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CHAPTER ONE A Stormy Passage BRISBANE1986-1989 City of Stars 50th Anniversary The Second Twenty-Five Years 1986-2011 1 A STORMY PASSAGE: 1986-1989 BRISBANE City of Stars 50th Anniversary The Second Twenty-Five Years 1986-2011 by Adrian Kinnane Front cover photo by Kevin Fryer | Back cover photo by Lee Panza © 2015 by The City of Brisbane All rights reserved. Published 2015 Printed in the United States of America ii Preface Brisbane’s keen sense of history has already produced two books. This is the third. The first, A Spirit of Independence (1986), covered the years prior to the City’s incorporation in 1961. The second, Brisbane, City of Stars (1989), chronicled the first twenty-five years following incorporation. This history brings the story up to 2012 and Brisbane’s fiftieth anniversary as an incorporated city. It is not unusual for a city to tell its story by cherry-picking points of pride, accenting notable accomplishments, and generally putting its best foot forward. It is far less common to do what Brisbane has done: undertake thoroughgoing research in service of a history that is accurate, balanced, and comprehensive. Two years ago the Brisbane City Council authorized this project and established a History Subcommittee to carry it forward. Ray Miller, Clarke Conway, Fred Smith, Steve Waldo, and Clay Holstine comprised the subcommittee, while Maria C. Saguisag-Sid coordinated its efforts and served as liaison to the Council. Subcommittee members set out an ambitious agenda, identifying nearly fifty citizens for interviews and close to a hundred important topics to be covered. In March 2011, I began the interview process with present and former City staff and officials; community businesspersons; artists, dancers, and musicians; educators and environmentalists; and citizen volunteers representing a range of activities and interests. Brisbane’s rich document archives, including transcribed Council Meeting Minutes, provided an additional and vital artery of information. My thanks to City Clerk Sheri Spediacci for guiding my searches, to Wendy Ricks for helping with photos, and to Ray Miller, whose foresight led to the inclusion in storage of many valuable records that might otherwise have been lost or discarded. As the chapters unfolded, History Subcommittee members managed, with great sensitivity, to offer valuable clarifications, corrections, suggestions, and perspective without compromising their commitment to balance or their respect for facts. And at History Associates in Rockville, Maryland, History Division director Kenneth Durr carefully edited and improved the entire text, as did expert copy editor Gail Mathews. An author could not wish for better support. As author, I had the pleasure of discovering Brisbane—as a city and a community—and of meeting many of its citizens, as well as the responsibility to listen attentively and write faithfully. It is no small matter to tell someone else’s story. Through their City Council, the citizens of Brisbane extended a great trust to History Associates and to me. We took that trust very seriously and hope that this history reflects the honesty and courage that commissioned it. Adrian Kinnane June 15, 2013 iii The City of Brisbane dedicates this 25 year history book in memory of Steve Waldo (1948-2013). Steve served on the Brisbane City Council from 1989 to 2001 and again from 2005 to 2011. During his 18 years of service, Steve’s fellow Council Members selected him to serve as Brisbane Mayor four times (1991, 1996, 2000 & 2007). Steve played an integral role in ushering in a new era of civility to local politics. His rapier wit and keen scholarly insight notably characterized his work on our City Council. Steve Waldo championed the development of and ultimate voter approval for the 1994 General Plan. He never shied away from difficult public issues and always helped craft reasonable compromises. For these reasons and many more, we, the Brisbane City Council, dedicate this second 25 year history book to one of the most influential participants of this time period. In the words of Steve Waldo, “at the risk of moving this along” we present to you the second 25 years of Brisbane History. iv Table of Contents Preface . iii Dedication . .iv Chapter 1 – A Stormy Passage: 1986-1989 . 1 Chapter 2 – Moving Ahead: 1990-1993 . 25 Chapter 3 – A Work in Process: 1994-1997 . 47 Chapter 4 – Growth and Complexity: 1998-2001 . 69 Chapter 5 – At Home: 2002-2004. 93 Chapter 6 – Change Versus Stability: 2005-2007 . 117 Chapter 7 – Trying Times: 2008-2011 . 139 Notes on Sources . 161 Appendix: Council Election History . 163 Appendix: Council Members List . 