Climate RWC – May 2021 Edition by info-climaterwc

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P u b l i c a t i o n Feature: Emerging from the Pandemic Spotlight: Union Cemetery Changing Climate: An Active Waterfront

ISSUE SIXTY NINE • MAY • 2021

Westpoint Harbor Charts Course for its Next Phase

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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 Powerhouse Gym La Tartine restaurant Ralph's Vacuum Nick the Greek Peet's Coffee

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Round Table Pizza Popeyes Canyon Inn Sanchez Taqueria San Carlos Airport Hiller Museum Devil's Canyon

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

It was entirely unintentional but one thing that struck me as I thought about our May issue is how this one takes us beyond the constricted world we’ve had to deal with since the Covid pandemic arrived a year ago. We’re like people gingerly emerging from a fallout shelter, not sure what’s harmless and what’s still radioactive. People are venturing out from their confines, going to restaurants, bars, sporting events and movies. Kids are semi back in classrooms. Life is trying to get back to normal. This month’s feature by writer Scott Dailey looks at the “what next” scenario from the bigpicture standpoint, and whether a year of working out of the office will bring permanent changes. Employees are starting to come back to their old desks—but how about cubicles? Has the Covid given families struggling with high Bay Area housing costs a way to work remotely forever? How will the office market shake out? What have people missed by not being able to kibbutz and brainstorm with their colleagues? Scott conducted many, many interviews with business people, industry experts and others trying to better assess what’s ahead in this perplexing “post-Covid” world. His story titled “Breaking Out of Covid” begins on page 8. Both our May Profile and Spotlight stories take us outdoors. Climate contributor Jill Singleton got to know Mark Sanders, the subject of this month’s Profile, when she was working for Cargill. Mark purchased land from the company years ago to build Westpoint Harbor, and, as Jill explains, building a marina turned out to be the greatest challenge of a life filled with accomplishment. I don’t often have occasion to drive east of 101 to visit the bayside, but Westpoint is truly impressive, well worth a trip. Climate’s May Spotlight is about Union Cemetery, a spot everyone should spend some time visiting. Ordinarily, Memorial Day would provide a wonderful opportunity to attend the annual commemoration, but it would still be a good place to be present, recognizing the nation’s war dead. The story about this remarkable historic landmark begins on page 24. This month MicroClimate introduces us to Charles Coston, who has dedicated lots and lots of hours over the years to keeping an eye on bird life along the waterfront. He took time out from his weekend to explain to Climate what he does and why he does it. At the Port of Redwood City, meanwhile, there’s now an opportunity to buy fresh fish right off the dock from a fisherman with family roots in that business going back to the 1900s. It’s time to get out of the house and enjoy what “Climate Best” is all about!

Janet McGovern, Editor

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FEATU RE

Post-Covid, What’s Next?

PROFILE

Westpoint Harbor's Mark Sanders

SPOTLIG HT Union Cemetery

MICRO CLIMATE...........22 AROUND TOWN ��28 HISTORY......................29

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Cover photo by Neil Rabinowitz

Save the Date! San Mateo PAL is excited to present the 22nd Annual PAL Golf Tournament at a the spectacular Half Moon Bay Golf Links on the coast of San Mateo County! The PAL Tournament offers good times and great golf at a beautiful location, while also supporting our PAL kids! Presented by

Thank you for continuing to support San Mateo PAL! Date: October 1, 2021 Location: Half Moon Bay Golf Links, 2 Miramontes Point Rd., Half Moon Bay, CA Contact Lisa Tartaglia at 650-522-773 or ltartaglia@cityofsanamteo.org for further assistance or go to www.sanmateopal.org Check out our website for more information about sponsorships and foursomes. Thank you to our current event sponsors!

This ad was provided as a courtesy of

Mayneighbors 2021 · -CLIMATE Neighbors helping since 1938· 5

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C L I M AT E •

CLIMATE M A G A Z I N E Publisher

S.F. Bay Media Group Editor

Dinner & a Movie & More! In the heart of the Theatre District, Redwood City.

Janet McGovern janet@climaterwc.com Creative Director

Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers

Scott Dailey Janet McGovern Jill Singleton Jim Clifford Photography

Jim Kirkland Editorial Board

Janet McGovern Jim Kirkland Adam Alberti Advisory Board

Dee Eva Jason Galisatus Connie Guerrero Matt Larsen Dennis Logie Clem Molony Barb Valley CLIMATE magazine is a monthly publication by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation. Entire contents ©2021 by S.F. Bay Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. CLIMATE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. CLIMATE offices are located at 570 El Camino Real, Ste. 150 #331 Redwood City, CA 94063. Printed in the U.S.A.

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For exclusive Spring Offers from Shops On Broadway, visit: www.shopsonbroadway.com 2107 Broadway Street, Redwood City

6 · CLIMATE · May 2021

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May 2021 ·

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Breaking Out of Covid The Peninsula emerges from the pandemic

By Scott Dailey

It’s been more than a year. More than a year of losing loved ones or at least fearing for them. More than a year of worldwide lockdown. More than a year of separation from family, or exposure to too much family. Of closed schools and houses of worship. Of lost jobs and businesses. Of isolation from friends and co-workers. Of longing for favorite hangouts. Of just plain being cooped up at home. Now, with places re-opening, people throughout the Peninsula are wondering the same thing as Dorothy after her weary-looking farmhouse crashed into Oz. What will be out there when they cautiously open the door?

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• Will many – especially Silicon Valley’s highly paid knowledge workers – continue their Zoom meetings, maybe from a ranch in Montana? If fewer return to the office, at least every day, what will become of the wage-earners who used to serve them in nearby restaurants, nail salons and dry cleaners? On the subject of restaurants, will folks ever go out again? Or have they all fallen in love with dinner and a movie – from the kitchen and the couch? Steve Salazar is betting people will come back. The proprieter of Sneakers American Grill, a popular eatery and sports bar in San Carlos, hopes to be open seven days a week and fully staffed with 45 employees by early May. (As of midApril, Sneakers was closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and operating at 50 percent capacity for indoor dining. The restaurant holds 300 customers inside, and the outdoor area can accommodate an additional 75 to 80 patrons.) Salazar says the wooden outdoor platforms, which he built himself, are “something that I would like to keep, because San Carlos has incredible weather nine months out of the year. People like to eat outside. They like to socialize outside. Come (to downtown San Carlos) on Thursday through Sunday. There are just people everywhere. It’s a social event. They feel safer outside, and I think it’s going to stay that way for a couple of years, assuming that this goes away completely.” Live Music Resuming The expanded capacities of restaurants and the reopening of bars and breweries (permitted to operate outdoors since March 13) will be welcome news to local musicians, who have disappeared from live view since California’s lockdown began. For the past year-plus, music pros accustomed to playing engagements have been surviving mainly through online teaching. Meanwhile, nightspots such as

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Steve Salazar

"People like to eat outside. They like to socialize outside. Come (to downtown San Carlos) on Thursday through Sunday. There are just people everywhere. It’s a social event." Club Fox in Redwood City have turned to streaming events, asking for contributions from Internet audiences to pay the bands and other expenses. Now, things are picking up. San Carlos drummer Mikel Bee played a few gigs in April, even driving to the small Sacramento Valley town of Winters for one job. Members of the E-Ticket Band, one of the Peninsula’s favorite rock-and-roll cover groups, have recently been easing back into shape by playing outdoor sessions on weekends. “Everybody’s very anxious at this point,” says leader Cliff White.

