JOHN F. JACK SHELLEY PAPERS (BULK )

Transcription

1 JOHN F. JACK SHELLEY PAPERS (BULK ) Collection number: SFH 10 San Francisco History Center San Francisco Public Library 2002

2 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Biography Scope and Content Series Descriptions iii-iv v-vi vii viii-xi Container Listing 1-5 Series 1: Legislative and Issue Files 1-4 A. John F. Shelley 1 B. T.J. Kent, Jr. 1-2 C. Irwin Mussen 2-3 D. John H. Anderson 3-4 Series 2: Press and Speeches 4 Series 3: Public Services 4-5 Series 4: Campaigns 5

3 iii INTRODUCTION Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights Copyright has been assigned to the San Francisco Public Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the City Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the San Francisco Public Library as the owner of the physical items and the copyright. Collection Number Size SFH cu. ft. (10 boxes) Materials Cataloged Separately The monograph, 128 Hours: A Report of the Civil Disturbance in the City & County of San Francisco, was transferred to the book collection of the San Francisco Public Library. Processed by Tami J. Suzuki Date Completed Oct. 31, 2002 Date Revised April 15, 2003 Preferred Citation [Identification of item], John F. Jack Shelley Papers (SFH 10),.

4 iv Related Materials Researchers are encouraged to see also the San Francisco History Center s subject and biographical files and manuscript collection, and to check the catalog holdings of the San Francisco Public Library for related materials. Related Collection Researchers are encouraged to see also the John Francis Jack Shelley Collection housed at the Labor Archives, San Francisco State University. Included are 17 cubic feet of mayoral papers, mostly scrapbooks and newspaper clippings, and one box of mayoral speeches. Conservation Note During processing, the entire collection was refoldered and re-housed in acid-free folders and boxes. Some metal staples remain. Some documents on acidic or thermal paper were photocopied onto Permalife bond paper. After this process, originals were discarded. Other documents on acidic paper were kept in their original state and separated with either Permalife bond or Apollo buffered paper. Photographs were removed to the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection.

5 v BIOGRAPHY John Francis Jack Shelley was born to Dennis Shelley, a longshoreman and Irish immigrant, and Mary Casey Shelley, on Sept. 3, 1905, the oldest of nine children. Reared in the Mission District, he was a leader at Mission High School. Because of his size, tall and lanky, he worked as a merchant marine while still in school. He received his law degree from the University of San Francisco in 1932, driving a bakery truck during the day and playing varsity football in between classes and work. After college, Shelley worked as a business agent for the bakery wagon drivers union. During World War II, he served as an officer in the Coast Guard. At 31, Shelley became the youngest president of the San Francisco Labor Council in 1937, serving in that post until 1948 when he became Secretary-Treasurer. He was also president of the State Federation of Labor from 1947 to Shelley married Genevieve Giles in 1932 and had a daughter, Joan-Marie Shelley. His first wife died in In 1953, he married Thelma Smith, his secretary, with whom he had two children, Kathleen and Kevin. Kevin Shelley would later follow his father s political footsteps, serving as a San Francisco supervisor, state assemblyman, and Secretary of State. His political career began with two terms in the State Senate, from 1938 to In 1946, Shelley unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of California against Goodwin Knight. Elected to the U.S. Congress in 1949, he served fifteen years as a respected representative and was a member of the powerful Committee on Appropriations. Shelley became mayor of his beloved San Francisco in 1964 with a 12 percent margin over then-supervisor Harold S. Dobbs, and the support of labor unions and the Democrats. He was the first Democratic mayor in 50 years. Shelley ran for re-election in 1967 but withdrew at the last minute due to health concerns, although he was reportedly pushed out for a more pro-development candidate. Joseph Alioto replaced him and prevailed in the election. In 1968, Mayor Alioto appointed Shelley as the state legislative representative, a job he held until his death. During Shelley s tenure, San Francisco s problems included poverty, racial discrimination, aging housing and physical plant, changes in the city s economic structure including the loss of blue-collar jobs, and a shrinking middle-class with many whites moving to the suburbs, as well as inadequate housing for blacks who came to work in the shipyards during World War II, many still living in temporary housing in Hunters Point. Meanwhile, the Western Addition had already undergone the wrecking ball of redevelopment in the A-1 area beginning in 1957, dislocating thousands of blacks to Hunters Point, the Tenderloin, and the Western Addition s A-2 area, the next target of the Redevelopment Agency. Called a crisis mayor, Shelley was faced with strikes over discriminatory hiring practices against blacks at the Palace Hotel and Auto Row shortly after taking office.

