Saving Cesar Chavez

Back in the Dark Ages of the 20th Century, Berkeley had a city dump right at the water's edge where you get a beautiful unobstructed view of Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the skyline of the City of San Francisco. I don't know the whole story, but the dump apparently got filled up and somebody decided to cover it with landfill. Which, I assume, is a good idea if you don't want a stinking pile of garbage at the western edge of your town. They opened a new one, without a scenic view, up north.

In time, those 90 acres were covered with green grass and the "mounds" became hills. The wind from the sea made it a great place to fly kites, and by 1991, when the city sealed the final landfill, the place was known as North Waterfront Park. That screamed for a better name and five years later it had been renamed after one of California's heroes, the farmworker union leader, Cesario Estrada Chavez -  César Chávez, the man responsible for the fact that I ate no grapes for a couple years in the late 60s.

It is a splendid place to take a walk. You can walk around the periphery in about half an hour, watching the groundhogs and the birds dashing and flying around. Or you can climb up the hill in the center of the park for a glorious view of the city. That's where the off-leash area for dogs is located, so that's where we have always spent most of our time. For anybody who ever falls in love with San Francisco, there's nothing like the view of the skyline - with the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz thrown in for extras. For me, just sitting at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, with Japan and China somewhere off in the distance, would be enough. With the Bridge, even in the mist and fog, it's a place you can just stare at forever. Sitting on one of the benches facing the water, the deep soulful breaths come of their own accord.

And - wouldn't you just know it - somebody has come along and decided it would be a peachy-keen idea to bulldoze the place down and build a giant amusement park and "Large Events Area," complete with concert stage, booming sound boxes and seats for folks with all the trash that naturally comes with outdoor public events. One of the worst ideas I've ever encountered. Travesty doesn't begin to cover it.

Fortunately, opposition to this horrible idea is strong, and building. If you'd like to join this opposition, start here. They have a campaign going which plans to run through September.

I sent in my two cents this morning:

Alan McCornick <alanjmcc@gmail.com>	7:15 AM (3 hours ago)
to council, manager, info

Dear Mr. Mayor, Ms. City Manager, Council Members of the City of Berkeley:

I'm writing to urge you to stop the plan to turn Chavez Park from the magnificent place it is today into a commercial enterprise where the peace and quiet is shattered by electronic sounds and crowds that come for reasons other than to enjoy the sun, fresh air and incomparable views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline.

Twelve years ago my husband and I adopted two little dogs who have been the center of our lives ever since. Our chief family activity is taking "the girls" for walks around the East Bay and nothing has come close to providing us with the pleasure we get from walking the perimeter of Cesar Chavez Park and watching them run free in the off-leash area. Cesar Chavez is also top of the list of places we take visitors. Not once have we failed to elicit comments like, "You guys are so lucky to live in Berkeley!" When they hear the story of a city dump converted into a place where groundhogs dart in and out of the rocks and the sky is filled with kites and dog lovers can sit at picnic tables and meet other dog lovers, they envy us even more. And we feel proud to have such a treasure to share with them.

Please don't let this wonderful transformation from something ugly to something beautiful be turned back into something ugly again. With so many other places available around the Bay Area for musical entertainment and park pavilions, why would anybody take this gem to create one more?

I hope you will rethink this extraordinarily bad idea. Please reconsider. Please stop this destructive plan.

Sincerely,

Alan J. McCornick

2734 Ellsworth St.

Berkeley, CA 94705