[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 108 (Wednesday, September 6, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1630]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          IN HONOR OF JOE HALL

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 6, 2006

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievements of Joe 
Hall, who has recently retired after serving the citizens of Santa Cruz 
in various capacities since 1973.
  Joe is best known in my office as the steward of the San Lorenzo 
River Flood Control Project, an effort on which we have worked together 
since I began my service in Congress and is finally nearing completion.
  Through his hard work in the City of Santa Cruz Planning Department 
and later as assistant director of the Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency, 
Joe worked tirelessly to corral the resources of local, State, and 
Federal agencies toward a project that will provide vital flood 
protection to the residents and businesses of Santa Cruz.
  He was the primary source of information for me as I advocated for 
the project in Washington, and I know he is as proud of the success of 
this project as I am.
  There is no doubt that the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is the 
defining moment for a generation of Santa Cruz residents, and Joe 
played an integral role in the miraculous redevelopment of a downtown 
that was literally leveled by the quake.
  It might have been an accepted idea at the time to forget about 
downtown Santa Cruz and redevelop an economic base elsewhere in the 
area, but the visionary work of Redevelopment Director Ceil Cirillo, 
Joe, and other city officials led to an amazing rebirth in downtown 
that continues today.
  Joe also was instrumental in the creation of legislation on the State 
level that provided a special bond financing mechanism to assist with 
the seismic retrofit of older buildings. While the legislation was 
approved too late to help Santa Cruz, other California cities have 
since benefited from Joe's ideas.
  While Joe has been an outstanding employee of the city of Santa Cruz 
since 1973, he has also served the Santa Cruz community in a number of 
other capacities, including president of the board of education, a 
public affairs talk show host for a local public radio station, and an 
instructor in city planning at Cabrillo College.
  And while Santa Cruz may have benefited most from Joe's good works, 
he has also served his country with honor and dignity. Commissioned as 
a second lieutenant in the United States Army upon his graduation from 
UCLA, Joe served as a training officer for the U.S. Army Electronic 
Command and in 1996 he retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant 
colonel.
  I am certain that I have not heard the last from Joe, as I expect he 
will remain an active member of the community, but I do want to wish 
he, his wife Marcella, and his children Eric and Christine, the best as 
they enter this exciting new chapter.

                          ____________________