Bay Area Lurene

2020-04-30T08:35:00.001-07:00

Memories, echoes and refractions.....

37.

Unpublished letter written January 28, 1998, by Lurene Helzer to Cornelia Ilie, Swedish professor, regarding my travels, and my political writings. I discuss a trip to Nevada and my adventures in ghost towns with friends, P.J. Adams and her friend Skip. We all had cameras in hand with 400 speed black & white film. This quote I wrote below describes part of our adventure:

“…Now, these towns are abandoned and completely empty. Half-crumbled banks and saloons, homes, roads. I took photos in a few of the old cabins. I found one that some modern visitors had occupied. They left an old, brittle newspaper in there, lying amid debris. It had a picture of Bill Clinton with a headline that said: PROPHET. Of course, this was marvelous, because at the moment I took the picture of that abandoned cabin with that paper on the floor, Clinton was struggling with his political survival. It was January 25, 1998, the day I was there….”.

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Lurene Gisee

360 - 656 - 6838

2018-01-13T17:24:00.002-08:00

Note from Lurene: Those who have questions about these old stories I wrote for Bay Area newspapers, feel free to call Lurene (me) at (360) 656-6838 or email me at lurenexyz@gmail.com

Regards,

Lurene Gisee
Bellingham, WA
September 20, 2019

The Challenger Explosion

Remember 1986:

Published news story, May 2, 1985, Chabot College Spectator, Hayward, California. “Instructor May Ride The Shuttle,” by Lurene Helzer. A pretty brief story of only six paragraphs. Runs on page one of this small student newspaper alongside photo of instructor William Dillon authored by photographer Matt Santos.

The story would, at the next meeting of the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, be named the second-place news story for that academic period. Notable really for two reasons: First, that I won such a prize at all, given the number of students in California’s community colleges in 1985. This is the less-important reason compared to the other.

The other reason is this: national tragedy. Chabot Aeronautics Instructor Dillon, who the story is about, might have been on the space shuttle Challenger during its January 28, 1986 launch. Had he done so, he would have perished along with the space vehicle’s other occupants that day.

The shuttle disintegrated shortly after launch. There was a school teacher on board, Christa McAuliffe, chosen as finalist for the so-called Teacher in Space Project, but she died with all other occupants of the space vehicle. School children everywhere who were following the lift-off were shocked. Dillon was a finalist as McAuliffe had been.

After the disaster, the news traveled rapidly. It at least made people aware of danger of space exploration. It has always been a risky and demanding job.

Below, President Ronald Reagan's January 28, 1986 words to the nation after the

explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger:

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/archives/speeches/1986/12886b.htm

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276. BEARS IN CALIFORNIA WERE INCREASINGLY DESPERATE IN JUNE, 2001

2010-06-23T17:24:00.000-07:00

276.

Published news story by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, June 16, 2001, “BEARS IN CALIFORNIA INCREASINGLY DESPERATE, HUNGRY.” Story based on information that was put out that morning by California’s Department of Fish and Game. (Photos of bears from Wikipedia, Creative Commons, U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. First photo of cub in Lake Tahoe, CA. Second bear shown in California eating fish. Photo of Palm Springs region by Lurene, 2005.)

It regards murderous attacks on bee homes by starving bears.

Some of the attacks were highly unusual; rangers expect bear food sprees in Tahoe and Santa Cruz, but now they were getting reports from Palm Springs, which is a high-temperature desert area more feared – when feared -- for its population of terrifying, venomous snakes.

This 2001 story still interests me, because average temps in Palm Springs in June are a dry 102 degrees Fahrenheit:

Northern California beekeepers are increasingly struggling with black bear raids on hives, and say that electric fences, netting, alarms and hive-moving have been practically useless measures while confronting either hungry, or even skinny and starving bears

The California Department of Fish and Game released a Black Bear Management Plan in 1998 that estimated California’s bear population at between 17,000 and 23,000, which is about double the population of bears in the early 1980s. Meanwhile, decreased levels of rainfall and controlled fires for wildfire prevention have reduced the amount of food in bear territory, officials say.

