Diverse crowd unites in city to watch inauguration
By: Brent Begin and Beth Winegarner
San Francisco Examiner
January 21, 2009
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| People watch as President Barack Obama speaks during a public screening at Civic Center of his inauguration ceremony on Tuesday morning. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — They came from across the Bay Area, young and old, black, white, Hispanic and Asian — a diverse crowd brought together through an event taking place more than 2,000 miles away.
Thousands gathered Tuesday morning in San Francisco to watch the inauguration of the nation’s first black president, with many expressing optimism about a coming change.
Crowds hugged, cheered and cried at the San Francisco Civic Center as the inauguration of Barack Obama played out on the big screen with City Hall as the backdrop.
Many in the crowd felt the new president would make a big splash for San Francisco.
Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting said that Democratic influence in Washington, D.C., will pay off for The City.
“Now that we have a president more in line with San Francisco and California, we can move forward on issues such as the environment, housing, transportation and urban policies, things we’ve moved away from in the past,” Ting said.
Dea Nelson, 55, came to San Francisco from San Jose for the event. She said that many in her generation have felt uninspired since 1968, when both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated.
“It just seemed so hopeless,” Nelson said. “And now, now you know why hope is such a strong word.”
At the Main Library, a standing-room-only crowd cheered so loudly following Obama’s swearing-in that they drowned out the sounds of the televised cannon salute.
An estimated 350 people from across the Bay Area gathered in the library’s Koret Auditorium to watch the inaugural ceremonies, wiping away tears during Obama’s speech and — in classic San Francisco style — jeering as he thanked George W. Bush for his time in office.
Nancy Chiu, like many who joined the library crowd, said she had high hopes for the 44th president — though she doesn’t expect overnight miracles. “I think it will be a number of years before we see tangible change,” she said.
