Roberts is actually not a city park; it's part of the East Bay Regional Park District. It's named in honor of Thomas J. Roberts, one of the first EBRPD directors. Roberts was born in Ohio in 1863 but was brought to Oakland before the age of 2. At this time, much of Oakland was still covered in grassland and oak trees.

Perhaps because of this acquaintance with Oakland's more pastoral past, Roberts became a "career parksman." When EBRPD was formed in 1934, he was already 71 years old but pitched in with fervor, serving as board member right up until his death in 1958 at the age of 95. He even held the office of secretary for 19 years of those 24 years.

Roberts Recreation Area is notable for its grove of redwoods. In fact, since the park's very entrance and parking lot are located within the trees, it is recommended for out-of-town visitors who really want to see a redwood but aren't capable of hiking far.

These redwoods are second growth redwoods planted to replace the ones logged 1840-1860 (just a bit before Roberts was born), but they'll have to grow significantly to equal the astronomical size of two trees now replaced by a historic plaque (near the Madrone picnic area). These trees were actually used as landmarks by sailors out in the Bay to avoid Blossom Rock, which lies between Alcatraz and San Francisco.

According to the park district's website, "Captain F. Beechey of the Royal Navy noted in his log (1826) that in order to miss the rock, one should line up the northern tip of Yerba Buena Island with 'two trees ... south of Palos Colorados ... too conspicuous to be overlooked.' The distance from the sailors' ships to these trees was 16 miles, which attests to their size. Historical records indicate that the redwoods in this area ranged up to 20 feet or more in diameter."

Those redwoods were larger than my living room.

Besides the present-day features of redwoods and a swimming pool, Roberts park once had a merry-go-round and pony ride. A 1955 Oakland Tribune account tells of a Shetland pony named Thunder who could "count his age with his hoof, push a barrel with his nose, bow, extend his foot for a handshake, pull off a knotted cloth tied to his leg, pull up a blanket when his owner says 'It's cold!' and throw it off when he counters: 'It's warm!'" Thunder's cohort was Copper, a full-grown stallion only 35 inches high.

Of course, all this didn't come for free. It took 20 years of planning to develop funds for Roberts park. Piping water up to that height required $30,000, and it took another $150,000 to build the parking lots, barbecues and pool.

We can thank Thomas J. Roberts and the other early park directors for fighting to preserve a restful and green space for us. And Roberts wasn't just a friend of parks, he was also a friend of labor. He organized Local 55 of the International Firefighters Union and served as business agent for Local 39 of the Stationary Engineers' Union and old Local 57 of the International Stationary Engineers. Continuing this Byzantine resumé, he previously worked as a telegraph boy, as a Southern Pacific fireman and later engineer, as a machine engineer in a fruit cannery and in a newspaper plant -- and as a tobacco seller for all of six weeks.

In 1979, Roberts Recreation Area was the first EBRPD park to be "adopted" by a corporate entity (in this case, Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation) as a result of funding cutbacks voted in by Californians in 1978.

Which brings us to why this column is pertinent. There's a parcel tax measure on our November ballot that could funnel maintenance and operations funds to the park district, including badly needed wildfire vegetation management. The district's parks are 70 years old and as a matter of course need infrastructural repairs. To learn more about Measure CC, visit www.ebparks.org/district/support_ebrpd.htm.