Climate Magazine – September 2020 Edition

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P u b l i c a t i o n

Spotlight: Learning Outside the Classroom Profile: Pastor Hurmon Hamilton Business Climate: San Mateo County Strong Fund Political Climate: Let the Elections Begin!

ISSUE SIXTY ONE • SEPTEMBER • 2020

Is the Sun Setting on

Caltrain?

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

Like so much in this year of the pandemic, this month’s cover story about Caltrain would have been hard to imagine not that long ago: an essential transportation service seriously on the ropes and threatened with shutdown. The Peninsula rail link connecting us with San Francisco and San Jose and beyond through other transit systems has been an amazing success over the last couple of decades. The inauguration of Baby Bullet express train service was key to its turnaround; then Caltrain became the way to go to get to San Francisco Giants games when the stadium opened. Caltrain had been racking up steady ridership gains for many years, and as writer Vlae Kershner notes in this month’s feature, before the Covid-related shutdown, Caltrain was taking in 70 percent of its revenue from operations, which is phenomenal in public transit. There’s the rub, though, because, unlike all other Bay Area transit systems, Caltrain has never had its own dedicated funding source, such as a property or sales tax. Revenue this year has collapsed as passengers are staying home in droves. After a protracted political battle, a sales tax measure has made it to the November ballot, presenting voters with a pivotal decision during an economic downturn.

In this issue, Climate’s history columnist, Jim Clifford goes back to the beginnings of the railroad, which opened service between San Francisco and San Jose in 1864 and has been essential to the development of cities along the line. The service we know today as Caltrain is the oldest continuously operating passenger railroad in the West, which adds another dimension to the struggle to get through 2020 and perhaps back to a brighter—and even stable— future.

Schools resumed in August with parents, students and teachers alike contending with all the ramifications of not returning as usual to classrooms. Climate this month welcomes a new contributor, Jayme Ackemann, who explores the options some parents have pursued, notably forming “pandemic pods.” Her Spotlight story begins on page 16. We also asked her to follow up on the San Mateo County Strong Fund which collected some $8 million for businesses, nonprofits and others hit hard by the prolonged shutdown. You can read her Business Climate story on page 13.

The September issue includes writer Scott Dailey’s Profile of Hurmon Hamilton, who is pastor of the New Beginnings Community Church which meets at Congregation Beth Jacob in Redwood City. I’d seen Pastor Hamilton participating in an engaging YouTube conversation on race relations recently with two other local ministers and was interested to learn more about him. I think you’ll be enlightened by reading about his life and perspectives in Scott’s story, which is on page 24.

Last but definitely not least, we welcome back Mark Simon and his Political Climate column, both here in the printed magazine and in Climate Online.

Janet McGovern, Editor

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FEATU RE

Can Caltrain Survive?

8 SPOTLIG HT

Teaching Outside the Classroom

16

PROFILE

Coming Together

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BUSINESS CLIMATE ������13 POLITICAL CLIMATE ������14 MICRO CLIMATE...........22 HISTORY......................29

4 · CLIMATE · September 2020

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F E AT U R E •

Will Caltrain Keep Rolling?

A pre-pandemic star, the railroad struggles after ridership and revenue plummet

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By Vlae Kershner

Eight motor vehicles have no trouble keeping their social distance in the 389-space Palo Alto Caltrain parking lot. Six months earlier, it would have been filled by 8:15 a.m.

When the northbound 237 limited arrives, its six cars hold only six masked passengers, two conductors and a Centurion bicycle.

Pulling into Redwood City station, the platform is deserted except for two people. This is August, though, not April, when downtown resembled a post-apocalypse movie set. Dozens of cars are parked at Sequoia Station, and customers are lined up outside Noah’s and Starbucks.

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he Covid-19 pandemic has turned the country upside-down, but nowhere are the effects more visible than on Caltrain. Traffic fell off a cliff in March and April, and while there has been some comeback, average weekday ridership was still down 96 percent in June from year-ago levels, with an average of only 2,884 passengers a day.

For a system that boasted getting 70 percent of its revenue from operations, the most of any transit system in the country, the threat is existential.

Does that mean Peninsula service is on a bullet train to extinction?

Probably not. Still, work needs to be done if the system is to do any better than limp along at a bare-bones level, and voters in November will get a chance to do it.

Projections call for a $54 million budget deficit in the 2020-21 fiscal year, which will be reduced to $21 million by federal CARES Act funds already in the pipeline.

However, the deficit would grow if telecommuting workers don’t return to their job sites in the numbers expected after the new year. The preliminary operating budget presented to Caltrain’s Joint Powers Board’s Finance Committee showed a 38 percent drop in farebox revenue from the 2019-20 levels, 56 percent from projected pre-Covid levels.

Caltrain estimates that at the current 5 percent ridership level, it loses about $8 million a month in farebox revenues. For every 10 percent of ridership that returns, the shortfall is reduced by $740,000.

Some reserve funds exist, but are earmarked for other purposes and probably wouldn’t last more than a few weeks in any case.

Cutbacks are only of limited use.

Caltrain contracts out its operations and maintenance to TASI, a subsidiary of Herzog Transit Services, which has its own contracts with unions. Some costs can’t be eliminated, because the Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco county transit districts are responsible for keeping up the

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San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Aaron Peskin wrestle for control of Caltrain with San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Santa Clara Supervisor Cindy Chavez.

tracks and crossing gates to enable latenight freight trains.

When Caltrain reduced service from 90 trains a day to 42 at the beginning of the pandemic, it didn’t save that much money, according to Chief Communications Officer Seamus Murphy. Service since has been bumped up to 70 trains, making it more viable for commuters as they slowly return to their offices.

Unlike BART, Samtrans, or the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, Caltrain has no dedicated funding source such as a sales tax. Instead, it relies on contributions from the three counties to supplement passenger fares.

That leaves three possible revenue sources—a new sales tax to be voted on in November, federal or state aid, and additional contributions from the member counties.

Sales Tax This is the only solution that promises stable funding to implement Caltrain’s 2040 Service Vision, which calls for tripling ridership and all-day express trains every 15 minutes.

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“We have always known that to realize its potential Caltrain will need dedicated funds,” Executive Director Jim Hartnett said.

After weeks of squabbling, the Joint Powers Board, the three county boards of supervisors and their transit districts in early August all voted to place a measure on the November 3 ballot.

