472. Bob Winslow of El Cerrito, 1991

Published news story by Lurene K. Helzer, September 19, 1991, The El Cerrito Journal, “Candidate likes local flavor; Winslow favors preserving small businesses in El Cerrito”. Photo by Tina Dauterman.

Email Lurene in 2014 at lurenexyz@gmail.com

Mr. Winslow was feisty, was at El Cerrito’s City Council meetings each time I was there to do a news story. Today, I think his ideas were sensible, but nearly impossible on the political level. For example, he wanted Contra Costa County’s cities and neighborhoods to work together, for elected leaders to attend meetings outside their districts. This idea seems rational, but the councilmember of Richmond will find relatively little of common interest with the councilmember from El Cerrito or San Pablo.

Winslow was correct about scare tactics, though. California’s politicians rely heavily on appeals to the public regarding budgets, frequently threaten to lay off police and firefighters. Of course, California is so broke in 2010 that the elected officials are telling the truth; Californians know the state is begging when even the illegal immigrants of Mexico are returning home:



EL CERRITO — City Council Candidate Bob Winslow, 69, began working when he was 8-years-old. “I’m the oldest of 10 kids. I was born on a farm, and we worked our way through life. We didn’t sit in an armchair and let the world go by,” said Winslow.

Winslow was born in Bluesprings, Neb., but has lived in El Cerrito for 47 years. He entered the Navy in 1939, two years before the U.S. entrance into World War II. He married his wife Angie, an El Cerrito native, in 1944 and has been married to her since. The house in which they reside is the house where his wife was born and raised.

He worked at Sealand Service, a shipping company, for over 19 years as a port engineer. He retired in 1981 and continued running his El Cerrito carpet-cleaning business, which he started in 1978, until 1986, when he sold it to retire completely.

Winslow is running for the council seat for the third time. He only lost last time, he said, because he was helping some other candidates with their campaigns. But he is confident he will win this time.

“When I lost last time I said I would never run again and I thought I was getting too old to be tied down. We like to travel. My mother’s back in Nebraska and we go back there three our four times a year,” he said.

But Winslow said he was persuaded to jump into the race by people on the El Cerrito Chamber of Commerce and other friends who encouraged him to run. “El Cerrito’s been good to me. It’s a good city, and I would like to see it get back that way.”

Winslow criticized redevelopment, recent staff raises and the recent hiring of additional staff members.

He disliked the Target store deal and a redevelopment agency’s decision to move the local bowling alley. “There’s nothing wrong with the Target store, but they don’t belong in the middle of town…I’d rather have seen the bowling alley where it was an (the building of some) apartments and small stores,” he said.

Winslow prefers smaller, private enterprise over large developers. He said fighting for his vision of what El Cerrito should look like doesn’t intimidate him. “I’m a Pearl Harbor survivor. I’m ready for a good fight,’ Winslow said.

Winslow said El Cerrito has been unwise in its spending for city improvements. “We’ve got a few new buildings, but we’ve paid dearly for them through redevelopment,” said Winslow.

“Every time something comes up where they say they’re short of money, we’re going to layoff fire and policemen. I don’t like scare tactics. I don’t scare too easy,” he said. “They never mention laying off staff, which should come first.”

Winslow is bold and assertive during city council meetings, which he attends regularly. “That’s the only way you can operate where they’ll listen…I think they listen to me.”

“I’m confident I’m going to win,” said Winslow. He plans to campaign door-to-door in the neighborhoods of El Cerrito. He says he spends much of his time visiting people in El Cerrito, anyway.

Winslow thinks it would be necessary to attend the council meetings of other cities in Contra Costa County to solve some of El Cerrito’s problems.

“I think the counties and the cities are each going to have to start working together instead of separately, and the cities are going to have to start working together — Richmond, Pinole, Hercules, El Cerrito, San Pablo. They’re going to have to work in larger forms to get more done,” he said.--end--


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