I know it’s the day before the election but let’s take a break and talk about ZIP codes.
Did you know San Mateo County includes the most expensive ZIP code in the United States?
It’s your ZIP if you live in Atherton. The 10th most expensive place to live is also in California but it’s Santa Monica. In between are major cities like Manhattan and towns on Suffolk County, New York. In Sagaponach, Suffolk County, you can buy a five-bedroom, four-bath home on 1.41 acres for $5,950,000 but also a much smaller home for $1,995,000. Now what can you buy in San Mateo city for $1,995,000? Not much but San Mateo has weather and location for bragging rights. It’s between the ocean and San Francisco Bay and half way between San Francisco and Palo Alto.
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Tomorrow San Mateo residents may know the fate of Measure T. I love those signs yes and no. Maybe one day we will have Measure Z and that will be the end of charter amendments. Or we could start over with Measure AA.
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And, of course, we may know who our next president is. California is so one-sided you don’t get the feel of a real contest unless you read the polls. One of the worse outcomes is politicizing patriotism. Trump has wrapped himself around the American flag. He uses it as campaign material. So if someone flies an American flag at their home you immediately think he’s for Trump.
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Closer to home in San Mateo County, in Redwood City, the Pledge of Allegiance has become a political issue. After doing a column on standing for the Star-Bangled Banner, it’s time to turn to the pledge.
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The original version of the Pledge of Allegiance did not include the words “under God.”
Congress added “Under God” to the Pledge in 1954 — during the Cold War. Many members of Congress reportedly wanted to emphasize the distinctions between the United States and the officially atheistic Soviet Union.
Children — like all Americans – cannot be required to recite the Pledge or any specific part of it. In a 1943, U.S. Supreme Court decision, West Virginia v. Barnette, in which Justice Robert Jackson wrote: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.”n 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted a case (Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow) that challenged the use of “under God” in the pledge, but the high court did not rule on the question of whether the pledge is constitutional under the First Amendment.
Instead, a five-justice majority said that atheist Michael Newdow did not have legal standing to bring the case on behalf of his daughter because he did not have legal custody of her. Standing is a legal concept that only those with a legitimate stake in a case’s outcome can be a party to a lawsuit. Standing for the pledge has become more than a legal concept for some.
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Senior night at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo is a big night for student athletes and their parents. Instead of an awards night in the auditorium, parents make posters with their child’s name and sport and walk with them around the dressed-up football field. Parents and athletes are introduced. There are lots of cheers but few tears. What a great tradition!
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About 80 people attended the annual Sustainable San Mateo County Indicators Report Conference Friday, Oct. 24 at the Sobrato Conference Room, 350 Twin Dolphin Drive in Redwood City. The topic was electric vehicle charging. The guiding principle: Access to EV charging should be robust and available to everyone. The assumption: in the next decade, most cars on the road will be electric.
Determining whether a city has enough public chargers depends on urban density, the proportion of residents without charging access and without workplace options. EV drivers in urban areas usually need more chargers. The report has key recommendations including: cities should consider installing streetlight chargers near apartments and multifamily units; cities should form partnerships with private and pubic parking lots to allow nearby residents to charge their cars during hours when the lots are not being used.
Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs Mondays. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.
(4) comments
What a stupid thing to do: adding such a splitting phrase to a pledge that was designed to be unifying!
As a conservative who is not religious I would be fine with the "under God" being removed from the Pledge.
For Jorg and his followers, so their feelings aren't hurt or angered, they can say "One Nation under hell," because with democrats in charge it appears that's where the United States is headed.
Sue, my American flag is flying right beside my Harris Walz sign. I have always loved our flag and have never signed up for the belief that it’s owned by any political party. I wish more felt this way!
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