[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 8, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     IN RECOGNITION OF THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CITY OF PACIFICA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 8, 2017

  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Pacifica, California, a sea-
sprayed city in my district blessed by salty breezes, soaring 
shorebirds and the collective smile of residents that rivals in 
intensity the warmth of the sun itself. On November 22, 2017, Pacifica 
is a spritely 60 years old.
  Residents love this town, and there's no doubt as to why. The views 
of the Pacific Ocean are spectacular, the shoreline is captivating. If 
you wish to stroll through the sand and to hunt for seashells, bring 
your children to the beach and spend a few hours listening to the waves 
and gazing at the gulls overhead or the snowy plover nearby, Pacifica 
is the place to be.
  Although sunshine is the predominant feature of Pacifica, fog 
occasionally arrives. Well, actually, more than occasionally. But it is 
quiet and serene in Pacifica when fog shrouds the shore and the 
mountains.
  For hundreds of years, Pacifica was home to a village of the Ohlone 
tribe. Pacifica's creeks and ample supply of fish and nuts fed 
generations. These residents lived in balance with nature, thriving on 
the ocean side of the San Francisco Peninsula and trading with other 
villages on the bay side.
  The Spanish explorer Don Gaspar de Portola arrived in 1769 and 
climbed the mountain behind Pacifica to a point now known as Sweeney 
Ridge. From that point, Portola was the first European to discover the 
existence of San Francisco Bay. In the next decades, thousands 
followed, leading to the establishment of Mission Delores and the 
creation of early San Francisco. Pacifica fed San Francisco from crops 
planted throughout the San Pedro Valley. In 1839, a Mexican land grant 
to Don Francisco Sanchez was made and it almost exactly matched the 
boundaries of modern-day Pacifica.
  While much of modern-day Pacifica might be unrecognizable to the 
Ohlone or to Don Francisco Sanchez, one characteristic of those early 
times would easily be recognized: families. Both in the distant past 
and today, Pacifica teems with families. The school district is highly 
regarded and has over 3,000 students from grades K through 8. Parents 
from biotech companies and other global corporations drive a few extra 
miles to work every day so that they may live in a community with 
quality schools and a web of soccer teams and gymnastics programs that 
allow children to thrive amidst friends. The annual family-friendly 
Pacifica Fog Fest draws tens of thousands from throughout the Bay Area 
to enjoy the sun, music, a hometown parade, and all of the cheese and 
nachos needed to earn a mother's scorn.
  Civic life in Pacifica is energetic, to say the least. In recent 
years, the city has completed such notable projects as the 
undergrounding of utilities, the creation of a dog park, the 
commencement of a parking program at state beaches, improvements to the 
senior/community center, protection of environmental resources around 
the creeks and on the beaches, and numerous other public improvements 
that augment Pacifica's natural splendor.
  The city's leadership is as strong today as ever, and it meets the 
challenges of modern governance head on. For example, City government 
illustrates its love-hate relationship with Mother Nature by joyfully 
paying to protect the snowy plover's nesting areas while scrambling to 
pay to prevent the erosion of bluffs to the beaches below. The council 
knows that if you walk along the beach near Pedro Point, you're 
probably walking on the sand that once existed as the bluff, a few 
miles north, that supports Esplanade Boulevard. Such is the duty of 
leadership in Pacifica where a councilmember must pay to maintain 
infrastructure in the coin of the realm while delivering sand and 
refurbished habitats for endangered species for free to the ultimate 
administrator of Pacifica's fate: Mother Nature.
  Congratulations to the City of Pacifica upon 60 years of formal 
incorporation, from November 22, 1957 to the present. From tail fins on 
cars to shark fins in the ocean, the city has done well for itself. 
With its loving population and visionary leadership, there are many 
more adventures to come for this little place by the sea that 39,000 
call home and celebrate as a place to embrace life, family and 
neighbors.

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