Julie Johnson

SAN FRANCISCO — On May 23, 2006, Mayor Gavin Newsom and PG&E President Tom King flipped a symbolic human-sized plastic light switch off in front of a large crowd, celebrating the closure of the Hunters Point Power Plant. The ceremony was held outside under the silent and non-smoking stacks of the 77-year-old power plant.

“For the first time, I can look out and see no smoke coming out of the smoke stacks. I want to respect the fact that PG&E has kept its word,” said James Bryant, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, a national organization of black trade unionists.

Continue reading.