. It was about my inalienable right to pursue my own dreams, no matter how crazy they were, how many there were, how short-lived some were or how often they beat me down. When you find others along the way who share those same dreams, and you help one another pursue them, it just makes those dreams even more worthwhile to go after. Just like it was for the country’s founders 244 years ago. So, I continue to add to my collection of dreams and continue to be proud to be living in a country that does not limit me in pursuing as many dreams as I want, for as long as I am able to pursue them. God Bless America.
Ernie Schmidt, 53, has had a lifelong love of the theater and became the general manager of Fox Theatre Properties in January. He and his wife Gina have been Redwood City residents since 2001.
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The Generosity of “Angels”
Arrival Stories
By Dee Eva
By Jill Singleton
High School honoring students who died while in the military. Three of our friends died during the Vietnam War —but their names were not on the Vietnam Memorial because they didn’t die in combat. Our idea was to create a memorial honoring all Sequoia students who died while serving in the military. I decided that would be a good project after I retired. Fast forward five years, we had raised a little over $50,000 and needed $3,000 more for the project and $2,000 for a dedication ceremony. Donations had slowed, so I put a request in the Sequoia High School Alumni Association newsletter, “Smoke Signals,” asking for $5,000 to complete the project. A few days later the doorbell rang, and my husband said someone was asking for me. The gentleman had graduated from Sequoia a few years ahead of us. “I hear you need more money to finish the memorial,” he said, and handed me a check for $5,000. I was so flabbergasted I’m not sure I said anything but a meek “thank you.” After I closed the door, I cried. I couldn’t believe it. A drive began a few years ago to raise $50,000 for the Redwood City History Gallery, which will be located on the second floor of the Lathrop House. I wrote to my guardian angels asking if they would be interested in contributing. They sent a check for $5,000. Just last month, this wonderful couple came through yet again with another $5,000 contribution to the San Mateo County Historical Association’s annual campaign. In the theatrical world, “angels” are generous patrons who save imperiled shows. In business, “angel investors” enable a great idea or product to get off the ground. We are so fortunate in America to have an abundance of people like my guardian angels who match their good hearts to good causes. . Dee Eva of Redwood City is an active community volunteer with a particular interest in local history. She was co-chair of Redwood City’s Sesquicentennial Committee in 2017.
• The first in my family arrived in 1667 as an indentured servant. His great grandson fought for the American Revolution. That patriot’s grandson chose indenture in 1825 so he could buy his own farm out west – in Illinois. A generation later, his descendant fought for the Union at Shiloh. • My caddy at a posh country club on the East Coast was nephew to an African king. Just before a bloody coup, he was sent to a relative’s in Virginia. Despite his less-than-grand circumstances, he considered himself the most fortunate of all his royal relatives. • A young golfer, a psychologist, told me his great-grandfather was a prominent Jewish neurolgist in Austria who sensed the impending Holocaust. After sending his wife and young sons ahead to America, he came to New York and on his first day, got mugged. Surprise! Both a boxer and a black belt in Ju-Jitsu, he preserved the family fortune of Krugerrands he had sewn inside his coat. His young sons trained as doctors at Stanford, and three generations continue to thrive. • A distant cousin tracked some relatives to Poland, among them, 10- and 16-year-old sisters. They sailed unaccompanied across the Atlantic in 1901 hoping to join their parents who had come several years before. These Polish girls landed in New York, speaking not a word of English and wearing signs strung around their necks that bore their names and their parents’ address. But they managed to reunite 800 miles away in Chicago! Our nation’s 245th birthday comes amid civil strife, a deadly pandemic, economic unease and much unhappiness. Yet however imperfect our nation, we can renew our faith in its purpose of freedom, justice, and equality by remembering, with love, who got us here, and how. Ask anyone: How did your family arrive? They’ll have a story … and it’ll be a good one!
Nineteen years ago, I was thinking of retiring after a career in real estate. It was about the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, and my husband and I were talking about a memorial to the people who died that terrible day. Rich suggested there should be a memorial at Sequoia
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Ask any American where they came from, and they will tell you an amazing family arrival story. Whether they landed yesterday or 400 years ago, someone in the family began a journey that was as unique as it was intrepid. Here are just a few of the stories I’ve heard over the years:
Jill Singleton spent nearly 25 years as Cargill’s public representative in the Bay Area. Her story about the experiences of her physician-father during the polio epidemic in the 1950s appeared in Climate’s May issue.
