Climate Magazine – October 2020 Edition

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Spotlight: From Denial to Grief and Gratitude Profile: New Meaning to B-Y-O-B Micro Climate: Survival Story in a New Book History: Wreaths Across America

ISSUE SIXTY TWO • OCTOBER • 2020

V TE Countdown to November

★★★★★★★★★

★★★★★★★★★ District Elections Come to Redwood City

• M I C R O C L I M AT E • • PROFILE• CLIMATE MAGAZINE is now ONLINE as well as in the stands A

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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 Stuff on the Square Quinto Sol restaurant Pasha Mediterranean Powerhouse Gym La Tartine restaurant Ralph's Vacuum Nick the Greek Bliss Coffee

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August 2020 ·

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

One of Climate’s chief purposes is to inform, and this month’s election coverage by political writer Mark Simon provides exactly the kind of in-depth coverage of city council and other races and issues you need to educate yourself to cast your vote Nov. 3. That’s what it comes down to on Election Day, when millions of citizens across the country will be voting – many by mail for the first time. I’ve been comfortably voting absentee for decades, but I may go to the polls in person this time. Why? All these years I’ve just assumed my vote counted.

But news stories about the number of votes that get rejected because of signature-matching problems nationally hit a little too close to home. (I direct you to the scrawl at the bottom of the page. Nobody but nobody can read my handwriting!) Besides, I’m a contrarian at heart and it might be good for my civic education to show up at a polling place in person and see democracy in action. Whichever way you cast your vote this year, please learn as much as you can about the candidates and the issues – but do vote.

Last month when we introduced a new writer to Climate, Jayme Ackemann, no one could have foreseen that she’d return to the magazine in the way that she has, with a first-person account of coming through the recent lightning-caused fires in Santa Cruz County. Jayme and her family live in Ben Lomond, but she’s well-known in San Mateo County, where she worked in communications for many years for SamTrans/Caltrain in San Carlos. All of us wonder what we’d do if we had to suddenly leave everything behind because of a fire, and I’m sure you’ll be able to relate to her experience. The story is on page 16.

Nobody’s holding big Oktoberfest parties this year, but when that day ever comes, John O’Neill and his wife Cheri will be able to entertain in authentic style. John has been a lifelong collector of antique beer, whiskey and other bottles and created a showcase saloon at the family home in Belmont. It’s a long and colorful saga which begins on page 24.

Looking ahead, the good folks who tend to the historic Union Cemetery on Woodside Road have plans to decorate the graves of veterans with wreaths in December. It’s part of a national project called Wreaths Across America, which Jim Clifford writes about in this month’s history column. It should be a beautiful remembrance on Dec. 19 and Jim’s column explains how you can participate to honor a veteran.

Janet McGovern, Editor

October 2020 ·

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S •

FEATU RE

The City Council Election

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From Denial to Grief and Gratitude

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PROFILE

Beyond B-Y-O-B

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

4 · CLIMATE · October 2020

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F E AT U R E •

New Era

Arrives with District Voting

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F E AT U R E •

By Mark Simon

When the Redwood City Council created new districts for the 2020 election, two goals were to encourage a new, diverse range of candidates and to increase the number of minorities on the council.

By those measurements, district elections can be described as a success.

Four seats are on the ballot this year, and voters are guaranteed to elect at least one new councilmember, Planning Commissioner Michael Smith, who is running unopposed. Beyond that, there are new faces – some of them young, some of them relatively inexperienced – who would be unlikely candidates in the citywide campaigns of the past.

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he new council that takes the dais late this year will be faced with a severe budget shortfall caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has devastated the local economy and driven down revenues from the city’s sales taxes. Housing still dominates the citywide debate. And the council will face calls for police reform.

District 1 – Redwood Shores The first election in this stand-alone district has drawn two of the city’s longest-serving public officials.

Jeff Gee has lived in Redwood Shores for 25 years, which includes nine years he served on the City Council. Nancy Radcliffe has lived in the Shores less than two

years, having moved there upon her retirement, but she has served on the Planning Commission for 19 years.

Gee says his own longevity means “I understand our Redwood Shores neighborhood.” Radcliffe says she will bring “a fresh and honest voice” to representing the area.

Half the district residents are White, and 39 percent are Asian-American. Residents also are the wealthiest in the city, with 45 percent reporting a household income of $75,000-$200,000 and 32 percent reporting a household income over $200,000.

Gee announced for re-election in 2018, but dropped out. Now, he’s back, acknowledging “There is a lot that has happened

in two years,” including district elections, campaign donation limits and a voluntary fundraising limit adopted by the council.

Given her length of service on the Planning Commission, Radcliffe has been urged to run for the council on more than one occasion, most recently four years ago. “But we had a lot of great candidates,” she said.

Now, after the city adopted term limits for its boards and commissions, Radcliffe will be leaving the Planning Commission, and “I want to stay involved in the city.

The city has great bones and I want to keep making great choices.”

October 2020 ·

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F E AT U R E •

also pro-neighborhood. We may be White privilege, but I wasn’t raised The Budget don’t live in a one-size-fits-all White privilege. … My community has Filling the funding gaps that community.” She said the city known what I’ve been doing for many, are likely to occur may reneeds a wide mixture of hous- many years and they’ll either want that to quire more foundations, siming types covering a variety continue or they won’t,” she said. ilar to the nonprofit organizaof income levels. Gee said the She is being challenged by two cantions that support the library city needs to be ready to build didates who contend that the district resisystem, Radcliffe said. Those more housing “where there dents want more bold and non-establishefforts also can do much to is land available to do it, and ment leadership. address the digital divide, Jeff Gee we’re going to have to work Isabella Chu, a Stanford public health an issue only made worse by researcher and founder of Redwood City the economic downturn. And she said the really hard to find land that’s available.” city has to be open to looking at employee One primary site for a high-rise, Forward, has been a high-profile advocate high-density commercial and residential for dramatically more housing in the city. compensation.

Gee said he served on the council development is at Sequoia Station, locat- “We need more housing,” she said. “It during the Great Recession of 2008-09 and ed, quite literally, at the city’s crossroads should go all over the city. Yes to higher that means “I know what it’s going to take of El Camino Real and Jefferson Avenue. density. Yes to more height.” Her goal, she to make the hard decisions. … We’re going An initial proposal raised the prospect of a said, is to “disrupt the status quo.”

