New temporary restrictions at select Regional Park parking lots and staging areas will be enforced this Easter weekend, Saturday/Sunday, April 11-12.
“Respectfully, please don’t drive to Regional Parks Saturday/Sunday of this Easter weekend,” said Park District General Manager Robert Doyle. “We can’t have the huge crowds that we did a few weeks ago.”
“This upcoming weekend, the public should consider staying at home, walking in their neighborhood, or visiting parks on less crowded days or times,” added Doyle. “No picnicking and group activities are allowed by the “Stay-at-Home” orders, which has been in place for the past two weeks.”
The following Regional Parks will be affected with temporary parking area closures for this weekend, April 11-12:
- Black Diamond Mines – All parking lots closed
- Briones – Alhambra Staging Area closed
- Coyote Hills – All parking lots closed
- Garin – All Parking lots closed
- Kennedy Grove – All parking lots closed
- Lake Chabot – Main Parking lot closed
- Lake Temescal – All parking lots closed
- MLK – Doolittle South and Arrowhead Staging Areas
- Mission Peak – Stanford Avenue Staging Area closed (Fenced with no trail access, closed by request of City of Fremont)
- Miller Knox – All parking lots closed
“Working together we will get through this,” said Park District President Ellen Corbett. “Please follow a few simple rules to keep our parks clean, safe, and open. Thank you for loving our parks and for doing your part.”
“The safety of our employees and our visitors is our first priority,” added Corbett.
27 comments
I guess that means we can get two days without the East Bay Regional Park Helicopter flying around way too low like this is Vietnam……harassing everyone!!
Parks are a zoo on Easter. This was the right move
Stay home people. The message couldn’t be more clear.!
Though I don’t see the Shoreline park listed I recall a couple years ago when the downtown bunch postponed the Martinez downtown cleanup to the day before Easter apparently not noticing that the yearly Easter Egg Hunt at the waterfront park was scheduled for that day. I watched as frustrated moms in their soccer vans couldn’t find an open street to get to the park because cleanup had blocked off many of the downtown streets.
Our “nickname” for Martinez is “Mayberry”.
Does anyone know the outcome of Thursdays Fish & Wildlife meeting?
https://eastcountytoday.net/ca-department-of-fish-and-wildlife-could-suspend-sport-or-recreational-fishing-due-to-covid-19-v2/#comments
The meeting turned into chaos as 500 people tried to join the webinar and were pretty ticked off. They canceled the meeting and are planning on having another one next week. It looks like you will only be able to submit questions by email!
Even in people arrived in small groups, or just by themselves, the net effect would still be too many people in close proximity to each other if lots of people arrive at the parking lots, and the trail heads.
The closure is just for the parking lots, but the parks are sill accessible by foot or bike. For some of these parks, there are areas to park a car nearby and walk in or ride a bike in.
So, the cops plan to keep people off Mount Davidson, for instance? I don’t think that will end well.
Mount Davidson is not part of the East Bay Regional Park District.
Now the parking lot to lime ridge is going to get even busier. That parking lot has been packed, people even as going as far as blocking others from being able to turn down YV road because there’s so many cars jammed in there.
Even though it’s not closed, people should avoid Lime Ridge this weekend. It’ll be crowded like it’s Disney Land. This whole week it has been overly crowded. It’s not even enjoyable to be there because of the crowds, the noise, and the trash people are leaving. We have a disproportionately little amount of open space per capita because of Plan Bay Area.
This crisis has really brought to light that areas with a high population density have a lower quality of life during disasters.
The parking lot closure is punitive and does absolutely nothing. The models are wrong. We have empty hospitals waiting a surge of non-existent patients. This was supposed to the week of death. Stop being afraid. Freedom is not free. We need to open up now.
I know this shelter in place seems pointless since we are not seeing the same explosion of cases as other areas. A big reason for that is the early restrictions that were put in place to stop large gatherings and the shelter in place order was posted far earlier than a lot of other areas. My Fiancee is a nurse and the lack of patients has been a blessing for them. They’ve been able to prepare, put together safety plans, purchase equipment and PPE, hire additional staff of travel nurses to help when nurses eventually get sick…all of this was able to happen without the chaos of a completely full ICU.
She keeps telling me that “The best thing that can happen from this is nothing. If this ends up being anticlimactic, then we did exactly what we needed to do at the right time. No boom means we timed our restrictions properly to shut down the spread.” And that’s the point. No surge is good and the temporary lack of freedom will help all of us in the long run.
Be patient…we’ll open up again soon enough. Potentially earlier than the rest of the country because of the early decisions of our local leaders.
I agree with you 100%! Open the country back up!
We have low numbers because most people are following the guidelines, not despite the guidelines. Some areas of the country are really struggling like Florida and New York. There might be lots of empty hospital rooms, but there is a shortage of ventilators. Medical staff across the country are being pushed to their limits and its difficult to have them be properly supplied with masks and gloves.
Models are constantly changing with new data, and social factors based around human behavior. People making models can’t literally tell the future.
When you spend your money from now on I hope you remember who caused this catastrophy.
Apple? Walmart? Harbor Freight?
The Alhambra stage area has been crazy on weekends, totally packed. Groups meeting for hikes, equestrians meeting up to ride, bikers meeting to ride. I live within walk/bike distance of park and its part of my daily exercise but it’s so crowded during mid day I’ve altered my times. Not to mention the dog walkers dropping their poop bags everywhere since there is no garbage pick up, come on people!
Where are they supposed to deposit their doog poop then?? I don’t blame them. Who wants to pack dog poop out?? Disgusting.
@concord ygnacio- Large signs at every entrance say pack out dog waste as there is no trash service. People should walk their dogs in their own hoods and put it in their own trash till this is over!
I bet this parking lot closures become permanent. Just one more step in the leftist authoritarian governments goal to keep us from enjoying public lands.
I agree with you. This is all starting to really stink!
The park district does not have police staffing to be in every park so enforcing by closing parking lots is about all they can do.
How is this a punishment, exactly?
Salty here.
Gee they close all the parks except the state parks.
Mt Diablo is going to be slammed this weekend. State park folks need to keep an eye on the group hiking. It is going to OVERWHELM the social distancing and endanger everyone.
Shelter in Place doesn’t mean group hiking. STAY AT HOME. Save your elderly family members lives..
Salty OUT!!
Couldn’t agree more. Mt Diablo shifted the burden to neighborhoods where people live. Close the damn park or open the lots
Salty here again..
To CONCERNED. They should reopen Mitchell Canyon and let em gather there. Closing Mitchell parking lot is going to cause added congestion at the gates in subdivisions.
Was not brightest idea closing Mitchell Canyon. Plus Mitchell Canyon has thr facilities (i.e. bathrooms, running water, trash receptacles etc)
that are not available at the other gates
Salty OUT!!
Thanks Salty. The State parks department will be responsible if residents get sick. We do need them to deflect hikers to our neighborhood. Stay in place
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