* If the anti-dog forces win the GGNRA battle, people who want to restrict dogs in the East Bay will become more aggressive

* The GGNRA is a national park. It belongs to all of us.

Here’s what you can do to help the GGNRA struggle and our local causes. On Monday, please call Congress to say you oppose the restrictions to off-leash recreation in the GGNRA.

They need to hear from you so they can turn around and say, “I’ve heard from thousands of my constituents, and they do not support these restrictions.”

We’re helping them help us.

These won’t be long conversations. A staffer will pick up, you’ll say that you oppose the restrictions, they’ll get your name and city, and you’re done. I’ve included a lot of background info at the bottom of this message in case you want it.

If your Representative isn’t listed below or you’re not sure who he or she is, go to http://www.congress.org and enter your zip code in the “Get Involved” box at the upper right.

U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi…….(202) 225-4965
Nancy Pelosi – local number is 415-556-4862

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein……………………..(202) 224-3841
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer……………………….(202) 224-3553
Barbara Boxer’s local number 403-0100

U.S. Representative Barbara Lee…………………(202) 225-2661
U.S. Representative John Garamendi……………(202) 225-1880
U.S. Representative George Miller……………….(202) 225-2095

It is important that we have a show of support at this meeting. Please come and demonstrate our commitment to the cause of maintaining the BULB as it is. Be prepared to be frustrated and committed to staying calm, respectful and working productively within the framework of the meeting.

In preparation for the meeting please take time to develp a brief, consice statement describing the BULB’S place in your life. Include: how often you visit the BULB and why other options are not comparable. Please be organized so that more people will have an opportunity to express themselves at the meeting. Please remember, this wil lbe a long process and we cannot give the powers-that-be reason to exclude us. Come and demonstrate the esprit du corp that makes the BULB the place we all love!

Please use the time leading up to the meeting to contact by phone, and in writing members of the Albany Waterfront Commission, The Albany Parks & Recreation Committee, citizens of the City of Albany, members of the press and your state representatives.

Your participation is vital to our success in our endeavor to preserve our privileges!

Points of Note:

1. Other areas within the East Bay Regional Park District have been designated for specific activities, i.e. : the golf courses in Tilden Park, the extensive bike paths and the Tom Bates soccer fields all of which require far greater resources for their upkeep than the BULB.

2. The BULB is self-regulating: there is virtually no crime or civil disruption at the BULB. The BULB is a model of how an invested community of people are able to self-police a public space.

3. Point Isabel is not a substitute for the BULB. Why is this the case for you?

4. Our best argument is stressing we are a class of people who choose to recreate by playing with our dogs and have rights to have an area designated for this activity and supported by the community as do people who play with balls and clubs or upon peddle-driven vehicles.

5. The BULB is special for many reason: the ever-changing environmental art, an encampment of homeless people who regularly interact peacefully with the community at large and as an example of the natural  reclamation of a garbage dump by natural forces.

Your participation is vital to our success in our endeavor to preserve our privileges!

Gray Rosenberg

Update: I sent an email to Whitney Dotson asking him his position on off-leash areas.

The response from Robin Freeman, Whitney Dotson Campaign Committee:

I asked Whitney Dotson for his response to your question.  Here is what he said:
“When it is appropriate for the habitat, the Park District should develop more controlled facilities for off leash dogs.  Dogs need space to exercise, even if sometimes in relatively small areas.  There is a large amount of space within the parks lands.”

Whitney Dotson is Good for Dogs! Norman La Force is Bad for Dogs.

On the November ballot, residents of Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Kensington, Richmond, San Pablo, parts of Oakland and a small part of Pinole will be asked to choose between Whitney Dotson and Norman La Force to serve on the Board of Directors of the East Bay Regional Park Districk (EBRPD, Ward 1)

Dotson is well-qualified, and is receptive of off-leash recreation in the EBRPD.

http://www.whitneydotson.org/goals.htm

La Force has a very well-established and readily verifiable track record in RABID OPPOSITON to off-leash recreation in the East Bay and elsewhere.

East Bay Regional Parks District Board Race- Reader Commentary, Berkeley Daily Planet

If LaForce is elected, he will threaten the park access of every person who walks a dog, rides a horse, seeks accessible trails, and bikes on the lands of the East Bay Regional Parks. His scientific background is nothing, as he has demonstrated in public hearings many times. He has worked harder to keep humans out of parks than any other “park proponent” I know. He definitely will try to crush any “opponent,” including the disabled, the young and the elderly. Not because they are right or wrong, but because they oppose him. I urge everyone to watch their back if he’s elected.

He has already hounded the park users group off the Albany Landfill, gleefully destroying one of very few accessible areas for dog walkers with limited mobility in the entire East Bay. He forced creating a breeding burrowing owl habitat on the landfill, at cost of tens of thousands of dollars per year, even though scientific literature quickly reveals likely failure. An hour’s research in the UC Berkeley scientific journal collection showed immediate evidence of the scientific fallacy of this proposal—but he still forced it down everyone’s throat through his usual bullying and threats. When I did research, I found that California Fish & Game had actually recommended a “watch and see” mitigation with no winter time construction for the wintering middle-aged burrowing owl (non-breeding) that might be displaced by building the Gilman Fields, so this entire action was provoked by LaForce, who saw an opportunity to further crush the community of users at the Albany Landfill. Think: just a portion of that money invested in expanding two or three breeding burrowing owl habitats in the Central Valley, their chief breeding ground, would have actually produced young owls. And still have left money in the Gilman Fields JPA’s pocket for our young sports players. The Albany Landfill park users could have continued to clean up the park, remove the star thistle, build art, and start plans for a supportive insectary environment to protect pollinators in our changing climate.- Read More Marilyn Saarni was co-founder of Albany Let It Be; former president and editor of the Regional Parks Foundation

Links:

http://www.whitneydotson.org
http://www.laforceofcourse.com

More Articles:
Two Environmentalists Vie For Parks District Vacancy