Climate Magazine – August 2020 Edition

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Spotlight: Two Epidemics a Century Apart Profile: Back to School? Maybe Not Business Climate: Restaurants Take to the Streets Changing Climate: RV Parking Solutions

ISSUE SIXTY • AUGUST • 2020

Reform or Refocus?

National Debate Hits Home

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Check out the daily news and read Climate Magazine at: www.climaterwc.com Some of the local businesses where you can pick up a copy: Fox Theatre Fox Forum Philz Coffee Stuff on the Square Quinto Sol restaurant Pasha Mediterranean Powerhouse Gym La Tartine restaurant Nick the Greek Bliss Coffee

Cyclismo Cafe Lobster Shack CRU Ikes Sandwich City Pub restaurant Tea Spoon Sakura restaurant San Mateo Credit Union Talk of Broadway Peet’s Coffee

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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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May set off not only a wave of national protests and riots but also debates about larger issues about racial equality and the use of force by police officers.

It’s remarkable how swiftly this national incident created a pressing local issue for law enforcement departments all over the country, even those in areas like San Mateo County with relatively low crime rates. Questions about police tactics and “excessive” force have generally been seen as urban issues. So we asked writer Don Shoecraft to explore the ramifications of this big subject with local police chiefs and elected officials, who have held online community meetings to get input from residents. As is true in so many areas of our public life, attitudes about law and order have been subject to massive pendulum swings, and it’s hard to say where this will end. Don’s story begins on page 8.

Covid-19 continues to rearrange our most basic activities and rites, including what should have been the return of kids to classrooms this month. Administrators and school boards have been grappling with how to accomplish this safely, and it was certainly a direction many parents favored after “remote instruction” didn’t remotely measure up to in-person for some families. This month’s story by writer Nancy Mangini (on page 24) takes a look at the implications for schools, parents and kids navigating these unsettled times.

If it’s any consolation, everything old is new again, so history instructs us. That’s what Mitch Postel, president of the San Mateo County Historical Association, learned anew while doing research on the Spanish influenza here in 1918-1919. Its effect on the local populace in cases, deaths, quarantines and restrictions lasted about the same amount of time as Covid-19 has been with us (five months). Our forebears finally got tired of it and just decided to move on, even though the flu continued to claim lives. It’s an instructive look back at how they handled things, and I leave it to you to discern history’s message for today.

As a result of some crossed wires last month, I ended up for a meeting at a restaurant downtown—alone. Stood up. So I decided to have an early dinner by myself and experience “outdoor dining” in the era of Covid. It was such a nice change from eating homemade gruel, and a delightful break from life in shutdown mode. Such opportunities abound in Redwood City, San Carlos and neighboring areas thanks to programs allowing restaurants to expand into sidewalks and parking spaces to facilitate outdoor dining. (See page 12.) It’s good for the restaurants, it’s good for our communities, and it’s good for the soul.

So head for the great outdoors this month. And a great meal.

Janet McGovern, Editor

August 2020 ·

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S •

FEATU RE

A National Debate Reignited

8 SPOTLIG HT

Two Epidemics a Century Apart

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PROFILE

Back to School? Maybe Not.

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BUSINESS CLIMATE ......12 AROUND TOWN .........20 CHANGING CLIMATE ....23 MICRO CLIMATE ..........28 HISTORY .....................29

4 · CLIMATE · August 2020

Every home should be filled with nutritious food

Photo: Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2020

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C L I M AT E •

CLIMATE

M A G A Z I N E Publisher

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F E AT U R E •

A National Debate Reignited Local police agencies reexamine use-of-force policies following protests

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By Don Shoecraft

National debate connecting racism and policing in the wake of the May killing of George Floyd has penetrated Peninsula police and public agencies and raised the eminence and effect of Black Lives Matter’s “8 Can’t Wait” platform, especially its call to ban carotid restraint holds.

The argument over a statewide ban on carotid holds continues to rage in Sacramento, with the California Police Chiefs Association in strong disagreement. But the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office suspended its use in June, the San Mateo Police Department drafted policy prohibiting not only carotid holds but all choke holds, and Redwood City is waiting to modify its “highly restrictive” policy on carotid restraint until the state police training agency and the Legislature act on Governor Gavin Newsom’s call for a complete ban on the practice.

Action on the remaining seven of 8 Can’t Wait’s wish list is less certain. Local agencies say they are already doing what’s being asked, or a version of it, or are open to discussing it.

The concept of black lives matter, but not the political movement, won the endorsement of the San Mateo City Council July 20, but the council stopped short of going along with a proposal for a "Black Lives Matter" mural on a downtown street. A resolution acknowledging "the dignity of all our community members" was brought forward by Council member Amourence Lee with the support of faith leaders, Police Chief Ed Barberini and the Police Officers Association. But the separate mural proposal is to be referred to the Civic Arts Commission.

Redwood City and San Mateo have launched public “listening sessions” about policing and budgets that so far have solicited constituent demands for everything from eliminating police departments to increasing police budgets.

At least one elected participant in the listening sessions, Redwood City Council member Alicia Aguirre, who serves on the city’s new Ad Hoc Committee on Policing, insists that the talk must lead to “actionable items.”

Redwood City has announced one action: returning to the federal Defense Logistics Agency the police department’s 30-ton Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, taken out of military surplus and given to Redwood City in 2014.

Hardened to protect soldiers from bombs and weapons when deployed to such places as Afghanistan, the vehicle was upgraded with paint and police logos and intended to serve as a police rescue vehicle. It has been deployed once in the last six years. Mayor Diane Howard has long criticized it as bad for the image city government wants to project to its citizens.

Choke Holds A carotid hold is law enforcement authorization to use force to subdue an individual by cutting off the flow of oxygen to the brain. The throttle is pressure on the carotid artery in the neck that is the brain’s

primary blood supply. The carotid hold is intended to render a subject unconscious, and most police policies caution that it can have lethal consequences.

A medical examiner’s report blamed intoxicants and a possible cardiac condition for Floyd’s death; an independent autopsy paid for by the Floyd family concluded he died of asphyxiation when Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin knelt with knees on his back and neck for nearly nine minutes. Officer Chauvin has been charged with Floyd’s murder in the case.

Protest marches, riots and property destruction in more than 300 American cities that followed spawned the web-based 8 Can’t Wait movement, which itself is an outgrowth of the five-year-old Campaign Zero. Campaign Zero in turn was organized after nationwide protests over the killing of Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., in August of 2014. All organizers of 8 Can’t Wait and Campaign Zero are activists of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Efforts to contact Campaign Zero, 8 Can’t Wait, Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and local BLM activists for comment in this article were unsuccessful.

Sheriff’s Jurisdiction Twenty-five law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction over San Mateo County’s 20 cities and other areas. With more August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 9

• than 800 employees, the sheriff’s office is by far the largest, providing police services to areas outside of city limits as well as to Woodside, Portola Valley, San Carlos, Millbrae and the Coastside including Half Moon Bay. Sheriff Carlos Bolanos is elected countywide. He contends that equating racism and police use of force is “missing the point.

