As we watch the first few installments of Ken Burns’s epic and laudable series on World War Two, it is time to consider again and to be mindful of our history—international, national and local. A recent Mercury News editorial is very clear and succinct on this topic. They point to the important and correct decision of the Alum Rock Union School Board in naming schools after Superintendent Tony Russo, a man who dedicated his life to doing good and being an exemplary role model in the education field, and Jim McEntee, an exemplar of decency and courage who encouraged those in public office to be better and more feeling in all things. These were indeed two people to honor and respect, but what of the others?
Our city has been mired in a cowardly and dishonorable era of failing to approach or come to grips with our history—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Much of this reticence came from the battles over the Fallon statue and the Quetzalcoatl placement. Many elected officials allowed this to go too far (and I acknowledge my own mea culpa on this one), while a sensationalist and naïve press played a craven role. The pertinent question now is: What did we learn? Must we refight the battles of today using the “heroes and myths” of the past? At long last, as one non-hero asked over a decade ago, “can’t we all just get along?” And in getting along, can we possibly tell our history in an honest way?
I say use the past as a guide to the future. Learn from it and don’t abdicate any responsibility to properly designate it; do not fail the test of ordinary, political courage that has long eluded us. It is time to get into Teddy Roosevelt’s arena and do the right thing.
There are many who deserve accolades, perhaps in bronze, but certainly in the hearts and memory of San Jose citizens: Ernie Renzel who died two weeks ago, Al Ruffo, our first and only Renaissance mayor, Alcalde Jose Maria Peralta, Janet Gray Hayes who was mayor when it was a bit harder to get a consensus, and many, many more. As we chart a new course for growth and ethics in our city, it is time to chart a more accurate course into the future by learning from the past. Let’s do it now.
Tom…great to have you write when you’re in a good mood!
hey at least you didn’t complain about nightclubs!
Speaking of Mr. Ruffo, is there anything in the city to recognize him?
Peter… great to have ‘you’ in a good mood when I”m writing. TMcE
I am enraged as well. The RFK Memorial Forum at St James Park is in a state of disrepair and is a complete mess. What does Sam Liccardo and Chuck Reed intend to do about it? No staff memos or stupid little meetings that go nowhere, cleanup the city’s only monumnet to RFK. If Rich Robinson was such a fan of RFK, he should be thumping his fist on Reed’s and Liccardo’s desk right now!!
Below is what Mr. Renzel believes in:
The Athenian Oath
We will never bring disgrace on this our City by an act of dishonesty or cowardice. We will fight for the ideals and Sacred Things of the City both alone and with many.
We will revere and obey the City’s laws, and will do our best to incite a like reverence and respect in those above us who are prone to annul them or set them at naught.
We will strive increasingly to quicken the public’s sense of civic duty.
Thus in all these ways we will transmitt this City, not only not less, but greater and more beautiful that it was transmitted to us.
I’m glad that the former mayor mentioned the Ken Burn’s series on WWII. Great stuff. I believe that this current series (and the Civil War series) should be shown in every high school, every year.
On the topic of charting a more accurate course for our future, may I make two suggestions?
1) Stop the govt’s chatter about the BART extension being a forgone conclusion. There will be a vote on the matter, and I’m not sure which way it will go when the voters are reminded that the projections on ridership are based on high-density housing being built in the transit corridors. (Translation: The numbers are inflated!!!!)
2) When it comes to the giving/selling of city entitlements and the like…these generated values should go to the highest bidder, not the biggest insider! If $100 million can be generated by flipping entitlements, I want the money to go to repairing our broken city, not into someone else’s idea of fun, or what they deem to be what’s “best for the community.”
Pete Campbell
History is an interesting topic. I often wonder what those who worked so hard for change would say if they could see the outcome of their efforts. I look at the Office of Humane Relations, Jim McEntee’s pride and joy. I wonder if he’d approve of the direction the present director has taken it in. Rather then focusing on mainly human rights, housing, homelessness, victim’s rights, anti discrimination, etc., it has become mainly an office to fight for immigrant’s rights. I know Jim fought very hard for farm workers and immigrant’s rights, but I don’t know if he really wanted the office to make that the sole focus.
I often wonder what our forefathers would think about the way the media reports the news. I think they’d be shocked at the discriminatory one-sided reporting that happens, and the sensationalism.
I think they’d be disappointed in the way campaigns are run, and the amount of money you have to raise to become candidate. I often wonder what they would have thought about the way gays are treated, and how laws are distorted. It always amazes me how well written, and well thought out the Constitution, and Bill of Rights is. Think about how incredibly open-minded they were for their time!
Statues, well to me they’re reminders of history, people, cultures, and days of great change and growth. I can’t say I understand some of the artist’s concepts or depictions, but all in all, it’s the history I love. The telling of stories to new generations is what I love most about it all~
#8 – Definitely agree with you about the news media. So many issues are presented in a biases manner, people have distorted perceptions of the truth.
Renzel is an interesting example of good intentions gone awry. While the location of SJI made sense decades ago, it certainly does not at this time.
Consequently, his “vision” turns out to be a huge negative for San Jose and Northern Santa Clara county.
Darn, on to Tom’s really favorite subject, THE PAST, never ever the FUTURE. Walk through the new Hood Ornament Dome of the fashionable future, not the great future of San Jose, an original future, an unprecendented future, and what do you see? Canning machinery. All this pretense about being the capitol of Silicon Valley, when Sunnyvale or Cupertino are the real capitols. The town is still in the viselike grip of The Insiders—like it always has been—which is the main reason why the past is more important than the future here. Get a world class, really smart, generous, open-minded good guy like Bob Kieve to leave Rochester NY and come here for decades—and co-opt him into the ultimate Insiders Club, the San Jose Rotary.
