[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 97 (Tuesday, June 7, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E580]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN RECOGNITION OF HELEN HILTON RAISER

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                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 7, 2022

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a remarkable 
philanthropist and community leader, Helen Hilton Raiser. Through sheer 
will and determination she helped restore a wasteland into a major new 
public attraction in the City by the Bay: Francisco Park, a new 4.5 
acre jewel at the corner of Hyde and Francisco Streets. Helen 
contributed in countless ways by fundraising, assisting in design and 
promoting her vision for this new park during its development.
  In addition to Helen, credit goes to hundreds of neighbors and the 
leadership of the Francisco Park Conservancy, including board president 
Leslie Alspach and all of the original and successor board members. 
$27.5 million was raised by these leaders and Helen as they sought to 
tum a long-neglected area into a new destination in San Francisco.
  For 80 years this site was a deserted reservoir hosting poison oak, 
raccoons, and an occasional coyote, but otherwise inhospitable to 
visitors. The reservoir was San Francisco's first, built in 1860 and it 
was crucial during the 1906 earthquake and fire. However, it was 
abandoned in 1940 after a newer facility was built a short distance 
away. This old reservoir remained an eyesore for decades, only to begin 
its renaissance after neighbors organized in 2011, and after the San 
Francisco Recreation and Parks department assumed formal responsibility 
for the location in 2014.
  What makes Francisco Park so special is that numerous community 
meetings over many years led to a special place that will serve both 
residents and likely hundreds of thousands of visitors, annually. The 
park is adjacent to the Hyde Street cable car and visitors from around 
the globe will probably disembark and enjoy the inspirational views 
from this place of urban greenery. There is also a children's 
playground, a fenced dog run with artificial turf, and a community 
garden. A ``heart of San Francisco'' sculpture is on display, donated 
by Helen Hilton Raiser. It was created by the artist Laura Lineback. 
Early settlers and the harbor of what was then known as Yerba Buena 
were located nearby, so history is at the fingertips of visitors. 
Interpretive signage offers visitors important historical facts about 
the site, educational lessons about water conservation, a description 
of views from the location, and other features that make the park as 
much a classroom as it is recreational open space.
  While I rise to highlight this park, Ms. Raiser and her neighbors, I 
also note Helen's long history of philanthropy and activism. She is 
well known as a leader at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and as 
a major benefactor, over decades, of community groups from the 
peninsula through San Francisco.
  It was my good fortune to meet her decades ago as she led her 
campaign against handguns and gun violence. She personally led a 1982 
effort on the California ballot to sharply reduce the number of 
handguns in California, and was a board member of Handgun Control, Inc. 
We became personal friends after that effort. Locally, she was a major 
volunteer with the Girl Scouts of America, the Volunteer Center of San 
Mateo County, at Mills-Peninsula Hospital, numerous school associations 
and she served on the Board of Directors of the Junior Statesman 
Foundation as well as the Family Service Agency of San Mateo County. 
She has been a major advocate for affordable housing through the 
nonprofit Human Investment Project. In recognition of her outstanding 
leadership, Helen Hilton Raiser was inducted into the San Mateo County 
Women's Hall of Fame in 1987.
  Madam Speaker and members, we have known great adversity in these 
past years as a scourge of nature visited our streets and our homes. We 
watched as nations yielded to the pressure of the pestilence, and as 
national and personal economies crumbled under the weight of our times. 
At moments such as these, it is important to remember that the makers 
of history are not always those whose names are in the headlines. They 
are often neighborhood activists, intent upon improving our country one 
park, one block or one school at a time. Throughout her life, whether 
via art or philanthropy, in schools or hospitals, in the halls of 
Congress or the state capitol, Helen Hilton Raiser is one of those 
makers of history. Let me express my gratitude for her friendship and 
leadership. There is nothing truer to our purpose as a nation than 
civic virtue, and Helen Hilton Raiser is its embodiment.

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