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THIS IS IT: Last chance to protect Knowland Park!

Please come to Oakland City Council meeting

Tues 11/18 starting 5:30 pm

Oakland City Hall at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza

Council Chambers, 3rd Floor

Please RSVP here if you can attend: bit.ly/knowlandmeeting.

Beautiful & wild Knowland Park is home to native wildlife, including rare and threatened species, and it was deeded to the city of Oakland to remain a public park forever. The Oakland Zoo wants to take over the heart of it (77 acres of prime habitat on western ridge) for an exhibit of species that are now regionally extinct due to development! …plus restaurant, gift shop, offices and meeting rooms, and a gondola ride that will transport Zoo visitors uphill to the ridgetop development. This is not conservation. Once the chain-link perimeter fence goes up and the richest portion of Knowland Park is bulldozed, it’s gone forever―habitat significantly damaged, no free public access. Continue Reading →

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RESULTS of Parks Commission Hearing

PracMtgCrowdOur turnout for the Oakland Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission (PRAC) hearing Wednesday night (Oct 22) on whether to recommend that the City Council approve letting the Zoo take even more of Knowland Park was GREAT—well over 50 Park defenders showed up…and wow, were they powerful, articulate, and persuasive! The sea of blue Save Knowland Park t-shirts and buttons was every bit a match for the busload of employees and others the Zoo brought in (see photos here of the assembled crowd and of the zoo’s bus leaving afterwards). Almost all the speakers FOR the recommendation were zoo employees, with a few volunteers, though the great majority of speakers were fighting to save the Park. Continue Reading →

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NEW POLL SHOWS VOTER OPPOSITION TO OAKLAND ZOO EXPANSION PLAN

cda51e3e-da13-4156-baee-d6627ccf785b75% of Oakland Voters Say Zoo Should Re-Think Expansion Plans, Protect City’s Largest Park

You may have just heard about the new public poll we commissioned and its stunning results: A supermajority (75%) of likely Oakland voters say the Oakland Zoo should either not be allowed to expand into undeveloped parkland or that any expansion should be built within or near the existing Zoo, impacting the smallest amount of public parkland possible and minimizing impact to threatened plant and animal species. Continue Reading →

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This Is It! Your Action NOW Is Urgently Needed

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As you know, the zoo’s plan to use the most environmentally sensitive areas of the park that are located on the ridgeline is now running into trouble. Because the destruction of wildlife habitat is so severe and permanent, the wildlife regulators are requiring the zoo to make up for it by setting aside more than 50 additional acres of land. So, the zoo wants to take (for free) even more of our public Knowland Park (land that is already protected as parkland under the Deed of Transfer). This land would have all public access removed from it. This fiasco, as the Sierra Club said, has “gone from bad to worse.” Continue Reading →

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“Zoo Gone Wild” Investigative Article Lays It Out!

Knowland Park from above, © 2013 Steve Whittaker"

Knowland Park from above
© 2013 Steve Whittaker”

The East Bay Express has published an in-depth article about the zoo’s expansion plans in Knowland Park called “Zoo Gone Wild.

Continue Reading →

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