THE LAST FRONTIER

The Southeast Sector of our great City - the City and County of San Francisco is indeed the last frontier. In the early 30's and 40's one could go fish by the clean creeks and the marsh lands and wet lands. Today, this sector of our City has been polluted by Greed. It is wrong to dump toxins and that is what so many have done in the name of that dollar which means so much to so many. Respect Mother Earth and if you do not your children will have nothing but the bankrupt history and polluted land that you leave them. Willis is a man from Siri Lanka but when he came here in the early 1940's as a keeper of Circus Elephants from his native land, which is the tip of India - he saw the frontier that was the Southeast by Hunters Point. You can still find him some where there if you know where to find him. He will tell you tales of yore and there is no stopping once he starts. He is a man of God and Nature and he eyes though aged - beam with that light of spirituality. For decades he lived a simple life traveling all over the world and the United States - keeping close most of the time close to the Equator - the climate is good for the elephants. Then when his circus days were over he lived by the Bay along the Southeast Sector. He did what he knows best he was kind to Mother Earth and lived a simple life. He was not GREEDY. Today, it is a shame that the surrounding area has been polluted. Piles of toxic dirt can be found all over the place. Some of it contains lead, other metals, asbestos - god alone knows what! Once many made a good living by the Bay - the fishing was good. Butcher Town, Dog Patch, Little Hollywood, and further down south Hunters Point - if you went the other way you reached the Ferry Building where all the action was. There was lots of discrimination in those days but there was work. You worked hard you could build yourself a home and raise a family. You could bring bread and butter and smile and say that most everything was good. Willis could not enter the country by stating he was from Ceylon that is what they called his country then - he called himself an African! Today, he has some faint recollection from where he came, lots of adventures in the Circus and as a Merchant Sailor bring out the best - he begins to talk and takes you on his travels with that unique glimmer in his eyes. Willis has lots of love in his heart. Toxic plants surround Willis today and he knows that very well. He has lived a life and now continues to sap on the good memories. I have a friend David who will greet Willis - fire him up a bit - and low and behold you are taken to another world. But the toxic how did they come to destroy Willis' world and before that the world of the Muwekma Ohlone. Where did the Bode's come from and what have they done to the last frontier? RMC, Henson, and Lone Star - what have these polluters done to the environment. Catellus could not care less. Catellus keeps building and one after another his buildings cannot find tenants. Greed prompted him and Mayor Willie Brown to make all those corrupt deals. Today, Catellus has to swim in the cesspool of corruption. Yet Catellus surrounds itself with toxic hurt - piled here, there and everywhere. Willis has a makeshift hut on the Bay and he loves nature. He loves to talk about elephants and simple stuff - he is not greedy and he sleeps well. I wonder if that can be said of the polluters.

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