Misplaced Pages

#46953

59-603: Moscone may refer to: George Moscone (1929–1978), 37th Mayor of San Francisco, California, 1976–1978 Moscone–Milk assassinations , the murders that killed the Mayor and City Supervisor Harvey Milk Moscone Center , a convention center in San Francisco's South of Market district, named for the Mayor Moscone Recreation Center ,

118-407: A dead politician." In 1994, a new bust by San Francisco artist Spero Anargyros was unveiled, depicting Moscone holding a pen, below which are words from Moscone: "San Francisco is an extraordinary city, because its people have learned to live together with one another, to respect each other, and to work with each other for the future of their community. That's the strength and beauty of this city – it's

177-474: A fanatical political cult. For the rest of his life, Barbagelata maintained that the Peoples Temple had committed massive election fraud on behalf of Moscone by busing people in from out of town to vote multiple times under the names of deceased San Francisco residents. Moscone passed legislation reducing marijuana sentences, granting abortion rights, establishing a school meals program and overturning

236-448: A final plea for appointment. White sneaked into City Hall through a basement window to avoid the metal detector at the main door. He carried his old police revolver. When Moscone agreed to talk with him in a private room, White pulled the gun out of his suit jacket and shot and killed Moscone. White then re-loaded his gun and walked across City Hall to Milk's office, where White shot and killed Milk as well. Dianne Feinstein , president of

295-900: A park in San Francisco's Marina district, also named for the Mayor Jonathan Moscone (born 1964), American theater director See also [ edit ] Yerba Buena/Moscone Station , an underground light rail station of the San Francisco Municipal Railway's Muni Metro system All pages with titles containing Moscone Gianni Moscon (born 1994), Italian professional road racing cyclist Mosconi (disambiguation) Marconi (disambiguation) , sometimes confused with Moscone due to its appearance (a reference to Guglielmo Marconi) in Jefferson Starship's 1985 #1 hit song about San Francisco, "We Built This City" Topics referred to by

354-470: A program to encourage pro-social behavior. By 1955, Spector was being interviewed in library journals and suggesting the prison library could contribute significantly to rehabilitation. The dining hall of the prison is adorned by six 20 ft (6.1 m) sepia-toned murals depicting California history. They were painted by Alfredo Santos, one-time convicted heroin dealer and successful artist, during his 1953–1955 incarceration. The murals were painted with

413-531: A run for governor of California, but dropped out after a short time in favor of California Secretary of State Jerry Brown . Moscone also was an early proponent of gay rights . In conjunction with his friend and ally in the Assembly, Willie Brown, Moscone managed to pass a bill repealing California's sodomy law. The repeal was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown. On December 19, 1974, Moscone announced he would run for mayor of San Francisco in

472-637: A seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1963. On the Board, Moscone was known for his defense of poor people, racial minorities and small business owners, as well as supporting the first successful fight in San Francisco to block construction of a proposed freeway that would have cut through Golden Gate Park and several neighborhoods. In 1966 Moscone ran for and won a seat in the California State Senate , representing

531-617: A single viewing area; the facility that was being built included an injection chamber of 230 square feet (21 m ) and three viewing areas for family, victim, and press. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped construction of the facility the next week. The legislature later approved $ 180,000 to finish the project, and the facility was completed. In addition to state executions, three federal executions have been carried out at San Quentin. Samuel Richard Shockley and Miran Edgar Thompson had been incarcerated at Alcatraz Island federal penitentiary and were executed on December 3, 1948, for

590-518: A thinned, raw sienna oil paint directly to plaster as he was denied use of other colors to paint with. Between 1992 and 1997, a " boot camp " was held at the prison that was intended to "rehabilitat[e] first-time, nonviolent offenders"; the program was discontinued because it did not reduce recidivism or save money. A 2005 court-ordered report found that the prison was "old, antiquated, dirty, poorly staffed, poorly maintained with inadequate medical space and equipment and overcrowded." Later that year,

649-464: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages George Moscone George Richard Moscone ( / m ə ˈ s k oʊ n i / mə- SKOH -nee ; November 24, 1929 – November 27, 1978) was an attorney and Democratic politician who was the 37th mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978. He

SECTION 10

#1732782422047

708-502: Is his opening up San Francisco City Hall to be a more diverse and inclusive place with political appointments that represented the full spectrum of the population, including minorities and the growing gay community. Despite a backlash from the political old guard and conservatives, and despite the double assassination of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, both leading progressives, the city never retreated from Moscone's more inclusive view of politics. In 1980, sculptor Robert Arneson

