THANKS TO YOU WE DID IT!! McLAUGHLIN EASTSHORE STATE PARK is established
Santa Monica, CA — On Friday, September 28 the California State Park and Recreation Commission unanimously voted to rename Eastshore State Park as McLaughlin Eastshore State Park in honor of San Francisco Bay champion Sylvia McLaughlin.
Citizens for East Shore Parks, the nonprofit organization instrumental in establishing the Eastshore State Park, spearheaded the campaign to rename the park after Sylvia McLaughlin.
McLaughlin, the Sierra Club, and CESP led the charge to create Eastshore State Park, which runs 8.5 miles along the East Bay shoreline. The Park was established on December 6, 2002.
Sylvia McLaughlin is the co-founder of CESP and Save San Francisco Bay Association (Save the Bay). Thanks to McLaughlin and hundreds of other activists, San Francisco Bay is now 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. Sylvia also helped establish the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the first coastal protection agency in the US. And climbed a tree at the age of 90 in an effort to save a grove of oaks from a proposed UC development.
The renaming of the park as McLaughlin Eastshore State Park has been endorsed by hundreds of local residents and the following:
Alameda County Board of Supervisors
Citizens of the Albany Shoreline
City of Alameda
City of Albany
City of Berkeley
City of El Cerrito
City of Emeryville
City of Oakland
City of Richmond
Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors
Contra Costa Hills Club
East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society
East Bay Regional Park District
Friends of Olmstead Parks
Friends of Five Creeks
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Mare Island Heritage Trust
North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance
Regional Parks Association
Richmond Progressive Alliance
Save the Bay
Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter
Trails for Richmond Action Committee
The California State Park and Recreation Commission decision to move forward with renaming the park McLaughlin Eastshore State Park is a huge step forward, honoring Sylvia McLaughlin and all the citizen volunteers who helped preserve the shoreline.
About Citizens for East Shore Parks
Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) was founded in 1985 to counter development proposals put forth by Santa Fe Railroad, which wanted to build large-scale developments on its shoreline properties in Albany and Berkeley. CESP has been working to protect open space and establish a park along the East Bay shoreline through advocacy, outreach, and education since 1985. Over a period of 20 years, area residents and organizations have fought to preserve 1800 acres of open space in one of our nation’s most densely populated urban regions.
The mission of Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP) is to create a necklace of shoreline parks from the Oakland Estuary to the Carquinez Strait.
CESP is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Contact:
Patricia V. Jones
Executive Director
Phone: (510) 524-5000
Website: www.eastshorepark.org