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The “Lucky Generation” By Jim Clifford
Sometimes I feel like Willy Loman, the main character in Arthur Miller’s celebrated play “Death of a Salesman.” Loman worked hard all his life, but was ignored and unappreciated, leading to the famous line about “Attention must be paid.” I think it’s time attention be paid to me and millions of other members of the generation sandwiched between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers. Born in 1937, I missed the big historic moments of the 20th century – too young for World War II and too old for the sexual revolution. That’s okay. A lot of people got hurt in the sexual revolution. I was a mere child of seven when the war ended in August of 1945, but that shouldn’t distract from the fact that the war had a profound influence on my future. Everywhere I looked I saw men in uniform. I regarded them as heroes, role models who had the courage and determination to defeat evil and save a way of life they thought was worth dying for but they hoped to live for. The former GIs are passing away at an increasing rate. I expect when the final Taps sound there will be a good deal of rewriting of history by those who want to control the past and thus control the present and the future. There are already signs of this. In Tom
Brokaw’s book, “Boom! Voices of the Sixties – Personal Reflections on the ‘60s and Today,” some members of that generation insisted they, and not the WWII veterans, were actually the “greatest.” They cited their fight for civil rights, gender equity, anti-war protests and sexual freedoms, as though they had dared to go where no one had gone before. My generation, the one born during the Great Depression, had it made. We marched toward adulthood when America was, as Jimmy Cagney shouted from the burning tower in “White Heat,” on “top of the world.” The rest of the globe was in ruins. “Sound as a dollar” was not a simple cliché then. It was true. Along with “gas is cheap.” In addition, our comparatively small numbers benefitted from the large generation that followed. The Boomers needed doctors, teachers, police officers, firefighters and just about anyone else called on to minister to their needs. I had only two jobs during a 40-year career in which one paycheck was enough to support a family, and I consider myself a “Lucky Jim” indeed. Jim Clifford worked at United Press International and the Associated Press during his journalism career and is the history columnist for Climate and the San Mateo Daily Journal.
Jim Clifford in his days with the Armed Forces Radio in the Philippines.
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The Ties That Bind Us, Still By Vlae Kershner
During the recent period of enforced inactivity, I found that fifth largest economy. During the presidency of Barack Obama, the Civil War provides an inexhaustible number of ways to Texas’ governor openly speculated that the Lone Star state had the right to revert to an independent republic, as it was from 1836 pass the time. There’s a new biography of William Tecumseh Sherman, a Reddit group arguing about whether Jefferson Davis was right to replace Joseph Johnston with John Bell Hood at the gates of Atlanta, a History Channel series on Ulysses S. Grant. Civil War issues still assert themselves. Should statues of Confederate leaders be forcibly torn down, as Black Lives Matter protesters are doing? Should the coastal California town of Fort Bragg be renamed to expunge the tribute to a rebel general? Does Abraham Lincoln’s military crackdown against draft rioters in New York furnish a precedent to give Donald Trump the power to call out troops in cities? “Anybody who's looked into it at all realizes that it truly is the outstanding event in American history insofar as making us what we are,” Civil War author Shelby Foote wrote. One of my neighbors flies California’s Bear Flag from his flagpole without the stars and stripes, a more subtle political statement than the Confederate battle flag, but a token of separation nonetheless. Upset with Trump’s America, people talk wistfully about California leaving the United States and setting out as the world’s
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to 1845. In fact, the Civil War settled this issue. The Supreme Court in the 1869 Texas v. White decision codified the North’s position— secession is illegal. No state can leave. In 1850, South Carolina separatist Senator John C. Calhoun made the uncanny deathbed prediction that the Union would “explode in a presidential election” within twelve years. In 2020, it sometimes feels the same way, that inevitably the culture wars will cause a dissolution. To which I say, not in my lifetime. My great-great-grandfather Tandy Pritchard fought for the Union as part of the 54th Illinois U.S. infantry, including at Vicksburg. To give up that cause now would be a betrayal. Our ties will reassert themselves. As Lincoln said: “The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Vlae Kershner is a longtime Bay Area journalist and a frequent writer for Climate.
Call for Applications
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative invites local nonprofit organizations serving Belle Haven, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City to submit applications for grant funding through its annual CZI Community Fund.
CZI COMMUNITY FUND APPLICATION PERIOD July 20 – August 17 Learn more and apply at chanzuckerberg.com/community/fund
Through the Community Fund, CZI is proud to partner with organizations that support the economic and social well-being of marginalized communities, providing resources and services to support basic needs — like housing and food assistance, education, and job skills training — and galvanizing community power to build a future for everyone.
MORE INFORMATION, INCLUDING APPLICATION CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS, IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE.
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The Vote By Barb Valley
I am very passionate about voting. I have voted in every local, state and federal election since registering to vote at 21. Each time I have twisted the lever or completed my mail-in ballot I have thought of Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, Susan B. Anthony and the other suffragists who endured so much in order for American women like me to have the right to vote. I honor them with my vote. And I honor the men and women who fought and those that died protecting my right to vote. It is by voting that we truly participate in democracy. There are a number of countries that have compulsory voting; their citizens not only are required to vote but face fines or losing civil rights if they do not. There are also countries whose citizens are not allowed to vote for their leaders. And there are places where armed military is present at polling places to intimidate voters. In America we choose to vote and we do so safely and with no intimidation. It is the responsibility of all Americans to be informed voters. As Thomas Jefferson said, “A well informed electorate is a prerequisite for democracy.” Voting is how we make our voices heard. Voting is how we effect change. November 3, 2020, is a presidential election but it is local elections that have the most impact. City councils, the board of supervisors, school district trustees, the sheriff, the district attorney, judges. This November and every election let your voice be heard. "Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual — or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country." –Samuel Adams Barb Valley is retired from a technology career at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space. Chairman of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, she also served 12 years on Redwood City’s Library Board.
