Berkeley Marina plan would destroy Cesar Chavez Park: Tell Berkeley Officials to Not Sell-out the Marina.

The City of Berkeley is gradually turning its attention to upgrading the Marina located in one of the prime spots in the San Francisco Bay, and as a result a local nagtural open space area locals and visitors enjoy that increase urban living and overall quality of life. The proposed big dedicated Events Space and Events Pavilion don’t serve local needs. They’re bait for big commercial operations out for a profit. These operators know how to sweet-talk gullible city staffers (and money-hungry candidates) with promises of big revenue while actually draining the local coffers for externalities like police and fire overtime and cleanup. These kinds of events not only lose money, but they also hijack the environment, poison the habitat, and degrade nature.

Each of the large events projected for the Events Space and the Events Pavilion would bring major noise pollution to the park, heavy traffic and parking congestion, not to mention tobacco and alcohol use, littering, and violence. Forget taking a quiet walk in the park. Forget nature — anything with wings or legs or a belly to crawl on runs away or hides when a Big Event happens and for quite a while afterward. For some species, a single such disturbance during nesting season is enough to guarantee that they never come back.

If this plan succeeds, forget the Native Plant Area in our park. This shaded oasis where dozens of varieties of California native trees, shrubs, and grasses thrive will go under the bulldozer. Forget the California Coastal Conservancy that paid to establish this habitat 40 years ago. Forget the progressive Berkeley City Council of the time that paid for the other half of it. Forget the hardworking, nature-savvy trio of Charli Danielsen, David Amme, and Dave Kaplow and their associates, environmental heroes who worked from sunup to sundown to establish native plants in this challenging site, a historic project. Forget the dozens of volunteers and concerned supporters and the City staff who have weeded and trimmed and watered in the Native Plant Area in recent years. Forget the Native Pollinator Garden project just funded by Alameda County and by East Bay Community Energy. It will all be scraped away.

For more information about the proposal and it's impact, go to https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/04/29/opinion-berkeley-marina-plan-would-destroy-cesar-chavez-park