“The point,” he said, “was, before May 25, George Floyd, we weren’t talking about defunding police, we weren’t talking about 8 Can’t Wait, everybody was pretty much happy going all along recognizing racism has been with us forever in the history of our country.

“We had this horrible, tragic incident.

I can’t in any way defend that officer’s action,” Bolanos said. “From my perspective law enforcement is part of the problem, but the difficulty I have with this entire issue is law enforcement is just part of the systemic racism that exists in all of our institutions.

“I think by focusing just on law enforcement — I’ll be the first to tell you we can always make improvements — but by just focusing on law enforcement it allows people to, basically they’ve found their scapegoat. But racism is found everywhere. Everywhere. Education. Housing.

Business. Hiring.

“I’m a person of color,” Bolanos continued. “People choose to live on the Peninsula for a reason. They move from Redwood City to other cities for a reason.

My concern is that by just focusing on law enforcement — please remember the word ‘defunding.’ Once people recognized that that is not a good word, they changed it to ‘reimagining,’ I’d never heard those used in law enforcement, and I’ve been in law enforcement for 40 years.”

A Checklist The sheriff’s web page prominently displays the icons of all eight of 8 Can’t Wait’s calls to action with green checks for compliance next to “Bans Chokeholds

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F E AT U R E •

and Strangleholds,” “Requires De-Escalation,” “Requires Exhaust All Alternatives Before Shooting,” “Duty to Intervene,” “Utilizes Use of Force Continuum” and “Requires Comprehensive Reporting.”

“Requires Warning Before Shooting” and “Bans Shooting at Moving Vehicles” are unchecked.

The sheriff’s department has revised use-of-force policies following a police death before, in 2019 following the death of a pedestrian, Chinedu Okobi, who was

Top cops in Redwood City and San Mateo and the sheriff don’t support non-sworn personnel making traffic stops or mental health calls due to the potential for violence.

Tased seven times during an arrest by Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Wang in Millbrae on Oct. 3, 2018.

At that time the sheriff brought in the American Civil Liberties Union to consult.

Deputies Wang and John DeMartini, Alyssa Lorenzatti, Bryan Watt and Sgt. David Weidner, who were involved in the arrest, were investigated by the district attorney’s office, which declined to file charges.

Deferring to the AG San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has prosecuted police misconduct at jury trials, unsuccessfully, in the past and said he supports a system kicking cases like Okobi’s up to the California Attorney General when local opinion impugns the objectivity of the local DA. “The Okobi case in our county that got so much attention,” he said, “I feel on a real, real level I could fairly evaluate. I think I did — obviously that’s what I think — but I understand there’s a lot of people who felt, you know what, the DA was just

backing the sheriff.

“That might be a case where I would say, yeah, I’m going to request the Attorney General to take a look at it. It might be one like that … ones where I want the community to have faith in these most important cases. “… It’s hard for the public because,” Wagstaffe said, “as you know, police officers very, very seldom get prosecuted. And that does create a feeling about the big cases.

“In Minnesota (George Floyd), Atlanta (Rayshard Brooks), those are simple, there’s no prosecutor anywhere who isn’t going to say, ‘Charge that.’ It’s the tougher ones, the closer ones where the law has to be applied.”

Wagstaffe acknowledged that he had “not filed a case involving a death. In my time I have found those to be justifiable use of force in all occasions.”

The district attorney prosecutes criminal (not civil) cases and brings to court only those in which he believes the evidence proves guilt. He confronts in the courtroom and figures into his calculus the well-documented phenomenon of jury bias in favor of police.

Use of Force Training According to the American Bar Association, in these cases it doesn’t take long for a defense attorney to recite for a jury’s benefit police policy manuals on use of force.

The ABA quotes Maria Haberfeld, professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City: “Most jurors who sit through a trial come away with the realization that ‘police work involves force,’ and officers are trained and authorized to use it at all times.”

Court cases have dictated that useof-force policies are a requirement and have even prescribed language; however, state legislatures also can legislate use of force policies.

A back-and-forth in California over state legislation has gone on for years.

As it stands at the moment, critical sec-

• tions of use-of-force policies must use the terms “objectively,” “necessary,” and sometimes “feasible.”

For example: “Deputies shall use only that amount of force that reasonably appears necessary given the facts and totality of the circumstances known to or perceived by the deputy at the time of the event to accomplish a legitimate law enforcement purpose.” (Sheriff’s Operations Manual Chapter 300.3) Such language is the product of lobbying by organizations such as the California Peace Officers Association, California Police Chiefs Association, American Civil Liberties Union and various state legislators.

Some wanted a standard of “reasonable” force. Others wanted “necessary.”

The compromise was to use both.

Not only is it “a vague standard of reasonableness” according to Wagstaffe, “a local police agency can change it. According to someone’s point of view that can be good. Most people at the time felt police policies were not tough enough 20 years ago when the country reacted to the destruction of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

The Public Mood The backlash was so strong, Wagstaffe noted, that “I remember 9/11 and the Patriot Act and the secret court and thinking to myself, ‘Wow. I feel like I’m back in 1916 and they just passed the Alien Sedition Act.” As a consequence, the “tough on crime” political mantra of the 70s, 80s and 90s, which had provoked contentious political debate in elections for decades, no longer was the subject of debate.

Today, because of police killings across the country and the prevalence of citizen video and social media, the pendulum is moving in the opposite direction in some cities, though not all. Police policy manuals are as individual as the 20 cities and the 25 law enforcement agencies in the county, each of which can make changes. And an officer from one city on police business in another city — which happens — only has

F E AT U R E •

to comply with his home city’s rules.

Some city councils and their law enforcement agencies may feel they have settled the matter by adopting bans on carotid holds and lethal chokeholds. But the low-hanging fruit when considering remaining issues such as civilian oversight of police, public identification of police offenders, shooting at moving vehicles and more, is most definitely not settled at the state level.

For example, Assemblyman Mike Gip-

Wagstaffe supports the state attorney general being required to take police misconduct cases if local DAs or chiefs request it. Legislation is bogged down over who pays. son (D-Carson) introduced legislation that would strike the specific language about these control methods and replace it with a prohibition on “techniques or transport methods that involve a substantial risk of positional asphyxia.”

Difficult to Define “Positional asphyxia” plausibly could describe what happened to Floyd. But it equally describes many other manners of death, regardless of whether a hold was involved or not.

The California Police Chief’s Association is opposed. In a statement, its President Eric Nunez said, “The added language expands the bill’s scope in a way that lacks the clarity and specificity an issue of this magnitude deserves.

“No police chief supports prolonged force being used against an individual who is not resisting, but we cannot take away necessary tools needed to overcome combative suspects and expect our peace officers to be able to keep the public safe.”

