Rich Weideman, Chief, Office of Public Affairs and Special Events, Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Interviewed by Chuck Smythe, Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist
April 10, 2002 - Telephone Interview.

CHUCK SMYTHE: I guess we could start with going back to that day, and how that day started for you, and when you first learned about the situation in New York and Washington.

RICH WEIDEMAN: … I walked into work, said good morning to everybody, and it was pretty apparent something was up, and a couple of people turned to me and said, "Don't you know what's going on?" And I said, "No, I don't. I just got in." We had a TV on…and that's when I first saw it…I have a lot of friends back there working for the Park Service, very close to the Trade Center [so] that it really kind of hit home. So it was kind of both a personal and professional blow. We went into an incident command system situation that day, right away, because of concerns with Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, the kind of icons out here.

CHUCK SMYTHE: Do you have a role in that, when that happens?

RICH WEIDEMAN: Yes. I typically am the public affairs person for an incident command situation, depending on the gravity of it, and who's on board and the staff and everything. And so, what we did was [to] shut down Alcatraz for the day, immediately.

CHUCK SMYTHE: Who made -- how did that decision get made?

RICH WEIDEMAN: That was made at the park level with recommendation coming down from the Regional Office. Concerns with the icons that we have in our Park are the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz… So, we decided at the Park, and concurred with the Regional Office to close Alcatraz. The bridge area and Fort Point, which is under the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge was immediately closed, as were vista points that day, and that obviously impacted us. …

And since the time difference meant it was fairly early our time here in San Francisco, we also had staff calling in, as to whether they should come to work crossing the bridges, specifically the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge. And so, we did make it optional for some staff, if they didn't want to come in, they didn't need to, or they could report to a different area of the Park, say they were north of the Golden Gate, they could report to that area. … And then we were getting calls as to what people were physically doing in our areas of the Park that are the more natural areas, like the beaches, the trails. People were going out that day, going for walks, reflecting on what was going on, calling in to find out if areas were open, because they'd heard Alcatraz was closed; they'd heard Fort Point was closed, and they were wondering if the rest of the Park was. Well, we really can't close the rest of the park, simply because of the size of it.

CHUCK SMYTHE: Do you know if there were more visitors coming that day than normal?

RICH WEIDEMAN: It was a really nice day, and in talking to some of the interpretive and Ranger staff who patrol the beaches and stuff, their perception was there was more, because a lot of people on the West Coast, here, weren't going to work, because it happened so early, a lot of businesses were closed that day. Downtown was shut down, so it was kind of -- it was odd; it wasn't like a weekend, and it certainly didn't have the feeling of a weekend or a Federal holiday. But at the same time, there [were] larger than average crowds at places, especially along our waterfront area, and up in the Marin Headlands, and Crissy Field on the Presidio, and in talking to the staff, too, it wasn't like people going out bike riding and jogging. A lot more people were just walking, and families and things like that. So, it definitely felt like there was a difference in the area. There was no doubt about that. … Being a nice day, too, I think it had a little bit to do with it, people walking on the trails and reflecting. They were more the local visitors. [International visitation dropped significantly that day and stayed down until March or 2002] …

CHUCK SMYTHE: -- but let's go back: you were involved in the incident command system on that first day?

RICH WEIDEMAN: Yes. …We put extra Park Police security at both ends of the bridge. Just like New York and DC, we have US Park Police. The US Park Police psychologically, I think, were pretty heavily impacted because they work very closely with the New York and Washington offices, and train together. Every training class the Park Police has, about two-thirds go to Washington, D.C. and New York, and about a third of the class comes out here, so a lot of people had friends and family that were in the New York area, so that was pretty difficult for them, because they were being assigned to both ends of the bridge, wondering what was going on with friends and family in the area. And then a few of our staff were from back there, so as we were setting up the incident command team, a number of them were getting on the phone and trying to find out what was going on with friends, relatives, loved ones. … So …psychologically it was right here for a number of people. …

And then, as we got toward the end of day, we were trying to figure out what to do with our park partners and our staff, over the next couple of days, because people were asking, well, are you going to reopen Alcatraz? Are you going to reopen Fort Point? And that was what -- the media questions were coming in, too. So, we were kind of taking it on a case-by-case basis. Muir Woods, we never really closed, and so the next day we were planning on having Muir Woods back up to its regular operation, although visitation dropped significantly.