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American Unity By Jessica Sanchez
Our national Independence Day is upon us and it is a day taken to celebrate America the land of the free. We celebrate with barbecues, parades, street fairs and block parties. Growing up as a daughter to immigrant parents we shared pride in being able to partake in honoring America. As graduations were held, goals were met, bonuses earned they were all reminders that the American dream was attainable. We felt lucky to be a part of the melting pot, yet these things haven’t changed so why does this year feel so different? Is it because we’re seeing our first pandemic in 100 years? Sadly we will not be celebrating with our loved ones. Is it because we are experiencing “civil unrest?” as so many have deemed it. This country has evolved because of its people. The people have time and time again risen and pushed the glass ceiling and we continue to see that today. The year 2020 feels different because now more than ever we are taking the time to reflect on where we’ve been and where we’re going. We are demanding to be better, not only for today but for future generations. We as a nation have come together and we rise together to stand up for what is right. America is defined by what we make of her. This is what makes America special. We have inspired the world and I hope this Fourth of July as we grill and eat and drink we don’t look down on those who have the courage to protest and ask for more, but that we honor that we have the right to. Jessica Sanchez, 33, was born and raised in Redwood City to parents who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the early 1970s. Sanchez is a mother to a daughter whose fifth birthday, coincidentally, is the third of July.
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F E AT U R E •
An American Lens By Jim Kirkland
My years as a photographer have taken me to locations nationally and internationally. Assignments to Cuba, Israel, Northern Ireland, Jamaica and Mexico were a few that exposed me to great diversity — and conflicts. Outside the warm safe bubble I had grown up in, I discovered a fascinating world of cultural differences that forced me to reevaluate my view of the world. Each situation taught a respect for the passions, traditions and customs of others. Being seen as a foreigner taught me what it was to be an American. Whether wandering the streets of Havana, Ocho Rios or Belfast, I was aware that I was conspicuous — a foreigner. But I’ve had to learn on assignments in America that I’m operating on someone else’s turf too. At times I can feel like a foreigner in my own country. We take pride in America being a melting pot, a welcoming home for people from all over the world. Our diversity makes us stronger. But taking someone’s picture is very personal, and sometimes I have to remind myself that everyone doesn’t necessarily operate on the same cultural page, even in Redwood City.
Nowhere was this more evident than in Little Havana, Florida, where I was photographing and interviewing Cuban Americans and expatriates. From Bay of Pigs veterans, still dreaming for the violent overthrow of the Castro regime, to idealistic university students, political asylum seekers and “Pedro Pans” (adults who were born in Cuba but brought to the U.S. as children), passions ran hot. To lose sight of that and appear anything but neutral was dangerous. Didn’t matter if I was in Alaska, Montana, Wisconsin, New York or Tennessee; I was often seen as an outsider, ignorant of local convention and, if not respectful, prone to social missteps. I can’t help but think my wanderings helped me view others here at home differently as I take photographs. Critical thinking and conflict resolution have become subjects worth being mindful of. Bottom line: I discovered I didn’t know what it means to be an American until I left my country. Or gain appreciation of it until I photographed the world beyond our shores. Mark Twain put it best when he said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Jim Kirkland is the Creative Director of Climate Magazine with 40 years experience as a photographer.
A man in Havana, Cuba disapprovingly eyes the photographer.
July 2020 ·
CLIMATE · 19
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F E AT U R E •
The American Military By Janet McGovern
Before I was a writer, I was an Air Force brat, and before I was an Air Force brat, my father was a mechanic in Northern China in World War II, keeping P-38s flying through daily strafing. He spent his 23rd birthday on a freight train, being evacuated beyond the reach of the Japanese.
