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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE IN HONOR OF MAYOR SUSAN HAMMER
______
HON. ANNA G. ESHOO
of california
in the house of representatives
Friday, March 27, 2020
Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of
an extraordinary leader, former Mayor Susan Hammer of San Jose,
California. She was a woman ahead of her time, one who championed
diversity, the arts and the need for paying workers a living wage.
Susan Hammer was born on December 2, 1938, in Altadena, California.
She grew up in nearby Monrovia and graduated from UC Berkeley, where
she met her husband Phil. She died on March 7, 2020 at her home in
Willow Glen, San Jose, with her family by her side.
After working on John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, and at the
newly formed Peace Corps, Susan and Phil returned to his hometown of
San Jose. She worked on several campaigns and served on the San Jose
City Council from 1983 until she was elected Mayor in 1991. She served
as the 62nd mayor of San Jose from 1991 to 1999, working for diversity
among city commissions, created the Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force
and began a partnership between the City and San Jose State University
to build the Martin Luther King Library in downtown San Jose. She
introduced policies that required the replacement of low-income housing
destroyed by redevelopment and required city contractors to pay their
workers living wages. She pushed for the construction of the Mexican
Heritage Plaza and earned the renaming of the San Jose Repertory
building, the Hammer Theater.
Susan Hammer served on the Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice
Commission and was a founding member and President of the San Jose
Museum of Art. She was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Trade
Policy and Negotiations by President Clinton, the first woman and the
first elected official to serve on the Committee. Governor Gray Davis
named her to the California State Board of Education.
Mayor Hammer's son Matt said his mother . . . ``was our model of
living a life of compassion and devotion to the community.'' The San
Jose Mercury (March 10, 2020) in an editorial praising her, quoted her
farewell address in which she said she hoped to be thought of as a
mayor ``who built community by championing the potential of people; who
fostered social action; and who changed the face of the city by
nurturing its spirit.'' ``Mission accomplished'' is the Mercury's
evaluation of her work, and I wholeheartedly agree.
Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me
in honoring the life and work of Susan Hammer, a great and good woman
who set the `gold standard' in public service. We express our most
sincere condolences to her husband, their three children, and all who
had the privilege to know her. We are a better community and a stronger
country because of Susan Hammer. I was blessed to know her and she will
always be a source of inspiration to me.
____________________