Lissette Espinoza-Garnica is a profesto have to cut,” he said, That will include 17-story building on the site. “engaging our labor partners” who “were “Seventeen stories makes all of us sional caregiver, self-designated as nonbiable to give back in ’08-09. … They’ll have pause,” said Radcliffe, who lamented that the nary gender and the only Hispanic in the current site wasn’t built with 2020 city council race seeking an “Hispanto share in the pain.” greater density and height 30 ic” seat. “I’ve grown up here. It’s not Jim years ago. “I don’t think Red- Crow era segregation, but it’s still very Police Reforms wood City has the appetite for segregated – where the wealth is, where Gee and Radcliffe said they that height at this point. I’m the people of color are,” Espinoza-Garnica are open to discussing redidefinitely comfortable with the said. The answer is to completely remake recting police funds to social 8-story range, maybe 10. It’s ab- the status quo, Espinoza-Garnica said. “I services and relieving the posolutely the perfect location for see that the people running right now are lice of responding to matters transit-oriented development.” very much establishment.” that might fall more directly Nancy Radcliffe

Gee said, Forty-six percent of to community service agenresidents are immigrants, cies. Both are open to a citizens’ police “I think we need to take a 65 percent speak Spanish at oversight commission and greater trans- look at it. … It’s a great place home and 40 percent say they parency in the disclosure of complaints to put jobs, housing and transpeak English “less than very filed against individual officers for exces- sit together and to be able to well” – all categories that sive use of force. Of a commission, Gee put that together in density.” are the highest in the city. said, “It’s all in the details, so I don’t know He wants a community effort Forty-two percent of housewhat that means.” Radcliffe said, “It seems to develop a consensus for holds have an income under reasonable, like a Peninsula Conflict Reso- what should go at the site.

Janet Borgens $50,000, and renters outnumlution type of organization and that feels very open and transparent to me and both District 3 — Friendly Acres, Stam- ber homeowners almost 2-1. sides could benefit from it. … It’s all in the baugh-Heller and Redwood Village It is one of two districts that are minori- Housing implementation.” ty-majority – 71 percent Hispanic. It is the Chu wants sweeping changes to the city’s home neighborhood of Councilmember housing policies and practices. “Our built Housing “I’m not sure we’ve come up with an an- Janet Borgens, raised in East Palo Alto environment looks like it did in the 1950s. swer” for the housing shortage, Radcliffe and a resident of the district for 37 years. In the last 70 years, Redwood City has said. “While I’m pro-development, I’m She notes that she is not Hispanic: “This is tripled in population,” Chu said. “Things the kind of community I was raised in. I have changed. The buildings have stayed the same.”

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F E AT U R E •

Chu said the 17-story

“I’m for descoping and sibility of finding a way to tax online sales, proposal for Sequoia Station, divesting and defunding the she said. “is extremely modest. Come police and try to limit the Chu said the city needs to do more to on, it’s 2020, we’re in Silicon amount of interaction of po- measure the effectiveness of its spending Valley. … This is some of the lice with residents,” Espino- and to require city departments, in essence, most valuable land in the za-Garnica said. to apply for their funding and justify their world. If the city had been

Borgens said, “I am budgets. “Are we getting the most value?” allowed to develop organnot a defund the police, Chu said. The city is going to have to look ically, based on need, we’d but I understand that is the for additional sources of revenue, she said.

Isabella Chu have a ton of high-rise buildwrong phrase. I do sup- Espinoza-Garnica’s view on the budings. … most residences would be three port revisiting how we provide policing get stems from a fundamental conviction to five stories.” services. … “I have no problem holding that the city needs to be radically changed.

Espinoza-Garnica supports a corporate our police accountable and if a citizens’ The budget is a statement on the city’s pri“head count” tax to build more housing, oversight committee is the right way to orities, Espinoza-Garnica said, and the foincluding public housing and more low-in- go, I’m not against it. If you’re following cus should be on affordable housing for all come housing. “It’s not enough to have the rules, there’s no reason you should be and making sure every resident is making only market-rate housing. We have to have concerned about oversight,” she said. a living wage. secure housing, mixed, subsidized housing Chu said a number of police duties “We need to reprioritize the budget to and definitely provide housing for all,” Es- should be reassigned or reinvented. Traf- think about the most vulnerable,” Espinopinoza-Garnica said. fic enforcement can be fully za-Garnica said.

Borgens said, “Housing automated, for example. “I’m needs to be built where the perfectly willing to look at District 7 – Farm Hills need is. … Look in my diswhat (police) do, whether it If elected to her fourth full term on Nov. trict, you have three to four should be done by an agent of 3, Alicia Aguirre has the chance to serve families living together. Build the state and whether it can be a total of 19 years, which would make her affordable, for-sale housing in done more cost effectively,” the longest-tenured councilmember in the any district across town. If we she said. modern, term-limits era. As might be excan help our most vulnerable

Chu said she supports pected, her longevity is a central issue in communities buy housing, Lissette Espinoza-Garnica more citizen oversight and the District 7 city council race. In her camthat’s housing security.” more transparency, including tracking paign materials, Aguirre calls it “tested She envisions a broad range of hous- how police personnel are deployed. “Most leadership” for the current crises. “I’ve ing – duplexes, triplexes, small units that police have nothing to fear been there through the (2008can be added to a second story or a back- from that. If they’re policing 09) recession, all the changes, yard. “Build housing where it’s needed fairly, not hurting people, housing concerns, transporand my district needs it.” they have nothing to fear,” tation challenges.” she said.

Former Redwood City Police Reform police officer Chris Rasmus“I’m an abolitionist,” said Espinoza-Garni- The Budget sen says in his own campaign ca, “and this platform is looking to defund The city must use available rematerials that “it is time for the police so they’re not required to respond sources more efficiently, BorNEW leadership in Redwood Alicia Aguirre to the community as much anymore.” If gens said, citing how parks City.” And nonprofit prothe money spent on policing was spent on and recreation services were reinvented gram facilitator Mark Wolohan promises housing, employment, universal child care, during the pandemic. She said there is like- to bring to city government “a fresh perrapid rehousing and essential support ser- ly to be a hiring freeze, although she add- spective.” vices, it would reduce crime and reduce the ed, “I don’t think any of our police and fire District 7 is the least diverse disneed for police presence in a community are overstaffed.”Corporate partnerships to trict – 70 percent White, only nine perthat feels estranged from law enforcement, support some essential services may be a cent of residents speak Spanish. It is the Espinoza-Garnica said. constructive next step, along with the pos- city’s second-wealthiest district and has October 2020 ·

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the highest percentage of formed” on where cuts must option.” She said she “respects” neighborresidents with household be made in the budget. hood concerns. incomes over $200,000.

“There are no easy answers.”