767-665: Is the oldest prison in California . The state's only death row for male inmates, the largest in the United States, was located at the prison. Its gas chamber has not been used since 1993, and its lethal injection chamber was last used in 2006 . The prison has been featured on film, radio drama, video, podcast, and television; is the subject of many books; has hosted concerts; and has housed many notorious inmates. The correctional complex sits on Point San Quentin, which consists of 432 acres (1.75 square kilometers) on

826-406: Is thought to be California's oldest surviving public work. Clinton Duffy was the warden from 1940 to 1952. He had fresh insights informing the reorganization of the prison structure and reformation of prison management. Prior to Duffy, San Quentin had gone through years of violence, inhumane punishments and civil rights abuses against prisoners. The previous warden was forced to resign. Duffy had

885-507: Is told in the first person by Darrell Standing, a university professor serving life imprisonment in San Quentin State Prison for murder. Prison officials try to break his spirit by means of a torture device called "the jacket," a canvas jacket which can be tightly laced so as to compress the whole body, inducing angina. Standing discovers how to withstand the torture by entering a kind of trance state, in which he walks among

944-597: The United States Navy , Moscone started private practice in 1956. As a young man playing basketball and as a young lawyer, Moscone became close friends with John Burton , who would later become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives . John's older brother, Phillip , a member of the California State Assembly , recruited Moscone to run for an Assembly seat in 1960 as a Democrat . Though he lost that race, Moscone would go on to win

1003-576: The Waban's timber remains a part of the new hospital structure inside the prison. After a series of speculative land transactions and a legislative scandal, inmates who were housed on the Waban constructed San Quentin which opened its first cell block, nicknamed "the Stones," in 1854. Before being retired altogether, this initial unit would come to be used as a dungeon after newer additions were constructed atop it. The Stones, however, survive to this day and

1062-702: The "East Block," a "crumbling, leaky maze of a place built in 1927"; and the "Adjustment Center" for the "worst of the worst." Most of the prison's death row inmates resided in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prison's first death row facility, but additional death row space opened after executions resumed in the U.S. in 1978. The adjustment center received solid doors, preventing "gunning-down" or attacking persons with bodily waste. As of 2016 it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates. A dedicated psychiatric facility serves

1121-669: The 10th District in San Francisco County. Moscone was quickly rising through the ranks of the California Democratic Party and became closely associated with a loose alliance of progressive politicians in San Francisco led by the Burton brothers. This alliance was known as the Burton Machine and included John Burton, Phillip Burton, and Assemblyman Willie Brown . Soon after his election to

1180-503: The 1975 race. In a close race in November 1975, Moscone placed first, with conservative city supervisor John Barbagelata second and supervisor Dianne Feinstein coming in third. Moscone and Barbagelata thus both advanced to the mandated runoff election in December where Moscone narrowly defeated the conservative supervisor by fewer than 5,000 votes. Liberals also won the city's other top executive offices that year as Joseph Freitas

1239-465: The 1979 election and retire rather than run for the board again. In August 1977, after Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones fled to Jonestown following media scrutiny alleging criminal wrongdoing, Moscone announced that his office would not investigate Jones or Peoples Temple. The later mass murder-suicide at Jonestown dominated national headlines at the time of Moscone's death. After the massacre, Temple members revealed to The New York Times that

SECTION 20

#1732782422047

1298-611: The 25-millionth copy of the AA Big Book was presented to Jill Brown, of San Quentin, at the International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous in Toronto, Ontario , Canada. In 1947, Warden Duffy recruited Herman Spector to work as assistant warden at San Quentin. Spector turned down the invitation to be assistant warden and chose instead to become senior librarian if he could institute his theories on reading as

1357-921: The Condemned Inmate Transfer Program of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . Of the 612 condemned inmates in California as of November 15, 2024, only 11 remained at San Quentin, with the last 11 inmates expected to also be transferred after completing needed medical or psychiatric care. Despite the transfers, the condemned inmates remain under sentence of death at their new institutions. Condemned women are held at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla . As of December 2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or "death row." As of 2001, San Quentin's death row

1416-463: The East Block. Women executed in California are transported to San Quentin by bus before being executed. The methods for execution at San Quentin have changed over time. Prior to 1893, the counties executed convicts. Between 1893 and 1937, 215 people were executed at San Quentin by hanging , after which 196 prisoners died in the gas chamber. In 1995, the use of gas for execution was ruled "cruel and unusual punishment", which led to executions inside

