Parks Vote Still
Up In Air

By Matt Golec

The vote on an East Bay Regional Park District backed tax opposed by local environmental groups was too close to call early Wednesday morning.

With 76 percent of precincts in Alameda and Contra Costa counties reporting, Measure W was favored by 64.7 percent of the voters. Passage of Measure W required a two-thirds majority.

“We're certainly pleased (with the early results),” said Alan La Pointe, chair of Friends of Wildcat Canyon, one of the local park and environmental organizations that opposed Measure W.

Environmentallists have traditionally been strong supporters of the park district. But claims of fiscal mismanagement, poor land stewardship, and an aloof leadership style had pushed many of them to oppose Measure W as a way of calling attention to the district's problems.

Placed on the ballot by the park district board, Measure W would raise an estimated $7.4 million annually to help open five new parks and to hire more than 20 new rangers and park police officers. To fund the measure, owners of single-family homes in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will pay $9.50 per year, with apartment residents being charged $8.10 per year.

In the days leading up to the election, the Yes on Measure W campaign used mailers and a full page advertisement in Sunday's Oakland Tribune to get out the vote.

But opposition from the local environmental groups, coupled with the conspicuous neutrality of such heavyweight organizations as the Sierra Club and the Save San Francisco Bay Association, undercut the measure's chance for passage.

"Over the years, we had a lot of problems and complaints" about the park district, said Norman La Force, an El Cerrito city council member and co-chair of Friends of Parks, a local environmental group.

Park officials are quick to point out that they have a successful record in managing park resources. A recently issued “report card” gave the park district top marks for its management of a 10-year-old bond measure that was used to expand park holdings and to protect open space in the East Bay.

An outside audit was cited as the source of the information used in the park report card.

Since the last bond measure, “we've been able to add 22,000 acres to the regional parks,” said Ned MacKay, public information supervisor for the park district .

The voters have more than received their money's worth, he said.

“These parks are really a fabulous part of people's lives,” said Beverly Lane, vice president of the park district board of directors and campaign chair for Yes on W.

Regardless of how the vote on Measure W goes, park officials and local environmental activists have some difficult fences to mend before they can resume working together.

“Win or lose,” we know this is the beginning of greater scrutiny for park district, said La Pointe.