CESP Board of Directors
OFFICERS
Robert C. Cheasty, President
Albany
Robert Cheasty is President and a founding member of Citizens for East Shore
Parks, whose 25 year effort yielded the Eastshore State Park in December 2002.
For approximately the past ten years he has served as President of the Bay Dredging
Action Coalition, an organization dedicated to ecologically sound and efficient
dredging solutions in San Francisco Bay. Cheasty has also served as Mayor of
Albany and held numerous public positions with the Albany Redevelopment Board,
Albany Pension Board, Albany Earthquake Preparedness Program, Solano Avenue Association,
and League of California Cities. He was president of the Solano Avenue Association
from 1989-91, which produces the annual Solano stroll, hosting 300,000 people
per year. In addition to community activism, he also heads a Berkeley law firm
specializing in civil litigation. Robert's Press > >
Norman La Force, Vice-President
Albany, Park Planning, Richmond
Norman La Force is Vice-President and a founding member of Citizens for
East Shore Parks. He has written a detailed history of the activists' success
called Creating the Eastshore State Park: An Activist History. La Force has worked
on San Francisco Bay environmental issues for close to 25 years, leading the
Sierra Club's campaign to create the Eastshore State Park. As the current chair
of the San Francisco Bay Chapter, he is the Sierra Club's long-time leader on
issues concerning the East Bay Regional Park District and land management issues
related to the large public land agencies in the East Bay. In 2004 the Sierra
Club honored him with its prestigious William Penn Mott Award, which is given
to a Californian who has made an outstanding contribution to protecting and improving
California's State parks. When not working on environmental issues, he is a civil
trial attorney with his office in San Francisco. Norman's Press > >
Hon. Tom Bates, Vice-President
Tom Bates is Vice-President of Citizens for East Shore Parks. Since
elected Mayor of Berkeley in 2002, he has focused tremendous effort and resources
into making Berkeley a model city for environmental sustainability. Berkeley
was recently named the third 'most sustainable' city in the United States in
a study by a major environmental organization. Before becoming mayor, Bates served
four years as an Alameda County Supervisor and two decades as a California legislator
representing Berkeley. His record in the State Legislature includes authoring
more than 220 bills that became law, including legislation to create the Eastshore
State Park, to provide state funding for urban creeks, and to require regional
transportation plans to include the use of bicycles. Bates is a native Californian
and graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.
Sylvia McLaughlin, Secretary
Fundraising (Co-Chair), Board Affairs
Sylvia McLaughlin is Secretary and a founding member of Citizens for East Shore Parks. She has an established reputation as an environmental activist who fought for the preservation of San Francisco Bay and East Bay shoreline open space. In 1961 McLaughlin and two other women founded the Save San Francisco Bay Association (Save the Bay) to prevent the city of Berkeley from filling in 2,000 acres of the Bay. They followed this success with the 1965 legislation that established the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), which became a permanent regulatory agency in 1969. She has served on the Boards of the National Audubon Society, National Recreation and Park Association, Greenbelt Alliance, and Save-the-Redwoods League, among others. In 2002, McLaughlin received the Berkeley Outstanding Woman award for her tireless commitment to protecting San Francisco Bay and the environment of the Bay Area. Sylvia's Press > >
Doris Sloan, Recording Secretary
Board Affairs (Chair), Nominating
Doris Sloan is Recording Secretary of Citizens for East Shore Parks, and has been a member of the CESP Board since the organization was founded. She is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She taught for two decades in the Environmental Sciences program at UC Berkeley, and taught geology for UC Extension. She has led field seminars for the Sierra Club, Yosemite Association, Pt. Reyes Seminars and other organizations. Her current research focuses primarily on the history of San Francisco Bay. She is the author of the recent book, Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region, published by the University of California Press in their California Natural History Series. She has a M.S. in geology and a Ph.D. in paleontology, both from UC Berkeley. Doris's Press > >
Ed Bennett, Treasurer
Board Affairs, Finance, Grants, Fundraising
Ed Bennett is Treasurer of Citizens for East Shore Parks and has been involved
with the organization since its early years. He was on the Berkeley Waterfront
Commission for more than eight years, and prior to that he was on the Berkeley
Recreation Commission for six years. He has been a member of the Sierra Club's
San Francisco Bay Chapter since 1949. He served on the executive committee as
the chapter's treasurer for more than two decades and as chair for four years.