Actors are also hovering in the wings. General Manager Ernie Schmidt of Redwood City’s Fox Theatre hopes performances can resume by July. In an email, Schmidt writes that he expects the stately, Art-Deco theater to operate “at full capacity, with conditions” such as proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test within three days, along with masks and temperature checks at the door. A couple of blocks up Broadway, Bora “Max” Koknar of the Dragon Theatre says the 65-seat facility may re-start productions for live audiences sometime in the fall. Koknar also hopes to provide a summer conservatory for youth and small in-person performances such as standup comedy and one-person shows, all off-site. Meanwhile, the organization continues to offer its broad online programming. For the summer, the City of Redwood City is currently planning its usual array of summer camps with applicable Covid restrictions, says Jordana Freeman of the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. At present, the city has no plans for summer concerts at Courthouse Square; as Freeman observes, “People get pretty sardined in there.” Like all people in business – public and private – Freeman and her Redwood City colleagues are dealing with constant uncertainty. “We’re following the current guidance by the California Department of Public Health and the CDC (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention),” she says. “The have specific industry guidance for each area of what we do, like youth sports, day camps, childcare, things like that. We’re not quite sure what’s going to happen after June 15 (the scheduled end date for California’s lockdown). "We’re anticipating that there will still be some (regulations) in place, for instance, for things like outdoor events. We figure that there are still some things we’re going to have to be concerned about, like creat-

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ing a critical mass (of people) two months after we’re still in a tier. We’re trying to do things responsibly.” Entertained at Home While entertainment and many other activities have been on hold, people this past year learned to have fun at home. That lifted the hobby-and-craft industry, which early in the pandemic saw a 70 percent surge in U.S. sales of arts-and-crafts supplies. Locally, the E-Ticket Band’s White – who for decades owned J&M Hobby House in San Carlos until he and his wife Pam retired at the end of March – says business was strong during the pandemic. Even so, he wonders if new enthusiasts will stay interested. A forecast released by ReportLinker, a global business-data provider, suggests they will; it predicts the worldwide arts-and-crafts industry will grow by 41 percent between 2020 and 2025. For people working remotely, leisure time has often shrunk. In Menlo Park, a merchandising manager for an international clothing chain says she averages 50 to 60 hours a week in front of her laptop. That’s up from slightly more than 40 hours at the office. “I think there’s a challenge in remote work to get yourself to sign off and have limits,” she says. David Hooper, a human-resources director for a Peninsula biotech company, agrees. “In this Covid environment, the stress level is up,” Hooper observes. “People are having to work hard, work differently and manage family. The work hours can be intense.” To guard against burnout, Hooper’s company recently added three holidays. Employees are also urged to take a real lunch break and observe what Hooper calls a “no-fly zone,” in which online meetings are discouraged between noon and 2 p.m.

eight sit-down and stand-up desks. The idea has been to promote collaboration and conversation. Now, Hooper says, the company is considering how to create safety barriers that might include a return to cubicles in some cases.

Jordana Freeman

For the summer, the City of Redwood City is currently planning its usual array of summer camps with applicable Covid restrictions, says Jordana Freeman of the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. At present, the city has no plans for summer concerts at Courthouse Square; as Freeman observes, “People get pretty sardined in there.” Hooper recently has been spending part of his time determining how to bring people safely back to work. That may include reconfiguring the company’s office space. The firm has had an open-office concept, with pods of six to

Rethinking Offices Other organizations throughout the country face the same challenge, and are asking architects to reimagine buildings for a post-Covid work environment. “The pandemic could potentially transform modern-day design for years,” concluded television news reporter Bigad Shaban in a recent series on NBC Bay Area. Shaban and his team interviewed architects from nine firms, and learned about the expected coming prevalence of everything from touchless faucets to open-air shops and outdoor eating areas integrated into office complexes. An axiom among office designers is that many people will be coming in fewer than five days a week – forever. Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of the photo-sharing site Flickr and CEO of Slack Technologies, which offers a team-messaging app, told the BBC that a study of 4,700 knowledge workers found only 12 percent wanted to return to full-time office work. That would significantly reduce the need for dedicated offices or cubicles. It would also increase the demand for flexible floor space where people could drop in, plug in and work together. Who comes in, who works at home and when? Professor Amy C. Edmondson of the Harvard Business School says it should depend on the nature of the job. “Working from home works best for relatively independent tasks, when knowledge is codified and can be easily shared from a distance,” Edmondson told “Working Knowledge,” a Harvard Business School website. “Being together matters when tasks are interdependent, May 2021 ·

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• require sharing tacit knowledge in fluid ways, and coordination needs are not scripted or predictable.” What if folks just feel like working from home? Edmondson gives a hearty thumbs-down. “Designing future work arrangements needs to be based on what the work requires from us,” she says, “not on our preferences or the length of our commute.” Back to the Water Cooler Beyond the need to get things done, socializing also draws people into the workplace. As a Wall Street Journal headline dared readers last month, “Admit it: You miss office gossip.” Indeed, the day-to-day contact with co-workers is what a Peninsula college instructor discovered he had cherished most. Even though he slipped out of California and enjoyed a new locale for a couple of

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months, he still longed for casual conversations and camaraderie. The pandemic, he says, “eliminated the kind of informal interactions that you have with your colleagues. You don’t meet them in the hall, you don’t see them on campus. Work is a community, and the job is more pleasant when you work in a supportive, reinforcing community … an email isn’t the same thing as sharing a cup of coffee.” Besides the potential for losing touch, a long hiatus may carry another risk. Working from out of state – say, at a vacation home – could set people up for a double tax whammy. "There's a real crisscross of rules that can affect taxpayers negatively," tax lawyer Tim Noonan told CNN business reporter Jeanne Sahadi in March. Sahadi additionally cautioned that “the issue becomes more complicated still when an employee effectively stays in a new state for more than 183 days, there-

by calling into question their official residency status.” Service Jobs Impacted Telecommuting and teleconferencing with out-of-town staff are already reducing the need for office space and, with it, support industries such as janitorial services, transportation companies and hotels. Having fewer workers in the office also means less income for nearby restaurants and other small businesses that cater to the downtown trade. Most of all these firms’ employees, such as food servers, dishwashers, housekeepers, maintenance workers and delivery people, typically earn lower wages. They may find themselves with less work or perhaps none at all. That worries many, including David Autor and Elisabeth Reynolds of MIT’s Task Force on the Work of the Future. In a July 2020 paper published through the

Telecommuting and teleconferencing with out-of-town staff are already reducing the need for office space and, with it, support industries such as janitorial services, transportation companies and hotels. Having fewer workers in the office also means less income for nearby restaurants and other small businesses that cater to the downtown trade.