Ptui! Forget the past, as all the WWII vets did and get on with the future, remembering the past only to avoid making the same mistakes over and over. George Green
Kathleen, an excellent example of media sensationalism would be yesterday’s TV news coverage and teasers all over the dial around the plan to use reclaimed water for drinking. The way the airhead TV anchors (there is no other kind, certainly not on KNTV) told it, you’d think the people of SJ would be drinking straight from their toilets.
While I’m not sold on the whole plan, the truth of the matter is that the reclaimed water would be rigorously treated, percolated over a period of time and mixed in with the much larger fresh water supply after that. But describing that process as an incidental news item just doesn’t pull in the viewers the way the shocking news that we’ll be drinking sewer water does.
Can we please get the long ago abandoned “Newsroom” back on Channel 9?
Looking at the citizens of San Jose in days gone by, one thing that jumps out at me was how interested they were in having a city that was pleasant to live in, had attractive buildings and parks, and had plenty of cultural activity. Civic organizations sponsored speeches by people as varied as anarchist Emma Goldman and Irish patriot Douglas Hyde. There were band and orchestra concerts, scientific presentations, and many kinds of public events.
Today’s San Joseans seem much less interested in the state of the public face of the city. New buildings are nondescript in appearance, starting with our City Hall that resembles an East German apartment block from the 1950s. The amount of park space has not kept pace with the population, and what is there is poorly maintained. The amount of cultural activity is very small for the size of the city—maybe because it is much easier to go to SF now?
An appreciation of San Jose history is valuable in our case, because it shows what can be accomplished by people who care about where they live, versus what happens when people lose interest and don’t get involved in local issues. I think at least part of the incentive to demolish historical sites is to remove the embarrassing contrast between then and now.
#13, when you say, “New buildings are nondescript in appearance, starting with our City Hall that resembles an East German apartment block from the 1950s.”, you may be defaming East German architecture.
To see the pure, over-the-top ugliness of the new city hall, consider the appearance of the east face which is not just nondescript, but actively disrespectful toward East Side residents as well as being overtly unattractive.
As a piece of evidence about San Jose’s willingness to ignore streets, public safety, parks, and pools on the East Side, the east face of the new city hall easily symbolizes that disrespect.
What’s the matter with Reed, Campos, Corteze, and Williams that they put up with the east face at all?
#15- Dale,
Mayor Reed voted against the new City Hall, in it’s entirety. The whole building is a smack in the face to ALL districts. It’s an over priced monstrosity that no one I know can stand.
#15 – Dale, and #16 Kathleen –
Kathleen is right. When Mayor Reed was a Council Member, and former Mayor Gonzales was trying to get this new plan adopted, Chuck Reed suggested the Sobrato Building on Almaden Expressway – the one BEA Systems is moving into – as a cheaper alternative. It was nixed by staff because it did not have a Rotunda, and the cost to modify the building to add a Rotunda would have been more expensive than Mayor Gonzales’ proposed plan for the City Hall we have today.
#13- “I think at least part of the incentive to demolish historical sites is to remove the embarrassing contrast between then and now.”
I disagree with this statement. There is something about the memories we hold, the smell of the building, the type of architecture used back then, and the feelings you remember feeling when in that old building, that makes it special.
Every time I drive by the old City Hall, I get a warm feeling. I remember the great smells coming out of the cafeteria; John and his wife made some mean Cordon Bleu! I remember the old photos of San Jose hanging on the walls, the little patio outside where you could eat your lunch, and enjoy the birds. I remember many Council Meetings packed with citizens, the uncomfortable seats, and how nicely positioned the podium was, compared to the one in the new City Hall.
I love driving through the streets of downtown and looking at the old Victorian homes. There’s a feeling of community, history, family. Some of the old businesses that have with stood time, and financial ups and downs, make me smile.
When I look at the new City Hall, the new apartments, new strip malls, and five story high businesses it feels very impersonal, sterile, and unappealing. One day, like all things, these buildings will become old too, and they will hold smells, and memories, and architectural history for some much younger people than myself. And those places will be special to them.
Your comment about, “the embarrassing contrast between then and now,” reminded me of an article I read in today’s Merc. A Hispanic gentleman wrote about the WWII movie on PBS that rewrites history, by leaving out the contribution of Hispanics in WWII.
It saddens me that our youth know so little about history, and that people try to rewrite history to suit themselves, or make a buck from a crowd who thinks like them. Our society has become so impersonal, so fast paced, so self involved that we are cheating our future generations out of some really valuable teachings.
Many cultures used to educate their youth through story telling, and through pieces of art, and through preserving handmade artifacts. My Father told us many stories of the Irish, and my Mom shared stories about Germany. Native Indians sat around fires telling stories to their young, African tribesmen did too. These stories were carried on from generation to generation. Where did those stories go? Ah yes, the invention of TV, video games, the computer, and the X Box!
Thanks Pete C for leaning into the wind and saying what we all hope for in private: that BART is NOT a foregone conclusion. The attitude of regional transit planners is that we’ll get BART funding one way or another, so it doesn’t matter what the public thinks, is patronizing at best. As time passes, the inadequacies of fixed-rail transit become clearer and clearer. And the ‘build it and we’ll pay for it later’ sensibility has already been given the lie by the failure of light rail.
Planners are playing a shellgame with federal and state monies, and are too wedded to a transit model that just won’t work. New thinking on transit, please!
Someone had it right this Ken Burns documentary on WWII should be shown in all high school classes as should many well done documentaries about our history.