Have a grape retirement

For today's article about City Manager Jack Lam's retirement, staff photographer Thomas R. Cordova and I went to City Hall to take this photo at right. Cordova composed and executed this shot, I stood nearby to hold up a strobe light.

Lam is not necessarily camera shy but it certainly wasn't his idea to have his photo taken.


"Don't you have a photo in your archives you can use?" Lam asked. "My hair would be a lot darker."

Well, I'm glad you asked. We certainly have old photos we could have published. But I don't think most people would recognize the young Lam. At right are a couple of photos of Lam while he was community development director. He's almost as unrecognizable as Councilman Chuck Buquet, pictured standing.

Lam's tenure at City Hall, which started 33 years ago, will end in a couple of hours. Not many city managers last this long. Most move on to different opportunities or get knocked down by political dynamics.

Diane Williams became a council woman shortly after Lam became city manager. She thought Lam was a good manager but she didn't realize how great he was until she started meeting others in the political realm.

"I started going to the League (of California Cities conventions) listening to people talk about their city managers like they were the devil's incarnate," Williams said. "That's when I started paying more attention to Jack. He really did have the city planned and had the city's best interest at heart."

Well there you go. Jack Lam -- planning genius, financial wizard and NOT the devil's incarnate.

Happy retirement!