The bill will go the way of dozens of others urgently proposed in this Covid-isolated legislature. It will go nowhere.

But there is another, calmer place from which police policy, including use of force policy, derives.

In the spirit of not wanting to reinvent the wheel, law enforcement agencies around the country turn to policy consulting companies for help in writing these carefully worded, exhaustively-catalogued manuals, which run to at least 600 pages.

Lexipol of Frisco, Texas, delves into its knowledge of best practices, legislation and case law to contract with local agencies which need policy manuals for police, fire, correction, emergency response and general government. It counts 8,100 public agencies as clients, including the City of Redwood City. Lexipol reports that it is considering offering clients a “no carotid” option and is assiduously following state and national developments to gauge where the public is leading.

But it doesn’t report much action on that front so far. C

#8cantwait

a campaign to bring immediate change to police departments Ban chokeholds & strangleholds • Require de-escalation • Require warning before shooting • Requires exhausting all alternatives before shooting • Duty to intervene • Ban shooting at moving vehicles • Require use of force continuum • Require comprehensive reporting August 2020 ·

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B U S I N E S S C L I M AT E •

Restaurants Take to the Sidewalks and Streets to Survive

By Janet McGovern Going out to eat has taken on a novel meaning in the Covid-19 era as restaurants up and down the Peninsula are taking advantage of the opportunity to move food service outdoors.

Following a June 6 order by the San Mateo County Health Officer, cities including Redwood City, San Carlos, Menlo Park and San Mateo swung into action to allow hard-pressed restaurant owners to encroach into generally off-limits sidewalks and city streets to set up tables, chairs and even “parklets.” South San Francisco is among the cities which have recently set up an outdoor dining permit program.

Manuel Martinez, who owns two restaurants in Redwood City and recently opened a third in downtown Palo Alto, has been through four closings/openings since the original shutdown in March. The outdoor dining option is helping him to weather the storm.

It’s been “a rollercoaster feeling,” says Martinez, who owns the upscale LV Mar on Broadway and the more casual LaViga Seafood restaurant several blocks away. He also recently launched San Agus, a restaurant on Hamilton Avenue in Palo Alto.

“You never know what’s going to happen with the state, the city, the county.”

Layoffs and takeout Martinez says initially 40 of his employees lost their jobs but he was first able to bring some back by offering takeout at LaViga, which only has three tables outdoors. Takeout was less successful at LV Mar, where he already had some outdoor seating.

Things started looking up again when indoor dining was allowed, and then Martinez got permission from the city to add more outdoor tables. He’d been able to bring back about 30 staff altogether. But then Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order July 13

12 · CLIMATE · August 2020

“Most restaurants are at least 50 percent or more full… It’s only been a few weeks but I think it’s going pretty well. The issue now is the retailers, and that’s a tough one.” closed down bars and indoor dining again.

Without outdoor seating, Martinez would be down to takeout only again.

He is grateful for the city program.

“Absolutely,” he says. “We are very happy with the program. One thousand percent. … At the end of the day, it makes people happy. It’s working out for us.”

The program, which officially began June 26, included the closure of several downtown blocks seven days a week through Sept. 30. The Redwood City Improvement Association provided $70,000 of the estimated $225,000 cost for public safety and permit-related costs borne by the city.

Regina Van Brunt, executive director of the Downtown Business Group, spent a lot of time telling restaurants about the opportunity and the street closures, as well as helping them with permit issues. Some of the restauranteurs, such as those on Theatre Way who already had outdoor dining, needed convincing.

“I was afraid indoor dining would be cancelled and I was right,” Van Brunt says.

“If you can’t do indoor dining, what are you going to do?”

San Mateo and San Carlos San Mateo has a similar program and throughout downtown, barricades have created protected areas where customers at picnic table can relax under vibrant-colored pop-up tents and umbrellas to enjoy a drink or a meal—the vibe of a summertime Oktoberfest.

San Carlos’s downtown was a thriving restaurant zone before the March shutdown arrived, and the city’s decision to open up parts of Laurel Street for outdoor dining is definitely helping the restaurants, says Tom

Davids. The former mayor is the Chamber of Commerce part-time interim CEO. “Most restaurants are at least 50 percent or more full,” he estimates. “… It’s only been a few weeks but I think it’s going pretty well. The issue now is the retailers, and that’s a tough one.”

San Carlos, like other cities, uses moveable barricades to create expansion space for outdoor dining, depriving some retailers of convenient parking for their customers. Two blocks of Laurel Street are closed to traffic, and the 600 block is partially or intermittently closed. Some retailers, as well as some restaurant owners, feel “that they’re being left out,” Davids says.

On the whole, though, the program has proven a success on Laurel Street, where the canopied tables are “really quite attractive, Davids says. “A lot of fun, a lot of people strolling around meeting people, a lot of kids. I think it’s great, personally.

But there’s a few hiccups to go through.”

The Farmers Market The chamber, in fact, would like to get permission from the city to set up its Farmers Market in the 600 block of Laurel Street.

Covid-19 restrictions have significantly reduced chamber revenue from business memberships, and an art and wine fair that would have happened in October had to be cancelled.

“To be honest with you,” Davids says of the Farmers Market, “it’s the only funding we can look for, so we’re looking to do it somewhere.”

The San Carlos outdoor dining program was approved through the end of the year. Redwood City’s Sept. 30 closure date could be revised depending on guidance from public health officials, according to

• Communications Manager Jennifer Yamaguma. Just under 40 restaurants applied for permits; some by mid-July were still working on insurance and other requirements.

Assistant City Manager Alex Khojikian says some retailers and restaurant owners who had developed pretty good takeout businesses have complained about reduced access. The city is looking at making some “tweaks” on Main Street between Middlefield Road and Broadway.

Restaurateurs must comply with a number of safety-related restrictions, including placing tables at least six feet apart and not letting more than six people sit together (they must also be from the same household or living unit.) Customers must be masked unless they’re sitting at a table.

Cleaning Protocols “I think people should have confidence in the businesses that we’re taking the protocols to make the environment safe,” says Adan Ocegueda, general manager of Vino Santo Bistro. “We’re giving tables enough space. We’re constantly disinfecting after every use. We have masks, we have gloves, we have sanitizing stations all over the restaurants.”

The busy bistro on Broadway in downtown Redwood City already had 12 outdoor tables and he was working on getting permits for three or four more. Not being able to use the nine indoor tables is a setback, but “on the other hand, people in the first place would prefer to be outside.”

His father is the chef/owner and the restaurant has been open 17 years.

Ocegueda is concerned about what will happen later this year, not just because of cooler weather. Vino Santo does a lot of corporate holiday parties for 20 to 100 people, and groups that size may be unable to gather together. With so many employees working at home, “the situation is not going to be the same as other years,” Ocegueda says. “ … That’s a big chunk of our revenue during the holidays and we’re definitely not going to see that this year.”

