[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1254-E1255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING BRIAN O'NEILL

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 2009

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Brian 
O'Neill, one of the great visionaries of the National Park Service, who 
passed on May 13, 2009.
  For 25 years Brian served as Superintendent of the Golden Gate 
National Recreational Area, a vast swath of 75,500 acres in San Mateo 
and San Francisco Counties and across the Golden Gate in Marin County

[[Page E1255]]

in my congressional district. His influence on the Golden Gate National 
Recreational Area (GGNRA) and on our entire national park system was 
immense, and will last far into the future.
  Brian O'Neill was born in 1941 in Washington D.C. and grew up there. 
In high school he teamed up with his mother, Virginia and his twin 
brother, Alan, to found a nonprofit organization to expose urban 
children to the wonders of national parks. After graduating from the 
University of Maryland, he joined what was then the Bureau of Outdoor 
Education, and worked on park planning. The Bureau's name was changed 
to Heritage Recreation and Conservation Service and later was merged 
into the National Park Service. In the early 70's, Brian had the 
opportunity to pitch the idea of urban national parks to President 
Nixon, who became an enthusiastic backer, and signed legislation 
creating the GGNRA in 1972. Nine years later Brian became Assistant 
Superintendent of the park and in 1986, he became its Superintendent.
  When Brian first hiked through the GGNRA's fragrant headlands in his 
green uniform and flat brimmed hat, the park was a beautiful, but in 
many cases, crumbling collection of former military installations 
looking out on the broad Pacific and busy San Francisco Bay. Yet these 
places were steeped in history and brimming with potential. What it 
took to bring it all together was a passion for parks, a commitment to 
solid planning and the personal skills to create partnerships--all 
attributes of Brian O'Neill.
  During Brian's tenure he strengthened and expanded the non-profit 
partnerships at Fort Mason, Fort Baker, the Presidio and the Mann 
Headlands. Where else could you visit a national park and see such well 
regarded and varied institutions as the Magic Theatre and Antenna 
Theatre, the Discovery Museum, the Marine Mammal Center and the 
headquarters of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary? 
Where else could you hike through the magnificent redwood cathedral of 
Muir Woods and the same day hear an internationally known economist 
lecture at Cavallo Point?
  The GGNRA under the leadership of Brian O'Neill became a place to 
enjoy nature and to learn about nature; a place to renew your spirit 
and expand your potential; a place to encounter the Bay Area's history 
and to prepare for its future. It was, and is now, a place for hikers, 
cyclists, equestrians, dog walkers, artists, educators, 
environmentalists, wind surfers, college kids and city kids, tourists 
from near and afar, and ordinary folks, taking just a few minutes to 
leave the city's bustle, enter the park's natural splendor and get away 
from it all.
  It would be simplistic to say that the Golden Gate Recreational Area 
became everything to all people because, of course, it can't. Despite 
its urban interface, it is a national park, and the mission to preserve 
and protect its natural and cultural resources is always in tension 
with human uses. Brian's not always so fun job was to find ways to 
resolve these kinds of conflicts. For this job, he had an affability 
that diffused conflict, an encyclopedic knowledge of Park Service 
policies and regulations, and a crafty and creative mind. He never 
seemed to back down, but he found ways to churn out solutions to the 
most difficult and complex problems.
  The Fort Baker Retreat and Conference Center is a case in point. At 
first it was to be a rather large public-private endeavor, but that 
disturbed residents and the City of Sausalito, who asked for my help. 
The Secretary of Interior intervened, more than a year of negotiation 
ensued, and the City of Sausalito eventually sued unsuccessfully to 
halt the project. Brian O'Neill listened and piece by piece he put 
together a new planning process that resulted in the project's 
downsizing, the selection of a local developer, new public meetings, 
and a campus that utilizes green building materials, solar energy, and 
transportation management.
  Fort Baker is now the pride of the Park Service and Sausalito, and it 
couldn't have turned out so well without the persistence and varied 
skills of Brian O'Neill. What could have become a political quagmire 
became instead, Brian O'Neill's triumph.
  Madam Speaker, there are a lot of people who are going to miss Brian 
O'Neill, his big smile, his twinkling blue eyes and his obvious 
enjoyment of his job. My consolations especially go to his wife Marti, 
his mother, Virginia, his twin brother Alan, and his two adult 
children, Kim and Brent. They have so much to be proud of. Brian 
O'Neill has left us a rich legacy in a park that is as wonderfully 
expansive as the man himself.
  Brian O'Neill was an institution, but also a warm, caring human 
being, a friend . . . and a great dancer.

                          ____________________