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\"I took about six pictures and the people look so small,\" local resident Allen Duzak said. \"It's like something in Yosemite had just fallen down.\" Bakari's friend, 9-year-old Jordon Chatmon, said the city should leave the tree alone. \"This can be like a play structure,\" he said. \"Just build on to what it already is.\" \"I really loved that tree,\" Duzak said. \"I used to stand here just gazing at it. It was just so beautiful.\"

Oakland officials and a flotilla of kayaks Friday celebrated the recent removal of a dam and culverts at 12th Street that had choked off the lake from the bay for more than 144 years. Also scheduled to open soon is a new pathway and restored marshland along a portion of [Lake Merritt] Channel, which connects the lake with the shoreline. The path will link the lake to 10th Street but is slated to eventually extend all the way to the shoreline and link with the Bay Trail. Lake Merritt was formed in 1869 when Samuel Merritt built the dam at 12th Street. Over the years, the adjoining channel was narrowed by new developments.

Dignitaries chat during the dedication of a new free shuttle bus, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 in Oakland, Calif. The new bus, which runs on weekdays from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m., will convey passengers up and down Broadway from Jack London Square to Lake Merritt. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff); Unidentified passengers embark on the new free shuttle bus, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 in Oakland, Calif. The new bus, which runs on weekdays from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m., will convey passengers up and down Broadway from Jack London Square to Lake Merritt. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff); AC Transit Acting General Manager Mary King, center, and local restaurateur Michael LeBlanc share a laugh while inspecting the interior of a new free shuttle bus, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 in Oakland, Calif. The new bus, which runs on weekdays from 7 a.m. till 7 p.m., will convey passengers up and down Broadway from Jack London Square to Lake Merritt. (D. Ross Cameron/Staff)

\"It's not just about height, it's about preserving views,\" CALM founder John Klein said at a joint meeting last week between the Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board and the Oakland Planning Commission zoning update committee. \"I can see City Hall and the Tribune Tower from the 18th Street Pier.\" \"It's a grow and change (area), not preserve and enhance,\" he said. \"Height limits are not necessary for historic preservation.\" \"We need to include zoning that covers those high buildings but it's a much larger issue,\" she said. \"There should be some thought in how the city can encourage development that is feasible and thoughtful and respectful of the historic.\"

Famed architect Julia Morgan is buried there. So are Charles Crocker, one of the \"Big Four\" founders of the Central Pacific Railroad; Samuel Merritt, a physician and shipping magnate for whom [Lake Merritt] and Merritt Hospital are named; Francis Marion \"Borax\" Smith, a railroad mogul known for his 20-mule team, Borax, and who built the Claremont Resort & Spa; Domingo Ghirardelli, the San Francisco chocolate king; and so forth. I so enjoyed these \"little people\" tombstones and wasn't all that fascinated with the mawkish mausoleums -- the Crockers' towering Grecian-like monument, the Delgers' small church, the Moores' Egyptian pyramid, and Edson Adams' iron-gated castle entrance, which needs a moat. \"A friend bought me here years ago, for the view,\" said [Sarah Bush]. \"Now I live in the neighborhood, and it's one of my neighborhood walks. The different symbolism, shapes and stones, it's almost like looking at sculpture.\"

The five-car, Richmond-bound train derailed about 10:30 a.m. and came to a stop about 200 feet from the station's platform. BART staff members and Oakland firefighters opened the doors and escorted the passengers off the train. BART workers inspect a Richmond-bound BART train that derailed between the 12th Street and Lake Merritt BART stations in Oakland, Calif. on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009. (Giovanna Borgna/Staff)

