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Support Swells for Saving Park, Voting down Measure A1

By admin on September 14, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Oakland Politics

Our booth at the Solano Stroll

WOW! The outpouring of encouragement and support this last week has been AMAZING. If you’re following us on Twitter @KnowlandPark, you know we were at the Solano Stroll last Sunday, where literally thousands of people came by the CNPS booth and we talked to SO many people about why Measure A1 is NOT a good idea. People love their parks, and when they saw the gorgeous photos of Knowland Park that we displayed, they “got it” right away. Thanks so much to the volunteers who worked the booth—and got energized and inspired by the positive responses to our message!

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Contradictions Finally Catching Up with Zoo Executives

By Ruth on September 2, 2012 in Campaign Updates

Proof from the measure's wording that measure A1 could be be used to fund expansion

What a week! The campaign to defeat Measure A1 (the zoo’s parcel tax measure) in the November election has really started to heat up. We have been incredibly busy meeting with key individuals and groups to explain why Measure A1 isn’t “A-1”. So far, our efforts are bearing fruit—most of the groups we have spoken with have decided to oppose the parcel tax measure; a few have decided to take no position (including two that the zoo had been trying to woo before we found out about this measure). Continue Reading →

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Who Knew? Zoo Board Members Are Knowland Park Supporters!

By Ruth on August 6, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Oakland Politics

A warm welcome to our Zoo Board Member supporters! As many of you know, we have had such a flurry of people joining us that we have hardly had time to do more than keep adding the email addresses to our database. But recently, going through the list in preparation for our campaign, we discovered that zoo Board President Steve Kane and Board Member B. Reid Settlemier, among others, had signed up as Friends of Knowland Park supporters! Mr. Settlemier had signed up with an email address that didn’t happen to include his last name, but an automatic vacation message let us know who he was. What a great development! Maybe this indicates a change of heart? Fortunately, there is room for ALL the members of the zoo board and its foundation board to join up—room even for the zoo CEO, Dr. Joel Parrott, to sign on and help save the Park–because we have always run a completely transparent campaign.

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Bad News for Knowland Park: Judge Grillo Decides Zoo Expansion Plan Is Not a New Project

By Laura on June 20, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Nature & Wildlife, Oakland Politics, Personal Journals, Uncategorized

This heritage Coast Live Oak, Oakland's namesake, will be cut down to make room for the Interpretive Center.

Yesterday Judge Evelio Grillo issued his final ruling in our lawsuit, stating that the Zoo’s current expansion plan into Knowland Park is merely a modification of the 1998 Amended Master Plan project. Sometimes in the court of law it’s possible to find that up is down and black is white. Such is the case here. Our attorneys – Shute, Mihaly, & Weinberger – argued eloquently that the Zoo’s plan, which adds a veterinary hospital and an aerial gondola, quadruples the size of the Interpretive Center, and includes other major changes that were detailed in our briefs, results in a new project. In the end, the court disagreed, and the accompanying photos show who loses as a result of the court’s decision.

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Goats, Regrading, and ‘Genista’ roll into Knowland Park – Anybody have a Plan?

By Jim on June 7, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Nature & Wildlife, Oakland Politics, Uncategorized

Longtime Knowland Park aficionados know that every year as summer approaches, a herd of mother goats and their kids appears in Knowland Park to munch down the tall dry grass. The process is intended to reduce the dry grass and brush that could fuel wildfire—and thus is an important, low-tech way of helping to protect residents who live near the Park. Those who walk the Park year-round may have noticed how oak trees are trimmed very evenly in the Park. This is due to the goats, who love to nibble on the oak leaves as high as they can reach, sometimes standing on their hind legs to snack.