It’s Your Zoo – You’re Paying (and Paying and Paying) for It

By on May 11, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Oakland Politics, Opinions & Editorials

Money - the Big Problem with Oakland City Government and the Oakland Zoo

It comes as no surprise that the Oakland Zoo has announced that it will seek yet another source of public funding (up to $5 million a year), this time from Alameda County residents. The zoo has been soliciting support for the county-wide tax measure on its website page, “It’s Your Zoo.” The zoo already receives money from Alameda and Contra Costa residents through the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) which taps residents for a portion of their parcel taxes through its special tax district (check your property tax bill and you’ll see it listed).

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Extra! Extra! Stop the Presses! After over four years of pressure, City lists Knowland Park on its Parks Website

By on May 4, 2012 in Oakland Politics, Personal Journals

After over four years of pressuring City elected officials and staff to allow the public to know that Knowland Park exists, Friends of Knowland Park today celebrate a small victory: the Park is FINALLY listed on the City’s website: (http://www2.oaklandnet.com/Government/o/opr/s/Parks/index.htm).

Part of the list of Oakland's 128 Parks. Only four are linked to web pages containing further information.

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Oakland’s “Disappeared” Park: Why Oaklanders Don’t Know Knowland –And Why They Should Get There Before it’s Gone

By on April 30, 2012 in Oakland Politics, Opinions & Editorials

Some of the crowd at the guided hike in Knowland park on April 15.

Some people, touring Knowland Park for the first time, express astonishment at the idea that the City of Oakland has purposely NOT listed this wonderful park on its Parks and Recreation website list of city parks. We felt the same way when we discovered that the largest remaining open space owned by the city wasn’t listed anywhere, and that there was no signage to help people find the Park and enjoy it. Thinking it surely must be an oversight, we asked our city councilman about it, and he said he would look into it. However, despite repeated queries, we never got an answer. This was about four years ago.

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Whose Offices Will be in the Planned Ridgetop Center?

By on April 27, 2012 in Oakland Politics

And Couldn’t They Be Someplace Else?

The Zoo's published depiction of the ridge-top building as seen from Golf Links Rd.

The Oakland Zoo’s development plans for Knowland Park include offices—yes, offices– in the 34,000 square foot, 3 story central gondola terminal building, which is planned to also include a restaurant and gift shop. The whole thing will be perched atop the most sensitive and pristine area of the park, a ridge where the threatened Alameda whipsnake was trapped in surveys, where a statewide rare plant community of chaparral provides cover and habitat for many kinds of animals, and where scat from large predators is regularly found. Why, you might ask yourself, would a “conservation”-minded organization decide to build a huge structure in that particular location, rather than looking for a site closer to the existing Zoo or on already-disturbed land?

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Welcome to the California Chaparral Institute, the Newest Member of the Knowland Park Coalition

By on April 23, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Uncategorized

The California Chaparral Institute has joined the Knowland Park Coalition. Located in Escondido, California, CCI is a non-profit organization of naturalists, scientists, wildland firefighters, and educators who value the chaparral as both a valuable resource and a place to enjoy the wilderness. Providing “a voice for the chaparral,” CCI joins the Knowland Park Coalition to help educate the public on the value of the maritime chaparral found in Knowland Park and to speak up for its protection.

CCI recognizes the threat that the Oakland Zoo expansion project poses to our rare maritime chaparral stand. It has fought similar poorly planned development that results in the accompanying fuels management that decimates this resource.

Rick Halsey, Director and Founder of CCI, acknowledged the work of our coalition: “Your group is a model of citizen activism.” CCI joins a list of prestigious environmental organizations dedicated to protecting the native communities found in Knowland Park. We welcome their support. Visit their website at www.californiachaparral.com.

Laura Baker is an environmental activist and former Conservation Chair of the California Native Plant Society. Growing up in Missouri, she learned that the cure for most ills rests in spending time out in nature. She wishes for every child to have the experience of wholeness that nature provides. Laura holds an M.A. in Ecology and Systematic Biology.

Laura’s Knowlander blog is dedicated to building an online library of the natural history of Knowland Park so that the public may enjoy the park for the natural heritage treasure that it is. Knowing the land is a never ending process of inquiry open to all. We welcome your comments, contributions, and photos

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