A Message from BCLT Administrative Director, Annie O'Connor
Annie O’Connor and Pete Smith at Brendan O’Connor’s community paddle out in June 2022.
Photo by Lynn Bagley.
Dear BCLT Community,
I am honored and delighted to step into a newly created role as Administrative Director for the Bolinas Community Land Trust (BCLT). In this role, I will guide daily operations for the organization and help the staff and board to scale our work. My late husband, Brendan O’Connor, a native son of Bolinas, first introduced me to the splendor of this community when we were in high school together.
Alongside Brendan, I came to love the wild hills, waves, wind, critters, and trees that surround this special place. Over time, it was the self-reliant, creative, and big-hearted people who live here that inspired us to make Bolinas the center of our personal and professional lives. It is also thanks to the generosity of so many of you that I first came to work at the BCLT.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when stay-at-home orders prevented Brendan from working as a sheet metal contractor and we were lost in the morass of the unemployment claims process, it was a huge relief to receive timely emergency rental assistance for his business from BCLT. My work in global community development was grounded and I began consulting for the BCLT pro bono as a way to give back. That led to a part-time job as a Program Manager, which has now turned into a full-time leadership role. My current position requires me to use every skill I have honed in my two decades of domestic and international social, environmental, and economic sustainability work. The pressure to fulfill our mission to create and preserve affordable housing is a privilege. We are responding to a call for action that has never been more urgent or important.
Yet, despite my professional credentials, I didn’t learn the true meaning and value of “community” until Brendan died of sudden cardiac arrest in May 2022. Along with his beautiful family, I have been humbled to receive more support from the Bolinas community than I even knew to ask for. To be loved through tragedy and unfathomable heartbreak is a heartwarming experience. For me, it has been a daily reminder that joy can exist in harmony with struggle. I have been able to face my new reality, the hardest challenge of my life, with peace in my heart because of the strength of the community that holds me. I will be forever grateful to Brendan for giving me the gift of this special place and to my neighbors who continue to steward the best of small-town, rural values. Thank you, for everything.
It is with great hope for the future that I have now claimed Bolinas as my own chosen home. While nothing in life is certain, and complex challenges abound, I know that Bolinas is in good hands. Our town is made up of some of the most authentic, kind, and beautiful people I have ever had the pleasure to know. I look forward to serving all of you.
With oodles of love and gratitude,
Annie O’Connor