Exhibit Celebrates 25th Anniversary of the San Francisco Bay Trail
OAKLAND, CA — On Tues., April 22, the city of Oakland and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will host an event from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.to celebrate the opening of Walking the Bay Trail: A Photo Journal, a new exhibition at Oakland City Hall, One Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, third floor. It will feature a welcome by Mayor Jean Quan, who also serves as an MTC commissioner. The featured photo-journalist, San Francisco Bay Trail Trekker Kurt Schwabe, will be on hand to describe his historic walk around 300-plus miles of the San Francisco Bay Trail in 30 days. Attendees of this free public event are invited to enjoy the photography exhibit on the third floor of Oakland City Hall before or after the 5:45-6:15 p.m. welcome and talk. The exhibit celebrates the 25th anniversary of the kick-off of the Bay Trail Project, and is sponsored by the San Francisco Bay Trail, MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments.
The April 22 evening at Oakland City Hall coincides with Earth Day 2014, and will also feature “Blue Trail: Imagination + Innovation for Ocean + Bay Sustainability,” a presentation about Blue Trail, a visionary art-tech-science initiative (http://www.bluetrail.us/). The program will feature Blue Trail collaborators Lisa Zimmerman, a placemaking consultant (http://7story.net/home.php), and Oakland resident Jennifer Parker, founder/director of University of California Santa Cruz’s OpenLAB (www.openlabresearch.com), as well as Marisha Farnsworth, principal at Oakland-based Hyphae Design Laboratory (www.hyphae.net). The trio will present some of the highly imaginative designs for interactive installations from Blue Trail’s design competition, including Hyphae Lab’s “Hyperaccumulator Remediation Barge and Event Space.”
About Earth Day Celebrations in Oakland
The photo exhibit opening and lecture on April 22 at City Hall serve as part of City of Oakland’s month-long 2014 Earth Day celebration, which also includes “Oakland Earth Day Park Clean Up” events at eight featured sites on Sat., April 26, from 9 a.m. to noon. Visit www.oaklandearthday.org for these and other events related to the theme “Oakland’s Working Waterfront: Protecting and Preserving Our Productive Bay.”
San Francisco Bay Trail Background
The San Francisco Bay Trail was originally envisioned as a “ring around the Bay” by then-state Senator Bill Lockyer, whose Senate Bill 100 was passed into law in 1987 with the endorsement of the entire Bay Area legislative delegation. SB 100 directed the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to develop an alignment for the Bay Trail, as well as funding and implementation plans for the trail. It was 25 years ago, in 1989, that ABAG adopted this plan for the Bay Trail. The following year, ABAG set up the Bay Trail Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to planning, promoting and advocating implementation of the Bay Trail. Lockyer’s vision has since become a reality, with the construction of the Bay Trail well underway. To date, 330 miles of the 500-mile trail have been completed. When completed, it will connect all nine Bay Area counties. MTC is a major sponsor of the Bay Trail Project.
The Bay Trail increases public respect and appreciation for the Bay by offering easily accessible recreational opportunities for hikers, bikers, joggers and other outdoor enthusiasts, as well as offering an ideal setting for wildlife viewing and environmental education. Among its many benefits, the Bay Trail offers important transportation alternatives for cyclists and pedestrians, currently connecting to numerous public transportation facilities throughout the Bay Area, with plans to expand these benefits by eventually crossing all of the major toll bridges. To learn more about the Bay Trail please visit baytrail.org.
MTC is the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
Contact:
Margot Lederer Prado, City of Oakland Economic & Workforce Development: (510) 238-6766; mprado@oaklandnet.com
Brenda Kahn, MTC: (415) 778-6773 (office); (510) 207-4294 (mobile); bkahn@bayareametro.gov