Albany Bulb

Film by Tomas McCabe
Osha Neumann & Jason DeAntonis
Off-Leash at The Bulb.

City of Albany Report: City of Albany City Council Agenda Staff Report
Background: During the planning process for Eastshore State Park from 1999 through 2002, the demonstration of community need for sports fields led to the designation of the eastern side of the Albany Plateau an “active recreation” land use category. This was problematic because of its proximity to the Albany Mudflats State Marine Sanctuary and because State Parks is not in the practice of operating formal sports fields facilities.

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Jill Posner writes:

By the late 90′s over 100 people lived on the landfill in makeshift homes with views of San Francisco and Marin. Dog walkers loved the unregulated haven which allowed their canine companions to romp unfettered by leashes and rules, and the cats and dogs who lived with and around the homeless camps stayed out of their way.

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The history of the Bulb dates to the 1890s, when Santa Fe, under the guise of the Berkeley Waterfront Company, bought up large portions of the Albany, Berkeley, and Emeryville shorelines. These lands remained largely undeveloped until the Golden Gate Turf Club built a racetrack on land leased from Santa Fe; Golden Gate Fields opened in 1947. By the mid-1950s, approximately 2,000 acres of fill had been dumped along the shore. The odd bulb-shaped landfill jutting into the Bay arose from a contract signed in 1963 by the city of Albany and Santa Fe for disposal of debris from construction and freeway projects. Citizen opposition to the dumping began almost immediately and continued through the 1980s. The dumping finally ended in 1987 as a result of lawsuits against the landfill operator and a successful campaign to include the newly created land and shoreline in the proposed Eastshore State Park. <

Persis M. Karim, Bay Nature (July – Sept. 2002) . http://www.baynature.com/2002julysept/ott_2002julysept.html