Elect Atkinson and Wile to Albany Council

Shoreline protection at stake

Protection of the shoreline is the key issue in the Nov. 7 election for Albany City Council. The Sierra Club urges all readers, in the remaining days before the election, to do your part to keep massive development off the Albany shoreline - by volunteering in the campaigns of Marge Atkinson and Joanne Wile. Marge and Joanne are running as the Save Our Shoreline Team.

The community is focused on the future of the Golden Gate Fields property on the Bay shoreline. Marge and Joanne have been true leaders in the fight against a proposed waterfront mall and are committed to setting aside additional lands along the shoreline to complete the East Shore State Park and to create more active-recreation areas for sports fields. They want to preserve Albany's small-town character with limited commercial development to complement Solano Avenue, Albany's "Main Street", and to protect Albany's revenue stream. The Sierra Club has shown that a small hotel/conference center on 17 acres of the 102 acres of the race-track property would actually provide more revenue than the city, schools, and library now receive.

They face two pro-development and pro-mall candidates who actively support large-scale waterfront development such as the Caruso shopping mall and who are aligned with Los Angeles mall developer Rick Caruso. Incredibly, both pro-development campaigns are attacking the Sierra Club, by calling us outsiders inappropriately involved in the Albany elections even though we have over 700 Albany members (out of a population of about 18,000) and may be the largest paid-membership organization in the city. A full 2,500 residents, more than 25% of the city's voters, signed the shoreline-protection initiative we co-sponsored. (It was disqualified from the ballot due to a technicality.) We must work to show that a majority of Albany voters indeed support shoreline protection.

Marge and Joanne's hard work has already paid off, with the city recently committing to a citizen planning process to determine the waterfront's future.

We now need the strong leadership that Joanne and Marge can bring to make sure that the new plan is effective in protecting our shoreline. Marge and Joanne will give the City Council a strong environmental majority that will insure a future of open space near the shore. Remember to Vote for A&W, Atkinson and Wile.

WhatYouCanDo

Join us in walking and calling Albany residents to spread the word about the SOS Team and our opportunity for an environmental win for the Albany shoreline. To volunteer, contact or call (510) 848-0800, ext. 312

To learn more about the Save Our Shoreline Team, see www.SaveOurShorelineTeam.com