And then, for Alcatraz, we were going to keep it closed for a couple of days. The concessions felt the same, too, because their staff were kind of uncomfortable about going from Alcatraz. And then, the Bridge District, as we were talking to them as the day was wrapping down, they were talking about maintaining the security at both ends of the bridge, and trying to strategize what to do about that, because there's an elaborate trail system and biking trail system that goes to the bridge on either end, which is ours, and then once you're on the bridge, of course, you're biking or walking across the bridge.

Well they shut down the bridge to all biking and pedestrian traffic. So, we were getting complaints from visitors -- you know, why can't I walk across the bridge? Why can't I bike across the bridge? And so, we had to be in close touch with the Bridge District, as to what to do. …

Our Park Police officers were stationed at both ends of the bridge, … and then our Park Police units basically went into a kind of emergency mode situation, where we went into 12-hour shifts. … And then, you know, our officers back here and our Law Enforcement Rangers to a lesser extent, but especially our Park Police officers, really wanted to help, and they wanted to go back to New York, and they wanted to help their friends, family, and colleagues, and they were going through this emotional roller coaster, because it sounded like they were going to go, and then a day or two later it sounded like they weren't going to go, because they were needed here, and then they were going to go again, and then eventually, it ended up they didn't go. So, they felt kind of helpless in some ways, just standing, indeed, under the Golden Gate Bridge, watching traffic drive through, and turning away pedestrians. So, it was very sad for them. …

And right after the events of September 11th, within less than a week, we had staff starting to go guard -- especially some of the dams -- in the National Parks, and it's almost at any point in time from September 11th through present with just a couple of short weeks here and there, we've had two to three Law Enforcement Rangers out of the park, and we're also short-staffed in the area, too…Law Enforcement Rangers were being asked to provide extra security for the bridge, and then were also being asked to provide extra security for the dam at Lake Mead, Whiskey, Shasta, Trinity, and out by Mount Shasta, and USS Arizona Memorial wanted extra security, and then we also sent staff back to guard Main Interior Building in Washington, DC.

And then, on top of that, as we were leading up to the Olympics, you know -- actually committed two Rangers to go to the Olympics to do security. So, to say that the park felt stretched is an understatement, and then on the flip side, people were expecting to see more uniform Rangers out there, providing more security, more uniform Park Police. So, the public is expecting to see more security, and we were shorter of staff than we'd probably been in the history of the park.

CHUCK SMYTHE: How did you become aware that the public was interested in more -- or wanted to see more security?

RICH WEIDEMAN: Phone calls in; contacts with Rangers; out in the field, itself; thank you's to the National Guard that started appearing a couple of weeks later at the bridge; to the Park Rangers. …

But what September 11th has done, and I think for a lot of people up here -- I don't know about Back East, but out here -- has put things on a different level of importance in people's lives, and the dog issue is definitely one of those. And people seem to be appreciating government more as a group, and not looking at civil service officials and uniform people as negatively as they were before, and that's probably a result of the media coverage of the fire fighters and the police in New York, and group[s] like that, and the importance of government. And so, it's been kind of interesting to see the kind of different change in attitude. Subtle as it is, it's definitely there.

CHUCK SMYTHE: Did you also feel -- was there a feeling -- you personally and others there that - of sort of a renewed sense of the kind of experience you wanted visitors to be able to have, to find kind of peace and solace?

RICH WEIDEMAN: Oh, definitely. Definitely, especially in our more natural areas, like our vista points along the ocean; our trails up in the Marin Headlands; even some of the art work that's been done by our artists up at one of our non-profits called the Headland Center for the Arts, they've gone out and done solace out on the trails and on the beaches and stuff since September 11th, and the events for some of them have changed the way their art is reflected or they reflect art. I'm not an artist, so I have a hard time kind of paraphrasing that, but you know -- so, yes, definitely. …

September 11, 2001 Oral History Documentation Project
Northeast Region, National Park Service

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