This piece was produced by Bay Nature — a nonprofit, independent media organization that connects the people of the San Francisco Bay Area to the natural world.
This year, lovers of the East Bay shoreline got a boon: a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to transform a piece of prime shoreline into a park for the people. Governor Gavin Newsom wants the state to foot $125 million of the $175 million purchase price for the former Golden Gate Fields horse-racing track — using funds from the $10 billion 2024 climate bond, Proposition 4.
The catch: Using this money could come at the expense of many other projects, says Annie Burke, executive director of TOGETHER Bay Area, a regional coalition of conservation organizations. Coalition members alone had a $1.26 billion list of potential projects for Proposition 4 money — and Golden Gate Fields wasn’t on it…