The one-eighth cent sales tax would start on July 1, 2021 and continue for 30 years, raising an estimated $108 million a year. The first installment wouldn’t be received until approximately September 2021, but Caltrain could borrow money to keep afloat until that time by pledging future tax revenues.

Currently, Redwood City residents pay a sales tax of 9.75 percent, so the measure would raise it to 9.875 percent.

A two-thirds vote is needed across the three counties, but not necessarily in each one, which helps its chances because polling has shown support in Santa Clara lower than in the other two.

JPB board member Cindy Chavez, a Santa Clara supervisor, voted to put the tax on the ballot but noted “If we’re 41 percent of the ridership and pay 51 percent of the tax, I have a concern.”

A survey conducted in June by EMC Research showed support hovering near the two-thirds level, with a projected “Yes” vote of 65.6 percent. San Mateo voters were 71 percent in favor and San Francisco 68 percent, but support was only 61 percent in Santa Clara. The survey of 1,255 likely voters had a margin of error of 2.76 percentage points.

County vs. County The measure almost fell victim to infighting among the three counties.

San Francisco supervisors initially passed their own version of the measure that restricted Caltrain’s ability to access the funds, an apparent violation of Senate Bill 797 authorizing the vote. Representatives of the three counties worked out a last-minute compromise enabling the tax to appear on the ballot in a “clean” form, along with passing a separate resolution calling for changes in the way the system is governed.

“Governance is not just the elephant in the room, it’s 100 elephants in the room,” said JPB Chair Dave Pine. “With Covid, we’re experiencing an existential crisis because we’re so dependent on farebox revenue.”

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San Mateo took the lead and advanced the money to buy the right of way from Southern Pacific in 1992, when the railroad was threatening to sell off the corridor it had owned since 1870. The county has never been fully repaid. In return, the agreement gave Samtrans the right to manage Caltrain and name the CEO. San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, led by Aaron Peskin, along with Mayor London Breed, refused to agree to the tax vote under a system that gave San Mateo so much control. “Kicking issues down the track doesn’t lead to change and progress,” said JPB director Shamann Walton, who represents the supervisors.

Their objection was also rooted in their belief that a sales tax falls most heavily on lower-income individuals, while Caltrain serves mostly affluent tech workers commuting between the city and the Peninsula. A 2019 customer survey showed the average annual household income of Caltrain riders as $158,000.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo also weighed in, writing that Santa Clara and San Francisco “residents provide the overwhelming majority of the annual funding to Caltrain, an agency operated and run by Samtrans staff, yet those senior staff have

F E AT U R E •

no accountability to our taxpayers — only to San Mateo County’s.”

Compromise Plan Under a parallel resolution approved by the JPB and the counties, only $40 million of the tax proceeds can be spent each year on operations and capital repair with a majority vote of five board members. The rest of the funds would require a supermajority of six. In addition, the JPB board would appoint the chief executive, auditor, and independent counsel, rather than leave it to Samtrans.

In addition, the resolution calls for the board to come up with a governance solution. After implementation, the supermajority requirement would go away.

What could a new governing body look like?

Longtime Samtrans attorney David Miller, who signed the original agreement, says possibilities would include modifications to the JPB, a special district with its own taxing powers, or even a long-discussed regional transportation authority that would also oversee BART. He questions whether this is the right time for such a debate. “I’m really surprised something like this would happen

in the midst of a pandemic when ridership has dwindled to the levels that now exist.

Collaboration is now necessary.”

Adrian Brandt, who manages the Friends of Caltrain Facebook group, also sees the divisions as coming at the wrong time. “There are lingering resentments, and anyone looking to campaign against it will exploit this. It’s not a healthy relationship, there are hard feelings.” He notes that getting a two-thirds majority for a tax proposal is always difficult.

The Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association, which frequently signs opposition ballot arguments, did not return calls and emails asking for comment.

Steve Heminger, the former Metropolitan Transportation Commission executive director who represents San Francisco Muni on the Caltrain board, said it was encouraging that polling showed no loss of support since Covid.

Still, he said, Caltrain faces a “perfect storm,” even compared to BART, because “the folks that Caltrain carries around are the same people that technology allows to work at home.

“I think public transit of all kinds is going to have a hard time working without a vaccine. Everything the health authorities September 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 11

• say is we have to keep our distance, and transit is based on crowding together. The two are very much in conflict.”

As an example of the governance problem, he cites the Millbrae station, where Caltrain and BART are supposed to connect seamlessly. “Because BART is one agency and Caltrain another, one train pulls in just after the other pulls out. It’s a symptom that we’ve got a little too much government.”

Emergency Money What if the measure fails? Caltrain’s Murphy notes a second possibility would be to get an extension of federal emergency funding for transit systems, which has been caught up in the Capitol Hill debate over the next Covid relief package. “We think that a federal relief package is not likely before the November election, but we are advocating for one.”

Emergency state aid through Caltrans or the Legislature could also be a possibility after the election. Electrified train service helps the state meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals.

The final backstop would be additional contributions from the member counties, which of course have their own budgetary problems. Under the 1996 revision of the original 1991 Joint Powers Agreement, “each member agency agrees to share in the operating cost” under a formula based on where peak-hour morning riders live, except that San Jose-to-Gilroy costs are borne solely by Santa Clara.

Attorney Miller says this wording does not obligate the three counties to allocate any particular amount of funds. “Clearly the agreement contemplates that the member agencies will provide a subsidy based on a formula based on boardings, by the same token the board determines level of service, which fundamentally is based on how much they can afford.” In some years, county transportation agencies have said

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F E AT U R E •

they can’t afford the amount of subsidy requested by Caltrain staff, requiring budget reductions.

Since Caltrain has responsibility for maintaining the right of way, which is shared with freight trains and eventually high-speed rail, projects such as electrification would go on in any event, he said.

Heminger does not view a shutdown as likely. “Caltrain has its own right of way.

It’s not as if revenue sources are going to go to zero. As long as there is some amount of funding from fares and county partners, I think there’s going to be Caltrain service. It may not be what it used to be.”

Go Pass One bright spot has been the Go Pass program, which allows private employers to pay for unlimited travel for their work forces. It raises about $30 million a year from 120 companies and has not seen much drop-off. Almost all Go Pass customers have renewed for 2021, although

terms have been extended to make up for the time when shelter-in-place orders were in force.

Stanford University, by far the largest Go Pass customer, has been particularly supportive as the program helps it meet its growth-plan goal of no net new peak-hour commute trips.