Eighty-seven percent of the

Wolohan also offered Police Reform residences are single-family no specifics. “We’ve got to Rasmussen said the city needs more comhomes and 79 percent of reslook at inefficiencies and munity policing and the department needs idents are homeowners. minimize them.” Employee more standards and training. He supports Aguirre is the only Laticompensation has to be part a citizens’ police oversight commission, no on the council and the of the discussion over cuts. but is adamant that it be run by an outside Chris Rasmussen only Latina on any city coun“To say we’re not going to agency, “by someone not aligned with the cil in the county. “I believe that my district look at 70 percent of the budget is malprac- police department, someone completely and the city respect diversity and inclusiv- tice,” Wolohan said. objective, not appointed by the city manity,” Aguirre said. ager to just brush over stuff.”

“People in my district want change,” Housing

“Change is going to said Rasmussen, whose 30-year police ca- The housing shortage can be come from the top down. It’s reer included a lengthy tenure as the de- addressed by converting ofgoing to have to be cultural,” partment’s lead community officer, and ex- fice buildings to residential, Rasmussen said. tensive work with the homeless. He called Wolohan said. “Converting

Aguirre serves on the for “thinking outside the box, challenging is a cheaper form of concouncil’s ad hoc committee the status quo and not just rubber-stamping struction than starting from studying policing. “Our comthings that could be better or different. (The scratch,” he said. Cheaper munity has spoken pretty public) want to be listened to and I’m hear- also means more affordable loud on how we need reform Michael Smith ing that the council isn’t listening to them.” housing for more people. and what that looks like,” she Wolohan, a lifelong renter in Red- “People are willing to live in units that said, which would include a citizens’ comwood City, described himself as a “fresh don’t have washers and dryers, pools and mission and greater transparency about candidate without ties to any people or granite counter tops,” Wolohan said. complaints of excessive force. organizations acting out of

Rasmussen was much “I’m really open to looking at what self-interest.” He will wage more critical of the city’s oversight looks like and having the coman entirely grassroots cam“inaction” on housing. “The munity involved in that,” Aguirre said. paign and accept no finanwhole city has not come “We’re looking at different options and evcial donations. “It’s not like out with creative ideas and erything’s on the table. Let’s set the model.”

I’m doing this for status or moved on them. Homeless- Wolohan said he is “open and receppower. … I want to channel ness is on the rise. What tive” to a citizens’ oversight commission. a lot of voices that are maybe we are doing to protect our “It could potentially create more transparoverlooked.” community and not drive ency.” But, he cautioned, “I’m definitely Mark Wolohan (people) away?” The city not an extremist who thinks the police is The Budget needs “to support the affordable housing an unnecessary entity.”

As a sitting councilmember Aguirre is par- we have” instead of “knocking them down ticipating in staff-led discussions about and building monster homes for millions District 4 – Five Points, Palm Park how the budget must be cut. “It’s difficult and millions of dollars.” He supports Planning Commissioner Michael Smith is to say (where to cut) without knowing the multi-unit buildings, approving single-oc- running unopposed. recommendations,” Aguirre said. Reduc- cupancy units that can be placed in back- A young professional, Smith moved ing staff compensation “should be one of yards or above a garage. to Redwood City about four years ago and the last resorts,” she said.

“Any part of the city should be up for immediately involved himself in the Boys Rasmussen said the first priority discussion, Aguirre said, adding, “I want and Girls Club of the Peninsula. From should be to “take care of our employ- to help other parts of the city that want there, he helped write the cannabis ordiees.” He acknowledged he is “not well-in- to add units, and really look at that as an nance ultimately adopted by the city and

12 · CLIMATE · October 2020

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served on the El Camino Real Corridor Citizens Advisory Group and as co-chair of the Palm Park Neighborhood Association. Smith made enough of an immediate impression to win an appointment to the Planning Commission two years after he moved to the city.

The district is 77 percent Hispanic – one of two minority-majority districts created by the council last year. Only 15 percent of the residents have a college degree; 43 percent of households have an annual income under $50,000; 68 percent of residents live in multi-family households; and 80 percent are renters. It’s also among the youngest of the city’s seven districts, with 27 percent of residents aged 19 or younger.

F E AT U R E •

“It’s a demographic in this city that is younger, moved here more recently, not necessarily engaged on the local level. But they’re here and they’re interested in the broader concerns,” Smith said.

Housing He supports “more housing, more commercial development and the ability to develop low-income housing. “As a housing advocate, I’m extremely motivated to build,” Smith said. “Despite what people might think about me, I respect neighborhoods.

“I’m really focused on opening up the stock of housing that can be developed. I’m not interested in having monster homes in Redwood City, but I do think we should

enable families that are growing to expand their homes.”

Police Reform Smith has been working with local Black Lives Matter activists to develop a list of law enforcement reform actions for council consideration. They include creation of a police oversight committee, routine release of police records concerning use-offorce complaints, an audit of use-of-force policies and diversion of some city law enforcement funding toward social services.

“I know there’s interest in moving the needle on the relationship police have with our communities, specifically communities of color,” Smith said. C October 2020 ·

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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 •

District Elections Poised to Rock the Boat in 2020 We already know that there is something about 2020. It’s in the Martian skies that have lingered over our heads. It’s behind the masks. It’s in the restlessness born of the requirement that we sit quietly in our room. So, it makes contextual sense that 2020 is an election year like no other.

And so we beat on, boats against the current, as F. Scott Fitzgerald might say, working our way through what could be the longest ballot in San Mateo County history, chockablock with new districts, contested races and consequential ballot measures.

Leading the way in the uproar is Redwood City, the largest city in the county to have gone to district elections. But the fuss and feathers are not unique to Redwood City. More on that further down.

Redwood City’s new district status quo revealed a city divided by language, wealth and housing – a reality that long had been glossed over, but now is brought into stark relief.

For decades, a small group of vocal activists could dominate the civic discourse. There always will be a group in the residential center of the city who will oppose change and growth.

But the ability to set the agenda is dispersed among seven districts and long under-enfranchised elements of the city now can affect the issues that are distinctive to their neighborhoods. Now, renters will be heard and seen and their concerns will be more than abstract, enhanced by the power to influence a councilmember who serves a district that might be 80 percent renters. Blue-collar residents living in crowded corners of the city will have their own voice at City Hall, and, in some cases, that voice will need to speak, or at least understand, Spanish.

14 · CLIMATE · October 2020

Redwood City’s new district status quo revealed a city divided by language, wealth and housing – a reality that long had been glossed over, but now is brought into stark relief.

When no one stepped up to oppose Planning Commissioner Michael Smith in the race for the vacant District 4 seat, some were quick to declare that district elections already were a failure. This, without a single vote having been cast.

