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Sunol Water Temple
Restoration Celebration, September 27, 1997 To all of you who have come from San Francisco and other cities and communities, welcome to the beautiful Sunol Valley! Sunolians, are we happy about this celebration? This is an historic event for those of us who have hoped and wished and committed our time and resources to preserve the wondrous, magical Willis Polk Water Temple. It is an icon that not only symbolizes classical beauty and grace but signifies the importance of life giving water. The building of the entire Hetch Hetchy system that flows from Yosemite to the Bay was an immense operation. We honor those laborers who gave their lives as they toiled to make the water project a reality. This magnificent land mark is a tribute to the sacrifices of many to bring water to the people. We are gathered here today to celebrate the beginning of the temple restoration. We need to acknowledge some special people especially to all of the members of Save Our Sunol who commited themselves to keep the dream alive. We thank Greg Lyons and his cameraman from KRON-TV who championed our cause and recorded our story, to former S.F. Supervisor Angela Alioto for her support and inspiration, to Gray Brechin and Timothy Such for their expertise and guidance and to Dr. Bob Chisholm and Gerry Beemiller of the Sunol Glen School Board for their resolution supporting our position on the Water temple and the quarry. We thank Ted Buttner, Don MacDonald, Graham and Victoria Barnes, Bill and Marlene Rebello and many others for their very generous financial support and to Dennis Normandy for his vision and commitment to this restoration during his presidency of the S.F. Public Utilities Commission. Dennis was also instrumental in forming the Sunol/ PUC Working Group, an advisory task force. I am pleased to introduce the group members to you at this time. They are, Gray Brechin, an architectural historian and faculty member at the University of California, Berkeley, Cindy Frillman, Sunol's very talented artist, Gerry Beemiller, our very energetic school board member and expert fundraiser and Graham Barnes, who skillfully designed "Alternative-S", an option to preserve the prime agricultural land adjacent to the Temple, who is co-chair with me. Tim Such is our able legal researcher and Bree James is our devoted publicist. We will be working in conjunction with the PUC to ensure that this wonderful Water Temple and its surroundings will be restored to its original grandeur and beauty to be enjoyed by everyone We thank you Mayor Brown, San Francisco Supervisors and Public Utilities Commissioners for funding this opening phase of the restoration. This is truly a wonderful day! "A thing of beauty is a joy forever, it can never pass into nothingness". |