[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15692]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING CELIA KUPERSMITH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2010

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the work of Celia 
Kupersmith, who departs from her position as General Manager of the 
Golden Gate Bridge, Highway, and Transportation District on September 
I, 2010. Over the past 11 years, Ms. Kupersmith has overseen 
improvements in the infrastructure and services on which millions of 
people in the San Francisco Bay Area depend. Her leadership has been a 
source of strength during an especially active period for the Bridge 
District.
  With over 800 employees running the Golden Gate Bridge, five transbay 
ferries, and a network of nearly 200 buses, the Bridge District manages 
the most critical linkages between San Francisco and the North Bay. It 
provides residents with over 50 million trips annually, and it 
maintains services for the six million tourists who come each year to 
visit the Bridge itself.
  In 1999, after serving for several years as Executive Directive of 
the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County, Nevada, Ms. 
Kupersmith took on the challenge of leading this important agency at 
the outset of a number of significant technological and administrative 
changes.
  During her period of service, Ms. Kupersmith has worked tirelessly to 
ensure that the people of the Bay Area can rely on the physical safety 
of the Golden Gate Bridge. She was called on to respond to the 
increased security demands placed on the Bridge District after 
September 11, 2001, and she has led the reform of Bridge security that 
followed. I am also particularly proud to have worked with her through 
several Congresses to secure federal funding for the ongoing seismic 
retrofitting of the Bridge.
  Under Ms. Kupersmith's leadership, the past decade has seen the 
Bridge District make substantial improvements in its speed and 
interconnectedness within the Bay Area transportation network. This 
includes the implementation of electronic toll collection on the Golden 
Gate Bridge and the introduction of region-wide public transit cards--
the TransLink and Clipper cards--on our buses and ferries. The Bridge 
District has also worked to enhance the speed of ferry service, which 
now offers a connection between Central Marin and downtown San 
Francisco in only 30 minutes.
  Ms. Kupersmith will be leaving the Bridge District for a Deputy CEO 
position at Sound Transit, a transportation agency serving Washington's 
Puget Sound region. However, she will also be leaving behind a legacy 
of service that will endure in the Bridge District's improved 
infrastructure, modernized services, and sounder long-term financial 
outlook.
  Madam Speaker, I ask you to join me in thanking Ms. Kupersmith for 
her contributions to the Bay Area and in wishing her all the best in 
her new endeavors. Ms. Kupersmith leaves our Bridge, buses, and ferries 
stronger than when she arrived, and with a sound footing for building 
on recent progress.

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