But as the city undertook its districting effort, under threat of legal action, there were at least two clear goals: Encourage a more diverse field of candidates and increase the number of minorities on the council.

By that measure, district elections are a success. The aforementioned Michael Smith certainly assures a fresh, new, African American face on the council, as the council’s one African American, Ian Bain, departs.

But look through the three contested races and you see candidates who might never have run, had they been required to do so citywide. Some of these candidates are entirely inexperienced, if your definition of experience is the traditional means of slowly building support through community organizations and one or two appointments to city boards and commissions.

District elections don’t require would-be candidates to wait their turn.

They also don’t require that candidates raise a boatload of money. Districts,

by definition, are smaller and invite campaigns that are grassroots and rely more on direct, person-to-person campaigning.

Giselle Hale, the top vote-getting candidate in 2018, the city’s last non-district election, spent more than $100,000. This year, many candidates have agreed to a spending limit that could be as low as $20,000 for the campaign.

In a citywide election, it certainly was easier to predict who would win, based on money, lists of citywide endorsements and years of building support. And incumbency was the ultimate trump card.

As we learned from Menlo Park two years ago, district elections make campaigning a door-to-door, to-talk-to-every-voter exercise. In the end, the top spenders in Menlo lost, and so did two incumbents.

Do the same variables apply when the districts are substantially larger, and when a pandemic restricts personal contact? We’ll find out. Heck, it could all go according to expectations, whatever they are. But here’s one way in which 2020 is more exciting: We don’t know how this will turn out.

One thing we do know – there are issues being raised that would not have come up without young, new candidates enticed by the possibility that a district election is a little more winnable. They include a call to defund the police, a call to build higher (including that 17 stories is too little at Sequoia Station), that inaction on housing is no longer acceptable and private companies should help pay to balance the city budget.

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One thing we do know – there are issues being raised that would not have come up without young, new candidates enticed by the possibility that a district election is a little more winnable.

Handicapping the Redwood City races Redwood Shores is its own political entity now, entirely captured by District 1. Maybe it always was its own entity, but having someone elected from the district ensures a voice at City Hall. This race pits former Councilman Jeff Gee against termed-out 19-year veteran Planning Commissioner Nancy Radcliffe. Gee was going to run for re-election in 2018, but dropped out of the race, prompted, at least in part, by some residents who wanted to make the campaign very personal and very negative. Now, he’s back in a district that is 39 percent Asian-American and seemingly tailor-made for him. Radcliffe, a true centrist and widely liked, has only lived in the Shores for two years. Indeed, she’s a great example of the kind of candidate who would have thrived under the old system. She will mount a credible campaign, but it seems as though this one was stacked in Gee’s favor from the outset.

In District 3, covering the southern end of the city, this would have seemed like the ideal opportunity to elect an Hispanic. Returning Councilmember Janet Borgens drew meaningful opposition from the hard-charging and fearless Isabella Chu, one of the city’s leading advocates for greater height and density, and Latinx Lissette Espinoza-Garnica may be able to capitalize on the district’s substantial Hispanic majority. But Borgens has deep roots in the district and while some of her rhetorical flourishes about overcrowding and blue-collar workers sound newly minted, she appears difficult to dislodge. Still, it’s another example of the impact of district elections – expect a

more assertive Borgens when it comes to the policy needs of her constituents.

Districting may have turned Councilmember Alicia Aguirre into a fish out of water. She’s running for another term as the only Latina on the council, but in District 7, which is more than 70 percent white. Aguirre has a history of campaigning at a leisurely pace, but as the virtual incumbent, she has an impressive array of endorsements. Her challengers include former cop Chris Rasmussen, who passed on the city’s new voluntary spending limits, which gets to the heart of the matter – this race may be a true test of the power of incumbency. Yes, Aguirre technically is not an incumbent, having run citywide the last time. Still, her 15 years on the council provide enough of an advantage that it’s why Rasmussen decided to spend more than the limit. Unless, of course, her experience turns out to be a negative. Newcomer Mark Wolohan is well-meaning and earnest, but he has minimal connections in the district and even less experience. The outstanding question of his candidacy is whether he splits votes off from Rasmussen.

Everyone Into the Pool As referenced above, there are contested races up and down the Peninsula, a signal of widespread uneasiness and restlessness. Here is a quick look at a few: In San Mateo, the city is wrestling again with a 40-year-old and plainly anachronistic height limit. There’s a very real possibility that when all the shouting has ended, both sides will be right back where they started. … The City Council race pits appointed incumbent Amou-

rence Lee against Lisa Diaz Nash, who sought the appointment that went to Lee. Incumbent Diane Papan also is running but looks like she’ll cruise to re-election, perhaps setting the stage for a run for higher office. Meanwhile, the Lee-Nash race looks like a classic battle between the changing demographics and dynamics of the city (Lee) and a status quo that wants to maintain the status quo (Nash).

The impact of district elections is being felt acutely in the races for the San Mateo County Community College District Board of Trustees, which switched to districts in 2018. Now, there are three contested races where there used to be none. The race is between two board colleagues – Maurice Goodman and Dave Mandelkern – and is tough to call. Meanwhile, two new faces will be on a long-unchanged board – John Pimentel, who won a surprising endorsement from the county Democratic Party, is running against Redwood City’s Lisa Hicks-Dumante. The other new face is going to be the Coastside’s Lisa Petrides, who looked like she was in a tough race against Eugene Whitlock, until he dropped out abruptly in mid-September. … For months, political insiders have been touting San Bruno’s Linda Mason as a rising star in county politics, but it looks like she’s facing an uphill battle to oust incumbent Mayor Rico Medina. In Belmont and San Carlos, the elections are examples of how citywide elections favor established and establishment candidates. Belmont incumbents Tom McCune and Davina Hurt can be expected to win. In San Carlos, incumbent Ron Collins should win and be joined by Planning Commissioner John Dugan. C

October 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 15

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SPOTLIGHT•

From Denial to Grief and Gratitude A firsthand perspective on surviving a fire that "couldn’t happen” 16 · CLIMATE · October 2020

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SPOTLIGHT•

By Jayme Ackemann

Every fire evacuation isn’t as dramatic as those middle-of-the-night knocks our neighbors in Boulder Creek got, but mine was every bit as terrifying. The CZU Lightning Complex fire evacuation order came down for Ben Lomond, the San Lorenzo Valley town where I live, on Aug. 18. It was one of those days when the weather felt exceptionally hot and still.

Until then I had been treating the smoke that hung over the region like a nuisance, never expecting fire would finally come to our asbestos forest.

