Welcoming Visitor Use Facilities

Key Advocacy Goal

To be sure all visitors are welcomed to the East Bay parks by providing facilities which are accessible and sustainable.

• Provide a diversified system of regional parklands, trails and related services that will offer outstanding opportunities for creative use of outdoor time.
• Balance environmental concerns and outdoor recreational opportunities within regional parklands.
• Improve access to and use of the parks by members of groups that are underrepresented, such as persons with disabilities, the economically disadvantaged and elderly park visitors.

Survey Identified Voter/Community Support

• In a November 2021 survey, 97% of respondents identified maintaining visitor use facilities, including restrooms, to ensure parks and trails are welcoming to all and universally accessible with ADA improvements to be extremely/very/somewhat important.
• In this same survey, 96% of respondents believe infrastructure repair and upgrades of existing visitor use facilities, including new restrooms, water bottle filling and handwashing stations to be extremely/very/somewhat important.
• In a December 2020 survey, 74% of respondents found infrastructure repair and updates of existing visitor use facilities, including restroom upgrades, water bottle filling and hand washing stations to be important.
• “The East Bay Regional Park District is an 87 - year - old agency. Many of its original facilities were built in the 1930s. Today, there is over 89 million dollars’ worth of deferred maintenance of existing park and trail facilities. It is critical we invest in existing facilities to ensure the parks we love today are here for future generations.” In a November 2021 survey, 77% of respondents found this argument for increased park maintenance investments convincing.

2021-2022 Board Supported Legislation

The following legislative initiatives are supported by the East Bay Regional Park District Board of Directors and Legislative Committee:

State

• AB 1276 (Carrillo D-Los Angeles) – Unnecessary Food Service Ware (Chaptered)
• AB 1454 (Bloom D-Santa Monica) – California Beverage Container and Litter Reduction Act
• AB 962 (Kamlager D-Los Angeles) – California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (Chaptered)

Federal

• H.R. 159 (Sires D-NH) Investments in Parks
• H.R. 3423 (Meng D-NY) Safe Drinking Water in Playgrounds and Parks
• S. 2960 (Merkley D-OR) and H.R. 5533 (Quigley D-IL) – Reducing Waste in National Parks Act
• H.Res. 704 (Soto D-FL) – Recognizing the National Park Service’s Role in Preserving the Legacy of LGBTQ+ People