1475-538: The Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current death row facilities were becoming filled. At the time the non-death row prison population was decreasing, opening room for death row inmates. As of 2015 the San Quentin death row had a capacity of 715 prisoners. All executions in California (male and female) take place at San Quentin. The execution chamber is located in a one-story addition close to

1534-537: The State Senate, Moscone was elected by his party to serve as Majority Leader. He was reelected to the 10th District seat in 1970 and to the newly redistricted 6th District seat, representing parts of San Francisco and San Mateo Counties , in 1974. He successfully sponsored legislation to institute a school lunch program for California students, as well as a bill legalizing abortion that was signed into law by Governor Ronald Reagan. In 1974 Moscone briefly considered

1593-482: The Temple had arranged for "busloads" of members to be bused in from Redwood Valley to San Francisco to vote in the 1975 election. A former Temple member stated that many of those members were not registered to vote in San Francisco, while another former member said "Jones swayed elections." Prior to leaving San Francisco, Jones claimed to have bribed Moscone with sexual favors from female Temple members, including one who

1652-551: The area are named after Roman Catholic saints , and "San Quintín" is Spanish for " Saint Quentin ", the prison was not named after the saint. The land on which it is situated, Point Quentin, is named after a Coast Miwok warrior named Quentín, fighting under Chief Marin , who was taken prisoner at that place. In 1851, California's first prison opened; it was a 268-ton wooden ship named the Waban , anchored in San Francisco Bay and outfitted to hold 30 inmates. Some of

1711-463: The assassinations of Moscone and Milk. Moscone is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California alongside his mother Lena. Moscone Center , San Francisco's largest convention center and exhibition hall, is named in his honor. Moscone and Milk also have schools named after them: George Moscone Elementary, Harvey Milk Elementary and Harvey Milk High School . Moscone's main political legacy

1770-411: The board of supervisors, was sworn in as the city's new mayor and in the following years would emerge as one of California's most prominent politicians. Six thousand mourners attended a service for Moscone at St. Mary's Cathedral . White later turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer. The term " Twinkie defense " has its origins in the murder trial that followed. White

1829-479: The board, while White, Dianne Feinstein , Quentin Kopp , Ella Hill Hutch , Lee Dolson, and Ron Pelosi formed a loosely organized coalition to oppose Moscone and his initiatives. Feinstein was elected president of the board of supervisors on a 6–5 vote, with Moscone's supporters backing Lau. It was generally believed that Feinstein, having twice lost election to the office of mayor, would support Kopp against Moscone in

Moscone - Misplaced Pages Continue

1888-562: The effects the assassination had on him. It premiered at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2011. A public television documentary about Moscone's political career, Moscone: A Legacy of Change , debuted in November 2018, the 40th anniversary of Moscone's death. Produced by Nat Katzman, written by Stephen Talbot and narrated by Peter Coyote. San Quentin Established in 1852, and opening in 1854, San Quentin

1947-651: The first Black woman, as commissioners on the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women (SFCOSW). Moscone also appointed liberal Oakland Police Chief Charles Gain to head the San Francisco Police Department. Gain (and by extension Moscone) became highly unpopular among rank and file San Francisco police officers for proposing a settlement to a lawsuit brought by minorities claiming discriminatory recruiting practices by

2006-570: The gas chamber by lethal injection. Between 1996 and 2006, eleven people were executed at San Quentin by lethal injection. In April 2007, staff of the California Legislative Analyst's Office discovered that a new execution chamber was being built at San Quentin; legislators subsequently "accuse[d] the governor of hiding the project from the Legislature and the public." The old lethal injection facility had included an injection room of 43 square feet (4.0 square meters) and

2065-701: The murder of two prison guards during the Battle of Alcatraz . Carlos Romero Ochoa had murdered a federal immigration officer after he was caught smuggling illegal immigrants across the border near El Centro, California . He was executed at San Quentin's gas chamber on December 10, 1948. On March 13, 2019, after Governor Gavin Newsom ordered a moratorium on the state's death penalty, the state withdrew its current lethal injection protocol, and San Quentin dismantled and indefinitely closed its gas and lethal injection execution chambers. Though numerous towns and localities in