B U S I N E S S C L I M AT E •

The Music Stopped Angelicas had been a popular venue for live entertainment before Covid-19, something customers and performers alike miss. Nonetheless, Peter Cuschieri, who owns the business named after his wife, says business has picked up lately. He can seat about 50 diners in a courtyard in the back of the restaurant, and, with a newly added parklet outside, about 30 more can be accommodated.

“We’ve had our good days and our slow days,” he says.

“Breakfast-wise, we’re doing well. We just kicked up a happy hour last week.

Over the weekend, we actually did pretty good. Sunday 117 people for breakfast and lunch. Dinner Friday and Saturday close to 100.” Nobody, he adds, wants to sit inside.

Peter Cuschieri says the economics just aren’t there to add live music. “Oh I know, I know. There’s only so much I can do.” During the brief period when indoor dining was allowed, Angelicas was able to do one wedding. “We’re getting people who want to book private events but we can’t book them.”

Can he survive at that level? “We’ve got to, we’ve got no choice but to survive,” Cuschieri responds. “I mean, I’ve dug into my personal savings to be honest. It’s been tough.”

Winter Worries Grateful as he is for being able to expand outdoors thanks to Redwood City’s program, Chef Martinez also worries about what will happen in the fall and winter, given the unknowns about Covid-related restrictions. Owners will face making investment decisions for heaters and potentially for structures—if they’re allowed— that may only be needed for a few months.

“I’m already looking at those months next year to see how thing are going to be looking,” he says. “… Hopefully this gets under control.”

West Park Farm and Sea, on Theatre Way near the shuttered downtown movie theater, already had some outdoor seating.

Business continues to be “tough times like everybody else,” says manager Kubi Cevik. He has revenue-producing space for 15 or 20 customers outside —and vacant tables for about another 15 inside. C

Following are the downtown bars and restaurants which are participating in Redwood City’s outdoor dining program: Alhambra Irish House · Angelicas · Blacksmith · BottleShop · Broadway Marsala · Crouching Tiger · Five Guys · Ghostwood Brewery · HOM Korean Restaurant · Kemuri Japanese Baru · La Viga Seafood · Lovejoy’s Tea Room · LV Mar · Mademoiselle Collette · Milagros · Nam Vietnamese Brasserie · Naranjo Taqueria · Nick the Greek · Nighthawk · Peets Coffee · Pho Dong · Quinto Sol · Rockin Wraps · Rolled Up Creamery · Sakura Teppanyaki · Talk of Broadway · The Coffee Bar · The Hub · The Patty Shack · The Sandwich Spot · The Spaghetti Factory · Venga Empanadas · Vesta · Vino Santo Bistro · Yokohama · Zadna Restaurant · 840 Wine Bar & Cocktail Lounge.

August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 13

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SPOTLIGHT•

Mitch Postel holds up a newspaper story about the January 1919 death of San Mateo County’s first elected County Clerk from “pleuro pneumonia.

14 · CLIMATE · August 2020

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SPOTLIGHT•

Two Epidemics a Century Apart

A truism about history unmasked:

Yogi Berra was right

By Janet McGovern

E

ven non-historians know that history repeats itself. “There is nothing new under the sun,” as the wise King Solomon purportedly put it. “Been there, done that?” Well, who hasn’t? So about the last person who should have been surprised by Mitch Postel’s recent deep dive into local history for a magazine article was Mitch Postel.

Yet there he was, the president of the San Mateo County Historical Association, sheltered in place at home because of Covid-19, researching the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919 —and colliding with an astonishing, positive case of déjà vu all over again, right out of Yogi Berra’s homespun lexicon.

August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 15

• The century-ago masks and mask-makers. The curfews and quarantines. Schools and churches closed. Flipflopping health orders, varying by city. And, in time, rebellion against mask-wearing and all the other restrictions. A coronavirus carbon copy. And Postel, of all people, surprised by history.

“Yes,” he agrees with a laugh. “I was just getting hit with it constantly,” he adds, of the then/now parallels he kept finding. “…When I started doing this (I thought) ‘Oh well, this was so many years ago and attitudes have changed so much and it won’t be the same.’ And it turns out to be almost exactly the same. I was really flabbergasted that people have not changed that much.”

Stuck at home because of the Covid-related closure of the downtown Redwood City museum and its satellites, Postel had just buttoned up a lengthy treatise on turnof-the-century polo in San Mateo County.

The story was to have appeared in the summer issue of the historical association’s magazine, La Peninsula, which is available to association members, some libraries and for sale at the museum gift shop. But members of the publication committee thought since Covid-19 made the Spanish flu more topical, he should switch gears and write about influenza first.

SPOTLIGHT•

“…When I started doing this (I thought) ‘Oh well, this was so many years ago and attitudes have changed so much and it won’t be the same.’

And it turns out to be almost exactly the same."

16 mobilization and training camps in the nation. Camp Fremont was established there in July 1917, and more than 27,000 soldiers eventually lived in the sprawling installation that stretched from El Camino Real to the foothills. (At the time, San Mateo County’s entire population was about 36,800, not including the military.)

Postel knew Camp Fremont would be part of the story of how the Spanish flu impacted the county, but after it emerged with deadly effect in September 1918, cases were by no means confined to the base.

The first camp death was recorded Sept.

28, the same day the U.S. Public Health Service issued a report on “a very conta-

gious kind of ‘cold’ accompanied by fever, pains in the head, eyes, ears, back or other parts of the body.” Though symptoms supposedly would disappear after three or four days, sometimes pneumonia set in and patients died.

October was the worst month both for the soldiers at Camp Fremont and residents of San Mateo and San Francisco counties, Postel writes. Although it was apparent across the nation that a health emergency was in progress, 150,000 patriotic Northern Californians gathered in Golden Gate Park to show support for the soldiers fighting in Europe in the final Allied push.

By early October a strict quarantine was declared at the camp, and Palo Alto began requiring residents to wear cheesecloth masks. Meanwhile, cases were showing up in cities, including 153 in San Francisco and 500 in Los Angeles. By mid-month, conditions at Camp Fremont continued to deteriorate, with 164 patients critically ill and only 25 nurses available.

Concerned about Camp Fremont, Redwood City’s health officer Dr. J.D. Chapin quarantined 12 residences as a “precau-

Menlo Park’s WWI Camp When the United States got involved in World War I, Menlo Park became one of

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Historic photos courtesy of the San Mateo County Historical Association

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tion” and ordered public gathering places closed. Only a week later, victory seemed to have been declared: The Redwood City Democrat newspaper reported that the Sequoia Theater and schools could be reopening as a result of a rapid decrease in new cases.

Not Really Over Later in the month, however, new cases had jumped to 149, for a total of 250 altogether, including seven fatalities. The city trustees adopted a resolution calling for all residents to wear masks and the police chief was approaching citizens “without gauze” to advise where they could get a mask.

