West Contra Costa County Group

Executive Committee

Wednesdays, October 26 and November 16, 7:30 pm, Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury, El Cerrito.

Executive Committee meetings are open to all. You are welcome to come to learn about the Group's conservation issues and administration, or to volunteer your time and talents. For information contact Norman La Force, (510)526-4362.

Holiday party

Wednesday, December 14, 7 pm, Northminster Presbyterian Church, 545 Ashbury, El Cerrito.

Ring in the holidays with music and memories of the wild places we enjoy. Bring slides or prints of your recent (or not so recent) expeditions. Share your favorite cookies or other refreshments. Rita will bring her famous eggnog. See you there!

Besides monthly ExComm meetings, to which everyone is invited, we plan to have three or four general meetings each year. We need to know what kinds of programs you are interested in and would come to. What topics turn you on? What kinds of presentations and presenters do you prefer? Can you suggest some topics and/or potential presenters? Let us know at (510) 528-2913 or http://sanfranciscobay.sierraclub.org/westcc

Happenings in West Contra Costa

In November 2004 El Cerrito completed design guidelines for a wide area between the El Cerrito Del Norte BART station and I-80. These will serve as a tool to evaluate projects as they are proposed over time and to set a common agenda for the city, developers, and residents.

They aim for a synergy between public transit and an attractive, walkable mixed-use neighborhood. Parking garages for both BART and businesses would be built adjacent to I-80, reducing the need for patrons of each to navigate San Pablo Avenue. This would free up present surface parking for development accessible to BART. A landscaped esplanade would directly link parking with the station.

The block north of the station (the Mayfair Site) would have apartment or office buildings with retail space facing San Pablo Avenue. The Olson Company, developer of the Richmond Transit Village, is now negotiating to buy the property. The plan that Olson and the city develop, and the way they carry it out, will determine how successfully the project implements the city's vision.

Olson plans to involve the community with meetings beginning in mid-October. Watch the news and contact the city for details at www.el-cerrito.org or (510) 215-4300. Come see what is proposed, and speak up to make this an environmentally beneficial project.

The Group is working closely with local activists as the clean-up of industrial toxins along Richmond's southeastern shoreline continues. The California Department of Toxic Substance Control and outside experts are continuing to define the disturbing nature and extent of these deposits.

Sherry Padgett deserves recognition for the countless hours she has devoted to collecting information, building public awareness and an activist base, and bringing state oversight to the project. She recently received the prestigious Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Service for her work.

The Group continues to work with the North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance to protect this shoreline, especially Breuner Marsh, from destructive development. To help, contact Mike Daley at (510)848-0800, ext. 304.