According to an article in June’s AG Alert, an industry newspaper for the state’s agriculturalists, beekeepers are observing that the bears attacking hives and other livestock are not fat animals, but starving, Young bears who are increasingly crossing city/rural lines in search of food.

Fish and Game officials report bear trespasses in several spots throughout the state in the past few years, including the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Tahoe basin, areas around Lake Shasta, and even Palm Springs, an area previously assumed to be too high in temperature for bears.
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277. TWO DEAD AFTER UNION CITY DRAG RACE IN JUNE, 2001. 278. JUNE 19, 2001: RICHMOND BOY IN CRITICAL CONDITION AFTER DOG ATTACK

2010-06-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

277.

Published news story update by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, June 21, 2001, “Two Dead after Union City Drag Race.”

This story stands out for me today because it reminds of routine suburban life in San Francisco’s East Bay. It’s not unusual to see young men competing with one another with their cars in the middle of the night, killing themselves and others in the process.

They often do this on main streets – Union City’s portion of Mission Boulevard in this case – and reach speeds of around 100 miles per hour.
--end--

278.

Published news story by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, June 19, 2001, “Richmond Boy in Critical Condition after Dog Attack.” (Photo of pit bull from Wikipedia, Creative Commons photo.)

The 11-year boy was out riding his bike in the high-violent crime city of Richmond when he was attacked by some number of pit bulls; possibly three, but at least one dog. People often say that pit bulls are friendly, but it’s hard for me to take this characterization seriously since I had to write several stories like this one as a reporter.

I could not help developing this feeling about the attack dogs because a follow-up brief I did a few weeks later [BCN5, July 6] reported that the boy remained in the hospital on a ventilator. The canines had ripped off the eleven-year old boy’s ears and inflicted dozens of puncture wounds to his upper body.

Today, in December of 2008, I wonder who paid the medical bills. Are owners of such dogs financially responsible? Original news brief follows:

-BOY ATTACKED--

Richmond Police spokesman Sgt. Enos Johnson said an 11-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle on the 300 block of Lucas Avenue early Monday evening was mauled by one or more pit bulls and is now in critical condition.

Johnson said two people are in custody, who may be owners of the dog or dogs involved. Only one dog is in custody so far, he said.

Police cannot yet confirm the number of dogs involved in the attack, but investigators have “reason to believe” another dog was involved, possibly three altogether, Johnson said.

The boy was riding his bike around 7:30 p.m. near Peres Elementary School, which is at 719 5th St. in Richmond near the site of the attack, he said.

Johnson said the unidentified boy is at Oakland’s Children’s Hospital in critical condition.
--end--

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279. VARIOUS ITEMS FOR BAY CITY NEWS, JUNE 2001

2010-06-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

279.

Published news stories by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, 2001, all brief. I list here the headlines of 11 items with the date we released: Fremont Bank Inside Grocery Store Robbed Friday, 6/23/01; Hiker Rescued after Fall into Arroyo Seco Gorge, 6/23/01; Big San Jose Winners Expected to Meet Media Today, 06/29/01; CORRECTION: Lottery Check Today for About $43 Million, 06/29/01; Drug Device Blown Up Early Tuesday in Mission Bay, 07/03/01; Fire at Dry Cleaning Shop in Hayward Sends Five to Hospitals, 07/03/01; Trading Halts in New York after Computer Glitch, 06/08/01; Crews Trying to Retrieve Body after Jump from Golden Gate [suicide], 06/14/01; UPDATE: Forest Fire 32 Percent Contained [near Lake Tahoe], 06/20/01; CORRECTION: Red-Legged Frog [Calaveras County, CA], 06/13/01; U.S. Postal Service Met Delivery Standards Last Quarter, 07/14/01.

280. June 2001 Death Linked to Contaminated Medicine

2009-10-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

280.

Published news story by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, June 13, 2001, “Second Death Linked to Contaminated Medication”. This is one of those stories you needed to move fast, although it’s not new information.