2124-516: The new inmates had all tested negative; however, few had been tested at all. By June 22, at least 350 inmates and staff had tested positive, in what a federal judge called a "significant failure" of policy. In March 2023, California governor Gavin Newsom announced a "historic transformation" of the then-called San Quentin State Prison as part of a project to improve public safety through a greater focus on rehabilitation and education. As part of

2183-619: The north side of San Francisco Bay . The prison complex itself occupies 275 acres (1.11 km ), valued in a 2001 study at between $ 129 million and $ 664 million. As of July 31, 2022, San Quentin was incarcerating people at 105% of its design capacity, with 3,239 occupants. Men condemned to death in California were, in general, formerly held at San Quentin. Most of the former death row population, with some exceptions, have been moved to general population in other California institutions as of May 28, 2024. These transfers have been arranged to comply with Proposition 66 and are being managed by

2242-496: The occupation was successful, and helped pave the way for passing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) thirteen years later. In 1977 Moscone, Freitas and Hongisto all easily survived a recall election pushed by defeated Moscone opponent John Barbagelata along with business interests. It was a political vindication for Moscone, who won in a landslide. Barbagelata announced he was retiring from politics. That year also marked

2301-455: The offending prison guards fired and added a librarian, psychiatrists, and several surgeons at San Quentin. Duffy's press agent publicized sweeping reforms. San Quentin remained a brutal prison where prisoners continued to be beaten to death. The use of torture as an approved method of interrogation at San Quentin was banned in 1944. In 1941, the first prison meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous took place at San Quentin; in commemoration of this,

2360-455: The passage of the district election system by San Francisco voters. The city's first district elections for board of supervisors took place in November 1977. Among those elected were the city's first openly gay supervisor, Harvey Milk , single mother and attorney Carol Ruth Silver , Chinese-American Gordon Lau , and fireman and police officer Dan White . Milk, Silver and Lau along with John Molinari and Robert Gonzales made up Moscone's allies on

2419-494: The police and fire departments talked White into changing his mind. White then requested that Moscone re-appoint him to his former seat. Moscone originally indicated a willingness to reconsider, but more liberal city leaders, including supervisor Harvey Milk , lobbied him against the idea. Moscone ultimately decided not to appoint White. On November 27, 1978, three days after Moscone's 49th birthday, White went to San Francisco City Hall to meet with Moscone and purportedly to make

Moscone - Misplaced Pages Continue

2478-514: The police force. In April 1977, Moscone stood up to officials in Washington by supporting a 25-day occupation of San Francisco's federal building by a group of over 100 people with disabilities demanding their civil rights in what would become known as the 504 Sit-in . While federal officials hoped to starve out the protesters, the mayor visited them and arranged to have portable showers and towels brought in. Thanks in part to Moscone's support,

2537-499: The prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosted religious services. Many prison programs available for most inmates were unavailable for death row inmates. Although $ 395 million was allocated in the 2008–2009 state budget for new death row facilities at San Quentin, in December 2008 two legislators introduced bills to eliminate the funding. The state had planned to build a new death row facility, but Governor Jerry Brown canceled those plans in 2011. In 2015 Brown asked

2596-486: The project, the prison was renamed San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and an advisory group of rehabilitation and public safety experts was formed to advise the efforts. In 2020, 12 death row inmates at San Quentin died in the span of less than two months after a COVID-19 outbreak. All of the inmates were hospitalized before their deaths. Gang-pulp author Margie Harris wrote a story on San Quentin for

2655-657: The reason why the citizens who live here are the luckiest people in the world." Moscone was portrayed by Victor Garber in Gus Van Sant 's Harvey Milk biopic , Milk . Their murders were also the subject of the Dead Kennedys ' version of the Sonny Curtis song " I Fought the Law ". Moscone's son Jonathan , aged 14 at the time of his father's murder, later co-wrote the play Ghost Light with Tony Taccone about

2714-464: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Moscone . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Moscone&oldid=966494648 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description

2773-547: The short-lived pulp magazine Prison Stories . The story, titled "Big House Boomerang," appeared in the March 1931 issue. It used San Quentin's brutal jute mill as its setting. Harris' knowledge of the prison came from her days as a newspaper reporter in the Bay Area , and her acquaintance with famous San Quentin prisoner Ed Morrell . The 1915 novel The Star Rover by Jack London was based in San Quentin. A framing story