A year before Pearl Harbor, Daddy had volunteered for the Army Air Corps. And yet when that terrible war ended, he couldn’t find a calling as compelling as “the service.” After a brief hiatus, he reenlisted for a 20-year career in the United States Air Force. That meant for the duration, every few years he and Mother —and subsequently three daughters —packed up everything to go wherever Uncle Sam ordered. No arguments. Mother and Daddy had to listen to three squabbling little girls in the back seat (“Your skirt’s on my dress!”) during those long cross-country drives from one godforsaken military base to the next, in service of our nation. When I think of the best of America, I think of our military, and I’m not alone. The military consistently earns the highest rank of all 15 institutions in Gallup’s annual rating. Duty. Honor. Valor. Service above self. They’re not the animating ideals for your average occupation. Every person who leaves behind civilian life to volunteer takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. That, of course, doesn’t mean every soldier and sailor meets the highest standards at all times; likewise, the particular wars and missions they’re sent out on may be misguided. But our democracy depends on an apolitical military which answers the call of duty, whatever it may be. My first learning moment came toward the end of Daddy’s assignment with NATO in France in the mid-1950s. It hardly needs pointing out that this was a country we’d saved not many years before from the Nazis. Yet on a drive through the countryside, our family saw a message someone painted on a retain-
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ing wall: “Yankee Go Home.” He shrugged it off, like all solid, turn-the-other-cheek citizen-soldiers are expected to do. Daddy’s last Air Force stint took place during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the five of us were living at a radar station in the Mojave Desert. I was the “paperboy” delivering the Los Angeles newspapers to 20 homes at the base, every morning bearing frightening updates about a nuclear strike that could well have taken out nearby Edwards Air Force Base. And us too. My sixth-grade science fair project was about how to tell when it’s safe to come out after a nuclear blast. Our little base was on constant high alert, yet the average American couldn’t possibly have realized how military personnel at remote posts all over the world were quietly going about the business of preparing for war. They still are. Like many of my generation, I questioned why we were in Vietnam and was swept up in arguments that were more emotional than rational. But the regard I always maintained for our military has deepened over the decades, especially in this time of all-volunteer forces. In putting others first, they and their families sacrifice comfort, wealth and personal independence; the military personnel, sometimes even their lives. Our military leads the way with humanitarian assistance after disasters, such as the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in 2004, when service members delivered food and other supplies to devastated Southeast Asian countries. When I think of “public service,” this grown-up brat salutes the American military. Climate magazine editor Janet McGovern is a former newspaper reporter and book author. Her parents, James and Inez Hyde, are pictured above, as is Janet (on the right) and her sisters.
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F E AT U R E •
Liveliness By Dennis Logie
My wife Dagmar came to America when she was a teenager, along with her brother and parents. Her stepfather was a political refugee after the second World War and needed a country where he could rebuild his life. Luckily for me, he chose America. When the family decided to become citizens, my wife demurred. She had left lifelong friends behind in Austria and her hometown was very close to her heart. Several years later, when she realized how much she loved living in this country, she made the choice to become a citizen. Like her parents, she became a committed patriot in her new home. I enjoy trips to Austria and interacting with friends and family there on frequent visits. I could live comfortably in that culture, but that is the key term—comfortably. Her country is like a friendly grandparent—people speak politely to one another, the streets are safe, the arts are held in high esteem, one’s life options stretch out foreseeably into the future, daily life is structured by traditions (but less and less by religion). It is comfortable … but a bit predictable. I prefer the lively, diverse America. People are more open and caring but also sometimes more abrasive. The streets are not as safe but the dangers are easily foreseen and navigated. One can enjoy a huge variety of artistic encounters, or little at all. The options for life are sometimes overwhelming—so many directions and difficult to focus, but so freeing. Some traditions are honored,
but there are few, if any, violations of dress or behavior or the “right thing” that cause people to be disturbed. There is a lot of tolerance for diversity and other people. And religion is still strong in America compared to all of Europe. More people are committed to their faith and the result is an outpouring of generosity that is envied in the world. From the Salvation Army and World Vision, to the local neighborhood place of worship or storefront church, millions of people are daily fed and supported and comforted and helped in practical ways. I am invigorated every day by this America! Dennis Logie has served Sequoia Christian Church in Redwood City for 56 years, 27 as a paid pastor—and he is still serving. He and his wife brought up two children who attended local schools.