Bare-bones, 42-train-a-day service won’t work for Go Pass employers, who need to move their work forces at peak hours, Murphy said. “At 70 trains per day, we have relevant service, enough to justify expense of the Go Pass.” Further cutbacks might end up taking more revenue than they save.

“Certainly if (the tax) doesn’t go through, they’re facing some real challenges as long as ridership continues to be so small,” Miller said. “The question is when will people be back to work and when will people be riding transit?”

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San Mateo County Strong Fund Disburses $8 Million

By Jayme Ackemann When businesses began shutting down last spring, it was clear residents and small businesses were going to need help to survive. A fund set up through the San Mateo County Economic Development Association to help them weather the economic storm brought on by the Covid-19 epidemic is wrapping up its final round of grants, but SAMCEDA is looking for new ways to stay engaged.

According to President and CEO Rosanne Foust, the San Mateo County Strong Fund raised more than $8 million which was divided among three categories of needs: individuals and families, nonprofits, and small businesses. The funds were then distributed based on need.

“We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our community,” said Foust.

“There is so much need out there right now that we really have to be creative about how we address it, that’s why we’re looking for new ways to help keep small businesses open going forward. They employ some of the people who would otherwise need help in our communities.”

Aid to Nonprofits The fund distributed $2 million to individuals and families throughout the county, working with organizations like Coastside Hope, Samaritan House and local community centers to help identify recipients. The San Mateo County Strong Fund helped get money to those who needed basic necessities to survive quarantine.

San Mateo County nonprofits were also able to continue their work supporting the community thanks to grants offered by the fund. It provided almost $1.96 million to nonprofits which experienced significant revenue losses as their regular funding sources shut down or dried up. The

remaining near“Now our clily $3.5 million ents are trying to went to support figure out how small businessto move their es which were businesses onable to keep line on top of evtheir employees erything else.” on the books Renaissance thanks to the has been sucsupport from cessfully servGoro Mitchell the San Mateo ing Bay Area County Strong Fund. businesses for more than 35 years. “Prior “I rescued two of my guys from un- to Covid, we had a 96 percent survival rate employment and I expect more back,” said for our business clients,” Russell added. grant funding recipient Lupe Garcia, owner Renaissance client and Strong Fund of Lomas Construction in North Fair Oaks. grant recipient Goro Mitchell says the cen“I’ve never sent anyone to unemployment ter’s help has already had a positive impact until this time. I appreciate the help.” on his businesses. Mitchell owns Mitchell Recognizing that the amount of fund- Chem-Dry, a carpet cleaning service; and ing that can be raised is finite and the need Mitchell Environmental, LLC; which offers seemingly unlimited, Foust says that fu- disinfection, odor removal, water damage ture help may come in different forms as restoration, and airborne contaminant testleaders continue to look for new ways to ing – including for Covid. respond to the effects of the pandemic.

“Renaissance held my hand through “We’re looking ahead to how we can the process to get a loan, which was a huge help our community navigate the next shot in the arm. I have a daughter at Duke challenges,” said Foust. “One example and a four-year-old,” Mitchell added. we’re helping business owners work with “They work with you with such great enthe city (is) to figure out how to bring more ergy. It’s a real kind of love they are giving services outdoors.” the community right now.”

Said SAMCEDA’s Foust: “We’re really A New Approach excited about this partnership with RenaisA case in point is a recent partnership with sance and we see it as another strategy for the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center helping people, because these small busiin East Palo Alto, which aids small businesses, they aren’t just members of our nesses from underserved communities community, they also employ many of the that may need access to support services to people who would otherwise be looking get on their feet or stay in business. for help with rent or food to survive.”

“We have a lot of business owners who Small businesses in need of support know how to make a great cookie but don’t or additional resources can contact Rehave the legal, marketing, and accounting naissance Center by visiting rencenter. backgrounds necessary to help them stay org online. C in business,” said Tim Russell, Renaissance Center program director for the San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda county regions.

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P O L I T I C A L C L I M AT E b y M a r k S i m o n •

No doubt, after five months of Sheltering In Place, you are hungry for something new and different. Well, my friends, you have come to the right place. Political Climate is back for the duration, which runs through November 3, and I’m happy to be your tour guide. My sustaining philosophy is informed by the classic line from “All About Eve,” uttered in that Bette Davis way by, of all people, Bette Davis: “Fasten your seatbelt. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”

Indeed. It is Redwood City’s first foray into district elections and there are four City Council seats on the ballot, two featuring sitting members of the council.

There is one uncontested district. That would be the new District 4, and congratulations to Planning Commissioner and Councilmember-elect Michael Smith.

Smith will represent District 4, which takes in the Five Points area and is one of two minority-majority districts: 77 percent of residents are Hispanic, 80 percent are renters, and education and income levels are among the lowest in the city.

Smith has been in the Bay Area only four years and is only two years into his first term on the Planning Commission.

But he has established himself quickly as a community activist, serving a wide range of city and neighborhood organizations. Apparently, that was enough to discourage opposition in a district that could have been expected to attract a Latino candidate.

It is understandable, however, that a community denied a fair share of representation on the council and city boards and commissions will need some time to build up a bench of eventual candidates.

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A WHOLE NEW BALLGAME: The other three districts races promise to be quite competitive. The 2018 council campaign also was competitive — seven candidates running for three seats. It also was a testy election, a proving ground of factional disputes over development and growth that often became quite personal, particularly behind the scenes.

In that citywide election, oddly enough, the agenda was dominated by a small group of advocates. In the new political setting, the ability to influence the council or the election is spread out, which was the idea. And all of this is overlaid

by Covid-19 and a community still under quarantine — to devastating effect on the city’s economic well-being.

The pandemic also will have a huge impact on the campaign, or, more precisely, how the candidates will campaign. One of the benefits of districts is that candidates can knock on every door, sometimes more than once. Campaigns are much more personal, and, likely, much less costly. A pandemic would seem to make face-to-face campaigning less inviting. Mask-to-mask campaigning?

NEW LIMITATIONS: That would tilt 2020 campaigning toward mail and online messages, which take money. But the other new wrinkle is a campaign donation limit of $1,000, which took effect on March 11 and already has shown its relevance.

Julie Pardini, the prime force behind the residentialist-inclined Facebook page of Redwood City Residents Say What?, has given $5,000 to Chris Rasmussen, the retired cop who is challenging Councilmember Alicia Aguirre in District 7.