Newspapers devoted space to each illness and death. In the pre-Hollywood era, members of “the smart set” were celebrities whose clubs, parties and travels were followed assiduously. Prominent people began to catch influenza and die, among them the superintendent of two mosquito districts in the San Mateo/Burlingame area who was the son of a well-known, long-time ranch owner. Just 28, he left a wife and baby.

San Mateo’s health officer ordered schools, churches, theaters, clubs, lodges

SPOTLIGHT•

and pool rooms shut down. Burlingame did the same. Only manual arts classes in the San Mateo high school district could continue; students were filling orders for emergency surgical supplies for U.S. troops in Siberia.

The death of a member of the pioneering Parrott family was particularly upsetting. After serving overseas in an ambulance unit, Joe Parrott spent only six months at home before volunteering to go back to the infantry. After a brief bout with pneumonia, he died at the Camp Fremont hospital.

“He was a legitimate hero and just to enlist in the Army as a private from this big classy important family is kind of amazing to me,” Postel says.

Despite Parrott’s death, the San Francisco Examiner reported that the Camp Fremont quarantine had been lifted. Most soldiers could leave the base. Meanwhile, up in Hillsborough, San Mateo and Burlingame, masks were required on penalty of a $100 fine and 20 days in jail.

A Mask Revolt The flu rolled up new San Mateo victims in the prime of their lives: a 44-year-old paint-

er, a 38-year-old housewife and a chauffeur. Mask-sewing brigades sewed away.

Though initially acquiescent, mask-wearers in time began to resist, especially in San Francisco, and police there started hauling “mask slackers” into court by the hundreds, Postel says. “An anti-mask league was formed and rallies were attended by the thousands.”

The mask-or-else edict came down San Mateo Countywide in late October. But by November, despite some contradictory evidence including more deaths, newspapers were reporting a falloff in cases and that the epidemic was coming under control.

“By December of 1918, many in the San Francisco Bay Area believed, if not entirely eradicated, influenza was a decreasing problem,” Postel writes. “That and the euphoria caused by the War ending [Nov. 11, 1918], resulted in a lessening of attention by local newspapers to the epidemic.”

They started calling it “pneumonia” instead of “influenza.”

In fact, the flu continued its dread harvest locally until at least February 2019, though the one newspaper minimized the disease as “old-fashioned grip(pe),” nothing new. Closures of schools and public August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 17

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SPOTLIGHT•

The Casserly mansion became a hospital. gathering places were intermittent; many parents just kept the kids home.

Summing up the trajectory, Postel says, “Around the middle of September, people were starting to get the idea that there was a problem. And then October was horrible.

Well, by mid-November, people had had it.

You know, ‘The crisis is over, I’m taking off my mask. This has got to be it.’ And then of course there was a spike in January. And then putting back on the masks and taking the kids back out of school, that became really politically difficult.”

World War I with all of its privations was over. Thousands turned out for a Feb. 22, 1919, welcome home celebration in Redwood City. About 40 San Mateo County residents had died in the war, compared with 131 taken by the flu by December. But many people were just tired of it.

Heroines of the Flu In his research, the big surprise to Postel was the heroic response of women volunteers through two emergent Red Cross chapters who stepped up to help wherever needed. The San Mateo County chapter provided over 61,000 gauze compresses,

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1,900 face masks, 4,400 pairs of socks, and 3,400 sweaters, plus more than 400 “pneumonia jackets” (used either to warm patients or to cool them through tubes inside the jackets.)

The women raised more than $118,000 and organized a “motor corps” to transport victims and ferry supplies. At mortal risk of coming down with the disease themselves, they delivered food and cleaned houses for victims too sick to cook or clean.

One remarkable society woman, Cecelia Cudahy Casserly, converted her Hillsborough mansion into an emergency hospital for three weeks. At 1 p.m. Oct. 23, her furnishings began to be moved into a cottage on the grounds. Later that night, “Casserly Hospital” took in its first four patients.

“I think it’s rare in history that you have moments like that,” Postel observes, “that there are that many people who are so altruistic that they’ll step forward and help others. … We were really picking up statewide notice because of the activities that were going on here.”

The Progressive Era ethos that people should take responsibility for their com-

munity was an influence on these motivated women. Progressives, Postel says, saw value in government marshaling everyone behind the war effort and in applying expert opinion to combat influenza. “Doctors were saying things like wear face masks and don’t congregate in large parties. Close your movie theaters, close your schools. Do all the stuff that’s really repugnant,” Postel says. “Still is today.

All the things that we rebel against today, people were rebelling against then.” People got fed up with government telling them what to do.

Despite being closed since March and losing both revenue and visitors, Postel concludes that “as much as I hate to admit it, a lot of the restrictions we’re facing now are probably necessary.” Rest assured, though, that the history of the 21st century pandemic isn’t being overlooked: People are being asked to submit their own Covid-19 stories and observations to www.historysmc.org— what they did, what they missed, what they learned as a result of the 2020 pandemic and so forth.

Surprising or not. C

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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AROUND TOWN •

Fourth of July Recap: Chalk Drawings, Birthdays, Music and Barbecues One tradition kept alive on the Fourth was sidewalk chalk drawing. Thanks to the volunteers of @Home Chalk Full of Fun over 570 chalk kits were handed out for locals to put their best artistic foot forward and decorate, illuminate and illustrate their sidewalks. A contest was held with over 200 Rembrandt wannabes registering. Categories were separated by adult, kid, teen and teams. To view the winners and overall art, go to: https://drive.google.com/ drive/folders/1JMMbGWIGKDGbj-B8t4JnO_ZwavyPTvRQ?usp=sharing

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Handing out chalk kits were (L-R): Betsy Halaby, Susie Peyton, Joan DeBrine and Robbie Casarez.

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AROUND TOWN•

For the first time in 75 years, Redwood City has gone without a Fourth of July parade.

With such a lack of traditional excitement locals fell back on low key Fourth of July activities — the illegal fireworks came later. From front-yard concerts and birthday parties to a one float parade or simply kicking back and firing up the barbecue, people found many ways to mark the occasion and celebrate the country's independence.

August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 21

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AROUND TOWN•

Candlelight Vigil Held for Vanessa Guillen A candlelight vigil planned for slain U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen in Redwood City was part of a national movement demanding justice for Guillen and changes in how the military handles sexual assault and harassment cases.

The peaceful event took place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Redwood City Courthouse Square on July 12. Participants were encouraged to bring a candle for a makeshift altar.

Several performers and presenters, including Congresswoman Jackie Speier, were on hand to speak.

Guillen, 20, who worked as a small arms repairer with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, was last seen at the Fort Hood military base in Texas on April 22. Her remains were found June 30 buried about 20 miles from the base. Authorities believe Guillen was murdered by fellow Fort Hood soldier Aaron Robinson, who shot and killed himself when confronted by investigators. From the time Guillen went missing, her family expressed frustration at the Army’s handling of the investigation. Protesters called for a congressional investigation into Guillen’s murder and demanded cultural changes in the military to halt sexual abuse.