2832-499: The state's anti-sodomy laws. The Peoples Temple also worked to get out the vote in precincts where Moscone received a 12-to-1 vote margin over Barbagelata. After the Peoples Temple's work and votes by Temple members were instrumental in delivering a close victory for Moscone, Moscone appointed Temple leader Jim Jones as chairman of the San Francisco Housing Commission. Moscone's first year as mayor

2891-650: The warden was fired for "threaten[ing] disciplinary action against a doctor who spoke with attorneys about problems with health care delivery at the prison." By 2007, a new trauma center had opened at the prison and a new $ 175 million medical complex was planned. In 2020, the prison became the center of a COVID-19 outbreak, after a group of prisoners were transferred to San Quentin from the California Institution for Men in Chino, California . Initial reports suggested that San Quentin officials were told that

2950-470: The work, the commission was returned to him, and it was later resold to the SF Museum of Modern Art. In a critique of the event, Frederic Stout wrote that "Arneson's mistake was in presenting the city mothers/fathers with something honest, engaging and provoking, that is to say, a work of art. What they wanted, of course, was not a work of art at all. They wanted an object of ritual magic: the smiling head of

3009-596: Was a noted debater and an all-city basketball star. He then attended College of the Pacific on a basketball scholarship and played basketball for the Tigers. He received a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in 1953. Moscone then studied at University of California, Hastings College of the Law , where he received his law degree. He married Gina Bondanza, whom he had known since she was in grade school, in 1954. The Moscones would go on to have four children. After serving in

SECTION 50

#1732782422047

3068-508: Was born in the Italian-American enclave of San Francisco's Marina District . The Moscone family comes from Piedmont and Liguria . His father was George Joseph Moscone, a corrections officer at nearby San Quentin , and his mother, Lena, was a homemaker who later went to work to support herself and her son after she separated from her husband. Moscone attended St. Brigid's and then St. Ignatius College Preparatory , where he

3127-617: Was commissioned to create a monument to Moscone to be installed in the new Moscone Convention Center. The bust portraying Moscone was done in Arneson's California Funk style and was accepted by San Francisco's Art Commission. Arneson included as part of the sculpture on the pedestal the likeness of a pistol, and references to Harvey Milk , the assassinations, the " Twinkie Defense ", the White Night riots , and Dianne Feinstein 's mayoral succession. Arneson refused to make alterations to

3186-467: Was convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter, due in part to his claim of severe depression, which White's attorneys argued was evidenced by his consumption of Twinkies and other junk foods. Outrage over White's lenient sentence provoked a mass riot in San Francisco, during which police cars were set on fire by angry protestors. White was released from prison and then shortly afterward committed suicide in 1985. Vigils are held annually to commemorate

3245-498: Was described as "the largest in the Western Hemisphere"; as of 2005, it was called "the most populous execution antechamber in the United States." The states of Florida and Texas had fewer death row inmates in 2008 (397 and 451 respectively) than San Quentin. The death row at San Quentin was divided into three sections: the quiet "North-Segregation" or "North-Seg," built in 1934, for prisoners who "don't cause trouble";

3304-466: Was elected district attorney and Richard Hongisto was re-elected to his office of sheriff . Moscone ran a grassroots mayoral campaign which drew volunteers from organizations like Glide Methodist Memorial Church, Delancey Street (a rehabilitation center for ex-convicts) and the Peoples Temple which was initially known as a church preaching racial equality and social justice but turned into

3363-534: Was known as "The People's Mayor", who opened up City Hall and its commissions to reflect the diversity of San Francisco, appointing African Americans , Asian Americans , and gay people . Moscone served in the California State Senate from 1967 until becoming mayor; in the Senate he served as majority leader . He is remembered for being an advocate of civil progressivism . George Richard Moscone

3422-526: Was spent preventing the San Francisco Giants professional baseball team from moving to Toronto and advocating a citywide ballot initiative in favor of district election to the board of supervisors. Moscone was the first mayor to appoint large numbers of women, homosexuals and racial minorities to city commissions and advisory boards. In 1977, he appointed Del Martin , the first lesbian woman, and Kathleen Hardiman Arnold, now Kathleen Rand Reed,

3481-498: Was underage; his son, Jim Jones, Jr., later remembered how Moscone frequented Temple parties "with a cocktail in his hand and doing some ass grabbing". Late in 1978, Dan White resigned from the board of supervisors. His resignation would allow Moscone to choose White's successor, which could tip the board's balance of power in Moscone's favor. Recognizing this, those who supported a more conservative agenda and opposed integration of

#46953