October 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 17

• Local fire volunteers and Cal Firefighters (Cal Fire is short for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) had long thought of the Santa Cruz Mountain coastal redwood forest as protected from the kinds of massive blazes we see today thanks to its cool, damp climate, and the natural fire resistance of these towering trees we live under. But climate change has heightened the stress on these trees through decades of increasingly frequent droughts – and at the end of the day, anything that gets hot enough can burn.

When I moved to Santa Cruz County, San Carlos – where I worked – felt very far away. Eventually, the drive that would carry me over the Santa Cruz Mountain backroads to Skyline and into San Mateo County would become so familiar to me, I could anticipate every twist in the road.

Later that same commute would mark parts of the fire’s boundary, now nearly contained on the ridge above my home.

San Mateo County Connections I spent a decade working for the San Mateo County Transit District. I was responsible for responding to crises in my role as the chief spokesperson for Caltrain and SamTrans. I learned there how well organized the county’s emergency responders could be under pressure.

San Mateo County – as it turns out – would play an important role in saving my home too and for that I know I owe Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman a big thanks. I never personally crossed paths with him but he knew some folks in the San Lorenzo Valley community. When the fires first arrived his Training Captain Todd Ellis, a Ben Lomond resident and fire volunteer, would turn to him with the first request. Later he would reach out to a search and rescue colleague, Carl Kustin, in Boulder Creek, when he realized just how bad this situation could become.

“Seeing it for myself, I realized how dire a situation these mountain fire de-

18 · CLIMATE · October 2020

SPOTLIGHT•

Jayme, Dean and youngest daughter Zoe in front of their Ben Lomond home.

There are all sorts of lists to help fire evacuees figure out what to take. Maybe next time, we’ll use those. partments were in and how much they needed,” Schapelhouman told me when I called to thank him for supporting our fire departments.

In the end, the Menlo Park Fire District came through with a training engine, mechanics, pallets of supplies, mobile showers, cots, and the other sundries needed to set up a base camp. Those resources were critical to supporting the “cavalry” as they fought the fire to within 1,000 feet of the homes on my road not to mention the thousands of others that were saved.

Out of the Fire On the day the evacuation order came down for Ben Lomond my brain was still struggling to process the reality of the fire chewing its way through the state park system that borders our neighborhood.

Suddenly, the canyons and creeks we could hike to directly out our front door were burning.

There are all sorts of lists to help fire evacuees figure out what to take. Maybe next time, we’ll use those. Instead, we dashed through the house taking down treasured art, grabbing important records and jewelry and enough clothing to get through the night. You think you know what’s important until you are driving away from your home as a fire rages towards it. You realize that your heart lives in the wooden beams over the living room, the favorite spot on the couch, the kitchen where you’ve made a million meals, and you are leaving it behind.

On our first night of evacuation, we made it as far as a friend’s home in Scotts Valley. It was just a 10-minute drive, but it seemed so improbably far away. A fire that could threaten both Boulder Creek and Scotts Valley would be a monster.

There was no way it could get there – our redwoods would slow it down. This is what my husband and I told each other as we watched the ash fall on their front porch. The next day Scotts Valley would also be ordered to evacuate, which is how we found ourselves pulling into my dad’s El Dorado Hills driveway loaded down with our things, covered in ash and smelling of smoke. There was relief in being “out of the fire” and that is when the tears began to fall.

Red, Sore Eyes We cried because, already, the stories of friends who had lost homes had begun to roll in.

We cried because there was so much we didn’t or couldn’t take. At the last minute, with our cars already packed, our oldest daughter asked us to save her grandma’s metal sun and her crystal collection. We moved them into a clearing under a grate and hoped they would survive the fire.

For 13 days, the tears rarely stopped.

We cried because every day in press briefings Cal Fire representatives were telling us they didn’t have the staff, equipment

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SPOTLIGHT• Left: Firefighter Jonathan Maxwell, out of San Diego, explains the difficulty of battling flames in the steep terrain of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Below: Eldest daughter Cassie's special treasures that couldn't make the evacuation were kept safe by putting them under a fire grate away from the house.

Top left: Jayme with daughter Cassie hike in Big Basin.

Left: Dean and Jayme wander through Crest Ranch Christmas tree farm during less smoky times.

or resources to adequately fight the huge number of fires that had erupted across the state. We cried because the smoke just hung in the air, making it impossible to bring in air support. We cried because my firefighter brother-in-law, who was fighting on the fire’s front lines, called each night with bleak news.

As of this writing, the fire has burned more than 20 percent of Santa Cruz County and nearly 1,500 structures, among them the homes of a girlfriend in my book club, my daughter’s Spanish teacher, and a former coworker.

We talk to each other in the language of survivors, about our gratitude for the emergency responders, and our grief for our community and our friends. We talk about the guilt that comes with having a home to return to when so many others have lost so much.

Buried Pathways These are different kinds of fire scars.

When the pandemic settled over the United States in March, my family started hiking. We weren’t alone. In those early days, parks and beaches were being overwhelmed by visitors looking for a way to get out of their houses. We hiked up to the Truck Trail in Fall Creek behind our house and made it all the way to the park boundary.

Much of that is now burned, which is not all bad news.

Redwood forests are meant to burn. The trees actually benefit from a certain amount of fire. The forest floor will be cleaner and healthier, reducing the likelihood of devastating future fires. Good news out of Big Basin confirms this as the old-growth trees considered to be the “Mother” and “Father” of the forest still stand.

Even before this fire, the responsibility for managing the forest and our properties was becoming more challenging via new county building codes and regulations meant to keep the home safer in the event of a fire.

Some older homes couldn’t be defended because the properties were overgrown and the growth on those properties could have created the “slop over” effect that set a neighbor’s yard on fire.

But what about the state park next to us? The Fall Creek drainages could smolder for weeks; the fire was deep in some of those canyons and difficult to reach. Is the state parks system doing its part to reduce the possibility of these mega-fires taking off in densely forested canyons only to spill out into our neighborhoods?

In early August, my husband and I had hiked from the bottom of the canyon up to our house, climbing over long-fallen trees, making our way along narrow paths October 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 19

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SPOTLIGHT•

Your imagination is your worst enemy when a wildfire forces you to evacuate. Wildfires don’t carry tracking chips; you can’t look it up on “Find My Friends” to see how close it’s getting.

Jayme Ackemann views the devastation that would have included her house had not the wind shifted — 1000 feet from her front door.

through dense foliage. Ironically, we commented to each other about all the tinder and about what could happen in a fire in the park.