The Club at Westpoint Harbor Launches Construction Construction will get under way soon on the newest facility at Westpoint Harbor, a two-story building with a restaurant on the ground floor, a clubhouse and patio looking out over the marina and an outdoor pool and pool house. The groundbreaking took place July 18 but was pandemic-adjusted, with members across the country joining the board of directors via livestream. Board President Peter Blackmore said the new building will provide a gathering place for members to socialize and enjoy the water and an award-winning junior sailing program, as well as arts and entertainment.

22 · CLIMATE · August 2020

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C H A N G I N G C L I M AT E •

RV Parking Solutions Taking Shape in Redwood City Redwood City is moving forward with plans aimed at helping RV dwellers get into permanent housing by creating a transitional space for them to park. But owners of oversized vehicles throughout the city won’t be able to use the street as long-term parking.

Developed over many months, the coming changes affecting RV parking arose out of complaints about the growing number of RVs around the city that people are living in, estimated at more than 100.

Advocates for the RV-dwellers argue that they’ve been forced out by high rents and deserve a place in the community.

The City Council in June took the first steps to approving creation of a Safe RV Parking Facility east of U.S. 101 off Maple Street near the Police Department. A related change to restrict on-street RV parking citywide will likely be up for final adoption late August.

The city has a number of “hot spots” with concentrations of RVs, including in the 200 block of Cedar Street, Douglas Court, and Maple, Spring, Shasta, Stafford and Walnut streets. In addition, angry business owners have complained repeatedly about the dozens of oversized vehicles parked along the Oddstad Drive frontage road by 101.

Neighbors point out that the RV-dwellers often have a car as well, taking up on-street parking; more troublesome are complaints about sanitation and open drug-dealing.

City Council member Diana Reddy, who has a long history as a housing advocate, served with Council member Giselle Hale on an ad-hoc committee which met with all sides, investigated options and suggested solutions.

Reddy knocked on RV doors to find out who was living there and found that most residents work but can’t afford rent.

“It’s important for people to understand that the RV residents of 10 years ago are not the RV residents of today,” she says.

Under the proposed two-year city program, 30-day renewable permits would be issued that would allow people to park for free in the new facility from 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. daily. Twenty to 30 RVs could be accommodated. Applicants would be screened and must have a willingness to move to permanent housing. Optimally the facility will open by the end of September or before, according to Assistant City Manager Alex Khojikian.

Overflow RV parking permits would be granted for parking elsewhere in the city, but the occupants too would be subject to strict rules about keeping the surrounding area clean.

“Our goal is to get them into permanent housing,” Reddy says, noting that some RV residents don’t want that. Some also have homes in distant areas like Modesto or Stockton and commute to the Bay Area to work. That’s not who the program is designed for either. RVs without permits would be subject to ticketing.

The city is bringing in the nonprofit LifeMoves for an initial three-month contract at $55,600 to do the outreach and case management to get the program off the

ground. A minimal amount of prep work, such as fencing, is needed for the site.

Unlike many other San Mateo County jurisdictions which either ban sleeping in vehicles or RV parking outright, Redwood City’s ordinance has been fairly lenient and hard to enforce against prolonged RV parking. Any vehicle only has to move one car length every 72 hours to be legal.

With the change, owners could still have 48 hours to load their RVs in front of the house before going on a trip but not park them indefinitely. Sleeping in RVs without a permit would be banned.

If the change receives final approval in August, it would be in effect by late September. Two recently hired police enforcement officers would start by issuing warnings. Parking on Oddstad would be limited to two hours between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

“I actually think this policy will benefit neighborhoods where recreational RVS were stored too long outside,” says Council member Hale. “I think it’s a win-win and hopefully it will be a good solution for all of our neighborhoods.”

Both Reddy and Hale say addressing the RV issue and listening to all sides turned out to be complicated but rewarding.

Sue Pellizzer lives near an RV cluster along the Caltrain tracks which she dubbed “the Stafford Street Campground.” She had taken a door-to-door survey and found that most of the residents were long-distance commuters, not down-andouters. Some seem to have moved on since the Covid-19 lockdown, she says.

Pellizzer wonders whether there will be enough permits for all the RVs needing space, but she’s glad to see “we’re moving in a positive direction—I hope. To me it seems like we are.” Asked whether she felt that she’d been heard, Pellizzer responds: “I do now. Probably a month ago I may have had a little bit different attitude.” C August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 23

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PROFILE•

Back to School? Or Maybe Not

Covid-19 uncertainty clouds how kids will be taught

Korinn Myers, teacher at Woodside Priory School, waits for the return of her students.

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PROFILE•

By Nancy Mangini

The opening of schools is just weeks away, but although school officials have been preparing for a range of possibilities from in-classroom to at-home teaching, it appears that full-distance learning will be the only option available to families in San Mateo County until the governor and county health office agree the Covid-19 case numbers are stable enough to allow schools to reopen for some form of in-person learning.

August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 25

• By and large, however, parents want their children to return to the classroom, on the belief that children do not engage with a computer screen in the same way they interact with a teacher. Parents fear that their kids will fall behind. Nearly as important as academic progress is their children’s need to be with other kids to learn socialization skills and to just plain play.

“Children need to be together,” said Dawnya Campbell. She and husband Ross are parents of a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old. They agree that allowing their children to go back to Clifford School in Redwood City is the best option for their family. “It’s a complicated issue for us,” Dawnya Campbell continued. “We both work fulltime and we found ourselves staying up late at night trying to manage the stay-at-home learning because the kids had to wait until then to ask questions.

Also, staying on-task and focusing on online learning seemed especially hard for our younger child.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Julie Prosper, parent of two girls, Sophie, who is going into fifth grade and Maddie, who is looking forward to being a seventh grader at Redwood City’s North Star Academy.

More Structure “The distance learning we tried at the end of the last school year simply didn’t work for us,” Prosper said. “Sophie, in particular, required more structure and supervision to get what she needed from the online lessons. Also, the lack of after-school childcare put a special strain on two-career families like us.”

Although Prosper currently plans to send both daughters back to North Star when it reopens, the absence of any district plans to reestablish childcare programs at public school sites troubles her, as it does her neighbor, Hillary Beck.

26 · CLIMATE · August 2020

PROFILE•

As a mother of twin boys starting second grade, Beck hopes her children are headed back to Clifford and that both on-campus learning and childcare are available.

“If I can send them, they are going back to in-person school. As active 7-yearolds, they really need the social interaction of their friends and playmates,” Beck said.

“Plus, the remote learning we tried earlier in the year just didn’t work for us. Teaching styles of their online instructors were inconsistent and it was clear the school was making it up as they went along. I’m

"...the remote learning we tried earlier in the year just didn’t work for us. Teaching styles of their online instructors were inconsistent and it was clear the school was making it up as they went along." also concerned that the school has not rented space to our normal childcare provider, Neighborhood Kids Corner. So right now, that program has no location.”

