 |
| Within
this mix of past, present and future, the estuary as an environmental
habitat-in-transition will be explored |
A section on
the Working Waterfront shows that the confluence of rail, water
and road transportation has made it an economic engine for the city
of Oakland. One highlight is Moore Dry Dock, which employed thousands
of workers in the shipbuilding industry between the World Wars.
Early links between transportation facilities and the development
of food processing plants, including flour mills, canneries and
the Alaska Packer fleet, are explored, as well as union activity
and its impact on the shipping industry in the late 1950s and early
1960s, and the shift to containerized shipping. These exhibits will
help visitors to understand the workings of a modern container port
as well as the Port of Oakland's visions for the future. Part of
an actual container filled with representative cargo caps this part
of the exhibition.
Visitors then
"hike" along a 95-ft. map of the Oakland/Alameda waterfronts.
Points of interest are stories of the past from the Depression-era
"Pipe City" at the end of 19th Avenue to the dredging
of the tidal canal that turned Alameda from a peninsula into an
island. Present points of interest are businesses lining the waterfront
as well as parks and recreation sites that draw people to the water's
edge.
A look into
the future of the waterfront -- debated and discussed by developers,
business people, public interest groups, environmentalists and government
officials -- reveal sites for new developments, from a proposed
Eastshore State Park at the Emeryville border to the waterfront's
restoration to its natural state at Arrowhead Marsh near the San
Leandro border.
Within this mix of past, present and future, the estuary as an environmental
habitat-in-transition will be explored, from the dramatic changes
in the location of the shoreline (none of the present shoreline
is original) to the equally dramatic changes in species that now
call the estuary home. The gallery will resonate with recorded environmental
sounds of the estuary to help to create a sense of the actual environment.
The culminating
section of the exhibition explores the political history of the
waterfront. Beginning in 1852 with Horace Carpentier's sleight-of-hand
in wresting control of the area from its original owners, the Peralta
family, the exhibit traces shifts from private control to railroad
control and then to public control. The creation of the Port Commission
resulted in today's complex regulatory and planning scenario. Focuses
are the General Plan Congress Waterfront Subcommittee, the Port-City
Liaison Committee, the Port Commission, the Bay Conservation and
Development Commission, the Army Corps of Engineers, citizens' groups
such as the Waterfront Coalition, and governmental focus groups
such as the Waterfront Roundtable. Although complex, the exhibition
goal is to help visitors understand the decision-making process
that controls what happens on the waterfront. Visitors will be encouraged
to make comments and express their ideas for the waterfront and
its future.
A resource
center provides a venue for in-depth exploration of particular issues.
Comfortable couches, chairs and a table for study will provide an
environment to read from published and unpublished resources, or
to watch selections of the many videos that exist regarding the
waterfront.
Public programs, from tours and lectures to a film series, will
encourage visitors to familiarize themselves with the waterfront
and, especially, to go the waterfront itself to experience this
treasure that contributes so much to the city.
|
October
5, 1996 to May 4, 1997