Since then, a meandering San Francisco Bay Trail has been developed on the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park land - a much loved route for bicyclists, walkers and joggers.Ĭonstruction gates came down earlier in the week in an unannounced move by the East Bay Regional Parks District. For $35 million, California State Parks purchased the shoreline land from Emeryville to Richmond, more than 8 miles and 18,000 acres. Santa Fe Land Development Corp., later Catellus, had little choice but to sell. Then voters in Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville voted to zone the vast majority of the bayfront land as park space. Then began the hard work and creativity to get back the land, officials said.Īfter years of trying and failing to negotiate a price for the land, officials threatened to condemn the property, former Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said. “I ran on a platform to stop landfilling our garbage on the waterfront and to take back our waterfront so it’s not gone forever.”
Nancy Skinner, who spoke at the ribbon-cutting event.
“They were just filling it up with garbage and construction debris and - I won’t say a bad word -so they could claim it and build on it,” said State Sen. It was filled with bricks and dirt and garbage, with the intent to eventually develop yet another shopping mall. The land where the new Brickyard Cove Park sits used to be a dump owned by Santa Fe Land Development Corp., which became Catellus Development. Credit: Kelly SullivanĪfter World War II, there was a push to develop all around the San Francisco Bay, essentially turning the Bay into a tight waterway far from what it looked like thousands of years ago, and even far smaller than its size now. “Now we look at these beautiful spaces and that was not the original vision, not in the least.” Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, California State Senator Nancy Skinner, Parks District Ward 1 Director Elizabeth Echols, former Berkeley Mayor and California State Senator Loni Hancock, Executive Director of Citizens of East Shore Parks Robert Cheasty, and former Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates cut the ribbon at Brickyard Cove on March 26, 2022. “The journey to protect and reclaim the park started 60 years ago,” said East Bay Regional Parks District Board Member Elizabeth Echols, who represents the area.
Then one stakeholder after another described their elated feelings about seeing this park come to fruition and outlined the park’s complicated historical chess game that led to Saturday’s opening.
The ceremony began with the recognition of the Ohlone and other Native tribes that have held stewardship of the land for centuries. Lopez and his family’s visit coincided with an official ribbon cutting for the park by city, state and parks officials. I like to run so I am going to come here to get my exercise.” “Today we had breakfast here and enjoyed the view. “It’s beautiful-a great idea,” Lopez said on Saturday, walking along the park’s peninsula with two kids and a small cooler in tow, after a picnic on the new benches. It didn’t take long for Jorge Lopez to visit Berkeley’s newest park, Brickyard Cove, an extension of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, located just south of University Avenue along Interstate 80. Park visitors walk the paths at Brickyard Cove on March 26, 2022.
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