Community Health

Key Advocacy Goal

To guarantee equitable access to parks so that all East Bay communities can enjoy the physical and psychological benefits of open space.

Improve access to and use of the parks by members of groups that are underrepresented, such as persons with disabilities, the economically disadvantaged and elderly park visitors.
Provide a diversified system of regional parklands, trails and related services that will offer outstanding opportunities for creative use of outdoor time.
Interpret the parklands by focusing educational programs on the visitor’s relationship to nature, natural processes, ecology, the value of natural conditions and the history of the parklands.

In a November 2021 survey, 97% of respondents identified efforts to expand and maintain parks and trails for community physical and mental health to be extremely/very/somewhat important.
This same survey identified 94% of respondents believed parks and trails will play an equal or greater role in their life after the pandemic.
In this same survey, 97% of respondents identified maintaining visitor use facilities, including restrooms, to ensure parks and trails are welcoming to all and universally accessible with ADA improvements to be extremely/very/somewhat important.
“Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of parks and open space for our psychological and physical health. The Park District has approximately thirty-six thousand acres of public lands not yet open for public use. Additional funding would enable the safe opening of additional East Bay parks and trails. Now is the time to increase accessibility to our parks.” In a November 2021 survey, 75% of respondents found this message for increased public access investments convincing.

The following legislative initiatives are supported by the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors and Legislative Committee:

AB 1512 (Bauer-Kahan D-Orinda) Preservation of Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area
AB 30 (Karla D-San Jose) Equity in Outdoor Access to Nature
SB 624 (Hueso D-San Diego) Environmental Equity and Outdoor Access Act
SB 799 (Glazer D-Orinda) and AB 1512 (Bauer-Kahan D-Orinda) Preservation of Alameda-Tesla Property of Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area issue resolved in the 2022 state budget

H.R. 389 (Case D-HI) Safe and Quite Skies Act of 2021
S. 2258 (Hickenlooper D-CO) and H.R. 1678 (Barragan D-CA) Parks, Jobs and Equity Act
S. 91 (Sinema D-AZ) and HR 535 (Garamendi D-CA) Special Districts Qualify for Coronavirus Relief Fund

Comments and questions? Email us: govaffairs@ebparks.org

Alameda County Supervisor Dave Haubert Walk and Talk at Tassajara Creek Trail

Fremont Mayor Lily Mei Walk and Talk at Dumbarton Quarry Campground by the Bay

Assembly Member Bill Quirk Walk and Talk at Coyote Hills Regional Park