BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: acr 65
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: hall
VERSION: 8/22/13
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: yes
Hearing date: September 9, 2013
SUBJECT:
Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge
DESCRIPTION:
This resolution renames the western span of the San
Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the City and County of San
Francisco as the "Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge."
ANALYSIS:
The committee has adopted a policy regarding the naming of state
highways or structures. Under the policy, the committee will
consider only those resolutions that meet all of the following
criteria:
The person being honored must have provided extraordinary
public service or some exemplary contribution to the public
good and have a connection to the community where the highway
is located.
The person being honored must be deceased.
The naming must be done without cost to the state. Costs for
signs and plaques must be paid by local or private sources.
The author or co-author of the measure must represent the
district in which the facility is located, and the measure
must identify the specific highway segment or structure being
named.
If the segment of highway is being named for a specific
individual or individuals, it must not exceed five miles in
length.
The proposed designation must reflect a community consensus
and be without local opposition.
The proposed designation may not supersede an existing
designation unless the sponsor can document that a good faith
effort has uncovered no opposition to rescinding the prior
designation.
This resolution :
ACR 65 (HALL) Page 2
1.Resolves that the Legislature takes great pride in recognizing
Willie L. Brown, Jr. for all of his political, professional,
and personal accomplishments.
2.Renames the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge, which connects downtown San Francisco to Yerba Buena
Island in the City and County of San Francisco, as the Willie
L. Brown, Jr. Bridge. (This span was built in the 1930s, as
opposed to the eastern span, which was built over the past
decade and opened last week.)
3.Requests that the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
erect appropriate signs upon receiving donations from
non-state sources to cover the costs.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author introduced this resolution at the request
of the California State NAACP, to honor the political,
professional, and personal accomplishments of Willie L. Brown,
Jr. Proponents note that Mr. Brown is one of California's
most prominent public servants and that he has faithfully
dedicated his professional career to serve the people of
California and the Bay Area.
2.Background on Willie L. Brown, Jr. Born in 1934 in Texas,
Willie L. Brown, Jr. moved to San Francisco in 1951, where his
uncle was already living in order to attend college. He
graduated from San Francisco State University in 1955, and
from University of California, Hastings College of Law in
1958. He then practiced law in San Francisco. In 1964, he
was first elected to the Assembly, and served from 1980 until
1995 as the Speaker of the Assembly, making him the longest
serving speaker in the history of the California Legislature.
He resigned his seat in the Assembly when in 1995, he was
elected mayor of the City and County of San Francisco. He
served as mayor from 1996 until 2004.
3.Inconsistent with the committee's policy . This resolution
conflicts with four of the seven provisions of the committee's
long-standing policy on highway designations, as follows:
The person being honored must be deceased. Willie L. Brown,
Jr. is alive.
ACR 65 (HALL) Page 3
The author or co-author of the measure must represent
the district in which the facility is located. Senator
Leno and Assemblymember Ammiano represent the Senate
District and Assembly District, respectively, in which the
western span of the Bay Bridge is located. Neither Senator
Leno nor Mr. Ammiano appears as an author or a coauthor of
this resolution.
The proposed designation must reflect a community
consensus and be without local opposition. There appears
to be significant local opposition to naming this bridge
after Willie L. Brown, Jr. In addition to numerous letters
and emails in opposition that the committee has received,
the San Francisco Chronicle and Bay Guardian newspapers
have both editorialized against the naming, and a short
piece that ran recently in the Chronicle about the naming
generated nearly 500 negative comments in response to the
idea of naming the bridge after Brown, or in many cases,
after any person.
The proposed designation may not supersede an existing
designation unless the sponsor can document that a good
faith effort has uncovered no opposition to rescinding the
prior designation. Caltrans records show that the entire
San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was unofficially named for
San Francisco Mayor James "Sunny Jim" Rolph, the longest
serving mayor of San Francisco, who went on to become
governor of California. There is no record of any
legislative action to assign this name to the bridge, and
it never entered the common lexicon. Rather Rolph's
dedication appears to have been assigned to the bridge in
1986 during the 50th anniversary celebration. The San
Francisco Chronicle in June 1985 explained:
James (Sunny Jim) Rolph, Jr. is finally going to get his
Bay Bridge plaque - 50 years after a political feud
denied him the honor. The plaque in memory of the
popular San Francisco mayor and governor is included in
the $85 million budget to renovate the bridge, which will
be 50 years old in 1986. As mayor from 1912 to 1931,
Rolph presided over San Francisco's rebirth from the
ashes of the 1906 fire. He became governor in 1931 and
died in office at the age of 64 in 1934, shortly after
work began on the bridge. When Rolph died, the California
Toll Bridge Authority wanted to name the bridge after
ACR 65 (HALL) Page 4
Rolph. The proposed honor enraged Joseph Russell
Knowland, a powerful Republican and publisher of the
Oakland Tribune. Knowland had led an earlier effort to
win federal financing for the bridge, and there is a hint
that he might have wanted his name connected with it.
The publisher stopped the plan to name the bridge in
Rolph's memory and forced the state to add the name
"Oakland" to the bridge's first official designation,
which was "The San Francisco Bay Bridge."
The Associated Press story from November 12, 1986, on the
celebration of the 50th anniversary of the bridge reported
that:
The focal point of the celebration was the dedication of
two plaques, one commemorating the 29 workers who died
constructing the bridge and another honoring James "Sunny
Jim" Rolph, Jr., who championed its construction as mayor
and as governor. He died before it was completed.
In addition, there is an active effort underway to rename the
bridge for another individual, Joshua Abraham Norton, who
those involved credit with first conceiving of the bridge.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 68-0
Appr: 16-0
Trans: 12-1
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Thursday, September 5,
2013.)
SUPPORT: California State Conference of the NAACP
(sponsor)
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees
Black Women Organized for Political Action
California Black Chamber of Commerce
California Black Media
California Legislative Black Caucus
California Urban Partnership
Caribbean Basin Institute for Education and
Culture
Compton Branch of the NAACP
ACR 65 (HALL) Page 5
Golden State Medical Association of California
Green Technical Education and Employment
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
Pasadena Branch of the NAACP
San Francisco African American Chamber of
Commerce
Sacramento Branch of the NAACP
San Francisco Branch of the NAACP
San Gabriel Valley Branch of the NAACP
San Jose/Silicon Valley Branch of the NAACP
San Mateo Branch of the NAACP
Stockton Branch of the NAACP
World Music Commission
3 individuals
OPPOSED: 408 individuals.