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The pandemic has put the East Bay Regional Park District to the test, and it has come through admirably.
Without indoor destinations for us to safely go, especially before the rollout of COVID vaccines, we flocked in record numbers to the nation’s largest regional urban park system. We benefitted from more than 80 years of land acquisition that has led to a jewel of a district with 73 parks and 1,250 miles of trails spanning 125,000 East Bay acres.
We felt gratitude to those who generations ago had the foresight to lay the foundation for the district as it is today and to the current leaders who continue to expand it and develop new recreational areas.
At the helm is the seven-member Board of Directors, with four members’ terms expiring this year. Of those four, incumbent Colin Coffey, in northern Contra Costa’s Ward 7, drew no opposition.
Board members Ayn Wieskamp, in southern Contra Costa’s Ward 6, who has served since 1999, and Beverly Lane, in southern Alameda County’s Ward 5, who has served since 1994, are retiring. Only one candidate filed to run in each ward. So Wieskamp will be replaced by Olivia Sanwong, a Park Advisory Committee member, and Lane will be replaced by John Mercurio, a former committee member.
The only contested race for the Nov. 8 election is in Ward 3, which includes Castro Valley, Fairview, Fremont, Hayward, San Lorenzo and Union City. There, incumbent Dennis Waespi faces two challengers. Waespi, who spent his entire 38-year professional career at the park district before his first election to the board in 2014, deserves a third term.
As a district employee, he worked as a park ranger, firefighter, carpenter and finally as the supervisor of the district’s sanitation and recycling department. He still hikes daily in the parks, knows the district well as evidenced by the detailed answers he provided, and has been part of the board that admirably led the district through the pandemic.
His faces two opponents: Gina Lewis, who served on the Union City Park and Recreation Commission, did not show up for her scheduled virtual interview despite confirming her plans to attend. Lawyer Daphne Lin cites two issues as her reasons for running: more trails for mountain bikers and elimination of the killing of feral cats.
It turns out that Lin has not participated or attended meetings of the district’s Trail Users Working Group nor was she familiar with the group’s March report that included recommendations for increased bike trails or the district’s pilot program to try what Lin was seeking. As for the killing of feral cats, Lin had only vague knowledge of what the district was doing, was unaware that district policy calls for lethal means only as a last resort and did not offer practical solutions for the threats the cats pose to endangered birds.
Waespi generally concurs with Lin’s objectives, but he fully understands the nuances and details of the issues. Which is not surprising given his deep knowledge of, and history with, the park district. Lin, in contrast, acknowledged she also does not attend park district board meetings.
If you want to effect change, the first step is showing up. Only one of the candidates does that. Voters should reelect Waespi.