Wire services remain invaluable to news organizations/communities because they can, in seconds, get urgent news out to multiple media agencies within a region or network and get the immediate attention of editors. Now, the internet does this largely, but the information on the internet is too vast, overwhelming and unfiltered. When it comes to breaking news items for immediate broadcast, wire services like Bay City News and larger services still provide a crucial service.

At the same time, though, some news providers have essentially cheapened the meaning of “breaking” news. The assassination of a prominent world or local leader is a “breaking” news item in the minutes and hours following the murder, but the arrest of a new suspect in a two-month old story about the nightclub beating of a popular fashion model is not of the same gravity. Both are interesting stories, but only the first qualifies as breaking news.

For the record, stories are categorized by news agencies according to public importance. The highest priority, according to The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, is a Flash. Those are extremely rare news items of global interest. It has to be something like, “FLASH; SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON – Man lands on the moon.”

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13: Fish in San Francisco's Chinatown Wants to Catch Cable Car, Swim Back to Beach

2009-09-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

California coast in April of 2007

13.

Undated, unpublished satire, by Lurene Helzer, Probably sometime in mid 1990s, regards scene in San Francisco’s Chinatown at a small grocery. The scene involves a fish being loaded into a box. He falls to pavement. I ask where the fish thought he was going in life:

I was walking through The City a few days ago. I came into Chinatown. A couple of Chinese grocers were loading some fish from cardboard boxes into plastic containers. There must have been about 30 fish stacked up there. Fish are Fools! They have no idea they are going to be at any moment mere decoration in a Chinatown storefront, with their blue eyes staring at passing Chinese ladies with plastic shopping bags.

Anyway, two Chinese guys were slapping them from cardboard box to plastic box, cardboard box to plastic box, and so on. One of the guys had a cigarette hanging from his mouth. A fish, who had somehow managed to survive the journey from the ocean to the store, wriggled out of the man’s hand and slapped himself down to the pavement. There he was: gaFlop gaFlop gaFlop.

The merchant picked up the fish and threw him like a slimy washcloth into the plastic bin with the other fish.

The question struck me suddenly: “Where did that fish think he was going? Did he think he was going to catch a cable car back to the beach or something?”

11, 12: Opinions, Opinions.....The New York Times and C.I.A.

2009-09-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

11.

Brief published comment I wrote for a web opinion site sometime in the 1990s, It is still published on the internet under the name Lurene Helzer

12.

New York Times letter to the editor, written by Lurene Helzer, published October 30, 1998. Regards 1998 American Central Intelligence Agency monitoring of peace agreements between Israelis and Palestinians. I say in letter that we ought to have asked another American agency to do the work because the C.I.A. is unpopular in the region.

10: Berkeley Post Office on Tax Day, April 16, 1999

2009-09-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Money find in 1969 Philly.

10.

Published news story, Post office scene: ‘Regular mail or taxes?’ by Lurene Helzer for Berkeley Daily Planet, page one, April 16, 1999. Story is still fun to remember because Americans of all varieties come out of the closet for federal tax day, which is April 15. You just stand around a city’s main post office for a few hours and return to the newsroom with something pretty entertaining for next day’s issue. Of course, taxes are normally not described as entertaining to collect, most people the world over would agree:

By 9:15 p.m. there was a faster-moving line of people. “The rush has not even arrived,” he said. “Every year, people will wait until 11:45 and flock to the post office.”

It was a nice evening in Berkeley on the dreaded April 15, 68 degrees, light winds of 7 mph.

There were a lot of cars with couples.

“Maybe it’s a night out for them. They come in groups, too,” said Roberson.

Some seem to consider April 15 a family event. One sports utility vehicle went by. A woman with a happily panting dog was in the passenger’s seat and the kids were in the back. A man was driving. They were all laughing.

At nearly 10 p.m., one guy steps up to Roberson. He looks fatigued, slightly shaken. He asks where he can get tax forms.

