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Citizens for East Shore Parks
Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) is a United States environmental organization that focuses on the acquisition and preservation of parkland in the San Francisco Bay Area. CESP works to protect open space along the East Bay shoreline for natural habitat and recreational purposes through a combination of advocacy, education, and outreach. Since its founding in 1985, CESP has worked to secure approximately 1,800 acres (730 ha) of public land, primarily through the creation of the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) long Eastshore State Park in 2002.
The mission of Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) is to preserve and enhance the natural resources and recreational and educational opportunities of the east shore of San Francisco Bay, creating a necklace of shoreline parks from the Oakland Estuary to the Carquinez Strait.
CESP has a twenty-five member volunteer Board of Directors, including prominent community members, environmentalists, and public officials who have a long record of working on behalf of environmental issues in the East Bay. They include Tom Bates, Robert Cheasty, Shirley Dean, Whitney Dotson, Norman La Force, and Sylvia McLaughlin, among others. Most board members also sit on subcommittees addressing specific environmental or operational issues. The board does not include park user groups.
Although the scope of its work is large, CESP operates with a very small staff. There is one executive director who manages day-to-day affairs, as well as interns and volunteers.
CESP was founded in 1985 to oppose Santa Fe Railroad’s proposals for large-scale development at the Berkeley and Albany waterfront. Historically, CESP grew from the wider movement among East Bay residents to protect San Francisco Bay and its shoreline from capricious and irresponsible development. A coalition of local environmentalists, public officials, and concerned individuals banded together to form Citizens for the Eastshore State Park, with the original goal of creating a state park that would permanently and strategically preserve the shoreline for public and recreational use.
By 1990, Albany, Berkeley, and Emeryville residents had overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to protect the remaining open space on the shoreline. With its plans stymied, Santa Fe Railroad became interested in selling the land. Citizens for the Eastshore State Park played an important role in the park planning process. CESP helped draft two successful bond measures that would eventually enable the California Department of State Parks and the East Bay Regional Park District to acquire the land and administer the park. Moreover, CESP served as a forum for diverse groups and individuals to agree on a common vision for the shoreline park, as well as an intermediary between the public and public officials.
Controversially, the CESP and Sierra Club vision for Eastshore State Park (its "Conservation and Habitat Restoration Plan," which was also distributed under the names of Golden Gate Audubon Society and Save the Bay) would have restricted recreation on North Point Isabel. North Point Isabel, a former toxic landfill, had been used by park visitors (and serviced by East Bay Regional Park District) as an extension of Point Isabel Regional Shoreline since the mid-1980s. Point Isabel, also a former landfill, is a multi-use park that has allowed off-leash dog walking since 1987. The CESP/Sierra Club plan would have restricted recreation dramatically, requiring dogs to be on-leash on North Point Isabel (thereby reducing off-leash recreation overall from some 50 acres to just 23 acres). Park users mounted a vigorous effort to preserve recreation, submitting 20,000 signatures to state park planners, and when the planners' Preferred Park Concept was presented to the public on March 21, 2002, both Point Isabel and North Point Isabel remained available for off-leash recreation.
In December 2002, the California Department of State Parks unanimously approved the Eastshore State Park general plan. The Eastshore State Park opened in 2006, almost forty years after the vision of a shoreline park was first articulated. The 8.5-mile (13.7 km) long park spans the Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, Albany and Richmond waterfronts, and preserves more than 2,000 acres (810 ha) of uplands and tidelands—also home to sixteen species of rare, threatened, or endangered wildlife.
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Citizens for East Shore Parks
Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) is a United States environmental organization that focuses on the acquisition and preservation of parkland in the San Francisco Bay Area. CESP works to protect open space along the East Bay shoreline for natural habitat and recreational purposes through a combination of advocacy, education, and outreach. Since its founding in 1985, CESP has worked to secure approximately 1,800 acres (730 ha) of public land, primarily through the creation of the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) long Eastshore State Park in 2002.
The mission of Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) is to preserve and enhance the natural resources and recreational and educational opportunities of the east shore of San Francisco Bay, creating a necklace of shoreline parks from the Oakland Estuary to the Carquinez Strait.
CESP has a twenty-five member volunteer Board of Directors, including prominent community members, environmentalists, and public officials who have a long record of working on behalf of environmental issues in the East Bay. They include Tom Bates, Robert Cheasty, Shirley Dean, Whitney Dotson, Norman La Force, and Sylvia McLaughlin, among others. Most board members also sit on subcommittees addressing specific environmental or operational issues. The board does not include park user groups.
Although the scope of its work is large, CESP operates with a very small staff. There is one executive director who manages day-to-day affairs, as well as interns and volunteers.
CESP was founded in 1985 to oppose Santa Fe Railroad’s proposals for large-scale development at the Berkeley and Albany waterfront. Historically, CESP grew from the wider movement among East Bay residents to protect San Francisco Bay and its shoreline from capricious and irresponsible development. A coalition of local environmentalists, public officials, and concerned individuals banded together to form Citizens for the Eastshore State Park, with the original goal of creating a state park that would permanently and strategically preserve the shoreline for public and recreational use.
By 1990, Albany, Berkeley, and Emeryville residents had overwhelmingly approved ballot measures to protect the remaining open space on the shoreline. With its plans stymied, Santa Fe Railroad became interested in selling the land. Citizens for the Eastshore State Park played an important role in the park planning process. CESP helped draft two successful bond measures that would eventually enable the California Department of State Parks and the East Bay Regional Park District to acquire the land and administer the park. Moreover, CESP served as a forum for diverse groups and individuals to agree on a common vision for the shoreline park, as well as an intermediary between the public and public officials.
Controversially, the CESP and Sierra Club vision for Eastshore State Park (its "Conservation and Habitat Restoration Plan," which was also distributed under the names of Golden Gate Audubon Society and Save the Bay) would have restricted recreation on North Point Isabel. North Point Isabel, a former toxic landfill, had been used by park visitors (and serviced by East Bay Regional Park District) as an extension of Point Isabel Regional Shoreline since the mid-1980s. Point Isabel, also a former landfill, is a multi-use park that has allowed off-leash dog walking since 1987. The CESP/Sierra Club plan would have restricted recreation dramatically, requiring dogs to be on-leash on North Point Isabel (thereby reducing off-leash recreation overall from some 50 acres to just 23 acres). Park users mounted a vigorous effort to preserve recreation, submitting 20,000 signatures to state park planners, and when the planners' Preferred Park Concept was presented to the public on March 21, 2002, both Point Isabel and North Point Isabel remained available for off-leash recreation.
In December 2002, the California Department of State Parks unanimously approved the Eastshore State Park general plan. The Eastshore State Park opened in 2006, almost forty years after the vision of a shoreline park was first articulated. The 8.5-mile (13.7 km) long park spans the Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, Albany and Richmond waterfronts, and preserves more than 2,000 acres (810 ha) of uplands and tidelands—also home to sixteen species of rare, threatened, or endangered wildlife.