6 vi He played a key role in negotiating settlements then, and later with the public nurses strike in 1966 and the 1967 symphony orchestra arbitration. On Sept. 27, 1966, riots broke out in Hunters Point following the fatal shooting by a white police officer of a black youth suspected of car theft. The mayor banned the use of dogs and tear gas and organized black youth from the community to help keep the peace. The state of emergency lasted six days. He said he recognized the violence as a measure of frustration with the underlying problems of discrimination, and he took steps to improve education, training, recreation, and jobs for those in poverty areas. Shelley established the Human Rights Commission and launched a 2500-unit expansion of public housing. In his inaugural speech, he said he was approaching redevelopment with a heart as well as a bulldozer. New redevelopment plans were approved in the Western Addition, South of Market, and Hunters Point districts as residents organized in opposition, demanding adequate relocation housing. Meanwhile, Shelley vetoed a Board of Supervisors vote against plans to build Yerba Buena Center in 1966, and vetoed another Board vote in October, 1967, to stop demolition in A-2. Under Shelley, the city joined the Association of Bay Area Regional Government (ABAG), a regional planning agency, and he unsuccessfully promoted a regional form of government. Considerable work was accomplished on the design of Market Street, soon to be remodeled with underground transit. Shelley fought to retain the Naval shipyards and the city s watershed areas. Shelley made five appointments to the Board of Supervisors including Terry Francois, the city s first African American supervisor. However, he found himself opposing them on key decisions. His appointments to top administrative jobs were applauded, and his genial personality, frankness, honesty, intelligence, and humanity were consistently upheld. At the same time, he was criticized as a mayor for being indecisive when timely action was required. John Shelley died Sept. 1, 1974, in San Francisco at the age of 68, after a dedicated career fighting for the economic welfare and personal freedoms of individuals and the betterment of San Francisco. Upon hearing of Shelley s passing, Mayor Alioto called him a champion of the working people all his life.

7 vii SCOPE AND CONTENT This collection documents the one-term administration of Mayor John F. (Francis) Jack Shelley during the years of Urban renewal and building the city are the main areas represented. Materials include internal as well as constituent correspondence, reports, surveys, minutes, strategy and policy memoranda and notes, articles and editorials, government documents, and reference material. Subjects include Market Street development, redevelopment of Western Addition Area 2 (A-2), the proposed City Demonstration Program in Hunters Point, regional planning, an underground freeway along the northern waterfront, the Sheraton Palace strike, and the Serra house in Mallorca, Spain. The Legislative and Issue Files series is organized by staff member. Staff included a Coordinator for Housing and Planning Development, later called Deputy for Development; an Urban Renewal Coordinator, later called Assistant Deputy for Development; a Deputy for Social Services; and a Deputy for Public Service. Some gaps exist. There is little constituent correspondence; very few speeches, press releases, newspaper clippings, and biographical and campaign material; and no calendar files. Missing are Workable Program for Community Involvement files, other than the 1965 report and 1967 certificate. Neither property tax assessment reform nor the 1967 symphony orchestra labor dispute and 1966 public nurses strike are represented. The only records of the Hunters Point riots following the killing of a black youth by a white police officer are Shelley s statement on Sept. 29, 1966 (in John Anderson s City Demonstration Program file, 4 of 4); his speech to the Board of Supervisors (Oct. 3, 1966), and the monograph, 128 Hours: A Report of the Civil Disturbance in the City & County of San Francisco. Some items without specific reference to San Francisco have been removed. Researchers are encouraged to see also the History Center s Biographical and Subject Files such as Districts, Freeways, Humans Rights Commission, and Riots, as well as other mayoral papers, as some related materials are housed there. ARRANGEMENT NOTE The material has been organized into four series: 1. Legislative and Issue Files; 2. Press and Speeches; 3. Public Services; and 4. Campaigns. The Legislative and Issue Files series is further organized into sub-series by staff member. The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject, except for Campaigns, which is arranged chronologically, with Shelley s campaigns first. Folders are in alphabetical order by folder title, and then by date. Within folders, materials are filed chronologically.

