Anthony Sandberg is the founder of OCSC Sailing in Berkeley, and from his nearby apartment, he looks out over the marina and a three-bridge view of San Francisco Bay. Part of the beauty of Anthony’s view is the sailboats dotting the water.
By Scott Alumbaugh
Published: July, 2007
No view of the Bay is complete without a sailboat, the graceful curve of its jib, the crisp white sails against the glistening blue water.
But it works both ways.
Sailing on the Bay or seeing it from a ferry, you can’t help but wonder how nice it must be to live in a house along the shore, to be someone who gets to watch boats sailing by every day.
The dirty truth is that Anthony Sandberg lives in a dump literally. For his fantastic view he can thank the City of Berkeley for the landfill he lives on. It is now paved and planted and home to Berkeley Marina as well as Cesar Chavez Park. But it hasn’t always been so nice.
In fact, the entire urban coastal region around San Francisco Bay hasn’t always been so nice. Until recently, large sections of the Bay stank from pollution. The waterfront was occupied by refineries, military bases, explosives, factories, firing ranges, commercial ports, sewage outfalls and dumps. Some of the area’s poorest neighborhoods — West Oakland, East Palo Alto, Bayview-Hunter’s Point — were waterfront property. In 1969, only 4 miles, out of 276 miles of Bay shoreline, were open to the public.
So, what happened?
In 1961, three Berkeley women started Save the Bay: Sylvia McLaughlin, Kay Kerr and Esther Gulick. Their first victory was in limiting the size of that dump Anthony lives on — the City of Berkeley had originally planned to double its geographic size by filling in the shallows offshore. After that victory, the group worked to impose a moratorium on landfills in the Bay. These efforts lead, in 1965, to passage of the McAteer-Petris Act, which established a Bay Conservation and Development Commission. This was the first body established to protect submerged land and wetlands in the world!
There is still a great deal of pollution in the Bay, and a lot of work yet to be done. But thanks to these women and others, the tide has turned, so to speak. Today, no one thinks seriously of the Bay as a place to dump raw sewage, or as useless water waiting to be filled in and developed. Rather than 4 miles, the public now has access to over 200 miles of world class shoreline. Bayside living is attractive, even if, like Anthony, you’re living on an old dump.
So, as you enjoy the view on your sail across the Bay – or from shore looking seaward – think about the founders of Save the Bay, and the thousands of others who continue to work to make sure there is a Bay left to enjoy. Thank them for the view.
Scott Alumbaugh