Pardini’s donations were made on February 4 ($1,000) and March 1 ($4,000).

The new donation limit took effect on

March 11. Rasmussen said the donations were legal at the time and that makes them acceptable to him.

Pardini also gave $2,000 to Janet Borgens on March 9. Borgens returned $1,000.

Borgens acknowledged she didn’t have to give back half the money, but she said she served on the council committee that recommended the limit and she felt she should observe the spirit of the new law.

Rasmussen also received two contributions totaling $2,000 from Christina Umhofer, a losing council candidate in 2018. The first donation was on January 24 ($1,000). The second was on May 28 ($1,000) from her 2018 council campaign committee.

The cumulative donations are legal, according to City Attorney Veronica Ramirez, speaking through city Communications Director Jennifer Yamaguma. The first donation occurred prior to the new law and does not count as part of the aggregate amount contributed by Umhofer.

And, so, we are off to the races. Ordinarily, campaigns avoid too much activity until after Labor Day, but here’s a late-breaking bulletin: These certainly are not ordinary times.

DISTRICT 1: Planning Commissioner Nancy Radcliffe versus former Councilmember Jeff Gee. This is the district carved out for Redwood Shores. It’s the wealthiest district in the city and has the highest concentration of Asian-Americans — 39 percent.

There was a widespread expectation that Gee, a longtime resident, would run for this seat. He announced for re-election in 2018 and then dropped out. Gee was targeted — sometimes on a personal level — by residents who were unhappiest with the growth and development that transformed

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P O L I T I C A L C L I M AT E •

The pandemic not only also will have a huge impact on the campaign, or, more precisely, how the candidates will campaign. One of the benefits of districts is that candidates can knock on every door, sometimes more than once. Campaigns are much more personal, and, likely, much less costly. downtown into a regional center and accommodated an increasing urbanization occurring throughout the Peninsula.

Even now, it appears the campaign is likely to be about those issues.

Radcliffe, a renter who moved to Redwood Shores two years ago, has been on the Planning Commission for 20 years, which has put her in the middle of many of the decisions that have changed Redwood City. But more recently, she has tempered her support and been a more difficult vote for development.

For a person with such a long public career and service on hosts of public and community committees, she has had a remarkably low political profile. Even now, a social media search turns up little on her, other than her Planning Commission tenure.

DISTRICT 3: Councilmember Janet Borgens versus Isabella Chu and Lissette Espinoza-Garnica.

This district covers the Friendly Acres neighborhood in southern Redwood City and is one of the two minority-majority districts — 71 percent Hispanic, 64 percent renters, 62 percent of households with an annual income below $75,000 and only 20 percent with a college or graduate degree.

Borgens, a resident for more than 50 years, is seeking her second term. She was on the Planning Commission prior to her election, and she supported many of the changes to the city’s profile. But as a candidate she said it was time to pull the reins. Now, she is looking to broaden her appeal and her candidate ballot statement is a smorgasbord of district concerns. “I’m a strong voice at City Hall of residents,

including our Latino families and Millennials starting families. Addressing racism and how we truly protect our community has made my voice stronger,” she wrote.

Still, this is a district where residents might feel that the city’s economic expansion passed them by and there may be a larger appetite for development that also might bring jobs and more housing.

That turf was staked out long ago by Chu, the leading voice of Redwood City Forward, an organization that supports smart growth and expansion. She also chairs the Friendly Acres Neighborhood Association. “I believe that Redwood City residents are progressive and practical and want our city to adapt to meet changing circumstances of the 21st century," she wrote on her campaign Facebook page.

Espinoza-Garnica is the newcomer, a young voice, self-described in the candidate's statement as a “first-generation, queer, non-binary Chicanx.” Espinoza-Garnica said “our neighborhood too often is neglected,” and openly called for a reinvestment of the city’s $48.9 million police budget and for more affordable housing in the district.

DISTRICT 7: Councilmember Alicia Aguirre versus Chris Rasmussen and Mark Wolohan.

This district is at the other end of the spectrum from District 3. It is 70 percent White and only 17 percent Hispanic, which is of note since Aguirre is the only Latinx on the council. It’s also the second-wealthiest, behind District 1, but it has more homes than any other district — 87 percent single family residences, and 79 percent of the residents are home owners.

Aguirre, a councilmember for 15 years, is seeking her fourth full term and was part of the coalition that built the city’s downtown. She is running as someone who experienced the 2009 recession, equipping her to handle the present and future, pandemic-driven fiscal crisis.

Her principal opponent is Rasmussen, recently retired from the city police department and widely known for his high-profile work as the city’s community police officer. He has been praised, particularly, for his work with the homeless. Backed by the residentialist-inclined activists involved with the Redwood City Residents Say What? Facebook page, Rasmussen is off to an energetic start, with campaign signs already dotting the district. In his candidate statement, he said, quite directly, “It is time for new leadership” on the council.

The political newcomer is Wolohan, a lifelong resident and renter, who promises to bring a “fresh and holistic perspective” to the council, which apparently includes an extensive effort at ending school consolidations. He also said his campaign will be “entirely self-funded, without campaign contributions from developers or anyone else.” C Contact Mark Simon at mark.simon24@yahoo.com *The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Climate Magazine.

September 2020 ·

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16 · CLIMATE · September 2020

SPOTLIGHT•

•

SPOTLIGHT•

When Teaching Begins Outside the Classroom From pods to tutors, parents try to close educational, social gap

By Jayme Ackemann

Prior to March, San Carlos dad David Binetti was a full-time entrepreneur, advising business clients and start-ups. He had no idea that he would be playing a pivotal role in helping San Mateo County families find alternatives to distance learning this fall.

Today, in addition to his regular work, Binetti runs a website called startnormal.com where – free of charge – he is helping groups of parents join forces to better educate their kids at home since they can’t return to the classroom for the new school year because of Covid-19. It’s just one local example of a movement that has swept the country as parents test options from hiring tutors to forming micro-schools called “pandemic pods” so their kids don’t fall behind.

September 2020 ·

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• Binetti thinks teachers and school administrators last spring did the best they could under difficult circumstances when they moved to remote learning because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nonetheless, he felt his two daughters, who attend San Carlos public schools, did not get the level of instruction that comes with in-person teaching.

“My fifth-grader did not learn percentages and was supposed to last school year,” Binetti explained. “I think they (the school) did the best they could but this summer I had to spend time bringing her up to speed to be ready for the fall.”

