To grade and "re-engineer" the site, the developer plans to fill 90 feet of natural stream channel, remove 109 trees and "the majority of vegetation," and install an arch culvert.

I believe these activities will cause major, unacceptable impacts to the creek in an area that is a natural continuation of the Hillside Nature Area. Development on this site will destroy a unique, existing wildlife corridor vegetated with some of the finest stands of coffeeberry, coast live oak, monkeyflower, and other native species no longer commonly found in the El Cerrito area.

I support the restoration of degraded creeks, but projects conducted by consultants without expertise in watershed hydrology have been ecological failures.

Zentner and Zentner has a dubious reputation, and Friends of Baxter Creek co-founder Lisa Viani had to report a water-quality violation to the Regional Water Quality Board after discovering last summer that the developer had plowed through the creek with heavy equipment.

The city of El Cerrito should not only order a new environmental impact report to examine the impact of this development, but also seriously consider a better alternative site.

Creek benefit an overwhelming success
by Maryann Aberg, Friends of Baxter Creek

Due to the enthusiasm and hard work of Coordinator Emmy Damon, Friends of Baxter Creek's second annual Plant Sale was an incredible success, racking up nearly $1,000 in sales from plant lovers all over the Bay Area.

Hearty thanks go out to Emmy and Larry Damon, Rosemary and Peter Loubal, Bea O'Keefe, Kathie Perka, Phil Shaw, Miriam Joscelyn, and the other tireless volunteers who spent hours planning this event, lugging an endless variety of plants to and from the site, sorting and pricing sales items, chatting with customers, passing out cookies and pouring coffee and lemonade for passersby, and describing FOBC's plans to restore the creek.

Thanks also go out to the countless people who donated plants and other items to the sale, El Cerrito naturalist Jim McKissock (who spent several hours discussing native plants and papermaking with visitors), and Berkeley-based folk band "The Attenders" (who braved the harsh sun to play two lively sets before an appreciative crowd).

Thank you, one and all, for making this year's Plant Sale so fun and rewarding! All money raised at the sale will be donated to FOBC's creek restoration efforts, with unsold items to be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

New photos of Emmy and her grandkids can be viewed on the Web at: http://www.creativedifferences.com/baxtercreek/editorial.html and http://www.creativedifferences.com/baxtercreek/photo.html.

Baxter Creek truly has many friends
by Emmy Damon, El Cerrito

Because of the selfless support and generosity of so many people, the second annual Baxter Creek Plant Sale was a roaring success.

As this year's event coordinator, I want to send my deepest appreciation to all who helped in any way. Special mention must go to last year's coordinator, Rosemary Loubal, and her husband Peter. I also appreciate all the heavy lifting and carrying provided by Kathie Perka, Phil Shaw, Miriam Joscelyn, Lily Polk, and Larry Damon.

The musical performance of Eric Forno, Suzette Lalime Davidson, and Susan Aberg of the folk group "The Attenders" added a special touch.

Sales assistance and on-site support by our stalwarts, Maryann Aberg and Lisa Viani, and our lily expert Bea O'Keefe made the hard work easy. Of course, the sale wouldn't have had anything to sell had it not been for the generous donations of so many individuals and especially the 53 flats of flowers from Annie's Annuals and all the plants, shrubs, and trees from the Mira Vista PTA.

Finally, thanks to our resident naturalist, Jim McKissock, who spends so much time caring for the city's environment and sharing his expertise so generously with others.

Plant sale benefits Baxter Creek
by Rosemary Loubal, El Cerrito

The second annual Friends of Baxter Creek Plant Sale is Saturday, June 3, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be plants, planters, plant books, some food, entertainment, and people to talk about plans for the creek and plants, native and exotic. Also, Friends of Baxter Creek T-shirts featuring frogs in front and "Life's a Ditch, Baxter Creek isn't" on the back. The best plants sell out early, so try and come in the morning.

The sale is at El Cerrito's Baxter Creek, at the northern end of the Ohlone Greenway, one block east of San Pablo Ave. (across from Home Depot), on Key Boulevard at Conlon.