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Brookings Institution, they wrote about the rise of remote work and the corresponding fall in demand for personal-service providers and outside support people. “Workers who remain in these jobs may face even lower wages,” the authors predicted. “Those displaced may suffer significant hardship as they seek new work, potentially in occupations where they have no experience or training.” The consequences could be long-term. Before the pandemic, workers throughout the country were enjoying a boom in jobs and pay. But if various industrial categories lose business permanently, Autor and Reynolds say the effects “will take additional years to work off.” Growing numbers of remote workers also make this a bad time to own an office building. Commercial real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield expects office vacancy rates nationwide to reach 17.4 percent next year, although the company

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anticipates a recovery to pre-Covid levels by 2025 through increased employment. San Mateo County’s office vacancy rate jumped to 10.6 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up 3.3 percentage points from the same period in 2019, according to Colliers International, another commercial realtor. Palo Alto broker and developer Steve Pierce describes the local office market in one word – “dead.” But a commercial building manager who specializes in biotech space says the research-and-development sector is “healthy and growing.” Unlike office workers, scientists and technicians need labs such as those in the fully leased twin six-story biotech buildings that opened last month in San Carlos. Countywide, Colliers reports the R&D vacancy rate dropped to 3.6 percent in Q4 last year, from 4.0 percent 12 months previously.

Gridlock at Bay Biotech professionals aside, more people working from home has made commuting a breeze for the past year. Now, the California Department of Transportation’s Freeway Performance Measurement System, which tracks delays, shows Bay Area drivers hitting the brakes more often. Still, remote work may keep traffic below pre-pandemic levels.. For devotees of public transportation, Caltrain and SamTrans currently offer plenty of seats. Last fall, Caltrain reported ridership had fallen by between 93 and 95 percent of previous counts. Meanwhile, 17.7 percent fewer passengers boarded SamTrans buses last year compared with 2019. The resulting financial hardships forced service cuts for both the bus and the train.

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Transit district spokesman Dan Lieberman says riders are gradually coming back. Weekday passengers on Caltrain in mid-April averaged 4,500, up from a thousand fewer in February. That’s still a tiny fraction of the more than 63,000 per weekday that Caltrain carried in 2019. On the bus, SamTrans in March averaged 14,435 daily passengers, 44 percent of pre-pandemic riders. To entice more riders, Caltrain is offering a 20-percent discount on monthly passes through September. If the county’s freeways and transit systems seem less packed than before, it might be in part because people are moving away. According to U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, more than 28,000 households left San Mateo County last year. That compared with slightly fewer than 19,000 that moved in, resulting in a net loss of 9,305 and reversing reported population gains from at least the past two years. Where People Moved Where people went might offer a surprise. Despite talk of a colossal exodus spurred by California’s liberal politics and oft-resented coronavirus restrictions, just 1 percent left the state. Perhaps planning to

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telecommute from a bigger, cheaper house, more than a third left the Bay Area. An additional 22 percent crossed to the East Bay. (In Alameda and Contra Costa counties, real-estate brokerage Redfin in March pegged the median home price at $888,000, compared with $1.5 million in San Mateo County. Statewide, Redfin found a median price of $665,000.) On the other hand, cost apparently meant little to the 41 percent who stayed on the Peninsula and paid comparable prices in San Francisco and Santa Clara County. John Sieling, a Realtor with Veritas Homes in San Carlos, recently found a house in Livermore for buyers from the Peninsula. Their dry-cleaning business, aimed at employees from large corporations, suffered during the pandemic while people worked from home. Sieling

says they’re “getting about the same-sized house for around a million dollars less.” Locally, buyers are finding the competition intense. February sales in San Mateo County rose 4.1 percent year-on-year, according to CoreLogic, an Irvine-based business-analytics company. Steve Pierce, the Palo Alto real-estate broker, routinely sees multiple offers – 16 in one recent case – as well as sales hundreds of thousands of dollars above the asking price. It’s not just here. In her March 25 blog, CoreLogic Deputy Chief Economist Selma Hepp wrote that, nationally, “Pandemic-induced demand – for homes with more living space and located in lower-density neighborhoods – coupled with historically favorable mortgage rates and declining for-sale inventories led to the most competitive market seen since at least 2008.”

• Hepp reported that more than a third of home sales across the country in November 2020 involved more than one bidder. Homebuyers may be pushing prices up, but apartment-dwellers throughout the Bay Area have benefited from lower rents during the pandemic. Of 25 local cities sampled in March by rental website Zumper, only Vallejo posted a gain during the previous 12 months. Median rents for a one-bedroom apartment fell by 29.3 percent in Redwood City, 27.1 percent in Menlo Park and 14.8 percent in San Mateo. Renters in San Mateo and Redwood City now pay an average of $2,200 – some $450 a month less than in San Francisco, whose own rental market declined by 24.3 percent in the last year. Doctors Turn to “Virtual Care” Wherever they live, people need medical care. More and more since the pandemic began, they’re getting it at home or at work through videoconferences with their doctors. Santa Clara-based physician Dr. Craig Wargon, head of the technology group for Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, says the gigantic medical provider’s demand for “video visits” is in the millions and has risen 3,000 percent since the advent of Covid. Wargon cites numerous advantages. First, patients can eliminate the two hours that Kaiser Permanente estimates they spend getting ready to see their doctor, including the round-trip to the clinic and time in the waiting room. Second, older patients who have difficulty getting around can save time both for themselves and their caregivers. Third, avoiding a car trip saves gas or the charge on an electric vehicle. Finally, Wargon says, a video meeting frequently carries no copay (or a lesser one than an in-person visit). Downsides exist, as well. “There are times when you need to examine patients,” Wargon says. “And that can’t be done during a video visit.”

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Top: Dr. Craig Wargon Top right: what the patients see on their smart devices. Middle right: what the doctor sees when initiating the session. Bottom right: an example of the doctor viewing a skin wound via telemedicine.

