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Agenda Item No. S(F) RESOLUTION 2012-XX RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL CERRITO SUPPORTING THE RENAMING OF EASTSHORE STATE PARK TO McLAUGHLIN EASTSHORE STATE PARK WHEREAS, the Eastshore State Park spans the East Bay shoreline from the Oakland Bay Bridge, north across Emeryville, Berkeley, across the City of Albany's waterfront, and into Richmond; and serves as a recreational amenity for the entire region; and WHEREAS, creating the Eastshore State Park required a monumental effort, involving decision makers, waterfront users, and the entire community; and WHEREAS, Sylvia McLaughlin has served as a community leader throughout her life, embracing civic duty, demonstrating the integrity of citizen action, inspiring thousands of volunteers to help forge the Eastshore State Park along 8.5 miles of shoreline across five cities; and WHEREAS, in 1961 McLaughlin co-founded the Save San Francisco Bay Association (Save the Bay) with Esther Gulick and Kay Kerr to prevent the filling of the Bay and to protect its habitats and magnificent recreational opportunities, spawning similar efforts and groups around the world; and WHEREAS, renaming the Eastshore State Park to the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park will not only honor Sylvia McLaughlin but all of the many thousands of volunteers who labored so long and hard along with Sylvia to protect the San Francisco Bay and to create the Eastshore State Park; and WHEREAS, the State Park and Recreation Commission's statement of Policy 11.2, No. 3 states, "A unit may be named by the Commission in honor of a person living or deceased, or a group, organization, or other entity which has rendered services of statewide significance to the State Park System; and WHEREAS, Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 55, Chapter 80, as authored by Assembly Member Nancy Skinner, was filed by the Secretary of State on September 6, 2011, requesting that the Department of Parks and Recreation rename the Eastshore State Park as the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, noting McLaughlin's extensive environmental activism spanning over the course of the last four decades. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of El Cerrito, that it hereby expresses its support for the renaming of the Eastshore State Park to McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. I CERTIFY that at a regular meeting on May 1, 2012 the City Council of the City of El Cerrito passed this Resolution by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: IN WITNESS of this action, I sign this document and affix the corporate seal of the City of El ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. S(F) Cerrito on May 1, 2012. Cheryl Morse, City Clerk APPROVED: William Jones, III, Mayor ---PAGE BREAK--- The mission of Citizens for East Shore Parks is to create a necklace ofshoreline parks from the Oakland Estuary to the Carquinez Strait. hore Lines S News from Citizens for East Shore Parks Spring 2012 At 95 years of age, we are fortunate to have Sylvia as our human institutional memory of those years of work, because Esther and Kay are no longer with us. The best way to honor the efforts of these women and all the thousands of other volunteers, would be to rename the park for Sylvia, as the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. This will remind everyone that ordinary people worked to create this park. by Lino Del Signore Please join CESP to honor Sylvia McLaughlin, co-founder of Citizens for East Shore Parks and Save the Bay by naming after her the park that she worked so long and hard to create. We need your help to ask the State Parks Commission to rename the Eastshore State Park as the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. In the early sixties this young woman from Colo- rado with a passion for the outdoors and natural landscapes stared at San Francisco Bay from her Berkeley hills home. She was struck by the incongruity of the spectacular shoreline lined with refineries, firing ranges, and garbage dumps ringed with barbed wire. She learned that a century of filling had shrunk the bay from 787 to 537 square miles, huge quantities of untreated sewage were pouring into it, and that only 4 miles of shoreline were open to the public out ofits 276-mile perimeter. And plans were floating to fill the Bay up to two miles west of what is now I-80 along the Berkeley waterfront. Sylvia imagined an estuary teeming with wildlife and migratory shorebirds, ringed by restored wetlands and thriving habitats. She imagined waterfronts dotted with public parks linked by trails. As she continued to stare she sensed the intimation of an unusual mission, but Sylvia McLaughlin could not imagine what she would go on to accomplish over five decades of pioneering environmental activism. Teaming up with Esther Gulick and Kay Kerr, Sylvia co-founded the Save San Francisco Bay Assn (Save the Bay) to prevent the filling of the Bay. Employing grace and charm, Sylvia, Esther and Kay won over opponents and public opinion with informed arguments and inspired many by dedicating countless hours that created a remarkable citizens’ movement emulated worldwide. Today, the Bay is 40,000 acres larger than it was in 1961; more than half of it is ringed with public trails connecting a series of shoreline parks. The imaginings of a young woman have become a reality. Some of Sylvia’s Accomplishments 1961 - Co-founded Save San Francisco Bay Association (Save the Bay) to prevent the filling of 2,000 acres. This landmark organization has spawned similar groups across the world. 1965 - Helped win passage of the McAteer-Petris Act, which placed a moratorium on filling of San Francisco Bay and established the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), the first coastal protection agency in the United States. 1974 - Helped secure passage of Suisun Marsh Preser- vation Act, the state’s first wetlands protection law. 1980 - Led the effort to defeat a proposal by Westbay Community Assoc., led by real estate mogul David Rockefeller, to remove the top of San Bruno Moun- tain for Bay fill along the San Mateo County shore. 1984 - Co-founded Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) to protect open space along the East Bay’s shoreline and oppose the Santa Fe Railroad’s proposed large scale development along the Berkeley waterfront. 1999- Led the campaign to prevent Bay fill for SFO’s proposed runway expansion. 2002 - Spearheaded the efforts to create the Eastshore State Park, a unique urban park that stretches across Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, and Richmond shorelines. 2007- Climbed a tree at the age of 90 to help the effort to save a grove of oaks from a proposed UC development. Agenda Item No. 5(F) Attachment