8 viii SERIES DESCRIPTIONS Series 1: LEGISLATIVE AND ISSUE FILES, cu. ft. Arranged by staff member. This series is organized into sub-series by staff member. The focus is on redevelopment. Materials include minutes, notes, memoranda, correspondence, reports, newsletters, and mechanical drawings. A common thread is the concern by residents of both the Hunters Point and Western Addition Area A-2 communities of a recurrence of the Western Addition Area A-1 experience, with demolition removing thousands of low-income people who received insufficient relocation housing assistance and inadequate replacement housing. See also the Public Services series. Sub-series A: John F. Shelley, cu. ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject, then chronologically. This sub-series contains the mayor s files on only two subjects, the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Palace Hotel, as well as a biography. Soon after Shelley came into office, he was faced with Negro rights pickets at the Palace Hotel, Lucky Stores, and the city's "Auto Row." Constituent correspondence reveals opinions on the Palace Hotel strike, in particular. ABAG, a regional planning agency started in 1961, was dealing with issues including the filling of San Francisco Bay, open space, transportation, and regional home rule. Shelley brought San Francisco into ABAG for the first time and was an advocate of regional home rule, recommending the establishment of a unified, limited-function government structure for the Bay Area to deal with regional planning, refuse disposal, open space, and an airport system. The ABAG files demonstrate his efforts to legislate such a body, to change the composition of ABAG s executive committee to half publiclyelected instead of all supervisors and city councilmen, and to maintain the city s watershed areas in Alameda and San Mateo counties. Sub-series B: T.J. Kent, cu. ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject, then chronologically. T.J. (Jack) Kent was Coordinator of Housing, Planning and Development. His title was changed to Deputy for Development in July, On leave from his job as professor of city planning with the University of California, Berkeley, Kent was responsible for promoting the regional home rule plan which would not be implemented.

9 ix This sub-series focuses on housing and development issues including the City Demonstration Program and the Transit Task Force. The City Demonstration Program, also known as the Model Cities Program, was a proposal to revitalize the Hunters Point- Bayview community by taking advantage of President Lyndon B. Johnson s Demonstration Cities Act of After more than a year of work on the proposal, its submission was terminated at the last minute. Of note is the mayor s recommendation against including a portion of the Mission District in the application, contrary to the Redevelopment Agency s recommendation. There is also a memo written by Justin Herman summarizing the Hunters Point housing situation (City Demonstration Program, 9 of 9). In Kent s Mission District Redevelopment files is evidence of opposition as well as (failed) efforts by the mayor to get the Board of Supervisors approval for an Inner Mission plan. Legislative efforts to make federal funding available for Hunters Point, Area G, are found in the Hunters Point Redevelopment file. The Transit Task Force, also known as the Market Street (Design) Task Force, coordinated the design of the two-decked subway for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and the Municipal Railway (MUNI), as well as the above-ground street. Sub-series C: Irwin Mussen, cu. ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject, then chronologically. Irwin Mussen served as Urban Renewal Coordinator, a position he also held in George Christopher s administration. Mussen left City Hall in June, Under Kent, Mussen advised the mayor on renewal, housing and development activities. As codirector of the Community Renewal Program (CRP), a federally funded program to study and guide urban renewal, he wrote the original CRP prospectus. The Urban Renewal Coordinator prepared the annual Workable Program for Community Development report, whose certification was required to receive federal money for urban renewal and low-rent housing. Mussen was chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Urban Renewal (IACUR) which ironed out the differences between city agencies in their renewal programs. He was also involved in the Market Street Task Force. This sub-series includes files of districts undergoing renewal and code enforcement including South of Market and the Western Addition. The Embarcadero Freeway file includes mechanical drawings of two plans for a depressed roadway which did not procede. Notably, the Western Addition Area A-2 files include the United San Francisco Freedom Movement s critical assessment of the A-2 renewal plan, maintaining that the area was really two distinct neighborhoods, with the Fillmore being predominantly Negro, poor, and low-rent as compared to the L-shaped neighborhood being white, wealthy, and moderate-rent. The assessment also maintains that the A-2 plan was essentially Negro removal. The A-2 files also note the formation of block clubs of