“I think that many people have seen the convenience and advantages of video visits, and it’s never going to go back down to the baseline that we had,” Wargon says. “It may drop a little bit over time, as people do come back to the office. But it’s here to stay.” Nonetheless, he believes the technology will remain popular. “I think that many people have seen the convenience and advantages of video visits, and it’s never going to go back down to the baseline that we had,” he says. “It may drop a little bit over time, as people do come back to the office. But it’s here to stay.” From seeing the doctor online to getting used to working at home or even relocating to a new city, life has been transformed over the past 15 months. For everyone, the type and degree of change

will differ. But with state officials pledging to open California completely on June 15, the “new normal” – whatever that eventually may be – is about to begin. C

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PROFILE•

From a Corporate Helm to Developing a Marina

Mark Sanders

navigated big challenges to build a South Bay marina

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PROFILE•

By Jill Singleton

Mark Sanders had impressive and wide-ranging credentials on his résumé before he added the one that proved his biggest test: He’d been a Naval officer, an engineer, a sailor, a rancher, and corporate leader—not to mention the winner of nine EMMYs for technical innovation—before he decided to build a marina in Redwood City. Without a doubt, though, building Westpoint Harbor has been the most challenging undertaking in his very eventful career.

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PROFILE•

Photo by Neil Rabinowitz

rom concept to construction, the harbor located near Pacific Shores Center took more than 14 years to plan, engineer, design and, most importantly, to earn permits from 12 separate federal, state, regional, and local government agencies. Sanders calls the marina “a labor of love” and it’s thanks to his vision and determination that Redwood City boasts today one of the finest recreational harbors in North America — with a hotel and additional shoreside amenities yet to come. Though building Westpoint Harbor has been Sanders’ greatest challenge, he’d never been shy about taking them on. The former high-tech CEO spent 20 years in increasingly responsible management roles at the iconic tech giant, Ampex, before taking the helm of Pinnacle Systems, a foundering 21-person start-up in 1990. When he retired from Pinnacle in 2004 it was a 1,700 -employee industry leader in digital video technology with sales of $350 million.

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Today, though ostensibly retired, the passionate sailor is the owner of a marina that realized his personal goal — incorporating state-of-the-art environmental safeguards, premier amenities, and boat-centric innovations. Sanders’ vision and success were validated by the boating industry in 2019 when Westpoint Harbor received the Large Marina of the Year Award from Marina Dock Age magazine. More recently, the harbor was recognized with the Marine Industries Association “Gold Anchor Award” – the first in the country. “One thing I often say about Mark, and I mean this in the best possible terms, is that he is unencumbered by those impermeable barriers that others see,” marvels longtime sailing buddy Bob Wilson, a Redwood Shores resident who first met Sanders when both worked at Ampex in the early 1980s, then followed him to Pinnacle. “He allows himself to dream big, and to see what’s possible and to remove the roadblocks that are before him.”

A Decades-Long Dream How Sanders became the first new harbor owner in the bay for decades is a saga that began in 1988. A lifelong sailor (he grew up in a boating family in San Diego), he was distressed to see marinas and boatyards close in the South Bay. He resolved to reverse the decline of his favorite pastime in his adopted home of Redwood City. “Recreational boating was fading in the South Bay because high land values made other uses more lucrative,” he recalled. “The high cost of maintenance dredging, lack of suitable sites and a difficult legislative environment added to the problem.” Studying maps, he located the only suitable piece of shoreline left in the South Bay that offered deep-water access — where Westpoint Slough meets the bay — and purchased a 50-acre bittern pond that had been part of Cargill’s 1,400-acre solar salt-making plant site in Redwood

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City. (Bittern is concentrated sea water with most of the NaCl removed – and the source of industrial products used for dust control in vineyards and de-icing on roads and bridges.) That was in 1990. Despite having no formal opposition to the harbor, and the backing of local officials, environmentalists, and the business community; the regulatory and permitting process nearly buried him. It wasn’t until 2003 that construction began and the first boats entered the harbor in 2008. “It’s said waterfront development on San Francisco Bay is second only to the nuclear power industry in difficulty, and I believe that is true,” mused Sanders, of his 33-year undertaking. Small Boats to Yachts Westpoint Harbor provides 416 slips for boats from 36 to 120 feet in length. Superyachts, some belonging to Silicon Valley’s tech titans, dock at Westpoint Harbor,

PROFILE•

along with an array of smaller craft. All berths have slip-side pump-out stations for sewage (a first in California) and Wi-fi, two amenities that keep the marina’s waters cleaner than the bay and 21st century boaters connected 24/7. The marina accommodates a diversity of boaters and boating lifestyles, from liveaboards to visitors from around the world — thanks to a 1,000-foot guest dock, a fuel dock, public boat launch and a kayak beach. The harbor also accommodates dinghies, kayaks, paddleboards, and other personal watercraft. Demographically, Sanders is proud to say, his harbor users nearly match San Mateo County’s profile. When Sanders embarked upon his marina project, he studied all he could about the field. He quickly became a recognized expert and was elected president of the Marine Recreation Association, champions of West Coast boating. “Mark is one of these people who looks beyond the immediate and looks

over the horizon. He builds relationships. He’s not a single dimensional person,” says Wilson. “He’s just a solid citizen with the highest integrity.” Wilson recalls that as Pinnacle’s CEO, Sanders — like every other employee — worked out of a cubicle and flew coach. “He treats people so fairly, and as an employee you recognize you are going to get a chance to perform and to make a mistake.” “He is a visionary… and has the ability to bring a vision to life,” agrees Paulien Ruijssenaars, who, like Wilson, is a former colleague of Sanders’ at Pinnacle and an enthusiastic boater. “And then to bring people together to help him execute. He did it at Pinnacle. He did it at the harbor. That’s what he does,” she says. Regulatory Hurdles Nevertheless, Sanders’ project managed to end up in rough waters with the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, a government agency May 2021 ·

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B U S I N E S S C L I M AT E •

Photo courtesy Mark Sanders Sander's yacht, the Hurrica V.