Coming Home Your imagination is your worst enemy when a wildfire forces you to evacuate.

Wildfires don’t carry tracking chips; you can’t look it up on “Find My Friends” to see how close it’s getting. That’s part of the trauma – the lack of information.

But as we made the return trip to our mountain hamlet on Sept. 1, the valley seemed largely untouched from Felton to Ben Lomond. On the mountainside above town, sections of dead and burned trees cut a swath across the landscape and smoke still billowed from drainages burning deep in the hills. Rows and rows of fire engines were parked on roadsides everywhere. We found a CHP officer parked in our driveway because we were the last house on our road allowed to return.

On the day we were told the fires were likely to reach our property within

20 · CLIMATE · October 2020

24 hours, we were told there might not be enough resources to protect our road. We were told if the weather didn’t change to allow Cal Fire to send in air support, we would probably lose our homes. Instead all of those things went right, not just for us but for our extended family for whom the fires got as close as char marks on a garage and burned trees on their property. We were so lucky. And there’s guilt with that.

Our home stood largely untouched.

Ash covered everything, and large burnedout chunks of tinder had fallen into our yard. The only evidence that fire got close to our house were some small burns that had started in the ivy below—ivy that is going to come out this year.

These things all seemed strange but also strangely comforting. We were so grateful.

During those fires, the daughter of an Australian dairy farmer, Georgia Wilson, penned this poem. I leave you with her words: “It is complete devastation. It is utter heartbreak. It is an emotional roller coaster.

It is having no sleep. It is not knowing what to do next. It is red, sore eyes.

It is having no power or communication. It is the separation of families.

It is grief. Anger. Guilt.”

It is all of these things.

Fire burns the psyche too. As San Lorenzo Valley repopulated there was a marked increase in the number of smoke and fire calls coming into the local dispatch. If everything smells like smoke, it’s hard not to wonder if something is on fire.

Smoke is no longer a nuisance for me. It’s a warning. One we should all heed. C

Invisible Burns In January 2020 massive bushfires broke out across Australia. It sounded as though the entire continent was burning down as we watched from afar.

Jayme Ackemann is the former Director of Marketing and Communications for SamTrans and Caltrain. After more than a decade with the transit district, she moved on in 2016. Her father, John Maltbie, was the San Mateo County Manager for 33 years before retiring in 2018.

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CZU Fire on the South Coast.

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M I C R O C L I M AT E •

A Daughter Memorializes Her Parents’ Survival Story in a New Book Writers are always adpock, who was born vised to “write what you in California. “… We know” and that’s what were American kids first-time author Viroutside of our house.” ginia Evangel Coppock She says her parents has done. At the age of had endeavored to 95. The Redwood City register to come to resident’s book, “HeartAmerica legally but it break, Survival & Love: was impossible to get Echoes from the Past,” on the list. Her father is a family memoir that was desperate to get delivers on that title. In the family out and 1922, her parents fled grabbed the chance from an area of Turkey when it came to get that had for generations space on a ship. Later, been almost exclusively President Franklin D. Author Virginia Evangel Coppock populated by Greeks.

Roosevelt gave amnesty In the years leading up to World War I to illegal immigrants. “The first thing my and in its aftermath, Christian Ottomon parents did was become American citiGreeks were being killed or expelled, and zens,” says Coppock, who remembers her Coppock’s parents were forced from their mother studying for the test. “The day she home to the mainland, in an exchange with passed, oh my God, it was like the Fourth Turks living in Greece. With an infant in of July.” arms, they endured extreme conditions in Coppock decided to write the memoir a refugee camp before her father managed as a tribute to her parents’ suffering, strugto buy passage for them and an 11-year- gles and love and what they did for their old sister on a long, rough trip to Cuba — four children, one of whom went on to eswith a final destination of Tarpon Springs, tablish the successful Peninsula Cabinets Florida. The last leg of their escape was business. She wrote her memoir over four aboard a fishing boat, and in Florida, other years, and had the thrill of seeing it come Greeks helped the smuggled refugees re- out in May as a 71-page book published by cover their health and prepare to move on. In Flight Publishing. It’s now in its third By 1924, they’d started a new life in printing; for information, see sadalasales.

Southern California and eventually bought com. Coppock and her late husband, Jay, a house on Hobart Avenue in San Mateo, where Coppock grew up and went to nearby Borel School. There were only eight Greek families in town and she and her siblings received “American” first names for their “unpronounceable” Greek ones.

At lunchtime, their mother insisted – to their embarrassment – on bringing a hot lunch to school and spreading a tablecloth out under the trees. “We wanted sandwiches like the other kids,” writes Cop-

22 · CLIMATE · October 2020

moved to Redwood City in 1950. He was English, says the newly minted author, and “I wish I was younger. I would love to write the Coppock story because they came over on the Mayflower.”

Lindamarie Roche, chair of Redwood City’s Historic Resources Advisory Committee, had been planning to organize a summertime walking tour through the city’s oldest neighborhood west of El Camino Real: Wellesley Park. Then along came the coronavirus and its attendant restrictions. The virus may have thwarted in-person tours—but not the idea. She and husband Craig Roche ended up creating an enjoyable mini-documentary that anybody can watch on YouTube, quarantined or not.

It is among about a dozen video tours posted on the San Mateo County Historical Association’s website (historysmc.org) for the annual Victorian Days celebration.

The development called Wellesley Park began in 1889 and encompassed 160 acres west of El Camino Real to today’s Alameda de las Pulgas. Two seated lions at Wellesley Crescent mark the entrance to the neighborhood today called Edgewood Park. The 16-minute video recounts the launch of a real estate venture backed by some big-name San Franciscans. The idea was to entice prominent men and their families to build country estates in Redwood City. The backers had paid $84,000

• in gold coins for the Wellesley Park acreage, but lot sales were slow, and then an economic downturn hit the country. The developers eventually sold the property to a local real estate firm, and Wellesley Park was later re-subdivided.

The historic resources advisory committee doesn’t have its own social media page but Lindamarie would like to create a YouTube channel and even get young people involved in doing narration for future videos.

Historic Lathrop House got moved to its new location next to the history museum over a year ago. It finally got tented for

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

termites in early September, but a lot of assessment and work will need to be done before the house and its planned Redwood City History Gallery are ready to receive visitors.

Twenty-one is a milestone birthday in anyone’s life but, perhaps thanks to the Covid, the celebration couldn’t have been more memorable for Robbie Batista of Redwood City. He loves animals – dogs in particular – and before the lockdown, had been a volunteer at Nine Lives animal shelter. His family has no pets, but Batista, who has both a physical and an intellectual disability, always welcomes the neighbors’ pets over to the front yard of his home on Arlington Road.