Binetti’s efforts began as a campaign to encourage schools to reopen in the fall, hence the website startnormal.com.

“What we’re seeing is that distance-learning is not as effective as in-person education,” he said.

Schooling Still Online

By July, it was plain that “starting normal” wasn’t going to happen after San Mateo County was returned to the state’s “watch list” and confirmation came down that classrooms would not reopen in the fall.

Start Normal’s focus shifted to connecting small groups. Within less than two months, Binetti said he had helped match 2,500 students for pods. He’s had calls from across the country.

“For the time being, we have to focus on the areas where we have enough critical mass to connect people with other nearby groups. But the biggest challenge we’re having is in finding enough teachers to staff the pods,” Binetti said.

Pods consist of four to six kids with similar learning levels. Families connect through Start Normal but negotiate the lo-

18 · CLIMATE · September 2020

SPOTLIGHT•

David Binetti at his outdoor classroom.

“I think they (the school) did the best they could but this summer I had to spend time bringing her up to speed to be ready for the fall.” gistics and details with one another, such as mask-wearing rules and where to meet, as well as making payment arrangements with their teacher.

Theresa McDermit, also a San Carlos resident, is attempting to organize a pod for her children using Start Normal’s resources. Her daughters attend Brittan Acres Elementary School.

“Our experience in the spring made it clear that sitting alone in our dining room and staring at a screen was not an effective model for our daughters,” McDermit said.

“They needed more instruction and encouragement from a qualified teacher and they craved more social interaction with their peers.”

McDermit hopes to coordinate the activities in the pod with those of the distance-based lesson plans provided by the school. How the pod structure will work

in coordination with online distance learning depends on finding a teacher, and in early August, her pod-to-be hadn’t locked one down yet. “They are in very short supply.”

What happens when short supply meets high demand? Recently one San Francisco-based dad and tech mogul Jason Calacanis put out a Twitter call for the Bay Area’s “best” teacher, offering “a 1-year contract that will beat whatever they are getting paid.” His plan, as detailed in the tweet, was to create a pod of two to seven students in his backyard for his children and their friends.

Binetti cautioned that plans like that may not work for several reasons. “I spoke to one teacher who was offered more than $400 per hour to teach one family’s children. She told me she didn’t feel right about accepting that amount of money so she turned it down.”

Teachers Had to Adapt While most Bay Area teachers would probably like the opportunity to turn down more than $400 per hour, most still have their jobs – work that has gotten more demanding: Teachers spent their summer learning how to restructure the school year’s curriculum to be taught remotely.

“I spent the summer creating an interactive digital remote learning space for my students that I’m really excited about,” said Erinn Washburn a middle school music teacher who is president of the Redwood City School District Teacher’s Union.

Washburn retooled her website to make it more inviting to students so they’ll discover resources to help them with their

• practice. One thing teachers took away from last spring’s move to distance learning was that it was going to be even harder to keep kid’s attention in an online classroom, she said. This fall Washburn feels teachers will be much better prepared.

“Most of us have been in Zoom meetings at this point and we know how distracting it can be when the meeting leaders have technology problems.”

Pandemic pods have come under attack from some Bay Area educators over equity concerns. A group of Oakland school principals penned an open letter asked families “involved with this podding to please be mindful that some families may not have the resources, be in a position or feel comfortable, or have not been invited to form a pod, and that this may cause feelings of exclusion, especially for kids who may see or hear of their peers congregating and learning together while they remain isolated. We encourage families to be sensitive to these circumstances. In many ways, this idea of podding is a creative solution to an impossible situation. At the same time, the formation of these groups holds the risk of exacerbating educational inequities throughout our country.”

Already, there is evidence that the pandemic is leading to worsening educational outcomes for low-income students.

In a recent teacher survey published by EdWeek.com, 64 percent of respondents said access to technology was their biggest remote-learning hurdle. Another 35 percent of teachers in low-income school districts said their students were essentially truant, or failing to log in for instruction, without any clear answers as to why.

Bridging a Wider Gap When kids eventually return to classrooms, the divide between students who have managed to keep up while learning

SPOTLIGHT•

“ In many ways, this idea of podding is a creative solution to an impossible situation. At the same time, the formation of these groups holds the risk of exacerbating educational inequities throughout our country.” at home and those who have fallen behind will be a challenge for their teachers.

“Equity is probably my biggest concern about pod-teaching,” Washburn said. “But it’s also about health and safety.

Teachers want to go back into the classroom like we’ve seen other countries do.

But they did the work by flattening the curve first.”

For parents, the questions raised by podding may answer themselves. After all, no matter how practical it may seem as an alternative to remote learning, if there aren’t enough teachers to go around it will be difficult to gain much traction.

Some families may choose to take turns rotating the teaching in the group, both to share the load and to accommodate parents and their job pressures.

There are other non-pod alternatives available to help parents focus on work while their child does school. Some Bay Area employers contract with companies like Bright Horizons, a global provider of child care and other workplace services, to offer a child care benefit to their employees. That might include a fixed amount of child care, teaching or tutoring services – say 10 hours of free child care per month, with additional hours offered at a discount. Employees then contact the service to hire an in-home tutor or nanny.

“We’re definitely seeing an increase in inquiries from our clients as parents are trying to figure out what they are going to do with their kids if they aren’t going back to school in the fall,” said Bright Horizons franchise owner Michael Mathews.

But Bright Horizons can’t guarantee that their contracted providers are certified teachers, Mathews said, and do not offer a “pod” model. Still, a nanny might provide the level of support that lets a working parent focus on the job by overseeing a child learning at home, Mathews said. “We had parents hiring nannies just to come in for the couple of hours their children were doing online school.”

Parents, educators and school administrators are on the same team when it comes to answering these questions because at the end of the day, they all have the same objective: to do the best for all their kids. What the best looks like, may have to depend on what’s best for each family – for now.

“Here’s the thing, teachers have kids too. When they’re done with their work day, many still have their own kid’s education to worry about,” Washburn concluded.

C

September 2020 ·

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M I C R O C L I M AT E •

A Magical Playground Awaits a Bridge to Opening Construction is nearing completion on the Magical Bridge Playground at Red Morton Park, but how soon Redwood City will be able to throw a ribbon-cutting event has a big Covid-19 question mark after it. “For the opening, we are at the will of the state,” says Chris Beth, the city’s director of parks, recreation and community services.