In a politely-worded but scathing report, the State Auditor found BCDC was failing in its mission to protect the bay and recommended many steps for improvement. formed to prevent bay fill and regulate a 100-foot shoreline band around the bay. Within the first five years of construction and operation, BCDC had lodged nearly 100 charges against the marina. Daily fines were racking up. Virtually all were “paper violations,” in Sanders’ view. Among them: allowing Redwood City’s fire and police boats to moor inside his harbor and posting boating speed limit signs that faced the water instead of the shore. Sanders was at an impasse and litigation loomed. This imbroglio prompted Ruijssenaars, a public relations professional, to start an independent support group, “Friends of Westpoint Harbor,” and rally 5,000 Bay Area residents to the cause. “A lot of people got involved, says Ruijssenaars. “Number one, because they trusted Mark, and number two, because they believed in what he was doing.” Pivotal among them, in Ruijssenaars view, was San Mateo County Supervisor

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Dave Pine, who represents the county on the 27-member BCDC. “It was because of Mark’s network and because Dave was an honest broker, we could bring the sides together and resolve the issues.” Pine says he “was inspired to help Mark work through a number of long-standing regulatory issues because I was impressed by his vision of creating a world-class, environmentally friendly marina in Redwood City. Westpoint Harbor is a very special place and is a testament to Mark’s love of the Bay. The perseverance, tenacity and innovation Mark displayed in creating the marina is truly remarkable.” Sanders is everlastingly grateful. “Dave Pine took the time to visit Westpoint Harbor and had the courage to stand up at a commission meeting in which staff proposed a cease-and-desist order against Westpoint Harbor.”

Settlement Achieved Ultimately, the issues were resolved in 2018. BCDC dropped its claims and has it been smooth sailing ever since. In return, Sanders halted legal action and made donations of $75,000 to Marine Science Institute, and $75,000 to the California Coastal Conservancy. Sanders felt some vindication when State Assemblyman Kevin Mullin and then-State Senator Jerry Hill, both Democrats, formed a legislative oversight committee which ordered an audit of BCDC’s enforcement program. In a politely-worded but scathing report, the State Auditor found BCDC was failing in its mission to protect the bay and recommended many steps for improvement. Following the audit, the BCDC Executive Director Larry Goldzband issued a conciliatory statement, admitting: “Commission and its staff publicly agreed with most of the report’s recommendations and the Commis-

• sion directed staff to use those recommendations as a springboard to improve the enforcement program.” One of the most interesting aspects of Westpoint Harbor’s development is how the site – with its 40-foot-deep saturated bay muds — was drained and reshaped into a 26-acre, water-filled basin surrounded by 24-acres of buildable uplands. And in record time. Unlike most marinas, Westpoint Harbor didn’t start out as a navigable part of the San Francisco estuary. Rather, the property existed as a soggy marsh for several thousand years, and was then used in salt production for about a century. Geotechnical engineers predicted it would take 35 to 40 years to prepare the site for excavation and compaction using natural processes. An Idea from Holland Obviously, a no go. Instead, Sanders applied an innovative “wicking” process to “dewater” the site—something he learned on a business trip to Holland, where half the land has been reclaimed from the sea. The process required the placement of 50,000 flattened 40-foot-long tubes (wicks) in the watery muds. The site was then “surcharged,” with excavated mud piled on the wicked area—forcing the liquid up the wicks so it could be drained and pumped back into Cargill’s salt production process. Dewatering the 50 acres took less than a year. Massive excavators then dug out the marina basin and the excavated muds were compacted into developable uplands – a process that took another four years. Even from boyhood, Sanders has been on a fast track. At age 10, he was already a ham radio operator with his own station. Throughout middle and high school, he worked as an electronics assembler, then a technician and junior engineer at Lockheed and McDonnell Douglas. While studying

B U S I N E S S C L I M AT E •

for an engineering degree at Cal-Poly, he was a radio and TV serviceman. After a stint in the Navy aboard destroyers, he entered the corporate world at Ampex. He was promoted to increasingly responsible positions, inspiring him to earn an MBA at Golden Gate University to better meet his ultimate role as Vice-President and General Manager of the Recording Systems Division, the company’s largest. The Harbor’s Next Phases Sanders’ vision for Westpoint remains incomplete. He is now overseeing construction of the third and final phase of the harbor, which includes a boutique hotel, restaurant, shops and other shoreside amenities that will provide attractions for boater and boat watchers. A father of two and grandfather of two, Sanders and his wife Maureen (a retired speech and language pathologist) run cattle and grow organic produce at their ranch in San Gregorio. Yet he still

finds time to indulge his special passion of cresting the waves aboard Hurrica V, his 72-foot Charles Nicholson ketch which is berthed at the marina. Built in Australia in 1924 and used as a patrol vessel for the Australian Navy in WWII, Hurrica V was featured in "The Great Gatsby" movie starring Leonardo di Caprio. Looking back, as he sums up his commitment to Westpoint Harbor, Sanders sounds both weary and proud. “Phase 1 and Phase 2 was all construction and all about boaters. Phase 3, which will begin to open next spring, includes a 1000-foot boardwalk with shops, a restaurant and a yacht club – and will be for everyone. We are creating a place where everyone can come down and have a meal or eat some ice cream or have a cup of coffee and enjoy the water. It’s the final bloom of this project.” C Jill Singleton is a retired public relations representative of Cargill.

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M I C R O C L I M AT E •

Redwood City’s Active Waterfront: Where Birds Count and Fish Sell When Charles Coston packs his longrange telescope and binoculars to go look for birds along the levees of Redwood Shores, there’s nothing idle about his pursuit. The 83-year-old Sunnyvale resident is a volunteer bird surveyor—as opposed to watcher—for the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. He wants his “birding to count” and that couldn’t be more literal. Clipboard in tow, he counts nests and monitors bird activity over the course of many months, generating data which he sends on to the SFBBO. The organization, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, shares data with universities and scientists to answer questions about the health of the Bay Area’s ecosystem. “I’m a bird counter,” Coston says. “I don’t do a lot of recreational birding. … Mostly I want my effort going into something that’s going to go somewhere.” And effort it is: He drives from his home and puts in at least an hour once a month for the first three months of the year, and twice a month in May and June and possibly July and August as bird activity increases. Coston has been surveying birds for the observatory group for more than 30 years. He’s assigned to an area near the Silicon Valley Clean Water wastewater treatment plant, located at the end of Radio Road, where he monitors birds nesting on five giant power towers. Situated next to Steinberger Slough with its abundant supply of food, the Double-Crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets and other birds which park on the structures have what they need to establish and sustain colonies. When Coston arrives, he takes a seat on a log weathered nearly white from the sun, sets up his Nikon 20x60 telescope on a tripod and trains its gaze on towers about

Birdwatcher Charles Coston

600 yards away. The birds spread out their nests on the cross girders—about eight nests can fit between the pylons. Over many months, he monitors and logs their progress. Years of studying the birds have given him the ability to assess chick development from afar. Is the cormorant adult sitting a little higher on the nest? Coston, who is retired from Lockheed, has learned to interpret these minor shifts. “They sit a little differently. It’s something you learn over time to recognize.” Over his decades of surveying the birds, their numbers—indeed their presence—has waxed and waned, sometimes for no obvious reason. In the 1990s, Coston began monitoring more than 100 Blackcrowned Night Herons and Snowy Egret nests (later joined by a few Great Egrets) after the birds relocated to a grove of eucalyptus trees at the sewage treatment plant. After a few years, the birds began moving to other trees on site, but in 2004, most of the colony was abandoned. A couple of years later, the herons and egrets were

back. Last year, Coston wasn’t able to do bird surveys because of the Covid, and so far this year he’s seen no evidence of nests in that area. Coston was very excited indeed in April when he spotted an Osprey on the tower, something he hadn’t seen in his entire tenure on the mudflats. He immediately sent word to the bird observatory of his rare finding. “I’ve had a lot of surprises while monitoring these colonies,” Coston says, “but none beats the ‘Wow’ of seeing the nesting Ospreys atop the right-hand tower across from the slough.” Occasionally when he’s out birding, passers-by stop and ask him what he’s doing. “Some people are amazed to discover there are birds over there,” he says with a laugh. “They’ve walked by and never noticed. Other people are quite knowledgeable. You get all kinds.”

