by Betty Parshall

Rainy School Days in the Old Valley

Before the building boom that followed the 1940s, Visitacion Valley had more vacant land than residences. On rainy days we walked down the hill from Wilde Avenue to school swathed in slickers or hooded raincoats (mine was plaid) with galoshes pulled over our shoes. I hated the galoshes, they were hard to pull on and invariably pulled my shoes off too when I removed them.

My older brother and I usually walked with the two kids who lived next door. At the time of this little story Gloria Bischoff was 12. Her brother Carl and my brother were 10, I was a mere squat of 7. This morning was clear after a night of heavy rain, and the sidewalks were still wet. More to the point, dozens of snails were also out, seeking relief from the soaked, muddy soil of all the vacant lots.

As we walked along, Carl smashed snails with a “Take that!” for each victim. Gloria scolded him for being so cruel but he kept it up. “They eat my mother’s garden,” was his response. 

Gloria continued to nag him, pointing out that these snails were nowhere near their mother’s garden, until Carl finally picked up one of the biggest snails he could find, yelled “Here, if you like them so much take this one!” and smashed it down on the top of her bare head. She went screaming back up the hill to home, Carl continued his murderous crusade, and my brother and I were quietly awestruck by his terrible crime.

Later we learned that Carl was kept in after school for a few days as punishment. That was one memorable rainy day.

Rainy days during the school year had their good and bad points. We couldn’t go outside for recess, and were seated in the school auditorium to eat our lunches. (The school cafeteria hadn’t been built yet.) Naturally there was a lot of restless fidgeting and continual reminders to lower our voices during the 30-minute lunchtime. The good point was that we were let go early to make up for the lost playtime. I’m sure our teachers must have breathed sighs of relief at our departure. And we were happy with the early release and the prospect of some serious puddle jumping on the way back home.

Muddy Olden Days

Older folks who provided their oral histories mentioned how muddy the roads were in the days before paving was laid on all the streets. During the wet season, delivery wagons from the Valley went along San Bruno Avenue up the hill to Harkness and then to hillside homes. Rutland Street was a mud slide.

Here’s a quote from retired barber Al Cinti. He was asked if the roads were paved when he came here as a boy. 
“Yes, up there on Teddy they were. When I first came here, Leland wasn’t all the way paved, just up to Rutland, and they had wooden sidewalks. Mr. Rossi was here on Leland (the pharmacy) and the water pump company was down the street, and the hotel and bar on the corner.” 

Do you have a memory to share?
We’d love to hear from you. bparshal@flash.net  or mail your story to Visitacion Valley History Project c/o B..Parshall, 386 Wilde Ave., S.F. 94134

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Federal Health Reform a Tipping Point, Not the End Game

by Senator Mark Leno

As California faces another year of skyrocketing health care costs, many of us have followed the developments of federal health care reform with anticipation. Even though I recognize that federal health care reform in 2010 will bring positive and worthwhile changes, it was disappointing to see the insurance industry succeed at scaling back reform. However, we should not be discouraged. Underneath this historic step forward is a true groundswell of support for universal health care. Across the nation, Americans are coming to the conclusion that private insurance companies have failed in their obligation to administer health coverage, and polls show that strong majorities support a Medicare for all model of health care.

With every passing year, rising insurance premiums suffocate economic growth and threaten the middle class standard of living. As premiums skyrocket, quality of care and access to care are rapidly declining. Benefits are being cut, medical bankruptcy is on the rise and provider reimbursements are stagnating. Public infrastructure like schools, roads, police and fire departments are directly threatened by these rising costs since public revenues can never hope to increase fast enough to keep up with health care premiums for teachers, police officers, and fire fighters. 
Fortunately, California is leading the nation with a plan to establish a universal health care system that will strike directly at the heart of rising health care costs. 

The California Universal Health Care Act, which I introduced last year, provides every Californian with comprehensive universal health care and is fully funded with the money that California already spends on health care. Senate Bill 810 builds on our current system of privately delivered health care but is funded by a single, comprehensive health insurance plan that covers all residents of the state, allowing them to choose their own doctors and hospitals. 

