The backers of a plan to clean up and reuse the old Naval Air Station at Alameda Point today submitted the initiative language to the city. Now they will start collecting signatures to place the plan on the Nov. 3 ballot.
This is frankly great news for Alameda. That old Navy base has sat unused and neglected for a long, long time. Finally a plan that someone can pay for is coming forward to get the place cleaned up and ready for real public use again.
A lot of ideas have come and gone out there, but this is the only one makes any damn sense at all.
Look, this has been a long time coming and I’m sure voters are going to get an earful from professional nimby’s who will oppose anything that even resembles a plan that could actually be achieved. And see my video for the real story.
The problem with that mentality is that, like it or not, without a viable plan this site will either continue to deteriorate and be blight on the City, or it will be sold off piece by piece and developed haphazardly.
This plan will work for people who live in Alameda. It will certainly be a benefit to the East Bay by creating jobs, new parks, a huge new sports complex, a new ferry terminal and new public transit connections, new trails and new access to areas that have long been fenced off and off limits to anyone not in a white suite.
It is too easy to oppose something in the Bay Area. The hard job is to support something that makes things better. Looks like the Mayor of Alameda has joined the cause—let’s hope sensible people will study the plan and make that same logical choice. It is far better to support something that will clean up the toxic lands, create jobs, bring open space and sports fields to the City, create affordable housing and build better transit connections in the region than it is to hold out for something that can never be achieved.
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