Berkeley's Nautical Roots in the Water

Everything has a creation story, and a yin to a yang - relative to something. Berkeley has its hard working west side to its lofty east side. And Berkeley, like so many of us, has more than one intriguing creation story. Buoyed from overwhelming public support at the 11/17/09 Berkeley City Council meeting, the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA) is now offering to help revive Berkeley's forgotten Roots in the Water.

The geologic creation of Berkeley is relatively recent, and restive. The landmass of Berkeley rose up out of the Ancient Pacific Ocean less than 200 million years ago. Consequently since its birthing, the land of Berkeley, and California, has continually been built-up from seismic activity along the North American and Pacific tectonic plates; not breaking away, as the rest of America seems to think.

Humans have walked the land of Berkeley for an incredibly short time. The first were, likely, peoples of Asiatic descent - today's Native Americans - who settled here hundreds of generations ago. Little is known about the very first generations, but the last tribe, the Ohlone, is still here today (Mi'takuye' Oyasin). With the, then abundant, San Francisco Bay waters at their feet, these first inhabitants' diet was in a large part seafood. 

In fact, one of the unique traces of their existence is the shellmounds which are scattered along the East Bay shoreline. Some of these shellmounds contained thousands of years worth of empty seashells before they were largely removed, or paved over. Fortunately, one can still easily see one today - south of the intersection of I-80 and Central Ave - running parallel to the San Francisco Bay Trail.

After the Spaniards colonized California and ended the Native American's epoch, they deeded a large part of the East Bay to a man named Domingo Peralta. And while downtown Berkeley sits less than two miles from his original farmstead and abode, his gifted "Rancho" sat around 48,000 acres, and was bordered by the top of the hills in the east, and the San Francisco Bay on the west, while stretching between present day Oakland and Albany.

Interestingly, the creation of the City of Berkeley as we know it did not begin downtown, or in the hills, or within the Ivory Halls of the University, but to its West, along the then sandy shores of the San Francisco Bay in the aptly named town of Ocean View. This pioneer era town owes a large part of its existence to Captain James H. Jacobs. In 1853 he anchored his boat where Strawberry Creek met the Bay. In 1854, he built Berkeley's first pier, known as Jacob's Landing, in the same place. Ever since ferries, piers, and the maritime lifestyle have been part of Berkeley's heritage.

Recently, the City of Berkeley has supported in concept, an exciting opportunity to restore its faded nautical heritage. After a much longer than originally anticipated bureaucratic process, WETA is offering to spend $57 million to construct a ferry terminal, two environmentally friendly ferries, and various land-side improvements. The project will also create twenty permanent jobs in berkeley and over 170 construction jobs, most of which will directly contribute to our slumping local economy. These are solid economic benefits.

The People will also directly benefit from this restoration of ferry service. Children will form fond memories of riding the ferry which will be forever etched into their minds. Adults will be able to savor the salt air, while having a snack on deck, or sipping on a cocktail in the cozy interior below, on their way to, or, from the city; something not allowed on any other public transportation option. And tourists will finally have a convenient way to visit West Berkeley. Furthermore, with non-WETA ferry operators now being given the opportunity to use the proposed terminal, ferry service to Sausalito, Larkspur, Vallejo, or Alameda is a very real and likely possibility. All said, this increased connectedness and diversity will lead to more experiences, knowledge and memories, being generated than any other foreseeable public project in Berkeley.

Importantly, the Marina will also benefit. The threat of privatizing the 70 year old public marina will finally disappear. Unfortunately, this ghastly corporate specter has appeared off, and on, after people became aware the marina was headed for fiscally troubled waters. Because the marina fund is an enterprise fund, it must be self supporting. However, since the land in the fund's jurisdiction has almost exclusively been set aside as open space, there are not now, nor will there be in the future, enough taxable entities in the Waterfront to keep up with growing capital, and labor, expenses burdening the fund. The only apparent solution - since selling public assets is seldom a good solution - appears to be increasing revenues generated at existing businesses in the Marina, such as the Bait Shop, or the Hana Japan Restaurant. The ferry related increase in foot-traffic will undoubtedly help accomplish this.

Some critics of this project call it a "boondoggle", a wasteful spending. Poppycock. The first duty of any government is to protect its citizens. Having an emergency transportation infrastructure already in-place before the "Big One" is not wasteful. It is prudent. These critics also throw out contrived statistics to give backing to their claims. However, as the saying goes "There are lies, damn lies, and then there is statistics". Numbers lie; Reality doesn't. 

And as we all recently witnessed, there is no capable emergency transportation solution in place if both bridges go down. The ferry system will help solve this. Critics should drop their conservative argument, and instead argue for things with a more Berkeley spirit, like a renewable energy generating wave attenuator, instead of the proposed breakwater, or a fish habitat restoration and feeding ground underneath the terminal's gangway.