Another woman wants to give postal workers her envelopes from her sunroof, and as one worker tries to take them, she snatches them back into her car. She holds them out again, the worker reaches out, and she snatches them back again. The worker throws up his hands.

Roberson shrugs his shoulders. “It’s kind of frustrating sometimes.”

There are a few people using the stream of people as a political opportunity. They were giving out flyers for an upcoming protest against the NATO airstrikes in Yugoslavia.

One man stood around on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. Tony Spaulding of Los Angeles, an engineer visiting town.

Just about every year, he stands out on April 15 at a post office. He’s performed the vigil in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. This year it is Berkeley.

“Only once a year do we all get down on our hands and knees and give royalty to the king,” he quipped.

9: Another odd essay, Dec. 27, 1994

2009-09-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

9.

Another Weird Story from San Francisco, unpublished essay by Lurene Helzer, December 27, 1994. Story centers on old roommate Anton Loman. I can’t say he was even a close friend, but he remains a memory of true fascination even now, in 2007. I must also admit I always had sympathy for the history of Russian Jews. I think they have a hard time being truly understood in Israel today, or anywhere they try living outside Russia, actually. They are simply unique people wherever they may wander. Anatoly (Natan) Sharansky today remains a controversial and necessary figure in the history of the 20th Century, as far as I’m concerned. I keep an old news photo of him in 1984 San Francisco in my collection.

8: The Pigeon spoof, September 24, 2000

2009-09-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

8.

Published satire, “The Pigeon,” by Lurene Helzer, San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 2000. This comedic episode is spoof of metropolitan life, most of which floats by unnoticed in its absurdity every day. It is also, on a deeper though not immediately noticeable level, a satiric comment on the dot-com revolution as it was occurring then in the San Francisco Bay area. The paper initially mistook it for a completely accurate series of events, which it was not. For example, there was no drunk on the corner, and there was no “I wonder who does her teeth” comment.

The published form can be seen in two versions, however. The original version, unedited, that ran in that Sunday’s SF Chronicle, is the one here. A second version, edited significantly, remains today on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website if you search for it by using my last name then, which was Helzer.

7: Engagement party poem for Lukeris' on April 26, 2003

2009-09-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Melissa as a teen, visiting me in San Francisco Bay area, 1990s.

7.

Unpublished engagement poem, April 26, 2003 by Lurene Helzer for sister Melissa Helzer and Gabe Lukeris’ engagement party. They are today married, raising two boys, Drasil and Ashton, in Bellingham, WA.

6: "Sleeping My Way to the Top" joke essay, Aug. 12, 1992

2009-09-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sam and Me, Copy of Life Magazine that was on 1964 newsstands week I was born.

6.

Unpublished Satire by Lurene Helzer, August 12, 1992, “Sleeping My Way To The Top.” This is a joke essay I put together for old friend Victoria Hecht in college. It centers on childhood habit of using Fox Terrier “Sam” as cover to get more sleep in morning. I blame long-dead Sam, the Los Angeles Police Department, California’s earthquakes, and Russia’s communists for all my tough breaks in life:

Los Angeles. 1985. The citizens of this metropolis peacefully slept in the middle of a typical southland evening. Some were awake attending peacefully to the business of the city’s night. Driver’s drove, bakers baked, muggers mugged, cops ate donuts and beat people up. Then, it happened.

Los Angeles jolted. Earthquake.

As the horror swept the city, guests at an obscure Motel 6 awoke astounded. They saw the water in the pool swish back and forth. Sixty-seven year old Betty Hornbecker awoke in astonishment, her face pasty and white with Ponds Cold Crème, and grabbed hold of the American Flag by her bedside under the misimpression that the Russians were finally invading.

But in room number five, the stunned tourists watched in living fear of death a truly unbelievable scene. “Mom. Oh my God. Is she…could she be…?”

5: Oil Spill Bird Victims in Northern California, Dec. 9, 2001

2009-09-06T10:57:00.000-07:00

5.

