The Waterfront Committee: A Letter to the City Council

Dear Mayor Thomsen and Members of the City Council,

 I am writing to comment on Agenda Item 9-1 on your agenda for Monday, March 3, 2014, regarding your staff’s proposal to sunset the Waterfront Committee.

First, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve on the Waterfront Committee, and have enjoyed working with both my fellow Committee members and the City staff.  I want to express my thanks to each of you, and to each of them.   

Second, I do not oppose the dissolution of the Waterfront Committee.  The committee has unfortunately not turned out to be an effective mechanism for public involvement in planning for the future of the Albany shoreline; for example, it has never updated Albany’s June 1995 vision for it waterfront parklands.   At the Committee’s  last meeting, there was not a single member of the public in attendance after the first few minutes of the meeting, despite the fact that issues at the waterfront are currently of widespread public concern. 

Third, I am writing to suggest an alternative.  It is essential that Albany have an effective public forum for the discussion of waterfront issues.  Our community faces two critical challenges regarding its waterfront:  (1) returning the Bulb from its present use as an encampment site to use as a park, and (2) improving the area to the degree that the State of California and the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) will accept the long-planned transfer of management responsibility from Albany to them. 

As we all know, the City of Albany is working hard on the issue of encampments (and your leadership on this issue has been outstanding and is much appreciated).  The City is also applying for a grant, with EBRPD support, to begin the process of planning for the transition.   The public should have an opportunity to comment on these  matters as they move forward, and you should have the assistance of civic volunteers who can help you identify and research issues, work to build consensus, and ‘vet’ proposed action plans.

Albany would benefit from a collaborative approach to public involvement, one that is not confined to our City but that engages the EBRPD, and perhaps neighboring cities as well.  The longstanding policy of the City is that the waterfront is a regional and state resource that should be managed for its natural and recreational values as part of McLaughlin East Shore State Park, and Albany’s program for public involvement in the future of the park should reflect the City’s commitment to that policy.

A mechanism exists for such a collaboration.  The EBRPD routinely operates Liaison Committees with other jurisdictions; a list of such committees is attached for your reference (Appendix B to the EBRPD Board Operating Manual).   The cities of Dublin, Fremont, Pleasanton, and Richmond all benefit from such committees.  Perhaps Albany, Berkeley and the other cities that host portions of the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park (Richmond and Emeryville) could jointly invite the EBRPD to join them in establishing an ad hoc liaison committee to complete the park?  Or, perhaps Albany should seek the establishment of such an ad hoc liaison committee to focus exclusively on the Albany shoreline? 

 Such a collaboration could solve a key problem: the perception of each agency that the other is ‘not ready’ to do its part.  Around Albany, it is often said that there is no reason to hurry on resolving the encampment issue, as the EBRPD is not ready to take on management of the Bulb as parkland; meanwhile, at EBRPD meetings one often hears the comment that Albany has allowed the encampment situation to get out of control, and until Albany is ready to do its part for the park, there is little reason for the district to invest its own resources in the matter.  A collaborative effort could help break this unfortunate cycle of negative public and official perceptions.

In addition, the creation of liaison committee could help focus public attention, build broad support, and secure the necessary resources for an exciting future for Albany’s shoreline.  It could be a forum for discussion of and building solutions to user conflicts of various kinds.  It would give Albany residents an opportunity to be heard by the EBRPD (without taking a day off of work to travel to meetings held at park headquarters at the southern end of Oakland), and it would also give EBRPD a chance to express its perspective and be clearly heard in Albany. 

 I hope you will give this idea serious consideration.  Again, many thanks for the opportunity to serve the City of Albany on its Waterfront Committee, I have been honored to have had the chance to participate, and I hope to be able to stay engaged on this issue with you in the future.   

Rochelle Nason