\"I had the same perception that not that much is happening, but there are a lot of projects that have happened, or are happening,\" he said. \"My interest is [Lake Merritt], and my biggest interest is 12th Street. I'm disappointed it hasn't happened, and I worry in the back of my mind that it hasn't happened, or they will run out of money. That's really the one I'm looking for.\" \"The budget was a challenge,\" [Joel Peter] said. \"It's a very costly project, so we've been very busy getting state and federal government on board as partners. \"It's been a long wait, but I'm really excited that the big projects are in sight and that one will start this year and the 12th Street project will start next year,\" said Councilwoman Patricia Kernighan. \"I've been watching this closely and working with staff over the past several years to make sure this stuff gets done. We'll go through a very difficult construction period, but it will be worth it in the end.\"

Replicas of decorative lights are mounted on four refurbished columns of the renovated East 18th Pier at [Lake Merritt] in Oakland, Calif., Saturday July 19, 2008. The reopening of historic pier is one of several projects paid for by Measure DD, a $189 million bond approved by Oakland voters to revitalize Lake Merritt and its buildings and trails as well as pay for building new parks and trails. (Ray Chavez/The Oakland Tribune); Council members Nancy Nadel, Pat Kernigham and program manager of Measure DD [Joel Peter], on podium, and members of the community take part in the grand reopening ceremony of the East 18th Pier at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., Saturday July 19, 2008. The reopening of historic pier is one of several projects paid for by Measure DD, a $189 million bond approved by Oakland voters to revitalize Lake Merritt and its buildings and trails as well as pay for building new parks and trails. (Ray Chavez/The Oakland Tribune); View of the renovated East 18th Pier at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., Saturday July 19, 2008. The reopening of the historic pier is one of several projects paid for by Measure DD, a $189 million bond approved by Oakland voters to revitalize Lake Merritt and its buildings and trails as well as pay for building new parks and trails. (Ray Chavez/The Oakland Tribune); Council members Nancy Nadel and Pat Kernigham take part in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the renovated East 18th Pier at Lake Merritt in Oakland, Calif., Saturday July 19, 2008. The reopening of historic pier is one of several projects paid for by Measure DD, a $189 million bond approved by Oakland voters to revitalize Lake Merritt and its buildings and trails as well as pay for building new parks and trails. (Ray Chavez/The Oakland Tribune)

On Sunday, tour leaders Barbara Smith and Michael Crowe will venture into California's most historic cemetery, Mountain View Cemetery on Piedmont Avenue, to meet some of the state's early movers and shakers and examine the fascinating monuments that preserve their memory. Charles Crocker, Domingo Ghirardelli and Samuel Merritt -- to name a few -- are among those you'll encounter on the walk, [Joan Dark] said. \"Fruitvale is named for the many early fruit orchards planted in the early rancho era,\" Dark said. The neighborhood, with its dairies, farms and canneries, has had a long association with food. Immigrants after World War II gave Fruitvale its current flavor, bringing the Mexican street food cart tradition north. The July 19 tour will begin at 10 a.m. at the Fruitvale BART station, 3401 E. 12th St. Other upcoming OHA tours will include a hike to Woodminster and the Abbey, the famed home of the \"Poet of the Sierras,\" Joaquin Miller, on Aug. 10; and \"Hidden Hadden Hill,\" a distinctive neighborhood of predominantly Mediterranean-style houses, built in the 1920s and '30s on the hilltops just east of the lake, on Sept. 21.

\"This is a special place,\" Councilmember Nancy Nadel (West Oakland, Downtown). \"Lake Merritt is a constant reminder of our proximity to the sea. Oakland residents have loved the lake for 100 years,\" she said. \"The fact that it is here is a testimony to our elders.\" Valerie Garry, president of the Oakland Heritage Alliance, traced the history of [Lake Merritt], which was originally a tidal slough. \"It was a giant, malodorous cesspool, not a place (where) you'd want to hang out,\" Garry said. Naomi Schiff, founder of Advocates for Lake Merritt and former Oakland Heritage Alliance president, praised the voters of Oakland for stepping up to the plate and approving Measure DD by a wide margin. \"This is not just for us,\" Schiff said. \"It's for those who come after us.\"