The need for consistent, reliable in-person instruction and childcare was seen as particularly essential for the Becks as both parents have careers that require them to be onsite to perform their jobs. In addition to her husband needing to show up at his electrical engineering job, Hillary’s work as a chemist involves an all-hands-on-deck effort at a local biotech firm to find a cure for the Covid-19 virus.

“I’m a drug-hunter,” Beck said, “so it’s really important that I get back to doing it, for all our sakes!”

Janet Lawson, president of the Redwood City School District Board, said “Given the governor’s guidance about requirements for opening in-person schools, the board gave direction to the superintendent to reopen RCSD schools on August 19th with full-distance learning only, at least through the first trimester.”

Governor Gavin Newsom on July 17 declared that schools cannot hold in-person classes unless the county in which they reside has been off the state’s monitoring list for 14 days. With San Francisco and Santa Clara counties both on the list, officials believe it is likely that San Mateo County will also be on it by the time schools are scheduled to reopen.

The San Carlos elementary school district, which is also scheduled to reopen on August 19th, was expected to follow suit with a decision to offer only full-distance learning after the board meeting held July 23 (past Climate’s press time).

Enabling Success As full-distance learning becomes the only option for families, the ability to access adequate technology will be key to enabling student success.

“Kyle Brumbaugh, the RCSD director of technology and innovation, affirms that all students in grades two through eight will have a Chromebook to use and that all students in preschool, kindergarten, and grade one will receive an iPad,” Lawson said. She’s been assured that Internet access should be adequate, as well, although some students may experience slower downloads at certain usage levels.

Georgia Jack, a Sequoia Union High School District trustee, also anticipates that high school will reopen Aug. 17 with a distance-only learning program.

“Based on what we all heard from the governor, and knowing that San Mateo County is the filler in the geograph-

• ic sandwich of San Francisco and Santa Clara counties which are both on the monitor list, I fully expect that San Mateo County will be on the list in a few weeks,” Jack said. “And that means, according to the governor’s standards, schools would need to go forward with 100 percent distance learning.”

Jack noted that even before the governor’s pronouncement, the San Mateo Union High School District had decided to offer only distance learning to students for the upcoming year.

On the question of technology avail-

PROFILE•

“I want to work with our ISP providers such as Comcast and AT&T to sponsor construction of cell towers in underserved areas of Redwood City so that anyone with a laptop can access the 5G broadband capability needed for the distance learning programs that will be a large part of education this year, and most likely, in the years to come,” Aguirre said. “However, until we come up with a workable agreement, education at all levels in Redwood City will continue to reflect the economic inequality in our society.”

Although district officials and school

how to manage distance learning, but the hybrid programs being discussed changes what they were told earlier in the year.

Performance expectations for both teachers and students were, and still are, unclear – a situation that puts further stress on those trying to deliver and receive a quality education.”

So what will families do if they are not able to send their kids back to a physical school?

Micro-Schools Some area families are beginning to consider creating “pod” schools for their

"...until we come up with a workable agreement, education at all levels in Redwood City will continue to reflect the economic inequality in our society.” ability for area high school students, Jack had some significant concerns.

Wi-Fi Hotspots “Our system’s Wi-Fi hotspots had a data cap of just 2 gigabytes per month, and that just doesn’t cut it when it comes to high-end educational content, such as videos,” she said. “For that, you need 5G broadband access, something many of our students just don’t have. Figuring out how to build that access and pay for it is a real problem right now. I know we’re in discussions with Comcast, but so far, there’s been little progress.”

To help with this problem, Redwood City Council member Alicia Aguirre agreed to serve on the San Mateo County Public Wi-Fi Project, a newly created task force studying the impact of uneven Internet access across the county.

administrators are primarily responsible for crafting school reopening plans, teachers also have both a stake in, and concerns about, returning to in-person teaching – something that has apparently influenced the governor’s decision to keep classrooms closed as Covid-19 case numbers rise in the state.

Edith Salvatore, president of the Sequoia Teachers Association, worries that her members would have to choose between personal safety and the ability to practice their profession.

“Right now, I don’t see a lot of flexibility in district plans for teachers who opt out of in-person instruction,” Salvatore said.

“Will they have to use up all their medical and vacation benefits before losing their jobs if they don’t return to campus? Also, members have been self-training to learn

children. Also known as micro-schools, pods would consist of four to 12 children of similar ages and grade levels and be taught in-person by privately funded tutors. Part of a growing national movement to find ways to continue academic progress for children amid the pandemic, advertisements for pod teachers are increasingly popping up on local online billboards such as NextDoor to provide professional instruction for several hours each day for the children of families who can afford it.

Parents interviewed for this story who preferred in-person learning for their children but did not want to join a private pod all had the same response to questions about how they will manage when all-distance learning is the only option available from local schools: “I guess we’ll just have to soldier on.” C August 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 27

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M I •C C RO L I MCAL TI M EA •T E •

Long-time Volunteer Who Helped Preserve Redwood City History Retires Redwood City wouldn’t look as it does today were it not for the influence of Ken Rolandelli, who has retired after serving a mere 40 years on the city’s Historic Resources Advisory Committee. Rolandelli early-on realized the importance of historic preservation and deserves much of the credit for the fact that, amid the redevelopment of the last several decades, so many of these early homes, businesses and other structures are still standing. He and a committed group of fellow visionaries were ahead of their time in valuing buildings that give the city its architectural character.

Rolandelli was a charter member of the Heritage Association which was inspired during Redwood City’s centennial year (1967) to preserve Lathrop House. He was appointed to the Historic Resources Advisory Committee in 1980 and served for decades as chairman. Time and again, his expertise has been called upon, such as to help secure landmark designation for treasures like the Fox Theatre and three historic districts. In 1996, he co-edited a historic city tours booklet the committee produced listing dozens of structures and sites. He led efforts to assemble three separate editions of the city’s Historic Element of the General Plan and helped create the city’s historic preservation ordinance, according to Charles Jany, a former city planner who worked on those projects.

Rolandelli singles out as a major highlight the saving of the Quong Lee Laundry building at 726 Main St. after the 1989 earthquake. The county’s oldest commercial building (1859) was in serious jeopardy and the first engineers who looked at the brick edifice said, “Tear it down. There’s nothing you can do with it.” His committee managed to find another engineer who thought differently and the damaged structure was

28 · CLIMATE · August 2020

repaired. “Saving that,” Rolandelli says, “was a really big deal.”

A Sequoia High School graduate and president of the alumni association, Rolandelli along with others on the historic resources committee have been conducting tours for the last 24 years to teach seventh graders about local history. They’ve had to call a timeout in the year of Covid-19.

