Tightening on the Belt Line

As scooped by John Knox White last week, the railroads have ceded their claim on the Belt Line property and have decided to not move forward with further appeals.

Of course, the lawsuit over how much the property is worth would hinged on the tireless efforts of Jean Sweeney, who uncovered the the city ordinance with terms for resale of the land that would benefit the City greatly.   All that land for less than $1 million, what a steal.  Plaque, naming of the park, whathaveyou, certainly something is due to Jean Sweeney for this.

But after all the congratulatory back slapping comes the part of, what happens now.   While according to the City’s press release the City has the money in the open space fund for the purchase, there is no mention of whether there is money for maintenance or improvements on the land.   

However, I am hopeful that the vision laid out in the Cross Alameda Trail can be realized.   These were the projected costs of the Cross Alameda Trail section by section.   I believe that it reflects the market rate to purchase the Right-of-Way so those would probably need to be readjusted to reflect the real cost of the land as well as be updated to construction costs today.   

Although the good thing about the land being turned over and having that land available is that a Right-of-Way for a cross Island transportation system as the trail extends from Main Street on the West End all the way to the Fruitvale Bridge.   But that’s a long range vision that is not necessarily a priority right now.   I’d just like to have some sort of sidewalk and bike lane on the portion of the Belt Line that runs down Atlantic.

However, on a side note, I find it ironic that today as we laud the efforts of Jean Sweeney not only finding the ordinance that made this possible but also her efforts to place on the ballot and successfully pass an initiative to rezone the railyard area as Open Space and change its designation in the General Plan – bypassing the City Council and the traditional mechanisms of doing so – folks that would herald her efforts are also decrying the Alameda Point Initiative for doing the same thing: changing zoning, amending the General Plan.  

Certainly voting on Measure E at the time (1992) was an exercise in pure faith, since — without the addition of Measure D — the passage of Measure E would have rezoned the Belt Line which was owned by the railroad at the time.   Essentially rezoning what was private property.   The judgment that we have now and the backing off of the railroads from filing any further appeals was not definitive at the time Measure E was passed.     But the proponents of Measure E were asking the voters to put their faith in the system working out as it should to get to the place we are now.  So had all the chips not fallen in the favor of the City, we could have been on the hook for a very huge price bill for that property.