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Politics & Government

Miley: Keep 'Canoe Sign' Locked Up

It's bound to become an issue in the future. But in the meantime, county supervisors want to keep the controversial public art piece where it is—out of sight, out of mind.

If Castro Valley finally votes to incorporate, it might get its sign back.

That's what Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Nate Miley joked Monday as he announced the latest "final" decision about the infamous "canoe sign"—keep it in storage.

"July 12 was a very busy day and amidst it all we had to take up the issue of the Castro Valley sign—a very weighty issue," quipped Miley. "I’m being facetious, of course. We have so many more important things to deal with right now. Art is very important—that’s not the issue. The issue is: Does the Castro Valley sign warrant [the trouble of] bringing it out of storage and putting it somewhere?"

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The sign has been a source of controversy for Castro Valley since it made its debut in 1998. The shockingly bright orange-and-blue steel structure lasted two weeks in the open before it drew enough complaints to force the county to hide it in a Dublin warehouse.

That's where it's been ever since.

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But periodically the sign rears its contentious head and ends up on a Municipal Advisory Council meeting agenda for discussion—as it did again on Monday.

Miley was representing the county board of supervisors at the MAC meeting, delivering the board's decision on the sculpture.

The supervisors were unanimous in their decision to leave the sign in its rent-free storage place, said Miley, not just because they have more important things to do but because most of the residents who were previously surveyed favored keeping the sign locked away.

Besides, even if they had decided to find a place to re-erect the sign there would be controversy, Miley added. Because even among those who support the sign's being displayed, few agree on where.

"And why spend more staff time and resources on this?" said Miley. After all, everyone is in such dire financial straits and the sign doesn't cost a dime to store.

Supervisor Miley also recounted some of his fellow board members' remarks about the sign to further illustrate just what a thorn in the side it has been to everyone involved.

Supervisors Keith Carson, District 5, and Wilma Chan, District 3, were on the board of supervisors when the sign issue was first brought up, he said. At the July 12 supervisors' meeting, both Carson and Chan let it be known how unpleasant it was to deal with the sculpture.

"They said it was one of the worst experiences they’ve ever had as a county supervisor," Miley recalled. "They said that it made Measure Q look like a picnic. So I don’t think they really wanted to revisit this after all of that."

Most MAC members agreed with the board’s decision in light of current financial and political pressures, but many of them reminded Miley that the Castro Valley sign cannot be put off forever.

“I agree that there are more important things going on right now, but as long as we continue to keep [the sign] in storage, it will continue to be an issue,” said MAC member Marc Crawford.

Also at the meeting, Miley and county demographer Michael Munk updated everyone on the latest proposed redistricting map.

At a June 28 board of supervisors meeting, the district had proposed its latest map of the redrawn Alameda County supervisorial districts.

The board had seven maps to choose from: maps A, A1, C, D, F, G and E. Map E was the one the board chose to adopt.

Part of the reasoning for adopting map E was that it supported the board's intent to keep all of Pleasanton inside District 4, said Munk.

But the board had overlooked land west of El Charro Road and South of I-580 that Pleasanton had recently acquired.

Because of this, the supervisors had the map redrawn to include the newly annexed area along with Pleasanton as part of District 4.

The change moves just 32 people from District 1 to District 4, said Munk, and now Pleasanton is entirely in District 4 and Dublin is entirely in District 1.

Hillcrest Knolls and Fairmont are also now included in District 4.

The next time supervisors will discuss any further redistricting changes will be on Tuesday, July 26.

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