Creek to Bay Day 2009 Results
THANK YOU!
The City of Oakland Public Works Agency wishes to thank all the volunteers who helped make Creek to Bay Day 2009 a resounding success! Oakland’s 14 th annual Creek to Bay Day took place at Lake Merritt, the Oakland Estuary and twenty-four creek locations on Saturday, September 19, 2009, as part of the 25th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day .
Oakland residents from all neighborhoods displayed an extraordinary volunteer spirit on Coastal Cleanup Day. In addition to the more than 1,000 volunteers participating in Creek to Bay Day, hundreds more gathered along the shoreline at cleanup sites managed by the East Bay Regional Park District. In total, 1,504 volunteers came out to Creek to Bay Day sites and East Bay Regional Parks District sites to improve Oakland’s waterways and their environs. Volunteers participating at Creek to Bay Day sites collected 2,449 pounds of trash from Oakland's creeks, the estuary and Lake Merritt; picked up 159 pounds of recyclables; and removed 290 cubic yards of green waste to make way for native plants to flourish. Creek to Bay Day is held as part of International Coastal Cleanup Day and is sponsored in California by the California Coastal Commission . By current count, the statewide event turned out 66,550 volunteers who removed 819,394 pounds of trash and 89,899 pounds of recyclables!
The prize for the Most Unusual Item found during the event, a porch swing, went to a volunteer at Arroyo Viejo Creek in Arroyo Viejo Park. The volunteer who discovered this item will be awarded a gift certificate to the Lake Chalet, the newly opened restaurant at the Lake Merritt Boat House.
There are many people who deserve special recognition for their role in making Creek to Bay Day 2009 our best event yet. Our first thank you goes to the Community Site Coordinators who arranged for great projects to take place at each of our twenty-four locations and whose commendable efforts kept the day running smoothly. Thank you also to Waste Management for providing debris boxes, to Whole Foods , Starbucks, Noah’s Bagels, Cole Coffee and Bakesale Betty in Oakland for donating food and coffee, and to the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District for its financial support. This event was also made possible through the participation of City staff in the Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful and Parks and Building Services divisions, which provided tools and debris pickup. Creek to Bay Day is coordinated by the City's Public Works Agency, Environmental Services Division .
For more information about this event, or to join the mailing list for this and other cleanup/beautification efforts, please email the Creek to Bay Protection program at creektobayprotection@oaklandnet.com .
Visit www.oaklandcreektobay.org again soon for photos from this year’s Creek to Bay Day and information about other Creek to Bay Protection events happening in your neighborhood.