He is also a member of numerous environmental organizations. Bennett was a research
scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1949 to 1987, and
his research interests were neuroscience and learning and memory. He holds a
Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology.
BOARD
Teddi Baggins
Finance (Chair), Board Affairs
Teddi Baggins is a home CEO and gardener. Teddi has been an active member
of CESP and the Sierra Club's East Bay Public Lands Committee. She is the wife
of David Baggins, who is the chair of the Political Science Department at California
State University East Bay. She is the mother of two Berkeley public school students.
Ellen Barth
Board Affairs, EBRPD, Park Planning, Events, Fundraising
Ellen Barth has been a member of local environmental groups for many years,
including the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club. A long-time bird watcher,
she has taken part in bird monitoring programs for PRBO, Golden Gate Audubon,
FWS, and North American Loon Fund. She has served on the Board of several
small environmental groups. She was involved in science education for several
years in Berkeley Public schools. As a docent at the California Academy of Sciences
since 1978, Barth has served as lecturer, facilitator and trainer for new docents
and helped develop the training courses. She served in many capacities, including
Chair, on the Docent Council Board. She has a M.A. in Political Science and is
a certified Gerontologist.
Ken Bukowski
Emeryville
Ken Bukowski has served in the Emeryville City Council since 1987, including
six terms as Mayor. He was a member of a CESP committee formed to advance the
concept of an Eastshore State Park before it became a reality. Bukowski has spent
many years working on regional transportation issues, including eight years opposing
the new East Span of the Bay Bridge. Bukowski is a member of the Alameda County
Waste Management Authority, and has served on the Alameda County Lead Poisoning
and Prevention Board and the League of California Cities Transportation, Telecommunications,
and Public Works statewide committee. His goal is to establish a regional land
use and transportation convention for the nine Bay Area counties every three
years when the Regional Transportation Plan must be updated.
Shirley Dean
Communications, Fundraising
Shirley Dean was the Mayor of Berkeley from 1994 to 2002, as well as at
UC Berkeley Undergraduate Admission and Relations with Schools. She started her
political career by organizing the Bonita-Berryman Neighborhood Association,
which led to her appointment in 1971 to the city's Planning Commission. She served
on the City Council for 15 years between 1975 and 1994. Dean received her B.A.
in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.
Patty Donald
Events
Patty Donald is a member of the City of Berkeley Shorebird Park staff. In
1979, she created and is currently implementing the environmental education and
recreation programs for the City of Berkeley at the Berkeley Marina. She has
also been the Coastal Clean-up coordinator for Berkeley, Albany and Emeryville's
International Shoreline clean-ups since 1987. She is a founding board member
for the Aquatic Outreach Institute, which is now the Watershed Project. Donald
served on the board of the Save San Francisco Bay Association for five years,
and is currently on the board of the Victorian Preservation Center of Oakland-Cohen
Bray House (Ancestral Home). Donald has a degree in Parks Interpretation. Patty's Press > >
Hon. Whitney Dotson
Richmond
Whitney Dotson is a lifelong advocate for preservation of the North Richmond
Shoreline. In the 1970s, Richard Daniel Dotson, his father, led a contingent
from Parchester Village to fight off proposals to replace marshes around the
subdivision with a small airport. This effort opposing the airport ultimately
paved the way for the establishment of Point Pinole Park. Dotson is the leading
spokesman for the North Richmond Shoreline Open Space Alliance and Bay Area environmental
organizations, including the Sierra Club and Citizens for East Shore Parks, that
hope to preserve nearly three-fourths of the Richmond's 32-mile-long shoreline.
Having secured Breuner Marsh for incorporation into Point Pinole Park, Dotson's
work is now focused on protecting an expanse of shoreline meadowland west and
south of Parchester Village. He was featured on the National Archives 1000 Voices
project for his environmental work. Dotson currently serves on the East Bay Regional
Park District board of directors. Whitney's Press > >
Stephen Granholm
Park Planning
Steve Granholm, Ph.D., is a wildlife biologist with 26 years of professional
experience in environmental consulting, including 20 years at LSA Associates.