Published news story, December 9, 2001, bcn67: Oiled Birds Still Turning Up On Coast, by Lurene Helzer, Bay City News, San Francisco. This story I wrote for Bay City News around 4 that morning was picked up by most Northern California news organizations, be they radio, television or newspapers.

Those who subscribed to our news service were able to write or broadcast the news in that same day. Many others were able to write or broadcast greater stories about the oil spill’s effects on coastal birds later in the week.

But the main thing here is that I got the interviews first, wrote this story, and sent it out through BCN to Northern California’s various client news outlets. With respect to getting the story out first, I beat every news organization in Northern California with this one.

This actually happened often in my work, but usually only because I was covering metropolitan issues which had little importance for most people. In other words, I was the first reporter to write about a budget cut for El Cerrito, but mostly because reporters were not fighting for space in El Cerrito’s City Council chambers to report on the issue. But in other cases, issues would have a regional importance or sensational appeal.

This disaster story, giving visual details about the innocent birds who were by then drowning in oil, perishing from the broad and toxic sheen’s effects on their little feathers, had obvious appeal to residents of the Bay area and the greater population of California.

4: ...his career as an oil company executive, Palm Springs interview, April 24, 2005

2009-09-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

4.

Unpublished interview by Lurene Helzer April 24, 2005 in Palm Springs, CA with Marten Plante. The interview regards his career as oil company executive in Africa, and his life in Europe. See blog in this group: mobiloilnigeriaman.blogspot

3: "Ecohouse Momentum Growing..." April 9, 1999, Berkeley Daily Planet

2009-09-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

3.

Published news story, Berkeley Daily Planet, Friday, April 9, 1999, Ecohouse Momentum Growing, Escrow Should Close Thursday, by Lurene Helzer, then with The Daily Planet staff. Story is about an abandoned house that was transformed using ecologically friendly materials. It was difficult to use as a realistic example for other homeowners and builders, though, because the cost of using all-natural building materials was and remains comparatively prohibitive.

2: Revolutionary Ideologies, May 29, 1992, SF State course

2009-09-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

2.

Unpublished examination essay by Lurene Helzer for SF State course taught by Prof. Dwight Simpson, Revolutionary Ideologies, May 29, 1992. I earned grade of A-minus. This slightly edited reproduction of the handwritten text should be perceived by reader as my early ideas, not necessarily my opinions of 2006 and on. Still, it’s interesting to read now just because I am so much different in my opinions.

I later changed many of my views because of academic studies, and what I like to think is common sense. I also changed because I had talks with people of diverse national backgrounds – former residents of Eastern Europe, Russia and Iran. After talking with people from dictatorial states, I increasingly recognized my early, far-left views as childish. Needless to say, the majority of American apologists for Cold War Russia of those years vanished after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Few, if any, have since stepped forward to admit they had been deliberately blind, and wrong.

I do not have the original test questions, unfortunately.

1: Council Upholds Condo Project in Spite of Residents' Petition" in El Cerrito, Dec. 21, 1986

2009-09-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

Photo above of San Francisco soup kitchen line, 1985, by Photographer Lloyd Francis.

1.

Published news story by Lurene Kathleen Helzer for El Cerrito Journal, December 21, 1986, “Council Upholds Condo Project In Spite Of Residents’ Petition”.

A few things stand out while revisiting this news work I did twenty-two years ago. The El Cerrito Journal ran not only this story below about the proposed residential development, but alongside it my two related stories. The first was about a proposed retail development, the other about 1986-87 revenues for El Cerrito. The budget story was one of three I did on the subject that year for the paper.

Councilmembers openly say they are encouraging commercial and residential development which ultimately attract younger, more prosperous residents:

“Councilwoman Anna Howe, commenting during the meeting to residents involved in the appeal, said the condominiums would encourage younger families to move to El Cerrito and that apartment owners as compared to renters are ‘better additions to the community.’”

This is, in 2008, for an elected person, politically difficult to say in a major urban or suburban zone. Politicians today, to keep their jobs, have to literally contradict themselves.

