Please come to Blair Park Saturday morning, Dec. 5, 2009, at 10 am sharp, for a one-hour rally and demonstration!

Bring your whole family, invite your friends and neighbors, and, if possible, carpool, walk or bicycle to Blair Park.

We plan a huge turnout to raise awareness of where Blair Park is located and to alert passersby, people at the Scout Christmas tree lot, and the media of how this open space could be destroyed.

After a short rally, we will join together in a dramatic demonstration — standing single file in Blair Park, along Moraga Ave., and holding our signs. Bring your SAVE MORAGA CANYON yard sign (you can request one through this website) or make your own sign. Yard signs will also be available to purchase for $6.50.

Mark your calendar and join us for a fun and worthwhile event!

If this is your first time here at moragacanyon.org, welcome! Please take a moment to explore the See the Impact and Explore the Issues pages to understand the destructive effect the proposed sports complex will have, then Take Action to see what you can do.

If you’ve been here before, you might notice that the site has gotten a facelift. In addition to streamlining the navigation, we’ve added striking video simulations, created by FOMC member Kieran Turan, that show viscerally how the complex would destroy the character of the canyon. You can see them at the bottom of the See the Impact page.

As you might have noticed above, we also now have Save Moraga Canyon yard signs that you can put up to increase awareness of the issue. We especially encourage you to give them to neighbors who live outside the immediate area in order to spread the word in the larger community. Please fil out the Yard Sign Request Form to order them.

Finally, don’t forget to send in your issues to the City Council regarding EIR scoping. See this post for more information.

Thanks again for all your support!

The City of Piedmont has moved another step forward and hired LSA Associates of Berkeley to prepare the Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Moraga Canyon Sports Complex. Detailed documents, including the Initial Study, are available on the City of Piedmont website.

Now is the time to raise specific issues you have about the proposed complex. If your comments aren’t recorded by the deadline, they may not be studied or addressed as vigorously in the EIR process. Be precise and detailed as you describe what you want to be included in the EIR.

Even if you have written before, you must write again to make your voice count! Address it to the Piedmont City Council, c/o City Clerk Ann Swift and indicate “For Scoping Session of Moraga Canyon Sports Complex EIR – please include in the public records.” Your letter must be submitted before December 18, 2009.

Via email: aswift@ci.piedmont.ca.us
Via post: City of Piedmont, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, CA 94611

Additionally, there will be a Public Scoping Meeting on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at the Piedmont Community Hall, 711 Highland Avenue at 7:00 p.m. (Note that this is not at the City Council chambers.) The purpose of the meeting is to provide an opportunity for the general public, public agencies, interested organizations or individuals to comment on the scope of the Environmental Impact Report. If you wish your comments to be published on the website before this meeting, please submit them to the City Clerk at the address above by December 2.

Edit: clarified that the final deadline for comments is Dec 18—the Dec 2 deadline is just for comments to go up on the website before the public scoping meeting.

Oakland City Councilmember Jean Quan hosted a meeting of concerned Oaklanders to discuss Blair Park. Other Oakland officials present were Quan’s Policy Analyst Sue Piper, Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner’s chief of staff, Zac Wald, and Oakland Transportation Services Division manager, Wlad Wlassowsky.

Spirited discussion revealed the depth of opposition to the massive project. Later in the evening, people gasped when Kieran Turan showed a partially-completed video of the shape and bulk of the pedestrian bridge over Moraga Avenue, the high retaining wall on the far side of the park, and the high berm and fence running alongside Moraga Avenue.

Wlassowsky indicated that the City of Oakland will write the City of Piedmont with issues to be included in the EIR. He encouraged Oakland residents and neighborhoods to write the Piedmont City Council c/o City Clerk Ann Swift with concerns to be included in the Environmental Impact Report. Send copies of your correspondence to four Oakland officials: Spiper@oaklandnet.com, ZWald@oaklandnet.com, wwlassowsky@oaklandnet.com, and EAngstadt@oaklandnet.com.