There has been progress since last year. Friends of Baxter Creek is now under the nonprofit wings of the Aquatic Outredach Institute in Richmond. Hundreds more people know about our "creeklet" and our embryo park. Many want to see the Ohlone Greenway connected to the future Greenway along the BART track in Richmond, so one can eventually bike or stroll all the way from Berkeley to Richmond and the Bay Trail. Others realize Baxter's potential as a small urban park, badly needed in the crowded industrial and commercial San Pablo Ave. area. Friends of Baxter Creek have a web site at http://www.creativedifferences.com/baxtercreek.

The use of "biospheres," small areas of land reclaimed from industrial areas, replanted with native plants, is spreading. These little greenspaces literally "give us a breathing space" in the midst of the noxious air and noise of the modern world. They enhance the quality of life in the commercial and residential areas around them.

This year's Plant Sale organizer is Emmy Damon @510-233-5795. Come and see Baxter Creek, donate plants or money, buy plants and garden things. Talk with plant, creek, and park lovers. Enjoy!

Kudos to creek's friends
by Maryann Aberg, El Cerrito
Friends of Baxter Creek

In a stunning victory for creek-lovers everywhere, Honda of El Cerrito has removed its inventory of cars parked without a permit for over a year alongside the Baxter Creek branch south of Angelo's Delicatesen in Richmond.

For the past year, Friends of Baxter Creek worked tirelessly to persuade the City of Richmond to impose mitigation measures on Honda for its illegal use of the property. Early this year, property owners Adachi Associates accused the Richmond Planning Commission of acting "unreasonably and contrary to law" in imposing these minimal environmental mitigation measures (some as simple as removing the barbed wire that lines a chain-link fence surrounding the area).

But, on Feb. 22, the city council unanimously denied Adachi's appeal of these mitigation measures and required that Honda comply with them within 30 days or remove its cars from the site.

Last week, Honda threw in the towel and moved its cars from Richmond to El Cerrito, where they're now parked on the former El Cerrito Mill & Lumber site. The car dealership is in the process of moving its San Pablo Ave. facility two blocks south to the former Food Bowl lot.

We're still waiting for the property owners to remove the chain-link fence from the area where Honda parked its cars. But kudos go out to all FOBC'ers who helped protect Baxter Creek in this area!

"Dismal" is the most accurate word to describe the design for renovating El Cerrito Plaza unveiled by its owners at last week's City Council meeting. After all the effort El Cerrito residents have put into coming up with an alternative vision for the Plaza, it's hard to believe we've been presented with yet-another series of big-box buildings in a sea of parking.

Where is the pedestrian-friendly design and sense of place that would encourage residents to gather at the Plaza? Where is the "strong relationship between the creek and the Plaza" our council insisted on in 1996's Resolution No. 96-103? Where is the improvement of the creek as an amenity of the Plaza the council urged in that same resolution? And where is the "use of our creek corridors as natural transportation routes, with pedestrian and bicycle paths along creekside greenways ... to connect neighborhoods and commercial districts," agreed to by the cities of El Cerrito, Albany, Richmond, and Berkeley in their 1995 Joint Watershed Goals Statement?

No one who saw the breathtaking sketches for the Plaza drawn up by the Prince of Wales' Institute could fail to place Cerrito Creek at the center of a new design for the Plaza. But instead of a charming integration of this valuable cultural, social, and historical resource into an innovative mixed-use development, the new design for the Plaza ignores the creek, facing it with blank store walls and a massive parking lot that will encourage littering and crime.

The members of the Friends of Baxter Creek face the same sort of short-sighted development by the same developers on the north side of town. Instead of integrating Baxter Creek into its design for an expanded Lucky Market at MacDonald and San Pablo, American Stores Properties is insisting on building a huge store right on top of the creek.

Fortunately, we all have another choice: Gary Mason of Berkeley's Wolfe Mason Associates has agreed to draw up an alternative design for the Friends of Baxter Creek that will integrate the creek into an innovative plan for an expanded market. During our discussions with Mason, we learned that this world-renowned landscape architect and creek-restoration expert has already drafted a concept plan for a restored Cerrito Creek at the Plaza, which the city commissioned him to create last year. Considering his vast expertise in integrating creeks into developments, Mason's plan should clearly be used as the starting point for any discussion of Plaza renovation.