“The order now is to have all playgrounds remain closed due to the gathering and touching of equipment issues.” When the state says it’s okay for parks to reopen, Beth adds, any required safety protocols such as wearing masks will be followed.

It will be worth the wait. Project Manager Claudia Olalla recently provided a sneak peek tour of the playground for this column. The playground is being constructed where a 40-by-100-foot picnic and play area used to be, between the Veterans Memorial Senior Center and an old armory building. First developed in Palo Alto, the Magical Bridge concept is designed to allow children and adults of all ages and varying physical and cognitive abilities a chance to play and enjoy the outdoors.

That sounds like a nice concept. But in person this playground with its slides and its musical harp, its private hideouts and its two-story playhouse with adjoining treehouse are an imaginative embodiment of how much fun “accessibility” can mean.

For anybody.

“The playground is built for all ages, all abilities and all are welcome,” Olalla says.

“So the gamut is basically from 2 years old to 99. That’s kind of the way we see it.”

Providing all the gently sloping ramps with switchbacks to allow easy wheelchair access requires land, and the playground covers an entire acre. At the center is the Slide and Spin Zone, where five different slides mounted against a wall of green artificial turf funnels kids (or adults) down to a rubberized floor “carpeted” with beige

22 · CLIMATE · September 2020

Project Manager Claudia Olalla

and blue swirls representing the sand and the ocean. Amid all that: play apparatus including a wheelchair-accessible carousel and a “dish spinner” to lay down on and let gravity start the spinning. The whole area looks a bit like Disneyland without the teacups. Next to that is a colorful playhouse for storytelling, magic shows, concerts, plays and science demonstrations.

Responding to community desires, there’s a large Tot Zone with spring toys, a bucket swing and water slide that kids can turn on themselves. That area has one of several custom-built “retreat zones” throughout Magical Bridge where children who may be a little overwhelmed and need space can sit by themselves. Another area of the playground – the Swing and Sway Zone— offers a “sway boat” that an entire family can board and ride back and forth, and two-seater swings for kid-parent swing time. One of the last el-

ements to be completed is an arch-shaped harp, which plays music when people walk under it. Floor lights will also illuminate when stepped on. One of the complications to finishing it, OIalla says, is that the artist lives in New York and could encounter a quarantine after she returns home. Covid again.

By mid-August, playground construction was approaching 100 percent completion with some separate projects including installation of a mosaic and donor tiles still to be done. The playground has four entrances, one of which is from a new picnic area that the parks department staff will be landscaping, in-house. In addition to an accessible restroom, more than 80 parking spaces will be added as a result of Magical Bridge.

So when coronavirus restrictions ease and this supercalifragilisticexpialidocious new playground finally get its grand open-

• ing, will it be the biggest thing since Chick-fil-A’s high-traffic debut? Olalla expects that the novelty “is going to be a little crazy” at first but notes that the city updates all its parks to keep pace with changing times and demographics. The Magical Bridge Playground is so different, in fact, that volunteers—especially teen-agers— are being recruited to show people around.

But from there, imagination at this very imaginative park will take over. “That’s the most amazing part of any design is that you never know how people will use the space,” Olalla says. “There’s an intention. There’s an idea. But people will always surprise you.” Of the total cost, it should be noted, more than $3.3 million was raised by the Magical Bridge Foundation and the remainder of the $6.8 million is from the city’s park impact fee paid by residential developers.

Kaiser Permanente’s Redwood City hospital was among 12 Northern California medical centers singled out in Newsweek magazine’s recent “Best Maternity Hospitals 2020” report for providing exceptional maternity care. The national designation, awarded to only 231 hospitals in the United States, identifies leading maternity care programs that have met or exceeded rigorous quality and safety standards. Kaiser Permanente has a total of 22 hospitals in the nation that received the elite designation, representing nearly 10 percent of those named to the prestigious list – and nearly 50 percent of those listed in California, according to Kaiser. For 2019, 2,213 babies were born at the Redwood City hospital, and by July this year, there were already 1,261 deliveries.

A colorful mural that has been painted at Roosevelt Plaza shopping area is the work

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

Artist Talavera-Ballón

of artist Talavera-Ballón. Shopping center owner Maria Rutenberg had admired the mural across the street at Key Market and approached the Redwood City Parks & Arts Foundation about working together on another mural for her center. It was commissioned by the foundation on behalf of the Redwood City Sesquicentennial Committee, according to foundation board member Cary Kelly. An historic theme was selected, and Talavera-Ballón’s mural includes scenes from Redwood City’s early days as a port, the Frank Tannery leather factory—as well as the period when the city was known for its floral industry and many Japanese chrysanthemum growers.

Elevated high above the parking lot via a lift, Talavera-Ballón started painting in June, putting in full days six days a week. For many of them, his wife, Mariela, was down below lot talking to passers-by and giving her husband from-the-ground feedback. She’s the reason, in fact, why the Peruvian artist is in the United States painting murals, he says. They met in his country when she was visiting and

attended one of his exhibitions. She liked his painting so much that she bought one.

After she got home, their connection continued via the Internet and eventually developed into a long-distance relationship.

They got married and live in San Francisco’s Mission District. Mariela works for the Redwood City School District.

Though Talavera-Ballón is a fine artist, he says his wife wanted him to paint murals too, which he’d never done before. Then one day he saw a friend of his working on a mural on a building at Van Ness Avenue and Market Street. Talavera-Ballón, 46, wanted to give it a try and volunteered to take a 9 a.m.-to-noon shift.

The time flew. “What?” he protested when he was told it was noon. “I just came here.

Twelve o’clock?” So he asked to take the afternoon shift too. Since then, he’s painted about a half dozen murals and loves having a jumbo canvas.

“For an artist, for a painter, it’s the same thing I think to be a musician and give a concert, a big big concert,” he says, waving his arms for emphasis. “It’s the same feeling. People are watching you.

They say hi. They talk to you and the interruption with the people as you are painting something so, so big is a challenge. It’s everything. … If I were a musician and I played every day in a little bar and then somebody came to me and say, ‘Tomorrow you going to give a big concert in Central Park New York.’ It’s the same thing.”

Kelly says this is the fourth mural in Redwood City that has been created through Community Advocacy Through Art, an organization under the Parks & Arts Foundation umbrella which works to use art to raise awareness of social issues and participated in selecting the artist.

