What’s in a name

The city’s very name, San Francisco, was assigned by imperialist, rapacious and pillaging European conquerors. It’s time for the city to drop this name, fraught, as it is, with dark history. In the same spirit, the following cities should drop their names immediately: South San Francisco, San Bruno, San Mateo, San Carlos, Palo Alto, East Palo Alto and San Jose.

I think the school board has come up with the right solution, too. Numbers, rather than names.

I think San Francisco should change its name to 4, which always has been my favorite number and doesn’t carry the same historical burdens as 1, 2 and any of the numbers in the 30s, a notorious sequence with a deeply offensive past that no longer can be ignored. I’m not too happy with 9, either, but that’s a topic for another day.

This means South San Francisco could change its name to South 4, or take advantage of this moment in time to liberate itself from the yoke of oppression from the small city at the northern tip of the Peninsula.

San Bruno could conveniently become 5, San Mateo 6, and so on.

And while we’re at it, let’s zero in on some other things that suffer from dubious historic connections.

Redwood City is named for the lumber industry that denuded the western hills of old-growth Redwood trees. To make amends for this environment-damaging history, Redwood City could become Earth City. The San Francisco 49ers hearken to an era in which greedheads swarmed the state, rampaging for gold, befouling the environment and trespassing on native lands. Drop the 49ers, swap out a number for the city name and we can have the 4 Joe Montanas. And the San Jose Sharks. Well, is there a more vicious creature on the planet? Guppies. Or Gold Fish as a memorial for all the county fair goldfish that went home in a plastic baggie and didn’t live out the week.

Change it. Change them all.

AH, BUT SERIOUSLY: Death comes calling, and we lose people we have never known, but long admired and appreciated, and we lose friends whose lives we have valued. I long admired and appreciated Henry Aaron as a ballplayer and as a man. I was lucky to see Hal Holbrook perform as Mark Twain some decades ago, and it was as wonderful as you have heard. As an actor, he never sounded a false note. Recently, as noted by my columnar colleague Sue Lempert, we’ve lost attorney and political mover and shaker George Corey and educator Floyd Gonella. Even more recently, we lost pioneering woman executive and Menlo Park eminence Katherine Strehl. I knew them. I liked them. I had time and adventures with them.

This also is a reminder not to wait to say something to people in gratitude for the value they have brought into my life, whether it was a fan letter to Aaron or a phone call to Strehl. In that spirit, I want to say that Willie Mays has long been one of my heroes for the joy and dash he brought to the ballfield and the grace and humanity he has demonstrated in his life.

A FEW QUICK NOTES: I read that San Mateo County has the most expensive housing in the Bay Area. We are becoming a wealthy enclave. Not a good look. … A wide range of resources say  the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is considered the worst transit agency in the country. And these are the people who think they should have a stronger voice in running Caltrain, widely considered one of the best transit agencies in the country. … A week ago, I wrote about the inevitability of change. Then, I see the talent drain taking place at the San Francisco Chronicle, as prominent writers and editors take a buyout. It is something that had to happen, I suppose. Still, it’s hard not to think that the newspaper that was our daily read will be losing something, as will we. The paper largely ignores the Peninsula now. That will only get worse.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at marksimon@smdailyjournal.com.