Transcript of Pelosi Remarks at Golden Gate National Recreation Area’s 50th Anniversary Press Event

San Francisco – Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined the National Park Service to celebrate the Golden Gate National Recreation Area's 50th anniversary. Below are the Speaker's remarks:

Speaker Pelosi. Good morning, everyone.

I'm honored to be here, standing with Phillip, with Phillip gazing down on us to see how we have lived up to the dream and the legislation that he put forward. So many of our spokespersons talked about the importance of the outside mobilization, the groups that came together, to make all of this possible, this 50th anniversary, to celebrate something so grand. So grand.

Erick, thank you because the interpretation that children receive from our park, from you, from you in their own language, but in other languages as well. It's our purpose, For The Children. Thank you, Erick. Amy – well, that's an applause line.

[Applause]

For Erick, thank you.

When Chuck talked about his family coming here all those years ago, and what the Park Service meant on the way here, I also was thinking of his wife, Paula, who was here, who was a member of the Presidio Trust, when all of this, much of this was being developed. It's a family affair for you today. With the YMCA, we've honored you that way. Now, we honor both of you for your contribution.

And speaking of family, I'm glad that my daughter Christine is here, because we have been coming to this park with Christine, with my son Paul, with – now – but with my children over time, as well as grandchildren now. Now we want to look forward to that, so for many of us, it's a family affair.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much to Chris for the work of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Thank you for your leadership. And in acknowledging you, I want to acknowledge Mark Buell, whose role there and on the Board of the Presidio, he's the personification of working together.

Laura, thank you for your leadership. Jean, thank you for yours, as the President of and CEO of the Presidio Trust. And Amy Meyer, the godmother of all of this. She and Ed Wayburn taught us a lot about parks and dreams and the rest. They also taught us to say ‘yes' right from the start, because you'll save yourself a lot of time.

[Applause]

Right, Amy? Amy knows what I mean. And not only does she think macro, micro every step of the way, making sure what we did and what decisions were made were consistent with the dream that she and Ed Wayburn had. You can't – I mean, what a blessing they were and how they channeled others who were part of this as well, as was acknowledged by my colleague, Jared Huffman from Marin County, that there were intellectual resources there who had a vision about parks. Thank you, Jared, for your leadership, continues in that tradition. Not only fits comfortably there, but takes the lead as a member of the Natural Resources Committee, in which Bill served as a Subcommittee Chair. So does Jared – what is it, Water? Water, Oceans and Wildlife. What more is there under the sun?

[Applause]

Plus, he's on the Infrastructure Committee, which is very important in all this. Plus, he's on the special Select Committee for the – saving the planet. He will be going to Egypt to do just that, the day after the election. So he is a leader in the Congress. When we want to know what to do about water or this or that, parks and the rest, we always say, ‘What does Jared think?' So again, not only fitting comfortably, but taking the lead. We are blessed by your leadership, Jared.

[Applause]

Let me just say a few things in history, because so much has been said already, but just to put this [in] perspective. When President Thomas Jefferson – now, I'm not going for 200 years.

[Laughter]

When he was President, he initiated the first infrastructure initiative for our country. It was called the Gallatin Initiative, and it was to build the Erie Canal, the Cumberland Road, all the things that – leading into our country, as the country expanded under his leadership. One hundred years later, in honor of that, Teddy Roosevelt formed his own infrastructure initiative. It was called the National Park Service. The National Park Service.

[Applause]

And what a blessing to our country. Yellowstone. Well, you know what an environmentalist he was, an outdoorsman he was. And he saw that that was really important to prioritize. What a blessing.

And now, we're here as part of the National Park Service and keeping with the bipartisan nature of it, when in fact the – Phillip Burton did his masterful legislation, inspired by Dr. Wayburn and Amy and others as well. It was, it was a big deal. Not many people in Congress believed in urban parks at the time. You may not realize it, but they're like, ‘Well, wait a minute. We have Yellowstone, this and that. Those are national parks.' But they – he had to convince the urban part – in his words, let me just read his words. And I won't read all of his words, because some of them are not suitable for –

[Laughter]

He said, he said, ‘Parks for the people, where the people are.' Where the people are.