July 2020 ·
CLIMATE · 21
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U P D AT E •
Redwood City Turns Out for Protest Over Policing; Businesses Cope with Costs A crowd of about 2,000 filled Courthouse Square June 2 for a demonstration sparked by the murder in Minneapolis of George Floyd which led to violent nationwide protests about police tactics. Organized by several Redwood City young people, the event, which included a two-hour rally and a march, was largely peaceful and only one arrest was made. Warned by law enforcement that the demonstration would be happening, many businesses had hurriedly hired contractors to board up their windows, but the kind of violence and looting that has happened elsewhere did not occur. One of the organizers, 21-year-old Tyson Fraley, is white and lives in the Friendly Acres neighborhood. He says he grew up with “black friends and friends of color and I just wanted to use my voice to lift friends up.” He thinks people on the east side of town are often unjustly “criminalized” and their views ignored, while neighborhoods west of El Camino Real don’t get the same level of policing. The demonstration’s success, he said, was in uniting residents across the divide. “They showed up and they made it clear that they’re ready to support it.” City leaders held a town hall meeting via Zoom on June 11 to open a dialogue
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about police brutality and local policing policies, which included Mayor Diane Howard and Police Chief Dan Mulholland. Business owners reeling from months of reduced income because of the coronavirus had to decide whether to board up, in some cases at a cost of several thousand dollars. While many did, the owners of August Barbershop at 704 Winslow St. opted to set up a station outside their shop serving water and pizza. “We decided not to board up our business because we wanted to show the community that we’re here, we stand with you,” said co-owner Marissa Ramirez. Boarding up the Fox Theatre, the Little Fox and the Fox Forum cost about $7,000, according to General Manager Ernie Schmidt. “I can replace my windows,” he said, “ … but if somebody breaks my windows and enters the Fox Theater and damages all the beautiful history in there, I can’t replace that.” However, he allowed local freelance artist Jose Castro to paint messages and images on the plywood in front of the theater, and others joined in. Two weeks afterward, Schmidt put out a call on NextDoor.com for volunteers to help business owners remove the plywood. About 60 people showed up June
14, Castro among them. Schmidt started a GoFundMe campaign to reimburse him for the cost of his paints, and Castro will receive $1,320 plus another $1,000 from the Fox. Castro said while he was painting, he’d turned down money people wanted to give him. “Honestly, I did not ask for anything.” The Fox Theatre boards will likely be preserved for future display Tyrone Jones II of Redwood City, who is biracial and has experienced racism in various forms, brought young sons Tyrone III and Kingston to help remove the plywood. “(It’s for) a couple of reasons,” he said. “One is my personal accountability to my city. And the second reason is so that my boys understand the importance of taking care of the community.” Rich Digrazzi, who is a pilot, joined the work party after seeing the notice on NextDoor because “maybe I could give to the community a little bit. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything.” Brett Weber, a commercial real estate executive, has started a GoFundMe account to raise funds to reimburse business owners for the cost of boarding up. By mid-June, it had collected about $13,000. For information, go to the redwood-city-small-business-relief-fund on the site. C
Above: Demonstrators gathered at Courthouse Square.
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U P D AT E •
Right: East Palo Alto pastor Paul Bains speaks to protesters.
Below: Local volunteers await instructions on removing the plywood from Ernie Schmidt.
Left: Fox Theatre General Manager Ernie Schmidt hands artist Jose Castro a check for $1,320 from a GoFundMe campaign Schmidt initiated to reimburse Castro for paint supplies. The Fox added another $1,000.
Top: Tyrone Jones II and his sons Tyrone III and Kingston help remove plywood.
July 2020 ·
CLIMATE · 23
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AROUND TOWN •
Sequoia High Grads Drive Off into the Sunset For the first time in its 125 year history, Sequoia High School honored graduates individually as they arrived in a car, received their diplomas and drove off on June 15. Sequoia graduated 445 seniors, out of which 376 participated in the drivethrough ceremony. "Getting to see all those seniors was very special to me," said Principal Sean Priest, who stood the entire 4.5 hours it took to hand out diplomas, "The time flew by. I was surprised. But it sure caught up to me when I got home." Teachers and staff were on hand to cheer and applaud the graduates. "The entire school staff and student community worked overtime to make this unusual ceremony work," said Priest.
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Principal Sean Priest hands out diplomas to graduates as each drove up.
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AROUND TOWN•
The Biggest Little (Virtual) Airshow Goes On The Hiller Museum held its annual "Biggest Little Airshow" on June 13. Due to shelter-in-place restrictions, there was no crowd of remote controlled model airplane enthusiasts on hand to witness the event. That had to be accomplished through a virtual video feed. Restrictions did not keep some 16 pilots from taking over a runway at San Carlos Airport and showcasing their handcrafted flying machines on a windy day. Scale model categories ranged from military warbirds, helicopters and civilian aircraft to drone racers, sail planes and rockets. Each group was given only three minutes to demonstrate their aircraft and piloting capabilities.
Restaurants Open to Outdoor Dining San Carlos closed several sections of Laurel Street in order to allow restaurants to safely reopen and allow customers to dine outdoors. Redwood City plans to follow suit by blocking parts of Broadway soon.
July 2020 ·
CLIMATE · 25
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SPOTLIGHT •
Corona Tales of the
Walking Well Virus exposes people to hills, puppies and even romance
The author on a hike through Edgewood Park.
26 · CLIMATE · July 2020
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SPOTLIGHT •
By Don Shoecraft
The pandemic has spawned coronavirus calves, corona jobs, corona dogs, corona boyfriends and as many new corona phenomena as there are corona walkers, and there are plenty out there. Corona baby walkers, family walkers, joggers, runners, bicyclists, skateboarders, scooters and whatever those things are with three wheels and a handlebar stalk, every last one of them a unique corona story. Mostly what there are not many of are facemasks, but that's not news. Wei Ping of San Mateo, however, is newsworthy. She emigrated to Atlanta from Shanghai and was back in China visiting relatives when Covid-19 became epidemic there. "Go back to America!" they told her, so she returned to Atlanta. Quickly, the epidemic became pandemic. Her son-in-law and daughter, due with a second grandchild, brought her to San Mateo to shelter in place with them, where she's been since March.
