110 results for author: CESP

Environmentalists fight Redwood City project

By Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, March 1, 2010 Environmental leaders are gearing up for a protracted fight over plans to build a 30,000-resident development at the Redwood City salt flats. More than 90 current and former elected Bay Area officials last week demanded that Redwood City immediately halt the Saltworks project, which would bring up to 12,000 housing units, offices and retail to the shoreline. "We all have a stake in what happens in Redwood City," said Contra Costa County supervisor John Gioia. "It's about habitat, biological diversity. The bay defines our quality of life and who we are." The project is at ...

Big ideas sought for Oakland Bay Bridge park

By John King, Chronicle Urban Design Writer Monday, March 1, 2010 It's a good bet that few drivers crossing the Bay Bridge pay attention to where it touches down in Oakland - a smear of maintenance yards and parking, stray buildings and scrub. But with the new eastern span of the bridge scheduled to open in 2013, government planners are floating the idea of a much different role for the 1.5-mile-long strip: a park that would celebrate the bridge and the region, with attractions scaled to the immense cranes of the nearby Port of Oakland. There's no design and no budget - yet. The public process is only now getting under way. But with a ...

Ballot initiative to fund state parks draws big interest

By Kurtis Alexander, Santa Cruz Sentinel Friday , February 26, 2010 SANTA CRUZ -- A massive volunteer-led signature drive is finding its way to street corners, grocery stores and weekend festivities along the Central Coast. The corps of name gatherers, who range from college students to retirees, has seen the gates come down across many of California's 278 state parks this year, and the group thinks the cash-starved park system can be resurrected with a ballot measure. "I don't remember signature-gathering on this scale before," said Bonny Hawley, executive director of Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks and one of the organizers of the ...

Owner Back in the Saddle at Santa Anita Race Track

By Charles Proctor, Los Angeles Business Journal Staff Monday, February 8, 2010 Less than a year after it appeared that Santa Anita Park was headed for the auction block, the raceway is on track to remain under the ownership of Canadian horse-racing enthusiast Frank Stronach despite his financial woes. A deal that has been worked out among Stronach's bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corp. and its creditors also would end the bid by L.A. developer Rick Caruso to buy the Arcadia track, where he plans to build another Grove-style mall in its vast parking lot. Under the agreement, ownership of the track would be transferred to MI Developments ...

Albany Hopes Community Input Will Resolve Waterfront Debate

By Paul Gackle, The Berkeley Daily Planet Thursday January 14, 2010 For more than 40 years the city of Albany has been caught in a game of tug-of-war over its waterfront property. But the city hopes that a new campaign to solicit community input will break the stalemate and provide a shared vision for the community's shoreline. More than 375 Albany residents attended the city's Community Center and Senior Center over the Jan. 9-10 weekend to participate in the last round of community meetings aimed at finding common ground in a battle over the property that has pitted environmentalists against corporate developers. The meetings were the ...

Environmental groups turn in paperwork for DMV fee to fund California state parks

By Paul Rogers, Mercury News Tuesday, November 03, 2009 Hoping to break the recent cycle of proposed state parks closures, a coalition of California environmental groups took the first major step Tuesday toward qualifying a measure for next November's ballot that would roughly double the state parks budget by imposing a new annual fee on vehicle registration. The text of the proposed ballot measure submitted to the attorney general's office for a title and summary reveals some new information: The fee would be $18 a year per vehicle, not $15 as previously reported. The fee would apply to nearly all vehicles, including motorcycles ...

Chevron Donates Easement To East Bay Regional Park District for Bay Trail

By Shelly Lewis and Brent Tippen Monday, November 2, 2009 Chevron is joining efforts with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) to expand public access to Richmond's Point San Pablo Peninsula along the San Pablo Bay. Chevron agreed to donate an easement over a portion of its property to allow EBRPD to construct, operate and maintain a public multi-use recreational trail along the shoreline. At its upcoming November 3 board meeting, the EBRPD Board of Directors will formally accept the trail easement donation from Chevron located near its refinery operations in West Contra Costa County. The proposed easement donation consists of two ...

County ready to back Point Molate casino plan

By John Simerman, Contra Costa Times Sunday, November 01, 2009 For $12 million a year, Contra Costa County would turn its staunch opposition to outright support for a major Indian casino-hotel resort on the Richmond waterfront, according to a draft of the pending deal. The agreement with the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians would erase the county's blanket opposition to urban gaming and halt its attack against a big Las Vegas-style casino planned at the former Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot. The Board of Supervisors plans to discuss the pending deal at its meeting Tuesday morning and likely will hold another public hearing before a decisi...

Golden Gate Fields to be auctioned in February

By Eric Young, San Francisco Business Times Thursday, October 29, 2009 The bankrupt owner of Albany's Golden Gate Fields will auction the horse racing track next February as part of ongoing effort to raise funds to repay creditors. Magna Entertainment Corp., which has been in Chapter 11 proceedings since March, got bankruptcy court approval to put Golden Gate Fields up for sale on Feb. 25, 2010. Bids are due Feb. 10. Other Magna tracks being offered at auction at the same time include Santa Anita Park, host to the 2009 Breeders Cup, and Gulfstream Park, home of the Florida Derby. The nation's biggest operator of horse racing tracks, ...

Tough restrictions passed on storm water trash

By Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, October 15, 2009 San Francisco Bay officials have approved an ambitious plan to force more than 70 Bay Area cities to drastically reduce the amount of trash that flows from their storm drains into the bay. The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, after hearing more than four hours of testimony from environmental groups and local municipalities, voted 5-1 Wednesday to require a 40 percent reduction in storm water trash by July, 2014. "If a municipality only gets to 38 percent, we'll work with them. We are human," said Tom Mumley, assistant executive director of the water ...