Whitney Dotson, former board member of the Park District who served from 2008-2019, was a tenacious environmentalist. Together with his family and community, he advocated determinedly for the preservation and restoration of the marshland in Point Pinole. The Dotson Family Marsh and staging area are named after the Dotson family for their vision and activism in preserving the marshland and keeping it wild. It is located near the first housing development in California to sell homes to Black people, Parchester Village of Richmond, where Whitney lived for most of his life.
Whitney was a well-known community activist who served as President of his neighborhood council and later, as Vice Chair. He was the President of North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance, a group of community and environmental organizations and individuals working to save access to the open space along the northern shoreline of Richmond.
Mr. Dotson also served as the Associate Director of the Neighborhood House of North Richmond, a non-profit agency that provides services to North Richmond residents, and was Vice Chair of the Community Advisory Group monitoring the cleanup of Campus Bay and UC Berkeley Richmond Field Station. Prior to being elected to the board, he served as an appointed member of the Park District Park Advisory Committee. Mr. Dotson passed away on January 8, 2020.
