Boy Scouts Take Over City Council (in 1949)
The Boy Scouts took over the City Council, El Cerrito switched to a City Manager form of government and 160 people attended the Chamber of Commerce dinner, according to the headlines this week 63 years ago.
The front page of the weekly El Cerrito Journal for this week in 1949 – published Feb. 10 – is yellowed with age, but still clearly shows the somber faces of the Boy Scouts who took over the reins of city government at the week's City Council meeting. Here are some of the actual headlines from the Journal's front page, followed by our brief summaries of the articles:
Boy Scouts Preside At Council Session Monday Evening
Local Boy Scouts became "City officials for a night" when they were dubbed the honorary City Council and congratulated by the actual mayor, Millard E. Bostock, for their interest in civic affairs. Only one boy ventured a half smile as they sat in the chairs of power for the main front-page photograph. During their brief tenure, they unanimously agreed that El Cerrito needs more recreation facilities.
El Cerrito to Function Under City Manager Plan
The City Council approved an reorganization of the city's government, switching from a council-commission type to a council-city manager type, with a city manager as the chief adminstrative officer of the city. The city manager will serve at the will of the council and will have the authority to discharge all department heads, except for the city attorney, clerk and treasurer.
Cerrito C of C Annual Dinner Launches Program for 1949
The annual El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce dinner at Six Bells restaurant drew more than 160 members and their guests to hear the Honorable Roberto Regala, consul general of the Philippine Republic. Regala, in the words of the Journal, "stressed the importance of the Philippis position in the Far East, as the central distribution point for American goods, and remaining as the 'Bastion of Democracy,' between its former parent nation, and the teaming activities of the Orient." Chamber President Ira E. Scott offered a brief outline of the group's goals for the coming year, including removal of power and telephone poles from San Pablo Avenue.
- Click here for other vignettes of El Cerrito history. You can find some back issues of the El Cerrito Journal at the Shadi Historical Room at City Hall, open to the public on the third Thursday of each month, 4:30-6 p.m.