They have to say to the city’s newspaper that they ‘deeply regret’ the loss of affordable housing in the city. They must be seen working to implement effective local programs to assist the poor.

As they say this to voters and to the media, however, they must simultaneously and far more strenuously work toward a slow, quiet reduction of the lower-cost residential or commercial buildings/neighborhoods they are pledging to protect or expand.

Why is this? Is it because they enjoy double-dealing this way? In some cases, perhaps so.

More likely, most of them would prefer to be plain about the embedded costs of affordable housing, but can not. Whether he/she enjoys lying or spinning campaign exaggerations is beside the point, anyway. If the leader wants the job, he’s got to talk out both sides of his/her mouth. Complete truth is for the political activist but not the elected city official.

But why is lower-cost housing nearly impossible for a city to construct and maintain? Because cheap housing is, when bunched up into neighborhoods, a financial liability for a city. The struggling neighborhood is not an asset from which the municipality can collect taxes, and, in turn, repair roads and pay police. This is what the 1986 member of the city’s council was admitting, in effect, with her statement.

That’s a meaningful fact regarding this story because next to my stories on this 1986 front page is a story about charity organizations for the homeless. That story, written by Jim Zelinski, focuses on the conditions of local homeless people. The story runs with an informational sidebar and two photographs.

One photo depicts a man quoted as saying he’s been homeless for 15 years. The second photo shows a demonstration in Oakland’s Martin Luther King Park. A tent city is standing which is dubbed “Reaganville.”

Ronald Reagan was then the U.S. president. He was unpopular with liberal activists, needless to say. We were used to derogatory slogans targeting Ronald Reagan. The point is, some political figures can withstand such pressures, and others can not.

Those sincerely supporting affordable housing, assistance for the homeless, will rarely be prominent figures. They will be charity figures, activists, like the ones shown in this 1986 newspaper.

In early August of 2008, The San Francisco Chronicle ran a few stories about the slow exodus of the city’s less prosperous residents. The mayor and San Francisco’s other city leaders were pledging to form action groups to keep the less-prosperous populations intact.

Today, the city’s elected officials surely will form such groups. But mainly for show. Will those leaders truly work to expand housing for the poor in San Francisco? Expand low-cost housing for residents of the Bayview/Hunter’s Point region? Continue to direct city resources toward fighting the high homicide rates within those districts?

I won’t even answer my own foolish inquiry. We well know what a large city – its residents -- can and cannot, will and will not, pay for in 2008. As for the question of where we place, as a society, struggling populations, I honestly have never had a great answer to this.

281: UC Berkeley in 2001 releases study showing AIDS prevention efforts falling short

2009-07-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

281.

Published news story by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, July 13, 2001, “Research Shows AIDS Prevention Efforts Fall Short”. This story, coming from information sent to us through a UC Berkeley Haas School of Business press release, discussed HIV prevention campaigns, how they were no longer reaching the target populations.

In other words, when AIDS first began to spread in the Bay area in the 1980s, it was affecting gay men. We remember actor Rock Hudson and Queen’s lead singer Freddie Mercury. Thus, ads were written for gay populations. Sure, you had others getting AIDS, but the epidemic had not yet taken a distinctive demographic shape.

By July of 2001, we were seeing heterosexual or bisexual drug addicts spreading the virus. In California’s cities, many of the new carriers of HIV were black men who used dirty needles to inject heroin. Middle class empathy/sympathy was vanishing at this point.

282: "Would you like a San Francisco Bay View or a College Education for Billy?" The otherworldly economics of housing in 1987 El Cerrito, CA

2009-07-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

282.

Published news story for El Cerrito Journal by Lurene Kathleen Helzer, April 16, 1987, “Houses to rise on Madera despite concerned view loss”. This was a routine story about residential development, but points to what is a recurring issue in San Francisco East Bay development and redevelopment: views.

