These days, when we're in Berkeley, Calif., Barbara Yaley and I load up
Jasper, a 10-month old border collie/lab/terrier mix, and head down
University, over I-80, and onto what was once a proud garbage dump, then,
North Waterfront Park, and now, Cesar Chavez Park. It's one of the most
beautiful vantage points in the Bay Area. Due west across the water is the
Golden Gate Bridge, then, swinging one's gaze south, the towers of downtown
San Francisco, the Bay Bridge, and due east, the Berkeley hills.
Seventeen acres of this pleasing expanse are available to off-leash dogs,
an incredible achievement of Berkeley dog lovers who spent about seven years
of delicate political maneuvering to secure, last year, "pilot project
status" for the off-leash area. To win it, they had to surmount fierce
opposition from the Audubon Society, the Sierra Club and the Citizens for an
East Shore State Park, eager to seize the acreage of Cesar Chavez Park and
add it to their domain. State parks in California have never yet held
off-leash areas.