Opinion

Sylvia McLaughlin: “The Bay will always need saving.”

This week I had the great privilege of attending Save the Bay’s annual tea given to honor the organization’s founders. Of the original three doughty matrons who started it all in 1961, Kay Kerr, Esther Gulick and Sylvia McLaughlin, only Sylvia, now 95, is still with us.

There’s a movement afoot, spearheaded by the Citizens for Eastshore State Parks, to honor Sylvia McLaughlin by naming a park after her, a relatively small reward for a magnificent body of work for the Bay. They and their supporters want the California State Parks Commission to change the name of the Eastshore State Park, which hugs the edge of the Bay from the Oakland Estuary to the Carquinez Strait, to the McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. The Berkeley shoreline is part of the park, and Sylvia, a Berkeley resident, is also a founder of CESP. -more-

Due to the usual server problems, things are up and down today. Keep on checking back--the rest will be posted eventually. -more-

Re: Agenda Item #38 (May 15, 2012) -more-

The lawsuit against the Gill Tract farmers is an expensive bullying tactic, and the regents have used it before. -more-

The City of Berkeley is facing decisions on how to adapt law enforcement’s response to the vast power of the interagency communications and data sharing systems and still avoid civil rights abuses. Because the federal government is increasingly co-opting police all over the country, the city council must give appropriate guidance to the police if Berkeley is to protect the privacy, civil rights, and safety of its citizens. Adjusting how the BPD handles its involvement with federal and state information sharing programs in the age of Facebook and fusions centers is scheduled for a city council vote at the May 15 meeting. -more-

At the May 15, 2012 City Council meeting, I will be urging Mayor Bates and City Councilmembers to NOT APPROVE the proposed agreements between Berkeley's police department and the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center and the Urban Areas Security Initiative. Please join me. -more-