"I felt like the virus was chasing me!" she said. Every day she shadows four-year-old granddaughter Alexa around the sidewalks of San Mateo. Nowhere to go and nothing to do, the battle cry of the pandemic, they go home whenever Alexa tires of picking things off the ground, pointing at flowers and asking questions. Belmont is a place of few sidewalks, where everyone competes for a share of whatever pavement is available. Walkers zigzag into the street around
July 2020 ·
CLIMATE · 27
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SPOTLIGHT •
mailboxes, bushes, telephone poles and parked cars. Dogs, bikes, joggers, strollers and small, loose children on curvy, narrow roads make for slow travel. It's stressful. No one wants to run over anybody. At least, drivers seem to be aware of the possibility. Hill Country It's also hilly. Walkers shun the steepest parts, but two sojourners, Janet Campbell and Steve Waugh, neither of whom knew the other, said they took on the 42nd Avenue hill. It climbs 400 feet in less than a mile. Campbell, a "hardly employed" singer with the San Francisco Opera, also takes on the Ralston hill up from Carlmont. She hasn't been active and gained weight during shelter-in-place. Waugh, on the other hand, lost weight and gained good-looking calves. "My legs are twice as big as before," he said. "I got sick of people telling me I had chicken legs." Six miles a day is bound to bulk up the legs; however, Waugh's small dog, Avinash, named for the Indian god of indestructibility, hardly has any. His black and white coat is so long it conceals them, so no report available on his calves, if dogs have calves. "He loves it. I have a lot of time on my hands so I started walking. So it's in my blood. Got to do it every day now. I'm gonna keep going." Consequently, so does Avenish. On the positive side, corona walkers are "friendlier" now, Waugh said. On the negative, "I've never seen so much dog feces in my life. People aren't used to walking their dogs and don't have the bags." An Ohio native with fond memories of friendly Midwesterners, he noted the fact that corona walkers have become much friendlier. Thus it should not have been a shock that he offered a handshake as he
28 · CLIMATE · July 2020
Steve Waugh and Avinash
"My legs are twice as big as before. I got sick of people telling me I had chicken legs." left. But it was a shock to obey the instinct to grab his hand. "Shake hands? I'm not scared of it. Are you? I think I had it in February, anyway," he said, as he and Avinash moved away. Viral Knowledge What? Just another virus experience. That and virus knowledge are plentiful. And also free. Because Campbell agreed to talk with a stranger on a corona walk it can be reported that the largest opera company in the country, the Metropolitan of New York, is a cheapskate compared to the second-largest, the San Francisco Opera. The Met took PPP money, the Payroll Protection Plan Congress enacted to keep furloughed and laid-off workers solvent, then fired its singers and musicians. The San Francisco Opera took the money and kept everyone on the payroll through July. Thanks to that and Zoom, the opera and Campbell still are at work, but it has been difficult, she said.
How does a professional opera choir practice remotely through the Web when the notoriously balky app freezes and plays sound through tinny computer speakers? "Forty-five of us are on a Zoom meeting and having our conductor waving away and the pianist being heard, but we're muted." she said. "We're just singing with ourselves. We can't hear anybody else, and neither can he. "It's kind of funny though. He'll say, 'Sopranos, you were late on that' and I'm like, 'How do you know? Watching our mouths?' It's funny, but it's a strange paradigm." Campbell also experiences the other side because she teaches remote, private voice lessons. She tried Zoom, then Facetime, but went back to Zoom because Facetime developed a lag. "Actually, Zoom has improved in just three months, dramatically." Still, it's a pain. First she records the piano accompaniment and sends it to the student. The student downloads and sings to the accompaniment, first muted, then unmuted for the teacher. "It takes a lot longer. I don't know why, but one hour of personal interaction is really nice. I enjoy that social thing. "Versus one hour of Zoom," Campbell added, "it seems like it takes three hours. After four lessons I'm just …" As for walking, "I don't know. I don't feel self-conscious about it. I think some people do — and possibly me, walking around other peoples' neighborhoods — but everybody's out here. Kind of cool." A Dad and His Sons Brian Chuck of San Carlos represents the bicycles-plus-kids-plus-work-from-home situation. He and sons Matthew, 5, and Joshua, 7, tried an early morning ride to avoid the heat of the afternoon and the late-day auto traffic.
SPOTLIGHT •
Photos by Don Shoecraft
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Janet Campbell Brittany Ekleberry and Boomer
Wei Ping and granddaughter Alexa
Lisette Lugo and Holly Milligan
"We have a younger brother so (mom) walks so it's too hot for her," Joshua said. So we always have to go in the night." "During the day," father Brian said, "we're working at home. It's been a struggle." The trio showed signs of almost four months of intimate isolation — anticipating comments, correcting tiny details and, on the boys' part, straining to establish distinctions that seemed important under only the most specialized circumstances. Joshua: "My mom has to actually work in the night because she's going to quit next week, which means she also has to take several phone calls and also do work at night and in the morning, which is why we're tired all the time." Matthew: "I'm not even tired." Joshua: "When dad woke up, we had to actually wake him up." Brian: "Yes, I promised them if they could wake up early then we could go out for a morning ride … This is the first time in the morning. Normally the baby gets up six-ish …
Brian Chuck with sons Matthew and Joshua
"I would not have met him if this didn't happen," she said. "We had time. The whole world stopped … I've been widowed 25 years. I've raised my kids and said, 'Oh, forget it. I'm going to meet someone during corona?'
