Last night a cluster of Worth A Dam core members gathered at the waterside to watch all three kits show off. Two came from downstream and one came from upstream, but they were all happy to see eachother and getting along. When the upstream kit went over the dam he stopped at the close cove by where we sit and nuzzled under some branches downstream of the dam. He chewed experimentally at several and then carefully yanked one free and swam away with it. Beaver Jenga!
What about that exciting park naming issue on the City Council Agenda? Remember the unnamed park where the beaver festival is held every year? Where people come from far and wide to see our beavers and where news cameras from FOX, CBS, and ABC have filmed to document the controversy about keeping the beavers? Apparently until recently it was known by the affectionate name “The Pipe Yard”. Ahh, evocative! Well some whacky beaver supporters thought that maybe the name BEAVER PARK would be a fitting title for the venue. The Parks Department said “Send us formal suggestions” so we did.
Now the Parks Department is proposing a ‘how to name a park‘ resolution and it was on the city council calendar last night. The idea is that you would submit a formal recommendation indicating what notable features about the area were remembered in its naming, instituting a fair process that would allow the commission to decide based on goodness of fit. Here’s part of the application. Obviously the beavers would check every box.
Well last night the motion came before council and newly re-elected Menesini expressed a wish to slow down this runaway “naming train”, pointing out that it didn’t involve the council enough, and that they had always done this just fine by themselves in the past. The whole things on video tape here (1:01 and you can thank me for scanning through it so you don’t have to.) I believe Mike also said that the naming issue was fraught with “potholes”, (which, this being Martinez, I really, really believe). So he thought the item should be studied more and considered over time, and the mayor agreed and it was tabled.
Alas, Sheetpile Vista Plaza must wait for another day.
One has to hand it to our teflon-coated council. Great work Mike. It is SO hard to avoid doing the right thing in this instance that they are really all pitching in together and hauling their weight. I would file this under the velvet “Mislabing your nose to spite your face” binder. In the meantime, we’ll just keep inviting thousands of visitors to the park and letting them see its true name in person.
Highlight of last nights beaver viewing? (Other than the furtive game of Kerplunk!) A beaver chewing willow atop the pipe, which when illuminated with the spotlight produced a perfectly natural “Beaver Silhouette” on the sheetpile! (Shh don’t tell Paul Craig, but that one was better).