Our experience on the north side of town has shown that, left to their own devices, developers always come up with the same outmoded designs that lead to an area's deterioration. The owners of Lucky clearly don't understand that innovation costs more initially but pays off handsomely in higher profits later. If San Luis Obispo can turn its moribund downtown into a thriving retail community by redesigning the area around a creek, why can't El Cerrito?

We urge the City Council, Redevelopment Agency, Design Review Board, Redevelopment Advisory Committee, Sustainable El Cerrito, and other interested groups to insist on integration of a restored Cerrito Creek into the design of a truly renovated, rather than merely rebuilt, Plaza.

EC should back up its creek commitment
by Maryann Aberg, El Cerrito
Friends of Baxter Creek

The argument about whether Baxter Creek is a "ditch" or a creek is a red herring distracting El Cerritans from the real issues we need to examine.

It's true that this creek was probably altered by the railroad at some point in its history, including dredging, straightening, and re-routing it to accommodate storm drain culverts. So what? The same alterations have been made over the years to many creeks in the Bay Area, but other cities don't use this fact as an excuse to destroy such valuable natural resources.

Baxter Creek is still a creek whether or not some people consider this stretch to be an unsightly ditch. Even in their current degraded state, the creek and its surrounding wildlife habitat are protected as a wetland.

After all their promises about supporting pedestrian friendly, environmentally sound design, why are city staff even considering placing a big-box development on top of a creek at the northern gateway to the city? El Cerrito pays great lip service to protecting the environment but clearly lacks the vision of a city like San Mateo, which recently built a lovely entrance to the city called Gateway Park. Using San Mateo Creek as its central feature, the park gives San Mateo the "sense of place" so lacking in El Cerrito. Why should we allow the "Vacavillization" of our city when more creative alternatives are available?

By taking Lucky's proposal to bury the creek seriously, the Redevelopment Agency seems to be unaware that our city council has pledged to restore Baxter Creek (see "From the Mayor's Desk," The Journal, Feb. 19) and that building on top of creeks is an outmoded and risky proposition. If El Cerrito is so strapped for cash that this ill-conceived development appears attractive, how can it afford to pay over $1 million to relocate existing businesses on the site and then "buy back" the property from Lucky? And if there's enough money to do this, why can't the city simply acquire the creek property and let the Friends of Baxter Creek obtain grant money for restoration of the area?

Lucky is currently searching for areas where it can "build" a new creek to compensate for the one it intends to destroy in El Cerrito. But why spend time, money, and resources to build a new creek when Baxter Creek already exists? If Lucky must expand its store, it should either build on already developed, blighted property like the nearby Food Bowl site or work with an experienced architectural firm to incorporate the existing creek into the design.

Berkeley's Wolfe Mason Associates, for instance, has a long history of successfully designing buildings around creeks¾instead of on top of them. By playing "Goliath" and threatening El Cerritans with a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude, Lucky is bound to lose good will and customers.

The Friends of Baxter Creek hope both Lucky and city staff come to their senses before it's too late.

The new design for an expanded Lucky Market near the corner of San Pablo and MacDonald fails to reflect the "innovative thinking" promised by Lucky representatives at a meeting with the Friends of Baxter Creek in November 1997. Instead of creatively preserving the creek to attract customers with open space, native plants, wildlife, and an extension of the Ohlone Greenway, this proposal eliminates most of the open space on the site and buries at least half of the creek in a concrete culvert.

Why should we care about losing Baxter Creek and its surrounding habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife? After all, some people consider the waterway to be a man-made ditch rather than a creek, and the area has been treated as a garbage dump for years. Why not take advantage of this development to spruce up the property?

To answer these questions, let's consider the pros and cons of the proposal:

