December 6
Community
Forum on North Richmond Shoreline Open Space
organized by the North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance
- Featuring speakers on the history, ecology and planning
process for future development of the North Richmond Shoreline.
Co-Sponsored by: Concilio Latino, East Bay Watershed
Center, Greenbelt Alliance, Grey Panthers, League of Women
Voters, Ma'at Youth Academy, Parchester Village Neighborhood
Council, Public Trust Alliance, Richmond Environmental
Defese Fund, Richmond Greens, Richmond Neighborhoods Coordinating
Council, Richmond Vision 2000, Save the Bay, Sierra Club,
West County Rainbow Coalition, West County Toxics Coalition,
Urban Creeks and others. Saturday December 6th
- 10 AM- 2 PM at Parchester Village Community Center 900
Williams Dr., Contact Mr. Withney Dotson: (510) 235-2534 |
Posted on Sun, Dec. 07, 2003
Forum attendees seek to save land
By Linda Davis
CONTRA COSTA
TIMES
RICHMOND - From environmentalists to residents
to land owners, almost 100 people gathered Saturday for a
forum to rally support for preserving as open space hundreds
of marshland acres on northern Richmond's waterfront.
The land, which includes as much as 1,000 acres
northwest of the Richmond Parkway and south of Point Pinole
Regional Shoreline, has been eyed for development for years.
Nearby residents, as well as environmentalists, would like
to see it annexed to Point Pinole to fill a gap in the San
Francisco Bay Trail.
Earlier this year, the developer Signature Properties
purchased an option to build houses on part of the site. The
firm quietly withdrew its offer about two weeks ago, said
Whitney Dotson, community activist and moderator for Saturday's
forum.
Earlier, plans by one landowner to build a light
industrial park there also were scrapped due to objections
from environmental groups and city officials.
Saturday's meeting was the first major forum
of the North Richmond Open Space Alliance, which includes
the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, North Richmond Advisory
Council and others advocating for "environmental justice"
along the northern waterfront, which is inside the city limits.
The city has developed its southern waterfront
with Miller-Knox Regional Shoreline and other preserves and
housing.
"It is time to develop a strategy, and
get those (North Richmond) shorelands designated as open space,"
Dotson said. "The opportunity is here right now; the
wetlands are almost gone."
The forum at Parchester Village Community Center
near the site included more than a dozen speakers, many of
whom spoke passionately about keeping the land natural and
opening it to public use.
Alan Leventhal, an archaeologist from San Jose
State University, cited the cultural importance of the area
as early hunting and fishing grounds and a burial site for
the Ohlone Indians, who populated the Bay Area 10,000 years
ago.
Lisa Owens-Vianni of the Urban Creeks Council
gave a slide show on the marshy area's natural history. Rich
Walkling of the Natural Heritage Institute discussed plans
for restoring lower Rheem Creek, which drains into 400 acres
of wetlands, including the parcels locals are trying to save.
The group cheered and clapped when Henry Clark
of the West County Toxics Coalition spoke.
"There is beauty in our back yard but (developers
say) 'not for you.' They are cutting off people from the land.
Let us turn this situation around," Clark said.
Dotson told the audience that more than 90 percent
of area wetlands have disappeared since the 1800s, and talked
about the natural beauty of the site, which he has enjoyed
since he was growing up in Parchester Village, a 50-year-old
tract adjacent to the marsh.
Environmentalists, community activists and local
officials at the meeting agreed that diverse support for the
project and educational outreach are key to saving the land.
Dotson said the coalition must be vigilant. The land will
surely be targeted for other development proposals, Dotson
said.