Family and friends of Redwood City’s Millie Price Cole surprised her last year with a car parade past her house for her 99th birthday, May 22. Among many accomplishments, the former Selby Lane school teacher has been active with the Optimist Club—and that positive spirit must have something to do with her longevity. For

Millie Price Cole

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• the big 100th, there’ll be another birthday parade—this time not a surprise. Merrily Robinson, one of the organizers, hopes there’ll be 100 cars in the noon-time tribute, and at least that many birthday cards to deliver. (Send them to Robinson at 952 Ruby St., Redwood City, CA 94061.) Sixty-five Cole descendants are coming for the birthday weekend. “She’s just an outstandingly awesome, loving, kind person,” Robinson says of her lifelong friend.

"Auntie Lou" Prado

Reaching 100 in good spirits and health is a feat, but a Redwood City woman known as “Auntie Lou” (for Louise) Prado passed that milestone four years ago. She’s lived long enough to have had a career at Ampex Corp. as an engineer, and then a second one as a caregiver at a Sharon Heights facility. She “took care of old people” until her retirement—at the age of 89. Auntie Lou lives with niece Chris Sakalerios, a fitness trainer, and they exercise together every day. Auntie Lou is looking forward to resuming a favorite activity — going to casinos. For her 104th birthday in January, friends brought gold pans and buckets of sand to accommodate her wish to celebrate by going gold-panning. It was only in the front yard — but she found some gold flecks. Lou’s secret to a long life? Drink-

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

ing lots of water. Chocolate. Dancing. And “go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. No stress or letting something bother me or give me a bad time.”

It can be hard to find an upside in the prolonged Covid saga, but the story of how the Port of Redwood City came to try out having a mini-Fisherman’s Wharf on the docks definitely qualifies. About eight months ago, the Port’s Executive Director Kristine Zortman got a call from the owner of Pioneer Seafoods, who was desperately looking for a place to relocate his fishing enterprise. Giuseppe Pennisi, a third-generation commercial fisherman, had been doing business for the past five years in San Francisco but lost his spot at Pier 47 as a result of Covid-related changes. For months, the Chico resident drove to Bay Area harbors looking for one that could handle a fishing trawler and was open to fresh fish sales to the public. He didn’t even know Redwood City had a harbor until he found it on Google Earth and dialed the office to explain what he wanted to do. Pennisi was stunned by Zortman’s response. “You’ve got to remember, I’ve got six kids, my bills were piling up, I’ve got no place to go,” he recalls. “And all of a sudden this woman says to me, after I’ve been turned down for three-and-a-half months—the exuberance in her voice, it was almost like paralyzing to me.” Says Zortman: “We said, yeah we’d be delighted to try this out on a pilot basis because really what it did was it brought a whole new use to our port and we thought

a real great opportunity to kind of activate the waterfront and be able to offer something new to the residents and the community and it’s been going great.” The FV Pioneer has been docking in Redwood City since late last summer, bringing thousands of pounds of fish—chilipepper rockfish, petrale sole, halibut, and black cod to name a few of the dozens of varieties. Pennisi and his deck crew sell to consumers right off F Dock, plus fish & chips, fish tacos and other items from a food truck. Live music, such as steel drums, adds to the festive atmosphere. The trawler travels 15 to 35 miles offshore, between Pigeon Point and Point Reyes, and brings in 10,000 to 15,000 pounds of fish, which are sold Friday through Sunday. (Check out Pioneer Seafoods on Facebook for the schedule.) Despite—or perhaps because of—a lifetime spent fishing, Pennisi loves fresh, local fish, loves talking about it, loves cooking it, and loves eating it. “If you buy fish from the Pioneer,” he says in a video, “I guarantee you, I guarantee you, you will have

a totally different experience than you’ve ever had in your life. Because you will be able to taste something for the first time that is so delicious that people who don’t even like seafood all of a sudden become seafood lovers.” C

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SPOTLIGHT•

Keeping Memories Alive at Historic

Union Cemetery Volunteers don’t want the county’s pioneers to be forgotten

By Janet McGovern

Death, actually, does not us part, solemn marriage vows to the contrary. “Darling we miss thee,” the grieving parents of Willie Bullivant, age 1, lamented on his headstone at Redwood City’s Union Cemetery. That was in 1904. Yet even today, those raw words chiseled in granite reanimate a little life lost like so many in this area’s pioneer days — a baby boy “resting” in a “cradle grave” aside 4-year-old brother Georgie; taken, too, five years before. 24 · CLIMATE · May 2021

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SPOTLIGHT•

Photo by Evelyn Harrington

he historic Union Cemetery was the first cemetery association in the state of California, and it served early settlers of Redwood City, Woodside and the vanished lumberman’s village of Searsville with a place to bury their dead. Some of the names are still recognizable — on streets (McGarvey and Finger in Redwood City; Starr Road in Woodside), or places (Lathrop House and Cooley Landing in East Palo Alto.) Some of the dead still have relatives to remember them. But it’s an effort of research to “bring back” most of Union Cemetery’s 2,400 buried souls and their stories —business owners, elected officials, a prominent suffragette — let alone tannery workers,

laborers or those in pauper’s graves. That’s just a part of the work performed by a group of community-minded volunteers determined that Union Cemetery be not a clichéd “final resting place” but a living monument to the individuals who began San Mateo County more than a century ago. For decades, the six-acre cemetery was itself dying of neglect, trashed and vandalized repeatedly. (At one point, the city even considered turning it into a neighborhood park where kids could play baseball.) These volunteers and those before them deserve much credit for resurrecting the forlorn property as a state and national historic landmark—and maintaining it as a source of civic pride.