Dr. Granholm prepares state and federal permit applications on behalf of public
and private clients; designs mitigation and management plans for wetlands and
other wildlife habitats; manages comprehensive assessments of biological impacts;
conducts surveys for rare, threatened, and endangered animal species; and develops
wildlife policy for local governments. He has served as an expert witness on
wetlands impacts, and has authored numerous wildlife-habitat documents. He has
also served on the Albany Waterfront Committee.
Jeff Inglis
Richmond
Growing up in Berkeley, Jeff Inglis saw how the Free
Speech Movement defined critical social issues and came to understand the importance
of personal activism. Jeff's service with the Peace Corps in Ecuador in the
1980s led to his employment with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
where his primary work has been with the Navajo Nation EPA focusing on the
hundreds of abandoned uranium mines. In 1992 Inglis moved to San Pablo, where
he was stunned to discover the pristine beauty of the remaining shoreline in
north Richmond. Through the Sierra Club, he began working with the North Richmond
Shoreline Open Space Alliance (NRSOSA) and Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP).
Inglis is a Member of the Point Molate Restoration Advisory Board and President
of the Board of Directors of his homeowners’ association. He has a B.A.
in Geography from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Larry Kolb
Aquatic Park, Zeneca
Larry Kolb is a civil engineer with a career focus on water. He served for many years on the staff of the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, and served as Chairman of the Implementation Committee.
Vicki Lee
Fundraising (Chair), Newsletter
Vicki Lee joined the CESP board in 2008. Lee has a varied background and experience with several grassroots organizations. As a Sierra Club volunteer leader in northern California for 25 years, Lee worked on conservation campaigns ranging from expanding wildlife refuges to curtailing animal factory pollution. She also has many years of experience with community collaborations related to land use planning, water supply, and public transportation. Lee is retired from the California Department of Education, where she worked with California's K-12 Service Learning Program for many years. Lee has been a fundraising trainer for Sierra Club chapters for four years. Exploring and bird watching are her great delights.
David Lewis
David Lewis returned to his native Bay Area to lead Save the Bay in 1998, after 14 years organizing legislative and issue campaigns from Washington, D.C. He served as Chief Operations Officer for the League of Conservation Voters and senior Legislative Assistant for U.S. Senator Carl Levin. David was previously Director of Policy and Legislation for Physicians for Social Responsibility and Arms Control Specialist for Friends of the Earth. Lewis was born and raised in Palo Alto and holds a B.A. in Politics and American Studies from Princeton University. David's Press > >
Mark Liolios
Berkeley (Aquatic Park)
Mark Liolios has long been active in improving Berkeley's open spaces, particularly its largest municipal park, Aquatic Park. He is a founding member of the citywide park support nonprofit, Berkeley Partners for Parks, and has served as president and board member. He successfully lobbied for federal funding for two mini-parks and for Dreamland for Kids, the volunteer-built playground at Aquatic Park. As founder and director of Aquatic Park EGRET, the habitat stewardship group for this 100-acre bayshore park, Liolios coordinates community volunteers in wildlife habitat improvements, leads tours, and is active in planning and funding future park facilities.
Richard McClure
Park Planning (Chair), Fundraising
Richard McClure is Co-Chair of Field Development for California Youth
Soccer Association, North. He oversaw the success of Albany's Gilman Ball Fields
in 2007. Active in many organizations, his primary focus is the creation and
improvement of sports fields, addressing a major recreational shortfall.
Kitty McLean
Board Affairs, Park Planning
Kitty McLean is an art historian who has been on the Sierra Club SF Bay
Chapter Executive Committee since the late 1990s. She was appointed to
the CESP Board about 2002. Since the 1950s, she has been active in politics in
Cambridge, Mass., in Chicago, Ill, and in Berkeley. She spent many years working
on the writing, passing, and oversight of supplemental tax and bond measures
for the Berkeley School District.