Matthew: "This is your second time." Brian: "I haven't gone in the morning. I know, I haven't gone in the morning …" Puppy Power The 13-week-old Australian shepherd pup, Boomer, is corona dog. Brittany Ekleberry and her fiancé have worked from home since March. Halfway through quarantine they decided to get a puppy. As puppies do, Boomer goes all out, until he stops. When he runs out of gas, she takes him home and puts on her running gear. He's up to frolicking, not cardio. "We really don't do much of anything these days except go grocery shopping and playing with him,” Ekleberry said. “He's occupied a lot of our time." She made it sound like a good thing. The corona boyfriend is Lisette Lugo's. "I would not have met him if this didn't happen," she said. "We had time. The whole world stopped … I've been widowed 25 years. I've raised my kids and said, 'Oh, forget it. I'm going to meet some-
one during corona?' "It kind of forced me to stop and get to know someone." That's why she and next-door-neighbor and friend Holly Milligan only walk Monday through Friday mornings, which is the substitute for corona redoing their flower gardens which was a substitute for pre-corona workouts at the Yoga Health Center. "She has a new corona boyfriend so I don't see her on the weekends," Milligan said. She finished graduate school two days before the corona shutdown and is into corona job search. "Zoom interviewing, and that's been weird. I still wear a suit and everything. Actually, it's not too bad. You get used to it. Work out on Zoom, do classes on Zoom. Everything's kind of on there." Everything but a covid handshake. You can't get those except on a corona walk. C
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M I •C C RO L I MCAL TI M EA •T E •
Local Nonprofit Retools to Provide Coronavirus Aid Although coronavirus-associated restrictions are easing for many, those barely hanging on before Covid-19 now are in desperate straits, says Angie Ibarra, founder of the Redwood City-based nonprofit Generations United. Her organization’s prior focus has been on academic enrichment programs mostly in the North Fair Oaks area. But as parents of the students GU serves lost their jobs because of the shelter-in-place restrictions, the nonprofit has reinvented itself to provide both emergency funds and weekly food boxes for families. “We moved all of our staff from being after school enrichment
providers to full-fledged social workers,” Ibarra says, with a laugh. Parents in service jobs as housekeepers, custodians, au pairs and gardeners not only lost work but will be among the last to get back to full-time hours. “Most of these families lost jobs for at least 90 days,” Ibarra says. “All of them literally had no reserves. ... When it comes to rent, most of these families have found themselves either asking their landlord to postpone the inevitable, which would mean kicking them out of their apartment and wait for them to pay their rent at a later time. But that’s all cumulative. They’re 90 days behind.” Generations United established an emergency fund, and was able to give over
30 · CLIMATE · July 2020
$50,000 in May to assist 30 families. Funding has come through partnerships with New Community Church, Menlo Church, Peninsula Covenant Church and the Kiwanis plus donations by dozens of individuals and businesses. Ibarra’s goal for June was to be able to give another $60,000. Her staff screens the families for specific needs and sends a check to a landlord or utility on their behalf. Rental assistance ranges from about $1,400 to $3,000. In going over the finances with the families, Ibarra’s staff has discovered that many are locked into expensive, $800-to-$900 monthly car loans, often the result of having poor credit and being taken advantage of. Every Tuesday morning, in partnership with Facebook Market/Good Roots, Generations United has been distributing 125 boxes of food to needy families. Ibarra says the needs are wide-ranging—food, baby goods, personal hygiene items, and money, down to quarters for the laundromat. One of her biggest concerns is the impact on the children in these families, often living in tight quarters with no back yard, no privacy and no wi-fi. Generations United plans a program in July to help the kids bridge the gap before they go back to school and is looking for volunteers to serve as mentors or tutors over the summer. “There are families within our city who are still struggling and will be struggling for months,” Ibarra says. “What can we do as a community to rally for these families and help in some way shape or form?” For information on how to help, go to www.generations-united.com. There’s an artsy new way for Redwood City residents to wave a flag of unity and strength in the face of the coronavirus. The Parks and Arts Foundation in May sponsored a competition to create art on the
theme “Redwood City Strong Together” which could be used on flags, yard signs and other media. Fifteen people submitted 21 entries, and the winners have been named. First prize went to Samantha Bloom and Patrick Kelley for a colorful design incorporating Redwood City’s famous “Climate Best” arch amid a field of poppies. Besides the honor of winning, the cash award was $500. Second prize and $350 went to Kira Koan for a design featuring clasped hands in a heart-shape around the city. Desiree Finau received third prize and $250 for a whimsical design with a “muscular” redwood tree. Honorable mentions and $100 prizes were awarded to Mayra Garcia Adame, Julie Alvarez, and Goyo and Olivia Alvarez. Mayor Diane Howard and community volunteer Dee Eva came up with the idea for the art contest. Flags and other merchandise using the design can be sold to generate funds for the Fair Oaks Community Center to provide direct financial relief to families impacted by the shelterin-place restrictions, such as for food and rent, according to foundation president Pamela Estes. At least initially, only the first- and second-place designs will be available for sale as 3-by-5-foot flags or as yard signs. To check out the items that are currently available with the Redwood City Strong Together art work, visit rwcpaf.org.
