Today 99 children’s tiles will become a permanent memorial to the beavers in Alhambra Creek. I cherish every single one of our young (and not-so-young young!) artists’ contributions along with the help of our generous donors that made this possible. The Gazette asked me today if there would be some kind of ribbon cutting or ceremony, but I told them no, just an open invitation for people to come down and see them for themselves. Wednesday, with the measuring and taping, you could really see how the project is going to look. Art to draw attention to the creek and its famous residents, beavers to draw attention to the deserving artists. It’s a perfect combination.
I won’t get all misty-eyed about the miles we’ve travelled to get to this place, or the challenges and bitter sheetpile hardships we have endured. I won’t mention the kits that didn’t survive this year, or the long hours of worry as we watched for missing faces. I won’t talk about all the exaggerations, the lies, the accusations or the mean-spirited panic beaver supporters have faced. I’ll just think about a certain November evening 27 months ago when everything changed.
Thank you Martinez, for giving our beavers the best possible welcome and thank you beavers, for teaching a city how to listen.