SB 810 works by pooling together the money that government, employers and individuals spend on health care each year and using that money more efficiently to ensure that 95% of every health care dollar is devoted to actual health care, rather than clinical and administrative waste. Californians will spend about $200 billion this year on health care, but more than 30% of our health care budget is wasted on the administrative bureaucracy – the result of having thousands of different health care plans. We already spend more than enough money to care for our entire population, and yet we have millions of people who remain uninsured. Numerous studies have shown that a single-payer, universal health care system not only cuts costs in the first year, but it also contains the growth of health care spending over the long term.

You may hear some antagonists argue that we can not afford single-payer, universal health care because of our ongoing state budget crisis. On the contrary, we can not continue to ignore the cost savings a single-payer health care plan will provide our state and its residents. That is why cities, counties, school districts, health care providers and others have joined the hundreds of organizations that support single-payer, universal health care. The State of California, local agencies and businesses spend a large percent of payroll dollars on health care costs, which continue to grow three times faster than wages each year. Stabilizing crushing health care costs not only makes sense, but is critical in helping us address our fiscal challenges.

SB 810 provides immediate relief to California businesses that are struggling to pay for their employee health benefits, saving them them millions of dollars in the first year alone. Such a policy will inevitably bring new business to the state since health care costs in California would be significantly lower than in other states and more competitive with other industrial nations.

Californians want and deserve the state-of-the-art, modern universal health care system that is envisioned in SB 810. I hope you will join me in supporting reform at the state level. California needs this bill. Californians support it, and we will not stop until we achieve it.

To learn more about the California Universal Health Care Act, visit our website, www.senate.ca.gov/leno or California OneCare at www.californiaonecare.org.

Senator Mark Leno represents the Third Senate District of California, which includes portions of San Francisco and Sonoma Counties and all of Marin County.  He can be reached via the web at www.sen.ca.gov/Leno, by phone in the San Francisco District Office at 415-557-1300 or San Rafael District Office at 415-479-6612, or by e-mail, Senator.Leno@senate.ca.gov.

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Grapevine Five Years Ago

FEBRUARY 2005

*At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell of District 10 made a hearing request before the Land Use Committee on the potential adoption of a Redevelopment Agency Survey Area for the Visitacion Valley Plan Area.

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Historic Proportions

1852

Match clues to answers.

1. First American experimental steam vehicle was tested on Mar. 2..
2. United Kingdom recognized independence on Jan. 17.
3. French engineer made first airship trip on Sept. 24 from Paris to Trappes.
4. Archibald William Montgomeriwas appointed Lord Lieutenant on Mar. 1.
5. On Feb. 25, this sinking near Cape Town, South Africa saw only 193 of the 643 on board survive.
6. New U.S. president elected on Nov. 2.
7. On Jan.  14, he proclaimed a new constitution for the French Second Republic.
8. New Palace of Westminster opened here on Nov. 11..
9. Emperor of the French on Dec. 2.
10. First to receive the honor of lying in state in the United States Capitol rotunda on July 1.
11. Formed on Jan. 15 in New York City.
12. Piedmontese prime minister on Nov. 4.

A. Ireland
B. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
C. Henry Clay
D. Fire engine
E. HMS Birkenhead
F. Mount Sinai Hospital
G. Transvaal.
H. Count Cavour
I. Napoleon III
J. Henri Giffard
K. Great Britain
L. Franklin Pierce

Answers: 1-D, 2-G, 3-J, 4-A, 5-E, 6-L, 7-B, 8-K, 9-I, 10-C, 11-F, 12-G.

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Sez Who?

Match quotes to speakers.

1. "Anger is not an argument"
2. "Don't dress a simple idea in complicated language."
3. "It is astonishing what power words have over man."
4. "Commit a crime and the earth is made of glass."
5. "First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak."
6. "If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun."
7. "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."
8. "When work is pleasure, life is joy! When work is a duty, life is slavery."
9. "Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody."

A. Benjamin Franklin
B. Napoleon Bonaparte
C. Maxim Gorky
D. Epictetus
E. Daniel Webster
F. John Churton Collins
G. Maya Angelou
H. Edwin Newman
I. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Answers: 1-E; 2-H; 3-B; 4-I; 5-D; 6-A; 7-G; 8-C; 9-F.