Roger and Korki Brett stood on a corner
in the hills of Montclair, looking at a new feature in their
neighborhood -- a view of San Francisco Bay.
That view was obscured by utility wires that crossed the streets for
generations, and the Bretts are credited
with getting rid of them.
"It
shows that perseverance can pay off," said Roger Brett, admiring a
new park on a street corner that neighbors landscaped in their
honor.
Residents will officially unveil the park on Sunday.
The
park is less than 1,500 square feet in size but includes young
manzanita trees, a marble bench -- and a
Bay view. To the Bretts and their
neighbors, it represents the final touch on a community
beautification and safety campaign that spanned several nearby
blocks and 17 years of effort.
The
wires now buried underground are a portion of the 1,000 miles of
cables that PG&E has put under the streets since 1968, according to
company officials. The undergrounding
project is one of three in the area, said Richard Cowan, City
Councilwoman Jean Quan's
chief of staff. Cables also run below
MacArthur
Boulevard, between High Street and 35th Avenue, and more are
expected to be placed beneath the ground in Piedmont Pines.
In
addition to clearing away the wires and poles that neighbors call
eyesores, undergrounding means that area
trees are less likely to catch fire -- since they aren't encumbered
by utility lines.
The
Bretts started pushing the city to get
the utility companies to bury their cables in 1985, said Roger. But
they hit several bureaucratic blockades that stretched the process
out for longer than anyone expected.
"If
it were up to me, I would have given up
years ago," said Helen Danhakl, a neighbor and organizer of Sunday's
event. "But the Bretts never let down."
Roger described the multiple problems the neighborhood faced. First,
Cable Oakland -- the cable company at the time -- refused to
participate. Then, once the city convinced the cable firm to
cooperate, the neighbors had to raise money for new streetlights.
The firestorm of 1991 demanded much of the city's attention and
financial resources for several years. And PG&E declared bankruptcy
in 2001, further postponing the undergrounding
project.
Some cables were finally placed underground in 2002. And about 225
residents contributed $4,000 for the streetlights, $2,000 for
connection fees, and other funds for additional expenses, Roger
said.
Neighbors and the District 4 City Council office raised about
$20,000 to landscape land at the corner and create the park.
The new park will enhance the appeal of the area while helping to
get rid of some of its poles and wires, said District 4 councilwoman
Jean Quan, who -- along with former City Councilman Dick Spees --
helped establish the park.
"It's unique in the sense that neighbors agreed to maintain it,"
Quan said. "It was nothing but gravel and a place where people
parked their cars."
Reach Bruce Gerstman at 510-748-1681 or by e-mail at
bgerstman@cctimes.com.
