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Our Goals

While many people assume the surrounding community is just worried about their own view, we have a more productive set of goals to accomplish:


 - Ensure preservation of the largest remaining piece of open space owned by the city of Oakland for wildlife habitat, native plants and free access by the surrounding community.
The Knowland Park "Mesa" is a unique public property that must be preserved. People need space to breathe, and to get outside after a long day at the office.

- Achieve a Zoo expansion plan that meets its objective of enhancing visitors' appreciation for nature, while limiting development to western areas below the ridgeline and more proximal to the existing Zoo facilities.
The original Master Plan was configured this way, but has grown dramatically since 1996.

- Reduce or mitigate traffic congestion, noise/light and air pollution impacts on surrounding communities.
The proposed expansion is expected to bring 100,000 more visitors through an already congested intersection. The nearby Oak Knoll development will use the same Golf Links Rd & Mountain Blvd exit (which is already dangerously congested during Peak hours) as the zoo, and is planning over 900 single-family homes, owners of which will need to drive in and out every day for work.

- Increase community engagement to preserve more open space in Oakland.
Our open spaces are being slowly chipped away in all areas of Oakland. Knowland Park may lose as much as 71 acres; Oak Knoll may lose their prime open space; Dunsmuir Ridge was in danger of a proposed 63 homesite development, but this development has been stopped by a coalition that bought the land for a park; King Estates may be developed into homesites soon; and the list goes on...

- Require the Oakland Zoo to complete a full Environmental Impact Report.
The zoo was never required to complete an EIR and was given a pass by the city, which owns the Zoo and has a distinct conflict of interest in this matter. Any normal development of this scale which includes facilities that will handle medical waste, increases traffic impacts, and expands into natural habitat for endangered animals would normally be required to complete the EIR process. Why is the Zoo getting a rubber stamp on this?

Read More of our Concerns...

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;
indeed, it's the only thing that ever does." - - Margaret Mead