No more 4-day workweeks for cops
Here is a look at the past. Items have been culled from The Chronicle’s archives of 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago.
1990
Oct. 2: San Francisco Police Chief Frank Jordan moved yesterday to repeal the popular four-day work schedule for uniformed police officers and return to the 40-hour five-day week. Police union officials immediately condemned the move, saying Jordan has reneged on an earlier agreement and has neglected to discuss his change of heart. In a press statement released yesterday afternoon, Jordan said the four-day plan, which requires 10-hour shifts, has resulted in fewer officers in the streets for public protection. Later, in an interview, Jordan said a key reason for planning the reversal is a departmental study showing that a five-day week would have 71 percent of the force working at one time. By comparison, a four-day plan keeps only 57 percent on duty at the same time. “In difficult times, unpopular decisions must be made,” Jordan said.
1965
Sept. 27: Angel Island’s deer, growing scrawny on a starvation diet of bark, were happily munching on hay thanks in part to the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Coast Guard. About 200 deer roam the hills and ravines of the island in the Bay. They had eaten all the available range feed and were reduced to chewing bark off madrone trees when John Libby, board chairman of the Solano Humane Society heard of their plight. He went into action, got in touch with General Michael Casey of Travis Air Force Base, and on Saturday base personnel conducted, not an airlift but a truck lift. They picked up ten tons of hay in a van and brought it to Sausalito. The baled alfalfa hay, transferred to the Coast Guard cutter Bayberry, was then transported to the dock at Angel Island. And there, under direction of John A. Biggio, supervisor of the Angel Island State Park, rangers began spreading it about for the hungry deer. Sept. 29: A saucy 700-year-old joke was bandied about in the City Hall Rotunda yesterday during ceremonies marking the presentation of a centenary bust of Dante Alighieri, the great Italian poet. The age of the story was authenticated by Dr. Uguccione Raniere di Sorbello, the main speaker, who told an appreciative audience of about 100 that the bronze bust was based on a portrait by Giotto, an artist friend of Dante. Giotto, noted both for his art and the ugliness of his children, was once asked by Dante why his paintings were so beautiful and his progeny so ugly. Giotto replied: “I paint by daylight and make my children in the dark.” The venerable joke was greeted with a ripple of laughter from such dignitaries as Dr. Alessandro Savorgnan, Italian consul general, who presented the bust to Supervisor Peter Tamaras, the acting mayor.
1940
Sept. 29: Golden Sept. shadows gather today over the Golden Gate international Exposition and Treasure Island. It is the last day of two years of carnival on that little island that didn’t exist a couple of ears ago. San Francisco and the world will speak their definite, final “good-by” to a place many have come to love as a shelter spot of beauty and peace in an angry world. For after today Treasure Island will be no pleasure spot. Down will come the buildings, graceful spires, avenues and courts of almost incredible beauty. Uprooted will be its blossoms of overpowering fragrance and kaleidoscopic hues, its graceful trees. Its peaceful lakes and ponds will be filled in. Almost the whole island will be swept as clean as an ancient city conquered by the barbarian. After today Treasure Island will become an airport, a bleak, undecorated space of land where big airliners will glide to earth, disgorge their passengers, and rumble away. It will be a great airport, of course, but it will not be a thing of great beauty as it was when this island was young.
1915
Oct. 1: Whooping cough is more fatal than measles, according to figures compiled by the State Board of Health. Most of the fatalities occurred in children under 5 years old. During 1914 there were 8852 case of measles reported to the State Board of Health, with 150 deaths. For the same period there were 2595 cases of whooping cough, with 306 deaths. The State Board of Health urges parents to take every precaution to protect their children from the diseases. The chief difficulty in their control lies in the fact that they are most catching in the early stages. The warning was issued to prevent epidemics in schools. Oct. 1: Chief of Police White issued an order to company commanders yesterday calling upon them to stop all gambling and lotteries that might exist in their districts. In his order Chief White stated that it has been called to his attention that gambling and lotteries, both Chinese and Occidental, existed in different sections of the city, and he would hold the captains of each district responsible for any future violations of the law.