Joseph Alioto - Legacy

Legacy

Alioto presided over a time of turmoil and change in San Francisco. Events that occurred during his tenure as mayor included strife in the Haight-Ashbury with the drug culture, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, Black Panther marches, The Zebra murders and Zodiac killings. He ran on a platform of reducing taxes and fighting crime.

Alioto put his energy behind the development of three major building projects: the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART); the Transamerica Pyramid; and the Embarcadero Center. These efforts engendered opposition in the development stage but were eventually built, transforming the quality of life and skyline of San Francisco. Alioto helped to bring more minorities into city politics, launched a reform of the city charter, and mediated protracted police and fire department strikes in 1975. Alioto's tenure began with a city-wide newspaper strike of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner in February 1968. The first faculty strike at a college or university in the United States—was at San Francisco State College now San Francisco State University during 1968–1969, where Alioto gave the resources of the law enforcement of the City and County of San Francisco to the university president, S.I. Hayakawa.