“You walk around and you know these names all over town,” says Jean Tomassi, 81, one of those volunteers responsible for the cemetery’s revival. “It’s like it’s part of history.” A Sign of Respect Kathy Klebe, president of the Historic Union Cemetery Association, joined the board several years ago, in part to honor those like Tomassi and her husband, Don, “who worked so hard to get the cemetery back to the way it is. I think that deserves a lot of respect, as does the history of Redwood City. It’s really fascinating when you delve into those people and what this town gave to the state in terms of resources, wood and such.” May 2021 ·

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• Those who are up on their Redwood City history know that the rough-andready port town came into existence to serve the fledgling lumber business in the aftermath of the Gold Rush. By 1858, more women and children were joining their husbands in the southern part of San Mateo County, and a need developed for a burial ground, writes John Edmonds, a retired sheriff’s deputy who is an authority on Union Cemetery. At first, people were buried on property in the general area of Sequoia High School which was owned by Horace Hawes, a state senator. He was leasing it out, and when it came back into Hawes’s control, people were indignant that he wanted the bodies relocated. Tempers cooled a bit when he contributed a substantial sum for a proper burial ground. City fathers got together and in 1859, the site of Union Cemetery was selected. People could purchase plots for $10 and up, and the first of 13 bodies exhumed from the Hawes property was that of Annie M. Douglas, who had died in March at just 4 years, 4 months. Her small stone, Edmonds writes, stands in the middle of the cemetery next to her brother, who died very young as well. The Union Cemetery Association operated from 1859 to 1918, though it was still used by local undertakers. During the Depression, Edmonds says, many of the county’s poor were placed there. It may or may not be urban legend that when Woodside Road was widened in the 1960s, some of those pauper’s graves were paved over. The last official Union Cemetery burial was in 1963. Distressed Property When the association was formed, the property was deeded to the governor of California and his successors as eventual trustees. The state didn’t turn out to be much of a caretaker, and local newspapers were full of stories about the periodic

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SPOTLIGHT•

Kathy Klebe, president of the Historic Union Cemetery Association.

"It’s really fascinating when you delve into those people and what this town gave to the state in terms of resources, wood and such.” trashing of the untended cemetery: tombstones knocked over, monuments beheaded and, some suspect, carried off by family members for safekeeping. People were outraged when an iconic Civil War statue was vandalized again and again. In 1962, the city accepted a quit-claim deed from the state, which was happy to get rid of the albatross. Still, it took years before major improvements occurred. Jean Cloud, a proper but determined lady; Nita Spangler, the outspoken wife of the publisher of the Redwood City Tribune; the late Helen Graves and Jim Munro; Edmonds and others devoted themselves to getting the cemetery cleaned up, documented and restored. In 1983, Union Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Among the improvements the city made about 30 years ago were the installation of perimeter fencing which helped re-

duce vandalism; and irrigation, drinking fountains and lighting. The entrance was relocated to Woodside Road, with paving and curbs and gutters for parking. The parks department works in tandem with the nonprofit Historic Union Cemetery Association, which was established in 1992. Today, says the department’s Assistant Director Lucas Wilder, vandalism and graffiti are infrequent but quickly addressed. Weed abatement is unending. The department still has about $30,000 allocated to Union Cemetery’s upkeep, as well as for restoration projects, including repairing or replacing damaged headstones. Occasionally family members surface with money to restore gravesites. HUCA has about 80 members (an annual dues increase was just approved, from $10 to $25) who also contribute funds. V. Fontana & Co. of Colma produces the etched grave markers at a greatly reduced cost. Every year, HUCA forces spend hours weeding and trimming, especially the rose bushes planted throughout the cemetery. Klebe’s husband, Roy, who is part of the gardening brigade, says his goal is to keep all the bushes pruned back for visibility, which helps deter vandalism. “We all feel like it’s because it’s obvious that somebody is taking care of it, we feel like people are more respectful of it.” Years back, volunteers invested untold hours surveying the site, mapping the burial plots, documenting grave markers and fleshing out the stories of those resting under Union Cemetery’s soil. Current Vice President Ellen Crawford virtually camped in the Local History Room at the library sleuthing out obituaries and other documents, such as the burial logs kept by Coroner James Crowe. A trove of information she posted —from old area maps to the names of those in public graves—is on HUCA’s website (historicunioncemetery.com.)

• Lives Cut Short Some of the news stories are strangely unsettling, such as that of a watchman who worked at Searsville. He took his clothes off every day after work to shower in the spray of the lake’s dam. One day he slipped and fell down the dam; his body was found later. “They called it ‘The Fatal Bath,’” Crawford says. The death in 1867 of Capt. David Jenkins gnawed at her. The 47-year-old father sailed off to San Francisco in a sloop two days before Christmas, with his son, 13, and some friends aboard. A terrible storm came up and all drowned, but it was weeks before the bodies washed ashore. Jenkins’ wife, Mary, was frantically advertising in the paper, offering a $100 reward. “’Please if you know anything.’ And finally they figured it out,” Crawford says. “It’s a really sad story. But this really got my attention.” The tombstone honors their “sacred memory.” Some of the pioneer deaths testify to their time. James Bannon, 52, known as “Mountain Jim,” fell asleep in a barn after a drinking bout in 1901, and sacks of oats shifted and smothered him. Peter Hanson, 82, who’d worked on the river and then farmed, died in 1908 of “cancer of the face.” Death claimed 4-month-old Albert Bennett in 1907 of “tuberculosis of the bowels.” Jennie Bomberg, 22, “a popular young lady of cheerful disposition,” died an excruciating death in 1910 after her clothing caught fire. She’d had a cold and was warming some sweet oil and turpentine over a fire when it exploded. Diseases like typhoid and diphtheria swept through families; the Palmer plot is a grim example. The La Honda couple lost two children in infancy, and four died of diphtheria right before Christmas 1886. Only a daughter, 15, who was staying elsewhere, survived. In later years, she and her husband ran the San Gregorio Hotel. Union Cemetery sustains the memories of scores of individuals who made a mark on local history. There’s James

SPOTLIGHT•

Kathy Klebe leads a tour of the cemetery.

