Local News

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ― As the nation ushered in Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States Tuesday, thousands celebrated the moment at live broadcast events throughout the Bay Area.

The occasion was a moment of delight and reflection for many in the region, marking not only an end to the Bush administration but also the historic election of the nation's first black president.

An orderly yet jubilant crowd filled San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza Thursday morning to cheer for Obama as he was sworn in on a large projection screen. Organizers had counted roughly 3,000 attendees by 8 a.m.

By the time Obama took the stage, the crowd filled the plaza and spilled into the areas on either side.

When Chief Justice John Roberts swore in Obama, the crowd erupted into cheers, shouts, chants and spontaneous hugging.

The crowd remained largely quiet during Obama's speech, but his repeated references to hard work in the face of great challenges drew hearty cheers, as did mentions of clean energy technologies and plans to "restore science to its rightful place."

Some viewers wore business attire, but other wore beads, flags and festive hats.

Rebecca Rae, 35, who lives in the Nob Hill neighborhood, sported a black tutu, Obama T-shirt, black feather boa and oversized sunglasses.

Rae said her favorite moment of the simulcast was the crowd's response to live footage of boxes being removed from the White House. "When everyone saw the moving vans loading up stuff, the crowd just went wild," she said.

Ron Dyous lives in New Jersey, but flew to San Francisco on Monday so he could be with his son and daughter, who live in Hayward, for the inauguration.

"I believe in the sincerity in his voice and I believe every word he said," Dyous said after Obama's speech.

Like many attendees, Aurora Wood, 32, said she wishes she could be in Washington, D.C., "but this is the next best thing.''

"I love the poetry of waking up to a new era and watching the sun rise over San Francisco,'' the Stanford graduate said.

In Oakland, about 7,000 happy people at the Oracle Arena gave Obama a standing ovation at the end of his inaugural address.

Bishop J.L. Bullock, who videotaped the event where television coverage of the inauguration in Washington, D.C., was shown on large screens, said of Obama's inauguration, "It seems like a clean slate and things have changed."

Smiling broadly at the end of the event, Bullock said the swearing in of Obama as the nation's first black president "is a momentous moment of time and history that no man, woman or child will ever see again."

Bullock, who noted he was not affiliated with any church, said, "I just feel good we have a black president and he is for all the people."

A crowd of nearly 500 gathered in the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose to witness the historic moment on a movie theater-sized screen.

The crowd eagerly awaited the viewing, with massive cheers erupting at the first sight of President Obama and his wife Michelle on screen.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said he remembers the days of Brown versus the Board of Education, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and now the inauguration of the country's first black president.

"It's a terrific day," he said. "I'm very happy to see President Obama in office."

Reed said Obama's call for service was inspiring and noted the local implications of the president's mentioning of wind and solar energy.

"I especially liked his commitment to harnessing the sun and the wind, because that'll be good for Silicon Valley," Reed said.

An estimated 700 people gathered in the Richmond Civic Center auditorium to watch the live broadcast.

Many Richmond residents saw the inauguration of Obama as an opportunity to motivate and unify residents locally to stop violence, improve opportunities for young people and become a stronger community.

"We need this to be a movement," Richmond City Councilman Jeff Ritterman said. "We need for us not to sit back and let someone else do the job. Let's get involved. Let's save our schools first thing."

"We messed up Richmond, we got to fix it," said Antwon Cloird, who is a former drug addict, now working with the nonprofit organization Richmond Improvement Association, mentoring and providing job training for at-risk youth and parolees in Richmond.

"We've got to get down and dirty, put them boots on and go out on the street at night," Cloird said.

He said he hoped Obama's presidency would help bring unity to Richmond and turn it into a city of "friends helping friends, not of friends shooting friends."

Nanette Spencer, who was born in Richmond but now lives in Concord, said she felt "blessed" to witness the swearing-in of the first black president of the U.S., but cautioned that, "The world is already a mess. We have to take our time with him. He's not God, you know."

Carolyn Smith, who was on stage before the swearing-in ceremony, said, "My mother is 92 years old. I talked to her first. She said, 'I never thought I would see this day come.'''

"With an education I have the opportunity to be president, vice president, secretary of state, cabinet member ... or first lady,'' Carolyn Smith's 9-year-old granddaughter Rahdience Smith said.

"We as black people have suffered long enough, and we're moving up,'' said Mary Head, 88, who worked in the Kaiser Shipyard with Rosie the Riveter during World War II.

"It was a long-time coming,'' said Garland Harper, a Richmond human relations commissioner. "Change is needed in the house.''

About an hour after Obama finished delivering his inauguration speech, San Mateo County Chief Elections Officer Warren Slocum updated his Twitter account, designed to give Bay Area residents a taste of the historic day.

Slocum agreed to document his five days in Washington via both the Twitter Web site and on his personal blog for local residents unable to attend the inauguration.

After Obama's speech, Slocum posted that, according to news reports, Obama was already planning to sign an executive order. Slocum then commented, "So yah, change is happening fast."

Slocum quickly published three more posts, one that offers a link to pictures from the inauguration, and another that links to a text version of Obama's speech.

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)