San Juan’s leading political voice isn’t done fighting
There may not be another person in San Juan Bautista who’s done
more to preserve San Juan’s rich history than Rebecca McGovern.
San Juan’s leading political voice isn’t done fighting
There may not be another person in San Juan Bautista who’s done more to preserve San Juan’s rich history than Rebecca McGovern.
Since arriving in San Juan in the mid-1970s her love of the Mission City has only grown with time.
McGovern’s political spirit has always been alive. Even as a child growing up in the coal-mining region of southern Illinois she was motivated. The daughter of a coal miner and a teacher; McGovern was brought up with staunch values that included standing up for what she believed in. She fondly recalled that her father ran for mayor at one point and joked that her mother taught out-of-town because of her outspokenness about politics.
“I was always involved in school politics and music,” McGovern said. “I was class president all four years of high school.”
She spent a good deal of time working on the East Coast, in Boston as a marketing director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before moving to San Juan.
The rich sense of history that was encapsulated along the streets and buildings in Boston and its surrounding areas is the same history that McGovern recognized when she arrived in San Juan one August night in 1974.
There is a passion behind her polka dot-rimmed glasses and piercing cobalt eyes. Once she gets behind a cause, her commitment does not falter, according to Chuck Geiger, who served with McGovern on the San Juan City Council.
“When I arrived here the town just had this feeling,” McGovern said. “I fell in love with the community and I couldn’t stand to see it destroyed so I’ve done what I can to preserve it. People are under the myth that if you don’t grow, you’re not progressing. That’s just not true.”
It took her about two years to get into full swing, but by 1976 McGovern was working with a group aiming to get a woman on the San Juan City Council. The objective was to get someone new into the “old boys’ club” so that some change could occur.
Since that time she’s never found herself too far away from a cause. As long as it was aimed at preserving the beauty and natural history of San Juan, McGovern would support it. It’s easy to spot the house McGovern has occupied for many years. An historic building on the town’s main drag, whenever an election approaches it will be festooned with bunting, flags and signs urging voters to see things her way.
“We’ve definitely made an impact,” McGovern said. “And we still have San Juan. There have been some battles that we’ve won and some that we’ve lost, but I’ve never let my guard down.”
She hasn’t won every battle; there were several that were bitter losses. One particular of which was the Creekbridge housing development that was built on what she describes as a floodplain.
But there have been wins too. A housing development on Lang Street that was going to incorporate 200 houses was knocked back to 47 homes instead.
“We’ve helped fight off some big developments,” McGovern said. “We fought off several large [housing] developments in the [San Juan] canyon, one of which got bumped from 180 houses back to 47. Everyone blamed me, which I get a kick out of. It’s all worth it, because if people don’t save [the town] it’s a gross, gross mistake that can never be turned back.”
Geiger described McGovern as a strong-minded person who has always been involved in trying to keep the historical values of San Juan. Geiger and McGovern have had their share of differences – McGovern tried to have Geiger thrown off the city council at one point, but Geiger still respects McGovern. You kind of have to, he said.
“She doesn’t compromise, not in the least,” Geiger said. “But because of that fact she’s burned a few bridges in the process. I have a great respect for her. She’s such a crusader. I respect her efforts to preserve San Juan, but she needs to be aware that San Juan has to change some. With Becky it’s ‘my way or the highway,’ but she doesn’t realize that there is middle ground.”
In addition to her work advocating for San Juan’s historical preservation she was also very heavily involved with El Teatro Campesino and as a result became a “communist,” because the people associated with El Teatro were different so they were labeled that way, she said. In fact, McGovern was on El Teatro’s first board of directors.
She has also served on the San Benito County Economic Development Committee board of directors.
She was also the executive director of the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce for a time. It was during that period that she fondly recalls that the Arts and Crafts festival and annual flea market events really got a lot of publicity.
“I remember one year, a national magazine wrote us up as one of the four best flea markets in the nation,” McGovern said. “The city was getting publicity left and right. I think the flea market had 100,000 people attend one year.”
It makes perfect sense that a woman with such a strong passion for politics would get involved with her political party. When McGovern was in Boston that party was the Republicans, but when she arrived in San Juan she almost immediately started working for the Democratic Party.
“On the East Coast, I was a big Republican,” McGovern said. “But when I came out here and started working on grassroots projects, I started to see that the Democrats were the only ones that were working on anything.”
McGovern has had her share of brushes with celebrity. She’s met political figures of all types even considers a few friends. One was I.F. “Izzy” Stone when she was still living back East. Stone was for many years considered the nation’s leading independent journalist. Since she’s been in San Juan she’s met several political power players, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“The people that have come through this town are just amazing,” McGovern said. “It’s strange because they saw the value of this town, but we couldn’t educate people that lived here – only a few.”
Another of McGovern’s constituents that she hasn’t always seen eye to eye with, but has gained the respect of nonetheless, is San Benito County Supervisor Anthony Botelho.
Botelho first came to know McGovern when he was still serving on the San Juan City Council.
“Everybody in town knows Becky,” Botelho said. “I’ve known her for a long time. She’s an activist and I’ve always found her to be very strong-willed and true to her convictions. She is not swayed. She has generated a level of respect even from those who don’t agree with her all the time. She always has San Juan’s interests in her heart and when she stands up, everyone listens.”
Geiger is hopeful that McGovern’s activism will one day be celebrated.
“I’d like to see a statue of her in town someday,” Geiger said. “Because she’s been very influential here. She has some strong leadership skills and I don’t know anyone who could fill her shoes.”
McGovern isn’t quite as active now as she was a few years ago. She had triple-bypass surgery earlier this year and is still getting adjusted to life on the mend. However, she has no plans of stopping.
“I don’t plan to stop anytime soon, unless I suddenly drop dead,” McGovern said. “When you fall in love with something, you have to protect it.”