He had signaled his intention three years ago to retire from the committee when his latest term expired. And after 40 years, Rolandelli says with a laugh, “It’s time to go.”

With the centennial of the 19th Amendment coming up Aug. 18, San Mateo County History Museum staff and volunteers have been working on an exhibit for display in the rotunda. It looks at the relationship between women’s clubs, locally the Redwood City club, on the path to women’s suffrage, says museum Deputy Director Carmen Blair. With the advent of shelter-in-place rules, working on the project proved “challenging,” she adds. Governor Newsom’s decision in July to close all museums leaves uncertainty about when people will get to see the exhibit—perhaps online.

All is not lost, though. While researching the stories of those buried at historic Union Cemetery on Woodside Road, President Ellen Crawford learned about Joseph Sawyer Wallis, his wife Sarah and their son. They are buried in unmarked graves.

Sarah, who had acquired 250 acres at Mayfield Farm (now California Avenue in Palo Alto), donated land for the San Francisco & San Jose Railroad (today Caltrain). She helped get Joseph (her third husband) get elected State Senator in 1862.

Both were involved in women’s rights and in 1870, Sarah was elected president of the California Women’s Suffrage Asso-

ciation, working to gain the right to vote for women. She hosted Susan B. Anthony and Ulysses Grant at her home on separate occasions. How the Wallises came to be buried at Union Cemetery is unknown, according to board member Kathy Klebe. But association leaders certainly did not want to leave unmarked the grave of such a remarkable woman and ordered a headstone from V. Fontana & Co in Colma. Whether it can be installed by Aug. 18 is TBD. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, Redwood City has notified the federal Law Enforcement Support Office, a division of the Defense Logistics Agency, that it wants to return the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected war-fighting truck it received out of government surplus six years ago. Political leaders, some of whom called it a “tank” and disapproved of the gift in 2014, called it bad for the image the city wants to project.

Michelle McCaskill, DLA spokesperson, said the vehicle will be offered to other law enforcement agencies, which will only have to paint out the city’s name and logo to put it into service. The DLA keeps title of all tracked and armored military vehicles, which it calls “high-visibility property.”

Pinole, Antioch, Petaluma, Vallejo, South San Francisco and San Jose along with Redwood City took MRAPs when they were offered; community pressure led San Jose to return its vehicle the same year. C

•

HISTORY by Jim Clifford•

Ohio Building Ended up on Peninsula Mudflats The Ohio cities of Cleveland or Columbus seem like natural fits to be home to a building that honored the Buckeye State at the Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915. But Redwood Shores?

Interest in the Ohio Building was renewed recently when it was reported that time finally caught up with The Van’s Restaurant, a hilltop landmark in Belmont which was also part of the exposition held in San Francisco. If all goes as planned, the restaurant will be replaced by condos.

Just moving the Ohio Building from San Francisco to the Peninsula was a massive undertaking. In 1916 the 1,000-ton structure was placed on skids near the Bay’s edge and, when the low tide came, two barges were slipped under the foundations. The barges rose at high tide, converting the building into a boat. Fighting heavy swells and strong winds, the unusual vessel sailed past its intended destination, headed south and narrowly missed the Dumbarton Bridge. A large tugboat came to the rescue, towing the pink-andwhite colored building to piers awaiting its arrival at Steinberger Slough, in what today is the Redwood Shores area of Redwood City–then was considered the San Carlos mudflats.

Ohio on the Mudflats Hopeful promoters envisioned a bright future that included a country club and a yacht club. Didn’t happen. By 1921, the Redwood City Standard reported that the building, which was modeled after the Ohio State Capitol in Columbus, “stood in lonely, dilapidated grandeur on the edge of mudflats.”

One of the problems was that just getting to the structure was next to impossible. The bayside site could only be reached by a narrow dirt road, which turned out

to be an asset during Prohibition. The Ohio Building obtained a new lease on life during the nation’s enforced dry spell when it was resurrected as the Babylon Club. A big plus was that incriminating booze could be readily tossed overboard if the law approached.

“During the Prohibition era the Babylon Club at the Ohio Building enjoyed a rollicking spree as a nightclub or whoopee place,” wrote Otto Tallent, a columnist for the Redwood City Tribune. “The place became a hideout for rum runners, and, as one historian politely put it, ladies of the night.”

After Prohibition ended, the Ohio Building filled various roles – a machine shop for making auto parts and photographic materials and later airplane gear and radar instruments.

Fast forward 40 years when the end finally came on October 14, 1956. What was left of the pathetic structure, by then a mere shell, was deliberately burned to make way for an industrial plant. The building was doused with 300 gallons of diesel oil and 60 gallons of gasoline. A crowd estimated at 1,500 looked on as a torch was tossed through a window, igniting a blaze that lasted for nearly three

hours and could be seen for miles. Only a pile of ashes remained of a structure that outlived the other 25 state buildings from the Exposition.

Presidents from Ohio One of the more graphic descriptions of the Ohio Building’s glory days was written by Alyce Gershenson, then a student at San Mateo Community College, whose historical essay “The Story of the Ohio Building” won the prestigious Kirkbride Award.

“The Ohio Building was surrounded by cement walks and beautiful lawns, and on the north and south sides were wide terraces of brick laid in a herringbone pattern,” she wrote. “Beyond the south terrace, on the front side of the building was the row of eight freestanding pillars.”

Inside was a vestibule, and beyond another row of pillars was the rotunda, with a tile floor laid with the seal of Ohio. The rotunda continued through the second floor to the skylight in the roof. The long line of presidents from Ohio was commemorated with busts that lined the mantels of fireplaces in the lobbies: McKinley, Grant, Hayes, Harrison, Taft and Garfield. C

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TOGETHER, WE DESIGN PLACES THAT INSPIRE PEOPLE

851 MAIN STREET

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Hidden

• AROUND TOWN • The Redwood City Downtown •N C DL I M A TW EN • • • AROU TO

Sue Mitchell Realtor®

650.619.9311 suelehrmitchell@gmail.com sue.mitchell@gmail.com DRE# 01087715 Office: 555 Middlefield Road in Downtown Redwood City

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Each office is independently owned and operated.

In 1867 Sweeping Really Sucked.

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2744 Broadway Suite A Redwood City, CA. 94062 (650) 255-5212 Carol@carolajones.com Carolajones.com

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Providing computer support for businesses in the greater Bay Area since 1992 Offering: • Helpdesk • Remote Support • Network & Server Support • Security & Compliance

Ron Jones 2744 Broadway #A 650 364-4650 Option 2 Network Operations • 650 255-5211 Cell ron@qualitycomputer.net • www.qualitycomputer.net August 2020 · CLIMATE · 31

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daviesappliance.com • (650) 366-5728 • 1580 El Camino Real, Redwood City, CA 94063 Hours: Tuesday - Thursday 8:30am - 6pm • Friday & Saturday 8:30am - 5pm • Closed Sunday/Monday