So for his Sept. 2 birthday, his mother, Beth Goddard, put out a post to Facebook neighbors asking them to bring their dogs over for a socially distanced pet parade.

About two dozen families brought their pooches to the house, where Robbie would call each dog up one by one to sit in his lap

and receive a doggy trick-or-treat. “He’s such a happy kid,” Goddard says, and lucky to have neighbors who made the big (sheltered) birthday so special for him.

C

Robbie Batista greets one of his furry friends.

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COVID-19 Recovery October 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 23

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John and Cheri O’Neill survey the room created to house his historic collections.

24 · CLIMATE · October 2020

PROFILE•

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PROFILE•

Beyond B-Y-O-B Belmont bottle collector builds a bar to showcase his treasures

By Janet McGovern

How the Belmont Saloon’s bar from Tonopah, Nevada, came to displace a dog kennel at the Belmont, California, home of a bottle-collecting, whiskey-eschewing insurance executive is the phantasmagorical kind of yarn that in days of yore got spun out over a long and boozy evening on a barstool.

October 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 25

• This is 21st century bar story, though, with a home remedy to a problem familiar to anyone with a serious addiction, not to alcohol but to collecting: Where to put all the stuff? John O’Neill, 62, – a collector since his youth — had amassed more San Francisco-Bay-Area saloon treasures than he had a place for in his house and garage. His solution was to build an amazing personal museum that doubles as an awesome party space, anchored by a 21-foot-long antique bar he discovered on eBay. “The best thing about your collection is having other collectors to share it with or other people,” O’Neill says, surveying the 1,000-square-foot room framed with a backlit wall of glimmering liquor bottles and overhung with fringed banners celebrating California’s native sons. “Because if it just sits here and no one appreciates it, what good is it?”

Brought up in San Bruno, O’Neill got into bottle collecting as a teenager.

He joined a club which met in San Carlos where he found a friend for life in another budding bottle hound, John Shroyer.

They’d travel to construction sites to dig for buried beer, whiskey, medicine and other bottles dating back to the Gold Rush era, with O’Neill eventually focusing on San Francisco for his collecting. (Shroyer, who staked out San Mateo County as his main interest, was profiled by Climate in January 2017.)

Collecting can send history hunters rabbiting off in all directions, researching an item’s pedigree in old newspapers, telephone directories and other sources, or launching off on entirely new tangents. O’Neill, along the way, got interested enough in early California stoneware to write a book about that historical niche. He also collected Gold Rush-era cosmetic pot lids (from containers like shaving cream or toothpaste.) They

26 · CLIMATE · October 2020

PROFILE•

This vintage photo shows the bar in its earlier location in Tonopah, Nevada.

were worth enough that when he and wife Cheri bought their first home, he flipped his lids to cover the down payment.

“I’ve never been afraid to sell things,” he says. “ … I’ve sold my collection multiple times over when there was a need, absolutely.”

Not Enough Space When the O’Neills built their house in Belmont in 2000, John envisioned displaying his bottles in a lighted cabinet that was supposed to contain his collection, according to Cheri, who had her doubts. “‘You have more stuff than this,’” she told him. “’It’s not going to be enough space.’”

The O’Neills also have a large backyard well-suited to entertaining and had wanted to add a space for parties. The antiques overflow problem was solved thanks in part to a small inheritance John received when his godfather, Ed Masoni, passed away in 2007. “He told me ‘You can put it in the bank, but I’d rather have you go have some fun with it,’” says John, who opted for fun.

One evening, he was perusing eBay and found a Princess model back bar for sale, which was made by Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., a 19th century manufacturer of classical saloon bars, billiards tables and other products. The circa-1908 bar had last been used commercially in Tonopah until 1930, after which the owners

of the building it was in put the massive piece of furniture into storage in their barn.

For decades, the flamed tiger birch bar gathered dust and pigeons. Eventually the couple’s son inherited it and wanted to sell it.

John considered the $75,000 asking price too high but said he’d buy the bar if it were delivered. Sure enough, a few months later, a cattle truck rolled up at the O’Neills’ Belmont home with the bar – in sections – inside.

It wasn’t until after he did some research that John discovered that the bar he’d purchased started life in “The Belmont,” a turn-of-the century saloon that served the denizens of the mining town of Tonopah. A 1908 newspaper article raved about how The Belmont’s owner had “fitted up one of the finest thirst emporiums in the West.”

Only five months later, the Belmont Saloon had new owners, according to the Tonopah Daily Bonanza. The “mixologist,” the writer promised, “can concoct anything from an absinthe frappe to a skyrocket. A call upon them will mean a recall.” Alas, no matter how successful the business may have been, Prohibition shut down saloons in 1920. Renamed “the Belmont Café,” it lasted until 1930—and the bar went into the barn.

“I love the story behind it,” O’Neill says, showing a visitor a binder with photos and clippings about the bar. “To me it’s all about the provenance and the stories.

And I think it’s fun.”

But where to put a 12-foot-high bar?

It created the need for a larger-than-normal room, built over two years, in an area where a kennel for the family dog used to be. The disassembled bar was temporarily stored in the O’Neills’ garage, but master cabinetmaker Charles Denning restored it so it could be put back together and set

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PROFILE•

into its commanding position. Denning also created mahogany cabinets to display saloon flasks and bottles along the opposite wall. He and another longtime friend, Douglas Tadday of San Carlos, crafted a reproduction pressed metal ceiling installed 18 feet above the hickory oak floor.

A Party Museum The result is something of a hybrid saloon, which has a fully outfitted bar complete with two refrigerators, a sink and dishwasher. It’s also a private museum, John serving dual roles as a barkeep/curator surrounded by one “conversation piece” after another.

There’s the pistol-shaped whiskey container, a holiday giveaway from William Prosek, proprietor of the Park Saloon. An Eagle Bar whiskey flask (one of only two in existence) and matching business card from the “E Street” (now The Embarcadero) tavern. Embossed saloon tokens which were given to customers— instead of change. A 12-foot-long Rainier Beer sign (circa 1912) from another E Street joint hangs over the bar.

How about the small silver “match safe” from the Ocean Shore Railroad Saloon? San Francisco had newspaper saloons – the “Press” and “The Editorial Café” among them – and O’Neill of course has their bottles. Antique advertising signs adorn the walls, as well as several hard-to-find stained glass beer windows. He also owns three oil paintings by Ashley David Middleton Cooper, a celebrated San Jose painter who produced a lot of “saloon nudes.”

“It’s like stepping back to the turn of the century, and where else can you do that?” O’Neill says of his home saloon.

