50 Years Ago
A hot dog stand on Plymouth Rock? A topless joint in Jamestown? Certainly not. But it makes no less since to stand by while a site equally historic is turned into a housing tract.
Yet that is what some people within the United States government propose to do.
It is not a question of aims. The area within which Sir Francis Drake landed in 1579 has already been declared a national park – Point Reyes National Seashore.
…Ten years from now, how will any politician, from the President on down, explain that he was doing the right thing when he allowed the first landing site of an Englishman in the New World to be sold for a housing tract?
It would be an impossible task. We hope nobody has to try it.
— Editorial, 11/5/69
40 Years Ago
A proposal to put advertising on Golden Gate transit buses in an effort to raise much-needed funds for the district was met with expected negative reactions from a majority of the bridge directors last week. Board President Paul Bettini called it visual pollution and other argued that bus ads make the vehicles less respectable and subject to more vandalism, an opinion shared by the bus driver’s union. The only proponent to speak at the meeting was Supervisor Barbra Boxer, who noted that the revenue generated would reduce transit service cuts and help the increasing traffic and pollution problems.
— Newsgram, 11/2/79
30 Years Ago
A homeless center at Hamilton Field won’t happen anytime soon. Instead, the county will re-open the overnight center in the National Guard Armory at the Civic Center. That quick turnabout stems from objections by the Navy, which is in charge of Hamilton. The Navy said that before it signs off on a homeless center it wants’ a detailed study of nearby toxic wastes, quake safety of the barracks and security issues. Supervisors assailed the Navy for its “last minute” objections. The Navy countered that it had lodged the objections long ago and had been ignored.
— Steve McNarmara, 11/3/89
20 Years Ago
A few Christain fundamentalists are flipping out with worry, but most of the world is flipping out with joy over the literary adventures of Harry Potter. And now the sixth graders at Santa Rosa’s Olivet School have created ground-bound rules for the game of Quiddich, which enthralls Harry’s fellow students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft. It took some doing, in that the Hogwarts version is played 60 feet in the air on flying brooms with three kinds of balls that also fly. But the Olivet kids are having a terrific time, and looking for opponents.
— Steve McNamara, 11/3/99
