San Francisco (Calif.). Regional Service Committee

Historical note

The Advisory Committee on Regional Service (ACRS) was created by resolution of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on August 7, 1939. Board President Warren Shannon's resolution described a plan to improve San Francisco's cooperation, business relations and public image with the surrounding counties in Northern and Central California. The San Francisco Examiner of July 29, 1939 noted that the "functions of the proposed agency, under Shannon's plan, would include public relations, development of a service program to help communities in San Francisco's trade area and long range planning to stimulate the city's commercial relations with the rest of the State." The resolution was passed by unanimous vote. As a result of the Committee's publications and press releases, it was more commonly known as the Regional Service Committee (RSC).

The original 10 members of the RSC were: Mayor Angelo Rossi, City Controller Harold J. Boyd, Warren Shannon, the chairmen of the supervisors' finance and streets committees, the City's chief administrative officer, the county agricultural commissioner, the manager of utilities, the city attorney and the director of public health. The charge of the group was to formulate a program to dissipate existing 'misunderstanding' with agricultural areas of the State. ( The San Francisco Examiner, August 8, 1939). The committee's first chairman was Harold J. Boyd until his death in 1945, when he was succeeded by Thomas A. Brooks.

The RSC was created in response to two events in 1939. The first was a survey by Agricultural Trade Relations, Inc. of the area between the Tehachipis and the Oregon State line. The survey revealed that "agriculturists, industrialists, businessmen, educators and many others had a low regard for 'The City' for a variety of reasons. Most frequently mentioned were labor troubles and San Francisco's apparent lack of concern for anything but San Francisco. The second event was the severe drubbing given the perennial San Francisco-sponsored 'Harbor Bill' by the rural elements of the State Legislature." ( California-Magazine of the Pacific, September 1949)

In September 1939 the Regional Service Committee contracted with the firm of John C. Lee and William J. Losh for promotion and establishment of better feeling in the hinterland. The contract specifically identified three areas of focus: 1) establish and maintain better relationships between San Francisco and the rural, neighboring metropolitan and suburban areas which constitute the city's trade area; 2) improve the services rendered by San Francisco to the trade area, enlisting co-operation of San Francisco citizens in the discharge of the city's obligations in the region; and 3) inaugurate or participate in activities designed to contribute to the prosperity of the entire region. (San Francisco Call, Sept. 21, 1939) The contract with Lee and Losh was renewed in September 1940 and Losh remained the primary contact through the 1950s. The $12,000 annual budget for the firm was paid out of the City's publicity and advertising fund.

Early activities of the RSC included publicizing food surplus within the state to reduce the negative impact on the growers. Surplus problems included: the 1939 apple surplus in Watsonville, spring lamb and Delta potatoes in 1943, and the Gravenstein Apple sale of 1949. Other activities involved smoothing out misunderstandings that threatened to deprive San Francisco of business; often these situations were handled without fanfare or publicity. During the war years, the labor needed to harvest crops was decimated due to military service and the removal of Japanese workers. The RSC worked with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce to form the Wartime Harvest Council to coordinate the many volunteers who participated in harvesting the crops in the surrounding counties. The RSC also cooperated with agriculture through the creation of San Francisco Farmers' Free Market. In addition, the RSC also spent time publicizing the City's traffic and parking regulations to help non-San Franciscans from being ticketed or fined for infractions. ( San Francisco Call, Sept. 21, 1939) ( California-Magazine of the Pacific, September 1949)

Throughout the 1940s the RSC was involved with 4-H Club tours, speaking engagements, annual livestock events at the Cow Palace, and timber and mining issues in the state. Its Regional News Service, a weekly clip sheet, was distributed to some 300 newspapers in Northern and Central California to keep the rural press informed of news and developments in San Francisco.

In 1956, it was reported that the committee had not met for 10 years. Supervisor Eugene McAteer asked for a full report of RSC activities. Mayor George Christopher required that the RSC meet every two months and that William Losh give a monthly report of its progress. There was continued scrutiny in 1958 as Dick Nolan reported in The San Francisco Examiner that the Committee had not met in 10 years, but Losh, a publicist, drew the $15,000 fee for each year. That same year, the RSC met for the first time in 2 years, called by its chairman Chief Administrative Officer Chester MacPhee. The committee developed a plan of work, but no one volunteered to do it. The committee's budget had been $15,000, and was cut to $10,000 for the coming year.

In December 1958, the Board of Supervisors voted to rescind the 1939 legislation establishing the Advisory Committee on Regional Service (aka Regional Services Committee). It immediately adopted a new measure, reconstituting the Advisory Committee on Regional Service (ACRS). Its composition, purpose and powers are described in San Francisco Administrative Code (1987) sections 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4.

A San Francisco Examiner article in 1961 noted that the committee had not met in 3 years, but that the Chief Administrative Officer Sherman Duckel would have it now meet every 3 months, and that the director William Losh had been doing a "bang-up" job. Then in 1964, The San Francisco Examiner noted that the agency is as anonymous as the CIA, and that its job is two-fold: "to pay its director and to promote vague good will toward San Francisco by sending Christmas cards."

On September 8, 1987 the Board of Supervisors repealed the sections of the Administrative Code that established the ACRS.

CHRONOLOGY

August 7, 1939 Resolution No. 461 passed by San Francisco Board of Supervisors to establish the Advisory Committee on Regional Service (aka Regional Service Committee).

December 1958 Resolution No. 461 repealed; Resolution No. 1106-58 passed to establish Advisory Committee on Regional Service. ( Board of Supervisors Journal of Proceedings (1958), p.818.)

September 8, 1987 Ordinance amending Administrative Code, by repealing various sections regarding the Advisory Committee on Regional Services. (Supervisor Walker) File 97-97-50 Ordinance No. 369-87. Repeals Sections 5.2, 5.3, 5.4. Finally passed." ( Board of Supervisors Journal of Proceedings, Tuesday September 8, 1987, page 1058)

From the guide to the Regional Service Committee Records, 1938-1978, 1939-1950, (San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library)