Pease, said to be the first man to raise the flag in San Mateo County. There’s county Sheriff Joel H. Manfield (RIP 1897) and George Washington Tallman, the county’s first peace officer killed in the line of duty (1888). His monument, which vandals had taken, was replaced in 2003. Simon Mezes, a lawyer who helped the original Mexican land grant owners secure legal rights to their land, was for a time buried at Union Cemetery. There are monuments for Superior Court Judge George H. Buck, and Benjamin Fox, who took an active role in the county’s creation. Henry Beeger, scion of the Beeger Tannery family, is at rest there, as is “Shingle King” Sheldon Purdy Pharis, who at the time of his death (1884) employed more than 1 percent of the county’s workforce. Restoring Monuments Among the replacement monuments is one for the family of noteworthy early photographer James E. Van Court. Last fall a new marker burnished the standing of Sarah Wallis, who was the first woman to head a suffragette organization in California. Most of HUCA members are “seniors,” if not outright elderly, and board members look for ways to get younger people interested and involved. There’s an annual photography contest open to local students. Boy

Scouts sometimes do volunteer projects. HUCA offers free tours, too, and Kathy Klebe would like them to happen monthly, once the Covid restrictions ease. But the highlight of the year is a well-attended Memorial Day observance featuring speeches, music and costumed reenactors. The focal point is a rectangular plot designated for the fraternal organization called the Grand Army of the Republic, honoring the men who fought for the Union in the Civil War. It’s Redwood City’s Arlington. And towering above it, a 7-foottall bronze replica statue of a Civil War soldier, which was first erected in 1869. For the second year in a row, there’ll be no Memorial Day ceremony this year, but the volunteers will place wreaths on the GAR graves and plant flags. A bagpiper will sound at some point during the day, and at another time, Crawford will get out her piccolo and play martial music. “I don’t know,” she says of what motivates her, “it’s more for the people who are dead than for the people who come here. But it’s Memorial Day, and I’d like to do something.”

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AROUND TOWN•

Sequoia High School District Reopens With two months to go until the end of school year, the Sequoia Union High School District April 5 welcomed back the first students who chose to return for “in-person” teaching. An increasing number came back during the rest of the month in gradual phases. About 800 of Sequoia High School’s 2,000 student had indicated that they would be coming back to campus. Some 3,500 students district-wide opted to go back to their campuses, and they had to sign on to protocols about behaviors such as mask-wearing, bathroom use, socializing in the hallways and so on that were unheard of before schools were closed in March last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Sequoia and other district schools reached out to parents, neighbors and community members to volunteer on campus to assist the staff in making sure that the students didn’t slip up about following the rules—letting masks slip, perhaps or hugging their friends. Elisa Niño-Sears, said 80 to 100 people stepped up to cover the assignments which were especially needed at lunch time or during break time. Even dads who are CEOs volunteered, she said. “It’s been a win-win.”

Nowruz and New Beginnings Celebrated The Redwood City main library hosted a drive through celebration of Nowruz on April 3, the Persian version of New Year's. Nowruz is no small deal. Think Christmas, New Year's and Fourth of July combined, for 3,000 years and by some 300 million people annually. It's not a religious holiday but rather a universal celebration of new beginnings: wishing prosperity and welcoming the future while shedding away the past. Nowruz lasts for thirteen days. "What makes Nowruz special is the universality in its message of rebirth in ourselves and respect in what we see in the earth, " said event organizer Niloo Mansourian.

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•

HISTORY by Jim Clifford•

Dumbarton Rail: A Bridge to the Past A billboard-sized sign off Middlefield Road a few blocks from Costco proclaims “Redwood Junction.” I wondered why it doesn’t say “Redwood City Junction.” Then I remembered that Redwood City has gone through a variety of names: Embarcadero, Mezesville and Redwood. Redwood Junction, I found out, is a neighborhood of about 2,600 people that is literally a junction for train tracks. There was a time when the tracks went across the bay on the now long abandoned Dumbarton Rail Bridge. Backers of plans to resurrect the span look forward to the day when commuters no longer clog freeways with cars but move from one place to another by train. Their high hopes are nothing compared to those who hailed the opening of the Dumbarton span in 1910. “The distance from Oakland to San Francisco by way of the bridge is 26 miles less than by way of San Jose,” Frona Colburn wrote in a long column in the July 4, 1910, Redwood City Democrat. She was more concerned about what the bridge, the first on San Francisco Bay, would do for freight trains than for passengers, who seemed to be treated as an afterthought in the article. Her attitude was not surprising when one takes into account that at the time most people worked near their homes. The important contribution of the new bridge was that it meant “a great savings of time and simplifies the handling of freight cars.” There would be no need for what Colburn referred to as “trans-bay freight boats.”

approach, but the span’s swinging section, which rotated to make way for boats, still stands, left in the open position.

Redwood Junction

The Early Years Freight trains dominated future business on the Dumbarton Bridge, named for Dumbarton Point, the span’s western terminus. From 1912 to at least 1918, however, there was passenger service. In addition, there were some trains made up of both freight and passenger cars. There are still some old Dumbarton passenger timetables around that show trains ran from Newark to Redwood City where passengers could transfer for San Francisco or San Jose. The optimistic Colburn forecast that “electric trains” would offer service “every ten minutes.” Didn’t happen. What Colburn didn’t, or couldn’t, see was the future importance of the automobile. Cars and trucks, in just 10 years, had a huge impact on railroads. In 1927 a two-lane vehicle bridge opened adjacent to the rail bridge. In 1982 a four-lane bridge took over. Two years later, the center section of the 1927 bridge was demolished in a controlled explosion. The railroad bridge is only five miles long and has been out of service since the 1980s. On January 2, 1998, a fire hit the abandoned structure that had seen the last freight train roll over its tracks in 1982. The blaze collapsed the western

A Passage for Boats In the bridge’s heyday, boaters would signal the bridge operator who used a diesel engine to twist the section so vessels could pass. There is also a much smaller freight bridge, one that crossed Newark Slough on the east side of the bay toward Fremont. About 100 yards of that single track span went up in flames in 2019. Repairing and getting the rail bridge in working order is only one part of a massive plan called the Dumbarton Rail Corridor project, which totals 20.5 miles. The Bay Rail Alliance recommended that three new passenger rail stations should be built. Proposed service calls for six trains across the bridge during the morning commute and six during the evening. Morning trains would originate at Union City, cross the bay, and then three trains would travel north to San Francisco and three proceed south to San Jose along Caltrain tracks. All trains would reverse patterns and return to Union City at the end of their run. “Other service patterns and frequency would be possible in the future as the service gains popularity,” the alliance said on its website. How’s that for optimism? Perhaps Colburn wasn’t too far off track in 1910. C

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Business Group Presents

Locally grown, Organically raised

Proud member of the historical Redwood City Woman's Club DRE 01886755 cell: 650.430.8220 office: 650.556.8674 www.kathyzmay.com email: kathyzmay@gmail.com 1629 Main St., Redwood City

FIRE ALARM. SECURITY. CCTV. With the highest quality and unparalleled customer service, we design and install custom alarm systems for the families, businesses and property owners of San Mateo County! Contact us: 650.362.4841 • clientcare@redwoodcityalarms.com

May 2021 ·

CLIMATE · 31

avies

APPLIANCE

The Davies Family has been doing business on the same block since 1916

Shop where designers, architects & contractors shop Always honest competitive pricing, industry wide selection and extraordinary assistance to guide you to your perfect kitchen, laundry or outdoor living space.

We have a full showroom of top name barbeques

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