In just over a month, nearly 5,000 Bay Area residents from Newark and around the Bay signed a petition urging the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board to exercise their full regulatory authority to protect Newark Area 4 from development.
Along with the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club San Francisco Bay Chapter, Greenbelt Alliance, and San Francisco Baykeeper, the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge delivered the petitions to the two agencies at their monthly board meetings, sharing testimonials from the thousands of Bay Area residents who want to see our Bay’s wetlands and wildlife protected and our region advance smart solutions to climate change.
Here are a few of the comments that our supporters included with their petition signatures:
“The San Francisco Bay is a respite for us from the day to day stresses of life here in the Bay Area. I walk along the bay daily. It is the absolute best thing about living in Newark. We must have a place for the birds on this Pacific Flyway. We must protect the endangered species. We must save the bay for future generations! No more development on the bay in Newark!” – Lissa N. from Newark
“I live across the Bay from this proposed development, and allowing more building in areas subject to problems with sea level rise is crazy. We need to be preserving and restoring wetlands to help protect what we can. Another development means even more levees to hold back the rising sea.” – Wilma H. from San Carlos
“As an environmental scientist in the Bay Area, I believe that restoring and preserving our wetlands is one of the most important environmental decisions we can make, especially as we face rising pressure from climate change. Please preserve the wetlands!” – Emily N. from Oakland
“My family and I enjoy Don Edwards and surrounding areas on a regular basis. We marvel at nature and find mental peace in these increasingly unpredictable times. We are so lucky to live here surrounded by nature in the midst of one of the most technologically advanced areas… Do the smart, wise thing and save nature to save ourselves. Our children and grand-children deserve to enjoy nature and find inspiration to build an even greater Bay Area.” – Shanthi K. from Fremont