“It’s very authentic with what they looked like and were decorated in.”

Though he’s glad to be preserving artifacts which otherwise might be lost, for O’Neill, collecting isn’t about objects: It’s a

A fraction of the bottle collection with (below) a special editon whiskey bottle fashioned into a revolver.

way to learn about the past, even when not always uplifting.

A saloon owner in those days didn’t have to be educated to open one or make money. “All you had to do was buy liquor from a wholesaler, water it down and start shoveling it across the bar to some patron,” O’Neill says. Most customers engaged in back-breaking labor and alcohol eased the pain. “So people belonged to social groups and went to saloons. This was their place to relax.”

Lots of Liquor Long after the Gold Rush, alcohol lubricated San Francisco life. In 1890, the city had granted the right to sell alcoholic beverages to 3,117 places, one for every 96 inhabitants, according to Herbert Asbury’s 1933 book about the Barbary Coast. After the devastating 1906 earthquake, liquor license fees were increased tenfold. The emerging temperance movement which led to the Volstead Act was the coup de grace to the saloon trade.

Though not a teetotaler, O’Neill doesn’t like whiskey and may only have a glass of wine for a special occasion. “A guy that doesn’t drink owns a saloon,” he says, with a laugh. “… As you get older, it’s harder to push back from the table. I don’t need the extra calories.”

The double doors of the O’Neill family saloon open out onto a tree- and arbor-lined patio where in pre-Covid years Cheri and John have often hosted crowds of friends for fall harvest parties. More typically, John welcomes fellow bottle collectors for club meetings; the room is also big enough to accommodate large family dinners.

The O’Neills have two adult children, Justin O’Neill and Christen O’Connell. As kids, they had fun going on a few digs with him but didn’t follow dad into the hobby. “For the young kids today, my sense is that there’s not that collecting gene,” says John, who is president of the national Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors. “I think kids today really want more, like experiences, life experiences, and they’re not as interested in history as maybe we were.”

He’s also a member of the board of the Early California Wine Trade Museum, which has an eerily familiar problem: a remarkable collection in search of a permanent home. Among O’Neill’s pre-Prohibition memorabilia and collectibles is a handcarved Gundlach Bundschu wine cask from 1890. “It’s just hard to get people to find space,” he says. “We don’t need that much space but we need some space.” (Visit earlycalwinetrade.org to learn more.)

For lifelong collectors like O’Neill, cutting back on buying can be a struggle.

On the other hand, he adds, “They’re just things. I hate to say this but, if I lost this all tomorrow, I’d just start over again. …

They’ve been a fun thing, an extracurricular activity, but family and friends are more important.”

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October 2020 ·

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C L I M AT E •

I’m running for Redwood City Council to amplify the voices of all my neighbors Visit michael4redwoodcity.com

Climate Magazine Wins Press Club Awards

Climate Magazine was honored Sept. 17 with 11 awards for writing, photography and design in the 43rd Annual San Francisco Press Club Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards.

Congratulations to Janet McGovern, Jim Kirkland Don Shoecraft, Vlae Kershner, Emily Mangini, and Jim Clifford.

28 · CLIMATE · October 2020

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HISTORY by Jim Clifford•

Redwood City to Join Wreaths Across America President Lincoln proclaimed in the Gettysburg Address that the world would not “long remember” his words about our nation’s bloodiest war. Maybe some places have forgotten, but not Redwood City where the Civil War is immortalized at Union Cemetery.

The cemetery will soon become part of a coast-to-coast drive called Wreaths Across America, a campaign by volunteers dedicated to honoring deceased veterans by placing wreaths on their graves. In a brief ceremony Dec. 19, wreaths will adorn the approximately 55 graves at Union Cemetery’s Grand Army of the Republic plot that is guarded by a statue of a Union Army solider at parade rest, a familiar sight to motorists driving by on Woodside Road.

Making Redwood City a link in the 2,100 locations that belong to Wreaths Across America resulted from a joint effort by the Gaspar de Portola chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Historic Union Cemetery Association.

The first wreath-placing took place in 1992 when the Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, found itself with extra wreaths at the end of the holiday season. These were placed at Arlington National Cemetery, in one of its oldest sections, which had fewer and fewer visitors each year.

The annual ceremony at Arlington continued quietly until 2005 when a photo of snow-covered headstones adorned with wreaths circulated on the Internet, suddenly drawing national attention. The Worcester Wreath Company was inundated with requests to help continue what was becoming a unique holiday tradition. The company returned the unsolicited money

to donors, leading to the establishment of the nonprofit Wreaths Across America.

Sponsor a Wreath Climate readers who wish to honor a family member or friends on Dec.19 can attend the ceremony at Union Cemetery but they can also volunteer. People can even sponsor one or more green wreaths, which feature a red bow and cost $15 each. To do so, go to wreathsacrossamerica.org/ CA0578P. Organizers of the Redwood City observance hope there will be enough donated wreaths for all 55 graves.

The ceremony will be a subdued one, necessitated by Covid-19 social distancing and masks. Too bad. In normal times the event would have provided a great opportunity to recall Lincoln’s stirring words dedicating the cemetery at Gettysburg. Among other things, the President’s words, emblazoned on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., noted “the brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.” In words that could, or should, resound today, Lincoln called on living Americans to dedicate themselves to making sure that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall

not perish from the earth.”

None of the men buried in Redwood City’s Union Cemetery plot died in the Civil War, but they certainly fought in it.

For example, George Filkins fought at Missionary Ridge, Nashville, and Stone River.

William Frisbie of the Wisconsin volunteers was a veteran of several famous battles, including York River, Suffolk and James River. Men who fought in units from several states are buried in the cemetery, including New York, Missouri, Ohio, Maryland and Illinois.

They Died for Union The words on the statue erected in 1889 read: “To the memory of California’s patriotic dead who served during the War of the Union.” Near the base is an inscription which says “mustered out,” a military term meaning discharged or separated from service.

By 1887 there were six veterans’ graves to decorate with flowers. This led the Grand Army of the Republic’s veterans’ organization to buy the land for the plot. Decorating the graves became an annual event. In 1927 hundreds of people attended ceremonies that included bands and a parade in which four Civil War vets “rode in machines” and “occupied seats on the platform” at the cemetery, newspapers reported.

The last headstone was erected in 1984 to mark the grave of James Henry Baxter who fought at Gettysburg, where he was wounded in the neck with a sword. Baxter died in Redwood City in 1936 at the age of 92. He was buried at the foot of the statue of the Union soldier. His grave was unmarked until relatives put up the stone.

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