Article: The Little Engine That Could
By Susan Galleymore on April 6, 2010
After ten years and several court appearances Union Pacific railroad delivered a grant deed to the city of Alameda, California for the controversial Beltline property. Thanks to tenacity and steadfast vision, residents of this quaint island town can rehabilitate vernal ponds of the Pacific Chorus frog, restore nesting grounds, and enjoy nature in their hard-won community park.
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• UPDATE 3/26/10: Union Pacific has just delivered a grant deed for the Beltline property to the city in return for the money that has been in escrow since last October. Before the rails can be removed from Clement Street and a few other places, the city must disestablish the railroad and go through a few other hurtles but we are close to taking up the rails. Terry Highsmith said that we are getting a lot more land than we ever thought we were getting and that there are tenants on most of the parcels. Stay tuned.
• UPDATE 7/27/09: Supporters of the Beltline and Estuary Park held a wonderful block party on Sunday, July 26, 2009 at the end of Ninth Street adjoining the main part of the Beltline property.
The weather was bright, the sun warm, and the company warmer as we downed tons of great food that everyone brought. We chatted with folks like Debra Arbuckle, Doug DeHann, Barbara Kerr, and Jean and Jim Sweeney. Jean gave a history of her discovery of the contract between the City and the Railroad that gave the City the right of first refusal when the Railroad decided to sell the property. Jean had to pursue that right in court challenge after court challenge, but the railroad finally gave up after losing again and again. Now the City can purchase the nearly 40 acres of land at the original purchase price plus improvements: $988,000. Since fragments of the land scattered around the city have real estate value, they can likely be sold to pay for the acquisition and improvement making the park a real windfall.
An initiative that Jean placed on the ballot -- that won -- means the land must be developed as open space. We hope that it becomes a terrific natural park, based on ideas from all of us, and that Estuary Park becomes the active park for sports and civic events on the water (at Oak and Clement, as promised by the City since 1993. See the EPAC website at http://www.alamedareport.org/epac) Jean Sweeney and Dorothy Freeman are working on the first draft of a design for the Beltline park. Please talk with them about your ideas for developing it. See the EPAC website for Dorothy's draft of a design for Estuary Park.
Thanks for coming and celebrating our victory.
• UPDATE 7/23/09: We've won! Lean About the History of the Belt Line in Celebrating Open Space »»
• UPDATE 7/9/09: We've won! The Beltline will become Open Space. We will be celebrating on July 26, 2009 in Alameda near the property! Learn more »»
• UPDATE 6/28/09: The Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the City affirming the trial court judgement. The case is about 98% over pending ABL’s almost certain appeal to the California Supreme Court. It’s very unlikely that the Supreme Court will hear the case especially as it is an unpublished opinion. ABL has 40 days to file its petition. This victory for the people of the City of Alameda would not have been achieved without Jean Sweeney. Jean, and everyone who supported and worked on Measure E, should feel justifiably proud for this contribution to the people of the City now and for generations to come.
• UPDATE 8/28/07: As reported in the Alameda Journal, the development of a Master Plan for the Beltline has been delayed because the legal disposition of the property is still uncertain. However, the City had been prepared to decide the future uses of the Beltline, and a shocking number of development plans were already under consideration. All ideas under consideration involved development of the property—versus preserving it as a natural habitat and/or a passive park. Measure E supporters, who mostly voted for the concept of a passive park and/or nature preserve, should prepare to get very involved in the development process if and when the property is deeded back to the City. Otherwise, under the auspices of the City’s Park and Rec department, an outside consulting firm—MIG (Moore Iacofano Goltsman)—will devote the entire space to development.
Saving nature and wild space can come true!