• A new, attractive Lucky store would brighten up the north gateway to the city, but a simple remodeling of the market at its existing site would accomplish the same transformation without jeopardizing property designated by the California Department of Fish & Game as a wetland. The store could even be expanded if the seldom-used parking spaces on the west side of the store were sacrificed or creative architects came up with an innovative shape to integrate a larger store with the existing creek. Friends of Baxter Creek could clean up the adjoining property with a grant from the California Department of Water Resources and restore the creek at no cost to city residents. The Waterways Restoration Institute, a nonprofit creek restoration organization in Berkeley, could hire local youth groups like CYCLE or the East Bay Conservation Corps to maintain the restored creek at minimum wage.
• Grocery stores provide an important service to our community, but the existing Lucky Market is large enough to serve the needs of northside shoppers. The store is half empty during most of the week, and even if it were to close, there are plenty of other nearby grocery stores to choose from: Safeway across the street on MacDonald, FoodsCo three blocks away on Eastshore Boulevard, one of three other Luckys and Safeways in El Cerrito, and a Lucky and Raley's in San Pablo. Furthermore, if Lucky vacated such a valuable comer lot, it wouldn't be difficult to persuade a store like Trader Joe's to move there and provide even more selection for El Cerrito residents.
• An expanded store would generate more sales tax for the city than the existing market, but only for nongrocery items like drugs and sundries. On these products. Lucky would face fierce competition from nearby stores like Target and the Walgreen's being constructed across from the Del Norte BART station. The bulk of Lucky's sales would continue to be groceries, for which no sales tax is charged.
• The Redevelopment Agency would be able to improve an area long considered to be a blight on the El Cerrito landscape, but it is unclear whether this debt-ridden agency is solvent enough to either contribute or finance the estimated $1.1 million necessary to acquire the land from current property owners, relocate businesses like Winston Tires, and carry out toxic remediation on the site. Even if the agency managed to come up with that amount, why should El Cerritans foot the bill merely to increase Lucky's profits?

Clearly, an expanded Lucky Market is not necessary to improve the area, meet our needs for groceries and drugs, or contribute revenue to the city. The new market would serve only to strip El Cerrito of an irreplaceable natural resource while lining the pockets of American Properties, Inc., Lucky's Utah-based owners. Even though creek restoration expert Ann Riley provided Lucky with minimum widths for the creek, she has never advocated burying any part of Baxter Creek. If Lucky needs to construct a new building, it should do so vacant, already developed property like the abandoned Food Bowl site a few blocks away on San Pablo.

Let's take a moment to consider what El Cerrito stands to lose if this development is approved:

• The risks are too high. After decades of placing buildings on top of culverted creeks, many California cities have begun to understand the risks of this approach to development¾particularly in seismically unstable locations like the Bay Area. Buildings over culverts often sink, culverts can collapse, and culverted creeks may contribute to flooding downstream by increasing flows and decreasing permeable soil surfaces. Now that FEMA is increasingly unwilling to bail out neighborhoods affected by unwise development decisions, can we rely on Lucky to pay for the ensuing damage? Or will taxpayers wind up paying for this mistake, as they did when the culvert beneath Berkeley City Hall collapsed, causing thousands of dollars in damage and requiring expensive renovation? Why take this risk when properly restored creeks can handle even El Nino's torrents with ease? It makes no sense to spend time and money to uncover the branch of Baxter Creek recently daylighted in Poinsett Park and then destroy this downstream branch, which I has never flooded in its present location, by burying it underground.
• The initial and ongoing costs are too high. Many American cities have begun to compare the exorbitant costs of culverting creeks to the reasonable costs of creek restoration. On the one hand, standard 30-inch reinforced concrete pipe for creek culverting costs $110 per foot. This figure does not include the costs of installing, maintaining, and repairing the pipe. On the other hand, creek restoration costs only $100 per foot, including labor, material, plantings, and maintenance. The Redevelopment Agency will be using taxpayer money to subsidize this development. Why shouldn't our hard-earned dollars be spent in the most sensible and economical way possible?
• The environmental costs are too high. After centuries of abuse, wetlands have finally been recognized as crucial natural environments that promote flood control, replenish and purify groundwater supplies, and provide essential habitat for birds, fish, wildlife, and vegetation. Last week, the Executive Board of the Contra Costa Sierra Club passed a resolution supporting the preservation and restoration of Baxter Creek and its surrounding habitat, and the El Cerrito City Council publicly announced its intention to make the restoration of Baxter and Cerrito creeks a priority this year. Lucky's proposal is hardly a creek restoration, however. Restoration involves improving what exists, not destroying half of it. Berkeley, San Leandro, Santa Rosa, and San Luis Obispo are just a few of the California cities that have restored and enhanced their creeks without destroying them.
• The costs to our children are too high. UC Davis researchers have concluded that children are more creative and content at play in natural settings than fabricated playgrounds. Because children are running out of opportunities to experience nature in urban areas, we can set an example for other communities by preserving remaining stretches of open creeks and restoring surrounding habitat at modest cost. Open space near the border of El Cerrito and Richmond is rapidly disappearing. A creekside park south of Lucky Market, extending to the west side of San Pablo Ave., would create a graceful gateway from one city to the next and provide a hospitable rest stop for users of the Ohlone Greenway.