168 v CHAPTER ONE A Stormy Passage 1986-1989 City officials looking to enhance Brisbane’s than representing the quarry. Mayor Fred Smith appearance in 1986 figured they might as well declared, “We’re only going to do it once, start with the town’s main entryway at Old so let’s do it right.” Council member Lewis County Road and Bayshore Boulevard. The job Graham agreed, noting that “the quality will be would require more than cosmetic work, though. remembered long after the cost is forgotten.” Crews had to hammer through the boulevard’s Branching west from Bayshore Boulevard, original twelve-inch concrete slab foundation, Old County Road rounded up to the north, long since paved over, to install plantings, an paralleling Bayshore and passing Brisbane Village irrigation system, and rock groupings in the shopping center on the right before veering west formerly concrete median strips and traffic and terminating at Visitacion Avenue, the four- islands. Leaving the road alone would be block-long commercial artery in the heart of the cheaper, as resident and former City Manager City. There, too, beautification involved some Walter Bednar reminded the City Council. And heavy digging. In June 1987, as crews completed former Brisbane Mayor Anja Miller objected to the Bayshore traffic island work, including the eight-foot-tall rock groupings, as originally installation of more efficient traffic signals and a designed, because they conjured images of the dedicated left-turn lane out of town, workers from Guadalupe Valley Quarry, widely regarded as a Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) were burying, or nuisance to the City’s residents. The Council “undergrounding,” Visitacion Avenue’s utility reduced the size of the rock elements but wires. PG&E’s undergrounding fund covered resisted any plain or penny-pinching vision of the bulk of the project’s costs, while Brisbane Brisbane’s improvement, viewing the groupings provided new trees and bricks for crosswalks. in the entryway’s design as reflecting the rock With the old wooden poles gone, and with new outcroppings of San Bruno Mountain rather street lighting and sidewalk improvements, The City’s “Welcome to Brisbane” sign was first located close to Brisbane Village Shopping Center. After Parks and Recreation Director Jim Skeels arrived in 1999, this sign was refurbished and relocated next to the post office. Visitors find it useful in orienting themselves to Brisbane’s winding streets. Picture depicts original sign and location. 1 A STORMY PASSAGE: 1986-1989 Central Brisbane, with San Bruno Mountain County Park to the south and west, the Brisbane Lagoon and San Francisco Bay to the east, and Crocker Industrial Park, the Northeast Ridge, and the Baylands fanning out across the north. Visitacion Avenue would sport an appearance in that it was a once-in-a-lifetime undertaking and tune with Brisbane’s evolving civic pride. should be done “first-class.” Some merchants groused about the project’s But it was neither at Bayshore Boulevard nor disruption of their businesses, particularly as on Visitacion Avenue that Brisbane’s passage the work proceeded through the winter holiday from its first to its second quarter-century of season. And they worried about the potential incorporation turned stormy. Instead, it was at a loss of parking if some landscaping ideas were to 2.9-acre site located between them, a prime area be implemented. Other citizens, including newly occupied for fifty-six years by a motel and trailer appointed Mayor Ray Miller, raised concerns court, known for the last few years as the Cozy about the cost and maintenance problems of Cove. Some in Brisbane had fond memories of items such as brick crosswalks. The Council bygone days when the town’s Mozzetti family made some modifications to the project but by operated the motel. However, most agreed that and large shared the confidence expressed once the Cozy Cove had declined to the level of an more by Council Member Smith, who observed embarrassing eyesore. “The word ‘fleabag motel’ 2 A STORMY PASSAGE: 1986-1989 Courtesy :: Ray Miller_Credit Artist Jim Brown 1987 Artist Jim Brown sketched the Visitacion Avenue improvements in Twenty-five years after the improvements, Visitacion Avenue retains 1987. Mayor Ray Miller used the sketch in his successful re-election its draw as Brisbane’s “Main Street.” campaign for a council seat that fall. doesn’t do it justice,” recalled Fred Smith. Easily Monday morning, eight fire department recruits tagged as “urban blight,” it qualified as a project from various San Mateo County agencies showed for the Brisbane Redevelopment Agency, which up to practice their fire suppression skills purchased it for $1.7 million on December under the supervision of Daly City fire captain 31, 1985, in order to tear it down and build a Don Ciucci. As portions of the motel were new Civic Center to replace the cramped and deliberately torched, a demolition crew stood inadequate City offices at 44 Visitacion Avenue by with bulldozers waiting for the end of the as well as provide new quarters for the Public training exercise. Safety Department. Before long, the old motel was flattened, its Ever the conservator of its past, the City tried charred timbers of solid redwood testifying to but failed to save the old Mozzetti family home, construction methods and materials more than which also had served as Brisbane’s first school half a century past.