And so, when he put into that bill – which many people didn't see, notice or see the implication of it all – that when the Presidio was in excess of the needs of the Defense Department, it would become part of the National Park Service. That was a very big deal.

[Applause]

So I want to recognize Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer – who was a Member from Marin at the time, but also our Senator in the course of this legislation – for making sure that anybody who needed to be convinced understood that that was the law of the land, this could not be sold, it could not be permitted for construction or this or that. And here we are today.

Of the Presidio, just to say, as part of this – but it's not just about the Presidio, it's about the whole thing. And the Presidio was a military base, as you know. But it was said, at the Presidio, is that a shot was never fired in anger. Whether it was the Spanish, the Mexicans, U.S. never fired in anger. And we use that as our model, as we were – spread – building the GGNRA to something bigger, but also making the Presidio part of it. So it was always bipartisan. Fifty years ago tomorrow is when Richard Nixon signed the GGNRA legislation.

[Applause]

As was mentioned, Bill Mailliard and Phil Burton were the leaders in all of that.

And Phil, Phillip – I think there's some things around the statue that you may find useful, but it was a fight. It was a fight but, nonetheless, bipartisan in the House, the Senate and signed by the President. And that was true then – do with the Presidio, that we wanted it to be bipartisan. We have honored Jack Murtha and Ralph Regula, Democrat and Republican, for the funds that they poured into this, whether it was for the Presidio, for Baker and the rest, which some of you are – have been around long enough to remember what Fort Baker recently was and now is. But again, a vision, a plan, the money. The money to get it done.

But the beauty of it all is that, with those resources to clean up what the military had done here – they were good stewards, but nonetheless, they were the military, and there was a lot of cleanup that had to be done to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for the Presidio alone. But think of this place, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, every single word of it so important. When our soldiers came back from fighting in the Pacific, this is what they saw. When immigrants from Asia and other places came into our country, this is what they saw. When our children come to the park, this is what they – we want them to take pride in.

When my kids were little, we would go over, and that was just at the beginning of the GGNRA. Mrs. Terwilliger? Does anybody remember Mrs. Terwilliger? She taught us all that everything in nature is connected. The recognition of that by so many of you. Without the outside mobilization, this would not have happened. Phillip knew that. Phillip Burton knew that. Another day, we'll have some stories about Phil that – like the first time he came looking at all of this and what is – was going to be in legislation. They asked him, ‘Do you want to get out of the car and walk around?' ‘No.'

[Laughter]

‘Just tell me what legislation you need.'

[Laughter]

He was a master legislator, but he understood, understood beauty.

The fact is, what all of you have done, and I thank so many of you for the role that you have played. And of course, our Amy, the godmother, and Ed Wayburn. You have created a work of art. Just the way this happened was so creative, a model to the rest of the country on how they could go from "Post to Park" or from other, not necessarily a post, but other facilities to a park and done so in a way that no shots were fired in anger, but all of it building bipartisanship and peace and calm For The Children. So that when they come here, and this is the most important part, if you – some of us were together at the Tunnel Tops dedication a few weeks ago, several weeks ago to see how drawing children here to play, to recreate and to learn about nature – so important, especially now when nature is so under threat by some denial and delay as to what we need to do to save the planet For The Children. The children now can take ownership of the vision, of the knowledge and of the plan to save the planet, for even future generations.

I'll close by joining Steve, thank you so much for acknowledging our early – David mentioned at the beginning of his remarks about the early people here, our Native American community here but in the rest of San Francisco as well. They were such good stewards of the land. We owe it to them to be – learn from their model and be good stewards of the land. And whether he realized it or not when he started out in politics, Phil Burton and his brother John were great stewards of the land, and so are all of you.

Thank you so much for what you have done. Thank you.