Public Comment

Sierra Club members have an opportunity to elect a strong environmentalist to the Northern Alameda County group (NAC) Executive Committee by voting for Richard Bangert of Alameda. He deserves the support of Berkeley members, who outnumber those from other cities within the NAC jurisdiction that also includes Albany and Oakland. In the past, Berkeley and Oakland have dominated NAC, leaving the island city unrepresented. 

For the past two years I have served on the NAC Ex-Com and have enjoyed many opportunities collaborating with Richard and his wife Irene Dieter, including staffing the Club booth at Alameda Earth Day, arranging tours of the Point, gaining Club support for the Crab Cove initiative, and interviewing candidates for the Alameda City Council. In all our activities, he has shown intelligence, insight, and a helpful and engaging attitude. As I am stepping down, I strongly recommend him to fill the seat. 

He is a veteran activist on the island and writes the blog Alameda Point Environmental Report, advocating for open space and wildlife issues at Alameda Point, the former Naval Air Station. His blog articles are often reprinted in the Alameda Sun newspaper. 

Richard has been actively involved in the effort to get a key piece of shoreline federal property next to Crown Memorial State Beach transferred into the hands of the East Bay Regional Park District to expand the park. He helped persuade the Sierra Club to back the Friends of Crown Beach and their citizen initiative to rezone the parcel to open space. The City had previously changed the zoning to residential to allow for a controversial development near the Beach next to the Crab Cove Visitor Center. The initiative gathered over 6,000 signatures, prompting the Alameda City Council to pass an ordinance rather than send it to the ballot, changing the zoning to open space in favor of park use. 

A resolution of the Crab Cove situation awaits the seating of newly elected City Council members, including Mayor Trish Spencer, who unseated Marie Gilmore in a close race, Vice-Mayor Frank Matarrese, who was backed by the Sierra Club, and Jim Oddie.  

Richard currently serves as the Sierra Club representative on the Alameda Point Restoration Advisory Board (RAB), a citizen oversight committee that confers with Derek Robinson, the U.S. Navy engineer in charge of the $500 million remediation effort. In July, I met Robinson on a RAB tour of the Point, and he praised Richard’s positive contributions. 

A self-employed house painter by trade, Richard understands issues of environmental justice, including the adverse effects of pollution and flooding on the poor and disadvantaged, and the transportation and housing needs of our diverse population. 

His accomplishments include drafting the resolution that became a City of Alameda zoning ordinance declaring 511 acres of the Point as a Nature Reserve, removing an unnecessary security fence that obstructed views, and advocating for expanded wetlands and harbor seal habitat. 

Richard Bangert has a proven environmental record that demonstrates sound judgment and effectiveness that he will apply to issues concerning the entire NAC jurisdiction, not just Alameda. Look in your email box for on-line voting or The Yodeler in your post box next week, and please vote before the deadline of Friday Dec. 19th. 

Toni Mester is a life member of the Sierra Club