Rutenberg, who paid half the cost, is delighted with the mural. “I think it’s gorgeous, and I like the proportion and the color. I like everything.” C

September 2020 ·

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•

PROFILE•

Coming Together An African-American pastor leads a Christian congregation in a Jewish temple, and works to bridge the nation’s racial divide.

24 · CLIMATE · September 2020

•

PROFILE•

By Scott Dailey

A distraught tenth-grader stood alone in the boys’ bathroom at his high school in the small town of Coushatta, La., having just lost a fistfight to a football player. His life, he believed, had descended to an all-time low. He was hurt. He was humiliated.

He was flunking out. In his mind, he was disgracing his greataunt and uncle, who had taken him in as a two-year-old after his parents divorced.

He shot up a prayer. “God,” he implored. “I need you to open some doors. I want three things. I want to be on the stage with the honor students when I graduate. I want to go to college. And I want my great-aunt and uncle to know they haven’t wasted their lives on me. If you will help me, I will bust my backside to make it happen.”

Two years later, Hurmon Hamilton was on that stage – not as a scholar (although he had pulled his grades up to a B-minus average), but on the strength of a first-place finish in a nationwide essay competition. He was headed to Grambling State University. And along with his great-aunt and uncle, the entire audience rose and cheered as he proudly walked forward.

September 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 25

• It was the culmination of a long journey for a young African-American who, despite performing at a fourth-grade level upon entering elementary school, was assigned to special education because of his bad behavior and, Hamilton believes, his race.

Three years later, a teacher finally recognized his ability and, in Hamilton’s words, “fought for me” to be returned to his regular class. It was, he recalls, “my first experience with a white woman fighting for a little black kid.”

Racism was routine in Coushatta. In 1970, Hamilton’s kindergarten was the town’s first integrated class – some 16 years after Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kan. As Hamilton remembers, a group of white parents removed their children from the school rather than have them “contaminated” by African-American kids.

Later, Hamilton would endure other indignities – being harassed by the police, being watched while shopping, having his credit card scrutinized at Woolworth’s. He sums it all up in one word: “Trauma.”

Many Miracles And yet, there was hope. Hamilton embraced Christianity while in junior high school. As his life unfolded, especially on his high-school graduation night, he began to see it as “a series of miracles.” Today, as the pastor of the ethnically and politically diverse New Beginnings Community Church in Redwood City, he observes that he could easily have ended up in jail, on drugs or in the morgue. Instead, he says, “My story is the story of God’s love and grace and mercy and forgiveness and empowerment. And that is the gospel that we try to proclaim for those who will listen.”

Getting people to hear the message has and hasn’t been a problem. Hamilton, formerly a minister at Abundant Life Church in Mountain View, estimates that between 800 and 1,000 congregants followed him to establish New Beginnings in 2013. On the other hand, persuading potential new be-

26 · CLIMATE · September 2020

PROFILE•

"Christianity is inextricably bound to the Jewish community. Jesus was Jewish, all the original disciples were Jewish, Mary was Jewish.

The first branch of Christians were Jewish Christians." lievers among the educated and skeptical in Silicon Valley presents a constant challenge.

Hamilton divides non-believers into four categories – those, he says, who have been “wounded by life” and feel “let down

by God or by God’s people;” those who were once religious and are seeking a faith community but are leery of an entire doctrine and its presumed politics; those who don’t accept things on faith, and demand a thoughtful approach to belief; and those who are impressed less by lofty principles and more by concrete actions.

Hamilton believes his church – formally affiliated with the evangelical Church of God but for the most part liturgically independent – speaks to all four sets of people.

New Beginnings is remarkably diverse ethnically, with large swaths of African-American, white, Latino and Asian members. Social class also varies widely, from laborers

to affluent techies. Despite the Church of God’s traditionally rooted position on sexuality, New Beginnings welcomes many LGBT+ members. Political beliefs also span the spectrum, from conservatives to liberals and progressives. Members frequently differ on issues, Hamilton says, but agree that they can follow many, if not all, of the church’s teachings.

Says Hamilton: “When they hear that they don’t actually have to believe everything that we proclaim, that there’s a safe space for you to come and listen and learn, and maybe even begin to explore some community while you think about what it means to be a Jesus follower, that’s attractive.”

Meeting Online The church’s estimated 1,500 to 2,000 worshipers now meet exclusively online (www.nbccbayarea.com). Pre-coronavirus, however, the location was unusual – the Jewish temple of Congregation Beth Jacob, on Alameda de las Pulgas in Redwood City.

“It was pure serendipity,” says Congregation Beth Jacob’s rabbi, Nat Ezray. The synagogue’s leadership had been looking for a Sunday tenant at the same time New Beginnings had been bursting out of its former building in Mountain View. After investigating 70 potential worship spaces, Hamilton and his board decided Congregation Beth Jacob was the place.

By the accounts of both Hamilton and Ezray, it’s been a happy pairing. They have spoken to each other’s congregations, and feel a strong kinship between their respective religions.

“The sense of having different faiths worshiping in the same building, for me, is a really powerful statement,” Ezray says.

“When I got to know Pastor Hamilton and his team, it felt like there was this spiritual energy that was magnified through all of us sharing the building.”

“Christianity is inextricably bound to the Jewish community.” Hamilton adds.

“Jesus was Jewish, all the original disciples

• were Jewish, Mary was Jewish.

The first branch of Christians were Jewish Christians. So we (Christians) were born both literally and figuratively out of the womb of Judaism. And so I’m honored to be able to celebrate that partnership, as we do shared ministry around that building.”

For all of that ecumenism, though, an inescapable reality surrounds Hamilton: He is an African-American pastor leading a diverse Christian congregation in the most racially sensitive era since the 1960s. He views his faith as a means to bring together a divided people, focusing on healing and honest conversation.

Dealing with Racism Asked about his countless experiences with racism, Hamilton takes a spiritual approach.

“First of all, I just think it’s part of the brokenness of humanity,” he says. “The biblical word for it is, ‘sin.’ And my understanding of sin is that it’s just another way of expressing the fragmentation of humanity. It’s just another part of being inside of a world of broken people. And I understand that I’m a broken person.

“But the good news of the gospel is that, in Jesus Christ, there is not just forgiveness, but redemption and healing for broken people. Restoration. And if you’ve experienced it yourself, then you are obligated to give that understanding, that compassion, that empathy, that grace, that mercy, that call to unconditionally love.”

As for conversation, Hamilton sees it as crucial to building relationships that result in mutual understanding.

