Nolte, Carl: Moscone and diversity in appointments

Abstract

Carl Nolte: The difference between Moscone and some of these other guys was that Moscone was a guy who came from the playgrounds. He was a guy who came from North Beach. He played ball with my in-laws. He knew all these guys. He was a Catholic. He went to Saint Ignatius High School which is kind of a boot camp for politicians. George was, one of his people told me, a son of the city, and people trusted him. He was one of us, you know? He wasn’t some guy from outside telling us what to do. He talked like a San Francisco guy; he dropped his g’s sometimes. He hung out in bars in North Beach; everybody knew him. So when he changed the city, he brought in all the people who had been excluded. He brought in people who were not thought of by the old San Franciscans as San Franciscans. He brought in Filipinos, Chinese people, Gays, Salvadorans. He brought in everybody who had been excluded. He put them in positions of authority. Positions of authority weren’t necessarily elective offices. These were offices like on the Public Utilities Commission, on the Planning Commission, on the obscure agency called the Board of Appeals which had to do with planning and some complicated stuff I don’t understand, Arts Commission; all those things. These people were now included into City Hall and they never were before.

Loading...

Media is loading
 

Type

Interview

Relation

The Moscone oral history interviews are part of the George Moscone Collection, MSS 328.

Contributing Institution

Holt-Atherton Special Collections and Archives, University of the Pacific Library

Rights Information

To view additional information on copyright and related rights of this item, such as to purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish them, click here to view the Holt-Atherton Special Collections policies.

Share

COinS