This year, El Cerritans face a development decision that will define our values for years to come. Will we erect a monument to consumerism by allowing Lucky to expand its store on top of Baxter Creek? Or will we save one of the last open spaces left in the city by rejecting this development and preserving the creek in a natural riparian park?

Baxter Creek's friends continue to hold out hope
by Maryann Aberg, El Cerrito, and Lisa Viani, Richmond
Co-Founders, Friends of Baxter Creek

As many of you know, Friends of Baxter Creek was formed last year by residents Lisa Owens-Viani and Maryann Aberg to preserve Baxter Creek, the stream that flows down from the El Cerrito and Richmond hills through two vacant fields on the east and west sides of San Pablo Ave. at MacDonald Ave., just south of Lucky Market and Angelo's Delicatessen. Although the creek and its surroundings have been designated as "wetlands" by the California Department of Fish & Game, the owners of Lucky Market entered into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with the El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency last year to build an expanded, 52,000-square-foot grocery/drugstore on top of the creek.

In response to this threat to the creek and its habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife, over 100 residents of El Cerrito, Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Oakland, Crockett, Danville, and San Anselmo joined Friends of Baxter Creek and expressed an interest in helping restore the stream, surround it with a small community park, and extend the Ohlone Greenway along the creek to connect with the San Francisco Bay Trail in Richmond. Our first formal meeting was held on Oct. 8, 1997, to share information about the creek, watch a creek restoration slideshow by Carole Schemmerling of the Urban Creeks Council, and brainstorm about strategies for preserving the creek.

On Nov. 6, three members of the Friends steering committee met with representatives of Lucky to discuss their plan to expand the store. Also attending were city planner Ed Phillips, redevelopment manager Elisa Tiemey, and creek restoration consultant Anne Riley:

• Lucky described its plan to expand the store by building on top of the creek, leaving only a short stretch of water above ground. The parking lot would be expanded to include the area where the present store now stands.
• We pointed out that a better and more complete use of the property would integrate the existing creek into an expanded store design. Baxter Creek would then not be hidden behind or under a huge box-like building but could become a significant amenity of the site, attracting customers with open space, native plants, wildlife, and an extension of the Ohlone Greenway. We proposed a number of alternative store designs that would accommodate the creek.
• Lucky agreed to reexamine the matter with our concerns in mind and meet with us on Nov. 20 to present its results. On Nov. 18, Elisa Tierney informed us that the meeting had to be postponed because Lucky wasn't ready to talk with us yet.
• In December, we learned from a document signed by City Manager Gary Pokorny that Lucky was rethinking its expansion strategy on the site "due to the complications associated with Baxter Creek, and, to a lesser degree, market considerations."
• Last week, we learned that Lucky is preparing a new design for the store, which we hope will reflect the innovative thinking promised by Lucky representatives in November. We look forward to reviewing that design soon.

Although the area has been neglected for years and treated as a garbage dump, it could be transformed into a small, but beautiful, riparian park with a restored stream, educational signs, and native plantings. The Greenway could be continued next to the creek along the old Santa Fe Railroad right-of-way from the east to west sides of San Pablo Ave., beneath the freeway overpass, and through Richmond to the Bay Trail.

Many California cities are beginning to incorporate creeks into their general plans and development projects. Berkeley, San Leandro, Santa Rosa, and San Luis Obispo are just a few that have turned creeks into attractive amenities for residents and visitors to enjoy.

As you've probably noticed, open space near the El Cerrito/Richmond border is rapidly disappearing-most recently to construction of a Taco Bell, expansion of Home Depot, and yet more pavement.

Please help us save and restore this last remaining piece of land before it disappears! Join Friends of Baxter Creek by calling Lisa at 237-7968 or Maryann at 236-5351.