10 x residents opposed to redevelopment, as well as the recommendation of phased redevelopment by the International Longshoremen s and Warehousemen s Union/Pacific Maritime Association. Sub-series D: John H. Anderson, cu. ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject, then chronologically. John H. Anderson became Urban Renewal Coordinator in July, Anderson s title was changed to Assistant Deputy for Development in Anderson worked on the 95.6 million-dollar City Demonstration Program application (which would not be submitted). He also authored the IACUR Report on Housing in San Francisco. The Citizens Housing Task Force reviewed the IACUR reports on housing and business relocation, and recommended establishing a Housing Commission to provide centralized housing services, and a Citizens Advisory Committee. Anderson s Hunters Point file includes discussion of the maintenance and expected removal of the temporary war housing structures in the Ridge Point project in Hunters Point. A draft statement by the Human Rights Commission on an affirmative action housing program is within the City Demonstration Program, Hunters Point Reports and Memoranda, file. Also, there is a draft resolution by the commission on low- and moderate-income housing (Housing, 1 of 2). A report on the activities of the Economic Opportunity Council which the mayor established to coordinate anti-poverty efforts is found in the council file. Plans for a subsurface roadway connecting the Golden Gate Bridge approaches to the Embarcadero Freeway along the northern waterfront are found in the Golden Gate Freeway file. Of particular note is a copy of T.J. Kent s report on the city s redevelopment policies prepared for Mayor-Elect Alioto. Series 2: Press and Speeches, folders Arranged alphabetically by subject, with press releases followed by speeches. This series contains only two press releases and five speeches including Shelley s report to the Board of Supervisors following the Hunters Point riots. A few other speeches and statements are found in the Legislative and Issues series. Those topics include: regional home rule (in the mayor s ABAG files); 18-Point Program for San Francisco (summary, in T.J. Kent, IACUR, 2 of 3); Western Addition Area 2 (in Irwin Mussen, A-2, 2 of 2); Midtown Park dedication (Mussen, Western Addition Area 1); Western Addition Area 2 (radio address, in John Anderson s A-2 file); rehabilitation of temporary war housing (Anderson, Hunters Point); and the Hunters Point riots (Anderson, City Demonstration Program, 4 of 4). Additionally, the John Francis Jack Shelley Collection at the Labor

11 xi Archives, San Francisco State University, includes mayoral speeches and news clippings.

12 xii Series 3: Public Services, cu. ft. Arranged alphabetically by subject, then chronologically, with constituent concerns followed by special events. This series contains proclamations and events including the visits of special guests, and the Public Service Director s interoffice memoranda. Of interest are the approximately 100 black-and-white photographs documenting Sister City activities with Osaka, Japan. Also noteworthy are plans for the twentieth anniversary celebration of the United Nations, and correspondence regarding the deed to Father Junipero Serra s house in Mallorca, Spain. (See the manuscripts collection for the deed.) The Interoffice Memo subjects include the watershed property in San Mateo County (May 18, 1964 and July 6, 1964), employment of the physically handicapped (April 14, 1964), retention of the Naval shipyard (April 7 and 28 and July 1, 1964 and other dates), and opposition to the Panhandle Freeway (Oct. 19, 1964), as well as a directive from the mayor (March 25, 1964) that Coats must be worn in my office. Series 4: Campaigns, folders Arranged chronologically, with Shelley s campaigns first. This series contains a few items from Shelley s mayoral and re-election campaigns, two bond measures of June 2, 1964, and an endorsement of Alan Cranston in his bid for U.S. Senate in 1964.

13 CONTAINER LISTING Series 1. Legislative and Issue Files, Subseries A. John F. Shelley (Mayor), Container Folder Folder Title Date Box Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Box 9 1 ABAG, Preliminary Regional Plan Nov., 1966 Box 1 5 Biographical and Office Organization [ca. 1964] Palace Hotel, Constituent Correspondence 1964 Subseries B. T.J. Kent (Coordinator of Housing, Planning and Development and later, Deputy for Development), Container Folder Folder Title Date Box 1 9 Area Manpower Planning 1967 ABAG 10 Planning Directors Committee Regional Home Rule Regional Planning Committee Bay Area Regional Organization, Joint 1967 Legislative Committee on 19 Bay Area Council Bay Area Transportation Study Commission Bay Conservation and Development Commission Meeting Minutes Box Capital Improvement Advisory Committee (CIAC) 4-5 Recommended Six-Year Capital Jan. 20, 1967 Improvement Program 6 Excerpts from the Recommended Six-Year 1967 Capital Improvement Program 7 Citizens Housing Task Force City Demonstration Program Strategies for Shaping Model Cities Deputy and Assistant Deputy for Development, 1966 Title Changes 19 Deputy for Social Programs, New Position Hunters Point Redevelopment Inter-Agency Committee on Urban Renewal Housing and Relocation Mission District Redevelopment MD 5 4 Mission Transit Station, Conceptual Illustration Nov., 1964