Betty Olds
Communications
A native of Missouri, Betty Olds moved to Berkeley in the mid- 1940s with
her architect husband, Walter. They settled in Berkeley and raised three children
there. Between 1960 and 1974, Betty taught children at Willard Junior High School.
She was elected to the Rent Stabilization Board in 1984 and reelected in 1988.
Enjoying politics, she decided to run for City Council in Berkeley in 1992, and
was reelected for four terms. Betty is an ardent bird watcher and has been active
in Citizens for East Shore Parks and Greenbelt Alliance. She is also a founding
member of Save the Bay. In the past Betty led birding trips for the Sierra Club
to far-off and exotic places around the globe. Betty's Press > >
Doria Robinson
Doria Robinson is a Watershed Stewardship Program Coordinator for the Watershed Project in Richmond and coordinates the Arroyo Viejo Watershed Awareness Program in Oakland. From 2005 to 2006, she was the AmeriCorps Environmental Educator Intern at the Watershed Project. Robinson is also a teaching assistant and tutor in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. She was born and raised in Richmond and is part of the Shoreline Academy team.
Tony Sustak
Richmond
Tony Sustak is a long-time activist who has dabbled in
many local issues, always with the view of promoting the broader goals of social
and environmental justice. Sustak has volunteered with a number of campaigns
affecting Richmond, including the election of Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin
and cleanup of the former Zeneca site. He is currently secretary of the Richmond
Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, treasurer of the Richmond Progressive
Alliance, and an active participant in the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, in addition
to being a “Bicycle Ambassador”. He has held positions with the
Richmond Greens and the Contra Costa County Green Party. Sustak is committed
to the widespread use and promotion of mass transit, and has worked as a bus
mechanic since 1982.
Rich Walkling
Richmond, Communications, Board Affairs
Rich Walkling is the business manager for Restoration Design Group in West
Berkeley. He is trained as an environmental planner with a master's
degree in landscape architecture and a bachelor's degree in natural resources.
Prior to Restoration Design Group, he worked for the Natural Heritage Institute. While
at the National Heritage Institute and continuing at Restoration Design Group,
Walkling designed and managed several conservation and restoration projects
on the North Richmond shoreline.
Peter H. Weiner
Richmond, Fundraising
Peter Weiner is an environmental attorney with a San Francisco law firm. He
has practiced environmental law for 25 years. He previously helped direct the
Cal/OSHA program and served as Special Assistant to Governor Brown for Toxic
Substances Control. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the
California State Parks Foundation, and serves as Counsel to Bay Area Residents
for Responsible Development (BARRD), which is concerned with inappropriate cleanup
and unwise development of contaminated properties in South Richmond. He received
his B.A. from Harvard College and his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Mark Welther
Mark Welther is the Executive Director of Golden Gate Audubon Society (GGAS). Prior to joing GGAS, Welther was the founding director of Spaulding Wooden Boat Center, a growing nonprofit organization in Sausalito, where he helped create a maritime museum and educational center from an historic boat yard. As director, Welther launched education programs introducing Marin City and County youth to the art and craft of woodworking and sailing, developed youth and senior sailing programs, recruited 60 volunteers, organized the center's board of directors, raised substantial funds, and increased the center's visibility. From 1998 to 2006, Welther managed membership and donor fundraising programs for the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), one of the state's largest and oldest environmental organizations. Welther is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
ADVISORY BOARD
Jovanka Beckles
Richmond
Jovanka Beckles is a Richmond resident, educator,
mental health counselor, crime reduction specialist, business owner, and Planning
Commissioner for the City of Richmond. She is an active member of the Southeast
Shoreline Area Community Advisory Group, the Richmond Mayor’s Environmental
Justice and Environmental Health Task Force, Blacks Mobilizing, Organizing,
and Educating Richmond (BMOER), the Contra Costa chapter of Black Women Organized
for Political Action (BWOPA), and the Richmond Progressive Alliance. Beckles
is the current president of the Richmond Heights Neighborhood Council.
Arthur Feinstein
Park Planning, Fundraising
Arthur Feinstein has worked on wetland issues “local,
state and federal” for the last twenty-five years, as Conservation
Chair, President, and then Executive Director of the Golden Gate Audubon Society.
