Strawberry

June 5, 2001

FRIENDS OF STRAWBERRY CREEK

Statement opposing Beth El construction plans

Hello. My name is Janet Byron. I am the founder of Friends of Strawberry Creek, a new community group started last year. I also have the pleasure of owning a small piece of Strawberry Creek, at 1435 Allston Way, just below Sacramento; my property line runs down the middle of the creek. This is where Strawberry Creek exits its first major culvert, which stretches from Oxford Street for more than a mile under the city.

I started Friends of Strawberry Creek with limited expectations, but the response has been nothing short of overwhelming. There are many, many people in this city who care very deeply about Strawberry Creek, indeed all of the city's creeks. With minimal effort, we have developed a core membership of several dozen active members, including creekside residents, and representatives from the University, LBL, Berkeley High, Ecocity Builders, the Ecology Center, Urban Creeks Council and Friends of San Francisco Estuary. Hundreds of people have expressed an interest and asked to be placed on our e-mail list.

The mission of Friends of Strawberry Creek is to restore, protect and improve Strawberry Creek from the Berkeley hills to the San Francisco Bay, bringing to Berkeley the pleasures of a healthy aquatic and riparian ecology benefiting both people and the natural environment. Our goals include restoring creek banks and accessibility, improving water quality, encouraging native vegetation and removing invasive non-native species, enhancing wildlife habitat and populations, daylighting the creek wherever possible, and educating and involving the public in the betterment of Strawberry Creek. We have been meeting monthly, and have had monthly work parties at Strawberry Creek Lodge, the apartment building for seniors on Addison Street, which has a long stretch of open creek in its back yard. We plan to launch a campaign to support the daylighting of Strawberry Creek downtown, and you will be hearing more from us on that matter soon.

We were not able to vote in time to officially join the appeal of the zoning board's approval for the Beth El synagogue. But we did vote to support the appeal in any other ways that we can.

We are deeply concerned about Beth El's plans to build a parking lot that effectively kills any future opportunities to open up Codornices Creek on the site. This site presents a terrific opportunity to daylight Codornices Creek and further connect city residents with their natural environment. We believe that the plan violates the spirit, if not the letter of Berkeley's creek ordinance. We also believe that if the city allows Beth El to build over Codornices Creek, it sets a dangerous precedent for all of Berkeley's 14 creeks, most of which are culverted and hidden underground.

Friends of Strawberry Creek urges you to send Beth El back to the drawing board, to come up with a plan that respects Codornices Creek and allows it to be opened up to daylight. As you are aware, just last week the Urban Creeks Council received a $200,000 grant from the State Water Resources Control Board to restore steelhead habitat in Codornices Creek. The University has been restoring fish habitat on Strawberry Creek, and has succeeded in restoring five species of fish. Just two days ago, I saw many tiny fish fry in the creek at my house. Restoring healthy fish populations can and should happen in Berkeley's creeks.

Speaking for myself, I would like to add that I am Jewish and have attended services at Temple Beth El on several occasions. Its members were warm and welcoming, and I wish them no ill will. I think that a stretch of daylighted Codornices Creek could be a wonderful component of their expansion plans. I can envision educational environmental programs for the congregation's children at creekside, and lovely photographs being taken at weddings, bar mitzvahs and other special occasions with a healthy, gurgling creek in the background. Personally, I am not against the construction of a new temple on the site. I simply want the congregation to respect Codornices Creek and figure out a way to satisfy their parking needs without dooming opportunities to daylight an important stretch of Berkeley's most free-flowing creek.

On behalf of Friends of Strawberry Creek, and as a concerned citizen of Berkeley, I urge you to reject the congregation's current plans for the site.

Thank you.