14 2 Box 2 27 Ocean View-Merced Heights-Ingleside 1966 Stabilization and Improvement Project 28 Recreation and Park Department South of Market Area D-1/Yerba Buena Center 1966 Box Transit Task Force (formerly Market Street Task 1966 Force) 6 Market Street Development Report Market Street Design Report Number 2 June 23, Market Street Design Report Number 4 May 9, Meeting Notes Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Agreement BART, Davis Street Station University of California Extension, Community Design Center 13 War Memorial Opera House Expansion Western Addition Area A-2, Evaluation of 1966 Housing Proposals Subseries C. Irwin Mussen (Urban Renewal Coordinator), Container Folder Folder Title Date Box 3 15 Bay Crossings Bay Model 1964 Community Renewal Program (CRP) 17 Citizens Advisory Committee Citizens Advisory Committee Membership Monthly Progress Reports Other Reports District and Project Files 21 Embarcadero Freeway Glen Park Haight-Ashbury Market Street Development Project Statement of Objectives Sept. 13, Market Street Coordinating Committee Market Street Coordinating Committee and Task Force 31 Market Street Design Task Force, 1965 Advisory Board and Executive Committee 32 Mission Old Hall of Justice Chinese Cultural and Trade Center 1965 Box South of Market Area D Development Committee Membership Reports

15 3 South of Market Area D-1 Box 4 5 Exhibition Space/Sports Arena Waterfront, Height Limits Western Addition Area A Japanese Cultural and Trade Center Saint Francis Square Western Addition Area A International Longshoremen s and 1964 Warehousemen s Union/Pacific Maritime Association Plan 13 Board of Supervisors Published Plans Western Addition, Beyond Project Areas Requests for Information Urban Renewal Coordinator, Classification of Duties 18 Workable Program for Community Improvement 1965 Subseries D. John H. Anderson (Urban Renewal Coordinator and later, Assistant Deputy for Development), Container Folder Folder Title Date Box 4 19 BART CIAC Citizens Housing Task Force (See Also IACUR) Formation Minutes Relocation Subcommittee First Report Oct.-Nov., City Demonstration Program (See Also Hunters Point) 30 Family Service Agency Assignments Mar.-Apr., Advisory Committee Members April, Minutes Mar.-June, Hunters Point Reports and Memoranda Parents & Taxpayers Newsletters San Francisco Unified School District Staff United Community Fund Economic Opportunity Council Golden Gate Freeway 1965 Box Housing (See Also IACUR) Studies

16 4 Box 5 4 Hunters Point (See Also City Demonstration Program) IACUR (See Also Citizens Housing Task Force) 5 Corridor Sub-committee Housing Report Drafts A Report on Housing in San Francisco May, Report on Housing and Business Relocation June, 1967 Services (Draft) 9 Relocation, Subcommittee on Kent, T.J., Development Policies Report to Dec. 28, 1967 Mayor-Elect Alioto 11 Kent, T.J., Staff Memoranda Market Street Design Task Force Citizens Advisory Committee Plan of Action for Challenging Times Resources Agency of California Transportation Plan (Working Paper) Dec., Western Addition Area A-2, Relocation Project Sept. 18, 1964 Proposal (Redevelopment Agency) 18 Western Addition Area A Workable Program 1967 Series 2. Press and Speeches, Container Folder Folder Title Date Box 5 20 Press, Appointments After 16 Months on the Hot Seat Apr. 30, Board of Supervisors, Report to Oct. 3, Downtown Association Board of Directors Nov. 25, Press Club Gang Dinner Sept. 18, St. John s Armenian Apostolic Church Jan., 1965 Series 3. Public Services, Container Folder Folder Title Date Constituent Concerns Box 5 26 Commissioners [196-] 27 Constituent Correspondence (Responses) Jan.-Feb., Interoffice Memos Maritime Museum 33 Neighborhood Youth Corps Pornography Sanitation Serra House, Father Junipero Serra House, Father Junipero, Chief Administrative Officer s Files 39 Youth Opportunities Center 1965

17 5 Special Events Box Consular Corps Dinner de Anza Scholarship Film Festival Giants Opening Game Inaugural Ceremonies Jan. 8, Latin American Fiesta 1966 Box 6 1 League of California Cities [196-] 2 MacDonald, Jeanette, Funeral Merionettes National Flags Navy Dance New Neighbors Now, Western Airlines Osaka-San Francisco Sister Cities Miss Sister City (Osaka) Goodwill Mission From Osaka Miss Sister City (San Francisco) Town Affiliation Bulletins Japan World Exposition News World Traffic Safety Conference Proclamations Republican National Convention Rose Bowl Trip St. Patrick s Day Committee San Francisco s Birthday Celebration Box United Nations 20 th Anniversary Pamphlets Petitions of Protest United Nations Day USS Coral Sea Veterans Day Parade Visitors 15 Princess Margaret of Great Britain Lord Mayor of London President of Upper Volta U.S. World Trade Fair 1964 Series 4. Campaigns, Container Folder Folder Title Date Box 7 19 Shelley for Mayor Re-election Campaign Proposition A, Sewer Bond, and 1964 Proposition B, Lighting Bond 22 Cranston for U.S. Senator 1964