[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 207 (Tuesday, December 8, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1112-E1113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF LARRY MOODY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 8, 2020

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Larry Moody as 
he concludes his service on the city council of East Palo Alto, and 
after 14 years of service to the community as both a trustee of the 
school district and councilmember.
  Larry grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, and was the youngest of eight 
children. He was an.enterprising young man rising early to deliver the 
Hartford Courant newspaper and later becoming student body president at 
his high school in both his junior and senior years. He lettered in 
three sports and captained the New England Championship Basketball 
Team. He matriculated to Trinity College, with a major in political 
science, and later joined the U.S. Air Force.
  In 1993, he came to East Palo Alto and immersed himself in ministry 
and youth sports. By 2006, as an established leader, he ran for the 
school board and was elected. He and other trustees immediately 
concluded that progress evaluations would include everyone, not just 
the students. That year, the district had the highest gain in 
achievement scores in its history. Larry also brought Menlo Park 
Presbyterian Church into the Ravenswood Education Foundation and 
contributions soared.
  In 2012, he ran for the city council. The city is a diverse community 
in the heart of Silicon Valley fill with an extremely hard-working 
population. Median household income is about 50 percent of San Mateo 
County's. The city's tax base supports a police department, community 
development, public works and other activities but there is no formal 
parks and recreation department. Violence within the community needed 
to be curbed. Larry wanted his city to offer the kinds of safety and 
services routinely provided to residents of surrounding communities. 
Developing the tax base was critical.
  To overcome a development moratorium, Councilman Moody spearheaded a 
critical effort to obtain water from two neighboring communities. To 
curb violence, he supported, among many efforts, community-based 
organizations to reach out to areas in town that were hotspots, a 
domestic violence program at the police department, and increasing the 
number and pay of the city's hard-pressed police force. Crime trended 
sharply downward. As the city became safer, major employers noticed. 
For example, Amazon established a large facility in the community, 
annually contributing nearly $500,000 in property taxes to the city's 
general fund. Steady increases in all tax revenues meant that a dream 
of Larry's, summer youth programs, commenced. Youth development 
programs, including those through former President Obama's My Brother's 
Keeper program, are a high priority for Larry.
  Housing remains a major challenge. As a councilmember, Larry 
supported the establishment of the local homeless shelter, Project 
WeHope, the creation of a recreational vehicle parking program, the 
development of hundreds of new units on city-owned lands and at the 
site of existing affordable housing. Some of these projects happened in 
part because he and his council colleagues insisted that Facebook 
contribute $20 million to meet the community's needs.
  When he learned that countywide money was available for senior 
housing, Larry led the city in securing those funds as a down payment 
on a project along University Avenue which was decades in the making. 
When $80,000 was identified for housing renovation purposes, Larry and 
a local non-profit leader developed a program of weatherization of 
apartments for low-income residents.
  As he often says, capital improvements are not sexy, but they are 
needed. While on the council, he strongly supported the creation of a 
pedestrian/bike bridge over Highway 101, linking west side residents to 
the city's grocery and shopping areas on the east side. New storm water 
pipes down Bay Road and new wells for drinking water began during his 
council service.
  Larry Moody led other council members regionally as the President of 
the Peninsula Chapter of the League of California Cities, and served on 
the statewide organization's committee on parks and recreation. At my 
request,

[[Page E1113]]

he graciously agreed to serve on a regional body that made important 
recommendations to the FAA regarding intrusive noise impacts on East 
Palo Alto and surrounding communities.
  Madam Speaker, we know Larry Moody as a coach, community leader, 
elected leader, and booster of all things East Palo Alto but, 
ultimately, we know him as a man with unbounded faith in the potential 
of human beings. Give this man a single ray of hope for the future and 
he produces a blinding day of possibilities.
  As he steps down from the city council, his wife Lisa, their four 
sons Larry Jr., Tyler, Isiah and Cameron, will once again have Larry 
home each night. We thank them for their patience as he served, but 
their gain is our loss. Let us salute Larry Moody for his service to us 
all. He will long be remembered as the man who led with a smile and an 
enormous heart.

                          ____________________