In the late 1980s he was the Program Coordinator for the Citizens Committee
to Complete the Refuge for five years, during which time he worked on federal
legislation to expand the boundaries of the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife
Refuge by approximately 20,000 acres. As a founding member of the Campaign
to Save California Wetlands, in 1995 Arthur helped write and publish the "Marsh
Manual", a citizen's guide to wetlands that discussed both wetland ecology
and wetland regulations from a state and nationwide perspective. In 2003, Arthur
was awarded one of the national Clean Water Networks 30-Year Heroes Award celebrating
the 30th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act and received a Bay Champion Award
from the National Audubon Society. Arthur received his B.S. in Biology from
Reed College. Arthur's Press > >
Patricia Vaughan Jones
Patricia Jones has served as staff for Citizens for
East Shore Parks since 2006. She volunteered with the Sierra Club since 2002,
and is currently chair of the California/Nevada Regional Conservation Committee.
In that time she also served as a campaign organizer for the Stop Clearcutting
California Campaign and the Sierra Club’s 2004 environmental voter education
campaign in Nevada. Prior to her foray into environmentalism, Jones spent fifteen
years doing marketing research and also served as operations manager of the
Virginia winterization campaign. Jones holds an A.S. in veterinary nursing,
a B.A. in history from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. from San Francisco
State University.
INTERNS/VOLUNTEERS
Dorothy Lindheim, Volunteer
Every week Berkeley resident Dorothy Lindheim
comes into the Citizens for East Shore Parks office to help out in diverse,
small but meaningful ways: finding press clips, organizing files, addressing
envelopes and writing thank-you letters. Dorothy has been a committed volunteer
with CESP since 2004, when her friend Doris Sloan, a current board member,
encouraged her to volunteer. Although she has maintained a lifelong interest
in the environment, her volunteer experience with CESP was her first foray
into environmental activism.
Reflecting on her volunteer experience, Dorothy said that it was “fun” and “important to have a regular commitment.” She considers her donated time only a “very tiny contribution” to the ambitious goal of preserving the East Bay shoreline. In her spare time, Dorothy also volunteers in a Berkeley public school reading program, where she currently works with fourth-graders. Her message to people who are thinking about volunteering? “Just do it!”
Dorothy grew up in Fresno and came to the Bay Area to attend the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied economics. She has four grown children, nine grandchildren, and is soon expecting a great-grandchild. Dorothy would like to see more shoreline protection, especially the completion of the Bay Trail that runs through Golden Gate Fields. “I would like my great-grandchild to be able to experience that,” she said.
Ena Kaur is a senior at UC Berkeley, where she studies political science. She started serving as a Marketing and Media Coordinator for CESP in September 2009. She strongly believes in CESP's mission of an open shoreline and expansion of Eastshore State Park. She feels that open space preservation should be the goal of all communities and that it is our responsibility to safeguard our shorelines from unrestrained development before they become cluttered with buildings.
Jonathan Dinu, Intern/Webmaster
Jonathan Dinu is a junior at UC Berkeley. He studies Physics and performs research in often interdisciplinary fields. He has always been interested in the world around us and is taken with the earth's natural beauty. This appreciation for the environment led Jonathan to work for CESP and to actively participate in the preservation of open space. Jonathan likes to write poetry, ponder the nature of existence, and sit. Jonathan keeps the website up to date with news and routinely adds resources in order to keep CESP's audience educated about recent developments in the Bay area pertaining to the preservation of its beauty.
Bonjean Koo, Volunteer
Bonjean Koo is a junior at Georgetown University, where
she is studying business and is active with the Debate Team. She has been interning
for CESP during summers since she was in high school.
Pierre Thompson, Intern
Pierre Thompson is a junior at Georgetown University,
where he is studying international political economy. Starting in 2007, he
has served as an Outreach and Communications Intern for CESP for three consecutive
summers. A Richmond resident, he has worked on many Richmond issues including
Point Molate and the Zeneca cleanup. An avid runner, he has a personal interest
in open space preservation and expansion of the Eastshore State Park. At Georgetown,
Thompson is a student leader for the DC Schools Project adult ESL program and
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. He has also worked at California Forward
and the U.S. Department of Labor.