General Manager

Robert E. Doyle

General Manager
East Bay Regional Park District

Welcome to the East Bay Regional Park District. As I look at the growth and innovative legacy of this agency over the past decades, I feel extremely proud. The Park District was founded in 1934 in the middle of the Great Depression by everyday citizens who wanted to protect open space and create recreation possibilities for the health and well-being of their fellows. They were visionaries before their time. Nearly eighty-five years later, the result is the current East Bay Regional Park District which provides the green fabric of the East Bay with more recreation opportunities than those citizens of yesteryear could have ever imagined.

The direction of the Park District is guided by our 2013 Master Plan document, which will continue be our planning guide over the coming years. Building on an eight-decade legacy of preserving regional parks, trails and open space, in 2017 we again forged ahead with innovations benefiting the quality of life for millions.

As always, we continued our unwavering commitment to protecting open space and the environment. And we continue to be a Bay Area leader in the national movement of Healthy Parks Healthy People, an initiative to foster understanding about the benefits parks and open space have on individual physical and mental health, as well as on the health of our communities and the environment as a whole.

New Facilities

The East Bay Regional Park District signed a lease to operate the historic, newly renovated “Bridge Yard” building located at the foot of the Eastern span of the Bay Bridge. The 25,000-square foot industrial building was the former maintenance hub for the Key System public transit service that traversed the bridge until 1960. The Bridge Yard building will serve as the recreational anchor of the future East Bay Gateway Regional Park where the last remaining pilings from the old Bay Bridge will be reused to create a new shoreline public access observation platform.

Partnerships

In 2017, with the East Bay’s growing and increasingly diverse population, the Park District continued to utilize innovative partnerships to help residents connect with nature.

• In Richmond, the Richmond Rangers youth program, with assistance from local nonprofit YES (Youth Enrichment Strategies), immersed youngsters in nature year-round.
• In Antioch, Pittsburg and Martinez, the Park District is working to create a Walk with a Doc program for patients, an extension of EBRPD’s successful Parks Rx partnership with healthcare agencies that is studying the health impacts of being in nature.
• In Pleasanton at Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area, residents Gary and Nancy Harrington – in partnership with the Regional Parks Foundation – are funding an interpretive pavilion for school kids and others who visit the lake to learn.

Finances

• Economic Benefit - On March 15, 2017 the East Bay Regional Park District released an independent economic report on the value and impact of East Bay Regional Parks on the East Bay’s economy and quality of life.

The report showed that Regional Parks:

• Generate nearly $200 million in regional economic activity every year
• Provide nearly $200 million in recreational benefits every year
• Provide $65 million in property value benefits every year
• Provide over $21.5 million in healthcare benefits every year

The report also showed that every $1 spent yields $4 in public benefit.

• Green Bonds - The Park District was the first park agency in the nation to issue “Certified Green Bonds.” Green Bonds are bonds that are dedicated to projects that reduce greenhouse gases, mitigate for climate changes, or provide other environmental benefits. The Park District received the highest-level grade of GB1 (Excellent) Green Bonds by Moody’s Investment Services, a nationally recognized investment rating service.

The benefits of parks are as important now as they were in 1934: parks give families a chance to enjoy nature and stay healthy together with free and very low-cost options for recreation and exercise.

The Park District’s accomplishments are based on the value of transparency. We hold the public’s trust through meaningful stakeholder engagement and unfettered access to timely and reliable information on decisions and performance.

I hope you will explore our website and discover our wonderful East Bay Parks.

Sincerely,

Robert E. Doyle
General Manager
East Bay Regional Park District

Left to right, Tom Leatherman, Superintendent of four East Bay National Park Service sites, with  Secretary Jewell and Robert E. Doyle at site of future visitor center, Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial.

> Letters from the General Manager