Crab Festival Celebration Dinner – February 2, 2007

San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf

 

Tribute to Chrisopher Martin

by Patrick Flanagan

 

The Wharf is truly a very special community as evidenced by just this event and in honoring Chris and all of his accomplishments for this community over the many, many years.  While I can’t be with you today, I am with you everyday in my memories and thoughts of all the great people of Fisherman’s Wharf.

Who would imagine years ago a young boy having a dream and vision to bring penguins to the Wharf.  Only a block away, another young boy would be packing herring in 5 and 10 lb. packages to feed those penguins.  While close, they would not really get to know each other until years later.

Both of their fathers, Leonard Martin and Joe Flanagan also had dreams and left a hard legacy for both of their sons to follow.  Leonard revitalized the old Del Monte packing house into the Cannery and saved a part of San Francisco’s history.  Joe Flanagan dreamt of creating a major American fishing port well protected by the breakwater which it richly deserved.

Chris continued on over the years in trying to protect and preserve San Francisco’s fishing industry and the entirety of its rich maritime history.  Like any community, Fisherman’s Wharf is a sum of all of its parts.  And Chris Martin was clearly a very major part in what we see around us today.

Years of self-less hard work, hours and hours of public meetings, strategizing, planning, dreaming and Chris’ hand was involved with everything we see around us today.  To my knowledge, the only payment he ever received was the knowledge and gratification in seeing that visions can and do come true.  He also contributed thousands of dollars from his family business whenever it was needed and again with no thought of repayment.

Look around.  We have the San Francisco Breakwater, we have a historic street-car line coming right into the Wharf, the Cable Cars have been rebuilt and continue to service the merchants and residents, the Embarcadero is a major promenade and entrance to the Wharf, we have a fish processing center on Pier 45, we have one of the greatest Maritime museums in the world, and many historic buildings have been preserved along with their history.  Chris’ hand was there in it all.  But perhaps more important, Chris sought consensus and only through unity in the community could all of this have taken place.  Yes, we, like any community, have our dissenters, the nay-sayers, but Chris always listened to their voices and sought out compromise.  In the end, everything got done and everybody gained.  Visions became reality.

We both got to be close friends over those years.  I depended upon Chris for his advice and good counsel.  There were many difficult times.  We were sometimes likened to communists and socialists rather than the capitalists we really were.  It was Chris who got me involved in helping to draft Proposition M, the only high-rise initiative to win after many failures.  It was Chris who got me to involve myself with the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center and improving the housing conditions of our lower income residents, many of whom work on the Wharf.  It was Chris who taught me how to lobby and how to get politicians to help make our dreams come true.  It was Chris who helped me to try to always be ethical in our endeavors.

History is difficult but so important to us all.  This special place known as Fisherman’s Wharf is a result of a history of many families over many decades, almost a century of change, of progress and of dreams fulfilled.  We need to always remember those families, the Alioto’s, the Cincotta’s, the Baccari’s, the Tarantino’s, Scoma’s, McDonald’s, Berger’s, Sabella’s, Pompeii’s, the Cattolica’s, Ferrari’s, Damato’s, Kortum’s.  We need to remember those politicians that helped us all, the Shelley’s, Alioto’s, Feinstein, Pelosi, Marks, Nelder’s, Agnos, Jordan, and, of course, the Willy Brown, protégé of the Burtons.  With them all comes our history which we must not forget, but be proud of.  Tonight, we honor Chris and thank him for the memories that we will all keep of the battles, the successes, and hard work that helped make all of our visions come true.

We must all hope that the new visions will continue on in each forthcoming generation, hopefully having learned from all who have gone before.  Thank you Chris, and thank us all.