“We have to keep talking to each other … and, clearly, I think, we’ve got to be honest about the guilt that hangs there,” he says. “I think that (people ask) – and black people are not homogeneous on this – are all white people responsible for what happened to Mr. George Floyd? Are all

PROFILE•

Since the coronavirus shelterin-place order, New Beginnings has been meeting via the Internet, and attracting new followers from Seoul, South Korea, to Spokane, Washington, and even rural New York State. white people responsible for the stuff that I’ve endured in 55 years? There are some African-Americans who would say, ‘Yes, of course.’ That either you’re directly responsible or you’re indirectly responsible because you’ve benefited from a society that’s shaped by the policies and practices of racism.

“I push back on that. Because nobody wants to be saddled with inescapable guilt for stuff that they personally didn’t do. So I would say to all of my white friends – and I have many of them, Republican and Democrat – ‘It’s not your fault, but it is your moment to reveal who you are. That you are people who stand for justice. That you are people who stand for solidarity across race.

It is your moment to speak up. It is your moment to act. It is your moment to step forward, in whatever your context.’

“So I think we need dialog that leads to real relationships. We’re not going to

be bosom buddies overnight, but we can start doing life together.

And where there are relationships, stereotypes disappear. In the absence of relationships, all you have are stereotypes.”

One enduring relationship in Hamilton’s life has been his 34year marriage to his wife, Rhonda. They met at Grambling State and married young (Hurmon was 21, Rhonda, 18). A physician and hospital administrator, Rhonda Hamilton is described by Hurmon as “my best friend, my closest advisor, one of the smartest people that I know. She is very responsible for who I am and where I am in the world.”

Two Children The couple’s two children, 16-year-old daughter Lauren and 28-year-old son Jonathan, live on opposite coasts. Lauren is at home with her parents in Palo Alto; Hurmon describes her as, “sarcastic, brilliant, funny and an outstanding young woman.”

Jonathan heads the exercise department at the Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury, Mass. (Hurmon served as pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church for more than 17 years, moving to Abundant Life Church and the Peninsula in 2011.) Of Jonathan, Hurmon says, “He just loves people.

I’m super-proud of him. He’s just an amazing young man.”

Since the coronavirus shelter-in-place order, New Beginnings’ Internet broadcasts have attracted new followers from Seoul, South Korea, to Spokane, Washington, and even rural New York State. The prospects afforded by the Web have Hamilton excited for his ministry.

“It gives us an opportunity to export the hope we’ve experienced here in the Bay Area, in terms of bringing people together across this remarkable diversity,” he says.

“We’re very hopeful to see that we can continue to be a light of hope in an expanding way in the world.” C September 2020 ·

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August 2020 ·

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•

HISTORY by Jim Clifford•

Before Caltrain, There Was the SF&SJ Caltrain’s history stretches back to the 1860s when the railroad was called the San Francisco & San Jose. Note that the original name did not include San Mateo County, even though most of the track traversed the Peninsula, then not much more than a string of whistlestops.

The old saying about “the train doesn’t stop here anymore” meant a town was moribund and cut off from the world, all because the railroad bypassed it. Later, of course, highways became the culprit. One would assume the tracks from San Francisco to San Jose brought a sudden increase in wealth and population to the Peninsula.

Surprisingly, a prominent San Mateo County historian concluded just the opposite.

“Oddly, it was the railroad, that forerunner of progress, that helped discourage rapid growth in San Mateo County until the twentieth century,” Alan Hynding wrote in “From Frontier to Suburb, The History of San Mateo and the Peninsula.”

According to Hynding, wealthy investors affiliated with the new line took over the best lands near the tracks for estates and investments, which held back local trade and industry for the rest of the century.

The population of the county only grew from 5,300 in 1860 to 12,000 by 1900, making it the slowest-growing county in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late nineteenth century. Still, the line was a boon to farmers who could transport hay, fruit, potatoes and other crops from freight sheds at many stations.

Saving Time and Money Few doubted that a railroad was needed to link the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara, especially when

faced with the alternative: A steamboat and stagecoach trip from San Francisco to San Jose took eight hours and cost $30. The train time was two and a half hours with the fare around $3, which was still high in the days when the average worker made about a dollar a day.

The San Mateo County Times-Gazette was a strong backer of the proposed railroad, insisting in an editorial that the SF&SJ would result in “general prosperity which nothing else imaginable could.”

In a partnership that was to be repeated more than a century later, the citizens of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties voted to buy $600,000 of the $2 million in stock available for purchase.

“The Victory is Ours,” screamed the Times-Gazette headline on May 25, 1861.

Work on the railroad, until then limited to surveying and grading, could now begin in earnest. That is, if enough workers could be found.

With the Civil War raging, hiring men to lay tracks and drive spikes was difficult, a problem that was eased with the hiring of Chinese immigrants whose contribution to the building of the 50-mile SF&SJ is often ignored. One of the first, if not the first, successful use of Chinese labor in railroad construction led to their being hired later for the building of the transcontinental railroad.

Construction of the SF&SJ began on July 15, 1861, with more than 300 men working

out of five camps where they lived. The line was finished on January 16, 1864, an event followed by festivities that lasted for days. About 2,000 people wanted to ride to the end of the line in San Jose for the celebration. The partygoers had to pile into cattle cars and boxcars because there were not enough passenger cars. A 36-gun salute greeted the arrival of not one but two trains with a combined total of 29 cars jammed with excited passengers. The San Jose celebration was the second big shindig to mark an SF&SJ milestone. An earlier one in 1863 celebrated the reaching of San Francisquito Creek, the dividing line between San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

On to Gilroy In 1869 the run was extended to Gilroy and a year later the San Francisco-San Jose Railroad became part of Southern Pacific.

When the line opened, some cities weren’t regular stops and trains had to be flagged down when freight or passengers needed to be loaded aboard. Depots, however, soon followed up and down the county, including in San Mateo, Belmont, Menlo Park, Mayfield, which would become part of Palo Alto, and San Jose. San Mateo County cities and towns were no longer “whistlestops.”

Redwood City built a railroad wharf in 1868 just a few months before the historic golden spike was driven at Promontory Point, Utah, to link the nation. Businesses put their products on trains to Redwood City where they were taken to the wharf and loaded on ships. Ads for the wharf boasted “Freight taken to all the Interior Ports,” adding that there was “wharf room for all kinds of stuff.” C September 2020 ·

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