M. Justin Herman (1909–1971) was an American

public administrator Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment ( public governance), management of non-profit estab ...

. From 1951 to 1959 he was head of the regional office of the

Housing and Home Finance Agency The Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA) was responsible for the principal housing programs of the United States from 1947 to 1965. It was superseded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and preceded by the National Housing ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. From 1959 until his death in 1971, he was the Executive Director of the

San Francisco Redevelopment Agency The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) was an urban renewal agency active from 1948 until 2012, with purpose to improve the urban landscape through "redesign, redevelopment, and rehabilitation" of specific areas of the city. SFRA demoli ...

. Under his administration, large areas of the city were redeveloped; thousands of residents, many of them poor and non-white, were forced to leave their homes and businesses.

Early life and education

Meyer Justin Herman was born on August 4, 1909 in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. His father Samuel Lewis Herman owned a dry goods store, and had emigrated in 1891 from the

Russian Partition The Russian Partition ( pl, zabór rosyjski), sometimes called Russian Poland, constituted the former territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that were annexed by the Russian Empire in the course of late-18th-century Partitions of Po ...

(now

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). Herman attended the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

and graduated (B.A. 1930) in economics; he was a member of the honor society

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

. In 1934, he married Gladys Helen Heinrich.

Career

In his early career he worked at Eastman Kodak, as an executive trainee in accounting and marketing. In the 1940s, Herman lived in

Arlington County Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Herman was a member of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. After the war he worked for various United States federal agencies. From 1951 to 1959, Herman worked as a San Francisco Bay Area regional administrator for the United States

(HHFA). Herman was appointed executive director of the

by mayor

George Christopher George Christopher (born George Christopheles; December 8, 1907 – September 14, 2000) was a Greek-American politician who served as the 34th mayor of San Francisco from 1956 to 1964. He is the most recent Republican to be elected mayor of San ...

in April 1959. He was an experienced administrator with significant connections in the federal government and an extensive knowledge of urban redevelopment. He had the support of the

Bay Area Council The Bay Area Council is a business association in San Francisco, founded in 1945, and dedicated to economic development in the San Francisco Bay Area. At its inception in the post WWII years, members included Wells Fargo, Bank of America, the ...

, of the Blyth-Zellerbach Committee and of the

San Francisco Planning and Urban Renewal Association SPUR is a nonprofit public policy organization focused on Urban planning, regional planning, housing, transportation, sustainability and resilience, economic justice, good government, and food and agriculture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its ful ...

. He greatly expanded the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, from about 60 employees before he took office to 462 shortly after his death. Herman was responsible for the redevelopment, in two phases, of the

Western Addition The Western Addition is a district in San Francisco, California, United States. Location The Western Addition is located between Van Ness Avenue, the Richmond District, the Haight-Ashbury and Lower Haight neighborhoods, and Pacific Heights. ...

and for the transformation of Geary Street into

Geary Boulevard Geary Boulevard (designated as Geary Street east of Van Ness Avenue) is a major east–west thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, United States, beginning downtown at Market Street near Market Street's intersection with Kearny Street, an ...

. In the second phase of the Western Addition project, 10,000 people were displaced and more than 60 city blocks cleared by 1970. The agency also aggressively acquired land in Chinatown, the Golden Gateway, the port area,

South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, situated just south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of the city's museums ...

and the Tenderloin, expropriating poor people from those areas. Herman died at the age of 62 of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

on August 30, 1971 in San Francisco.

Reception

The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials makes an annual M. Justin Herman Award.

Justin Herman Plaza Embarcadero Plaza, previously known as Justin Herman Plaza from its opening in 1972 until 2017, is a plaza near the intersection of Market and Embarcadero in San Francisco's Financial District, in the U.S. state of California. It is owned by Bos ...

, opposite the Ferry Building in San Francisco, was named for him from 1971 until October 19, 2017. While Herman's actions were largely supported by the elite of the city and by banks, businesses and the city government, his reputation among those he displaced from their homes was very low. Sun-Reporter journalist, Thomas C. Fleming described Herman in 1965 as the "arch-villain in the black depopulation of the city", while Reverend Hannibal Williams of the Western Addition Community Organization (WACO) said, "We didn't know who the devil was. But we knew who Justin Herman was and that was the devil for us". In July 2017, San Francisco Supervisor

Aaron Peskin Aaron Dan Peskin (born June 17, 1964) is an American elected official in San Francisco, California. He serves as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 3, and is currently Dean of the Board. He was elected in ...

introduced a resolution which would temporarily rename Justin Herman Plaza to Embarcadero Plaza until a new permanent name could be attached, citing Herman's role in displacing poor and minority residents from the

, Fillmore, Chinatown, and

neighborhoods. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the resolution unanimously on September 19, 2017. The new name would need to be decided by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission, which has jurisdiction over naming public spaces. Peskin stated the site's owner, Boston Properties, told him they would cover the cost (estimated at ) of replacing the plaque bearing Herman's name. The plaza is officially known as Embarcadero Plaza.

References

External links

* Video
Groundbreaking Ceremony in Fillmore District for Prince Hall Apartments (1970) KPIX News
from the Bay Area Television Archive at San Francisco State University * Video
M. Justin Herman joins Mary Rogers on a picket line (1971) KPIX-TV
from the Bay Area Television Archive at San Francisco State University {{Authority control 1909 births 1971 deaths People from New Bedford, Massachusetts University of Rochester alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II People from San Francisco History of San Francisco

Early life and education

Career

Reception

See also

References

External links