All one needs to do is pick up any month’s issue of Architectural Digest to see how dramatically views add or subtract to the price and status of a home or commercial building. The price of a home with a sweeping view of Malibu, California’s coast is going to fetch a very high price in 2008 or any other year. That same building, but instead facing a home across a suburban street in, say, Stockton, California, will be advertised for far, far less. In this 1987 case, you had a view of the San Francisco Bay to protect, probably, so the discussion of the proposed height of new developments was an slightly serious one. City council members are voted in and out of power because of issues just like this one.

283: El Cerrito's revenue whale on San Pablo, 1987

2009-07-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

283.

Published news story for El Cerrito Journal by Lurene Kathleen Helzer, April 30, 1987, “Plaza Developers Receive Extension To Find Key Development Tenants”. This was about redevelopment of the unroofed El Cerrito Plaza, viewed as commercially outdated by 1987.

The city’s redevelopment agency viewed the shopping plaza as El Cerrito’s revenue leech on San Pablo Avenue. It was not producing adequate tax revenue, but required the same city services that any other major commercial property would require.

San Pablo is the city’s main drag. The plot of land was a story in itself. It was a dog racing track from 1932-1939. It was a trailer park housing defense workers during World War II. Then, a drive-in movie theater between 1948 and 1957.

When it became a shopping center in 1958, it was an important change of tone in a city more known in decades past for its casinos, bars and dog racing tracks. It could now attract reliable commerce.

After all, the guy who staggers into town with a few hundred dollars in 1938 is there for only one reason: to lose it at the casino, saloon or races. He’s not there to blow it on fine home furnishings.

So, the town’s redevelopment staff in 1987 was trying to make the city more appealing for the modern shopper. Let’s face it: dog tracks don’t attract middle-class crowds with kids on Saturday nights.

284: Same old fog and dance....2001

2009-07-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

284.

Published weather forecasts by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, 2001. I held on to about twenty of them for no reason. They’re all short and predictable, written mainly for radio broadcasters. I would write one and quickly send it out in the dead of night or in early morning.

In San Francisco, the forecasts exist to confirm life is the same as it was last week.

I’m no meteorologist, though. I was only circulating forecasts from the professional forecasters at the NWS Monterey/Santa Cruz bureau.

The forecasts’ serious followers were those in certain jobs, like maybe the crews in the region’s different ferry terminals. Some cab drivers might eagerly listen to forecasts hoping for word of an approaching rainstorm, which can turn the city’s walkers to near-beggars at 4:30 p.m. I presume it increases business instantly. But other professional drivers might hate rain because of the confusion and misery it brings to other drivers. The point is, there are reasons to listen to weather reports you might not consider at first. Outside this, writing weather is pretty boring.

No. 285: The wealth and vigor of Silicon Valley of 2001 run alongside East Palo Alto

2009-07-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

285.

Published news advisory by Lurene Helzer for Bay City News, August 11, 2001, “Two Shot in East Palo Alto Saturday Morning”. Three paragraphs reporting two drivers shot after midnight by suspects on street. There were fewer of these small crime advisories by mid-2001 when we reported it.

East Palo Alto has/had it all if you want to read the history of race relations in the San Francisco Bay Area – extremely high crime, low-income minorities, discrimination in real estate and finance, municipal unincorporation, poorly-performing schools, and, by 2000, slow gentrification, commercial redevelopment and demographic change.

When I refer to low-income minority communities, I am discussing African-Americans, Hispanics or Pacific Islanders. Greater numbers in the latter two groups lived in East Palo Alto by the 1990s, and it’s still largely true in 2008, if the statistics I read are accurate.

Gentrification/commercial redevelopment was triggered by the rise of Silicon Valley in Santa Clara County, or, more specifically, the Dot-Com Revolution. That is, the increasing economic influence and residence of highly-educated, prosperous groups. Gentrification is too often misunderstood for meaning an increasing number of white Americans in an urban area, but in reality, that definition is off in Silicon Valley.

The Silicon Valley today is an area that has a considerable number of smart, rich, and cosmopolitan computer geeks from Asia. They probably do not, or may not, automatically, emotionally relate to the battles for black civil rights of 1962.