Celeste has been at it for a while.
This is an article from Jan 2008, lifted from SBR...
INTRO: This is a local newspaper to my area (Pleasanton).
Some self appointed anti-OHV person is on a mission and is trying to shut down Carnegie's expansion. Remember Carnegie currently is ~1500 acres and has bought 3000 additional acres for future development (should have been completed years ago- but stagnates..). Why did Carnegie do this? Have you been there lately- it's too crowded and dangerous!! This lady is on a mission and must be educated about the OHV's community support for such expansion. She quotes "The OHV community must learn to live within its means" huh!! She has all the arguments lined up. She is dangerous. This is a system knowledgeable individual who can single-handedly alter needed progress. How anti-democratic is it when 1 individual can succeed in this kind of mischief!!
Here's the "Cut & Paste":
Group Envisions Tesla Park, Not Carnegie Vehicle Playground
Although the state intends to create an off-highway vehicle (OHV) park with 3000 acres it bought next to Carnegie motorcycle park, Celeste Garamendi is working hard to change those plans.
Garamendi, a Tracy resident whose husband owns a ranch near the park on Tesla Road, has formed Friends of Tesla Park. The organization is getting the word out to public agencies and conservation groups that an OHV park would disrupt sensitive habitat.
It’s a problem the state hasn’t addressed adequately in the first two EIRs it conducted for the property, said Garamendi. The third EIR attempt is expected to begin early this year, she said.
The Carnegie motorcycle park already permits some OHV use. With the expanded popularity of the vehicles, the state bought the adjacent land.
Allowing vehicles there will contribute to erosion and water run-off problems into Corral Hollow Creek, posing a threat to fish there. It would also ruin habitat for various endangered plants and such species as the red-legged and yellow-legged frogs, she said.
The state should come up with a bigger vision for the land, one which help build a corridor linking Mount Diablo with Mount Hamilton with trails and endangered species habitat. Species could then travel from one area to another. The land is also well situated to provide a nature corridor from the Bay Area to the Central Valley, said Garamendi. The state is in a perfect position to accomplish such a major green achievement, because it already owns the land, said Garamendi.
Asked about the needs of OHV enthusiasts for recreation in a growing California population, Garamendi said that the OHV community needs to live within its means, just as she does as a hiker. The federal government regulates the number of permits it issues to Sierra hikers. The state park system requires reservations at many of its campgrounds. The system doesn’t expand to meet everyone’s needs, she said.
As part of the drive to enlist conservation groups behind the idea, Garamendi appeared at a Sierra Club Tri-Valley Group meeting in December. Chapter president Janis Turner said the group is interested in saving natural habitat. The group’s executive committee declared its desire to “protect the cultural and environmentally sensitive areas of Tesla.” A meeting with the general membership showed strong concern.
Garamendi took contact information from members, and will let them know what action they can take. “A lot of people are willing to take action,” said Turner. Sierra Club members are also concerned about the historical aspects of the site, including Native American use that Garamendi discussed. “The Ohlone and other (tribes) used the area seasonally.”
Garamendi said that since the state purchased the land with vehicle-related revenue, the state’s argument is that the money should go to the OHV park. Garamendi’s response is that only 7 percent of the money represents fees from sticker sales for OHVs. The remainder is gas tax money, which is not specifically related to OHVs. There are plenty of other needs that the gas tax revenue could finance, she said.
HISTORY ELEMENT CITED AS VALUABLE
There is also a historical legacy to protect at Tesla.
Livermore’s official historian, Gary Drummond, said that the long-abandoned coal mines and the sites of the workers’ houses there “represent an economy we don’t have any more, except in West Virginia. Tesla and Black Diamond Mines (in northern Contra Costa County) are all worked out.”
The Tesla coal field was discovered by surveyors in the 1850s, and first exploited by a man named O’Brien, who hired 30 miners in 1863. It was a time when small-scale operations could make a go of it in a relatively small coal field. The Tesla mines closed in 1907 because of financial moves by owner John Treadwell.
A brick-manufacturing plant nearby closed in 1906, a victim of the major earthquake then. Left behind were such small villages as Harrietville, Jimtown, and Frytown, all named after people associated with the mining families. Those three towns combined to form a population of 102 people.
There were other settlements, such as Chinatown and Darktown. After the towns shut down, some of the buildings were moved, or torn apart for scrap lumber. The company’s flagpole wound up being used after 1913 by St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Livermore, where it stood in front of the rectory.
DRIVE WILL CONTINUE
Garamendi plans to continue organizing people, so that they will be able to comment during the public review of the EIR period. After that process, the issue eventually goes to a commission, which will make the final determination concerning the EIR certification.
The first EIR was completed in 2002, but not certified, said Garamendi. The second attempt at an EIR was withdrawn. Garamendi said that the EIR was never completed because the mitigation was “completely inadequate.”
Bob Williamson, who has worked on the project for the state, was on vacation and unavailable for comment regarding Garamendi’s remarks and the the project itself.