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Cyclismo Cafe Lobster Shack CRU Ikes Sandwich City Pub restaurant Tea Spoon Sakura restaurant San Mateo Credit Union Talk of Broadway Peet’s Coffee
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Patty Shack Vege Café Harry’s Hoffbrau Post Office RWC Public Library RWC Civic Center County Courthouse 24 Hr Fitness Noah's Bagels Franklin St� Café
Whole Foods Dellucci Market Biachini Market Key Market Hassett Hardware Round Table Pizza San Carlos Airport Hiller Museum Devil's Canyon
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HISTORY by Jim Clifford•
The Woodside Country Club That Almost Was If Wall Street hadn’t collapsed in 1929, Woodside would have become home to one of the nation’s premier country clubs, one boasting a golf course that rivaled the world’s best. The early-day cousin of the 19th hole –a clubhouse with sweeping Bay Views and an outdoor dining room—became a reality, but visions for the grassy turf became unlinked by the stock market crash. The Redwood City Standard of December 15, 1927, reported that such golf luminaries as Great Britain’s Alister MacKenzie had been selected to design and build a course which would measure 6,400 yards long. Unfortunately, the golf course was just being graded when market crashed, triggering the Great Depression. The closest thing to actual fairways? A putting green built by some enterprising Stanford University students, just before the meltdown. It enjoyed brief popularity. Writing in the Golf Club Atlas in 2006, Gordon Ratliff described MacKenzie as a “master designer of golf courses.” MacKenzie’s resume included Santa Cruz’s Pasatiempo, Monterey’s Cypress Point and Augusta National in Georgia. On a local note, he also designed the Sharp Park course in Pacifica. By sheer serendipity, Ratliff found documents about the club while doing research at Stanford. Also involved in the proposed Woodside venture was Robert Hunter, who designed renowned Pebble Beach Golf Course. The club would have all the amenities, including stables, picnic grounds, kennels, tennis courts and a swimming pool. Most of those facilities became reality.
The land had previously belonged to internationally known sportsman Edwin Dimond. His home was remodeled and became the clubhouse, which had an outer dining room constructed around seven trees that grew through the roof. Stables and 15 miles of bridle trails welcomed equestrians. A swimming pool featuring a statue of a nymph was the work of famed sculptor Haig Patigan; he designed four 16-foot-tall sculptures for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. The views from the clubhouse took in the entire South Bay area. Searsville Lake was to the north side of the club while a country retreat called the Family Farm was to the south. Proposed home sites dotted the west side leading to Skyline Boulevard along what is now known as Old La Honda Road. The Redwood City Standard predicted the club would be “destined to take first rank with the leading club courses in the country. Numbered among the members of the club are some of the wealthiest men and women in the San Francisco Bay Area.” Incorporated in 1926, the club had strong ties with Stanford University. The ranks of charter members included Almon Roth, a Stanford comptroller; Stanford President Ray Lyman Wilbur; and Stanford trustee Lelan Cutler. Dimond and San Francisco mayor “Sunny Jim” Rolph were members as well. The investors bought 400 acres in the area of Portola and Old La Honda roads for $235,000 with the idea of selling off 400 lots. Members received a book that described the organization and member-
ship requirements. (A copy is in the Local History Room at the Redwood City Main Library.) The photos in the membership book are excellent and include shots of the dining room, clubhouse, the putting green and the swimming pool. The ads for the club told well-heeled potential buyers that the location was “in historic Portola Valley,” which, “from the time of the Spanish explorers,” has been “the favorite residential choice of leading California families.” The land, the ad noted, was “adjacent to the most picturesque portion of the princely domain of Stanford University.” Local historian John Edmonds, writing in the Journal of Local History, noted that some of the wealthiest men in the San Francisco Bay Area invested in the club. Many were bankers or professors. “I still wonder why some of these people might not have invested more wisely,” Edmonds concluded. A former deputy sheriff who patrolled Woodside and Portola Valley, he was very familiar with the area, yet he “had no idea that this beautiful place once existed.” As far as Edmonds knows, no remnant of the club remains. C
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